accessories...

For those of you searching for new ways to jazz up an outfit look no further. Turns out your child's stackable rings can add a great splash of color.

Add on a snazzy pair of sunglasses and you are set.

Fun in the sun

Just like any other mother of a toddler (or any age child I'm guessing), I am constantly looking for some way to keep my child occupied for longer than 10 seconds while simultaneously wearing him out in hopes of a long nap. Luckily, during the warmer months, we are able to burn some energy outside at one of the many parks in our town. We both had a great time...

even though 72% of the time Tyson was trying to eat the sand and I was trying to stop him. Little sneaker even tried to hide it from me (as evidence by the above picture with his back turned) but luckily I'm smarter than an almost 16 month old...for now.

Multiple attempts were made at climbing the big kid stuff...

but he soon realized he couldn't quite muscle himself up there.

Dirt: added to the growing list of favorites. This kid is all boy.

Heinz

I like ketchup...

a lot.

How to keep a toddler occupied: travel edition.

So on an extremely positive note, Jason found my camera wedged underneath one of the seats in the minivan. I was thrilled to be able to upload our pictures from the most recent trip from South Dakota. Above is a great pre-wedding shot of Tyson and Darel (his uncle). Here's a little tip for those of you who didn't already know this...15 month old children don't sit through a wedding very well. The first 5 minutes after being seated were spent alternating between testing out the cathedrals acoustics with his various loud noises and banging his head on the pew cuz he thought it was funny.  

I thought the food at the reception was phenomenal. Tyson thought the plates were great.

At one of our rest stops at a McDonalds, Tyson enjoyed playing with the super cool picnic benches...

but was appalled at some lady who LEFT HER TODDLER IN THE CAR while getting her food. Around here people get in serious trouble for doing that to dogs and she LEFT HER TODDLER IN THE CAR unattended and strapped in his seat WITH THE CAR RUNNING...in a not so small town. Someone easily could have driven away with that kid. He screamed the whole time. I almost called the cops but didn't have my phone with me because Jason had taken the van to fill up so I took down her license plate number and waited there until the mom came back. I am still shaken up by that. After that we got back in our van and Tyson found his feet.

I know my sisters are dying of laughter at this moment while viewing this picture of Tyson sucking on his toes. I chose to preserve the tiny bit of dignity I have left and will let your imaginations run. 

All in all, it was a great trip. We loved seeing everyone and as always it was hard to come home. We miss you!!!

PS- for those of you wondering, we did in fact have a DVD player this time and it was glorious. Elmo, Baby Einstein and I are now great friends.

so sad...

Well folks, today I am going to tell you a story about a very flighty girl who may have possibly lost her camera.  I took it with me to the park over the weekend to take some great pictures of Tyson playing in the sand (and by playing, I mean eating). Unfortunately, the camera has been MIA since then. I am usually extremely careful with my camera as I use it pretty frequently but I know I did put it in the diaper bag and left it somewhat unattended momentarily while I gathered Tyson up and tried to force his little jaw open to spit out the remaining sand (seriously, he'll eat sand like it's a gourmet meal but green beans are offensive???). I then grabbed the bag and set off for home and have been camera-less since then. Of course, that's when Tyson has been at his cutest and most mischievous. I've now missed some fantastic (though pretty unsuccessful) attempts at using cutlery all by himself (the fact that there is a "right" side to the spoon seems to escape him) as well as some other interesting sitcom worthy situations. I am oh so sad. Beside the fact that I am going through camera withdrawals, I am mourning the loss of some great pictures from our trip back to South Dakota for Danielle and Wes's wedding. Hopefully a prayer to St. Anthony or two will help it turn up but in the meantime, I have no pictures.

 A few months ago I began selling things on ebay to save up enough money for a digital SLR camera and I am tantalizingly close but here's the kicker: in order to sell more items (to earn more money to buy my camera), I need to be able to take pictures of said items. Now I have no camera so I can't sell the items so can't buy my camera! See my dilemma? So maybe I could use a few prayers from you all as well. Without my camera, you will have to put up with all of my rants without the distraction of new cute Tyson pictures....so get crackin'.