SEMA brings Swifts

One of the best parts about living in Las Vegas (besides the locals discounts) is that there's always something going on.  That's even better, of course, when it's something that your brother-in-law is coming out to and brings his whole family (my sister and their 2 kids) with him.  I was so, so kind to keep Tina company while Russell and Hunter had to go look at a bunch of tricked-out/rare/expensive vehicles at the SEMA (Specialty Equipment Market Association) Car show held on the 1st weekend of November every year.  What better place to host an expo that features doing bling-y unnecessary stuff to your vehicle, right?  Anyway, we're always glad when we get to see them.  :)

About 30 minutes after they'd arrived from their car drive from SoCal, Soren (3) asks for some juice.  I give him some (just about a full cup) in a sippy cup with a lid.  Moments later, he's crying because he's all wet.  I felt bad for maybe not putting the lid on all the way until he told us that he pulled the lid off!  Crazy kid...  Strangely enough, this ended up happening with the next 2 cups of apple juice given to him!  One was even in a totally different cup that we thought was safe from another total-body apple juice cover.  Good thing we have a washing machine...

 Ty loves playing with (read: poking/drooling on/rocking un-softly) babies so he was thrilled to have Alana (5 mos.) here!  It was great--she laughed at stuff he did and is sturdy enough to handle a bit of Ty's love.  I'm glad that she could use his exersaucer, too.  I'll have to add a video of them making each other laugh later.

 We went to the mall's library branch for story time, but we were a little late getting out the door, so we let the boys play on the little quarter rides instead.  Ty and Soren haven't quite reached the "happy-to-be-sharing-with-you" stage in their relationship.  I'm sure we'll get there.   

 This time Ty-Ty gets to drive the truck; this one's his favorite.  :)

As a very belated birthday lunch, we took Tina and Hunter (and our children, but they were free, so no biggee) to the Rio Buffet.  Once again, the Rio did not disappoint!  We're looking forward to going there when my parents come for Thanksgiving.  And please pardon my crazy hairdo.  (Maybe I should stop making excuses for my hair/appearance and either A) pretty up a bit more or B) recognize that's how I always look.  Yikes.)

 Ty and Alana playing again.  Happy, cute cousins!

 Russell did take hundreds of pictures and videos at SEMA, so I told him he should pick his favorite one:  behold, an RWB Porsche, one of only 2 in the US, crafted under the master hand of Nakai-san himself. 

 And here's some more cars coming down during the SEMA Cruise.

Anytime anyone else (including you guys, Swiftees) wants or "needs" to come down for something, we'll happily let you entertain us...uhh...I mean entertain you, too.

A Year and a Quarter.

According to my math, that's how old Ty is (give or take a few days)  He is just getting more and more fun to be around and play with!  His little--actually, big is more like it--personality is comin' on through!  I think pictures work best to describe his current antics/behaviors/silliness.  **Warning: lots of pictures in this post!**

Ty-Ty and I will sometimes share popsicles. This can happen one of 2 ways: 1)We take turns licking it [I ain't afraid of his drool; it's everywhere already] until he gets upset because he wants to hold it himself, but I don't really trust his popsicle-holding skills while not in a high chair, and he ends up mad at me because I don't let him grab the whole thing.  Usually, either his hand is on mine or my hand is on his so we're both holding the popsicle stick.  Kinda reminds me of every meal we have when we have to use 2 spoons: 1 for him and one for me to feed him/help him out.  If we only have one spoon, there will be unhappiness.  I'm glad that he likes to try stuff on his own.  The 2-utensil-thing also applies to toothbrushes: 2 of those, too.  But I digress...big time.  or 2) [forgot about this, huh?] he isn't interested in the popsicle and just wants the stick:
 

 Ty likes to read books, but unless it's a touch-and-feel kind, isn't really patient enough for a normal plot structure.  He likes to look at books in his own way, turning pages back and forth like he knows exactly what he's doing and gets mad that I only turn pages R to L.  Recently he will point to some of the pictures on the page when I ask him where something is.  Oh, and check out his cockatoo hair!  That's just how it was when he woke up one morning.  Also, doesn't he look skinny?  I think all of this walking/running business is really defining his physique.

 We gave Ty these alphabet blocks for his birthday, which proved to be not such a hit at first...unless, of course, by "hit" I mean that he throws them and when it hits you it hurts...  He's learning that balls are for throwing (except for the baseball--ouch), but not so much everything else.  He also used to get upset when whatever tower we were building fell over.  It makes stacking things a lot more fun now that he realizes he enjoys re-stacking, too.  Enjoy this progression.  Can he stack 4 blocks?!  Yep!

 What about 6 blocks high?!  Yep, he can do it!

 "Look, Ma!  I stacked 7 blocks!"  He was quite impressed with himself.  I was, too!

 Ty likes "getting" us and we like "getting" him right back. He thinks it's funny to run up and belly flop onto us/the big green pillow and does it all the time.  Here, looks like Daddy got him!

 But Ty-ty doesn't give up without a fight!  I see many a- family room wrestling matches in the future.  :)

 This little Booginhead [the name of a baby accessory brand that also has been lovingly bestowed upon our child] thinks he's hot stuff and can/will just help himself to whatever he finds like a box of cereal.  We have a baby gate blocking off the kitchen, but there's so much stuff in there for him to play with and explore that I don't always employ it.  This means that anytime he hears the fridge, pantry, or dishwasher, he books it through the gate and weasels his way into said opened-things.  He arranges the condiments in the door of the fridge and usually carries one out (which quickly is put back by moi), plays in the silverware until I'm not looking and he climbs up in/on the dishwasher at which point that "playtime" is over, or looks up and down the pantry shelves until he points to something he wants.  Lately, he's pointed to veggie straws, chinese crunchy noodle thingees, children's multivitamin, or grabbed the packets of Crystal Light.  Silly little independent thing.

We went to the park a little while ago with a playgroup and Ty has SO much more fun now that he can walk.  (Wait--maybe that's me...)  Anyway, he was just being all cute in the grass.

 And pointed at all of the cars driving by.  He does like cars and will make "vroom-y" noises while driving his cars around.  :)

 Happy to be pushed on the swings!  I'm not sure what exactly his favorite part of a playground is since he's had mixed reactions to everything.  We did go to a different park last week and although I was watching him (not close enough, obviously) he went on his tummy, head-first down the "big" slide!  He saw the "big" kids do it, which means he must've been able to do it too.  Our little Adventuruss was all smiles, though, and he did it again.  I feel a sneaking suspicion that I'm going to have to keep an extra keen eye on this one...

 In case you come over, you should probably know that the door to our master bathroom doesn't fully close.  Well, it closes it just doesn't latch all the way, so you can push it open without turning the handle.  This has resulted in many privacy-free experiences!  I'm somewhat [emphasis on the "somewhat"] of a picker-upper so during the day when I'm putting things back where they go and walking around, I am many times surprised that I have a little guy right behind me!  He's become somewhat of a shadow and thinks it's pretty funny.  It's extra funny when he follows me into my closet because I think he thinks I'm hiding from him.  I don't think I'll tell him I'm not--wouldn't want to ruin his game!  Back to the bathroom stories (yikes--that sounds questionable!) bathroom time has been an accepted parent-child event in our household.  Hope that wasn't too much information for ya...  Ty will sit and play with his bath toys/try to grab our toothbrushes/open and close cupboard doors and just, ya know, keep you company.  Anyway, once Ty-ty just walked right in to his "playroom" and dumped out his big ol' bucket of megablocks.  I told him to put the bucket on his head and he did like it was a normal thing to do.  And for him, it kind of is.

 Then he just continued playing like that!  I know the bathroom isn't the cleanest place to play and this is a habit that needs to break soon, but he washes the floor every time he takes a bath!  This boy has some serious splashing power.

 This Thomas the Train ride-on toy was a present from Mor-mor and Far-far, which he likes even more now that he figured out how to climb on it and sometimes even push himself around!  Of course, it does also cause meltdowns when he runs into something and can't keep going...

 Speaking of climbing up on, Ty decided it would be fun to climb into this bin with random stuff we were sorting while we cleaned out and organized the closet in his room (which I'm almost done with for the first time...ever) and he tipped it over!  He wasn't crying, but was kind of scared laughing.  We laughed!

 This little boy is drawn to football.  No lie--we didn't force this on him, it's just a natural affinity.  When a football game is on he will point to the TV and "Ooohhh!" and stuff.  This even happened when we were passing the electronics section of a store the other day.  In this picture, he had just thrown his football that he went and grabbed out of his toys after he saw what was on TV so that he would be ready for the coach to put him in.  Boy knows what's up.

 Ty loves hats.  His collection is slowly shrinking because he's hit a major growth spurt (size 6 shoes?!) and his head is expanding, but he still likes wearing hats!  It's funny to see his preferences, too.  Ty especially enjoys wearing a viking helmet while he's playing, which is a-dorable. 

There you have it--a snapshot of the Ty-Ty at 15 months.  I'm sure there are more things that I would like to remember about his current stage:
  -Ty has taken up the arty of fake laughing and it usually manifests itself when he knows other kids are looking at him. 
  -He likes watching Blue's Clues and recently is getting into parts of Sesame Street. 
  -Sometimes he'll repeat what we say like "door"-->"doh" and other such things. 
  -He's very good at following commands like "turn off the light and close the door" or "show me where to get a snack," but not so good at ones like "don't touch buttons on the TV, pleae" or "come get your diaper changed."
  -I only occasionally catch him dancing, but sometimes he'll just be chillin' bobbing his head to music.
  -He still loves vegetables!  At a recent outing, he chose to eat green beans instead of ice cream.
  -Ty will only drink milk out of the non-leakproof sippy cups.  This is A-nnoy-ing to his mother!
  -We know he can identify eyes, nose, mouth, head, and ears, but he thinks he's funny by pointing to the wrong one.
  -Anytime he sees anyone else getting shoes on, he'll go over to the door and get his shoes, too.  Boy likes to go outside and do stuff.  I don't think it's so much the "being outside" part as it is "getting to go where the people are going."  Social creature...
  -Ty still snuggles before naps/bed and sometimes after.  I love this and hope he stays snuggley until I at least have another baby to snuggle, if not forever.  :)

[Congrats on making it to the end--that was long!]

Belated BOO

Happy Halloween!  (Go ahead and read that a week ago.)  I've been a bit behind on updating this business, but I have at least thought about writing posts; they just haven't made it to the 'net yet.  Also, I made a rule for myself that I don't get to look at others' blogs until I have updated my own, so now I just want to hurry and do this so I can check up on all y'all.  "Hurry" doesn't usually work so well for me when I'm recapping an event/telling a story/doing most things, so we'll see how that actually turns out.

Cute cowboys: the Marshall and the Outlaw.

Marching in the costume parade at our church party.  Ty is such a ham around...anyone!

Post-trunk-or-treating, Ty was still leading Russell around.  He (Ty) wears the little pants in our family.

Tryin' on Daddy's hat.

This was our "trunk" (truck bed) with a rusty, dusty ol' west saloon in the back!  Root beer was served all night long.

At the pumpkin patch, we took pictures in his partial costume; no "wanted" poster and no chaps because the hay kept sticking to them!

Ty-ty the Terrible and his trusty...pumpkin?

Love him.

Checking out the animals at the petting zoo.  Standing at the fence was really enough petting for me.  How much to chickens and goats like to be pet, anyway?

Ty and his gal pal, Addie.

"No more pictures, Ma!  Give a man a break."

Ooooo!  Caught ya!  Guess our chaperoning should include something like preventing them from kissing, not encouraging it...oops.

So cute!  I love her little ponytails--like antennae!

Rascal-ing through the town...uhh...community center trick-or-treat.  I think next year, this whole Halloween thing will be lots more fun for him.

I dunno, though--he obviously enjoyed it!  We totally tuckered him out.

 On Halloween night we did actually go around to a few houses to show off our Outlaw.  Ty was well received and very cute, even though he tried to walk on in some doors...  We're definitely looking forward to next year!  If you have any great costume ideas, feel free to pass them along because I really have already started thinking about it.  I'm not kidding.  Happy Halloween!

Oh, Second-graders...

Although the opportunity cost was greater than I had hoped for my substituting last Friday, at least I was entertained by a second-grade class.  Here are some things I learned while "teaching" them:
    -Second-graders don't get sarcasm nor do they like to laugh and joke with the teacher.  I could never teach second grade.
    -If you cry at recess because the other guys won't let you play their game with them, lots of little girls will come running to your aide.
    -If you're the only one assigned to do a special job in the class, even if it's just holding open the door, it's awesome.
    -Whatever happens to these kids in the 5 years between 2nd grade and middle school changes them exponentially.

And of course, the quotes of the day:
    -(After lots of rambling and following me around on the playground) "My Nana has a chihuahua and she'd 2 and she's on her period."  Apparently, those fact were important for me to know.
    -(Innocently looking at a globe for an assignment) "What's that country?  Niger?  Is that country called Niger?"  I made a swift correction to his pronunciation of "Niger" to have the letter "g" making the "j" sound.  Yikes.
    -Kid 1: "How do you spell helicopter?"  Kid 2: (Rolls eyes--duh.)  "H-e-l-l-a..."  Nice try, but not quite.

Oh, second grade, you are so naive...but cute.  :)

Missing Something?

When I was in 5th grade, a friend of mine called (and a phone call was a big deal to a 5th-grader) and we talked for a little while until she revealed her reason for calling: she wanted ideas on what to get the birthday girl for a party she was attending later that week.  I knew this birthday girl, too--we were all in the same class--and I also knew I wasn't invited.  My friend knew I wasn't invited, but still wanted to tell me all about how much fun it was going to be.  I hated the feeling of exciting stuff going on with out me. 
Fast forward a few years.  During my junior year of high school I was working at a lovely cart/kiosk in the mall that sold gel candles and came home one after work one Saturday exhausted.  I decided to take a good nap before going to the church Valentine's Dance that night, which also happened to be one of my favorite nights of the year.  (Ya know, booty-shakin' while looking around for a little cupid-esque action.)  I woke up at 8 a.m. the next freakin' morning!  I had slept right through the dance and totally missed out.  The next day in church I heard all  about it, especially about how much fun it was.  I hated that I had missed it. 
I suppose I know that's why I was usually the last to go to bed among roommates in my college days: I didn't want to miss anything.  Somehow this desire amplifies significantly when a child is in the picture, particularly my own.   
I felt the same "let's-talk-about-a-party-you're-not-invited-to" feeling right after I dropped off Ty at a friend's house to watch him for the day as I went to substitute a 2nd-grade class.  I took the sub job before I realized that it coincided with the day the playgroup was going to the pumpkin patch.  We went to this pumpkin patch last year (twice, actually) but since Ty was only 3 months old, we had only taken pictures.  This time he got a "group pass" for unlimited rides, the petting zoo, a train around the place, and a little goodie bag, not to mention watching Ty "Oh! Oh! Oooo!" at every pumpkin he saw.  And....I missed it.  I may or may not have gotten a little choked up while driving to the elementary school.  Dramatic?  Yes, but also frustrating to me because this is why I don't work full-time/regularly: so I can be around for the "events."  As a large-mouthed man I never knew once said, "I don't wanna miss a thang."  And I don't.  There will be more pumpkin patch-like trips and lots of things that I will inevitably not be around for, but for as much of it as I can, I'll be there.

The Spirits of Halloween!

BOO!  Did I scare ya?  Didn't think so.  I've come to the realization--or perhaps have just matured enough to realize--that Halloween is an awesome holiday.  I like "cute, friendly kind of scary stuff, and dressing up" Halloween, not "gory, creepy, scary stuff."  I also like Halloween colors.  I suppose I'd like to send out a big "thank you" to Pinterest.com for letting me check out all kinds of crafts and treats, but mostly it just gets those rusty wheels in my head a-turnin.  Here are a few of the Halloween things that I'm using to liven up our place and get into the spirit.  

These I made back in September with some wood chunks, paper, mod podge, and foam stickers I found at the dollar store (as in $1 for the pack of 'em) and thought "hey, I can do something with these!"  So I did.  Total cost: not much.  Kinda fun and easy to pack away for future years.

 I did see this on Pinterest, but followed the tutorial loosely.  I love me some candy corn, so candy corn garland was perfect.  It's like a big visual reminder of what Halloween is all about: candy, duh!

This cost a real small amount: I already had the paper plates, orange cardstock, yellow and white paint, and some black ribbon.  I did make more than I have strung up (but I gave that away) and had to buy some more ribbon to finish.  Still, I don't think this will be too hard to pack up and break out again when the season comes back around.  Maybe they can stay up year-round.  Maybe not...

 Then for Family Home Evening we decided to take some cupcakes to a couple of people.  Also, I needed to use up the leftover frosting I had already in bags from my last cake decorating class. 

 Russell did a good job helping by getting out the chocolate chips and feeding Ty while I decorated.  I like this (cup)cake decorating thing as long as it doesn't have to be perfect and I can have fun with it...like I did.  In case you can't tell, they're supposed to look like Frankenstein, a mummy, or skull n' crossbones.

 

 ...And this is what I did with the leftover frosting in the bags.  Russell--who has held human brains in his hands--said that my attempt to make a brain (the one on the left) was a feeble one.

 This is us giving cupcakes.  Ta-da!

 And check out this happy/surprised/shocked/ecstatic face of the recipient.  Perfect--just the reaction were hoping for. ;)

Okay, this isn't Halloween-y, but Russell and I (equally together in the kitchen=love) made some "Hot Pockets."  It is autumn-y, though because we can actually use the oven without raising the indoor temp to heat stroke levels.  Here we have broccoli, alfredo, onion, and chicken and meatball, onion, garlic marinara, and mini bell peppers all wrapped up in a wheat crust.  De-freakin-lish.  I recommend you make your own...or hire Russell to use his I-used-to-work-at-a-pizzeria skills to make some for you.  He will not disappoint! 

Now all I need is to put together our Halloween costumes...so much pressure.