Wyatt Loves His Bike... finally

We got a Strider Bike for Wyatt a long time ago, probably a year or more ago. It is a really small 2 wheel bike called a "balance bike." It is designed for 1-5 year olds to learn balance on something their size, so they can transfer to a big bike without needing training wheels. When we first got it Wyatt was not interested, at all. We were kind of bummed, but I knew we just needed to put it away for a long time and try again. We showed it to him a couple different times and he slowly became more interested. And at 2.5 he really figured it out and started loving it. Fast forward to today... he LOVES riding his bike. We go outside at least once, usually twice, a day so he can ride around in the driveway. He is usually half dressed around the house so when he says, "I want to ride bike!" I tell him to get some clothes and shoes, so his outfit is usually a little questionable. =)

 

 

 

 

 And some of his many faces.....

(That is the array of faces I get when I ask for a "Smile"... he is not lacking in expression) =)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dad's 30 Year Air Force Retirment

I cannot let my Dad's retirement ceremony go by without posting about it! Back in May, (just 1 week before we got our foster baby girl) my parents flew me, Tyler, and Wyatt out to Georgia for my Dad's 30 year retirement ceremony from the Air Force. I am so thankful... this was an occasion not to be missed. The Air Force had to kick my dad out.. he was the highest rank (Chief Master Sergeant) and had the maximum years of service. He loves his Air Force and his country. The Air Force took him ALL OVER the world with assignments/trainings in Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Alabama, South Dakota, Georgia, and Germany. He served in deployments to Guam, Qatar, Korea, and Afghanistan. And anyone who knows my dad knows that he didn't just serve our country, but he positively impacted so many people along the way. I could not be more proud of him =) And how could I not also mention my mom.... the most amazing, incredible, strong, devoted military wife there has ever been! (And they are also celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary this month too!) I love you both =)

Pictures from the ceremony...

The guest book table 

 

 The food

 

The table with alllllll his memorabilia

 

My mom and her 3 sisters! All 3 of them flew down from Minnesota. I was able to see aunts, uncles, and cousins that I hadn't seen in a few years!

 

Dad and one of my cousins, RP

 

Our family =)

 

My dad with his parents, also from Minnesota

 

Dad was presented with so many awesome gifts

 

Me and "little" bro

 

Dad and brothers... we still have Air Force in the family! =)

 

I also have tons of video footage from all the speeches that were given. It could not have been more awesome and my dad could not have been more deserving. Funny thing is.... he's not completely done with the Air Force! Mom, Dad, and Chan are all settled in their new home in North Carolina where my dad will be teaching Air Force Junior ROTC at a public high school! He has just over 100 cadets (high schoolers) in the program and he is going to be AWESOME in his 2nd career =) Love you Dad!

Where in the world....

?!?!

 I promise I am not finished blogging! Popping in for a quick update and then hope to be back to post some pictures from our summer so far!

We received our first foster placement, a 4 month old baby girl, on May 30th. I am not able to post her face or name publicly. Originally, I was going to post updates on her case/the process of fostering but now that we are in the middle of it I don't feel comfortable doing that publicly either. So I am setting up another blog that will be by invite only. I have a lot of friends who are supporting us so much on this journey, but it is so hard to update friends and family every time something new comes in. But I will post detailed updates on the private blog so ya'll can just check that if you don't hear from me otherwise. =)

It took Wyatt awhile to adjust to not having my full attention every second of the day! And he still has his "moments." After a month now, we are in our new groove though as a family of 4 so things are getting back to "normal" feeling now.

I plan on posting pictures from my Dad's 30 year retirement from the Air Force, our trip to North Texas for a wedding, my family's trip out, and a 2 year old update on Wyatt!
Happy Summer!
(I will be sending invites out to family and the friends I know of for the foster blog. Not sure who reads this blog anymore, but if you want the link let me know ;) )

Wyatt's World

It's been a LONG time since I've done a "Wyatt's World" post! Wyatt's latest LOVE is, believe it or not, COOKING! Cooking or baking... anything that has to do with different size bowls, different size spoons, food, and mixing and stirring! He just loves it. He "helps" me to cook almost every meal, which makes for some interesting times in the kitchen. And if I don't need his "help" ;) sometimes I let him make his own creation. All throughout the day he asks me if we can cook, LOL. I hope he actually hangs on to his love of the kitchen!!
So we made muffins not to long ago and he was in his spot and ready to help. I decided to set up the video camera so you can get a glimpse of him in action. I also LOVE this video because he just doesn't stop talking. And he is mostly repeating everything I say =)

Helping make eggs...

 

His first cookie batter!

 

Some of his own creations

 

 

 

 

 

Some of these pictures go back to February, so he is going 2 months strong on this activity. I hope I have a life long helper in the kitchen!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Easter 2013

We had an awesome, awesome Easter Sunday! Our church service was an amazing time of celebrating that Jesus is ALIVE! Our Easter tradition after church is to head to Fredericksburg for the day. And it also happened to be Tyler's mom's birthday so we were able to celebrate with her too! The Easter bunny visits Grandma's house, so the egg hunt was ready to go =) And Wyatt had such a blast! (I have to say that we went to the big easter egg hunt on Saturday at our church.... And that was not quite Wyatt's style! He was so antsy to go get the eggs but we had to wait until it was time, and then when it was time he threw himself on the grass and had a nice 2 year old tantrum, haha... there were just to many people and to much going on) So anyways, a hunt all by himself was right up his alley....

(You know how it's weird hearing your own voice on video.. yeah, that's how I feel about this one, LOL)

 

 This picture makes me laugh... he was SO serious, lol

 

 He loved opening them all up

 

 He especially loved the ones that "crushed" and had "sprinkles"

 

He was saying, "RAIN!" =)

 

And this picture just makes my heart HAPPY...

 

 

 

Wyatt has been in a major anti-camera stage for a few months now. It has been impossible to get pictures of him (and with him), which is the main reason I also haven't blogged near as much! lol I have very few pictures since he turned 2. We figured we'd give it a try and I am SO happy to have a good (recent) family picture again =) Maybe he is coming out of his anti-camera phase!

 

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend celebrating!