Christmas 2008

Some of the highlights of our Christmas break (in no particular order!)

1. A delicious Christmas Eve dinner, complete with cheesecake, with all of my family.
2. Tyler sleeping in until 9 a.m. Christmas morning.

3. Watching Tyler get excited over each present. He kept saying, "Presents, yeah!"


4. Movie and game nights with the whole extended family.
5. Having Tyler ask for his cousin Hayden every morning.
6. Tyler and I being able to see and spend time with Steve (I wish he had another week off!)

7. Finally getting a camcorder to record all of Tyler's funny moments.

8. Dinner with all of my sisters.

9. Skiing for the first time since I was 8. (Honey, thank you for having patience with me!)


10. Already looking forward to warmer weather!

Tyler and Frosty

Tyler has really gotten into the whole winter, Christmas thing this year. Even though he's not even two, I think he gets most of what Christmas is about. Any baby we see he thinks is Baby Jesus, every snowman is Frosty, and even the railroads have candy cane arms. It is so much fun to see him get so excited about it all.

We woke up this morning to a bunch of new snow. Tyler looked out the window and exclaimed "Frosty!" We decided to get him all bundled and go out and make a Frosty. It only took him a second to get used to walking all bundled up, but once he realized he could still get around, he took off. Tyler mostly followed Steve around and ate the snow, but he had an absolute blast doing it. Not that I am biased, but Tyler is one cute snow baby!




Here are my boys with their finished product! As you can tell, Tyler is proud of his work!


Spending time with my boys is my favorite thing (even more than volleyball!) Especially at this time of year, I'm so blessed to have my family be happy and healthy. We wish all of you a safe and very Merry Christmas!

Past two weeks

A certain family member complained to me yesterday that I hadn't posted in like two weeks...so this post is for you! Since Steve has been super busy studying for and taking finals, Tyler and I have been doing our own thing. As any of us with toddlers know, they are creatures of imitation. Tyler sees Steve wearing his wireless blue tooth headphones and, of course, needs to see what all the fuss is about.

The first weekend in December, while Steve was studying, Tyler and I headed up to the Festival of Trees with my family. I had been prepping Tyler all week to meet Santa. I didn't want him to scream or anything. I kept telling him "Santa is nice, he will give you candy!" (Yes, I bribe my child!) Tyler was barely hesitant at first, then he realized who was holding him and said "SANTA!" We even got this picture on the first try. Since then, he has said, "Santa lap, candy cane!" a few times a day.

Also at the Festival, my aunt and I saw the tree entitled "A Cullen Christmas" It was a very creative tree. Thanks to my aunt for being in the picture with me. And yes, we did get weird looks from people.

Tyler really enjoyed all the Christmas trees, goodies and sounds of the Festival. He sure is my best little buddy!

At lastly, I think Tyler may have a future in high dive swimming. Lately he has decided to become who we call "Compact Tyler." He only needs to work on pointing the toes, and I think we've got a real shot at 2028!

Ten Reasons I LOVE 'A Christmas Story'

1. "Scut Farkus staring out at us with his yellow eyes. He had yellow eyes! So, help me! Yellow eyes!"

2. "I can't put my arms down"

3. I triple dog dare you!

4. "Only one thing in the world could've dragged me away from the soft glow of electric sex gleaming in the window..." The Leg Lamp!

5. "Aunt Clara had for years labored under the delusion that I was not only perpetually 4 years old, but also a girl." The christmas Bunny costume.

6. "If Higbee thinks I'm working one minute past 9:00, he can kiss my foot. Ho ho ho." The evil Santa at Higbee's

7. The Chinese waiters singing "Deck the halls with boughs of horry, ra ra ra ra ra, ra ra ra ra"

8. "Show us how the piggies eat"

9. "It was all over - I was dead. What would it be? The guillotine? Hanging? The chair? The rack? The Chinese water torture? Hmmph. Mere child's play compared to what surely awaited me." Soap in the mouth for saying a bad word.

10. "I shot my eye out"

Pulleys in Phoenix

After a week in warmer weather, it is a little hard to come home to 40 degree weather! Phoenix was a lot of fun, and like all holidays, went by too fast. The drive down and back went very smoothly. I am definitely thankful for a little boy that didn't mind being stuck in his carseat for 9 1/2 hours. One of the best parts of Thanksgiving, was seeing Tyler and Hayden have such a good time together. As you can see, they played so hard, they knocked the tent over!

While we were there, we went to a GREAT children's museum in downtown Phoenix. They had a few areas just for really little ones. It took Tyler a while to warm up to it, but once he did, it was hard to pull him away to see something else.


Our Thanksgiving day was relaxing and full of delicious goodness. We ate a wonderful meal with Kristin, Jay, Hayden and my mom. We played the Wii for hours on end, watched movies, played games and listened to music. That night a huge storm rolled through Phoenix with a lot of thunder and lightning. Every few seconds the lightning would light up the sky. Tyler thought he had magical powers when he would clap his hands the lightning would strike.
The next day we went to a wonderful outdoor park. They had rides just for toddlers. Tyler was so brave, he went on the little dragon roller coaster all by himself. Although, we did stop it after three times around because of the look of sheer terror on his face! We were sad to leave the next day. Tyler has asked for Hayden at least twice a day since we've been home. So thank you Baughmans for a fabulous Thanksgiving.