I'm officially getting old...

All weekend long, my 4 year old, Tyler, walked around singing the chorus of a song. He couldn't get it out of his head, and neither could I after about the 100th time I heard it...

"dum dum de da dum dum de dum dum...." over and over he would sing.

I kept asking where he heard the song, and he didn't remember. It about drove me crazy, because I knew I had heard the song before too, but couldn't quite place it. I was going nuts!!!

Tonight I went through Billboard's Top 100 song looking for something that looked familiar, and couldn't find it. I finally went to YouTube and typed in the name of the song that I thought it was. No go. Two "also suggested" clicks later, I found it.

Disturbia - by Rihanna.

Seriously. They are playing this song in the clubs now. I'm pretty sure Tyler hasn't visited any of the bars downtown lately, and around our house, mostly what he hears is my sorry 80s music.

For whatever reason, he heard this song and it stuck with him. All I can say is, Thank God for the internet. Tyler - the internet is going to be what helps me keep up with you for the rest of your life!!!

My mornings

If you ask my parents, they would probably tell you've I've always been a morning person - from the minute I was born. Even in high school and college, I rarely slept in too late. I was always afraid I was going to miss something.

I was shockingly introduced to the schedule of babies back in 2004 at the birth of Tyler. That boy never slept past 7am until he was over 2 1/2, unless he was sick. He was just beginning to sleep past 7 occasionally, and then Connor was born.

Holy Good Morning.

Connor went through a phase when he wanted to be up and at 'em at 4:30am. We finally made it through that and moved into the radomness of getting up anywhere between 5am and 6am - this includes weekends. (Another rude awakening - you cannot train a baby to "sleep in" on the weekends like you want to.)

Connor is just over 2 now, and Tyler is nearing 5. They are getting a little bit more predictable now, if there is such a thing. Their bedroom routines are nailed, and you can generally expect to sleep in until at least 6am, and we've been lucky the past couple of weekends and got until 7am.

All of that being said - I started getting up during the week at 5am back in 2004 when I went back to work after having Tyler, in order to ensure that I was fully ready for work, before anyone woke up. I tried a couple of times to get ready with someone either a) playing on the floor, b) sitting on the sink or c) "watching a show". Those didn't work so well. I said 5am it is, and that has been my schedule. (Okay, you got me, sometimes I push snooze once or twice, depending on hard of a night it was...)

Now, out of habit, my alarm still goes off at 5am, during the week. I'm out of bed within the next 15 minutes, and ready to go at about 5:50. Then the morning is MINE.

This is what this all came around to. I love having the quiet mornings all to myself in the house. Since people are sleeping in, I usually get a half hour (or sometimes more if I'm lucky) of pure quiet. Silence. And being able to do whatever I want.

Being the simple person that I am, that usually includes getting on the computer, checking Facebook, blogs, sometimes logging into work, and anything else that needs to be done including folding laundry sometimes, picking up the kitchen, etc.

These times are very therapeutic for me. Nights are quiet too, but sorry Kyle, sometimes you talk too much. Or the Golf Channel in on the background. That is just not quiet the same. It's not quiet as relaxing when someone is following you around saying, "We have to pay the bills tonight." and "You should probably bring your lunch the rest of the week so I don't have to donate a kidney."

These mornings are awesome. I can mentally prepare for my day, for the week, for anything that needs to be done, and just enjoy the time, just being with me. I love it!

We had no idea what we were going to be starting...

Everyone getting ready for the "Main Event"!

It started out as a way for me to keep my boys entertained for an hour, possibly more if I was lucky. It quickly then turned into neighborhood event! Herein after this day will be referred to as "Slip N Slide 2009 Day"!

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I've so thankful to have these neighborhood boys around. We have only a couple girls in our whole neighborhood, but we never see them. They must stay inside and play quiet games or something, because the boys that are outside are anything but quiet.

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Tonight, Chase and Joe taped themselves on Joe's videophone, doing jumps off of a bike ramp into our yard. I never mind this type of stuff because it keeps my boys totally entertained! Tyler tried a couple times to take the ramp with his own bike, which ended up in him biffing in the grass, but he got right up, and tried again.

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Sometimes I worry that my boys are growing up too fast. Learning how to be "big boys" before taking a chance to be "little boys". But I think it's the other way around. Having the big kids play with my boys, makes them be little kids for a while too. Based on these pictures, what do you think???

Connor getting some help from the big kids - yes, he is airborne in this picture. He LOVED IT! Tanner is the one pushing Connor, and he is just awesome with the little kids!

Chase hamming it up, as usual. Notice Jared holding Connor back in the background. He wanted in on ALL of the action!

The Beginning...

The Middle....

The End...

Our Big Win!!!!

Well, not really. I'm not really sure what place we came in, but I'm pretty sure it was close to last, or maybe dead last.

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We were HORRIBLE! And we had a BLAST! Oh my gosh - I haven't laughed that hard in a LONG time. I almost peed my pants 100 times, and might've a couple, but you don't know that.

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We had such an awesome time today in my first "official" golf tournament of the season. And, my husband was in the same tournament, on another team. That, I think, is what it made it the most fun - a little competition.

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I'm actually pretty proud, because Kyle and his team won first place, out of ALL the teams the played. They really are awesome, and so much fun too.

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My team of Kim, Sharee and Amy is something I would dare anyone to challenge!!! We actually finally gave up at one hole and stopped counting our shots when we got to 10. Did I mention this was a "best shot"? Seriously. We were that bad.

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I really needed this. I totally disconnected from the world. From work, from home, from the kids, and everything. Hours of just being me. It was awesome.

My team: Kim, Sharee, Amy and Me...

Our team at the sign that our team sponsored. Sharee is the owner of Le Reve. OMG it was cold!!!!!

Kyle and his winning team. Jody, Kyle, Doug and Mike.

Me and Kyle before the tournament. Awwww......

"Tyler Did It"

You gotta hand it to him. My sweet, blond, innocent two year old boy, has quickly found how to place all blame on his 4 year old brother. About every 5 minutes I hear,

"Tyler did it."

He uses this phrase for everything.... The DVD player stopped working in the car, "Tyler did it". Then Connor spilled some milk on the table, "Tyler did it". I have found there are pretty much no limitations to the usage of this phrase!

Awesome Connor! You have quickly picked up on some of the most coveted qualities in life, if you are a politician, or possibly a convict. Maybe I should be worried now...

Connor with all the kids we went to Adventureland with. He pretty much commands the "center of attention" whenever in a picture!

I think I need another shower...

Today we had our "vacation" as Tyler refers to it. He has been asking for weeks when we were going to go on "vacation", since his friends in daycare are doing that. I didn't want to tell the poor kid that "WE" weren't going on vacation this summer because Mommy and Daddy are taking a cruise in December. (Muahahahahah!) So, today... going to Adventureland was our vacation.

The kids had an AWESOME time. As you can see from the picture above, Connor even was getting into the rides and quickly learned how to put his hands in the air!

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Tyler was the most wonderful child. He went on almost every ride that Kyle went on, including the log ride, roller coasters, ferris wheels, and all the kids toys that he could. The only rides he didn't go on were the ones that had height limitations, or he would've been on those as well.

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I'll be honest though. Although a good time was had by all, I was starting to get pretty cranky as the day went on, and I'm sure it showed. One thing strange about me, is that I don't like to be dirty. It drives me NUTS! I also don't like my kids dirty. I will let them GET dirty, but cannot let them stay that way for too long.

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I wore white shorts today, that were pretty much gray by the end of the day. I changed my shirt once because the one had on got so yucky from sweating, that I couldn't stand myself. Connor and Tyler both had a clothes change too.

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So - I'm dirty, I'm hot, and I've spent most of my day chasing around a two year old that has the energy of the Engergizer Bunny. Seriously, this kid did NOT STOP. The only time I sat down was when he finally fell asleep for about an hour in the stroller.

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Kyle LOVES that stuff. Rides, roller coasters, thrill stuff - and when it comes to that, I'm a little bit more of a "I'll keep my feet on the ground" type of person. Kyle was getting frustrated with me, because every time he wanted to go on a ride with Tyler, that meant that I was watching Connor for that time - and at times, those lines can be pretty long. Kyle - having fun. Me - cranky.

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By the end of the day, we'd had a great time, but also were fried. Tired, dirty, hungry, worn out and every nerve was on its last leg.

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Talking about it tonight, Tyler said he had an awesome day today. His vacation was a success. I'm worried though that I might have to take him to therapy for the rest of his life after his experience on The Outlaw roller coaster. Kyle said, for whatever reason, he thought he had to keep his hands in the air the whole time, but was terrified. When the ride was over, Kyle said he looked him and at him and Ty said, "Daddy, that scared me a wot".

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You know what scared me? Some of the outfits that people actually wore walking though the park. Seriously. "Dress code" does not come into play for some of those people. Yikes.

Happy Transformers Birthday!

We had the most awesome 4th of July weekend, despite the weather. Saturday brought rain - and lots of it. We had to skip the parade, and so we ended up skipping the pancake breakfast, but it didn't stop us from celebrating!

We took the opportunity to celebrate the birthday's that have occurred over the last month and a half. Happy Birthday Carley, Beth and Emily!

I knew it would be a Transformers weekend, and because I took Tyler with me to Wal-Mart to get the cake, a Transformers cake it was! Which turned out perfect, because we ended up seeing the movie on Saturday afternoon.

My sister, Beth, and I went with her husband and her two girls, and Tyler.

We bought the following to eat:

• A hot dog
• Pretzel bites
• Licorice
• 2 Icees
• A large pop
• A bottled water
• Skittles - which Tyler late spilled all over the floor.
• And we smuggled in some Karmelcorn from the mall

Some fun facts about the movie experience:

• Tyler went to the bathroom 5 times. 4 times to pee, and one to actually poop. Seriously.
• Tyler asked if it was time to go 15 times.
• Tyler asked why the big lights were out 3 times
• Tyler told me not to sit next to him twice
• I am going to have to go see the movie again if I want to see the whole thing.

Tyler actually did awesome for a 2.5 hour movie! We're on our way to success!

Tyler and his best friend, and arch enemy, Emily.

The whole gang - full of trouble!

Who needs the cake on your plate???

Why I hate Thomas today

Around the time that Tyler was 2 years old, he started getting interested in Thomas the Train. I think it was more because WE thought he should be interested in it because it was cute, neat and innocent. Don't get me wrong, many of the Thomas toys/clothes we have are cute. We have a neat Thomas chair that Connor loves to sit in, and a cute train that pulls itself across the floor.

I made the mistake of taping a couple Thomas shows from PBS a few years ago. Tyler wanted to watch them EVERY DAY. And if you've ever heard the song from Thomas - it burns itself into your brain! Seriously, it's a cute song, but PLEASE. It's almost like a hypnotic chant. I beg you, please listen to this song and see if you listened to it 15 times in what day, what would happen to your brain...




Then we started the train sets. For Christmas when Tyler was 2 1/2, he received a train table, and a cute train set. Unfortunately, the sets are so darn complicated, that he would just eventually end up getting frustrated with it and quit playing with it all together

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Bringing us back to current day...

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Kyle and I cleaned out our mini storage this past weekend, and there was a Giant Thomas Set in there that Tyler received for Christmas probably 2 years ago. I didn't even attempt to open it at that time, because it was so huge. I decided to save it until he was a bit older.

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That was yesterday. And all I have to say is, Oh My God.

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The set itself had a mere 146 pieces. Seriously. That isn't an exaggeration. The box says "146 pieces in all!". What it also forgets to tell you is that you need to be a mechanical engineer to get it all together, and the directions are one page. I'm not an idiot, but I couldn't even figure out where to start.

I eventually gave up, and made the boys two tracks - one for the bus and one for the train. Notice all of the leftover pieces scattered everywhere!

Then the fighting started. They couldn't leave each other alone, and kept kicking each other's stuff all over, and the tracks kept breaking. I ended up screaming at the top of my lungs for EVERYONE TO STOP YELLING and "TYLER QUIT WHINING!".

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After about an hour, I bribed them with candy in order to get the set picked up, and I put it away in the sun room.

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I hope they don't remember it tonight, because I don't think there is enough alcohol in the world right now...