Snow Days

The one advantage of living in Kansas when all of my family lives in Iowa or Minnesota is the warmer weather. I do a lot of bragging about how nice it is here and how I'm grilling out when they are looking out the window at a foot of snow. Well, karma has bitten back! Last weekend it snowed and I mean snowed. Joel spent two days outside with Tyson sledding, building snowmen, and building snow forts. Charlie even went out to join him for a short sled ride. I have pictures taken of their snowman on Sunday and then on Monday. What a difference a day makes in Kansas!

Sunday

Monday

Photo Shoot

A couple weeks ago I was outside with Charlie at 9am swinging. It was an absolutely beautiful morning with the sun shining, bright blue skies, and birds chirping. He was so relaxed and looked so cute.

Meeting a Pro

Joel has been asking me over and over to post this picture of Tyson. They were at a K-State game a couple weeks ago where they retired a couple jerseys. One of which was Mitch Richmond's. Joel claims this guy was an awesome basketball player, I have never heard of him. I do have to admit I NEVER watch pro basketball and I probably wouldn't know anyone except Michael Jordan and that is mostly because he is hot too! Anyways, here is Tyson getting Mitch Richmond's autograph after the game. Woo hoo!!

Bribes

I think we have created a monster! This potty training thing has overwhelmed our lives and we have bribed and bribed this kid to go potty in the big boy potty. So now every time he goes pee in the toilet he asks "What do I get?" Joel told him the other night that if he poops in the potty he will take him to Target (Tyson's favorite store). We finally timed it that he pooped in the toilet! Tyson flushed the toilet and immediately said, "Let's go to Target!" Joel loaded him in the car and headed out. Tyson knew exactly what he was going to get there and walked over to it right away. A Thomas backpack! Seriously this kid has an addiction. Joel talked him into a Handy Manny toy instead. Last night we went to his first night of soccer and Joel again told him if he was a good boy at soccer he would take him to Target. The final whistle blew and Tyson said, "Let's go to Target!" This time we were unsuccessful in convincing him of a different toy. He was not leaving that store without the Thomas backpack. As we were walking out of the store he looked at me and said, "Mommy, I had fun at Target today. Thomas, did you?" Last night he had to sleep with it! He now has 2 Dora, 1 Spiderman, 1 Superman, 1 Lightning McQueen, and 2 Thomas backpacks! Gotta love that kid!

1 Year Pictures

Here is a preview of Charlie's 1 year old pictures. I get to look at the rest of them in about a week. I think they look pretty cute!

www.jensalmansphotography.blogspot.com

Charlie Update

It seems like all my stories lately involve Tyson so I wanted to update everyone on what Charlie has been up to lately. He has been going through quite a phase lately. He is crawling everywhere and pulling himself up and walking around everything. Life has really changed with him becoming mobile. But now he wants me all the time, not that I am complaining but it really makes it difficult to get anything done. Not only does he want me to hold him, most of the time he wants me to stand up and hold him. My arm muscles are getting really strong. In his defense he has been battling double ear infection for awhile now. The first time was the end of January. We went through a series of three shots and a visit to the ear specialist before it went away. During all of this he also cut his 2 lower molars. Fun times! Two weeks later he had it again, and although the infection seems to be gone he does not seem to be feeling better. He spends a lot of time fussing and the docs think that maybe the fluid is just not cleared yet. But yesterday I looked in his mouth and he has 3 teeth coming in at the same time! I guess that could be the problem. Poor baby!

Surprisingly through all of this I have managed to get some really cute pictures of him smiling. So here he is at his better moments!

And my new favorite!

Cora Paige

For all of you who are keeping up with this family, today would be Cora's first birthday. The family needs everyone to pray for them to get through this really tough day. Thanks!