I Can't Believe He's 4!!!

WOW what a day!! I can't believe my little boy is already 4 years old. It seems like he was just born and they were laying him in my arms. He said to me one time today, " When I was borned they gave me to Emma and I stopped crying" (I think he's heard that a few times from his big sis:) ) Ty came into our bathroom this morning and Jeff started singing Happy Birthday to him, then I made him a #4 pancake for his big four years. After that we took Emma to school and then I took Ty to school, in between all that he got calls from the grandparents. Jeff suprised him and picked him up from school and took him to Chuck E Cheese for lunch. After much playing and a nap, Ty had a haircut, got a call from his aunt, uncle and 2 cousins and for dinner we celebrated at McDonald's!! We ended the night with a phone call from his sweet friend Corin while watching Sky High and eating popcorn. To celebrate Ty I wanted to tell you the many things I love about him: Ty is loving and kind, usually he puts others before himself. For example the other day I asked him if he wanted to eat at McDonalds or Chickfila, He said, what do you want mommy? He loves to eat with people and not by himself--PaPa got a good taste of this when he had to eat a second waffle b/c Ty got up late and didn't have anyone to eat with, so PaPa sacrificed and ate another one!!! He is funny and not overly competitive, He is joyful most of the time and loves to sing and dance as well as play all of the different sports. He is a great little brother, pestering at just the right times and always caring and loving on Emma if she is upset. I am so thankful that the Lord has allowed us the opportunity to raise such and incredible little man and I can't wait to see all that the Lord has in store for him!!

Singing Sunday Night and Christmas Boxes

Emma and Ty both had the opportunity to perform in our Sunday Evening Service the night after his party, which was great b/c my parents were still in town and it was the first time any extended family has gotten to see them perform at church. Ty's class sang 3 songs and Emma's did 2. Ty was absolutely hilraious b/c for almost the whole first song Ty stood and kept messing with his belt and shirt. We could not figure out what was going on, however, near the end of the song, he came off the stairs and came up to Jeff and said, "can you tuck in my shirt" I have to admit, in our household Emma and I are the comfort dressers while the boys take over in the wanting to look good category. Ty was very concerned about his shirt, so Jeff fixed it and Ty went back to the stairs and finished the 2 songs doing a wonderful job!!! Emma's group sang one song and then sang and did motions with a black light for the second song. She had so much fun doing it and it really was impressive. At the end of the night was our opportunity to bring our shoeboxes for children around the world to the stage and pray over them. Ty did a good job this year in not wanting everything for himself that we put in the box, and Emma was so thoughtful with hers. She didn't want to put in a puzzle, b/c if they lost a piece of it they would be very sad. There were also a couple of other things she vetoed b/c of her caring spirit, but the sweetest thing she said was, " I wish Dollar Tree had bibles so we could put one in the box." I assured her we could get one even if it wasn't at Dollar Tree. However I did forget and remembered after they were all sealed up. I'm so grateful they put a little booklet in there in their own language.

Emma's clear box and Ty's snowman one

blacklight song

emma singing her songs

Ty finally doing the motions

Ty very concerned about his shirt!!!

The Actual Birthday Party "Buccaneer Bash"

Well the day of the big Pirate Party arrived. After most of Ty's guests "walked the plank to get to the Buccaneer Bash" and got their pirate hat and eye patch, Ty wanted me to announce to everyone his arrival. If you know me at all this was definitely not my idea to have all attention drawn to me and then to Ty, but because it was his party I announced, "Ladies and Gentleman, Pirate Ty Phillips" He LOVED IT!!! He strutted out of his room and walked through the living room like an actual pirate. After that we went on our treasure hunt and had 2 clues, one to the basketball goal and one to the mailbox, at the mailbox there was a treasure map that led us to the back yard and in the back yard was the pile of leaves where the "treasure" (actually treasure chest pinata) was buried. The kids each took a whack at it and still Jeff had to break it open. After the treasure was broken open we had cake, ice cream and opened presents. It was a wonderful party full of fun!!

Ty blowing out his candles, he was sweet and asked Emma to help him.

Ty hitting the Pinata Treasure chest

Showing the kids the treasure and asking them how to get into it

Finding the Treasure

Mailbox Clue

Second Clue

Parker, one of Ty's friends, "walking the plank"

Ty the Pirate

Ty's Cake

the sign that told people to walk the plank

The presents put to good use!

Here are a few pics we took while Ty was having so much fun with his new toys.


Realizing these were actually his!

Taking Emma on a ride.

Ty our Cowboy Player!

TY'S BIRTHDAY!!!

Wow oh Wow did Ty have a great Birthday weekend. The gift opening started Friday after Ty got up from his nap. He opened his family gifts and boy did he love them all. Emma got him a motorcycle that drives by itself and does wheelies, along with some sports balls, Grami and Poppy got him a Dallas Cowboys uniform complete with helmet, MiMi and PaPa got him a fourwheeler that goes up to 5mph(that's fast for a 4yr old) and Grandpa got him his first set of drums. He absolutely loved it all!! He played on his drums, then went outside and drove his fourwheeler, when we made him come in, he put on his Dallas Cowboys uniform--he wanted to have the number 4 on his back, b/c he is 4 of course!!! and then continued to play the drums. This was just day one of our weekend of fun!!!

TRICK OR TREAT!!!

What a great night we had on Halloween. We got dressed and painted our faces and then we were out the door by 6:30. We trick or treated in our neighborhood with some friends of ours and Ty and Emma's babysitter, Tay-Tay (as they call her), and then about 7:30 we headed up to the church for our fall festival. This year Jeff took the kids and had a wonderful time going on the slides and playing games, while I worked at the face painting booth. The whole face painting thing was a stretch for me b/c I am not artistic AT ALL!!! However, a couple of weeks ago one of the ladies at our church gave a "Sharing the Gospel through facepaint class" Emma and I went to it and she showed us how to do some designs, and talk about Jesus all at the same time. I thought it was such a great idea and one we could use just in our house with neighborhood friends, as well as at the Fall Festival. I didn't receive any complaints, so I guess I did all right:).

Emma and Ty eating a hotdog, chips and a drink, after the festival was over, about 9:20pm (we were exhausted!!)

Emma with her friend Madelyn

Ty with his friend Parker

Emma and Ty at our neighbors house with Tay Tay. Our neighbor likes to go all out and had several moving scary people as well as a remote control mouse by his door!!

Emma and Ty before the trick or treating!!

Carving Pumpkins

This year we did not carve the pumpkins as a family. Time just got a way from us and before we knew it, it was Wednesday afternoon and I was planning on using the seeds for Emma's class the next day so we needed to carve them. Some of our neighborhood friends came and helped us clean out the pulp and seeds before we went to church, then after church I roasted the seeds for Em's class.

Crazy Hair Day and the Library!!

This past week was "Say no to Drugs" week at Emma's school. They wore red, white and blue one day, wear a tie-we did not participate in that one, Crazy hair day, backwards clothes day, and Halloween costumes. We got a pic of Emma's crazy hair day--she had a blast spray painting it. That same day was the costume parade at one of the libraries we go to. Ty wore his Spiderman costume and loved every minute of it. They read Halloween stories, made a mask, and then had a parade of costumes. It was a lot of fun.