Oh. My. God.

Those are the only words I could utter when I opened my car door this morning. I was putting Connor into his car seat, and was greeted with this....

Last night as we were getting out of the car, Tyler dawdled in the car as long as possible, as he usually does. By the time he usually made it into the house, he had a Sharpie marker in his hand (YES, I said SHARPIE!), which I immediately removed from his possession.

"He's already made a mark on his head," I thought to myself, "I can't imagine when else he could do with this red pen".

Holy Lord. I had no idea Picasso was the one "dawdling" in my car that night.

I panicked the whole drive to work. Visions of an entire new car interior went through my head...wondering how much that would cost, wondering if there would be a chance at covering it up, and stopping any thoughts of harming my 3 year old. Seriously... I'm glad he wasn't standing next to me when I found that - or he wouldn't be with us right now.

I jumped on Google the second I got to work and searched for "how to get Sharpie out of fabric", and actually found some helpful sites of people that sounded desperate as me. Lots of good tips.

I got home, and armed myself with my goods: Shout Spray, Dawn Dishwashing Liquid, Hairspray, Fingernail Polish Remover, water and toothbrushes.

IT WORKED! The RED SHARPIE PEN came OUT! I still cannot believe it! I started with the cold water, then used Dawn Dishwashing Liquid, and finished it off with some Shout. It is all gone, except for a slight shadow at the worst part. So...it took an hour and a half - but it came out!

Okay - so Tyler can live now, but I have taken every single freakin' Sharpie pen and hid it where he couldn't possible find it or reach it!

Mr. Miyagi

Remember the scene in The Karate Kid where Mr. Miyagi is trying to use chopsticks to catch a fly, then Daniel walks in and catches it on his first try? Well, I have Tyler.

Over the last couple of weeks, I've watched him. He's usually standing at the backdoor or a window, watching outside (usually longing to BE outside) and with it being summer and since with 2 kids our house has turned into a barn, we have a LOT of flies. Those flies usually end up at the windows and backdoor too.

Tyler has, are you ready............killed at least 3 flies, with his hands. It's hilarious. He stands there, completely still (when else have you heard of this kid standing still?), and waits. He waits for the flies to land on the door, then slowly moves his hand up, and can kill them with the palm of his hand. Tonight he did it - with 2 fingers.

What a proud moment for his mother! I don't think they have that sticker for the baby books, do they? "Catches bugs with bare hands". Yuck!

When do all rules of parenting go out the window?

4th of July.

"Go ahead Tyler, put the sparkler in the fire. It will start. Just hold it there. Just wait. I know the fire is hot - it will start shortly....."

I believe all of these phrases were uttered out of our mouths the evening of the 4th of July. He played with fire, peed ouside, watched the neighbor boys set off illegal fireworks, and even climbed under the fence to get on the golf course in order to play a few holes.

Yikes.........................

SHUT UP!!!!!!!!

Where have I been????? I was watching TV last night (maybe that's the problem - we never WATCH TV anymore unless it's a cartoon or some show with bright shiny puppets!) and I saw the trailer for the next X-Files movie coming out on July 25th!

You have no idea how excited I was - or still am! It literally brought tears to my eyes to find that Scully and Mulder will be back. After the last movie years ago, I thought it was over for good - as that movie was supposed to be the capstone of the TV series that I had watched passionately for years.

Now, only 21 days until I can go see those alien-chasing, monster-facing heroes that I love!

The Meltdown

Tyler has been connected to Kyle lately - seriously. If he could find some velcro to connect them for good - he would be even happier. And when Kyle leaves...all hell breaks loose.

Yesterday Tyler was ready to go down for a nap. Kyle took that opportunity to go play 9 holes at the golf course- which was fine. Connor was already sleeping and Tyler was SO ready for a nap. So Kyle left. Begin meltdown here.

Tyler took off running towards the golf course. At first it was just a jog, and I thought "he'll turn around anytime now...", and he didn't. He just kept going. I ran after him, and then he ran faster. Pretty soon, he was in an all out sprint, and so was I. I don't remember running that fast since gym class. I finally caught him, just inches from the gravel that takes you to the golf course (he had no shoes on and neither did I - gravel would've SUCKED!). So I attempted to carry him home.

Mind you - this is my 3 year old, that is 45 pounds and 45 inches tall - no shrimp. I literally had him in some sort of armbar move that I'd seen on WWE - and I'm carrying him home. Tyler is screaming at the top of his lungs - and the neighbors are looking. I learned later that one of our neighbors was hiding behind her curtains laughing at us. This, was one of my proudest moments as a mom.

I took him - and literally threw him into his room. At that point, I wasn't in the mood for games anymore, and he had far surpassed any point of understanding anything. For some reason, he ran into his closet. I think I literally said, "whatever", and walked out of his room.

Quietness quickly ensued, and I checked on him in about 10 minutes, and this was what I found... Poor guy had literally fallen asleep in his closet.

His nap was about 3 hours. That tells you how tired he was. Those moments are so frustrating, but I feel even that much worse for him knowing he was that tired, and was beyond being able to control himself at that point.

Will miracles ever cease?

A picture of the boys. You can see Tyler's new hair-do, as well as the miracle of him sharing his popcorn with Connor!

The answer to "How are we going to pay for college"?

$29.98 (ever noticed how most things at Wal-Mart end in .98?)

Yep - clippers. Hair clippers.

Tyler needed a haircut this past weekend, and instead of spending $12 like we normally would, Kyle suggested we go buy a good pair of clippers from the store. He didn't want to borrow the neighbors (since he borrows everything else of theirs - I'm not sure where the clippers became off-limits), so off I went.

Kyle was so excited! "This will practically pay for itself with 2 haircuts!", he said. And the first haircut began.

Unfortunately, the only look we can seem to get is the buzz. Kyle used a one guard on the back and two guard on the top - but it pretty much is a one guard all over. A nice summer doo - but I think we may have to consider this our "summer savings opportunity", and if we want this kid to have a chance at having hair on his head during the winter months - cough up the $12 for Cost Cutters to do the doo.

I'll post a picture of Tyler new look as soon as I can get him to sit down.