Saturday, February 18, 2017

The Family: A Proclamation to the World

I love the gallary wall in my dining room. Everything on it has some sort of meaning to my family. I have had a framed "The Family: A Proclamation to the World" hanging on the wall since I initially created my gallary wall. When I saw the work that Matt's cousin did to personalize these, I immediately fell in love. Needless to say, I was thrilled when Matt got me a beautiful print for Christmas to replace my generic one. I absolutely love my updated gallary wall and will always treasure this piece!

The Boys Lately

My boys are a handful! I'm sure that is the case with most little boys, but Tyler and Bradley sure keep me on my toes. Bradley is full of energy and has turned into a little climber. Nothing is safe around him. Our stools currently reside on top of our counter if we aren't sitting on them, and the dining room chair are locked in the craft room. This doesn't deter Bradley too much... he finds ways to climb even without stools and chairs! I also have to keep my garage door locked so Bradley doesn't wander out into the garage on his own.


Bradley is almost always happy. He has the biggest, cutest smile. He has started throwing fits lately, though. I try not to laugh as he throws himself on the floor. He's usually upset that I won't let him climb on the stool and crawl on the kitchen counter. 


Even though he's only 16 months, Bradley has turned into a good little helper. He loves emptying the silverware from the dishwasher and he helps pick up toys when we sing the "clean up song". Speaking of singing, Bradley loves to sing. It is so adorable. He doesn't really say any words, but he thinks he does. Listening to him sing is one of my favorite things.


Bradley loves to eat. He especially loves snacks. All day long he goes into the pantry and brings me snacks... usually fruit snacks, but sometimes he pulls out entire boxes of granola bars or the big Costco bag of pretzels and brings them to me. He also constantly brings me cups to fill up so he can have a drink (he loves water).

He loves playing with toys, friends, and his siblings. He is good at stacking blocks (or jars from the pantry) and loves playing hide and go seek with his brother. He wants to be one of the big kids and loves movie nights with popcorn. He is such a bright spot in our family.



Bradley and Tyler are finally starting to play well together... on occasion. Usually Bradley will just want to take the toys Tyler is playing with (or vice versa) or knock over the tower of blocks Tyler has built, but every once in a while they play so well together. I hope they can become good little buddies.


Besides dressing up and playing with friends, Tyler's other favorite things include playing "school" with Kylee and hanging out with his dad. I love watching Tyler and Matt together.


This last picture is sweet to me. Yesterday when Matt woke up, he got ready to head out on a run. Tyler got all excited and said, "Let's go dad!" Matt thought a minute and finally told Tyler he could go with him, but he would need to sit in the stroller. Tyler told him that he didn't need to sit in the stroller because he was the fastest man in the world (he had been pretending to be Flash all afternoon). The next thing that happened melted my heart - Matt agreed that Tyler could go with him and helped him get on his shoes. I am so thankful for a husband who loves his family!

Dress-Up

I had no idea that boys liked to play "dress-up". I guess I kind of assumed it was a girl thing.... ya know, princess dresses, jewelry, and purses. Boy was I wrong. Tyler's favorite thing to do lately is dress up. There hasn't been a day in months where he hasn't worn at least one costume. He insists on wearing them to the store, to a friend's house, to the Discovery Center, when we are out on walks, etc. He loves it, and honestly, I love it too (for the most part... except when I have to help him take his costumes on and off a million times a day for bathroom runs or costume changes). Here are a few of his favorites.







Snowmageddon 2017

We had SO MUCH SNOW this winter. It was the most in recorded history for our area. It made for such a long winter... We were pretty much stuck inside (hence the lack of blogging - nothing exciting going on!) unless we were out shoveling. We did take advantage of the few occasions that it wasn't so freezing cold we could actually enjoy being outside! The kids had fun building snowmen, going sledding, and playing in the awesome snow cave Matt built (he is such a good dad!). I, for one, am happy the snow has finally melted!