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...

Bye Bye Hair!!!

We decided the boys needed their summer haircuts today. After about a week of 100 weather, it was past due. Poor Connor spent most of the day yesterday with his hair matted all over the place from sweating so much.

Here is what we started with... this picture was taken last weekend...


During the haircut, which Tyler thought was pretty cool...



Connor didn't know what was just around the corner. Bye bye pretty blond hair!!!

Connor right after the haircut. He looked like a little like a refugee at first, but after a day of playing in the sun, he looked like the cutest little boy that he is. He is absolutely darling! He looks quite ornery, but that is Connor!!!

I'll be honest - I'll look forward to fall when his hair can grown back a bit longer, but this is cute!!! His hair is so blond, he looks bald in this picture!!!

Oh look, a chicken!!!

Ever seen that t-shirt that is making fun of people with ADD/ADHD where it says something like, "They tell me I have ADD, but they just don't underst.... HEY, look a Chicken!"

That was us tonight.

Tyler is on a total candy kick. He asks for candy about every 45 seconds. And every 45 seconds I tell him "no". We give in to candy sometimes, but definitely not every time he asks, or else he would be diabetic tomorrow.

We were sitting outside tonight just enjoying the beautiful evening. It was getting pretty dark outside, and Tyler decided he wanted to go on a bike ride. He put on his helmet and everything, which is odd, because he NEVER wears a bike helmet. Since it was getting dark, and okay, we were happy just sitting on the deck and PROMISED him we would take him on a ride in the morning, we politely told Tyler we weren't going on a bike ride.

Introduce dancing tantrum here.

I call them dancing tantrums because his whole body is limp, but he is still upright, and he is jogging in place with his arms flapping at his sides sobbing, "but I wanna go on a bike ride, I wanna go on a bike ride, I wanna go on a bike ride..."

Poor kid, I felt sorry for him but it was a) way past his bedtime b) getting dark and c) we were feeling kind of lazy after a very long day of playing in the pool.

As he was having this tantrum, I almost couldn't believe my ears..."I wanna go on a bike ride, I wanna go on a bike ride, I wanna.... HEY LOOK, Lightening Bugs!!!" and then he was good as gold.

I'm really trying not to already label Tyler as ADD or ADHD, and doing my best to control it with a diet (with some cheating), but that demonstration tonight was just priceless.

Poor kid. He's following in his father's footsteps!