Christmas vacation

Greetings, friends and family....we are back from "Up North" and settling back in to a routine...and between unpacking clothes and unpacking gifts and doing laundry and grocery shopping and working on "I'm not the center of the universe because we're not at my grandparents' house anymore" with the boys....I finally have a couple minutes to update my blog.

We did "our" Christmas morning here on Christmas Eve and then headed up north after Craig got off work at 11:30....

The weather last week was frightful, but we made it north without going in the ditch! (5 1/2 hours later) We did our annual "gift exchange" with Craig's brothers and their wives that night. Thanks for the lovely gifts Chris!

Then the boys opened more gifts the next morning. Jack got his first video game player..."Nintendo DS" and Heath got some drums, to go with the ones Santa and Mommy bought him and daddy.

We got to see our nephew Hayden and got to hold him lots which was fun!

This is a lovely necklace Jack got Nana for Christmas...as you can see, she's pretty fired-up about it! (Grandma Balyo got a matching red one!)

Then it was off to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Christmas #3!

Heath got more drums to complete the set and also got some underoos, which he modeled for us right away....

We went sledding and made a gingerbread house. Our vacation was fun and relaxing. Thank you to everyone who got us so many gifts and hosted us at their house!

Happy Birthday, Dad

Greetings, all! Today is my dad's birthday! Happy Birthday, Dad! (I won't reveal how old he is...but he doesn't look a day over 50! ) I want to take this time to sing his praises a little.....



My dad is caring. He is super sensitive (even though he'd rather you not know that). He loves people and he loves animals. He loves to laugh and have fun. He can make a game out of anything. He really hasn't changed much since Jr. High School; his responsibilities have. He's kind of shy and hates to disappoint. He's great with kids, we call him a kid magnet....he's a great cook. He loves motown music and sports. (although I've seen him with my own eyes, watching HGTV) He likes corvettes, but he'd be too emabarassed to drive one...He's touched hundreds of people's lives over the past 60 years coaching, counseling, teaching and parenting....he's a vital contribution to this planet! He has lots of friends who consider him their closest...in case I don't tell you enough, I love you, Dad!

Snow day...Christmas party (Tamlyn style)

Hello, all! Because of the 2 feet of snow we were scheduled to get, all schools were cancelled today. Which means the boys' Christmas parties were cancelled as well...(Jack was up at 5:30 because he was so excited) So, we decided to have our own Christmas party....here are some pictures from the day.....

The boys decided to dress up this morning (6:30)

...buckwheat pancakes were next....

...Christmas word search and coloring came next in our party...

Then outside for some snow fun and snow-blowing....(Jack ran the snow-blower all by himself)

....Christmas cookies came next (wow, look at all those sprinkles!)

Playing with playdough and eating cookies...can it get any better?

I told the boys that they could open up a gift from each other they bought at the "Secret Santa Shop" a couple weeks ago at school. (Jack acidentally opened the gift he got me....a nice little santa plate...thanks Jack.....)

Then it was movie time...."Toy Story", the boys first time watching it......(thanks Uncle Gooch and Aunt Renee)

Tamlyn Christmas party was a hit! Nothing but smiles and sugar highs! Mission accomplished!

Naughty and Nice list...

For the last week or so, Jack has been formulating a "Naughty" and "Nice" list...

As you can see here....some names you may recognize....

Now here is the "Naughty" list.....As you can see, I made the top of the list.......here is a final draft with both lists together...

I still was unable to get off the combined list....you may notice that most of the people on the "naughty" list are girls in his class......and me of course. I got the biggest kick out of his lists, I thought I'd share them with you all. Here is some video of the boys at their Christmas concert Monday....

Hope you are all enjoying the pre-Christmas cheer! We look forward to seeing some of you for Christmas and will be missing those of you we won't.

Fort in the living room

Tri-Unity was on a 2-hour delay this morning, so the boys made good use of their time and made an eleborate fort, using pillows from the couch and tunnels from the basement! Do you remember those days? Scott and I used to make forts and the like...good memories. Here's a picture of Jack and Heath's!

Christmas Energy......

Greetings everyone! Just wanted to give you a glimpse at what's going on in our house right now.......I'm chalking it up to good ole fashion holiday energy ; )

Christmasing at our house...

We are Christmasing at our house...we have lots of snow; our Christmas tree is finally up (thank you Vanderwests for "big blue"); I've done some baking; our Christmas shopping is done and we're ready for our Savior's birthday celebration!

Here the boys are decorating the tree...

Heath is getting a Christmas story read to him....

Jack is practicing his Christmas song that he'll

be singing at his Christmas concert next week...

Another performance by Heath...

For those of you who didn't see this on "Facebook", here it is....

...this couldn't have turned out better if I had directed it...it's priceless!

Thanksgiving 2008

Greetings, friends and family! We had a lovely Thanksgiving up north! We went sledding and played games, watched movies and ate! And ate! And ate! We went to a waterpark and cut down a Christmas tree. We also welcomed the newest addition to the Tamlyn family! Here are some pictures! Enjoy!

Oh yeah, Aunt Cindy brought some "Magic Erasers" for my parents and they all, my husband included, thought it was the best thing since the invention of the wheel...here's a pic!

Also, Hayden James Tamlyn was born November 26th! 8lbs. 7oz! 19" long. Very cute, of course. Tracy pushed for 3 hours, no epideral! (she's from the U.P. ya know) Way to go Trace!

The Tamlyn men also went and picked out a Christmas tree for the Tamlyn's living room, which is a Thanksgiving tradition. You had to be there I guess, but it took them an hour to stand it up straight! Here are some pictures of the event!

How time flies.....

Hello, all! Our USB cord is not working, so I wasn't able to upload any recent photos, but I found this while I was digging through my files....

Not much is new. We are still working closely with Jack's alternative medicine doctor to help keep Jack's autistic symptoms at bay...vitamins, minerals, chelation etc...we are thinking of getting a special mattress pad for him as well. It's a little voodoo, but it's electronically charged and is supposedly very successful in treating and healing all kinds of ailments. Also, we are considering what's called cold laser to treat his food sensativities. He has an appointment with his child psychologist at Devos tomorrow, Thurs., to be reevaluated, so we will keep you all posted on how that goes!

Well, not much else. We're gearing up for Thanksgiving. We are looking forward to seeing family...and eating some yummy food! Aunt Cindy, we are anxious to see you Tuesday! Also, Bill and Judy Shearer and David Ward and his brood are coming up! We will also be at the Tamlyn house for the weekend, Nana's birthday and possibly a new little baby!

Love you all! Stephanie

Updates.....

Hello, friends and family! Just a quick update. Not much new...we switched antibiotics for Jack's double ear infection and we're already seeing results! Praise God! Also, some of you don't know Wendi (Smith) Yee's boys Noah and Collin...but I watch them 2 days a month. Here is a picture of them! Cuties!

Also, the boys were in the bath the other night....

Tonight, Heath was "reading" to me and here is a little bit of it.....sorry it's so dark! (again)

One of those weeks...!

Hi, all! It was one of those weeks. Between housework and school schedules, soccer practice and swimming lessons, parent teacher conferences and voting, I had a busy week, but we threw a double ear infection for Jack on top of that! Hurray for surprises!

Also, the boys are really into legos suddenly. This is a picture of a tower daddy built with Heath (yeah, those are my arms)

Happy Birthday, Chris! You're 31! Craig's family was down this weekend for Chris's birthday. Craig's Cruisers, cake and YMCA fun!

Renee worked a 70 hour week at Munson Medical Center last week, so we let her sleep whenever she wanted!

Also, I hope you all enjoyed the video of Heath singing and dancing (where do you think he gets the dramatics from? Craig?) He also has another song he likes to sing and dance to. It involves clapping and stomping...now, Heath has known how to clap for awhile, but it's as if it's a new skill he's aquired. He claps all over the house now....during meals, after meals, walking down the hall...in bed......

I hope you are all well. We got our first snow today! Love you!

This weekend...halloween, dancing...spite and malice

Greetings friends and family. The boys went trick-or-treating Friday and loved it! We went with the Stonehouse family. Their oldest girl, Elaina was a deer and their younger daughter Emma was an angel and their youngest, Ellerie, was a pumpkin! We had a blast. My parents were also here (Thursday and Friday); who didn't make any of the pictures again! (sorry Mom and Dad...we love you, we promise)

Also, I taught Jack how to play "spite and malice". Hopefully by next summer he'll be all ready to play for hours with Great Grandma Balyo! And Heath also has a new dance he's been doing for 3 days..."wobbly whoopsie" from Playhouse Disney CD....here's a clip....ENJOY!

Leg hair...

This is just a quickie....today while Heath and I were having rest time, I was lying on the couch with a heating pad and he came out from his room; we were talking and snuggling and I asked him when he got leg hair. He said, " i'm getting so big amn't i?"...and I said yes. He said, "when i get big i'll have ginormous hair!" (I'm not kidding that's the word he used) I said yes he would. Then he pulled up my pant leg of course to see my leg hair, and there wasn't any...."where's yours?"... "do you clip it?" I said, "Have you ever seen Daddy shave his beard"...he said no. "do you clip your hair while i'm at school is that why i don't see you do it?" I said no I do it in the shower. He said, "that's kind of diasappointin' isn't it?"....I laughed to myself and said....yeah.

Kids are FUNNY! It couldn't have been a more serious conversation to Heath! I was laughing in my head the whole time. Funny, funny, funny. Oh yeah, and what adds a little to the story is, he was having this conversation in nothing but his "cars" underwear....super cute!

Carving Pumpkins, swimming at the Y!

It's that time of year: where we get ready for all hallows eve and everything that goes along with it.....but seriously, it is that time of year....we are decorated and costume ready, with pumpkins carved! Here are some pictures of our weekend...

If you can't tell, the pumpkins have a "Winnie the Pooh" theme. Eeyore and Lumpy. (can you guess who did which one?) After we carved pumpkins we went to the Y. The boys are really enjoying swimming...actually we have Jack signed up for swimming lessons in November and Heath signed up for soccer.

Well, that's it for now. Hope everyone is having a nice autumn. Winter is just around the corner. We're looking forward to Thanksgiving;some of you we will be seeing and some of you, we wish we were seeing. Love you all!

Crazy outfits, pumpkin patch and old friends...

I have a little of this and a little of that to update you all on...this first picture is of an outfit Heath put together on his own...I'm glad it was too cold for him to wear out of the house and what you don't know is he had a pirate patch on with this, until it broke....

This is a pix of the boys at a pumpkin patch last night...look at all those pumpkins! People call the man at the house "pumpkin guy"...and you can see why.

Today, my old college friend Nancy was in town. Her inlaws live in GR and she came over for a couple hours this afternoon..it was so nice to visit with her. Even though I'm still paying off student loans, you can't really put a price on old friendships I made during those years.

Nancy's son is 7 months old. His name is Julius. Jack of course took to him right away. Here are some pix of Jack consoling him and talking to him....super cute.

After the wedding....Sunday

We spent the night at my parents house both nights this weekend, and we did some autumn activities Sunday....

I also must apologize, there aren't any pictures of my parents from the weekend...they were an intrigal part of our weekend being a success! They attended the wedding and carted the boys around when we were called on for wedding responsibilites. Thanks mom and dad! I also took footage of Dad pulling the boys in the tarp of leaves, but it didn't save.....

The Wedding!

Well, it finally came! The wedding of 2008! Chris and Renee tied the knot! The wedding ceremony was really nice and had a nice message. The reception was also nice...good food, good music...good cake (I may or may not have had 3 pieces) Here are some pictures, and videos of the weekend! Enjoy!