Dad's 66th Birthday

My dad has had some unfortunate health issues this year that have required him to stay in a rehabilitation center for the last several months. He has been working really hard in therapy and is feeling much better. All that hard work paid off yesterday when he got to come home for the day to celebrate his birthday! We had a nice time visiting and ate a yummy lunch at Red Lobster. I think the highlight of the day was watching Grandpa and Tyler together!


Grandpa Breclaw and Tyler
Bonding while reading a book

Tyler and Grandma Breclaw

My dad and me

My dad, me, Tyler, and my mom

Halloween 2010

Halloween 2010 actually kicked off on October 11th this year, when we took a visit to Rader Family Farms in Normal to pick out our pumpkins. It's a great little pumpkin farm with lots of things for kids to do and tons of picture opportunities. I didn't get a chance to post these pictures earlier so here they are.

Tyler showing off his height

A perfect autumn scene

A sweet candid shot of Tyler and Daddy enjoying the goats

Tyler picked out his own pumpkin this year!

Riding in the wagon with our pumpkins

Halloween weekend was very busy this year. Friday afternoon I took Tyler to the nursing home where I work to go room-to-room trick or treating. I thought he might be a little shy or scared of the residents since most were in wheelchairs but it was quite the opposite. Tyler got the hang of going from person to person, saying "Trick or Treat" and then reaching into their candy dish for a treat. He was able to fill his entire pumpkin in less than an hour. And I have to say, I think he made some of the residents very happy. A lot of them told me when I returned to work on Monday how sweet he was when he said "Trick or Treat", "Thank you" and "Happy Halloween" (promted by me of course)!

Saturday morning we decided to carve those pumpkins we picked a couple weeks ago. We did most of the work but Tyler did a little of the scooping and had fun watching.

Tyler with his own pumpkin

Tyler's turn to scoop

Jack-o-laterns

Saturday night we went to Uptown Normal for their annual Trick or Treating with the businesses. We had no idea how crowded it would be--there were hundreds of kids. Unfortunately I think Tyler was a little too young for it because he got impatient with waiting in line and didn't want to hold hands to stay together. So we only went to a handful of businesses before we came home. It was still another opportunity to show off the cute Frankenstein though!

Halloween night, we went trick or tricking--again! We decided to go to our babysitter's neighborhood this year since she lives in a great family neighborhood and there were kids everywhere! Tyler did a great job going right up to people and saying "Trick or Treat". He especially enjoyed his treats!

At the start of the night

At the end of the night

At home with his loot

Enjoying his hard work

Our Little Monster

Tyler's 2nd Birthday Party

This year Tyler's birthday party was held in Morris, IL at John and Sue's (Tyler's Grandma and Grandpa Ellsworth's) house. It was a more central location for all the guests but it was also in part because Matt and Jean (Tyler's Great-Grandma and Grandpa Ellsworth) were in town from Wyoming. The theme of the party of course had to be Thomas the Tank Engine. Here are just a few of my favorite pictures from the day.

While Tyler was outside playing in the leaves, we were busy decorating the house with Thomas stuff. Tyler had so much fun jumping in the leaves.


The Thomas decorations
Tyler's first reaction to seeing his Thomas party!

We had one of Tyler's favorite foods for lunch--pizza! Although for once in his life, Tyler wasn't interested in eating. Rather he just wanted to open his presents!! Amd Tyler was really funny when it came to opening his presents. Some of his gifts were wrapped in Thomas wrapping paper so he only wanted to open those gifts. When another gift wrapped in different wrapping paper was presented to him he would say "No, another one." We even tried to fool him by putting a Thomas napkin on one of the gifts but he still didn't want to open it! Opening his first present

Literally, just about every gift was something Thomas related with the exception of a baseball glove and a couple books and toys. But the big gift came from Grandma and Grandpa Ellsworth. Grandpa Ellsworth build him this train table while Grandma Ellsworth added her personal touches with the paintbrush. He loved it!

Big smiles playing with the trains

He loved it so much in fact that he didn't even seem too interested in his Thomas birthday cake (also made by Grandma Ellsworth). He brought all of the trains to the table and played with them while we sang Happy Birthday. Then all he ate of the cake was one of the Oreo wheels.

After the celebration, we went outside for some updated family pictures.

All the guests
Tyler with his 3 Great Grandparents
Tyler with 3 of his 4 Grandparents (Grandpa Breclaw couldn't make it this year due to heath complications)
Tyler with Mommy and Grandma Breclaw

Tyler with Grandma Breclaw, Mommy and Daddy

Tyler with Mommy and Daddy

At the end of the day, it was a great party and Tyler was a very happy little boy!