Tyler is 3!

HAPPY 3rd BIRTHDAY

TYLER!

Our sweet Tyler is 3 years old now! I can't believe how fast these kids are growing up. Tyler amazes us each and every day. He is constantly learning new things...I suppose that's a good thing! He NEVER lets us forget anything, which can be good and bad. He has quite the sense of humor, he has this little sneaky smurk when he knows he is being funny. He loves to play with his little brother so much, they like to wrestle each other already! He is so great at helping Jacob stop crying. He still loves to sing to Jacob "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". He has developed a wonderful imagination and loves to pretend to be "bad guy/good guys". He tells me to close my eyes when he wants to do something he knows he shouldn't, or hides things behind his back when it's something he's not supposed to have. He is our little backseat driver- he always says things like "Don't go too fast mommy/daddy" or "Careful! Don't fall off!" as we go over a bridge.

Tyler enjoys helping us around the house and in the kitchen (when he wants to). Just recently he is always singing something he learned in preschool or at church, like his ABC's, "Where is Thumbkin", "Itsy Bitsy Spider", "Jingle Bells", or "What's the Weather". He knows his ABC's and his colors really well, is still a little shakey on counting though...this is how it usually goes " Tyler, count to ten for us" "Okay daddy, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10!" But sometimes he will do it correctly too.

He's just so cute! Sometimes he can drive us absolutely crazy, but we still love him so much and love to watch him grow up and learn each and every day!

Here's a little "Tyler at 3 years stats" for family history purposes....

Tyler measured in at: 27 1/2 lbs and 37 1/2 inches at his dr's appt. (though I think it is more like 36in.)

Some of Tyler's Current Favorites:

Toys: Geo-Trax/Air set, Lightening McQueen and Mr.The King, his Shake N' Go race track, and his Hot Wheels oh, and anything Jacob is currently playing with

Movies/Shows: Disney movie Cars, his Geo-Trax movie, Go Diego Go, Dora the Explorer, Super Why, Imagination Movers, Sid the Science Kid, and Curious George

Foods: He is still an EXTREMLY picky eater, but is getting better- he loves peanut butter and sprinkle sandwiches, fruit snacks, yogurt, he loves McDonalds Chicken Nuggets (he calls them Chicken Donalds though), pizza, smoothies, and of course any kind of treat

His buddies: Evan M., Jackson F., Liam and Collin G., Kaden and Kayla C., and Elizabeth B.

Some of the funny and cute things he says lately: "What the Heck?!" or "What???"

"I'm gonna save it for my work" (Jack says this a lot when we are done with dinner, now Tyler uses it as an excuse when he doesn't want to finish his food) , "Mommy, you a princess",

"That's perkfek (perfect) mommy!", "You make me so happy!", "It's the 'naries! (aka. missionaries)"....he likes to yell down the hallway as they leave our apt. "Baptize!!!",

Christmas 2008

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! Uncle Jonathan and Christie came down on Monday from Rapid City, SD to spend the week with us. Tyler was so excited for them to come down and play with him, he kept asking all day Monday, "Where's Uncle Jon and Christie?!"

Jack had a minor surgury on his ear on Tuesday, so was pretty much out of commision for a few days...he felt pretty good that day, but on Christmas Eve he felt pretty horrible. We all went over to his brother's house for dinner that evening (yummo!), Jack just layed on the couch as we tried to keep the kids away from him so he could rest. Thank goodness he felt better the next morning so we could all enjoy Christmas day together. Some elves came ahead of Santa and left some Glow in the Dark stars on Tyler's ceiling, that was pretty amazing to him! (He LOVES to talk about stars lately, we have to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star every night to him- sometimes twice. When we are out at night he reminds us that "Heavenly Father gave us stars!") Santa was good to us all this year, Tyler got a lot of fun toys and games that have been keeping him occupied. One I would like to highlite is the wonderful gift Uncle Jonathan got Tyler....here's a fun picture of it:

Isn't that so beautiful? Meet Mr. Mouthy Mouth. I was a little nervous when Jonathan told me he was getting this for Tyler, I thought it would probably scare him...but it didn't, he thought it was pretty hilarious actually. So does Jacob! He got it for Tyler because Tyler likes to make all sorts of faces...as you can see in an old post a while back "Tyler's Many Faces". This will probably be one of those things that sticks around in the toy bin for a long long time. Jonathan also thought it was fun to stick in odd places to greet me, like when I go to get a cup from the cupboard. Here are some other pictures and videos from our day:

Jack, all bright eyed and bushy tailed Christmas Eve.

Jacob enjoyed rolling around in the gift pile, this was just before he attacked the Christmas Tree.
Tyler showing off some of his Christmas loot (Mr. The King and Lightening McQueen)

A little Christmas Eve Wii fun.

Tyler enjoying his GeoTrax Airplane sets, he got two! Thanks G-ma G-pa Mo and Aunt Melinda!

Thanks for spending Christmas with us Jonathan and Christie!

Family Christmas Picture 2008

Sorry I wasn't able to send our Christmas card to everyone I would have liked to, so for those of you who haven't seen this yet...Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Air and Space Museum

Earlier this year Jack got some free tickets to the Strategic Air and Space Museum here in Omaha, so we decided to take the kids there last Friday. Tyler had a lot of fun. There was a special display of a collection of Train sets that people had made and collected, Ty thought that was pretty cool. As you walk in there was a Stealth Bomber hanging, Tyler took in a big gasp at it, he was pretty cute. Then as you keep walking you get an upper level view of a big hanger with all the old airplanes in it, another GASP! "Go down there! Go down there!!!" There were a few fun things for him to go sit in and pretend to fly the planes, play with the controls, a kids traveling exhibit that had a kids flight simulator, and of course a lot of old airplanes. We never went to the Air and Space Museum in Tucson because it was all outdoors...and just too hot to be outside...this was a lot better since it was indoor...and just too cold to be outside. Actually, we felt kinda bad when we got there because the temperature was in the single digits with the wind blowing hard (so the wind chill was well into the negatives), the second I opened the door Jacob would start crying. There was a nice sheet of ice...then snow...then ice on top of that on the ground too. So, Jack drove us up to as close to the door as we could get and rushed us inside then parked the car. Boy, it was cold that day, but we had fun. Here are some pictures from our visit.

This last one is for our friend Rob H. who used to fly in a C-130 (we think...hope we're right haha -the patch on the bottom left).

Psssst.....

Pssst...only two days left on Moments Blog awesome 200th post giveaway!!!

Joyeux Noel!

I made this cool board for Christmas this year! My mother is from France, so I decided to use Joyeux Noel instead of Merry Christmas. I bought the vinyl lettering from my friend over at Signs and Wonders, thanks Christina!

Do you see our lovely Christmas Tree? That's the only way we could have a Christmas tree without jacob attacking it. I moved it down and put it on a pedastol (sp?) Christmas Eve...Christmas Day sure enough Jacob attacked it. "Timber!!!!"

Brrrrr.....

It's COLD here, very cold...but not as cold as in some places...like Rapid City where my brother is, still though...it's cold. It snowed all day on Tuesday, here is a fun picture from my porch window. It was quite an experience driving in it that day...I was nervous...very nervous. Driving in snow is just too unpredictable and I just couldn't leave the driveway without saying a prayer. Some of you may laugh, but I have never really had to drive in the snow before, so it is a new experience for me. I was white knuckling it all the way to Tyler's preschool, I got a little less nervous each trip I made that day though, so I'm okay now, but the first venture out that day was interesting.

Yes, I have an SUV, but just because it's an SUV doesn't mean it automatically has 4-Wheel Drive, there was no need to spend extra money on that in AZ! But we did get lucky enough to have heated seats be standard in that car...they are my new best friend now.

I thought it was the first time I had driven in a ton of snow, but my brother Jonathan informed me he remembered driving with me in NC when it was snowing once and I white knuckled it then too, haha. Oh well, I hope I get used to it one day, or my kids are going to get cabin fever here in Nebraska.

This is what 2 degrees looks like in case you were wondering, and yes, -4 looks about the same.

Even more....

Okay, here are some recent pictures from December (get ready...there are A LOT!)

We have had a lot of fun so far this month!

We've had fun with finger paints from Grandma and Grandpa Mo (he FINALLY was okay with getting dirty and learned it can be fun sometimes)-...decorated a gingerbread house- (cut us some slack, it was our first one ever!) Tyler helped me with about 60% of it, then got bored and wanted to eat the candy...he started putting his face in the bowls and licking them when I wasn't looking, or at least he thought I wasn't looking, and no- we will not be eating this one....went to a gingerbread house display at the Winter Quarters Mormon Trail Center with our friends Erin, Wyatt, and Kira, and the Sister Missionaries (Sisters Gibson and Lefrandt) came along too- (collage of all the cool displays to come!)

...made snowman sugar cookies with 3 3-yr old boys for our activity during preschool..what an adventure!-

...tried a sippy cup for the first time- (no, it didn't go too well, but he had fun...we'll try again in a few weeks)

...tried a biter biscuit for the first time-(he sure enjoyed that one, but what a mess those things make)

...made some Jello for the first time- (once we put it in the fridge he kept asking me about every ten minutes "Let's check the jeyo mommy!" for about an hour, then he forgot about it completely)

...and last but not least, someone learned a new skilll...it started as this wobble/swim crawl...

Since then, it has turned into a full on army crawl, you can tell he really enjoys his new found freedom.

More Catch up....

Here are some pictures from November...

Behind...again....

So, it's been a month since I've posted...what can I say, I have an almost 3 year old, a 7 month old who is on the move and teething...fun combination, let me tell ya, give's me a lot of time to do things like blog....not. Oh well. I had started a nice long blogpost about thanskgiving, but I think I'll just make it short and sweet and let the pictures do the talking. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. Jack's parents came in town for a week and Tyler was SO excited to see them! They were staying at Jack's brothers house, but his mom came over and stayed with us for a couple days to help out with the kids, THANK YOU! Here are some pictures from their visit.Tyler and Evan at their "kids table"...I'm thinking we'll have to get a bigger table next year?? Tyler set the table, complete with a hot wheel's car, their forks in the cups, and a napkin completely unfolded covering the plate.
Jacob with Grandma and Grandpa Mo (aka..."Ny-Ny" and "Yae-Yae" in chinese)

Happy Half Birthday to Jacob!

This post is late too...but as is my motto on this blog, better late than never right? Our little...or should I say not so little...Jacob is growing so fast! He was 20 1/2 lbs and 27 in. at his 6 month check-up. He is my little roley-poley, he rolls EVERYWHERE! It is so funny to watch him roll around everywhere. He may not crawl yet but he sure can get where he wants...and doesn't want...to go. The second you lay him on the ground he's off rolling somewhere and he's fast too! He gets himself stuck in the wierdest places like under the piano bench, under our bed, with his feet stuck under the couch, in corners, everywhere! He can sit up now too, he's a bit wobbly so we have to be right there to catch him when he tips over, but with all that weight he's got on him can you blame him?

He is so happy most of the time. (Hey, everyone has a bad day now and then right?) I say this every month I do an update, but he absolutely LOVES and ADORES his big brother. His face lights up as soon as Tyler walks in the room. Tyler is the best at making Jacob laugh. When Jacob starts to get fussy in the car Tyler starts singing to him and Jacob instantly stops fussing. When Tyler's song is finished he starts fussing again. Tyler likes to comfort him in the car too, he says things like, "It's okay baby Jacob, we're almost home", "It's okay baby jacob you don't cry, mommy's here"

Jacob does NOT like having to be all bundled up lately either. He does all he can to wiggle away from me as I'm putting on his sweater, jacket, or hat. Once we have him in a jacket it is so funny because for some reason he feels he can't move anymore or something. He just lays perfectly still, which as I said above is not what he normally does.

Enjoy the pictures!

This shirt, and the shirt in the above picture, were supposed to be Christmas presents from his Autn Bekah, but we both realized that Jacob probably wouldn't fit them by Christmastime, so, he got them early so that they could be put to use! Thanks, they are so cute!!!

You're going to lunch how?

Destination: the big city... aka Lincoln, NE

Purpose: Lunch

Mode of transportation: Small Private Airplane

Two of his coworkers fly these small planes and so they decided to take Jack on a little ride. The day before Jack called me and said "Just FYI, I have to sign a waiver saying if we crash you and I won't sue them." "Um, Okay hun".

They all work at Offutt AFB so they were easily able to rent one of the planes and go straight from work. He said it was bumpy, but fun! There isn't too much exciting scenery in the midwest, but it's still neat to see things from a higher perspective. Here's a few pictures from his little excursion.

Did you know the gas goes in the wings??

We don't have a photo editor...so bare with me...if you split this picture in 4 squares, our apt. complex is in the bottom left, of the top right square.

Winning Pumpkin!

I know this is late, but, Jack's work had a pumpkin carving contest, and he won!

(W.D.A.C. is the program he works on)

Lights On

Lights Off

Just for fun!!! My Rising Stars....

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Happy Halloween!

We had a wonderful Halloween this year. We got good use out of the kids costumes-We went to a fun halloween party last weekend, a kids party Thursday, the costume party at Tyler's Gymboree class Friday morning and of course, trick-or-treating. Tyler went dressed as a Ninja, Jacob went as a chubby little dragon...oh I mean a scary dragon, Jack as Jack in the Box and me as a Nudist On Strike. I know, it would have won a contest huh?

(Excuse the name labels...I'm sure you are all aware what our names are, but I got this picture from a friends blog, here's a link to her blogpost about the fun party! Thanks for inviting us!)

We went to Jack's brother's house to go trick-or-treating with Tyler's cousins Evan and Allison. (Check out Bekah's blog for more cute pictures of them all!) The boys had a blast! They were so giddy and were so adorable saying "Trick or Treat!.....Thanks! Happy Halloween (or in Tyler's case "Appy lalo-een!" Jack also taught Tyler to say "Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat!" Instead it came out sounding like "Trick or treat, sfel sa sfeet", which made him even more adorable than he already was with his ninja costume and fohawk:)

Our cute little Mo kiddos. Allison the cute piggy, Jacob the fierce dragon, Evan the curious monkey, and Tyler the butt-kickin' Ninja.

Poor little Jacob was so tired he fell asleep sitting straight up in my arms while we were out. Good thing the costume was so poofy it helped support his head.

In the end Tyler came home with some great loot for mom, er uh, I mean for him to eat. We let him have one piece of candy before we went home and after that he kept running away from us and hiding, then we would hear some plastic being messed with and realize he had snuck a piece of candy. We kept telling him you can have more treats tomorrow Tyler! The next morning he woke up at 6, walked to my sid eof the bed and said "More treats now mommy!" I couldn't helpt but laugh pretty hard. Later in the morning he asked if we could go trick or treating again. Ya think he enjoyed himself??

Oh kids...

Kids are so funny! Just recently Tyler has started "knock, knock" jokes, we're not sure where he learned it from because we haven't been telling him any lately. This is from dinner last night:

Tyler:Daddy, knock knock
Jack: Who's there?
Tyler: uh...um....E! (E is what he calls his cousin Evan)
Jack: E who?
Tyler: E....hee!

TOFW

This weekend I was finally able to go to a Time Out for Women event here in Omaha. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is sort of like a "women's conference" weekend for women to have a time out from everyday life to be uplifted, to laugh, and of course cry together. There were a few speakers and a few musical artists. (Of course you know I was super excited for all the musical artists!) Last night we got to listen to Kenneth Cope, who sings and plays the guitar, and Jenny Oaks Baker who plays the violin. Today we heard some more from Kenneth Cope and Cherie Call, who sings and plays guitar as well.

They were all so great, and it was fun to actually see and hear them perform in person...it took a lot of control for me not to sing along out loud! Hearing Jenny Oaks Baker made me really miss playing my violin, one day I will start playing it again. You ask, why "one day", why not now? Well, whenever I get it out when Tyler is around he won't let me play because he wants to play it the whole time, and I obviously can't practice when the kids are asleep. So, for now that will be on the "one day" list.

While I was there I was able to see one of my sister Jennifer-Lee's best friends Chrislyn. They met in New York while they were both nannies. The last time we saw each other was at Jenn-Lee's wedding, 8 years ago! (Wow, you've been married 8 years?!) She's great! She helped watch Jacob here and there so that I could sit and actually pay attention to a few minutes at a time, THANKS!!! She has the awesome job of being able to help coordinate the TOFW events around the country.

Jack and Tyler had a fun weekend hanging out together. Jack had to drop off the car for a tune-up and they walked down to a Buffalo Wild Wings, which was filled to capacity with Huskers fans watching the game. (The Nebraska Cornhuskers football games are HUGE here, the city is a sea of red every weekend wherever you go, can you blam them, it's all they have!) Jack said that Tyler was having so much fun chearing when the fans cheared. He would get so excited and clap and scream along with them all. What's better than watching football at a wings place for some quality "guy" time?