Tyler Learns to Ride His Bike from Daryl McMullen on Vimeo.
I cannot believe this day has come. He is only 5 and just decided that he was done with training wheels and ready to ride his bike. I helped him about 3 times in the last few weeks and then he got on his bike today and just took off. He can even get himself started without help! I am becoming more and more aware of just how fast he is growing up, but I must admit I am really happy that we are totally done with training wheels. Let the long family bike rides begin...well once we get Daryl a bike :)
Tyler Ryan,
I cannot believe that you are 5 years old today, seriously where have these last 5 years gone. I can still remember the day you were born like it was yesterday. I remember seeing you for the first time, I remember being so scared when they couldn't get a good cry out of you and decided you needed to go to the NICU for awhile. I still remember seeing you in the NICU and thinking boy he is huge compared to the rest of the little ones in here. I still remember crying like crazy when we walked out of the hospital without you, you had to stay one extra night because of your collapsed lung at birth and now here we are 5 years later. I was so scared when I found out I was having a boy, because all I knew was girls, and I didn't think I would know what to do with you. Little did I know that you would hold such a special place in my heart.
Nana always used to tell me that there is just something special about little boys and their mom's and I never understood it till you came into my life and I saw the sweet natured boy that God created you to be. I never imagined my boy would be so sweet and loving, but that is you through and through. You used to be all about your mom, and even though that has changed recently you still tell me several times a day that you love me. You will just be sitting on my or your dad's lap and just out of the blue tell us you love us. You tell your sisters all the time how pretty they are or how cute they look. Anytime you see Jacob for the first time in awhile you walk up to him and just throw your arms around him. I love how affectionate you are and I hope that never changes.
This year has been a big year for you buddy. You have continued to grow like crazy and weigh has much as Rachel right now. You are our solid little dude! You can take Rachel down with no effort and with a little effort and you can also take Allison, which still amazes me. You love to rough house with us. You love it when the whole family wrestles together, you love to chase your dad around the house and try to tackle him and then we all end up in a dog pile in the middle of the family room. This year you started playing soccer, you played MSA in the spring and are playing Upwards now. When you started in the spring you would cry every time you had to go out on the field, but you very quickly become confident of yourself and by the end of the season your were our scoring machine. You took ice skating lessons last winter and can now skate on your own. This summer you did swimming lessons and we joined the pool again and by the end of the summer you were swimming totally on your own. You also learned how to do front flips off the diving board all on your own, your sisters have yet to accomplish that. During last school year you learned how to write your first and last name, I couldn't be prouder. You just started Pre-K at Mary Frank this year, you go to school every morning and absolutely love it. You love that you get to go to school everyday like your sisters. Another huge thing that happened for you this past year is that you no longer are in need of speech services, yahoo!!!!
You still love Ninja Turtles and love playing with your cars and trucks. I have found you several times recently in your room by yourself just playing with your cars. You also love to play on the computer and like your sisters have become addicted to Webkinz. You are completely self sufficient on the computer, you can log yourself in and actually at times show your sisters how to do different things. You still love to be with your best friends, Jacob C. and Carter R. You also love to play with Morgan R. and if I had to guess I think you may have a crush on her :) You love the times when you get to play with them. You have also made good friends at school and have started asking recently for play dates. Last school year you asked me for a play date with a girl and even told me that you would only go to her house for a little bit, my answer then and forever will be NO!!!! You get a little frustrated when your sisters are at friends and you are stuck at home :)
Tyler Ryan I cannot explain to you how much I love you, but one thing I can tell you is that God loves you even more than I do. I know that God has given you the loving, caring spirit you have for a reason. I know that God has a great plan for your life and I cannot wait to see what it is. Tyler, my prayer for you is that you will love God and others with everything you have. I pray that no matter what life brings that you will run after God with reckless abandon. Know that your dad and I will always be behind you and that no matter what choices and decisions you make in life that our love for you will never change. I am such a lucky mom to have your for a little boy and I thank God for that everyday.
Happy 5th Birthday sweetheart! I love you with all I am!!
Love,
Mom
Dear Rachel-
Where did the last 7 years go, you turned 7 years old a week ago and I cannot believe it. I can remember going to the hospital in the middle of the night to have you. From the moment you were born I was in love. Your were our second little girl and from the beginning you were the most laid back, happy girl. I can remember just walking around the house holding you and you would smile from ear to ear. You also from a very early age had the best expressions. You didn't even need to say anything, we could just look at your face and know exactly what you were thinking. Funny thing is that those expressions have not changed much in the last 7 years and it is one of the things that I love the most about you.
You just finished First grade at Mary Frank Elementary School with Mrs. Ziege. You loved First grade and loved your teacher. You made lots of new friends this year. Instead of having a few very close friends like your sister you are friends with everyone. You would come home everyday and would tell me about a new friend you had made. You still love to spend time with Abby and Jacob Callender and can't seem to get enough time with them. You also enjoyed playing with Meadow, Lydia, Hannah, Jillian, Laila, and many others. You also came home in the middle of the year talking about this boy named Josiah. You called him your boyfriend and said you had found the perfect boy to marry :) There was even talk that you held hands at one point and that he kissed your hand on the bus one day. Of course your mom had to remind you that we don't have boyfriends in First Grade. You love school and always looked forward to being there. You became a great reader this year and also loved art, you seem to have a knack for drawing that you must have gotten from your dad.
You played soccer last fall for Upwards and you are playing right now for MSA. You seem to like the sport okay, but the social part is what you enjoy most. You started taking piano lessons this year and I love listening to you play. You did ice skating lessons and continue to become a better skater every year. You also did swimming lessons this past year. You love to be in the pool or at the lake swimming. You are for sure my outside girl. You also BEGGED me this year to sign you up for Girl Scouts. I did and you loved it. You love to spend time with your friends, but you also love to spend time playing Barbies with Allison and playing Webkinz or anything else with Tyler. You also don't like it when we miss a family movie night. You always have to be snuggled up with someone, which I love.
There are so many things about you that I love Rach, but I think my favorite part is your personality. You have a personality that just doesn't stop.You come up with the funniest, cutest things all the time. The things you come up just crack us up sometimes. Your smile and laughter is contagious. You wear your emotions on your sleeve and we never have to guess how you are feeling. You are an absolute joy to be around and you have this way about you that just makes other people smile.
I know that God has great things planned for you life sweetheart. My prayer for you is that you will live life to the fullest and that you will run after God without abandon. I pray that you never let anyone change the person that God made you to be and that you will give God all you have in every aspect of your life. Keep your eyes focused on God and your feet pointed in the right direction. Love other people well Rach, for that is how others will know that you belong to Him. Your dad and I will always be here for you. No matter where life takes you we will always be your biggest fans and we will love and support you in every way we know how. Your love and joy for life has made me not only a better mom but a better person. I cannot wait to watch you grow into the beautiful girl that God created you to be.
I love you Rachel Lauren with all my heart!!
Love,
Mom
We took the kids to the park today for the first time this year. It was 50 some degrees and yet it still felt a little cold.
They had a blast though - just can't wait for summer to come...
The kids have been doing skating lessons for a couple years now and I can definitely see how starting young makes a difference. Even Tyler (age 4) can skate fairly fast and is getting more cocky each time he's out there.
Allison - the "composed" skater. Already has the stride of a figure skater.
Rachel - the "wild child." She skates 100 miles an hour without fear.
Tyler - the "slider." He loves to skate fast and then slide on the ice.
I can't wait until next year. Tyler gets to do intro to hockey at the Ice Box!
Just had to get a clip of Tyler and his Wii Boxing style.
Not sure what is up with the fancy footwork but he does seem to be successful a lot of the time.
I was going back through our picture and video files the other day and ran across this. With the help of Windows Movie Maker I was able to pull together five or six clips and create a partial episode of CakeTV (also referred to as AllisonTV in the video).
I don't know how or where she got the idea - probably on TV - but I love the fact that she was able to conceptualize the entire project enough to break it out into a TV show.
The project was actually completed. She made her "Memory Cage" from beginning to end. It was an envelope type thing where you could store your task notes (things you need to do the next day). Leave it to my first born to come up with an organizational system.
This episode isn't completed. Ally was half way through when the batteries went bad on the little point and shoot camera she was using as a video camera. Unfortunately I didn't know what she was doing at the time or I would have changed the batteries and encouraged her to finish on tape.
Maybe in the future she'll do another one.
