Tyler's Birthday Fun

Four years ago yesterday, our lives changed forever when Tyler Joseph Frierdich came into this world! Although we were both very excited, we had no idea how much our hearts would grow from having a child. We knew from day one that he was special....and perhaps a little high maintenance....but that has made him who he is and for that we are very thankful. He's definitely one of a kind....a good kind....the perfect kind....and he has brought us so much joy and laughter (and a few gray hairs)! We wake up every morning wondering what hilarious statement he will make for the day...and every day we have something funny to talk about at night. We can't believe that 4 years have gone by so quickly and we can't wait to see what the next years bring!

We decided last year, that every year on the boys' birthday we would take the day of work and spend the day doing things that they want to do. We think this will be a great tradition that they will always remember and grow to appreciate someday. So this year what did we spend the day doing.....we started at the Museum of Transportation then went to a John Deere Construction Equipment Dealer then a Caterpillar Dealer and finally a John Deere Tractor Dealership...it was Tyler's perfect day. As you can see in the pictures below, he got to sit on a lot of equipment and had a very fun day.

Happy Birthday Tyler Joseph....Mommy and Daddy love you!

The train ride at the Museum of Transportation.

Cole almost fell asleep.

Creation Station at the Museum of Transportation....basically a big play area for young kids.

Tyler setting a new trend for pirate hats!

Pulling the big brake!

Construction Birthday Party

We celebrated both the boys' birthdays this past weekend....Cole turned 1 on July 20 and Tyler turns 4 tomorrow - August 10! Since their birthdays are only 3 weeks apart and our family lives out of town, we decided to have one party for them both. As shown by my previous post of the invitation, we had a "construction theme" this year, which turned out very cute. Tony put up caution tape all over the yard (hope the neighbors didn't think it was a crime scene), the kids all got hard hats and we served plates, silverware and napkins out of a dump truck.

And of course a construction theme party wouldn't be complete without construction themed cakes! I can't take full credit for Tyler's cake....my friend Tracy (Sweet Pea Cakes) does this on the side and came down on Thursday to help me put it all together. My brother also gets credit for the idea of dangling the #4 candle from the crane. It involved him using fire to get a hole through the candle...so of course he was all about that!!! Tyler really wasn't into the cake at all, he just wanted the toys that were on the cake. He was with me when I bought the construction toy set and since he really wanted to play with the crane, he told me all week..."Mommy, I REALLY don't want a crane on my birthday cake!" I love that he was trying reverse psychology on me already! Then, after he blew out the candle, he just wanted to drive the dump truck around the bottom of the cake and dump out the dirt (crushed up oreos). That's okay...he will appreciate it someday when he has children of his own....or maybe his wife will!!! lol

Thank you to all our friends and family for making this another successful birthday party! The boys both received a lot of very nice presents. Our house still resembles the day after Christmas!

Still not sure about a pinata hanging from a rake with a bunch of duct tape...redneck?!?

The kids attending the party this year were:

Tayte and Eli Lewis

Cecily and Vivian Stiening

Olivia Gardner

Grace Yearian

Riley and Sophie Tuggle

Rylee Jones (Riley Tuggle's friend)

Ariel, Aurora and Joseph Frierdich

Cole's First Birthday

Cole is 1!!!! It's hard to fathom, but Cole turned 1 on July 20. Where did the past year go? I feel like he should still be that tiny baby that just slept and ate all day....but instead, he is now this marvelous little person that walks, talks (kind of) and plays all day. He has brought more joy than I thought possible...I just didn't know how I would be able to love another little person as much as I love Tyler...but it turns out it is possible indeed! He has been such an easy baby, I am just praying that it continues. We have discovered that he has a milk protein intolerance, but compared to Tyler's milk allergy...this is a walk in the park and something I'm sure he will outgrow.

Happy Birthday my Little CoCo Bean....Mommy and Daddy love you more than you'll ever know!

Five Petals

I had Cole's 1 Year pictures taken last week by Laura Boeker of Five Petals Photography. It will be a couple of more weeks before they are all edited and available, but she posted a few on her web page as a "sneak peek." Click the link below and you will see the Adorable Mr. C!!!!

http://five-petals.com/

Okay, not sure if you can post hyperlinks in a blog, so if it doesn't work just cut and paste.