The Lemmon Ledger

Tyler is 3...like 5 months ago!

2011-08-01T20:25:00.000-07:00

Bad bad mommy! So I realized that I devoted a whole entire post to Eric turning 5 and then totally missed posting about Tyler turning 3. So it is now a couple of weeks before his 3 1/2 year birthday so it is time to rectify that situation. :)

Tyler is a sweetheart. He is a cuddle bug and loves to give me hugs and kisses! He walks up to me and says "hugs mommy" and precedes to throw his arms around me. Doesn't get any better than that! That is not to say that he isn't all boy though. He is one rough and tumble kid and loves to do anything "boy"! He loves to play boy eating dragon with his daddy, loves cars, any sport is the best fun to him and he can turn any toy into a pretend gun. He also loves his brother and wants to do anything that Eric does. It is a lot of fun watching his personality develop. I can't wait to see how the next few months go when he starts preschool. I can't talk to much about that because I will get emotional that both my kids will be in school of some form. My little baby is no longer a little baby!

I love seeing how God had created Tyler and Eric to be so different and I love seeing how He will shape them both into the men that He wants them to be. Where Eric is cautious and studious, Tyler throws caution to the wind and prefers to learn hands on rather than from books. Eric is very talkative and outgoing while Tyler is quieter and a little more reserved socially. They are both charmers! :) They are both fiercely loyal to each other yet fight like cats and dogs. Eric is extremely strong willed while Tyler tends to be more compliant but can be stubborn when he wants to.

So once again I'm a bad mommy, as Tyler loves to joke with me, for not writing this blog sooner but I will hopefully do better next year when my babies turn 6 & 4! Ugh...not even going to think about that right now! :)

Time keeps moving on...

2011-06-07T20:16:00.000-07:00

Where does the time go? I swear it cannot be 6 months since my last post. A lot has gone on in 6 months but for the life of me I can't remember it all. I will do my best to recap though. :)

We officially have a 5 year old and 3 year old in the house. Eric just graduated VPK last week! We are so proud of our little man. He got up in front of everyone and read his book. While most of it he had memorized from so much practice we could tell he forgot some of the words and actually sounded them out in his head and read them. While reading hasn't completely clicked for the most part he is well on his way. It will definitely open up a whole new world for him and us really. Will be harder to keep things from him that is for sure! Haha! He has grown so much socially this past year. He is so excited for kindergarten next school year he can hardly stand it. He is actually getting slightly more adventuresome in his eating as well which is a huge relief for me. He likes carrots, cheese quesadillas and cheeseburgers now. I think I about passed out when he asked if he could have carrots the other day. His interests at the moment include anything animal, science, math, religion, outdoors, star wars and craft related. He is very diversified in his likes. :) He has a best friend in preschool which he says he is going to marry when he gets older (for the record she says she is going to marry him to). They are so stinking cute together. For two kids that are so much alike they get along so well. They won't be in the same school next year though and I think they are both upset about that. I fore see many playdates in our future. Eric is becoming quite a handsome little man too. How is it possible that I have an elementary school aged child!

Tyler is becoming quite the little man lately. He has a quirky cute personality. He loves to give hugs and kisses and anything to do with being outside or anything dragon related. His favorite game to play with Brian is boy eating dragon. Both the boys love the beach and pool. He will be starting the 3 year old preK next school year. Very bittersweet for me! Tyler is our crazy adventure loving kid. I wouldn't put it past him to be a fire fighter when he gets older. We have a number of wild fires close to our area and the other day it was really smoky here. I mentioned about it hurting my head and Tyler told me he liked smoky things and that it smelled good. He is always saying something off the wall funny. While Eric seems to be the chatty intellect, Tyler is more a quiet charmer. It is so fascinating to see them becoming the little guys that God designed them to become. They are so different from each other yet love each other so much even with all the fighting they do. :)

The rest of the month is going to be packed with 2 VBS programs to attend and I'll be away one week on a mission trip so the boys will be going to friends' houses if Brian has to work. For July we will probably have many a pool and beach day and try to fit in a baseball game down in Daytona as well. I think we will also have to plan a trip to the zoo and it's splash park. In September Eric gets to go on a Disney cruise with his Omi for a few day which he is very excited about. Whatever this summer brings I can guarantee it won't be boring!! :)

All About Eric

2011-01-24T19:27:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe that tomorrow morning my oldest son will wake up as a 5 year old! How did this happen?! This just cannot be possible. He was just a little baby not that long ago and now he is old enough to go to kindergarten!

So what is there to know about Eric on his 5th birthday? He loves dragons and the movie How To Train Your Dragon. He also loves riding his new scooter and bike. Any chance he gets he wants to be outside riding them. He absolutely adores movie nights and getting to make the house into a movie theater and having popcorn and the very rare soda. He is learning to read and doing a pretty good job so far. He still loves to learn and hungers for more knowledge. He has a best friend whom he adores. Her family and ours have a standing joke about getting the pre-nup drawn up now. Haha! :) He loves to be tickled and likes to wrestle with his daddy. He loves to play any kind of game but his favorites seem to be Connect 4 and Blockus. He loves to quote scripture and sing Bible songs he has learned at school (I will so miss this when he goes to regular school). He probably knows more scripture than I do to tell the truth. I need his teacher's secret on how she gets them to learn all of that. He also came home and started counting by 2's today out of nowhere. He enjoys counting to 300 in the car which while impressive drives me sort of crazy listening to constant counting. Haha! The funny thing is when I ask what he did at school he tells me he played in the sand or with the water table. Silly kid! He also loves football...playing it or watching it. His favorite team is the Gators in college football. For pro football it is whoever is winning the game...he isn't picky. Haha! :) He is also playing basketball now which is just so much fun to watch. He has a blast playing even if he is the smallest kid on his team.

As far as birthday celebrations we had a party at the park again this year per his request. He got to choose who he invited which was a first and he had a great turnout for the party. He had a wonderful time even though it was frigid outside. Tomorrow on his actual birthday we are going to go bike riding with friends (weather permitting) and then to the local smoothie cafe for dinner. He gets to open some family gifts as well. He is very excited about being the birthday boy.

He is very excited about going to California in March and seeing his Aunt Risa get married. He is also very excited to go to Kindergarten at the big school (no final decisions yet but in his mind it is already done) where his friend Koty and Nicholas go. So look out year 5 it is going to be a crazy fun year!!!

On to a new year...

2010-12-31T19:27:00.000-08:00

Oh boy...it has been a LONG time since I posted hasn't it! I'm not even going to attempt to make the resolution to keep up with our blog better because that is just asking to be broken! As I'm sitting here with 2 hours left of 2010 I can't believe all the things that have happened this year in our family. The boys are getting to big for me to even process at this time. In less than a month I'm going to have a 5 year old. That just cannot be possible! I'm to hormonal at the moment to even delve into that right now. So let's recap 2010 as best as possible in our family. Let me also say I usually only talk about the boys in this blog but to recap this year is going to require talking about myself more than I usually like to.

First off we rang in the New Year and 5 days later I turned 30. I think I handled it pretty well if I do say so myself. After all 30 is only old when you are in your teens and early 20s. After that 30 doesn't seem so bad and anything after that is not so old anymore either. I will confess I'm having a hard time now that I'm staring down 31 in a few days. Go figure. Then on January 25th Eric turned 4 years old. His birthday went smoothly and all was normal. In February we started preparing for Tyler's 2nd birthday and that is when things got interesting. Just a few days before his his party I woke up with some serious pain in my neck. No it wasn't the kids fighting...I'm talking real pain. So just prior to his birthday I underwent a thyroid biopsy. I felt much better thankfully by his party and his party went well. We officially had a 2 year old in the house. March brought the news that I had thyroid cancer. Wow...that was a shock to us and it began the roller coaster ride. Thankfully my thyroid was removed after 2 surgeries in April, I underwent radioactive iodine therapy the beginning of May and was pronounced cancer free by the end of May! During that time we experienced huge blessings from friends and family.

After Eric was out of preschool he went to California with his Omi (Brian's mom) for a week. He got to visit all his family out there and do tons of fun things. We got to enjoy a whole week with just Tyler. Tyler seemed to like it at first but after a day or two he was definitely missing his brother. Throughout the summer we did tons of fun things like Sea World and the beach. In August Eric started VPK and is loving every minute of it. He has a best friend in his class and they are inseparable. He is one smart cookie too...sometimes he is to smart for his own good. I know he is going to be a true handful in a few years when he really thinks he is smarter than us. :) Tyler has had a huge language explosion in the past few months. He has quite the personality. Where Eric is very boisterous and outgoing, Tyler is very soft spoken and more reserved. They are both a ton of fun to have around. Eric says some of the funniest things that just crack me up and Tyler gets these silly looks on his face and then takes off to pounce on you which is too cute.

One of the highlights of the past few months was Eric asking Jesus to live in his heart. This kid has the biggest love of God for a child his age. Eric struggles constantly with the need to control things and to see God working in his young heart is really amazing. He is asking tons of questions about heaven and right & wrong. It kind of breaks my heart that my baby is growing up and asking such smart questions but it is also rewarding to see that he is growing into a young boy of God as well.

This past November I took on the challenge of doing a relay race across the state with some people from our church. The boys took this to heart and prayed for me almost daily that I would win the race. They didn't quite get the concept that this was a team thing nor that we would definitely not win...we did it to raise money for Love146 ministries. Nonetheless when they came out to see me run they brought signs saying "You Rock Mommy", "Go Mom", and "Super Mom". What sweet kids I have...and a sweet husband I have that put them up to it! :)

Also of note is that we signed Eric up for Upwards Basketball league this winter. Let me tell you...it isn't his strong sport by any means but he has fun and it is fun to watch all the little kids practice! They start games this January. He is on the youngest team and almost all of his teammates are friends from his preschool. His coach is one of his friend's dad and this man must have the patience of Job to coach this team! :) We will probably look into soccer and T-ball soon for the next sports since he really seems to enjoy being active. I think we will continually enroll him in basketball though (until he asks not to) because it is an organization that not only teaches basketball and team work but also puts God first. He has a Bible verse to learn every week. Not many sports leagues you can sign your kids up for that does that.

This December brought a crazy amount of energy to our house. We had a cookie decorating party here at the house which was crazy but tons of fun, lots of different events to go to and of course Christmas Day. Dad, Shelby and some of their friends came up to spend the day with us. We had a great time and of course the boys were spoiled rotten. This year it was by us though. I think I went a little overboard with the presents but I got such good deals it was hard to pass them up. :)

So that is the kind of not so short and simple version of our year. Even as long as this post is it still can't say all that has gone on in our family but you get the gist. :) So I have to say all in all it has been a wonderful year. Even with the brief health issues our family is truly blessed! I am now 7 months cancer free and look forward to being able to celebrate many more cancer free years with my wonderful family. Happy New Year from our family to yours!

Summer Adventures

2010-07-20T19:58:00.000-07:00

This has been one jam packed summer for us so far and it is only half way over! We've done so much it is hard to remember it all...thank goodness for pictures! Between the beach, short trip down to Avon Park, Daytona Cubs baseball game, July 4th celebrations, chocolate factory tour, the library summer programs, birthday parties, trip to California and Vacation Bible School it has all started to blur together!

Eric had a great time on his trip to California. He got to go camping in Omi & Oti's RV, play in the pirate tree house Omi built for him, go to San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park with Grandpa Dale and Leah, the beach and visit with Oma & Ota. He had so much fun that I don't think he even missed us! Tyler sure missed him though. He was not himself the entire time his brother was gone. Eric was definitely a trooper on the trip out there with a cancelled flight and much later arrival than anticipated. At the layover in Texas he sang "God Bless America" for everyone. When they started clapping during a pause he said "no no I'm not done yet!" and continued on. He also LOVED vacation bible school! He keeps asking me when he can go back again. Eric continues to amaze me with his ability to pick up on things so quickly. He remembered all the Bible verses from VBS easily and over the summer has started learning some sight words along with counting up to 160 on his own. He also wants to learn addition and subtraction so I picked up some workbooks for him which he was thrilled with. He is definitely going to be our smarty pants kid. He loves to learn which is such a blessing. I just hope he continues to love it as he gets older. Along with his intelligence comes a very strong will which will serve him well in the future but is slightly frustrating for us at the moment. While frustrating as he can be behaviorally, he is such a sweetheart as well. When his brother hurts himself he immediately goes over and gives him kisses and promptly scolds whatever hurt him such as the wall or table. :) His smile, laughter and love of life is very contagious!

Tyler is growing by leaps and bounds this summer. His vocabulary is expanding so much recently. He also has a personality all his own. Unlike his brother he is not strong willed but is definitely in the 2 year old phase. He is constantly pushing boundaries but once he learns where they are he pretty much stays within them. He is our fun loving make the most of life child. He loves to have fun and laugh. He absolutely loves to pretend to be a dinosaur. He is into anything that Eric likes and I think it is his mission in life to do whatever Eric does. Tyler is also our daredevil. While Eric is cautious, Tyler is the complete opposite. In the pool Tyler just jumps in and tries to swim without abandon while Eric prefers the safety of the swim vest and has to warm up to jumping in. Tyler is the one that is giving me gray hair and will continue to do as he gets older I'm afraid. Thank goodness for hair dye! We are now in the process of potty training Tyler. Today is day 2 and things are going pretty well. He tells us when he has to go which is great. We also have cut out nap time altogether which makes for an interesting afternoon. The upside is they actually go to bed on time and don't stay up until 9 or 10pm playing anymore. Tyler is also starting to pick up on some shapes and letters and can count to 10 now. This fall when Eric starts VPK I'm going to start working with Tyler to help him pick up more basics. He learns so different than Eric that it has been an adjustment for me. Tyler is all about play while Eric would sit still and just read with you for hours. Amazing how 2 kids from the same parents can be so different. I wouldn't have them any other way though. They are each special in their own way and I love them both so much! I tell both of them they are my gifts from God and that Eric is my favorite Eric and Tyler is my favorite Tyler. :)

2010-05-29T11:53:00.000-07:00

Geez Louise I have gotten so far behind once again. Now I do have an excuse as most of you know this time but still 2 months is a little extreme to go without posting! :) So what has been going on with the boys you wonder. Tons of stuff as usual. LOL! These past 2 months have been filled with lots of fun things for the boys but also lots of disruptions to their normal lives. With my surgery and recovery from thyroid cancer we've had a ton of people helping us out which has been wonderful and I have to say the kids have adjusted so well! Now that I am getting back up to speed I can't wait to start getting active in their lives again.

They are both growing up so fast. The school year is almost done for Eric. He has had a wonderful time. I cannot believe he will be in VPK next year! After that is kindergarten! Craziness I tell you. Right now we have him and Tyler enrolled in swim lessons. So far they have only had one lesson. Eric liked it but Tyler was not especially thrilled. The day after school ends Eric gets to go to California without mommy, daddy or Tyler. Before you freak out we haven't lost our minds and are letting him fly alone. LOL! Brian's mom is coming out and taking him back with her for a week. I am excited and anxious all at the same time. I have never been away from Eric for this long or this far away from him either. I know he is going to have a wonderful time though. Once he gets back we have him registered for vacation bible school at a local church. Some of his friends from school are going to be there so I know he will enjoy it. We are also thinking about signing him up for Tball. He talks about playing baseball all the time. He will probably be really good at it if he can learn not to talk incessantly and learn to listen. Haha! One of the academic things he is learning is sounding out words. He has some sight words already which is great. We will definitely keep working with him over the summer.

Tyler is just taking off by leaps and bounds when it comes to vocabulary and personality. I swear this little guy is going to be a charmer if there ever was one. He is starting to pick up some academic things a little more now that we have learned that he learns things differently than his brother. They couldn't be more different but both of them are so precious to us. They really get on each other's nerves and fight alot but then they can't stand to be away from each other for any length of time either. Too funny! I just have to tell you something Tyler said about a month ago. Sometimes I have to tell Eric that I wasn't talking to him when I am correcting Tyler because Eric thinks he is Tyler's boss. Well in the car I told Tyler "I love you" and he says clear as a bell "I wasn't talking to you mommy"! I was crying I was laughing so hard. I know I shouldn't have laughed but I just couldn't help it. He hasn't done it since thankfully but he does say some other funny things. The words goldfish and oranges both sound like "oh s**t" when he says them. The first time he said it Brian and I looked at each other stunned because he certainly doesn't hear that from us. Then he said it again and pointed to the goldfish and we figured out that was just the way he says those 2 words. I don't know which is worse...that or when Eric used to call milk "dope"! LOL!

Can't wait to see what fun the summer has to bring for us! I'll make sure to keep updating...hopefully a little better than I have done lately. :)

Birthdays!

2010-03-21T19:49:00.000-07:00

As usual the start of a New Year is filled with birthdays for us which means lots of parties, presents, and cake. :)

Okay, so I started off the birthdays by turning 30 on January 6th. I have to say I was pretty okay with turning 30 believe it or not. I do believe I am one blessed 30 year old and it can't get much better than that! :)

Eric turned 4 about 3 weeks later on January 25th. I cannot believe that my baby (well one of them) is 4 years old! I say this every year but where has the time gone? Eric is such a little man and can be so serious and then be so darn silly. It is sometimes hard to remember that he is only 4 because he acts so much older at times. He is a smart little guy. He loves, loves, loves school. We love his school as well. Besides all the normal things he is learning they have a strong Christian base. He has come home and told me more about the real meaning of Easter and why Jesus died on the cross than I ever thought possible for a child his age. It just warms my heart to know we have him somewhere that is teaching him not only what he needs to know academically but they are also teaching him the same views that we teach him at home. He has made numerous friends as school with a few of them definitely being his close friends. It is really cute to hear him talk about his friends. His imagination is just extraordinary. He loves to save me from the coyotes and polar bears that lurk in our house. :) Some of his other favorites are Cars, Thomas the Train, anything to do with sports, anything Daddy is interested in, reading and anything to do with the computer. Right now he is super excited that he gets to go to California in June with Omi without mommy or daddy. I can't quite say how mommy is dealing with this though. Haha! :) He is also super excited to see Grandpa Dale and Aunt Risa in a couple of weeks. They are coming to visit for about a week during Easter.

Following Eric's birthday by a month is my little guy Tyler. Tyler turned 2 on February 21st. He is such a joyful kid. He is a lot different than his brother in personality. Where Eric is very scheduled and regimented, Tyler is very laid back and just goes with the flow. Eric is very deliberate and Tyler is very free spirited. Eric loved to just sit and learn at Tyler's age (and still does for that matter) and Tyler just loves to run and be active and enjoy life to the fullest. It just amazes me that two totally different kids can have the same parents. They are both wonderfully made by God! Tyler just adores anything to do with animals...especially dinosaurs. He loves to pretend that he is a dinosaur and he stomps and roars through the house. He also loves to dance! It is has got to be the cutest thing ever. I can't wait to get it on video. Tyler has also just jumped on the talking bandwagon. He has always jabbered but he is now talking full sentences and definitely states his opinion on things. He leaves no doubt where he stands on things important to him. :)

So far this year we have managed to squeeze in 2 trips to Sea World and a few trips to the Jacksonville Zoo. The boys just love it every time we go. Now that the weather is getting nicer we are looking forward to going biking with the boys and also to the beach. As you can tell we also got the boys a new bed which they love. It is like a bunk bed but not quite as high off the ground. As always we are just so blessed to have the kids we do. They are both great kids and they have managed to teach us quite a few things even at their young age.

Wow...where has the time gone?

2010-01-02T10:47:00.000-08:00

Wow...I haven't posted since May 2009 and here it is January 2010! Maybe one of my resolutions should be to post on the blog more often. Haha!

The boys are getting so big! Eric will be 4 at the end of the month and Tyler will be 2 in February. I no longer have babies. Kind of bittersweet. I'm glad to be out of that baby stage of sleepless nights, endless feedings, and almost out of the teething phase (only 2 more to go for Tyler...yay!); however, I am not glad to be out of the holding them while they sleep, discovering their first smile, first tooth, first laugh, first word phase at all. Life goes on though and there are many things for me to be excited for I'm quite sure. :)

One thing I am really excited about is that we recently moved them in the same room together and made Tyler's old room the play room. The boys really like being together and later on in the year we will get a bunk bed for them to share. We went to California for 2 weeks during Thanksgiving time and had a wonderful time. The boys got to go to Legoland and Knotts Berry Farm. They loved both of them and Eric can't wait to go back. We also got a chance to be with family a lot more than usual while out there and it really made an impression on Eric. He talks about his family a lot now which is really cute. They also got to go to the Santa Ana Zoo and the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana. They were thrilled with both. Tyler loved all the animals at the zoo and Eric was fascinated with all the things at the science center. As for the zoo I do believe Eric had more fun playing with his friend Harrison at the playground there than anything else. :)

Like I said, Eric will be 4 on January 25th. He is quite a handful and very strong willed. We love him just the way he is even if there are times he drives me insane with his stubbornness! Haha! I'm hoping the saying "if you raise a strong willed child to do the right things then they will be stick to those morals and ethics instilled in them during childhood later in life" is true. It is challenging but the payoff in the end is so worth it. He is quite a smart little cookie. He is in PreK-3 at First Baptist Christian Academy and LOVES it! He loves his classmates and teacher and he is developing a love for Jesus that just warms my heart. He is starting to put words together by sounding out the letters. His eating habits are starting to get better. It is taking a lot of patience on our part but he is trying new foods at every dinner and some he has even liked. I think he secretly likes cesear salad but refused to fess up on that one. lol! He did fess up to liking mandarin oranges though. :) As far as potty training that was a success and something I hope to get done with Tyler before he turns 3. His favorite things right now are Disney Cars (loves Lightening McQueen), trains (of course), airplanes, playing outside at the park, reading, finger painting, and going to Sea World. This last trip we let him feed the sea lions and that was a huge hit. Christmas was a huge hit with him and he was spoiled rotten! He asked me the other day if it was going to be Christmas again in the morning. He was quite bummed to find out he had to wait a whole year! Haha! :)

Tyler is 22 months now and has quite the personality. He shows a few signs of being strong willed but for the most part is way more complaint than Eric ever dreamed of being. He is quick to smile and laugh when you play with him or if he sees something funny on tv. He is getting quite the vocabulary going lately. Sometimes he just burst out in a whole sentence but heaven help me I can't understand any of it yet! LOL! When he says one or two words at a time then I can make out what he is saying. He absolutely loves dinosaurs, animals, Diego, Nemo, and playing outside. He also likes blaming his brother for everything. I watched Tyler trip the other day over his own two feet and when I asked him what happened he pointed right at his brother (who was in the other room) and said "brother" in a very pouty voice meaning brother/Eric did it to him. Oh boy...shades of the future to look forward to. Haha! :) He isn't much of a reader like Eric was/is but will sit with you when he is tired and let you read to him. He is harder to work with when trying to teach him things like numbers, letters, shapes, and colors as his attention span is way less the Eric's at the same age. Then again I think Eric's was a little longer than a usual 2 year old. Haha. We are getting there though and I'm sure he will catch on pretty soon. He is way more active than Eric was at 2 though. Tyler is a monkey! I think the gray hair I have found (it is colored now so don't bother looking next time you see me...haha) is a direct result of his climbing antics!

As for Brian and I we are staying busy chasing after the kids, with work and with church. We celebrated our 7 year anniversary back in November. This year will mark 10 years from when we first met. Hard to believe how God has blessed us in the past 10 years! We wish all of our family and friends a very happy 2010!

2009-05-04T17:56:00.000-07:00

Things are so busy lately but I couldn't really tell you all that we have been up to if that makes any sense! :) Between church, playgroup, outings, appointments, and daily life we are jumping from place to place. The boys are growing by leaps and bounds it seems like in the past couple of months. Tomorrow we are starting our new daily schedule to see if I can't bring some order into our house...more for my sake than for the kids really! LOL! :)

Tyler (14 months) is walking...running....all over the place now. He is also a climber which scares the living daylights out of me most of the time. He prefers to be naked if at all possible. LOL! I used to let Eric run around in his diaper all the time when he was Tyler's age but if I do that with Tyler he winds up naked within seconds! He is starting to talk a lot more too. He says dog, cat, momma, dada, cheese, please, waffle, milk, up, me, ball and some other words that I haven't quite figured out yet. He also imitates the dog barking all the time...too funny! He loves the birds and squirrels that come into our backyard too. He gets really excited to see them as well as the lizards. :) Tyler also gets really excited about music. He loves to dance. It is the funniest thing to watch! Eric was never a dancer so to see Tyler dancing up a storm is hilarious! He also love the songs "Wheels on the Bus" and "The Itsy Bitsy Spider". He tries to do the hand motions to both of the songs. :)

Eric (3 years 3 months) is really starting to look more like a preschooler/big boy lately. He is starting to shed the toddler look. Eric still enjoys being outside whenever possible. He loves to help us water our container garden and actually tried a cherry tomato from our plant the other day. He tells me he is going to eat the orange bell pepper when it is ripe but we'll see if that happens or not. He also adores Thomas the Train! We bought him a Thomas dvd for Easter and he about freaked out with excitement! He usually sleeps with at least one of his trains every night. :) He also says some pretty funny things that make me laugh. He used to call the freeway "the freezeway" and when we tell him I love you he usually answers with "me too". For a long time he would only say that mommy loved him...no one else...even though when Brian is home he is the only one allowed to lay down with Eric before bed. :) Eric is starting to show interest in learning how to read so that will probably be our next endeavor in the coming months.

Below is a video clip of us at baptism on Easter Sunday. Every time people would clap Tyler would immediately stop what he was doing and clap too. He finally got tired of clapping after about 20 out of 35 baptisms. :)

Eric's thoughts on the space shuttle launch...

2009-03-15T18:05:00.000-07:00

Well...the space shuttle launch was cancelled the other day but it finally went off tonight. We didn't get to go out to the beach to see it but did get a pretty good view from our street. In the pictures the space shuttle he is holding was Brian's when he was a kid. :) Below are a couple of videos from tonight. One is Eric actually watching the launch and the other was him calling Brian and telling him all about seeing the launch! :)

The many adventures of the Lemmon family...

2009-03-11T12:45:00.000-07:00

Recently we have had a lot of time with daddy home and we have been taking advantage of it. We have taken the boys to the beach, hiking, cycling, the Daytona museum, and to the farmer's market. They have had a great time and I thought we would share a few (or a lot) of pictures with everyone. Eric is getting to be so big now and I'm really amazed each day with how much he is learning and soaking in from our adventures. Tonight we are taking the boys out to Flagler Beach to see the space shuttle launch. Eric can't wait! A huge thing for Eric is that when we went to the beach he actually went in the water! It is like he completely forgot that he was terrified of it last year! Brian and I were floored! Tyler has been having a great time with our adventures as well. He liked the beach but was a little hesitant of the waves. He also liked the hiking...or his ride on mommy which is a better description for his part in it! :) The cycling he liked as long as Brian didn't stop moving...when he did all you saw was Tyler's face crinkle up and all you heard were ear piercing cries! :) Hope everyone enjoys the pictures!

Tyler's 1st Birthday!

2009-03-11T12:16:00.001-07:00

I cannot believe that my baby is 1! How is this possible? Has a year really gone by already? There were times during this year that I never thought his birthday would come and then all of a sudden his first birthday has come and gone! Tyler is such a joyful, laid back kid. He loves life, his brother, mommy, daddy, and Charlie. He loves to be outside if at all possible and he loves to climb on things he shouldn't! He keeps us on our toes for sure.

Some of his recent milestones are walking (running is more like it), sleeping through the night and saying a few words! I'm ecstatic about the sleeping one! :) He started walking just before his first birthday and in the past 2 weeks has given up crawling altogether. It has opened up a whole new world for him and really shown Brian and I just how much busier our already busy lives can get! As for talking he says "momma", "dada", "dog", and "cheese". He also has a word for Eric but I can't figure it out for the life of me. He probably says other things that we just haven't picked up on too. He has become slightly picky in the food area but we can't figure out if that is because he is cutting 3-4 more teeth or true pickiness.

He had his 1 year checkup last week and is proving to be a bigger kid than his brother to this point. He weighs 20 lb 6 oz (same as Eric at a year) and is 29 1/2" tall (2" taller than Eric at a year). This puts him in the 1oth percentile for weight and 50th percentile for height. The doctor said he is very healthy and right on track for his age.

His birthday party was so much fun! Thanks to everyone that came and helped up celebrate this major milestone in Tyler's life! Thank you also for all the wonderful gifts...he loves them all!

Stay tuned for more updates on all of our recent adventures! :)

Birthday Celebrations....Eric is 3 years old!

2009-02-07T11:32:00.000-08:00

Between my birthday, Eric's birthday and my sister's birthday we had a very busy January. On my birthday (the last one I'm going to count from here on out!) we decided to take the kids to Disney World. Disney is running a promotion where you can get in free on your birthday and since the kids are all under 3 we only had to pay for Brian to get in. Anybody that knows me knows that I couldn't pass that deal up! :) Omi decided to come with us and we all had a great time. The boys did so well without naps all day long. Eric loved the rides in Toon Town, the train, and meeting Mickey Mouse, much to my surprise. However he wasn't a big fan of Pirates of the Caribbean. He hid his face the whole time...not that I can blame the poor kid! :) Tyler really liked the Jungle Cruise but wasn't a big fan of Mickey or Minnie.

Later that month on January 25th Eric had his 3rd birthday! I cannot believe my baby is 3! It just doesn't seem possible. We had a party for him at Linear Park here in Palm Coast. He had a lot of his friends come and they all enjoyed playing at the playground in the nice weather. It had been freezing up until that weekend so we were blessed with good weather. Eric had a Thomas the Train cake per his request and actually ate it! He received a bunch of great presents and has enjoyed playing with them all. He loves the bath stuff he got as you can tell by the picture! :)

He has grown so much in the past year. I swore that he wasn't ever going to get any bigger but at his doctor's appointment he actually weighed in at 30lbs and was almost 3 feet tall (35 3/4"). He did so well at the doctor's which was a huge surprise. They had to prick his finger to test his hemoglobin (which was good much to my amazement at his limited diet) and he didn't even cry. As for any major changes in milestones he just talks up a storm! He is super smart and very strong willed which can be a frustrating and rewarding combination all at the same time for Brian and I. He still isn't potty trained...we are going to tackle that soon but the doctor didn't seem worried about it all. Just said that Eric was to busy doing other things to care about it and for us to just go by Eric's lead...either that or when I got tired of buying diapers for 2 kids! :) Eric is still a very picky eater but we are taking steps to broaden his horizons. One of my favorite things is when we sit down at the table to eat (yes we have managed to get to the table for regular family meals...yay!) he reminds Brian and I that we need to pray first. It's great to see that the things we are teaching him actually are sinking in even when we don't think they are.

At the very end of the month we celebrated Shelby's 18th (scary and makes me feel old!) birthday. Some of the pictures are from our trip down to Avon Park for her party. Eric loved the tractor! :)

Tyler is getting so big and doing great but I will keep you all waiting until his birthday for a full update. :)

Christmas in California

2009-02-06T17:51:00.000-08:00

Yes...I'm a little late posting about our Christmas trip...better late than never I guess! :) Also if you want to see more pics just visit our winkflash site at http://swl1109.winkflash.com .

This year for Christmas we went out to California to spend time with Brian's side of the family. We all had a great time! It was our first experience flying with 2 kids and let's just say it is definitely different! For the most part though the boys did really well. Poor Eric had a bunch of mishaps though the first full day we were there. The first morning he managed to find his way into the guest bathroom and wound up falling into the tub instead of his original plan on finding mommy and daddy in the next room! Poor kid! On top of that he managed to run into a few things that day as well. I think he takes after his mommy when it comes to being graceful! Haha! :)

While we were in California we had an opportunity to take the boys to the San Diego Zoo which they both loved! Eric really enjoyed the aviary and the otters while Tyler really liked one of the shows. Also I think Eric's favorite part was the bus that takes people around the zoo. Every time he saw it he started singing "The Wheels on the Bus"....by the end of the day I had had enough of that song to last a lifetime! :)

Other than that we just spent as much time with family as possible. Eric remembered Great Grandma's house from over a year before which really amazed us all. Eric and Tyler both had a great time on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Although Eric did run away when Santa came to visit on Christmas Eve! :) Eric's favorite part of Christmas day was probably Aunt Marcia "throwing" him up in the air and on Christmas Eve he really enjoyed playing with Ryan and Ingrid as well as just sitting on the couch listening to the music! Tyler for the most part just liked all the excitement and actually did seem to enjoy his presents more than the boxes. :)

We miss all of you out in California and can't wait to come see everyone again! Love you all!

Lots of news....

2008-12-15T17:45:00.000-08:00

So most of you know the reason for the long absence from the blog and some do not. On November 29th my mom passed away after battling illness for a couple of months. She will be dearly missed by our family. She was a very loving woman and cherished the time she got to spend with her kids and grandkids. While I'm very sad that my boys will not grow up knowing her personally, I am very thankful that she was able to meet them before she went home to heaven. Thank you to all my friends and family that have been so helpful and supportive through all of this.

Since it has been such a long time since I posted an update there have been tons happening with the boys. Eric is still very active and now is EXTREMELY independent. Everything is "I do it all by myself" or if he asks what something is and you tell him he says "No it's a..." and will argue with you until he is blue in the face! Drives me bananas but cracks me up at the same time. :) Eric also had his first night away from us a couple of weeks ago. He stayed with some friends of ours and had a blast. I was worried how he would do but apparently he didn't really miss us that much. He slept well and played hard which is nice to know. He is now all geared up for our trip to California that is coming up. He can't wait to see Grandpa Dale, Aunt Risa, Omi & Oti and of course Santa as well. I'm looking forward to seeing how he reacts when Santa walks in on Christmas Eve...I'll definitely have my camera ready for that one! :)

As for Tyler he is just getting too big! He is almost 10 months old now and is all over. Not only does he speed crawl everywhere he is also cruising holding on to the furniture. I foresee his first steps within another month or so. As it is now I never get anything accomplished because I'm always chasing after him, I can just see what it will be like when he can walk! :) He is saying "dada", "mama", "baba", and "clap". Well...his version of clap but it definitely means clap because he says it every time we tell him to clap. He is also giving us high fives already which is really cute. He gets really excited when he does it. He had his check up today and weighed 19lbs exactly and was 28 1/2 inches tall...so he is taller than Eric was but weighs less than he did at this point. One of my favorite things he does is when we are eating in the living room he stands up by the ottoman and will babble and scream until you give him some of what you are eating. He thinks if you are eating then he must be eating as well. Maybe I'll have one good eater between the two boys. :)

That is all the news from the Lemmon house for now. We will update more after we get back from our trip. Hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!!

Falling behind...time to catch up

2008-10-20T18:18:00.001-07:00

I'm guessing it is way past time for another update! Ugh...time just goes by to fast!

Eric is actually growing! Yes, I know that is what kids do but for the longest time the kid just did not get taller or gain weight. Finally he has grown 2 inches and gained 2-3 pounds since June. That means he can actually fit in 2T clothing...yes he is just now going into 2T and he will be 3 in January! :) One tough decision we are making is to pull Eric out of his preschool. He will be finishing out the month of October and then we will stop for the time being. While he enjoyed it at first he really is having a hard time going lately...crying, hitting, etc. Plus I have never felt 100% comfortable at the school he is at so that was another deciding factor. Right now we will just start taking him back to playgroup and probably go to story time at the library. We will rethink it next year and go from there. A cute Eric story...as you will see in the video Eric loves this band that is on Disney Channel in the mornings called Cho Cho Soul. One day Eric was taking an especially long nap so we decided to wake him up. He just wouldn't wake up so we left the door open to his room hoping all the noise would do the trick. All of a sudden I hear him say "hi daddy". I go in to see if he is awake and he is out cold still...he then proceeds to start singing "all aboard the cho cho train...cho cho" while still sleeping! I had tears rolling down my face I was laughing so hard. It was so cute! I do believe he is obsessed!

Tyler is definitely getting a personality all his own lately! He has grown like a little weed too. I'm not sure how much he weighs since his next checkup isn't until he is 9 months old (he is 8 months old today!) but I know he is definitely getting heavy to carry! So far he has managed to get himself into a sitting position once on his own and is army crawling all over the house! Let me tell you this is when personality comes into play. He gets into Eric's toys all the time. When Eric takes them away Tyler starts screaming and fussing at him! Eric better watch out when Tyler is able to really tackle him! :) Tyler is also working on cutting his 8th tooth...yes number 8! He seems to teeth 4 teeth at a time. He gets 2 in within a day of each other and then 2 more within a week or so of that. He got his first one at 6 months and is now getting his 8th one. That is just crazy! I'm hoping that once it cuts through we can go back to getting some sleep! :) He is eating like a champ despite the teething. He still isn't a fan of fruits but will chow down on the veggies. We are starting to give him some more finger foods as well since he seems to prefer that over the baby food. Tyler's favorite pastime is to be in his bouncer and just bounce away...he just gets the biggest kick out of it. He just starts laughing while we are driving in the car...even if there is nothing funny going on. He just starts cracking up randomly. I love it...it is so funny!

Anyways...that is all the news for now. I will try and update a little more frequently so the posts aren't that long! :) I'm only going to post a few pictures here but if you want to see more you can visit our winkflash site at http://swl1109.winkflash.com/ .

Just living life...

2008-09-17T18:50:00.000-07:00

I haven't updated in a little bit so I thought I would while I had the chance. I should be doing housework but telling others about my kids is much more fun! :)

Eric is doing great and loving school. I went to pick him up the other day and he started crying because he didn't want to leave! I guess that is a good sign. We were able to go outside the other day while Tyler was napping and Eric had a blast on the slide as you can see from the pictures. I love his expression in the last one...he went flying down the slide and his expression was priceless! We did have all his outside toys and swings in the garage when the hurricanes were threatening but have finally been able to put them back out much to Eric's delight! :) I just started watching a friend's 5 month old son 2 days a week and Eric just adores him! He constantly asks me when he is coming back again.

Tyler will be 7 months old in a couple of days. I don't have many good pictures of him at the moment so I'll try to take some over the next few days and then post them. He is doing so well. He now has 4 teeth and is working on 2 more! I swear this kid is going to have a full set before he is 8 months old at this rate! He still loves eating his veggies and absolutely hates fruits...very strange but I'm not going to complain. He is really trying to start scooting/crawling so I don't think it will be to much longer until he does. He is also sitting up much better on his own. He too likes the little boy that I'm watching. They just smile at each other while they are playing on the floor. :)

6 months already?

2008-08-31T17:42:00.000-07:00

Wow...I can't believe it has been 6 months since Tyler was born already! Where has the time gone? He is doing so well and getting so big! At his checkup he weighed 17 lb 10 oz and was 26 inches long. Believe it or not he is lighter and shorter than Eric at the same age. Tyler is getting so much more animated lately. He is babbling up a storm (I love hearing all the little noises he makes) and loves watching Eric. His favorite past time at the moment is rolling around the living room. I'm pretty sure he will be crawling in another month or so. Eric better get ready to defend his toys then! :) He is able to sit up by himself for a short period of time as well. Other big news with Tyler is that he has 2 teeth now. He cut both teeth within 24 hours of each other...that was not the most fun experience in the world for sure! He is doing much better now though for which I'm eternally grateful! ;) He is starting to eat more solids and still prefers veggies over fruits. We are also introducing a sippy cup to him. Right now it is more of a teething toy for him than a way to drink but it won't be long until he has it down.

As for Eric he is still enjoying school and still asks me everyday when he gets to go back. :) This makes me feel much better about him going at such an early age. Some great news is that Eric is trying more and more new foods (sticker charts are our friend)! You don't know how excited this makes me...for well over a year he barely had any variety in his diet. Over the past few weeks his eating habits have changed dramatically and I'm loving it. Now if we can just get some momentum going in the potty training department I do believe I would be on cloud nine. :) Eric is also becoming very independent and dare I say strong willed as well. Ah...the joys of a 2 1/2 year old. :)

Rain, rain go away....

2008-08-22T19:29:00.000-07:00

As most of you know we have been dealing with Tropical Storm Fay for the past few days...it's the storm that keeps on giving unfortunately. Many of you have called to make sure we are okay and I really appreciate it! We had some major rain (probably about 8-10 inches) yesterday morning and evening and today all day and quite a bit of wind (max sustained around 40mph with gusts in the 50's) but overall nothing to bad. Because Fay came on shore here in our county we actually got a small break in the rain and wind yesterday afternoon...until the backside of the storm started coming through. No damage to the house but our yard is a mess with debris! Some streets in the neighborhood are flooded but ours is okay and we can come and go without any problem. Poor Eric (and mommy) missed school on Thursday due to the storm. The schools will be opening Monday though so back to normal then. Eric has not enjoyed being stuck in the house that is for sure. We finally braved it and went out this evening to visit a friend and he had a blast. His attitude was much improved for the rest of the evening! :)

The video isn't during the time when the winds were at their highest but you can still get an idea of what it was like. I actually loved laying in bed at night and listening to the wind...very calming. Of course it if had gotten much worse I probably wouldn't have been calmed by it. :) These pictures are from yesterday so the debris has only gotten worse. As one of the pictures shows the sprinkler system for our neighbor was not turned off and it was running right during the storm...just thought it was funny to see someone watering their lawn during a tropical storm! :)

First day at school!!

2008-08-19T11:39:00.000-07:00

Eric started preschool today and it was a hit! I thought we might have some problems this morning when he started crying at home while we were getting ready but as soon as we were in the car he wouldn't stop chattering about school. When we got there he walked right in his class and started playing. Never even cared if I was there or not! By the time I left he was sitting at the table drawing a picture for daddy and was happy as a clam. :) When I picked him up he asked me when he was going back to school again. We went by the church to visit some of our friends and Eric was definitely telling them all about his day. I got a few pictures this morning before we left and a couple at school. They didn't turn out real well because Eric was in a hurry to get inside and it was so humid that my lens kept fogging up every few seconds. There are also some pictures from the other day of Eric helping daddy mow the grass and one of Tyler from this morning. It was really nice to have some one on one time with Tyler while Eric was at school. I think it will be good for Tyler to have some time with Brian and I just for him. It was so weird to walk into the house without Eric and for it to be so quiet! I think I will get used to it though! :) That is all for now. The kids are napping and I'm enjoying the peace & quiet.

Day to day life..

2008-08-16T12:26:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to update everyone really quick on what is going on in our world.

We finally witnessed Tyler rolling over yesterday! He got a kick out of doing it and was smiling like crazy. Too bad I didn't have the camera handy. He is in the middle of an epic teething battle lately. I do believe he has a worse case of it than Eric ever did if that is possible. I can't wait for that first tooth to cut through. Other than when his teeth are bothering him he is just a happy little boy though. He loves to be tickled and laughs so hard when Eric jumps around pretending to be a frog and calling out "ibbit, ibbit"! :)

As for Eric, the poor little guy is sick. He has his first tummy bug. :( He seems to be feel fine though for which I'm really thankful. He is his normal happy busy self so I guess I shouldn't be too worried. We all made a trip to the farmer's market today and had a lot of fun. Eric really liked walking around and looking at everything. :) We had our first taste of a chocolate covered key lime pie slice on a stick...yummy! We might have to make Saturdays at the farmer's market a tradition just for that reason! :)

That is it for now. We are going to be busy over the next few days getting ready for Eric to go to school, Tyler's 6 month checkup (can you believe he is already 6 months!?) and for a possible hurricane! Fun, fun! :)

And it begins....

2008-08-01T18:15:00.000-07:00

Okay...I have finally broken down and started blogging. I send out emails each month to update on the boys and this just seems much easier! :) Let's bring everyone up to speed. I have been blessed with a wonderful husband, Brian, and two fabulous kids, Eric & Tyler. Yes I am the only woman in my house (even the dog is male) and I love it! ;)

Eric is 2 1/2 years old now and a bundle of energy. He does not stop from the time he gets up in the morning until his head hits the pillow at naptime and then it starts all over in the afternoon until bedtime. His favorite expressions right now are "I do it!", "Watcha doing?", and "What's that?". I am dreading it when "why?" is added to the list. Haha! The biggest news with Eric is that he will be starting preschool on August 19th. He will be going for 2 days a week from 8:30-12:30. I know he is going to love it! He loves to learn and be around other kids (he calls everyone his friends) so this is the perfect atmosphere for him. I think the structure will be good for him also. He is also very fond of going on bike rides with daddy in the bike trailer. The day we got him his helmut he wouldn't take it off...as you can see from the picture! :) The coolest thing lately that Eric does is play peakaboo with Tyler. Eric can get Tyler laughing better than anyone else in the house and it cracks Eric up too!

Tyler is just over 5 months old now. He is starting to get his own personality each and every day. Like I said earlier...Eric is the only one that can get him to laugh so I just know he is going to adore his older brother. At least until Eric learns to wrestle with him and until they get old enough to fight. :) His biggest thing lately is that he has started on solid food. He loves sweet potatoes and green beans. He isn't too sure about applesauce though. At least one of my kids will eat veggies...for now. haha! He also rolled over from his back to his tummy today and I missed it! He has been rolling from his tummy to back for a month or so now but never back to tummy. I laid him down today so I could go find directions for something in the other room and when I came back he was on his tummy and in the process of rolling to his back! Ugh...missed it...oh well maybe he will wait and do it for when Brian gets home so we can both see it at the same time.

Well...I believe that is it for now. I will do my best to keep this updated at least a couple of times a month but I give no promises! :)