Fall is in the Air...November

I feel like November was almost as busy as October.  We have been working, playing, learning and having fun here at the Tydlacka house.  Here's a glimpse at what we have been up to;

Here's a glimpse of week day!

Brian....working, football, fantasy football,

Teresa....keeping a little boy twice a week, tutoring students in the evening, volunteering at Allie's school, leading girl scouts, and activities with Hunter

Allie.....school, reading, learning, girl scouts, play dates

Hunter...speech and gymboree play class

November we played in the leaves, watched a super cute Allie in her 1st grade Thanksgiving performance, spent Thanksgiving in Lynchburg, saw the Hokies play and celebrated my 35th birthday!

 A gorgeous November fall day raking, playing and jumping in the leaves!

Allie practiced so much singing her songs...we could hear her at night after we put her to bed singing

 Allie and Uncle Joey.  

Papa and Hunter watching a show together

Watching the Hokies play.  It was COLD that day, and Allie stayed the whole game.  Only asking twice to leave.  Pretty good for a 6 year old!

Happy Birthday to Me.  (kids getting ready for bed)

THE BEST PART OF EVERYDAY IS SPENDING IT TOGETHER.  WE THANK GOD for these beautiful  children we have.  May the children of Sandy Hook Elem, in CT rest in peace

October was BUSY!

October was a lot of fun, and busy for all of us!  Just a quick run down of all the fun activities we have all been up too. 

Allie was in a small parade with her girl scout troop (Hunter joined in too)

Hunter saw his 1st live show - THE WIGGLES!

Allie and I went to DC to the Natural History Museum.  She was student of the week, with the class bear "Liberty" and wanted to take him to the "dinosaur museum." She's very interested in dinosaurs these days.

Tee Ball wrapped up a the end of October.

Allie also ran in a fun run sprint, when her running club wrapped up.

  AND...of course the big event of October was Halloween.  Both kids had a ball.

 That was just the kids October....Brian and I both took trips of our own.  He and a friend went to Vegas for a long weekend.  I went to Lynchburg, just myself to visit and go see the Hokies play with Mom.  Then, the next weekend I went with Mom and a friend and her mom to NYC for the weekend.

Mom and I on the train and seeing Jersey Boys.

So, if you have read carefully...at the end you will notice I wrote I took 2 trips and Brian only one.  Not to worry, the day after Halloween, he was on a plane to Miami with friends to see the Hokies play!  

That wraps up our whirl wind October!  

Hunter is 27 months!

I thought I would write about my little man tonight.  I wanted to update on how his speech is going, and what Hunter is now up to!  He has been in speech for a little over 6 months now.  He is making progress, but it's still slow.  He still doesn't really say words unless he's asked to answer.  He is probably up to maybe 30 words he can say, but those include animal noises.  Hunter says mama, dada, AA (short a's) for Allie, more, yes, no go and uh-oh,.  Those are his everyday words.  We have heard him say down, on, off.  He has a two word phrase which is "one more."  Hunter loves letters and numbers. We really can't go to any store without him just rattling off numbers in the checkout line or letters in words he sees.  He's smart to not even be 2 1/2 yet.  He knows numbers 1-10 and can say them, or his version of them.  He knows 22 out of the 26 letters.  He will say them phonically though.  In therapy he's working on trying to say two letter functional words, like "up, on, my, etc."  He talks a lot with his baby babble.

Hunter just started Gymboree.  Allie also did this play and learn class when she was 2.  I love this place and so does Hunter.  I wish I could bottle up his excitement these past two weeks when he is in the class.  He is definitely attached to mama!  Brian has been traveling, which has been rough on Hunter.  He's also started crying when the babysitters come over, which is hard.  Hopefully this little phase will pass soon.

I have started keeping a little boy twice a week that is close to Hunter's age.  It's so much fun to watch them interact with each other.  Even though the little boy I am now keeping isn't quite two yet, he's got a good vocabulary, which I can see Hunter trying to say words that he says.  The other day, we were playing outside and the little boy was saying "Hi" and Hunter kept trying to do it, and finally his word was sounding like HI too.

Age 6, Allie's 1st triathlon!

This summer, our neighborhood advertised for a kids triathlon.  We thought Allie would like to do it, so we signed her up.  She was in the age group of 5-8 year olds.  Each child in her age group, had to swim 50 meters, bike 3/4 of a mile and run half and mile.   The biking was easy for Allie, the running and swimming we did lots of practice for.

September 1, 2012 was race day!  Brian and Allie arrived at the community center around 6:45am.  She had to put all her things in a "transition area." She got a chip attached to her ankle, to keep track of her time.

Here are her scores!  Out of 38 girls in her age group, she placed 21st (only 5 other 6 year olds were in front of her).  Her total time completing all 3 events and transitions in between was 18.51. She swam in 3.06, biked in 4.35 and ran in 6.04 minutes. Individually out of 38 females in her division she was 35th in swimming, 13th in biking and 11th in running!  Wow, she ran fast!   Swimming was the hardest for her.  She got the distance, but we still need to work on technique.  We are so, so, proud of her.  Brian and I, unfortunately didn't see her run and cross the finish line.  That was disappointing for us, but to Allie, she was just faster than we were.  (which obviously was true, since we missed her).

Our neighborhood put on a great event for kids ages 5-14.  I believe this might be a annual event, and I feel like Allie would want to do it again.  She is such a little athlete, and we are so proud of her.

Waiting in line to go into the pool area

You can see the chip on her ankle to track her time

Hunter ready to cheer on Allie

Daddy's poster

Allie swimming

transition area

Mommy's poster

getting ready to start the bike portion

Our little biker!

After the race and Allie with her medal

The happiest, sweetest 6 year old, who just did her 1st triathlon.  

We have a 1st grader in the house!

Allie starting 1st grade this week.  Her teacher is Mrs. Johnston, and there are 28 children in her class.  WOW...that's a big class.  She has had a great first week of school.  She is definitely tired at night and is in bed at 8pm and then up at 6:30am.  That also means, I am now up at 6:30, which I definitely need an alarm for.  Here are a few pictures from her 1st day of school.

Hunter giving Allie a BIG good-bye hug before she leaves.  I definitely think he's very happy to see her in the afternoon.

Allie is a walker.  It takes about 13 or so minutes to walk from our house to school

Allie's table and her teacher

Our sweet little girl is really growing up so fast. 

1st grade 2012-2013