BABIES and ASTHMA don't belong in the same sentence.

I took my littlest guy to the Pediatrician today. He has had a random cough that comes and goes, along with an icky rattle in his chest. After the Doc checked him out, he determined that he is pretty positive Zach has asthma. The good news is that 20-50% of children outgrow asthma. At this point we are going to treat it with nebulizer treatments, and if it continues to flare up he will have to be put on a preventative treatment. I hate this for him, and was feeling a bit discouraged until I met a baby and Mother on my way out of the office. The baby was teeny tiny and I thought he had to be only a couple days old. I found out he was a month and a half old and weighed 5 lbs 3 oz. He was born 11 weeks early weighing in at three pounds. I walked out of the pediatricians office praising God for his goodness to me. Having a 13 month old with asthma is such a tiny pebble on the beach compared to all this little premature baby will face! I'm thankful that God knows just what to bring into our lives to give us a different perspective on our circumstances!

If anyone out there has a baby with asthma, or knows anything about asthma... I would appreciate your insight.

On a funny note, Tyler has been watching Winnie the Pooh recently. He has been inspired to capture Zach and I hear him saying, " I capture you in the name of the hundred acre wood". ha. Oh, bother:)

Decorative Yard Sale Finds!

This post is actually 2 weeks old, but I wanted to share some of my fun yard sale finds. Not only were these finds great, but they were greatly priced,which made both me and my (Dave Ramsey) wallet very happy---and when my wallet is happy, the hubby is happy. ha.

My favorite find of the day was this blue "big boy" chair for Tyler. It fits up to our table perfectly, and I adore the color. I paid $3.00.

Next, I found a variety of country/vintage items. A wire basket, spools and thread, three angels, handpainted eggs, chalkboard/cutting board, brand new creative memories book with stickers, etc. I paid $10.00 for all of it! The creative memories book with stickers has been listed on ebay, and the other items I am putting together for a decorative piece...I'm just not sure where I'm going to stick it yet. The globe in the back I found at a different yard sale for $2.00.  I sold the globe at a conignment sale this past week-end for $10.00. :)

 I love these little angels. I have not a clue what I'm going to do with them, but I will find a spot for them somewhere! The angel on the left has a broken wing thanks to my smallest angel who grabbed her before I could stop him.

I did find a couple toys for the boys. A violin for Tyler and a Winnie the Pooh phone for Zach. He loves to talk on the phone, and says "oh". We are just thankful he says the last part and not just the first part of "hello". ha.

Last, I will throw in a Goodwill find that my Mom picked up for me...

Linking up with Apron Thrift Girl , Thrifty Momma Says , Coupon Tipster , Her Library Adventures

"Pleased as Punch" Sunday

Today I am pleased as punch because....

1. Tyler is teaching Zach dental hygiene. Tyler was supposed to be brushing his teeth, and I looked over and he was brushing Zach's teeth ( all four of them). The best part was Zach was happily obliging with his mouth wide open.

2. We have been working with Tyler on the concept of: " If a door is closed you must knock before opening it." I think we've finally struck gold, and he understands. He decided this evening that he and Zach were going to have a birthday party in Zach's room. Before he shut the door he looked at me and said, " Mommy, you have to knock on the door before you can come in". ha.

3. Tyler is becoming very thoughtful in some areas of his little life. Tonight, he  packed a bag of animals to take to church, and he decided he needed to pack me a bag of animals too. He also packed a  drink in the diaper bag for me.  I had to laugh though because I caught him going through "my" bag of animals and pulling out the ones he thought he would like and then putting them in his bag.

4.  I'm pleased as punch that Tyler can talk to anyone ANYWHERE. Tonight, he carried on a conversation with the little girl in the stall next to him. Lovely. This all happened after I accidentally opened the stall on said girl since she didn't have the door locked. Oops. One of his first questions to her was, " Are you going pee-pee or poopie?". Drop me through the floor quickly, please. She then told him that this was the GIRL'S restroom. Not once, but three times did she re-iterate this fact. Next, she wanted to know how old he was, when was his birthday...etc. She also instructed him not to use too much toliet paper because that's not a good thing... and on it went. Finally, she finished up. whew. Tyler, waited a little bit, and then said, " She didn't wash her hands" when he didn't hear the water running. She did eventually wash her hands, but stood out there and waited for him to finish up because she wanted to see what he looked like. ha.

5. And, not to leave Zachy out: I'm thankful he is a good eater. After church tonight he downed 1 1/2 hotdogs, and then he ate a whole ice cream cone. He was hilarious too watch. He would take bites out of the bottom and then the top. He was a mess, but boy did he enjoy his little ice cream cone. Thanks to Mama, who keeps goodies on hand for the boys. :)

Just for the fun of it, I found some old pictures of Tyler tonight and thought I would share them. I believe Tyler is approximately the same age as Zach in these pictures. Can you tell they are brothers??

Consignment Sale Finds & Our Song Writing Guitarist

I went to the consignment sale today and bought a few items for the boys. It killed me to pay the prices since I am Yard Sale Queen, but I did find a few things I couldn't live without.

Black Bass Dress Shoes for Tyler- $5.50

Red Train Sweater for Tyler- $6.00 (OUCH)

Gray Long Sleeved Train Shirt For Zach- $1.50 ( That's more my speed)

Last, but definitely not least, a pumpkin longall for Zach (new with tags) -$10.

Have I mentioned how much I love smocked outfits on little guys?  Husband, he isn't quite as much a fan, and didn't get my excitement over this outfit! :)
I wanted to share yet another video of Tyler and his new guitar. Not only is he advancing in his guitar playing, but now he is writing some stellar music. We need to work on his song writing variety though because all of his songs revolve around icebergs. Ever since we got back from Alaska he has been requesting to see video clips of the "strong ice". Hence the recurrence of ice in all of his music:)

Christmas in August

I am incredibly excited, jubilant, ecstatic, jumping up and down clicking my heels, high-fiving, over the moon happy. I got a PRINTER. Our printer has been on the blink for at  least 1 1/2 - 2 years....so this ,my friends, is BIG news. I am participating in a consigment sale this week-end, and I have to print off tags for all of my items. It hit me that this was going to be a big issue because I didn't have a printer that worked. Did I mention the sale is THIS week-end! Augh! I had a little chat with myself, "Self, what are you going to do about this printer issue in your life? You have dealt with it far too long, and you need to take the bull by the horns and march (well, I might end up with heat stroke so maybe I will just walk:) yourself to the store and buy a printer already.
I didn't want to spend a bunch on my printer, and decided to take a peek at craigslist to see if they had any listed. Sure enough, I found a BRAND NEW in the BOX printer for $10. I repeat $10. We picked it up last night ( sigh) and I'm in love. Here's a picture of the little beauty:

My precious little Printer also copies and scans. I tried out the scanning function with a couple pictures from our cruise.

Well, I better go...my new printer and I have a busy afternoon of printing off tags for the consignment sale. Wish me luck!

A Boy And His Guitar

Tyler has been enthralled with N-atars, guitars, for awhile now. I mean he loves them. My Mom and Dad found a child sized guitar online, and brought it over for him tonight. It has been attached to his hand all night, unless Daddy can wrench it free to try a few notes himself. Here is Tyler's first Music Video debut.

No Use Crying Over Spilt Milk

I've decided to take a sabbatical from laundry.  Not because I hate laundry, but every time (okay, so slight exaggeration) I go out to the garage to switch my laundry, disaster erupts inside my house. My solution: No More Laundry.

Tonight, right after supper, I decided to run out and switch my load of laundry. Here is the sight that greeted me when I returned to the kitchen.

You would think that Zach was the one that created this mess, but he was innocent. I caught the culprit red handed. Tyler was taking big drinks of his milk and then spraying it all over Zach. Lovely. As you can see, Zach thought it was hilarious, which is probably why Tyler continued squirting him. Zach has officially been given a milk bath....who knows, maybe he will have extremely supple and silky skin by morning.:)
                                             

The boys played in their "tunnel" quite a bit today. The only issue with the "tunnel" was that Tyler was more enthralled with it than Zachy. Zachy would try escaping and Tyler would grab his leg and try pulling him back in, which would cause Zach to let forth a great screech. I even caught Tyler trying to pick him up and carry him back to the tunnel on one occasion. The infamous tunnel....

                   Tyler has his hand out prepared to stop Zach if he even thinks of escaping.

             I love watching the boys play together, and hope they will become the best of friends!

I have noticed recently that Tyler is becoming more loving. At night time, he has to give us a kiss, a hug, and a squeeze:) I love it! He told me today, " Mommy, you are my best friend". I treasure those moments with him~he is growing up way too fast! I pray that God will give me wisdom in raising these precious little guys!
Back to the laundry issue, I know taking a sabbatical from laundry won't work~so, I've come up with a better plan. I will strap Zach to my left leg, Tyler to my right leg, and waddle to and from the garage. Problem solved. Now, if I could only figure out what to do with them when I use the restroom :) haha.

Snippets From Our Saturday!

Today was Crazzzzyyy...but in a good way. Let's see, between work day at the church for hubby, a birthday party, bridal shower and a meeting in the evening with some of our youth. I would chalk it up to being a full day. Amazingly enough, in between all the craziness I was able to fit in some yard sale-ing. I know, it was tough, but someone had to do it. haha.
Some day, four score and ten years down the road, I WILL post our Alaskan cruise. I promise. Cross my heart and hope to die stick a needle in my eye. :) I thought I would share just a couple pictures from our trip....
First up, a view of one of the glaciers.

The Norweigan Star. ( Our beloved cruise ship)

Little Monkey Cousins with Little Monkey Matching Pajamas.

I saved the best for last. Wait for it. ELMO on STEROIDS. haha.

WE ARE FA--M-I-LY!

Recently Tyler has been very interested in who is in his family. He asked me the other day if Zach was his family, and I explained that yes, he was his brother. Yesterday, he asked my mom if Cocoa, who is their at least 10 year old poodle, was his Grandma. Mom explained to him that no, she wasn't his Grandma. He then wanted to know if she was his family...and I believe Mom said yes. So, here is our latest family member, Grandma Cocoa.  As long as no one inherits her breath, we are safe. Or her eyes, for that matter, I'm guessing she has two very ripe cataracts.

Tyler decided today that he was old enough to work. He wants to work for Mama, and only Mama, cutting her grass. He stipulated that he wanted to use Papa's mower, which is a big old beast of a  lawn mower.  We asked him how much he would charge to mow her lawn~ $4.00 was his ready reply. He quickly changed it to  $4.00 for each piece and then settled with $4.00 for every two minutes. I think he should have just stuck with his first $4.00...he's a greedy little thing.

Our other little bundle, Zach,  is very modest, even when bathing he doesn't want to remove any article of clothing.

Last night, I had already put Tyler in the tub and Zach was right there with me, or so I thought. I leaned down and got the lotion out from under the sink, and I heard Tyler say, "Zachy's in the bathtub". What??? I didn't even hear a splash, and I was right there. Needless to say, I am going to have to watch him like a hawk. He scared the living daylights out of me for a second! He was perfectly fine, and quite happy with himself.

Happy Thursday! Aren't you glad tomorrow's Friday?? I know I am!

SMALL WHIRLWIND TURNS INTO TORNADO LEAVING GREAT HAVOC IN ITS WAKE!

This tornado happens to be none other than my three year old! Before noon today he had: 1. Washed my sliding glass doors with a wet wipe, 2. Poured out his little treat of Jelly beans (sixlets) on the floor, 3. Broken the windshield off of one of my ebay resell toys, 4. Poured out four new containers of his Father's Pontacts ( Contacts). Thankfully I searched the floor and was able to find two of the missing four. 5. When drying him off after his morning bath he and his towel escaped back into the tub full of water. 6. And...so on....etc, etc. Let's just say there is never a dull moment at our house! He is a busy mischievous fellow!

You know those children you see at the store and think MY child will never act like that.....never say that, I MEAN never, never, never. I have learned my lesson. Before I had children,  I had every answer in child rearing. I  had stated more times than I like to remember the "my child won't act like that" or the "those parents need to do this or that" comment. I have eaten those words time and time again~ almost every day:)

At Walmart not too long ago, Tyler was being a pistol and letting his wants be known. I was in the middle of an aisle with Zach and Jonathan had Tyler down at the other end of the aisle. This precious lady standing near me looks over at Zach and says, "Honey, don't worry you will never act like that". I looked at her and grinned and said, "I wouldn't be so sure of that, considering he happens to be his brother". Boy, did she sputter and try to re-word what she had stated. :) Lucky for her, she was older and has grown children....who knows, maybe she will have to eat those words when she has grandkids. haha.

I love my little Torando to pieces....the good and the bad behavior. He can make me laugh like crazy. For instance, in Church Sunday I took him to the restroom. Here is the conversation that entailed.
Tyler: What are you doing, Mommy?
Mommy: Just waiting for you to use the restroom.
Tyler: Poor, Mommy. That is precious!

You never know what he will say! One of my favorites is when he doesn't want to hold my hand , and he folds his own hands together and says, "That's okay, Mommy, I will just hold my own best hand".

Needless to say, these days I feel like my house is never clean. I just get one thing cleaned up and then another mess magically appears. Yesterday, he decided to get out our games...you know, the ones with ALL the cards. Last week, he decided to make pizza with Zach's rice cereal and dumped the whole box into a flour sifter. That was a huge mess! He walks around the house a lot of days smelling like either perfume, cologne or lotion depening on which cabinet he got in that day. He is so quick!! I can run out to the garage to change a load of laundry, and come back to a disaster.

I have learned to laugh through most of his escapades. The Lord has been teaching me a lot about patience, and not sweating the small things in life. My house with all its messes will remain, but Tyler will grow up and I know I will miss rice cereal pizza and his "Cool Waters" perfumed scent. As crazy as it sounds, I want to try my best to enjoy every moment of these days with my little tornado.

Here is a picture of  our family when he was just a whirlwind...

And...here is my little Tornado now.

Yard Sale Spoils & GW Goodies!

Saturday found me out and about bright and early with my beady eyes straining to find an orange or yellow sign with the precious words "Yard Sale". I must say isn't it devastating when you spot one of those beloved signs and your heart rate speeds up....and then you pull into the development to see that the sign reads "house for sale". :)
Anyway, Saturday was a great day and I thought I would share a couple of my favorite finds with you. First off, a lot of GI Joe Dolls Action Figures and vehicles. I believe there are 15 GI Joe figures in all, and seven vehicles. The neat thing is most of these are from 1996-1998.

My favorite find of the day was a Playmobil Airport set that was in excellent condition and included the airplane. I paid $12 for all of it and they even threw in a Playmobil race car and driver that is not pictured.
I love all the little details! Note it isn't all put together yet as you can tell by the extra pieces in the front. I have to call in the reserves, AKA Hubby, for that one.

Now moving on to a couple "vintage" GoodWill finds this past week. First up is the surprise box for my littlest guy. Although, truth be told I think I've played with it more than he has. Ha.

Last is this Fashion Corner Fashion doll that I bought for $2. Does anyone  know anything about this doll or similar dolls?? I have looked them up online, and haven't found much out. It could be that I am just looking in the wrong places:)

 Linking up with Yard Sale Mommy and My Life on a Taffy Pull .

"PLEASED AS PUNCH" SUNDAY

 I was so thankful to see this little guy zooming past me in church today!!

Remember Jack Budensiek, the little guy who you helped me pray for over a month ago? He is doing great! I am so thankful that we serve a God who is still in the business of performing miracles!!!

Jet Lag....Jet Lagging...Jet Lagged

We have officially been home from our Alaskan cruise for a week now. While we were gone we had a 3-4 hour time difference,which is a measly few hours, right? Wrong. The two T's of the family (Tyler and Tonya) have struggled to adjust back to the "normal" time. Tyler, who typically is an incredible sleeper and HATES to sleep with Mom and Dad, has been crawling in our bed every night. Last night was the FIRST time since we have been home that he slept through the night in his own bed. Hopefully, he has settled back into his old routine, keeping my fingers crossed on that one, and my toes, for good measure.
 One night this past week, at 1:13 AM- I know the exact time, since I just so happened to still be awake, Tyler once again climbed into our bed. He typically climbs over Jonathan and sleeps in between us, but he couldn't muster up the energy, I guess ,because he climbed up and sprawled out right on top of Jonathan. I laid there amazed, first, because our son could sleep in that position, and second because my husband could sleep through it. I had to stop my redecorating project, and I started thinking that if Jonathan turned over it could send our son plummeting off our bed to his death , well at least injury. After much deliberation, I finally woke my hubby up to fill him in on the fact that he had a small, 27 pound child sleeping on his chest. Hubby awoke with great surprise, and then carried the small insomniac back to his bed.
 I'm hoping that last night's full night of sleep for Tyler is the end of his restless nights. Hopefully that will help my restless nights, too:) Although, I must say I have accomplished so much in the early morning hours over the last week. I completely redecorated the boys rooms, I scrubbed my house top to bottom and cleaned out cupboards and closets---too bad I only planned this all out in my head, and none of it actually came to fruition. ha.
Here's what I hope to see Tyler doing at 8:30 tonight....SLEEPING.

Just in case I have trouble sleeping tonight, if anyone has any projects that need accomplished I am more than happy to plan it all out for you. ha!

One Little Monkey Jumping In His Crib--Had a Birthday, And NOW He Thinks He's BIG

I hijacked my Mom's camera and "stole" some pictures from Zach's Birthday party. Have I mentioned that I need to upgrade my camera??  The quality of my pictures is horrific, of course, that might have something to do with the photographer. ha.
We have been looking into getting a new camera, but there are so many options out there! Anyone have any suggestions? We are looking at a Canon Camera/Camcorder combination. The most important thing for me is that it is easy peasy with no lenses to change, and very durable.

 Cindy had to perform a bit of "plastic surgery" on the monkey topper since it decided to nose dive on to its fellow cupcake.

The Cupcake Eating Pictures...

 My favorite pictures are of Tyler caught in the act of drinking from the bathroom faucet. Hey, I'm just grateful that it wasn't from the toilet....

Okay, I promise that was the last pictures I will post of my little Monkey's 1st Birthday.