Brothers

The boys just hanging out watching Playouse Disney..........

Birthday Boy

Tucker was so excited to get his very own belt buckle for his 5th birthday. He cracked us up by walking around with his fists up in the air saying, "YES! I am the World Champion Bull Rider!"

I don't think you can see it very well, but his buckle has a bucking bull on it.

He got more presents than he possibly needs, and hopefully, I can now talk him into getting rid of a few older things and getting his room cleaned out!

Tucker and his bullriding cake..........



One of several Star Wars toys, he was thrilled!!

Tucker is 5!!!

Tucker turned 5 on Monday the 28th! Can you believe it?! The day(s) of his birth are still so vivid in my mind, that it just seems unreal how fast it has gone. For his birthday party, he wanted a bull riding party. Well, we didn't let him actually ride bulls, but we did go with the western theme and had his party at the ranch where he takes riding lessons. The kids had a blast and Tucker was so excited. Here are a few pics of the day.........


Ty on Mercury, Tucker on Merry Legs.......










Tucker taking the first swing at the pinata

They fit!

Ty is into everything lately, and on this particular day, he was into his Daddy's shoes. He is such a fun little personality. Always doing something to crack us up. Whenever he sees a camera, he says "CHEEEEESE!"

He is also doing pretty well with "please" (sounds like peas), and "more". We've taught him a few signs, and he uses them sometimes. Mostly food related, of course. He often does more, hot, and drink.

The past several days, he's doing really well with instructions or tasks. He'll pick up and bring us particular things we ask him for like his binky, shoes, cup, or cuddle bear (thats his sleeping buddy). Tonight, he even helped Mike put all of his toys away in his toy basket. They just grow and learn so fast!!!

Mike and Tucker waiting on the concert to start...

We thought it hilarious how crazy her hair got as she went nuts on stage! This is just one of many pics of all of Miranda's hair!



We tried to get a cool pic of Tucker and Miranda, but the person taking it, nice as they were, didn't really get the point. This isn't bad though!

Miranda Lambert concert

Last Thursday, Miranda Lambert did a free concert on post. We took Tucker and he had a wonderful time. It was in an auditorium and they let everyone stand at the stage if you wanted. We went up for a couple songs and Tucker thought he was pretty special! He was a bit tired at school the next day, but the concert was really good!

Tucker was really excited about taking his new digital camera and taking his own pictures!

100th Find

This is our 100th Geocaching find. It happened to be a great picnic spot, although it was a bit chilly!

Laundry

I caught Ty trying to climb in the dryer, and when I told him to get out, this is the look I got....














So, I put the camera away, only to come back to this....










This boy is gonna be a handful!!!!

Grandpa's first find

Mike and the kids got grandpa into the spirit of geocaching very quickly, and they were out all day. He got his first find, and apparently had to be dragged away when they were searching very hard for another. Mom and I were at home with dinner and presents waiting, and Mike knew he was in trouble........

We looked up all the caches that are in mom and dad's area, and there are a ton! If you're in Whitley County, this is a great hobby that will keep you busy!

By the way, I must say that Daddy DOES NOT approve of Colton's sweatshirt he brought and wears around Mike as often as possible. For those of you that know Mike well, you know he is a big Purple K-State Cat fan!

The day after Christmas, we picked up Grammy and Grandpa in Shreveport. On the way home, we hit Natchitoches so that they could see the shops and the Christmas lights, since they had never been there. Well, it was pretty chilly and most of the shops were closed. We hung around just until the lights came on and headed home! Kind of a bust, but now they can say they've been to the home of "Steel Magnolias"!

The Hunter

Ty loves his new trike and trailer-thanks Uncle Ryan and Aunt Julie! He also loves big brother's new guns that Santa brought. I think this picture is so funny. He's ready for the woods!

The stockings were hung.......

Earth Caches

Another realm to geocaching is finding "earth caches". I don't know much about these, but Mike is quickly becoming quite the expert. Apparently, there are several throughout the country, but instead of there being a logbook to sign or things to find, you take a picture of yourself and post it on the website as proof. After you find a certain number of them, you start receiving coins and certificates. Mike recently earned his "bronze coin for earth caches". Isn't he special?!



Anyways, on the way home from picking up Caitlyn and Colton, he took them to a couple really cool places. I honestly don't know where they are, somewhere between Oklahoma and here.......but yes, they are licking a wall of salt at the Morton salt mines.

O Christmas Tree

Mike's family has a tradition of putting a dove on the big tree before anything else goes on. This year, Tucker did the honors. He obviously took it very seriously.....


I let Tucker decorate the small tree all by himself this year. We thought he did a fantastic job, and he was so proud!

I was trying to get the perfect Christmas pic of the boys. It took awhile, but here are a couple good ones. Go Colts!!

Boys will be boys........

I love these pics! Ty seems to be such a sweet little boy, but in reality, he is ornery as can be! He LOVES to pick on his big brother, and Tucker is usually nice enough to take it and not fight back. I'm sure the day will come! There's nothing like a beat down with a sippy cup!

Santa and Mrs. Claus

The boys changing the oil

Too tired to finish........

Ty pulled Tucker's toys out his cabinet and made himself at home.

Our new hobby

We have recently discovered a new family hobby that we are really having a great time with. We were introduced to Geocaching a couple months ago and have hit the ground running with it. In case you've never heard of it, all it takes is a GPS and a spirit of adventure. Since we like doing inexpensive things as a family and like to be outside, but none of us really enjoy running, hiking, biking, etc (translate-we're lazy!), this fits us well. The best way to describe geocaching is how Tucker describes it...treasure hunting!

To check it out, go to www.geocaching.com and look around. Basically, people hide containers of any size, they map the GPS coordinates, and you go find it. You get all the info you need for caches in your local area from the website, and then you log your finds. Sounds confusing and a bit complicated, but it really isn't. It has been a wonderful way of discovering really cool places that we would have never found. We have seen lots of places in a nearby National Forest, and a ton of cool really old cemetaries, and some small local parks we didn't know existed.

I'll be posting several pics of some of our geocaching experiences. Get out and try it-you'll be hooked! The ones of Tucker ane I here are our very first find. The one of Tucker is his first solo find on a day out with daddy.