Tyler Talk (and Jackson Talk!!)

I can't believe that Jackson is old enough now for me to be posting about his sayings too!

TYLER:

My Grandma and Grandpa Boucher are here visiting and the boys have been having lots of fun having them around. My mom got a Nerf gun and goggles for her birthday and the boys have been playing gun wars around the house. Yesterday Tyler and Grandpa were battling and Tyler yelled, "Come Get Me (DUM DET ME) Old Man!!" It was so funny- we all started cracking up. My grandpa is always teasing us like crazy, so it was great that Tyler got him a good one :)

For the past couple weeks at church, the older kids in Tyler's Nursery class have been visiting Primary so they can practice for the New Year, when they all move up. This week at church, near the end of Sacrament meeting, I told Tyler, "This is your last week in Nursery and then you get to be in Primary Forever!!" He said, "Forever? But I wanna go home!"

JACKSON:

Jackson has been talking so much lately! He repeats what we say and he is starting to figure things out. He loves watching movies and has a strong opinion about what is on t.v. He frequently walks to me and asks for Cars or Buzz or Ice Age, his favorites right now.

Today we were playing Ker Plunk (I found the game for .99 cents at GoodWill!) and Tyler said he wanted all the pink sticks. Jackson held up his pink stick and said, "Pink!" I asked him to name the other colors, and he couldn't, but he always got the pink ones right. I remember when Tyler's favorite color was purple, his first color to identify and name. It's fun to think that Jackson may be ready to start learning colors!

Then as I was counting the marbles he counted along with me repeating the numbers after me and saying "fourteen" over and over. I guess that's his favorite number!

I have Christmas posts coming soon! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have a Happy New Year! We are gearing up for Jackson's Birthday among the New Year's Celebrations. So fun!

Prayers for Baby Caleb!

My little nephew is having hernia surgery tomorrow. Isn't he just the cutest thing you've ever seen? Just wanted him to know we are thinking of him and will be praying for him all day. Love you Mel and T...

My most important *things*

Lately, I've been missing my stuff. Especially since it's Christmastime and I have some special Christmas decorations buried down deep somewhere in our storage unit. We are living with my parents while we are saving up for a house of our own in this hard economy/expensive Southern California. All my stuff fits in 2 bedrooms, and I've been realizing lately that the most important things I have are my people. I knew we'd be downgrading when we left our house in Texas, so I've been gearing up for letting go of a lot of my things. But now that I've been living with only our necessities, I've realized I need next to nothing to be happy. Don't get me wrong, my parents have everything, so it's not like we've been living hard. I just know that when we do empty our storage unit and move into a house of our own, I'll be ready to let go of the things I don't even remember we have anymore. Because I really like the feeling that I have all that I really need when I hug my boys. They are my most important things.

TyLah

Tyler has been so cute lately with all the things he's been learning and saying. He used to say his name "Ty'yer" but has learned if he sticks out his tongue, he gets the L sound. So he sticks out his tongue in the middle of his name and it's pretty cute!

He still loves animals and is so fascinated to learn about where they live, what they eat and all other details he can learn. I only have to teach him something once and it sticks. He has his dad's great sense of direction (thank goodness!) and already knows his right and left (he and Grandma have been practicing!) and tells us how to get home, which direction to turn and if the light is red or green.

The other day we watched Elf while Jackson took a nap and he liked it so much, he asked to watch it again when it ended! Later that day we were at a park and went to the bathroom and he yelled "these toilets are huge!" a line from the movie, and I had to laugh when I too noticed the big metal toilets were quite large.

Today he went to Primary at Church (for the kids turning 4 and up) to practice- he'll be in Sunbeams (the 4 ear old class) in January! One of the leaders told me he did a great job today especially during Singing Time and kept saying, "My name is TyLah!"

Grumpy Face!

Jackson is our little funny kid. He's always making the funniest facial expressions and sounds. If we say "Grumpy Face!" He makes this face:

and then he's right back to his smiley self when we say "Happy Face". It's pretty fun to watch.

I can't believe that Jackson will be 2 in a couple weeks! I remember the Christmas right before he was born. I was so anxious to have him, yet calm and ready. He is such a wonderful addition to our family!

Some of his favorite things:

Seeing a bus, airplane or truck

Playing doggie when Tyler is a tiger

Eating snacks and drinking milk

Going on a walk or to the park

Going to free play at Tyler's gymnastics

Seeing Daddy, Grandpa and Grandma at work

Getting a Jelly Bean for doing something good

Taking a bath

Going to Target and getting popcorn

He is always along for the ride and usually so easygoing about what we do and where we go. Although lately, he's started to show an opinion about certain things like what blanket he uses, where he sits at the table and if he's going to show off a trick/say a word or not. He must almost be two!!

Thanksgiving and Now Christmas...

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving- tons of family time, just how I like it! Since Tommy and Melonie were blessing Caleb the Sunday after Thanksgiving, we flew up to celebrate!

Thanks for the cheesy smiles everyone :)

The kids had a BLAST... and I mean blast. Tyler keeps telling me he misses his cousins.

We had quite a bit of snow which was a nice treat! Jeff even got to take Tyler sledding which they had a blast--maybe I'll add a video later.

And Melonie made these darling Turkey Shirts for all the kids!!

We had an endless supply of laughs... especially the one time I pulled out my camera

and had to get one of the "originals"

And one of my very favorite parts of the trip was holding this little cutie pie. Look at those eyes!!

After our Thanksgiving celebrations, we moved right on to Christmas with Lily's dance performance and a visit to Santa's Workshop. Monday night they got their Christmas Tree and Tuesday the lights went up, we did some shopping and got right into the holiday spirit! (somehow since I've gotten home and have a few too many to-do's on my list I'm feeling a little more like the Grinch.)

Jackson asked for a Choo Choo Train and Tyler asked for "a rhino. But not the soft kind, the hard kind" Although today he told me he changed his mind and wants a black helicopter. I told him he'll have to write him a letter and how nice of you to give Santa so many details, I bet he loves that :)