Wayne got Weston a Christmas Present

I've decided that this is Wayne's year to learn about the joy of giving. Gift giving! There is little I love more than to surprise someone with a good gift, and you all know that once I buy that gift... I want to give it that day, not wait for some holiday.... Somethin' for nothin' gifts are the best!!!

So tonight after work I came home, fed Wyatt and ate dinner, then Wayne and I went to Costco and Walmart. It was a BIG day. While we were at Costco, Wayne wanted to go and see the toys. I told him, "Maybe you can find something that you would like to give Weston?!?"

So we're walking through the toy isles, and come across a stuffed gorilla. Wayne points to it and wants me to get it. When you squeeze its' hand, it walks forward and makes a "boom-boom-boom" sound, and than roars. Wayne COMPLETELY freaked, and was scared out of his little mind. I went to put it back on the shelf, and he tells me, "No mom! It's for Weston for Christmas! Put it in the cart!" I asked if he wanted to hold it. "No! I am scared!" The rest of Costco, he kept eying it, but wouldn't ever touch it. He just kept saying, "It's Weston's." Nice. :-)

So yes, my attempt at teaching Wayne to appreciate the "joy of giving" has ended up with, "What kind of toy would scare my brother half to death?" Oh well. It's a start!

Quote of the Day - November 29, 2009

"I would rather pave a long driveway with only a wheelbarrow in 95 degree heat than take care of three kids all day."

To protect the innocent, my source will not be named.

Happy Birthsgiving!

Thursday was both Tyler's 30th birthday, and Thanksgiving too. Hence... BIRTHSGIVING was born! :-) We spent the morning having coffee, going through sale ads, eating Bubble Bread, opening presents and playing with the boys. We had a few visitors too... Trisha brought Tyler a card, and my parents brought his gifts by and visited for awhile (while Mom's turkeys were in the oven.) Tyler got lots of phone calls too, it was definitely a "birthday" morning. Then,we spent the afternoon at my grandparents house, and it was a "Thanksgiving" afternoon.

We have a sit down dinner, complete with name cards at each place setting. Tyler's was extra special!
I don't know what I would do without this girl... Brenna is such a good helper, and is great with the kids, especially baby Wyatt!
What a crew!!! I think there are somewhere around 40 people or so.
Two cooks in the kitchen. It takes soooo many to put on this type of meal. The DeGroot family can sure cook, and they sure can EAT too! I brought a vegetable casserole, 3 dozen rolls, a goodie, and 2 2 liters of pop. That's a pretty normal food assignment. My mom did 2 turkeys and the gravy and stuffings. I think I prefer my job instead!
Seriously... This outfit is tooo STINKIN' cute!!!! Almost makes me want to try for a girl right now. Okay, maybe not THAT cute, but still....
Her one tooth in the front is the epitome of darlingness!
Speaking of darlingness... Look at our "little turkey!"
And Grace. My cousins little gir, 18 months old and will be a big sister in the spring! Katie does her hair with a 3 barrel curling iron. Who ever heard of such a thing? Obviously, only a mom of a girl!
To keep Wayne from getting underfoot before dinner, he played his game on the couch. Corky came over to check it out. She's my mom's sister's husband's mom. Follow that? She's an adopted member of the family, we love her!
The birthday boy trying to keep Weston relatively out of trouble. My mom calls him a "bull in a china shop" and that is SOOOOO true!
Family tradition demands that we all take our turn saying what we're thankful for. "Friend and family" has been outlawed years ago. Now, you are guaranteed a few laughs and a lot of tears!
I had to take a picture of the stuffings. I've dreamed of them ever since Thursday, they were THAT good. Fresh herbs, sausage and lots of other goodness. I will never make stuffings as good as my mom, as long as I live, so I'm not even going to try.
Tyler and Todd played farm with Wayne and Weston for awhile. Anything to keep them busy!
Grandma and Grandpa each holding a baby.... Treven on the left, Wyatt on the right.
Wayne sneaking pie.
After dinner, we all sat around visiting and looking through the Black Friday ads. So fun! We took off around 4:30... I'd had enough of family partying for the day! THe boys were antsy, I was tired, and it was time to bolt for home!!!!

So thankful for so many things.... Especially that the last time the DeGroot's got together for Thanksgiving was two years ago, and I wasn't there. Remember? I was in the hospital with pre-term labor while I was pregnant with Weston. See!?! He always was full of spit and vinegar! I am so thankful that the rest of my pregnancy was uneventful and Weston Peston was born healthy. Each of our boys is such a blessing, I can't believe I get the privilege of being their mom.

My baby became a man

last night, when he rolled over for the first time!!! Wyatt was 4 months and 8 days old when he rolled. This is the beginning of the down hill roll, folks. From here on out, he will continue losing pieces of his babyhood, until no one but me considers him a baby. First it's rolling, next it will be putting his own binkie in his mouth, sitting up, eating food... We are on a slippery, slippery slope. I'm just going to pretend time has stopped and it never happened. He's still my wee, tiny, home from the hospital, snuggly, youngest son. Yup. That's what a see. (sidenote: He's playing in the exersaucer right now. I'm going to ignore the "not so baby" fact staring me straight in the face.) For comparison, Wayne was 4 months 3 days old and Weston was 4 months 12 days old. Hmm.. Pretty comparable! He's now talking baby talk, cooing and squealing as he bats at his toys with his hands. He's got a death grip on an owl as we type... Baby, oh my baby. Where art thou?

4 Silves Boys Sat on a Chair

On Wednesday, our L-O-N-G awaited haircut day had finally come! Every male in the house needed a cut, desperately. Really. So at 8am sharp, Wayne and I walked into Northwest Hair Design to see Melissa. My mom and Melissa's mom have been close friends my entire life, and I can remember playing with Kristy and her sisters when we were really, really little. I ADORE her. She cares what my hair looks like, I don't. I need Melissa in my life.


So do my boys.


I've seen kids in town who have thin, stringy hair. I've seen kids that are bald, even though they are almost three years old. None of these kids are mine. Our kids have LOTS off hair. And it is course and thick. I used to cut Wayne's hair, until he hit a three year old's version of puberty and it got so thick that it bogged down the at-home clippers I have. That's when he first started going to see Melissa. I can still cut Weston's hair, but since I was planning on taking their pictures for our Christmas card, I thought he might as well have Melissa's style. And Wyatt... he needed a trim too! He was six weeks old at his last cut, and he was needing a trim to just clean him up a bit.


So from 8 to 9am, all the Silves boys too their turns sitting on Melissa's throne.


Wayne was up first. Look at that hair!!!!
"Mom, it is MESSY!" (he had worn his hat in)
Snip, snip, snip!
Wh000-hee!!! Look at that handsome boy! Melissa says it's not too often she has to use a thinning sheers on a three year old!

Wyatt was next. See how long his top hair is? It's like a reverse mullet! Long on top and short on the sides.
Look at how adorable the little man looks with product in his hair!!!
Hold on to your scissors Melissa... here comes Weston! (aka. a bull in a china shop.)
Good thing for those fishies to keep his eyes busy...
So stinkin' cute!
And the final Silves boy arrives on the throne...
Sorry for the blurry picture! I left my cAmera for Melissa, but forgot to switch it to auto, so the flash didn't pop for her. I waited for Tyler, with the boys, in the car. They had snacks and watched a movie, so the half hour passed quickly.

Now, we're ready for our photoshoot!

My name is Tanya, and I am behind on blogging.

Yeah, yeah. I'm behind, I know! I could forget these events ever happened by not posting them on the blog, but where's the honesty in that??? So without further ado, snapshots from our past week.

Last Friday was Mom's birthday. I will not publicly confess how young she looks. But you'd never guess her age by looking at her!!! I OFTEN get asked if she's my sister or my friend when we are shopping or out and about together. How many daughter's can say their mom is hotter than they are?Okay, she is sooo gonna kill me when she reads that. Isn't this a cute picture of her and Wyatt? He got the goofy grins when he was watching her.

And Wyatt got an early Christmas gift! What's the sense of waiting another month for him to use it? None, if you ask me!
Oh yeah, back to Mom's birthday. Dad offered to drive to Canada to get take out from our favorite Chinese restaurant, and so everyone met at our house to eat. After dinner, Tyson was helping to tire out Weston before bed. Who's tiring who out though? You decide!
Look closely at this next picture.... No, this is not Treven! Maddie borrowed Weston's jammies, and Treven's binkie. We strongly believe in sharing around here.
And what Grandma's birthday party would be complete without attempting an all-grandkid photo? It was WILD! The pictures speak for themselves.



And hey, did you know Wyatt was 4 months old? I finally got his onesie picture taken.
I love, love, love this boy. His smile melts my heart and even makes me consider having one more baby... And then I snap right back to sanity and realize that for now, he is more than enough for me! :-)

Stay tuned.... more catchup! We had haircuts, and tomorrow's Thanksgiving....

Wayne saw a cute Oompa-Loompa

It's time to go to the play!!!
Brr.... It was sure cold outside. Definite winter hat and coat weather.
On Saturday night, Wayne and I went to see "Willy Wonka" at the Claire vg Theatre in Lynden. It was Wayne's first play, and he was sooo excited to go. It was really fun to take just him. We chatted the entire drive in, and by the time we got out of the car he was shaking with excitement! We met mom and dad inside, and settled in for the show. We had George and his blankie, and we spent the first half of the show snuggling and watching all the action. Wayne did really, really good. He was so amazed by it all! Wide-eyed doesn't begin to capture his expression. And he LOVED to clap after each song and act. Too fun! And of course, he HAD to have a Wonka bar.




Wayne didn't really believe me, that this was Taylor. Frankly, I didn't believe it myself! She looked so different, I didn't recognize her at first.

After the first half, Wayne had had enough. He said he was tired and wanted to go home, so I took him. He told Dad all about his night, and then fell fast asleep. What a night!

Grandma DeGroot's Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Some have asked for this recipe, so here it is for all to enjoy! It is moist, not to sweet, and perfect with coffee!!!


Preheat oven to 375 degrees

3/4 cup soft butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

Topping:
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup walnuts
1 tsp. instant cocoa
2 tbs. brown sugar

Directions: Layer 1/2 batter, 1/2 topping, 1/2 batter and 1/2 topping in a greased, springform pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-40minutes. Check with toothpick.

Wyatt - 4 months old

Okay, maybe it wasn't as hard as I thought! Can you believe the difference in the size of these boys? Yikes! Wayne had 2 1/2 inches and almost 4 pounds on Wyatt! Good thing there's 3 1/2 years between them, or 4 month old Wayne would squish 4 month old Wyatt. Wyatt is in the 25th percentile for his height, and the 10th percentile for his weight. What a peanut, I love it! He is a baby, and he looks and feels like a baby. I am so in love with this little boy. He is sweeter than sweet. I could kiss his cheeks forever.

And, he slept through the night last night for the first time. Happy 4 month birthday, TO ME!

Survey Time!

Leave your answer, from left to right, in the comments section! Stay tuned for the answer and who guessed correctly, as well as comparative stats at 4 months old.