Go St. Louis Cardinals!

We finally got a chance to take our first real trip away - Tyler spent the weekend with both sets of grandparents in Stanton while we headed to Kansas City to watch a St. Louis Cardinals game with our friends Angie & Joe. We had a lot of fun and the Cardinals came away with a win (actually- 2 out of 3!).

What do you think..future Card?

Farming with Papa

And of course, while home we had to go farming with Papa Knute....who was abnormally dirty due to switching out planters earlier that morning....

First Haircut

Ok...so this was my fault that this happened way to late - but none-the-less, we took Tyler to Stanton to get his first hair cut! As you can see, he really needed one!

He jumped right in his chair and began to play with tractors.....

He cringed a bit when the clippers started....but realized it didn't hurt so let her finish...

Apparently it was nothing exciting because the trucks kept his attention...

And the Easter Egg...

And when we were done, little Tyler was gone and in his place was this little man....

Easter at Grandma & Grandpa's

After Easter we spent a weekend at Grandma and Grandpa Hallquist's house - and of course we have to do another Easter egg hunt! Tyler did great against Aunt Carrie, Uncle Josh, Mom, & Dad. We enjoyed a relaxing weekend with some great meals & laughs....

Tyler after egg hunting....or is it Haloween?

Tyler watching cartoons with soon-to-be Uncle Josh.

Papa was thrilled that Tyler liked playing with his home-made elevator. They were busy moving wine corks up and down!

Elmo is one of our favorites....you can see he was all involved!

Oh, the puppy. This dog has so many stories. It is Carrie's originally - I think. When you turn it on, it walks torwards you, barks, then flips over. Tyler is absoultely terrified of it, but Papa gets it out every time we come home. Over time he's gotten a little better, and this night he even started laughing a bit.

Easter Egg Hunting!

We spent Easter in Des Moines this year. The Baysinger kids hid eggs in the yard for Tyler and neighbor girl Ashton. The big kids seemed to have fun hiding, and then helping the little ones find! Ashton had it down pat, Tyler got easily distracted. But he had a lot of fun - especially when he figured out there were candy in the eggs!

Abby Baysinger, Ashton Port, Nate Baysinger, Tyler Newman, & Jacob Baysinger

So while I was making lunch, I thought Tyler was playing so nicely in the hall - little did I know he was eating all the M&M's...there goes a good lunch!

Sorry I can't get these to flip - but they were so cute I had to include them!

Tyler and Ashton sharing candy - don't they look so innocent?!?

And of course, it's not Easter without an egg hunt in your PJ's at home!

Up Up!

Basketball, football, orange ball, yellow ball - it doesn't matter if it is a ball! A few months ago on a particularly warm April day, we took Tyler outside to play in the yard with his plastic ball. After playing around, he took his ball and headed toward the street. He was so determined, we followed.....down the block, across the street, about 5 houses down - to a basketball hoop! He stood below it, looked at as, and said "basketball?" Then shot his ball. For the next week, we couldn't take a step outside without heading straight for this house. So, next trip to Stanton, Papa Knute lowered his hoop and they played, and played, and played! Since he needed a lift, he would get his ball, stand in front of Papa, and say "Up Up?" It worked, as you can see!

Well, we decided that maybe this warranted a new purchase...so we got him his own hoop to play with indoors for now, and outdoors this summer. It was the best money we have ever spent on babysitting! :)

How to Entertain Indoors...

Just thought I'd post some of my favorite pictures and stories from the past few months...

We have found a passion for books! Thank goodness the stage of getting ALL of them out only lasted a few weeks! He has his favorites, mostly ones with farm animals and an ISU book where we find Cy on every page.

So this leads to my farm animal story. We have been working with him on animals, and he had done a pretty good job of repeating sounds when you say them, and had started to even say them on his own. He is good at cow, lion, sheep, monkey, rooster, and turkey. So we went to church one Sunday and he started getting fidgety, so I pulled out a book and opened it, and automatically he looked at the cow and went "moo" - right in the middle of a prayer! I had no idea he knew the picture-sound association. I quickly turned the page and to my surprise, "Baa!" Andrew quickly hissed for me to change the book!!!

Along with the animal sound theme...we were sitting on the deck a few days ago and he pointed to the house and went "neigh"...I was pretty confused on what he was wanting or trying to say until I saw what he was pointing at - our Swedish horse with our name on it! I give him credit knowing that was a horse!!!

He was struggling with eating anything while sick so when he wanted to eat the pudding by himself, of course we let him!

Ok - so one of his favorite words & foods is Banana. Every morning he sees them on the counter and starts begging. So one morning I just grabbed a half of one and handed it to him - and quickly learned that a toddler can shove a half a banana in his mouth and doesn't understand the concept of bites! But he was happy - he got his banana!

Andrew left his fishing pole out and within 5 minutes we had a new fisherman in the house!

Lately I've been trying to finish numerous projects in the house. One is hanging towel rods where you can actually use them in our upstairs spare bathroom. Andrew and Tyler finished this one day while I was out. Andrew said he was drilling holes and Tyler headed to his bedroom. After a minute he came back with his own little drill (Thanks Legion Santa!) and wanted to help! Andrew said he was so proud that he had the same tool dad did!