HOORAY! Baby Turns One :)

September and October have proven to be busy months for the TX Tetzlaff's. Brooke took an acting manager assignment in OKC for three weeks, so "Nana and Papa" McNeely took three weeks off to help Robin watch the kids while he was in night school. I think that experience has given them a better understanding of why it takes us so long to publish a new post....these two kids are fun, but definitely hard work!

We were able to get away one of the weekends Nana and Papa McNeely were on duty in order to have a mini-reunion with Brooke's grad school roommates from Purdue. We went to a Purdue-Notre Dame football game in West Lafayette, in which not much good football was displayed by Purdue and it was pretty chilly too! We had been coming from 90 degree weather, so that much of a swing hit us southerners pretty hard.

In October the milestones keep coming. Leighton turned one on October 15th. We celebrated in Houston with Brooke's cousin Jon getting married on the same date. Because we were out of town for the big birthday, we had brunch at a local restaurant where Nana and Papa McNeely, Uncle Brandon, and great Aunt and Uncle Jim and Michelle joined us. Everyone was a good sport wearing the minnie mouse party hats while "peanut" aka the birthday girl wore a cute set of minnie mouse ears.

While in Houston we took the kids to the Houston Zoo, and we must say, if you ever get a chance to go to Houston GO TO THE ZOO! As far as zoo's go, it was great, kept the kids entertained the whole time and allowed us to pack lunches for a picnic. Was a fun filled family day and the weather couldn't have been better!

Robin turned 29 on October 19th, and sadly with Brooke being out of town for three weeks and the travel with the wedding and planning Leighton's birthday, Robin's birthday was a bit lackluster. As parents I think we have resigned ourselves to the fact that our birthday's don't matter too much anymore. Although with Robin's 30th being next year, it would be nice to have a big bash for him for that one.

We were really looking forward to Halloween this year with both kids walking. Halloween was on a Monday, and the kids go to a Parents Day Out program on Monday's so they got to trick or treat at school as well as in the neighborhood. Landon had so much practice saying trick or treat at school he knew exactly what to do when we started going door to door. We tried to put Leighton in the clown outfit this year. Nana McNeely made it for Brooke for her first Halloween 30 years ago and Landon wore it last year, but it was still way too big to fit Leighton, so we are keeping it handy for next year. Since we still had the minnie ears from her birthday, Leighton naturally went as an adorable little minnie mouse. Landon wore a tigger outfit and was particularly obsessed with pumpkins this year, or as he says "punkies"!

We hope you all enjoy the pictures. Love the Tetzlaffs!

Summer's Gone, Now We Can Finally Play Outside!!

So, we survived what will go down as the hottest, driest summer in Texas history. Over 70 days of triple digit heat meant little to no time spent in the outdoors. That's a tough summer to survive with two kids two and under who LOVE playing outside, especially in water. The kiddie pool Brooke bought for the backyard started out being great, until we realized we needed chemicals and a pump to keep it clean or else it would mean purging the water every week! Considering it took several hours to fill and we were in the middle of a drought, that was not happening, so Brooke went out and bought a bigger kiddie pool, equipped fully with pump and chemicals, which Brooke and the kids fully enjoyed throughout all of June and July. August came, and well, even the pool water was just too hot to enjoy. We took the pool down a few weeks ago and are now attempting to nurse the grass back to health!! We call it our crop circle :)

Leighton started walking one week after she hit nine months. At eleven months she is now a pro, very steady on her feet unless she is tired, or wearing shoes! No words yet but she is starting with the baby babble. In fact she will down right start singing "ba ba ba" to you if you initiate it with her. In addition to singing, she dances usually on command, something Landon did not do very much of. Maybe she will end up being our 'artsy fartsy' kid! Nearly everywhere we go, we continue to get comments on how well behaved she is and what a happy baby she is. I even made a comment to my Dr. the other day, stating, I know I am biased, but she is the happiest baby I have ever seen. I sure hope she stays that way! She now has three teeth, two on the bottom, one on the top....and all the rest seem to be right on the verge of breaking through! She eats less and less baby food each day, wanting to eat more regular food that she can feed to herself, such as hotdog, cheerio's, etc.

In August we lost our at home day care provider, Regina, who decided to re-enter the workforce. While it was a huge blow for us knowing how well cared for they were with her, we made the ultimate decision for Robin to start keeping the kids at home, and altering his day time schedule for his school work. We found a Parents Day Out program at a local church which both kids attend Monday and Wednesday. Landon brings home a craft project every day. He is also the only kid that waves and blows kisses to dad when he is dropped off; all the other kids are usually crying.

We took both kids to a little ranch called 'Country Critters' on a church sponsored activity. Both kids rode a pony, pet some sheep and goats, and went on a hayride. Later that same day, Grandma and Grandpa McNeely took Landon to the Dallas Truck Show. Landon loves trucks and really enjoyed seeing all the big rigs on display. He even got two "tattoos" which he proudly showed us when he got home.

Grandma and Grandpa Tetzlaff were in from Wisconsin visiting last week. While they were here, we spent the weekend at a lodge/resort on Lake Ray Roberts, in Pilot Point Texas. The boys went fishing from the pier and a rented pontoon boat that we had for a half day on Saturday. For two days before we left for this mini retreat, Landon would wake up and go to bed saying "boat". For about a week after, Landon continued to wake up and go to bed saying "boat" and this time added a fishing motion he does with his hands and adding "spongebob" to his usual "boat" because his fishing pole is you guessed it, a yellow spongebob pole.

Robin and I have been spending a few hours at a time working on a little bathroom remodel project. Its one of those that would have been easy to complete in a weekend, but with two small kids, we only get naptimes and nighttimes after bedtime to work on it. Beth and Randy helped immensely with the project coming along. Randy helped Robin with measurements and getting the last of the panels completed. In addition he did all of the caulking and nail hole filling. Beth kept the kids entertained, allowing the boys to work on it while I was at work. Robin and I still have the trim to complete, but this weekend was too busy to get it done. It will have to wait until next weekend!

Brooke is getting back into 5k's and ran in the Oktoberfest 5k yesterday with her friend and co-worker Laura and her friend Lindsey. This threesome have run several 5ks together over the past couple of years, and now that Brooke is done being pregnant and recovering, she wants to get back into doing one run a month, weather permitting! We all know how she hates the cold, so Dec - March might be out!

Robin is now over half way done with his Masters degree. He is enrolled in three classes this semester, and next semester will complete the final two. He is really enjoying school and its challenges. He attempts to get to know and network with most of his professors. This week that paid off. Robin was asked to come to the school to take some photos for the new brochure that will be sent out to thousands of potential students, local businesses, and other universities that TxA&M Commerce is partnered with. He will be on the front of the brochure!! Very exciting!

Free time is hard to find!!!

A lot has been happening since Easter, the kids seem to do something new every week, which means Brooke and I find a new reason to love being parents all the time. In May, Landon turned 2 and his birthday was celebrated with a Spongebob theme. Leighton has been crawling for at least a month and is very close to walking. She can stand stationary on her own for short periods of time without assistance or holding onto furniture, her brother, etc. It seems like Landon's vocabulary is growing every day, new words include please, bike, boat, water, etc. We took a family vacation to the Lake of the Ozarks in May. Weather didn't cooperate with us but Landon got to go fishing for the first time. He caught a couple fish but didn't seem interested in touching them or the worms. With the weather getting hot we are trying to swim as much as possible. We have swam at grandma and grandpa McNeely's pool a few times and just bought a larger kiddie pool for the yard that can fit the whole family. I took Landon to his first baseball game a few weeks ago. He did pretty well, but it is still hard to keep his attention for long stretches of time.

Not much else going on with us. Hope you enjoy the pictures! Love the Tetzlaff's