Tyler’s birthday—part 1

Fortunately, Tyler’s 6th birthday fell on a Friday and I could spend my day with him.  I was up late the night before working on the video slideshow that I posted, and since I was still messing with it in the morning, Dave made the kids some chocolate chip pancakes.

Jen had made plans for us to all go to Sam’s Club to have those old fashioned photos taken of all of the grandkids together.  The kids were SO excited once they got all dressed up, and they took what will probably turn out to be their best picture yet.  They all sat and smiled so nicely.  I'm looking forward to seeing them.  Afterwards, we all grabbed lunch together at Sam’s and then headed to the next stop for Tyler’s birthday festivities.

I had purchased a Groupon for a place called Bounce U, which is an indoor bounce house full of those inflatables that kids love to jump around in.  The sisters all decided they’d bring their kids too for Tyler’s birthday. When we got there—10 kids in tow (baby Brecken was with too)—the lady at the desk asked “what’s the name on the reservation?”  I said, uh oh, I need a reservation?  Apparently it’s a pretty popular place because 1) they just put out that Groupon and 2) it’s ridiculously hot outside.  She said she might be able to let 2 kids in, but not 9.  The kids played on the arcade games for a little bit while we figured out what we could do instead.  I’m not sure who it was, but someone had the genius idea to go bowling instead.  Lucky for us too, there was a bowling alley right in the same complex! 

After ordering shoes in sizes from a 9 for Lacy to a men’s 10 for Josh, we were all set to bowl.

Here’s the birthday boy tossing out his first ball.

The older boys were great bowlers.  This was the start of a streak where Matt, Josh, and Talon all got strikes in a row!

Kathy watches Brecken on Fridays, so he got in on the fun too.  He’s such a good baby!

I thought this picture was pretty funny.  There are two open seats, but she sat in the middle of them both.  She kept going back to this spot too, so it must have been just perfect for her.

Tyler wanted to remind us regularly that it was his birthday.  He used the “but it’s my birthday” excuse quite a few times. 

Here are two of the cutest little girls I know.  Ava—and a few of the others—really got a kick out of the air that was blowing up from the ball return.

The group photos of these kids are getting a bit easier, but it’s still a challenge to get them all looking and smiling.  Here are a few attempts…getting progressively sillier.

How old are you Tyler?  Oh ya, that’s right….

Best buddies, back together again! It’s great to have the Schomaker’s back from Germany again. Tyler spent from Friday at noon until Sunday at 1:30 with Matt.  Mattler…..

After bowling, the boys all got to go to Grandma Claire’s for a boys only sleepover.  What a fun night for them!  I had a cake and cupcakes to make, and with some help from Samantha, I made a great cake for my birthday boy.  I was so excited with how it turned out. 

I think Tyler had a great birthday-day!  6 is going to be a great age.  If you’d like to see more bowling pictures, click this link for my album.  Tomorrow, I’ll share pictures from Tyler’s birthday party.  It was a great time!

Happy 6th Birthday Tyler!

I’ve been trying to decide the best way to celebrate Tyler’s 6th birthday on my blog. Over the years, I have written thousands and thousands of words about this amazing kid.  I’ve taken thousands of gigabytes of photographs of him, and I’ve shared videos that have chronicled his growth.

On his birthday, there is so much I would like to say about this awesome 6 year old boy.  He is smart and funny, creative and artistic.  He is absolutely passionate—passionate about whatever it is that his is in love with at the moment.  We have seen this demonstrated throughout his various stages—cars to trains to space. We are so proud of how well he has done in school this year, and that he continues to show a huge love for learning.

First, I’m showing you a collage of Tyler’s birthdays over the years followed by your first look at a 6 year old Tyler.  Finally, and most excitingly, I made a video slideshow of Tyler over the years.  There are so, so many more photos I would have loved to include, but then we’d all be sitting through 12 songs worth of pictures! 

We are so lucky to be able to call this boy our son, our first born.  He has brought so much joy and happiness, laughter and love to everyone in his life—especially his Mom and Dad. 

Happy 6th birthday Tyler.  We love you to the universe and back again….. 

6 years ago—right now….

I looked like this…

…and tomorrow morning, my life would be changed forever. 

Future Olympian?

I'm pretty excited at how well Tyler is doing in his swimming lessons.  The other night he said "I want to do swim team" and it made me so proud!  Swim team was a huge part of my life, and I would love for either or both of my children to have that experience.  It's such a great sport for kids, and what better sport for the summer in Arizona?  After watching some of the Olympic swimming trials last night, he asked his swim coach to show him a flip turn! He’s definitely interested in getting it all figured out. At lessons last night, I took a couple of short videos to send to Grandma Jean, and now I've combined them into one video for you.  They're taken with my phone, and I'm out in the lobby watching through the door, so they're not great.  But, you get the idea!  Keep it up buddy!

Pool time

We have made numerous trips to the pools already this summer, and after days like today (113 degrees), it is pretty much necessary.  Luckily, we have family with a pool, and they don’t mind when we invite ourselves over to use it see them. I bought an underwater camera last summer, and although I haven’t been 100% happy with it, I’m still trying it out when I can.  I have taken a few pictures with it this summer, and most of them are terrible. I think the problem is sunscreen on the lens.  We’ve cleaned it really well now, and I’m hoping it’ll be better next time. Here are the only ones I feel like sharing, and I’m hoping to get some better ones at Tyler’s birthday party next weekend—and the rest of the summer.  Here we go….

Talon has got to be the easiest kid to toss around in the water—the kid is about as light as air.

Let’s climb on Uncle Dave!

Yay for swimming pools!  And yay for our upcoming North Dakota break from this stupid Arizona heat!

A big day and some backyard shenanigans

Today was a big day, for Tyler especially.  He went to the lake with Kathy and her family.  Kathy posted this picture on Facebook of them in the boat.  Doesn’t it look like they are having a blast?

On the way home from Kathy’s house, this is what I saw (and heard) behind me…snoring away!

In swimming lessons, Tyler swam laps for 30 minutes!  Freestyle, backstroke, and even a bit of breaststroke and an introduction to butterfly!  Needless to say, he was a bit tired.

After the kids had showers, we went outside to have a popsicle and I brought my camera with me.  I got some pictures I thought were a good representation of the kind of fun we’ve been having around here.  Think this little blonde boy is due for a haircut?

I love how Ava is looking at her big brother in this picture…so sweet!

Next, they were seeing how high they could jump off of the wall.  How cute is Ava’s face in this picture? 

This is Ava’s new favorite thing to do.  She is always doing “handstands.”  I think it might be time for a tumbling class!  maybe after we get back from ND? Pretty impressive, huh?

Tyler likes to try too….

And sometimes they “handstand” together…

Time for some tandem jumping off of the wall.  It took a couple of tries before we could get the timing right, but each picture is cute for it’s own reason. Which one is your favorite?