11 Months Old!

Where has the time gone?

You are such a fun and high maintenance little guy. We are having so much fun watching you explore everything weather you're supposed to be exploring it or not. A lot of the time we are moving you away from things, or things away from you. You are also starting to turn into quite the monkey. You somehow climbed up onto the couch the other day and ended up down in a little hole between the couch and the railing of the stairs. You've done that twice now. Once feet first, and the other head first. You weren't happy about either occurrence. 

 

You love to follow Tanner around and bug the living daylights out of him. But there are the wonderful times where he plays with you and you both have so much fun. The other day you two were chasing each other through the house just squealing, laughing and screaming having a grand old time. You boys also love to play under blankets and make forts out of the couch.

The way you use your voice is so funny and cute to listen to. Just a couple days ago you have started to say "boo." You were trying to be sneaky and sneak up on one of my nail clients and me. When you got really close you out of no where said "Boo!" Both of us thought it was the cutest thing! You are also making this funny little baby bird noise. It's kind of a cross between a laugh and a high pitched coo. 

No signs of walking or standing by yourself yet. But you are very efficient with cruising along furniture, walls and people like you always have been. 

Still 4 teeth but we can see your eye teeth and canines working their way down. You have been extra fussy for a little while with some classic teething signs and symptoms. So we're hoping something will pop through soon and give you some relief.

You have refused to eat baby food for the last while, and also hate your high chair lately. So I have given up on all of that and have started to feed you table foods on my lap or wherever you happen to be playing just so you'll eat something. Right now you really like plain Cheerios, chocolate rice crispies, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, bread and some various fruits.

We are still fighting you with the sippy cup, but you have made some great progress from last month when I was ready to pull my hair out. You are actually chewing and drinking a little from one right now! Way to go buddy! I've found that if I just give it to you and let you play with it, you eventually put it in your mouth and start drinking. It's slow, but getting there!

You are still in all the same size diapers and clothing from last month. We're not sure how much you've grown since we didn't measure or weigh you last month and I'm not really in the mood to do it today. You just squirm way too much, so I'll leave all that up to the Dr's from now on! We'll find out where you are next month.

Thank you for being ours, and making our little family so interesting and fun!

We love you so!

xoxo

Mommy and Daddy

Presidents Day Bowling 2015

 I love that my family still keeps the tradition of bowling on Presidents Day going.

Kollin has unfortunately never been able to go since he never gets a day off from work. He'll just have to remember to request the day off in years to come.

 

We had a great turnout this year, my dad said there were over 50 of us there! It was really fun to play and chat with my extended family.

 

Tanner had a lot of fun as well. He bowled with all the little kids and I barely saw him the entire time he was so entertained.

 

My dad and Gwen were also so sweet and played with Chase the entire time as well. So I got a pretty nice break to be able to play and visit.

Happy Valentines Day!

Tanner's Birthday Party

 This weekend we had Tanner's 4th birthday party.

We decided on a "Paw Patrol" themed party since he loves that show so much right now.

We had to pretty much make our own decorations since I couldn't find anywhere that sold any, or if they did thy were just stupid. So I had to get a little creative...

 

Dog bone birthday cake

Each beverage is the color of each of the pups from the show, and their picture is taped on the front of each one. We also had "pups in blankets" and dog bone shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. The plates, napkins, utensils, cups and things where each a color of each pup.

The party favors. I wanted to give favors that the kids would actually like and the parents wouldn't want to chuck in the garbage as soon as they got home (like those stupid little toys that you get in party favor bags most of the time). Everyone thought they were so cute and a great idea! They also each had a card around their necks saying "Thank you for coming to my PAW-ty!"

This game I printed up for free from the Nick Jr website

The sign on the front door. I just Googled different images and put it all together. I thought it was pretty cute!

Playing Pin the Badge on Marshall

We had a couple of our friends cancel, but we still had a great turnout of family and friends come. All of the kids had a lot of fun playing this game and also just playing with Tanner's Paw Patrol toys and the presents he got.

Other Grandma and Other Grandpa (Sara's parents) are always invited to anything for the boys and they never disappoint. They always have great Harley outfits for them, and this time Other Grandpa brought his Harley trike down so Tanner could see it!

Other Grandpa finally got an updated picture with his grandkids on his bike. The last time was when Tanner was maybe 6 months old or so.

I think the party was a hit, and I hope Tanner enjoyed himself. At least it seemed like it! 

Tanner's Birthday

Happy Birthday Tanner!

Today we had a pretty great day.

When you woke up you came into our room like you do every morning.

Daddy took the day off so he could be here with you all day.

We got up and started celebrating right away with some presents!

 

You got some more Paw Patrol toys. You really love this show and we think it is pretty cute.

 While you were opening your presents, you got a phone call! It was the Paw Patrol calling to wish you a happy birthday! Each of the pups had something to say to you and you thought it was pretty cool.

 

It was kind of a chilly day, so we stayed home. But you got to do whatever you wanted.

 

Later in the evening we celebrated more with more presents, sang Happy Birthday to You and you blew out candles on a cupcake. 

Chase thought the cupcakes were pretty yummy.

 Then we went to a movie! This was the second time we attempted to take you to a movie in a theater. The first time we went to see Planes and you only lasted 30 or 40 minutes before you wanted to go wander the hallways. You were only about 2 1/2 at the time, so it was ok.

 

This time we went and saw Big Hero 6. You loved it and you lasted through the entire movie! Daddy and I were so proud of you. You asked to get out of your seat a couple times, but after we told you that you had to watch the movie you got sucked right back into it. There were even times that you were literally sitting on the edge of your seat paying complete attention to the movie. It was so cute.

We hope you ad a great birthday buddy! 

4 Years Old

FOUR!

This is the longest I've gone without writing a "Tanner of the Month" post, so hopefully I'll remember everything that happened over the last year!

First of all the talking. OH the talking! When you turned 3 you were really starting to talk, but wow, have you blossomed over this last year. You are speaking in proper sentences much of the time, and have even learned a few not so good words. I blame YouTube on that one. You love to watch videos on YouTube about trains, bowling and any Disney movie. Some of those videos have voice overs of people talking and sometimes they drop some words that a toddler shouldn't know. And of course with you being such a sponge, you repeat! You are so sweet and good at listening to and obeying us when we tell you that we don't say those words and are very good at using the words we suggest for you to use instead. So thank you.

Your imagination is really starting to blossom. You are building your very own train tracks most of the time now and have just recently started to have an interest in coloring and drawing. You drew your first family portrait a week ago or so. It is so sweet!

You started pre-school last October and have already learned so so much. It is so cute to see you writing your name, pointing out letters and numbers you know and singing the heck out of the alphabet. From what I can tell you are having a lot of fun in school and love your teachers. You have been going through a bit of a rough patch of crying when I leave you at school. But your teachers have been working with you and you have been improving so much. 

When your little brother, Chase, was born you weren't too happy about it. But you have been starting to be so sweet with him and playing with him. You definitely still have sibling rivalry moments where you clobber him, but seeing you play with him and let him be included with what you are doing shows me you really do love him. He loves you so much and just wants to do what you are doing. You are such a great big brother and will be a wonderful boy for him to look up to.

I don't know if I've ever mentioned this on here before, but you are still the pickiest toddler I have ever encountered! You were such a good eater up until you turned 2. Then it's like a switch went off in your head and have had a very picky diet ever since. You will not touch what most people would think would be normal toddler staple foods. Chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese and pizza are completely off the table. Your normal meals consist of Life cereal for breakfast, peanut better and jelly sammich for lunch and fruit for dinner. You also like eggs and bacon when we make those. And will also eat grilled cheese sammiches and pancakes occasionally. Because of this, when we go out to eat it is usually IHOP since we know you will at least eat something. At least the majority of things you eat are healthy, so I don't feel so guilty. Just warning you, but we are going to start getting more strict with you broadening your diet. You've been getting into battles with your teachers at school about eating your snacks at snack time and that needs to change.

Your favorite movies right now are Polar Express, Madagascar 3, Nightmare Before Christmas and Despicable Me (1 and 2). Your favorite TV shows are Paw Patrol, Bubble Guppies, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Thomas and Friends. You love Dr. Seuss books and any books with trains (of course).

You are now wearing a size 6-7 shoe (depending on the brand), 3T shirts and between 2T and 3T pants. Some 2T pants are starting to get short on you, but not much. And of course 3T pants you need to wear a belt. Still teeny tiny around the waist as always. 

I'm sure there are so many more things that I just can't think of right now. But you are just so amazing. We still can't believe that you are ours, and how we could be so lucky to have you. You are so sweet and nice, but also have a pretty stubborn streak. I am happy you are at least finally starting to show some spunk. 

We love you so much.You are such a joy and light in our lives. Thank you for being ours!

Weight: 29 pounds
Height: 37.6 inches

xoxo

Mommy and Daddy