Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! We had a wonderful time celebrating with all of our extended family this year! We actually got to spend time with both sides on Christmas Day! We hope everyone else had a wonderful holiday! Here is the picture of Dylan with Santa that I promised! You can't see his face, but he was really scared. What's up with kids being afraid of someone who brings you presents? So we spent the weekend with my parents' family. We got to spend time with both sets of grandparents (Melissa's) on Saturday. My dad's mom fell last week and had to have stitches above her eye. She is doing better now, but she's really weak. My mom's mom fell and broke her hip last month and is still in recovery from the surgery. Thank goodness for grandpa taking care of her and giving her love. We are keeping them both in our prayers as to have a speedily recovery. Then we spent Sunday celebrating with my aunt and uncle and their families. We are really close since there are only 6 grand kids on that side. Saturday night we all went to a ice hockey game with a mock Beetles concert after. It was lots of fun spending time with my cousins and none of the children! (Thanks to grandparents for watching them!) Sunday was a nice relaxing day spent with family. I love those kinds of days! My camera got left in the car overnight, so I couldn't take any pictures that day. My mom took some that I will be posting soon!
On Christmas Eve, we drove down to my parent's house to spend the night. We had a tradition of going over to my best friends' house and reading the Christmas story with her family. They still do it every year with those who can make it. We sing songs as they fit in with the story which puts us in the Christmas spirit. Then we get to eat lots of yummy food! The above picture is of Dylan going to bed on Christmas Eve. He was so tired, but still happy! What a good boy!
Here is Dylan opening his stocking! He was so excited as he pulled more and more out of it! He got really excited when he got to the candy part, so he got a special treat before breakfast! My parents have a tradition of having the missionaries over for breakfast, so we waited to eat with them! We then opened all of our cool presents. Landon got this really cool train that goes in a circle around the track. Brayden and Dylan were playing on it for a long time! And Landon got to take his turn on Dylan's cool 4-wheeler! You can see him in the background! It's starting to get chaotic with the addition of so many people, but we still love it!
Then around noon, we packed up the car and headed over to Ricky's parents house. We got to open presents with them and then enjoy a wonderful dinner. We got a new game called "Would you rather?" where you have to answer a question of what you would rather do. It was pretty interesting. We then got to play our favorite card game "Canasta." It was lots of fun!
The day after Christmas, I got the flu. Bummer! I hate being sick! Thank goodness Dylan was a good boy while Ricky was working! Now that I'm feeling better, I have to finish packing up our apartment for our move on Tuesday! (It's at 5pm if anyone wants to come help!) We are moving into Ricky's parent's house as we continue our house hunt. Things have been a little slow around here with the holidays, but we're hoping to find a great house soon! We hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season. I'm not sure when I'll be able to post again! See you all soon!

What a busy week!

On Monday, my parents suprised us with tickets to see Trans Siberian Orchestra in concert. It was an early Christmas present that my whole family got to enjoy! It was amazing and something we would love to see again next year!

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Tuesday, Dylan and I recovered from the day before (he was still getting over his sickness)!

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Then Thursday was our four year wedding anniversary! We FINALLY got our family picture taken! (Thanks Jaime!) They turned out really cute, but Dylan was being a stinker, so we didn't get any good ones of me and Ricky. We'll have to do it again soon! We had to bribe him with treats to get a few good ones! We went to dinner at a local resaurant called La Scala in downtown Lafayette. It was really good and fun to go to a different restaurant. All of the food was amazing!

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Today I ran all of the last minute errands with Dylan. He did such a good job for all the in and out stops that I had to do! Thank goodness for cookies! (His favorite!) We then headed over to our church Christmas party. It was lots of fun! Dylan was not excited to see santa! He screamed and wouldn't get close to him! We'll have to work on that for next year! He did blow Santa a kiss as we were leaving! I'll post the picture soon!

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Here is a preview of our Christmas pictures! Sorry it was so late, but I finally got the cards in the mail today! They turned out really cute! I was waiting for the picture!

We are heading over to Illinois to celebrate Christmas with my extended family this weekend! I'm sure I'll get lots of pictures to share! Hope everyone is enjoying the holiday season!

Snow Days

I love snow! It is so pretty outside today! I think we got about 5 inches and the wind is blowing it all over the place! I wish we could go outside and play, but Dylan has a fever. I can't tell if he has something or if it's his 2nd molars coming in. He has been very cuddly, which we love! Church got cancelled today because of the snow, so we are watching movies and just hanging out as a family. It's really nice to spend the time together! We are still looking for a house, so keep us in your prayers! It can be really stressful! Hope everyone is enjoying their Sunday!

A hunting we will go...

Dylan is hanging in there! He loves to help out in the kitchen if you can't tell by the picture! He thought that sitting in the pot was really cool, so I pushed him around for a while! He also loves to run around in circles around the kitchen/living room! He could run all day if I let him! Where do kids get all of this energy from??

It's been crazy around here lately! We decided The first of December that we are going to buy a house somewhere in Lafayette/ West Lafayette! We got pre-approved last week and we are starting to look for houses! This past weekend we looked at 7 houses and vetoed all but one! We went out again this past Wednesday to look at 7 more. I have been spending every free second looking at houses and our financing! How exciting!! We put in an offer today on our favorite house! Keep your fingers crossed for us! We are really excited and nervous as buying a house is a huge investment! The house is amazing!

This post has been in the works for about 2 weeks now! Sorry! I am trying to keep up with everything, but I guarantee that I will get behind again soon as we have to pack up and move out by the first of January!

Happy 25th Birthday to me ( December 1st)! We had a wonderful time celebrating my birthday this year! Ricky got me a package at Christina and Co. for a spa treatment! I got an hour long massage, pedicure, and manicure! It was amazing! Thank hun! Then he took me out for dinner with just the two of us! The next day, my parents and sister came up for dinner. It was really nice to spend time with them! I got a Cricut scrapbooking tool from my parents! I am really excited to start scrapbooking again soon! (We have to move first!!)

My best friend Jaime and her husband and kids came over for dinner a couple of weeks ago. The boys were playing an XBox game while we chatted! The little boys were so cute!

Thanksgiving

Ricky, Dylan and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year! We got to spend Thanksgiving day with Ricky's family and then we spent the weekend with my family. It was nice to see everyone and to play games! The food was great too! I decided to brave Black Friday with some of my friends this year! It was crazy! I've never seen so many crazy people in my life! We went to Kohl's first, then Toy's R Us and then Walmart. I will have to say that I got some great deals! I even got my birthday present! Yeah! You'll have to wait til my birthday to find out what it is! I had fun, but I don't know if I'll do it again next year! Thanks to the girls for inviting me!

Dylan and Noah lounging around on Thanksgiving!

Dylan, Alex, and grandma all sitting together! Dylan wanted to hold the baby! He has been fascinated with babies recently!

Dylan has found a new hobby! He loves to move his toy cart and pull all the movies out of the TV stand. He then takes the movies out of the cases! He thinks he's pretty clever! The things that boys will get into! He is growing like a weed! I still can't believe that he's almost 2! He is such a boy!

November

Where has this month gone?? I can't believe that November is almost over and Thanksgiving is tomorrow! I guess that tells you that I am keeping myself extremely busy! Last Saturday we had Enrichment for all the women at our church. It was the Super Saturday craft day, and I was helping out. Little did we know that it would take all week to get the projects done! We had a wonderful time bonding while making the starter for the crafts. Thanks to all those who participated and helped out! It was so much fun! I still have to get together with the other leaders to do our crafts next Monday! (we decided to take a week off from each other! j/k)

We definitely have been enjoying the weather around here! It has been up in the 60 and 70's this past week! Who would have thought that our kids could play outside in the middle of November without coats on?!?! We went over to my friend Jaime's house and the boys had a wonderful time playing together. We decided that they are best friends. They are almost the same size, after being so different when they were younger!

Cameron is giving Dylan a hug! Isn't it cute?

They were taking turns driving with the wheel! I still can't believe that they are almost 2!

I thought this was a priceless picture! They both have the same foot in the air as they are walking! How cute! Thanks to Jaime for the pictures! I was holding little Nolan while she was taking the pictures!

Accidents happen!

Dylan has been really spoiled lately! He has seen both sets of grandparents at least once a week! My mom watched Dylan last Saturday so that Ricky and I could look at cars, and when I first saw him, he wanted nothing to do with me! He was clinging to my mom like I was a stranger! I guess my little boy is growing up! (Too fast!!!) He is such a boy! He loves to play with cars and trains! He lines them up and then pushes the back one to make all the other cars move! He is getting really smart, too! He loves to be chased around our kitchen/ living room by daddy. The other day Ricky was turning around to go the other way to try to scare him, and he now turns his head to make sure that you are still following him! He's just to smart for his own good!

We had a weekend of accidents last week! It all started when I was giving Dylan a bath. He started saying "potty" right before he goes to the bathroom. If you can guess what happened next... He looked at me and said "potty" and then pooed in the tub! Luckily Ricky was home to help and I had already washed him off! I had to disinfect the tub and all of his toys while Ricky disinfected him! Then the next morning, Ricky was changing his diaper on our bed and let him roll over to play (without a diaper on)! Next thing we know, Dylan is peeing all over our pillows and duvet! Let's just say we were a little late for church that day! Oh the joys of having children!

Happy Halloween!

We had a wonderful time trunk-or-treating last night! Our church does this so that the kids can stay in one place and see all of their friends dressed up! Ricky has his lab for his class on Wednesdays, so I dressed Dylan up and took him over to the restaurant to see daddy for a little bit. Little did we know that the manager would let him go so he could go trick-or-treating with us! It was great! When we first got to the church, Dylan was walking around saying "hi" to everyone and waving! It was so cute!

Dylan was so excited to see his daddy! Doesn't he make a cute giraffe?

Dylan and mommy out getting some candy! As a last minute costume, I wore Ricky's lab apron over my khakis. I was a server with Dylan's burp cloth hanging out of my pocket!

Dylan and daddy posing for the camera! Since Ricky had just left his lab, he put his chef's coat on for his costume! I thought it was a cute idea!

Grandma and Grandpa Tate came over to the church to see all of the grand kids. Dylan was excited as always to see them!

Dylan loved to take the candy, but he had to have one in each hand! If he already had candy in his hands, he would look for me or throw it. He had to make room for more candy in his little hands! He was so cute saying "treat" as he would walk up to people! Maybe he'll get it better next year! He definitely was polite as he said thank you to everyone! After we finished with the trunk-or-treat, we walked around the neighborhood for a little while. My friend Bobette and her husband and kids joined us, so we had a great time!

I guess we wore Dylan out! It was only about 9 pm, but I guess he had too much fun!

He changed a lot in the past year! I thought this was a cute idea that will have to be one of our family traditions! He gets to pick out a piece of candy to eat with breakfast, too! He was super excited about that! What a little cutie!

Reading time!

I really enjoy having time to spend with my church friends! We all got together for book group this week, even though some of us didn't read the book! I used it as an excuse to get together with my friends and eat yummy food! The kids really enjoy the cookies as you can tell from these pictures! I plan on reading the book for next month! It was really fun setting all of the kids around the table to eat while we all sat in the living room talking. So much fun!

Families

I enjoy taking advantage of having my family close while I can! We have been to Indy 3 times in the past week! One of the times was to visit with my mom's best friend that I was named after (Mel and Jay). We adopted them as second parents as they loved to spoil us and goof off! They live in Florida, so we love to come up with excuses to go visit them! We got to enjoy lunch together and then spent some time chatting. It was lots of fun!

While we were all chatting, we decided to take some family pictures.

Here is me, my little sister Crystal and my mom.

Here is the whole family minus the in-laws. So far only boy grandkids! Hopefully we'll have a girl next time!

This is Dylan's proud grandpa! He loves spending time with the boys!
It was great visiting with everyone and I'm grateful that we have the opportunity to do so!

I did it!

So I made it with only one blister and just over 2 1/2 hours! It was really fun and exciting. I had a great time training and even lost a few pounds! The weather was a bit cool in the morning, but turned out to be fantastic! We couldn't have asked for a better day! Here are the official results:

Overall place: 1497 Pace: 11:34 Finish time: 2:31:40.7

Here we are just before we started the race. Katrina on the left ran it in 2 hours 13 mins., me, and Bobette ran it in 2 hours 1 min. I was very impressed with both of them! For being my first marathon, I think I did pretty good!

I got these pictures of my friend Katrina's blog. (Thanks!) We ran together for about the first 5 miles. I had to stop for a second to get a drink and she kept going. It was very nice to have someone to run with!

This is right before the finish. I ran the last 4 miles with the woman in front of me. We pushed each other to run! Katrina had already finished, but she joined me in the last part. It was very nice of her! Thanks!

After we finished, Dylan and Chandler were playing in the grass. They were being their cute selves! Ricky got Dylan to cheer for me! It was really cute!

And here's Dylan again! He was being such a cutie!

I don't know how many more half marathons I want to do, but I definitely would like to continue running. I had forgotten how much I enjoy it! Next time, I think I will do a shorter run! Thanks again to everyone who gave me support! I really appreciate it!

The day before

Wish me luck! Tomorrow is the big day! I still can't believe that I am going to run a half marathon (13.1 miles)! I am getting excited because I have trained really hard for this! In some ways, I am looking forward to it being over. But overall, I am really excited! It brings back all the memories of running cross country in High School! Thanks to Katrina for asking me to join her, and thanks to Bobette for helping me train! I am hoping to get the race done it two and a half hours, but we'll see! It's my first one! I guess that's all for now! I'll have Ricky take some pictures for me show everyone that I did it!

Fun times!

This weekend we got to attend the Feast of the Hunter's Moon, Ricky's favorite. It is one of our traditions to go and eat all of the yummy food! Even if you have to stand in line for 30 mins for the best ever apple dumpling. It was definitely worth it. The weather was amazing, not too hot or cold! I was very bummed that I forgot my camera! I had a long morning, training for the marathon. (Which is coming up this Saturday!) After the Feast, we went to our friend's donut party/ Halloween party. I was excited to dress Dylan up in his cute giraffe costume. The games were fun and the donuts were very good! I probably ate about a thousand calories on Saturday! Good thing for the long run! We were all dead by the end of the day!

I got a few pictures of Dylan lounging around. I found him like this the other day while I was cooking dinner! He is such a cheese ball!

On a side note, we are currently looking for another car. We are not sure what we want or what would be the most logical car to get. We were thinking about a small suv that gets somewhat good gas mileage, since we don't need a van yet! Suggestions would be greatly appriciated!

Computer time

I guess I should post something about our lives! I haven't been in the mood to get on the computer lately! I don't know why, I just haven't! It could be that I am ready for this marathon to be over so that I can stop running everyday! It is wearing me out! It doesn't help that I strained a tendon in my foot! One and a half weeks to go! I checked my e-mail yesterday and I had 49 new messages! Crazy!

I got my camera back, so here the pictures I promised you!

Dylan cried every time we took him out to let the other kids have a ride! I guess grandmas know what to get Dylan for Christmas!! j/k

How many kids can you fit into a power wheels mustang?

And here is my cutest little nephew, Landen! He just turned one!

Our lives in a nutshell!

Last weekend, we went to my nephew's birthday party. It was lots of fun spending time with family! I can't believe he's already one! Dylan LOVED riding in their Mustang Convertible Hot Wheels car! I got some really cute pictures, but I left my camera at her house! I have a disposable camera to use until I get my camera back, so I will have to post all the pictures after they are developed! Boohoo! Maybe it will give me an excuse to get a new camera that I have been eyeing!

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Dylan is doing better now! After getting over everything, he threw up on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday nights. Poor little boy! I am hoping that by getting everything now, he will last throughout the winter without any sickness! (I know, I'll keep wishing!) I think all of his teeth are in, so we won't have to worry about any more until his second molars! Yeah! He had his 18 month check-up last week, too! He weighed 26 lbs. 6 oz, he's 34 inches, and his head circumference is 49 3/4 cm. He is still in the same percentages with his weight at around 50 percent, and his head and height at 90-95 percent! He is looking more and more like a little boy! He seems like he is ready to start potty training. He comes up to me and says, "mommy, potty" and takes me to the bathroom where he lifts up the toilet seat and places his seat on. He has gone twice this way, but with the sicknesses, he hasn't been so eager to go. We'll start trying again soon! He is growing up way too fast!

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After I read my friend Katrina's blog, I looked into the Indy Marathon. I know I'm probably crazy, but I figured that I could do the half by the end of October! I am waking up at 6 everyday to run with my friend Bobette. We are already up to 4 miles, and we just started on last Wednesday! (Actually she is more ready for this than I am, but she's helping me out! Thanks!) I am really looking forward to it, since I have always wanted to run one! I'll have to let you know after I run it if I plan on running anymore! Running has actually made me feel more energetic and ready for the day! I guess that exercise really does make you feel better!

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Ricky just got promoted at work! Yeah! He is now the Assistant Manager at AT&T in West Lafayette! We are so proud of him! He started this week with more responsibilities! Hopefully it will all work out for him! On a side note, Halo 3 for XBox came out today! There goes our free time together this week! He is looking forward to taking vacation days to sit on the couch and play his game!

Cookies

So, after the last post, I had to take Dylan back to the doctor again! He had pink eye in both of his eyes! Poor kid! And I looked in his mouth today and he has his bottom two eye teeth in! They must have popped through while he was sick, because they weren't there last week! I guess we just had one bad week last week! He is doing a TON better this week! He is still a little clingy, but other than that he aok!

Dylan's favorite word seems to be cookie. He says it really clear now. He knows where they are, too! Smart kid! After dinner last night, I gave him a chocolate chip cookie that made his day! I decided to get the camera out since I haven't been taking as many pictures recently! He has such a cute smile!

After the cookie, Dylan got a bath! He was covered in chocolate and sweat from playing outside. He loves to play in the tub! He started taking his cup and pouring it on himself. Then he looks at me like why did you do that, mom? I still can't believe that my little baby is already 18 months old! He is so much fun to play with!

Sick days!

Dylan woke up really sick on Tuesday, so I took him to the doctor. I found out that he has a double ear infection on top of a really bad cold. No fun! His ears don't seem to bother him. I feel really bad for him because his nose will not stop running. And then he wakes up with gookie eyes. I have really enjoyed cuddling with him as that's all he wants to do! I haven't gotten much housework done, but I don't mind! Then yesterday, Ricky and I woke up with really bad sore throats. I have had allergies for the past couple of weeks, so I was used to the runny nose. Being sick is not fun. Especially for Ricky who has to work and go to class all day! I am feeling a lot better today! I hope everyone can stay away from this nasty cold! It's not fun at all!

TOFW

This past Saturday, my mom gave me the opportunity to attend Time Out for Women in Indianapolis. It was so nice to get away with other women and hear reasuring talks about motherhood and love. I really enjoyed the host, Hillary Weeks. She has a beautiful voice. I am looking forward to reading my book, I am a Mother by Jane Clayson Johnson. She was very inspirational and thinks that moms need to take more credibility in being a mother. I had an amazing time, Thanks mom!

Wedding fun

Last weekend, we went to a friend's wedding downtown Indianapolis. It was lots of fun! (Almost wish we found a sitter for Dylan!) The reception was very nice and we had a wonderful time! I had to take about 5 pictures before we got this one! Ricky kept on making silly faces, and I just wanted one cute picture!

Dylan is turning into a girly boy! J/K He just like headbands! Here he is with my sister's headband on his head! What a cute smile!

After the reception, they rented a carriage for all of the guests to ride around the circle downtown! It was really fun and Dylan loved the horsie!

Labor Day

We got to spend the day Monday at Shades State Park with Ricky's family. Too bad Ricky had to work. Such is life! The other Melissa and her kids went with us, too! The kids had so much fun and really enjoyed being outside! We hiked around 2 miles total, but they were all up and down stairs! Good thing Dylan can walk!

We were looking off the cliff at Sugar Creek! Hold on tight!

Lily was such a big girl! She liked to hold Dylan's hand and help him along the trails!

They were so cute!

Melissa's shoes got muddy, so she decided to get them wet! This picture is adorable!

The kids sitting by Sugar Creek!