A Week in Review

Tanner's Birthday is March 7th! We are counting down the days. Tonight we had our neighbors over for a pizza and cake party. Mommy made the cakes! That's me. I just finished a 4 week cake class and it was so much fun. I made two cakes for tonight, one for Tanner and one for the rest of us. Tanner is tasting his first cake ever.

Mommy and Daddy pose with the Birthday Boy!

The cakes matched his napkins and plates. I felt very proud and my neighbors were very nice too! They kept saying how cute they looked.

This week we also went to Irvine Regional Park. Grandma, Grandpa, Jafta, India, Tanner and I all took a ride on a train. Jafta got to blow the horn when we were finished. Later we went on a walk and saw lots of ducks! We had a beautiful time!

This last week the weather was beautiful! We went in the kiddy pool and for a walk with Tanner's cool shades on. He kept them on the whole time. We went to see our friends and neighbors Jack and Peggy.

Jack and his wife have been married for 52 years and live right down the street. They have a funny old dog and a bird. We like to go and visit all of them.

Tanner and Panda

Tanner's favorite animal is a Panda. And by favorite animal I mean he has some cute Panda outfits. We went to the zoo and the Pandas were the highlight of the day.

Tanner was giving some gentler panda bears some snuggles. He is wearing his matching hat! Believe it or not this little guy will be 1 in a week. I can't believe it. It has been an amazing year and we are blessed by Tanner everyday!

A little side note: Tanner has 7 little teeth and he has taken 6 steps in a row!
What a BIG boy!!

A Mini Vacation

Kipp, Tanner and I went on a mini vacation down to San Diego with my parents. We picked a very cold day to go to Sea World. And by very cold I mean like 60! Burr!! We are cuddled up to watch a walrus show.

This dolphin may look friendly as he gave baby Tanner a little smile. But wait...

This same dolphin swam by Kipp and I as we held Tanner. He swam by on his side and splashed us with his big tail. He soaked all three of us and Tanner was not happy! He cried so loud that everyone around us felt sorry for him. Poor guy! Poor all of us getting so wet on an already cold day!

Oh Killer Whale! It was amazing to see these beautiful animals so close. Tanner just watched him swim by.It was the perfect day. We are raising a boy that loves the ocean and now he has met some ocean animals.

1st Grade

I love teaching 1st grade! i miss Tanner when I am at work, but I have fun every day that I get to be a teacher. Being a teacher is a huge part of who I am. I feel like being a teacher has helped me be a better mom. My students have taught me to be more patience, have more fun, and that I'd rather laugh with my class than have to scold them.
I got a Valentine from a girl named Jessica who I had in class last year. Her writing assignment was to write about your favorite teacher. She said I was her favorite teacher because I was nice. She went on to say that one day she was crying and I made her feel better. I don't remember that day, but it made me feel so good that I had loved a child.
Here are some pictures of my cute class this year...

Valentine's Day

This was Tanner's 1st Valentine's Day. We went to my classroom to have a party with my class. The kids loved seeing him.


I am taking a cake decoration class with my mom. This is my first cake and I am so proud! It says I heart you! Tanner had a little taste!

My cute little Valentine! He is wearing his LOVE shirt and looking at all of his heart Valentines. We had a great day together.

Grandma and Grandpa Lyons came up to hang out with Tanner Boy so Kipp and I could go on a Hot Date! We went to The Beach Fire and had a very nice dinner. With Tanner and Kipp taking turns being sick lately it was the first time that we had a date night. It was a perfect day.

Thank you friends for your prayers for our sick little guy. He was sick for 5 days. It was bad news. Kipp got it too so Tanner and I moved in with my parents for a few days so they could help out. Now they are both healthy and happy! It was really hard having a sick kid. I am so thankful that we have a HEALTHY boy! Praise God!

Poor Sick Boy

We are having a sad day. Tan Man is so sick and it makes me so sad. He has thrown up 4 times this morning and been in 3 different outfits. The worst is when he gets sick and then looks at me and starts to cry! I just want to hold him all day. I am so glad that he is taking a good nap in his room right now. Poor Baby.

Oh Magenta

Back in the day T would take any paci to sooth him. For some reason something changed
and PINK became his favorite color. We call his paci magenta to make ourselves feel better about the fact that our son loves his pink paci. What can you do? If he's happy so are we. Here's a look back at some good times we've had with magenta.

Tanner with Magenta their first time to Disneyland. They had such a good time.
August 2008

At Disney again this time it's Christmas.

Christmas morning Tan and Magenta ride a new toy in front of Grandma and Grandpa Lyons'.

Just the 3 of them. Uncle Aaron, Tan and Magenta on our first trip to Boise State Univ!

Red and pink totally go together! I'm a tough fireman, don't mess!

My Men

These two guys are the loves of my life!

Today Kipp went snowboarding all day and Tanner and I really missed him. When Kipp is away it makes me realize how amazing our family time is. My favorite times are when we are all together.

Kipp is such a great dad and he loves to play with Tanner. He's a fun and loving daddy. It is hard for me to believe that Kipp and I have almost been parents for 1 year. I think we are doing a pretty good job!

Pictures in order:
Daddy and Tan on vacation last summer.
Daddy throwing Tan in the chair. Every time Tanner laughs out loud.
Hanging out at the beach.

Emily, I'm calling you out.

I just wanted to add this cute new picture of Tanner!

Secondly, Emily Harvey Rocky! You have some nerve. Leaving comments on my blog and not even letting me see your blog and learn about your life. Come on give me a break, let me in Emily.

Happy LOST night everyone. I am counting down and I can't wait to see what happens! I'm going to get my Lost On tonight!

Breakfast Time

My favorite parts of working part-time is getting to spend so much time with The Boy. We always have lazy mornings where we both stay in our PJ's till noon! We read and play for an hour or so then we head downstairs for breakfast. This morning I had finished a box of my favorite and Tanner really wanted to try some too.

My empty box became his new toy for the day. He held it and chewed it until it ended up on the flour. After breakfast he got down on the ground and pushed the box all around the kitchen. I don't know why he loves to do that. Usually it's Kipp's cell phone that he is pushing around.

If you want to be in show biz like your Godfather JJ, turn the box around! Come on kid.
On a side note he is taking more steps every day! One here and two there, then he falls to the flour! What a big boy.

MVCC

An amazing woman from our church passed away last week. She had been a faithful servant in our church for 22 years. Michael and Mark both came to the service on Saturday. I think it had been a few years since we have been at MVCC together. The service was beautiful. All week I have been reminiscing about all the people who have influenced me over the years. I have loved growing up at Mission Viejo Christian Church and I love the memories that I have from there.

Uncle Michael was here for a day and a half and we squeezed in some family time. On Friday night my mom made a great dinner and we all hung out together. Michael is hugging Tanner, India, and Jafta.

Michael and Tanner are ready to read a bed time story.

My Buddy Carson

Tanner and his buddy Carson. They fist meet last summer when they came down for Jen's birthday. We are so excited that they are coming down again in March! Tanner will be 1 and Carson will be 2 1/2. My hope is that they will be life long friends.

Matching outfits are the key to any good friendship!

We are looking forward to our Disney Play Date! We love you friends.

Look how much Tanner has grown in 6 months.
Oh APPLE!

ROCK BAND

Our first Band Practice! We went over to Derek adn Jackie's to have our 1st practice. It is important for Kipp and I to raise Tanner in a musical household. (Shout our to Jen and Kristi!) Well Tanner likes to rock out to Jack Johnson and High School Musical 2 soundtrack. But we also want him to sing and play music so we gave him a little practice.



Tanner loved singing along as we were playing the music.



Hey buddy you may need to take that Paci out first.



Peace, I'm out!

Birthday Breakfast

Happy birthday daddy!


We are out front and Tanner loved looking at the ducks. We went through a lot of bread and duck food. The ducks were glad that we came.


Kipp's 30th birthday is this Monday 1-21-08! We had a surprise Birthday Breakfast for him this morning. Jafta is helping him blow out his candle.


We went to a cute place in HB called Alice's Breakfast in the Park. Jafta, India, Tanner, and Haley are hanging out with the Grandparents.
Right outside there was a big pond with a bunch of ducks. We had so much fun feeding them. The little kids and the big kids loved them too!


Here is the whole gang after a great breakfast. The light is a little bright but I love how our friends and family are all together loving Kippers! What a great day. Kipp felt very loved. He also loved opening his gift from all of us, a brand new surfboard.

My Little Helper

Tanner's favorite game is picking things up and handing them to me. The other day we were home together and Tanner opened our pantry and started handing me EVERYTHING! I snapped some pictures and let him play in his new found space. He looks so proud of himself.

One thing that Kipp and I try to do is to have a nice family house rather than Pee Wee's Playhouse. So we clean up his toys every night when the kid goes to bed. Now Tanner has a new spot to hide some of his toys. He knows right where to go to open the door and find his toys.