Summertime!

Hooray for summertime!! The last few days have been pretty tough around our household with Jake being sick and then Matt....but I did get out a couple of times with Landry Grace. She has been a trouper and we look forward to taking many trips to the pool with "brudder" and daddy in the future.

Yesterday we went to a water birthday party and today we joined the pool. LG did a great job of entertaining herself, even learning how to get in and out of the baby pool herself. This was huge! She is a poor eater but managed to eat an entire bag of M&Ms and sour punch straws plus a slushee. Hey, you're only a kid once and NO way did I get that when I was her age. We'll pack some snacks next go round....

At Ryleigh's birthday party.

Had to pose before heading into the pool!

She loved Big Mama throwing water on her!

Jumping into the pool. Last year we had her going off the diving board with her life jacket on. No luck this go round but maybe soon.

Looking cool in her shades.

I love the lazy days of summer! We are looking forward to many fun things during the next 2 months. Mainly I look forward to not having to set an alarm clock....except when I am running. So far I have taken a couple of weeks off but who cares! I do need to start soon. Have a wonderful week!!

More Good-Byes and Good Times

To say that it has been a long day is an understatement but I am going to post anyway. We had a trip planned to Marksville last Tuesday. Matt does overnights there for work every couple of weeks and we were going down to join him for 2 nights. Well, LG got sick with a virus Monday night(fever, vomiting only once, and diarrhea). I really didn't want to cancel the trip as she was acting ok on Tuesday with her only symptom being the loose stool. Sooo we decided to go anyway after school let out at 11. She did fine Tuesday and all day Wednesday with the exception of being fussy, but Wednesday night was horrible as she had 10 bad diapers in a row and then fell off the bed in the middle of the night. I felt terrible for her. We got home last night and both kids were so tired that they were in bed by 6pm. Then Jake got sick in the middle of the night and he has been vomiting all day. SIGH. Welcome summer!

We really had a pretty good time overall and I am glad we went as the kids had so much fun. We stayed at the Paragon Casino and Resort and although it is a casino, it is very kid friendly(oxy moron!). The alligator park was a big hit. They also have a large indoor pool and movie theatre. We watched Shrek3 and I am thinking we might need to be more careful about what they see. This was the very first time Jake sat through an entire movie. LG did ok until the last 30 minutes and we just let her play semi-quietly on the stairs. They also have a hourly childcare playplace that the kids were excited about(it resembled Chuck E Cheese...enough said) so I let them go and sat in the sitting area as I didn't feel comfortable leaving them. Well, LG lasted about 5 minutes and then started screaming for me. Jake lasted 5 minutes after that. So after $7 for socks and $5 for Jake to play for 15 minutes we left and went to go eat. At the restaurant a new waitress brought my children 2 TALL plastic cups full of milk. Jake spilt that within 1 minute. At this point you just go with it. They ate and we went up to the room for a much needed nap!

On the way out of the casino yesterday I had a young lady ask me how far apart my children were and wanted to know how they got along. She had a 10 month old and was ready for another. I wanted to tell her to savor those moments with only 1 child but I was truthful. It has its pros and cons. And it does. I love the fact that I got pregnancy over with. No more weight gain(hopefully!), fatigue, mood swings, sleepless nights except when they are sick. They do argue but who doesn't! They are going through hard stages but they are ours and we love them unconditionally. I'm done.

Landry Grace with Stephanie on her last day to babysit. She helped us out SO much this year on Mondays and Fridays. Stephanie is a lifeguard at the pool we are members of and we look forward to seeing her often this summer.

When we first got to the hotel. They were beyond excited.

Headed to the pool!
Semi-posing for a quick pic!

Some of the alligators at the park inside the casino/hotel.

Pictures are out of order. About to head into the large indoor pool.

Snack before bedtime. Why not??!!

Jake doesn't like the deep water but wanted to climb on every rock in the facility.

Last night I met up with some friends in Bossier for dinner. We had such a good time catching up while laughing and crying together. Jenny(in the middle) had Camon in October and he was recently diagnosed with Williams Syndrome. She has such a sweet heart and spirit and trusts whole heartily in the Lord. We are so fortunate to call her a friend.

And a big THANKS to all of you who have served our country with service, honor, and sacrifice. We owe you our freedom and much much more. Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend.

She's Got His Number

On Friday Jake and Landry Grace were playing together when I heard J start screaming. The reason? LG had the audacity to STEAL his Chuck E Cheese tickets! How dare she....can you tell she isn't worried? I took this picture on my phone and it absolutely tells the story of their relationship. She knows how to push his buttons. Hilarious...had to share.

Busy

The last 4 days have flown by but they were fun! I will start out with Thursday. Our special ed. department gave a diaper shower for one of the workers, Lyndsi, at our school. She is having her second baby in June. Sharon put together 2 arrangements with flowers from her yard. She is so talented. After school I picked up Jake from Mrs. Dorothy's on Thursday and had a bittersweet goodbye as it was his last day there. Mrs. Dorothy kept him for 2 years and LG for 1. We will miss her so much!!! She has such a sweet heart. We then headed over to Shreveport to meet Matt and his mom at the FCA annual fundraiser. Matt's mom is the FCA sponsor at Airline High School and has been for years. The auction consists of autographed sports memorabilia among other things and we go every year to support the northwest LA chapter of FCA. The babies then spent the night with GiGi and went to Chuck E Cheese the next day.



On Friday Matt and I went back over to Bossier to get the babies and check out a preschool over there just in case we have to move. Then Matt went west to Dallas for the weekend with some friends and I went east to Ruston with the babies. The students last day at school was Friday and we have teacher workdays tomorrow and a half day on Tuesday. Hooray for summer!



Saturday came and we had a GREAT day with Big D and Big Mama. We went over to their house and played in the pool and slip n slide and had a cook out. Jake could not figure out how to play on the slip n slide even though I had tried to give him a detailed description on HOW TO SLIDE ON IT. After much frustration, I broke down and demonstrated. Now this takes talent people. At the same time I had a lot of fun sliding on that thing! And most importantly...Jake got the hang if it. And I am so sore today....!! After naps we went back over to my parents and caught lightening bugs. It was such a fun day!!

Matt made it back today around 3 and we are just having some family time. Hope you all have a great week! We are still praying for direction with Matt's job. He did not get another interview with the company he interviewed with on Thursday, but he does have another interview set up for tomorrow with someone else. I was really discouraged on Friday but soon perked up because we are truly trusting that the Lord will take care of this. Matt is working hard on different job prospects and I know it will be fine in the long run. I'll keep you posted.


Sharon's flower arrangement
Sharon, Tina, Lyndsi, Mendy, Laura(her mom is keeping LG next school year on Mondays and Fridays..another answered prayer) and myself.

Jake with some of his friends at Mrs. Dorothy's house

Jake with sweet Mrs. Dorothy

GiGi with her grands at the FCA auction

The auction was at East Ridge CC in Shreveport and we went outside to play while they introduced the local high school and college athletes of the year. I took them on to GiGi's shortly after as they would not have sat still for long.

LG and Jake's reaction to Big D bringing over the slide to put in the pool

Yours truly demonstrating how to slide properly on the slip n slide. If you ever need a proper demonstration I am for hire. I am can even add a twist on the way down.

I had a better picture of them but downloaded the wrong one. You get the idea.

Mission accomplished: perfect execution of the dive and slide:)

Slip N Slide

Here is a short video of Jake and LG on the slip and slide this
evening. This was their first experience and they loved it!!!

Suzanne D. Tyler
Check out our blog:
www.suzannedtyler.blogspot.com

Interview

This is a public blog and I really have no idea who all reads it other than the few who comment on my posts. Yet at the same time the news will come out at some point so I'd rather be the source than someone else.....

Matt's company is downsizing by 28% as of June 15. That was the e-mail he received last week. He has been doing a lot of networking with other pharmaceutical companies, but so has everyone else who is in jeopardy of loosing their job. What does this mean? We are praying that God leads us in the right direction. Are we moving? Perhaps.

Matt has an interview in Shreveport tomorrow. Please think of us as we seek guidance during this uncertain time.

On a lighter note, Jake said he wants to move back to Bossier so that he can be closer to Chuck E Cheese. And of course we had to remember him in our prayers tonight. May Jake always be this easy to please.

Road Bump

Tonight we made it out to watch daddy's softball team play. I'll share some pictures before I post what's on my heart....

The trio before we left:

Landry Grace on the move!

Landry Grace with Mallory and Hudson. We were not successful in getting a group shot...we tried.

LG is crazy about dogs. C-R-A-Z-Y. Loves. Them. She and Arley were in heaven at the ballpark.

Jake and Kyle watching their daddies.

I have always said that I love having my babies close together in age(360 days apart and NO it wasn't planned, but it happens!) but here lately we have been experiencing some major road bumps. The hard part comes when both babies are in the "terrible twos" and "terrible threes" together. It has made for some very difficult parenting moments here lately. They tend to "feed off" each other making some predicaments worse. Parenting is hard in and of itself and we have an added element with the age situation and their individual needs. Yet I also feel that's just an excuse and I need to get over it and just DEAL. At the same time I do know that it could always be worse. Our children are overall happy and healthy. With that being said.....

Jake has really become a whiner since turning 3 and I have just NOT found a good way to deal with the situation. Sharing is a battle we all face as parents and it doesn't go over well at all with Jake. He won't share....do I let him battle it out with the other child and watch or do something about it? I don't want to enable him by always stepping into the situation as I want him to learn for himself. Another example, if someone walks by his sippy cup or god forbid his capri sun he goes crazy because he thinks they are going to drink it. Talking about it seems to do no good, time out we do...but that doesn't seem to work for him, and spanking we do because it does work, but I hate to do it all the time. Then the guilt sets in...do I not give him enough attention. Did he not get nurtured enough as a toddler? Did I not teach him properly? It may sound so trivial but when you are in the midst of it, it is very very frustrating. Is it because I work and cannot meet all of his needs? Sorry for the pity party...I am just concerned that this isn't normal behavior. At the same time I am thinking that maybe it is his way of crying out for attention.

Landry Grace also has her needs but they are different. She is clingy at times but that I can handle. She has her temper tantrums and then she seems to bounce back pretty well. We are trying to potty train her currently and saying she "has a mind of her own" is an understatement. You can't trick her into anything so I haven't pushed the issue at all. Tonight she scored a "2 pointer" on the potty without being prompted so of course we loaded everyone up and headed to the dollar store for a prize. It was more than humorous to see Jake giving her high fives and screaming "woo-hoo" at the top of his lungs since he just figured he would get a prize too, which he did.

There are highs and lows. Parenting is such a challenge. We have all thought to ourselves before or after becoming parents: "My child will NEVER do that" or "I'm glad that's not my child" and now I am eating those words and shameful that I thought that way at one time. Now I always try to think until you are in their shoes, don't judge. OK...I'm done.

This is more the Lord telling me to trust in Him and pray earnestly that we are doing the best we can with our babies. Amen:)

Variety Post!

We have had several events the past few days and I'm just going to post it all at once. In the previous post I mentioned MDO ending and I wanted to add some pictures of their teachers. I don't know that I have talked about Mrs. Glover on my blog but she was a God-send to us from the very beginning. She is in the yellow shirt and the reason we chose Temple MDO. She is also a nursery worker at First Baptist where we attend. She has been keeping kids for well over 30 years and may have kept you when you were little! Everyone knows "Glover" and I cannot say enough good things about her. But I also must brag on Mrs. Susy...her other teacher. I loved her honesty this year on some "to-dos" and not-to-dos" with LGT. We were so blessed to have found loving hands this year after a rocky start.

Glover and Mrs. Susy with Landry Grace and her "grin"

Landry Grace with Bella Grace, Eli, Maddie, and Gideon(I love that she can name everyone in her class. She talks about them all the time). Do you think she could win some time of award for this smile she has going???

Jake with Mrs. Melanie. What I loved about MDO with Jake is that we really decided last minute on whether or not to put him in this program. We had no expectation other than to be with kids more his age and we thought it would just be easier to have them both at Temple during those 2 days. Our expectations were met and exceeded as he loved every minute of it. He was the youngest in the 3 year old class and really thrived. We have a lot to work on academically but also are fortunate to have 2 more years before kindergarten.

On Friday I happened to have my camera with me at school and took a picture with Sharon and four of my sweet students. Oh how I have some stories to tell! We have such a good time:).

Matt was umpiring a state baseball tournament in Ruston on Friday so Mom and I went out for pizza before heading to the WAC track meet at La Tech. It was a great evening for running until the bottom dropped out of the sky and they had to call the 10,000 meter run off(with 8 of the 25 laps remaining...bummer!!).

This morning we went to a shower for a childhood friend of mine, Anna Mitchell, who is getting married June 5. She is always so sweet and I am looking forward to a fun time at her wedding.

I came home to LGT and Jake having peanut butter sandwiches on Papaw's truck. Really, what could be better???

Tonight we made it back out to the WAC track championships at Tech to watch one of my former athletes, Matt Wolfe, run the 1500meters. I don't miss coaching much but when I make it out to any track meet I reminisce a lot. It is one sport I absolutely LOVE, yet at the same time my priorities are my family so maybe one day when the babies are a little older.....

NOTE: I kindly asked both of my children to put down their chips but was declined. Picking my battles:)


Matt is now a freshman at Tech majoring in civil engineering. I can remember him after his eighth grade year when he was a baby and didn't weigh 90 pounds soaking wet! He went on to win 3 state titles while at Parkway High School and is now running on the college level and actually has had a great year in both cross and track. It's fun to see student athletes excel like he did and is still going strong. I know his parents are so proud.

Belated Mother's Day

Well it is Thursday and I am finally getting around to loading up pictures from Mother's Day...better late than never! We went to church in Ruston before heading over to eat with my parents and Matt's family out in the country(aka Benton). After lunch we headed to my grandmother's house(we call her "Big" and my mom is "Big Mama"...not sure where this came from but it is what it is!). I love this first picture of Big and Landry Grace. My grandmother is 85 and she looks pretty darn good if I say so myself:)! I also wanted to add that until I became a mother myself, I never TRULY appreciated all my mom did for me. Most moms probably feel that way. So thank you to my mom, grandmother, and all of you moms and moms-to-be. It's a hard job but we are so fortuate to have been given the task of being called Mom.


Landry Grace was smitten with the camera for a change and we got a couple of "good" smiles out of her. Don't get me wrong, I love the other smile. It makes me laugh!

GiGi with her favorite and only grandson.

My parents and LG

Last Saturday I took the babies out for their very first sno cone. The experience started out great as I found a drive thru sno cone stop and we made it to our destination with catastrophe. BUT you can see it didn't take long before it was everywhere. I love this shot! She loved her grape sno cone and all the stains came out in the wash!!

Today was Jake and Landry Grace's last day of MDO at Temple. It was such a fun year to see how they grew. If it weren't so late I would upload some more pictures...but I am tired so that will come later. I think it is safe to say they had a great year and learned so much. It has been fun and I am ready to stay at home with them this summer. I originally had planned on them going to MDO this summer but have decided against it. We have so much going on in June it just isn't worth it. Have a great weekend!

Papaw's Truck

For any of you that may have passed our home in the past month, you may have seen an old farm truck. It is Papaw's truck and Matt brought it home from Bossier since it wasn't being used. Jake declares it his "ship" and plays on it for hours and sometimes lets his sister join in. I want to share a sweet story that happened Saturday morning:

We were headed out to Lincoln Parish Park and Matt had gone to run an errand in Papaw's truck. He called me and asked me to pull in to the Chevron(sorry for those of you not familar with Ruston but it really doesn't matter in the long run) on Hwy 33. So we pulled in and I told them that Daddy had a surprise on the back on Papaw's truck for them. They were getting impatient just about the time I saw Matt. So I preceded to tell them "LOOK! I see Papaw's truck!!!" When they spotted it, Landry Grace started yelling "He's not sick, he's not sick!". To which I replied, "whose not sick?". Then I realized that she thought it was Papaw in the truck.

Wow...you can imagine the feelings that went through my mind. This 2 year old knows so much more than we give her credit for. Although the memories may fade to Jake and LG, we are doing our best to keep Papaw's memories alive. Thank you Lord for this sweet gesture that made me tear up all morning. Her sweet spirit reminds us that YES, he isn't sick ANYMORE because he is up in heaven with our Lord. He is totally healed of any sickness and YES we will see him again.

Love you Papaw!

Thank You

It's late but I wanted to post this one picture of 4 generations that we took today at my grandmother's house in Benton. We all have so much to be thankful for. I am humbled daily by the blessings we receive and do not deserve. We take so much for granted and I am really trying to work on not taking so much for granted.
We had a great meal with Matt's family today after church and tonight the babies are in Bossier and going to Chucky E Cheese tomorrow with GiGi. Tomorrow will be here SOON and I am off to bed. Will try and post more very soon....got a lot of great pictures today.

Happy Mother's Day!

Truth and Co-workers

I have a confession to make....since I've had children I have always envied stay at home moms. I did stay at home with both of mine until they were 8 months old(both had December birthdays and I took the spring semester off from teaching each time)....but I HATED going back to work. With both babies so close together I just needed to work.

Yet this year has been SO different. God has provided me with such a GREAT group of God-fearing women to work with. And I am so blessed. He knew my needs this year would be great. It has been an emotional roller coaster this year with many ups and many downs. Yet God knew that...and he provided. This year has truly been one of the greatest years of my 9 years of teaching. Thank you Lord for giving me friends to lean on. I really could go on and on about these great people. And for the most part my wanting to be at home is gone. And sure there are days when I would like to be with my babies, but God gives me peace in knowing they are in good hands and I am close by if needed.


We gathered at Sharon's home(in the white collared shirt) on Friday for food, fun, and karaoke. It was a blast!
Landry with Sharon's niece Camille Smith. They are the same age and I L-O-V-E this picture!

All of our kids together(minus a few)...they had a ball!!

And it took a teenager asking Landry Grace to get her toenails painted. She never wanted me to paint them but loves showing everyone her pink toes now.

And Saturday morning I got up and went garage selling with Sharon and Tina. I did find a very pretty flower arrangement for my kitchen table, but most importantly this Batman swim set for Jake. He is all decked out and ready for swim lessons this summer.

Later that day we went with Daddy to the farm production sale at Tech to buy a pig. Sorry, not for keeps....

But I thought they looked mighty cute in their cowboy boots.

And here we are with the pig Daddy bought at the auction. Fortunately they are old enough to realize what we are using the pig for:(

So happy we are now in the month of MAY! 15 more days of school. But who's counting?!