The Ryder Cup

While Scott and I were in IL, we went to the Ryder Cup.  I went with him on Thursday and Friday.  The weather was great and it was fun.  Phil Mickelson is our favorite golfer and we got to see him up close. Thursday was practice rounds and you could take pictures.  Friday-Sunday, no pictures were allowed.  

Here is the clubhouse and the driving range.  The driving range looks pretty with all the leaves changing colors. 

We saw many players on the driving range both days.  On Friday we were able to get a great spot on hole 8 and then 14 and saw lots of groups go by.  We had a good time. 

For those of you that don't know, the Ryder Cup is a tournament between USA and Europe.  USA does not have a good record in the Ryder Cup.  We were trying to win back the cup.  Unfortunately we blew up on Sunday to blow one of the biggest leads.  Some of the fans go all out to show their support. 

Saturday and Sunday, Scott went with our good friend, Mike.  Him and his wife used to live here, but moved back to IN.  We love and miss them, so it was nice to see Mike. 

Fun with Family & Cousins

We all have a great time in IL, but Tyler has the most fun with his cousins.  The minute we get to my parents house, they all start playing and we hardly see them.  My parents have a big front porch and they play out there, work on the car, play cops, and just have fun.

The boys got the car all fixed up for the girls to go out in.

Molly has fun with the cousins, but she still takes a little while to warm up to everyone.  She always likes Grandpa and her Uncle Tom.  She'd goes to them no problem. When Scott and I were gone Thursday-Friday night, she hung out with them a lot.  When my Dad was at work and Tom was home, she was apparently his little shadow. 

Not to far from my parents house is a little park.  My dad took all the kids there Thursday or Friday when we were gone and I went with him to take them all there Saturday. We tried to teach the kids how to do relay races and Allissa made up obstacle courses on the equipment and we timed them all.

I love Molly's expression. 

Kaleb is getting ready to tag Tyler's hand for a relay race.  

We took a good family pictures and we tried to get one of all the grandkids feet.  You can see Molly was not to happy about it.  When I crop it to show the feet, it cuts feet off, so I'll have to work on it.

My sister Kim and her kids-Kyla  &  Kaleb

 

Scott went to the Ryder Cup with our friend, Mike.  Him and his wife used to live here, but then moved to IN.  They just love our kids and we love them too.  I was glad Molly warmed up to him pretty quickly.

Tyler's Tent

Tyler has been asking to go camping ever since him and Scott bought a tent.  They've slept in it inside, but not outside yet.  I got him a few camping books from the library.  One is The Pocket Guide to Camping.  He is loving it.  In it, they talk about buying tents and also how to make your own tent.  That is what we did.  He loved it!

Later we looked at camping things on Amazon.  He found a sleeping bag he wants, a canteen and a tool that is a whistle in case you get lost, a compass, and it holds flint.  He really thinks he needs it.  I imagine he'll get a few things for Christmas. 

The Apple Orchard

Saturday morning, my mom, sisters and I took all the kids to Edwards Apple Orchard.  I remember going when I was young.  The weather was great and the kids had a blast.  There were tractors to drive, a big pirate ship to play on, a play house to go in, a train to ride, big tires to stand on and jump off, a petting zoo, maze, and much more. 

Molly thought it would be better to cut though the maze instead of trying to find her way out.  How cute is she!

 

 

 

After playing, we went into the store.  It was such a cute store.  I wish I would have taken some pictures of it-so many cute things to buy, tons of snacks, and samples.  It was fun.  We got some great sweet corn salsa, apple butter, pumpkin butter, and of course, apple cider donuts-the $9/dozen didn't stop us.  We ate outside and had fresh cider-it was yummy.  

There were mums and other plants along the walkway leading to the store.  Molly had to touch them all!

Family Picture

I was hoping to start the firsts of my IL trip posts today, but have not had time.  Here is a family picture we took.  Maybe I'll have time for a posts tomorrow.

All About Molly

You love to have tea parties.  Your sweet brother even sits down and has them with you.

You still love to read!  We read several times a day.

You like playing in the kennels and would get in with Wrigley all the time if we let you.

You like to color and draw

You love doing summersaults and I find you in this position many times a day. 

This is one of my favorite pictures of you and your brother!

You like to do the big slides with Tyler

There are some cute picture of Molly, now I'm about to write a ton.  Molly, you are doing so much right now and I don't want to forget it.  You are now 17 months, but at your 15 month appt. you weighed 20 lbs and were 29.9 inches.  You are a skinny girl. Your shorts, skirts, and pants are still 12 months, but your shirts are 18 months.  You are such a little character and make us laugh all the time.  You love any animal and like to wave at them.  You always wave to the cats, dogs, or birds we see when walking Tyler to school.  You love our dogs.  Ivy pretty much stays away from you and Wrigely tolerates you.  This summer you loved going to the pool.  You have fun at parks and like to slide now by yourself.  You love playing in your sand table and with bubbles.  You now like walking all around the yard and like to touch the trees, leaves, and bushes-you used to be scared of them.  When you walk in the yard, you like to wear your shoes.  That is the only time you want to wear shoes.  You only wear your one pair of sandals.  I had to actually order you the next size up in them online because I couldn't find the exact ones anywhere and you refuse to put on any other shoes.  I'm not sure what you're going to do in IL next week when it's cold. 

You are a routine girl!  In the morning, you have to put the dogs collars on, then we get their food and you put their joint medicine in their bowl.  Then you do food patrol.  You stand there and wait for them to eat (you do this in the evening too) and if they don't eat, you sign finish to me and we have to pick up their bowls.  You're getting better about waiting for them to finish when they do eat.  If you are awake, their water must be put up.  If it's down, you don't usually play with it, you just want it put up.  When Daddy gets home in the evening, you want him to hold you right away and you start signing more to him for him to take you outside and push you in the swing.  You will swing forever with Daddy.  Before your naps and at bedtime, you give Daddy hugs and kisses and fives, you wave to the dogs; then in your room, you have to look at all the things on your shelf, we have to turn on the cd and the fishies in your bed and get your blanket. You give your stuffed doggie a hug and point to his tail, ears, nose, etc.. After all that, I can read your stories to you and then you go to sleep. 

I had posted before at right about 15 months, you started walking.  You now like to walk backwards and on your tippy toes.  We moved you into your big girl, forward facing car seat.  You have gotten lots of teeth now and you love brushing them.  We do that several times a day!  You are transitioning to one nap.  Probably 4 times a week, you do one nap and the other days, you do two.  You are at a shy stage and take awhile to warm up to most people.  You know lots of body parts and point to them on you and us many times a day (head, hair, eyes, noes, mouth, teeth, fingers, foot, toes, tummy, belly button). You love to look at pictures of our families.  When I ask you when is Mama, Dada, Tyler, Molly, Ivy, Wrigley, Uncle Tom, you know and can point to us.  If it's your animal picture book, you can point to several of the animals I ask you to. You are still a picky eater.  You will not do any meat, pasta, veggie, mashed potatoes..it makes it hard giving you a variety of food.

It has been cooler here in the mornings, so when we walk Tyler to school, you've had to wear pants, long sleeves, and heaven forbid, socks.  You do not like it one bit!  You pull at those pants and your sleeves and want to change right when we get home.  You also do not like dresses anymore, but will tolerate skirts.  I put a tutu on you once and you hated it!  You have such personality already!

You love your brother and have lots of fun with him.  You play chase and hide & go seek.  You love to have him read to you.  Everyday when we gets home from school, the two of you go up to his room, turn on a cd, and dance.  It's so cute!  He taught you how to twirl around.  I already have seen you do things just to bother him and him do that to you too.  For the most part, you two have fun.

Another cute thing you do is-whenever you have a snack that you are carrying around, Wrigley, of course, would like it.  You put it real high in the air and point to yourself, basically telling Wrigley that it is yours.  You have no problem pushing him away when he gets to close. 

You had a bad diaper rash a few weeks ago, so I'd let you run around with no diaper to help it.  Since then, at least once a day, you go to the bathroom and tell me you have to go potty.  Once, when I took your diaper off, you were going potty then, so you almost made it.  Two other times, we made it before you went poopy.  We got down the little potty chair and you like to sit on it. Hopefully this means you'll be a fast and easy potty trainer. 

You are growing up too fast, but it's so fun to watch you learn new things.  We love your little personality!  You make us laugh all the time and we love you lots!

All About Tyler!!

Tyler turned 5 years old back in July.  I posted pics of his birthday party, but did not do a post all about him.  So here it is, better late than never.  For your birthday dinner, you wanted to go to BJ's, so that's what we did and you wanted a big cookie cake, so that's what I made you.  I can't believe you are already 5!

This is our try at a family picture with Daddy taking it. 

We'll start with your stats:  you are 44 1/2 lbs (75%) and 45 1/2 inches tall (92%).  You are tall and skinny!  We need size 6 pants for your length, but then I have to do the adjustable waist as far as it will go.  You seriously can still wear 3T in the waist.  You are always full of energy and on the go.  You are into Power Rangers, Rescue Heroes, Firemen and Lego's.  You love to swim and went down the slide this summer by yourself.  You can do a forward and backwards summersault in the water and a hand stand. Your best friend is Kyle and you would spend everyday with him if you could.  Luckily you both play together so well.  You were at his house or he was at ours many many times this summer.  You still love to help with projects.  You like to read and of course, watch tv.  You and Molly play pretty well together.  She loves it when you push her in the swing and playing chase with you.  When you get home from school, the two of you go upstairs, turn on your cd, and dance.  It's so cute!  Molly also loves to have you read to her in the big chair.  Molly loves you!!!  You can be a challenge for me at times, you don't always listen or obey right away, but I'm sure most 5 yr olds do that.  When you are focused on something or really want to do something, you can obsess over it a bit.  You get nervous when change is about to happened-like Kindergarten.  You mostly have lots of fun.  Mommy and Daddy love you very much!!  Here are some of my favorite pictures.

I love this one of you and Molly!!

Molly loves when you read to her.  You are so sweet to do lots and lots of books with her.