Happy Birthday Mallory!

We went to Mallory's 2nd Birthday party this morning and the kids had a blast. Only had 1 meltdown and that came when Jake wanted to eat cake during sweet Mallory's present opening time. He had quite a fit but it soon passed when the cake was in front of him. What can I say? He wanted some cake!

Sweet Mallory was all smiles

Our meltdown in progress. It was quite hilarious only I was embarrassed due to the amount of noise he was making. Tara gave him a book and he immediately stopped and started looking at it.

Riding the bikes "together"

Riding the scooter together. If they could always be this content with each other!

Running down the hall with Kyle Caston
And sweet Landry taking it all in.

Planning our Summer Trip!

We have been talking about a Spring Break trip with Matt's family for a while now. Last weekend we finally figured out that not all of Matt's family could go(his dad and aunt). So my mother-in-law asked us if we wanted to go to WALT DISNEY WORLD??? Yes the babies are a little young, but if you were offered a gracious trip wouldn't you take it? Well, you guessed it...we are going in June and have been calling and planning all week! The tricky part about going with young babies is that you really can't get just a normal room unless you want to sleep when they sleep and tip toe around their schedule. We decided on a suite and are staying at the Sarasota Springs Villas on the premises on Disney.

Growing up I was fortunate enough to visit DW numerous times and have my parents to thank for those wonderful memories. I haven't been to the park since I was a senior in high school(1997) and my how Disney has expanded. There are some pretty COOL hotel accommodations that we are super excited about. And although we hated to stay at a deluxe category hotel, we also figured it will be worth it being that we MIGHT be at the hotel longer than most families! Jake and Landry may handle all the activities well and they may not. I have a feeling we will be taking advantage of the zero entry pool(meaning it gradually gets deeper) at least once a day. And yours truly will be going down the water slide with all the kids, yeah I have yet to grow up!

SO now we are just trying to get transportation from the airport to the WDW resort without having to spend an absolute fortune. The direct flight on Allegiant Air from Shreveport to Orlando does NOT fly into the main airport where Disney offers FREE transportation. The cheapest fare from the airport to the resort I have found is $120 each way...SO, if you know of any hidden transportation deals out there, please let me know! Otherwise we will just fork over the money and enjoy the trip:)!

And how glad I was to have had my running buddy meet me this morning for an easy 5. When your rear view mirror says ICE where the temperature should be and the ground is frosted white, it helps to know you have someone to suffer with you! And yes I know there are colder places, and I am glad to not be running there:). After my long run tomorrow we have a birthday party in Ruston to attend. I think when you have children your enjoyment of attending birthdays heightens. But the more I think about it, why else would you be at a b-day party! I love taking the kids to parties and watching them interact with others. So until tomorrow, enjoy your FRIDAY!

Be Careful What you Say!

Some of you might wonder why I am posting this, but I ran into the small town gossip realm yesterday. Without going into too much detail and protecting those who might not want to be mentioned, I now know that one of the ladies that keeps Jake's Sunday school class has called him fat. This has to be one of the moments that people tell you about when they say you don't know hurt until it involves your babies. That comment was a stab to the heart! And besides, you don't call a baby (in a hurtful way) FAT! Yes he has always been a big boy and probably always will be. But please don't call him that!

So I am taking this as a lesson learned. Watch what you say about other people's babies because it may come back to their parents:).

Sleeping Beauty

This is what no afternoon nap will do to you on the way home from Wal-Mart! Landry fell asleep during our late evening run to Wally world . We got home around 7 and I laid her on the living room floor assure that she would soon wake up. Well, this was 30 minutes later......! We just bathed her and put her to bed, bless her heart!

And Jake was just playing away with his new trains that Big Mama had bought him. He is learning to pose:).
Well, Landry decided to take an afternoon nap today and I hear her waking up so I must go!

Boston and Bumblebees!

Do you remember the preschool song "I'm squishing up my baby bumblebee!" ? Jake absolutely loves to sing this song and Landry has started joining in on the action. Here Jake is responding to the part: "Owww, he stung me!" Thought this picture turned out darling. Thanks mom for sending it to me~
Excerpt from the Boston Marathon web page:
The Boston Marathon is the world's oldest annual marathon. In 2008 nearly 22,000 runners completed the race. Registration for the 2009 Boston Marathon will begin on September 3 at 9 a.m. (ET). The field will be limited to the first 25,000 entrants.

Now click on this LINK. Boston closed YESTERDAY. Yes, I have been twiddling my thumbs while mom told me every time I saw her,"You better register for Boston." And honestly I was just waiting until payday! From what I understand, Boston usually doesn't close until mid-February/early March. Mom said it may have to do with the Olympics being last last year. Don't know, but I called the Boston Athletic Association this morning since my name hadn't been posted on the entrants list yet( I registered Saturday night). The lady I spoke with said they were just waiting on verification of my time from the SA marathon and that I got in "just under the wire". Glad to see that this time was a happy story. Could have been disastrous with plane tickets and hotel reservations already made, although some refunds would have occurred-not 100%.

That's all.

Been A While!

It has been an eventful week for us in the Tyler household! Last Sunday we went to Mer Rouge to visit some friends for the day. They have a horse farm and Jake was very excited to see the horses. To say he has a love for animals is an understatement. He has close to 15 small toy animals and if Landry comes anywhere near them he goes into cardiac arrest-SERIOUSLY. And of course when we got near the horses he would not touch them-until Landry decided it was OK to pet them. Then he reluctantly petted a horse as well:).

I had Monday off for MLK day and then Tuesday was a teacher workday so we had no students. When I went to pick Landry and Jake up from Mrs. Dorothy's, I was holding both of them in my arms and talking away when Landry decided she wanted down. So without warning she toppled out of my arms and hit the ground head first. I was so upset that I immediately dropped Jake. So then BOTH of my children were screaming. NOT a good moment for mom here! So just to be on the safe side I called the pediatrician who told me to take her to the emergency room, which I promptly did. Mom and dad met us there, as did a woman who looked like she had the plague. Mom was more concerned over Landry getting something from that woman than her head-not really! But I certainly didn't want either child next to that sickly woman! We saw the doctor quickly and he assured me that she would be fine.

Then Wednesday morning as I was about to get ready for school, we were informed that Dorothy has the stomach bug and would be closed that day. So I was kinda glad that I was able to stay home with Landry to monitor how she did after her injury. Only thing I noticed was that she didn't sleep very well during her naps that day-could've been coincidental so that was no big deal. And of course Jake slept great during his nap that day-always works out that way!

Thursday and Friday were pretty uneventful, then Saturday came with my weekly long run and that was super fun running in a heavy mist for 2 hours! Sarah ran with me during the second part of my 15 mile run, and I am SO thankful for her company! Luckily I was able to take 2 short naps that day thanks to a sweet husband and then 2 sleeping babies. And I finally signed up for the Boston Marathon-so now it's official. We have our plane flights booked, hotel reserved, and entries paid. Now for the hard part.....all those fun long runs! Yet I am taking it 1 Saturday at a time. The 3 weekday runs aren't bad at all, so I think I can do it:).

Saturday night Matt's parents came over to see Jake and Landry and also to keep them while we went out with Mark and Elizabeth. Had a really good time but who'd have thought the Ruston theatre would be sold out on all the movies we wanted to see! But we made the best of it and came back to visit with the Tyler's.

Update: Landry has been officially walking as of last weekend. She is walking 90% of the time and only crawls of she wants to get somewhere in a hurry. So I will hold off on that dr. appointment after all! Praises for that!

Here are some pictures. They are backwards in order. Didn't feel like fixing them. Sorry!


Elizabeth, Mark, Matt, and me!
Landry before church this morning. Thought this outfit was darling on her. Had to document it!

GiGi and Jake last night. He told Matt he wanted to take a picture. True story!

Playing our alligator and monkey activity. Found this glove at Wal-Mart and he loves singing the song!

Clowning around together in the Lego box one night this week. Landry absolutely loves playing with her brother-when he has the patience!!!!

Big D reading to his grand babies. Jake would read book ALL DAY LONG if someone would read them to him. And we try but sometimes we gotta have a break!

At the horse barn in Mer Rouge with Mr. Joseph!It's very doubtful that Landry will be a girly girl(do you see the mud she was trying to eat???). But I wasn't one growing up either!

Checking out all the horses on a beautiful day!

Well, I will try to be better about posting during the week. Got caught up in the down time last week!

Busy Saturday

Wow! It has been a full day and I am tired! Started out early, got 12 miles in(7 with Sarah and 5 by myself), was home a little before 8am only to be back in the car by 8:35 and headed to Bossier. We made it to Sadie's birthday party by 10 am and the kids had a ball! The birthday party was at Jumpin' Jupiter, which I have talked about before, is an indoor facility with about 6 bounce houses. After the playtime they had plenty to eat!

Jake and his side kick, Ben O'Dell!

Carrie Dunn, Katye Hamby(and baby Bennett..soon to be born!), Julie Martin, me, and Elizabeth O'Dell, some of our Bossier friends
After catching my 2 renegades trying to go UP the slide, I decided to take them down the slide myself.....

They loved it and Jake immediately wanted to go again. I was exhausted after the first round so I opted not to do it again!

And this is Landry as she is screaming about something....always! She has such a fun spirit!

Not sure why I have 2 duplicates of the picture below but I couldn't delete them so enjoy!

So glad we are out of school on Monday. Matt is hunting out of town and we plan to meet up with him after church tomorrow. We are looking forward to a relaxing afternoon.

Bummer of a Week!

Sorry for the lack of posts, but I don't want to bore you with boring details:). It has been a pretty uneventful but very busy week! I joined a bunco group and ran in some freezing temperatures. Chickened out on my run this morning after my partner canceled:)...blaming that one on her! Planning on doing at least 13 tomorrow and will be off to a 6am start as we have to be in Bossier by 10am for a birthday party.
For those of you who are into kids clothes, I am hosting a Castles and Crowns trunk show on Thursday, February 5 from 1-6. Check out their website and request a catalog: www.castlesandcrowns.com. I will be mailing out invites next week and if I accidentally left you off, please please come...and bring your mama plus some friends! I am hosting this party at my parent's house on Azalea Drive. It should be fun.
Well, mom is in Las Vegas(world traveler), the kids are in Bossier, Matt is refereeing basketball, and dad called me a while ago and we decided to go get a bite to eat tonight. So take care and I hope to get some cute pics of the birthday party for a future post!

Restful Saturday!

The doctor said Landry looked great and dismissed us permanently. The greatest blessing was that he told us to go ahead with all whole milk in her bottle and no formula. I really though she may not take it, but she did and we have had no problems so far. What a praise! I seriously have been mixing formula bottles for 2 years straight and am glad to have a break from that:)! And yes, I did nurse, but not as long as I would have liked. My babies were not great nursers. So it is nice to have both of them on milk, even if we are now buying THREE different kinds! Whole, 1% for Jake, and skim for us. Now I will attempt to master the sippy cup. I just haven't been diligent with it as I know Jake was a good 15 months before he did it and was almost 2 before we did away with the bed time bottle. It'll happen soon enough.

One of my main concerns right now are Landry and her feet. When she was born her right foot was turned inwards-significant enough that we went to see the dr. about it. He said to put her in straight laced(?) shoes when she was big enough to fit in them. Well, first of all I have no idea where to get those, and second, they can't be as cute as the ones she has been wearing-JUST JOKING-not that shallow. She is more advanced than Jake was in the walking department, and I figured by now she would have taken off. Instead she seems to me to have regressed. And no this isn't a "she should be walking now" attitude. I really think it has something to do with her foot issues. The right foot is still turned in and she will seldom "uncurl" it. The dr. thinks this may have been caused by my small uterus(remember I have 2 uterus halves instead of a whole). I think we will have her checked out soon to make sure we are doing what we need to be doing.

Last night I dropped the kids off at parent's night out around 6. Matt was on his way home from refereeing a basketball game in Minden and I was meeting him back at the house. I told Mrs. Glover that I had NO intention of leaving them there until the end(10:30!) and would be back at some point before that. This was the only the second time we had taken them to PNO as Landry is just now semi-old enough to handle it. And because mom is in New Orleans with some of her running buddies to watch Celine Dion and couldn't watch them. So, long story short we ended up at the Outback in Monroe and ran into my running partner, Sarah, and her boyfriend Ryan. We didn't make it back until 10pm. Opps! But the great thing is they were absolutely fine-Landry had woken up from a 2 hour nap just before I dropped her off earlier that night so she was still chaged from that I guess-and Jake ran to me as though he hadn't seen me in years. The best part about this whole story is that they slept until almost 8 the next morning-would have thought maybe a little later but I am sure Jake thought he would miss something if he had continued sleeping. So I forewent my early morning run and went after they were settled in their high chairs with breakfast. And I conquered my first 10 mile run solo. It was pretty muggy but I got through it in well under my self-projected 1.5 hours(hey I have to self motivate so cut me some slack and let me pat myself on the back!).

Here are some pictures from the past week. We have decided that Landry will have the LEADER role in the family with her FEISTY personality. Whoooa, you have no idea. She is hilarious and if she wants something you've got-watch out! Poor Jake-yet he can hold his own as well! Enjoy your weekend-didn't mean for this message to be so lengthy.

She discovered TCBY the other night and was thrilled over her new found love for yogurt!

Laughing at Daddy as he was getting breakfast ready one morning.

Landry has also discovered chocolate chip cookies...enough said. And no one has told me how to manage her mane she has coming in quickly!!!!This was yesterday before our trip to the dr. I was determined to get a picture of her in this outfit as it will probably be the last time she wears it(one of the few things she has outgrown!). I couldn't button the sleeves. And it was one of my favorites!
So I decided she would take a better picture if I held her. Pre-lipstick:)

Have a great Saturday!

Almost Friday!!!

I think this weekend might be one of the most anticipated as it has been a tough week back to work. We are taking Landry Grace to the her pediatric GI tomorrow in Shreveport and may be dismissed for good...who knows. We are currently trying our second attempt at whole milk and have gotten as far as half and half(formula/whole milk) with no problem yet! So we have a 9am appt. and then it will be back to school for the remainder of the day.

We have parents night out at our church tomorrow night and we are looking forward to seeing a movie or just going out to eat without kids. We haven't decided yet. Other than that, not much else is happening!

We did look at houses over the break and have decided that we should wait. There is nothing on the market that is super appealing and we do not want to build at this point in time. That could change, we aren't sure. So as for now, have a great weekend!
Sorry there are no pictures to post, I'll take some over the weekend.

Dyson cousins

I have absolutely nothing to post, but mom sent this picture to me so I thought I would pass it along to you. This was last Friday when Nick and Abby(Brian's children) were still in town. They loved playing with Jake and Landry. We had just given J and L a bath at my parents house and were headed home for PJ's and bedtime. Can you see the prizes Jake has in his hand for smiling so well during the pictures at Wal-Mart. Scary that you can bribe them so early;)

Now if only this rain would go AWAY! It is supposed to clear up just in time for my 5 am run tomorrow....positive thoughts:)!

Back to Reality!

Well, the break is over! No more lazy days and short weeks....back to the grind. The babies will once again be on there way to Mrs. Dorothy's(courtesy of my husband of course!) while I am on my way to school. Then I have my awful Monday night class, but the bright side to this is that I will be certified in Special Education come March.
I also booked my flight(well Matt did anyway!) to Boston yesterday so it is time to start officially training for the Boston Marathon! Mom has been chipping away at her training since December 8th, but I just haven't had the same determination she has. I am using the excuse that I only trained a little over 2 months for San Antonio. But seeing as this will be a different experience now as I am training for BOSTON, I need to get on the ball! I want to be in great shape, but it really will be hard without my diligent running partners!! Sarah Grigsby(my running buddy) is doing a half in Florida on March 1, so she and I will run together some...thank goodness for that! Boston is April 20 and mom has given me a training plan to go by and that will help. Did that all sound like an excuse-let me now go forth-keep my mouth shut and stay focused. That's all for now.
Sorry if this was sporadic, I am tired and off to watch my TV show.

Great Timing

Today I called mom and told her to call Wal-Mart to see if we could get the babies pictures taken. I did this in July and the pictures turned out OK...just did it to get some documented semi-professional pictures done. I had no expectations today because I had planned on scheduling their 1 and 2 year pictures next week with a local photographer.
Well, the babies took great naps this afternoon and we made it to the 5 o'clock appointment just in time. Could not believe how GREAT the pictures turned out!!!! Must have been perfect timing, as Jake hasn't smiled this great in a long time! Landry wasn't sure about the lady but we still got some good shots of her. I was SO excited and now have decided I will just use these as their portraits. Even got the CD with the copyright release. Just had to brag!




Don't overlook your local Wal-Mart photographer:)

Mark and Elizabeth

We started out the New Year with yet another trip to Bossier, but this time we went to meet Mark's friend Elizabeth. We really like her and she fit in with the Tyler's well. You have to know my father in law! He is a MESS and jokes with everyone so you gotta know how to handle him:). We spent the afternoon visiting and then eating boiled shrimp. Elizabeth lives in Houston and we hope this isn't the last time we get to see her. That's all!
And I did ask her permission to take a picture...didn't want to freak her out! Also told her I would put it on Facebook for her.