cooking

Yes I do know a few things in this area. Mainly the decorating/plating part of it as opposed to the prep part. Right now I'm trying to figure out how to make a camping cake for my Dad's birthday. So far I've figured out that it will be easier to cut the cake if I chill it first. I've also learned that fondant and I don't get along. I don't like the taste or working with it (though I may use it for lines)... Now all I have to do is learn to embrace piping...

How does that relate to Tyler (since this is his blog)... I always loved when my mom would make our birthday cakes. I figure that is something I can do with my limited cooking skills (I used to be fairly skilled at it). So I figure PopPop is a good guinea pig for seeing if I can still do it. Hopefully there will be pictures at some point of a good cake.

Feel free to offer suggestions on ideas for a tent, water feature, animals and other general camping ideas :)

Teething!!

We are officially teething... We now have TWO teeth coming in. So far not too much complaining. Tyler is a bit crankier when waking up from naps but otherwise not so cranky. He also recently rolled from his back onto his tummy once. He has a knack for doing those fun milestone things as soon as I walk out of the room.

We got to play with Cousin Maisie and Henry again this past weekend too. It was Katie and Reed's birthday party (Katie is 4 and Reed is 1). So the cousins came down from the mountains. We had fun! Jess got to play hopscotch with Maisie and the boys had fun playing with Nee Nee and Pop Pop.

And now for the recent fun photos...

Someone decided that he was too tired to stay awake in the highchair while out to lunch with Mommy, Daddy and Amira. Instead of taking him home we just took pictures :)

A phone booth. We were pretty sure that Tyler would never have to use one as he grows up. I remember that I always had to have a quarter in case I needed to use one these. Plus its a fun photo with Gramma Deb and Grand Dad.

He really did like the big ball pit the first time I put him in it. But by the time I grabbed the camera he was tired and hungry.

Playing on the phone with Daddy.

Playing with his feet makes him tired.

playing... Family style

First of all... WELCOME Kayla Anne Glockley, born 7/7/09 at 9:10 pm. She weighs 7 lbs 2 oz and is 19 3/4 inches long. Congrats to the happy family!! She's a cutie...

Tyler got to play with his cousin Henry today. They have both become such cute little boys. Henry is pushing 3 months old. The boys loved looking and smiling at each other. I think they both thought they were looking in a mirror. They are surprisingly similar in size.

Tyler on the left, Henry on the right

They became good friends too. It may look like this was contrived, but it wasn't. It also wasn't a "lucky" shot... they were actually holding hands for a while.

They loved playing footsie too!

Such a proud NeeNee!

Reading time with PopPop... I believe they read the Jabberwocky.

4th of July... oh my!

Fourth of July was a hoot! We started the weekend on Friday since Jess had that day off. We ran some errands and then helped do some computer stuff with his folks. Then Saturday we slept in and hung around for a while. Then headed up to Boulder for a BBQ at the Odums. Tyler decided that Grand Dad's shoes looked tasty. Especially the lace parts!

He also loved hanging out with Gramma Deb. He had a knack for sticking his fist in his mouth every time he smiled.

We then all went to watch the fireworks. We usually go to Aurora 7 (the elementary school Jess went to) to watch the Folsom field ones, but they're doing construction stuff so we went to another place to watch them (same show different viewing place) this year. Tyler loved watching them. He was mesmerized through the whole thing.

Sunday was a lazy day. Even Tyler found some time to sleep.

He got to play with Nee Nee and Pop Pop today. He decided to sport one the shirt his Daddy got for Father's Day. (My dad has Super Powers)

If you hadn't noticed his hand spends a lot of time in his mouth, and for good reason... He's gotten his first tooth! (follow the blue arrow). My little boy is growing up!

In other news...

He has also managed to roll (once) from his back to his tummy. I had just left the room and Jess watched him do it. Figures! He's gotten very good at grabbing his feet and rolling onto his side. He just can't quite get over his arm.

He is also now sleeping in his crib full time. We started putting him in there at night when we got back from our big trip. I was having a hard time picturing him in that big room all by himself, so we decided to do it in baby steps. We used the pack-n-play for the trip so that helped. (And he's getting way to big for the bassinet in our room.

So my little boy is growing up...

Rockstar tour...

So I'm a little behind on things... 3 weeks in the car can do that to people...

So without further ado... Tyler's rock star tour (aka... family vacation)

We started our trip in Glenwood Springs. We visited with my brother and his family. We got to see Maisie and Henry. We went up the mountain on the gondola. We got to ride the alpine coaster down (and back up), played in a maze, panned for fossils and otherwise just had fun at the top. Then we picnicked and watched the kayak competition. It was a blast!

Henry and Tyler

From there we drove to Mesa Verde. We stayed in Cortez then spent the following day exploring the ruins. The first place we went was called Cliff Palace for a guided tour. Laura carried Tyler in the baby bjorn up and down the ladders and all through the ruins. 13 pounds of dead weight hanging off you doesn't make the hike any easier. We then went to Spruce Tree House. This was a self guided tour. We wandered all through the ruins there. Jess was able to go down into one of the circular underground rooms (called a Kiva).

Jess at Mesa Verde

From Mesa Verde we took a quick drive to 4 corners on our way to Lake Havasu.

In Havasu we got to see Jess's brother Steve's house and hang out with him and his girlfriend Angela. They have a great house with a pool in back. It was great to see them and spend some quality time with them. They're dog flash LOVED the baby and wanted to lick him constantly.

We also got to see Becky's new place and hang out with them in Tucson. It was a blast! We miss them sooo much! (When are you coming home?) We played cards and went swimming and had all sorts of fun.

From there we headed to the Odum Ranch. The place is awesome! The wildlife is just beautiful!

Tyler decided to try to be a thug. It worked for a little while 'til he started giggling.

Then it was off to Houston. We got to see all sorts of family there. We also got a behind the scenes tour of NASA (but can't share any photos online so you'll have to come to the house to see them).
Then we were off to Liberty to see more family.

Finally we headed home. We went to the Ranch once more and stopped for dinner and some sleep in Amarillo too. All in all a long but worthwhile trip.

world traveller...

or at least domestic traveller...

Tyler has flown! He did great. He basically slept through it. He was a little bored on the flight to Philly but was easily entertained. It's funny how many different ways people can show that they're not thrilled to be sitting near the baby. Disdain, loathing, anger, disappointment, seething, all look very different (and all done subconsciously). It's also very funny to see how quickly those looks disappear when the baby's mom cheerfully announces that they "won the baby lotto!".

Once we were in pa we partied non-stop. We met up with some old friends and some new ones. Daddy got his Friendly's ice cream and Mommy got her Capt. Gus cheeseburger sub. We spent most of Saturday celebrating a friend's wedding. It was beautiful!

We also partied all night at the reception. Tyler got laid!

that's John in the glasses (we went to high school together).

We left Lancaster and headed out to the Bryn Mawr area of Philly to see family. I don't think I got to hold Tyler much while we were there. We went to the Devon Horse Show for fudge While there. They are famous for the fudge (and lemon sticks ~ take a lemon and jam a candy straw in it, squeeze and drink). Tyler also got to ride the carousel. He decided to take a big poo right before I put him up there, so there was some cleaning needed after (and Mommy was pretty smelly for a little while). But he seemed to really enjoy it.

next up... ROAD TRIP!

My little rock star...

Tyler is growing sooo fast! He'll be going off to college before we know it (less than four years according to the previous post). Just look how big he's getting...

This is Dudley, NeeNee made him for Tyler. He's a giant stuffed turtle. The left side is Tyler when he first came home in January. The right is Tyler a few days ago!

This is Maisie Dog, he was a gift from Cousin Maisie (who also named him). Left is February, right is a few days ago.

And Bear (a gift to me from Holton years ago) ... Left is January, right is a few days ago.

Back to packing for our flight tomorrow!