My Baby is Five!

Tyler and pals Landon, Jett and Dillon at Chick Fil A
Waiting for just the right second to blow those 5 candles out!!!

I can't believe my Tyler is 5! He is such a joy in our family. He had quite the busy Birthday, even though mom's original plan was supposed to be low key! (My friend actually kind of put together the little party for him at Chick fil A. When she heard I wasn't going to do a party this year she thought Tyler should have something! Sooo Nice)

Tyler woke up bright and early, we sang to him and he ate breakfast, then off to Target to spend his Birthday money! Then we met friends at "the chicken place" Tyler calls it for an early lunch. Then off to preschool, Andrew and Madelynn had the day off from school, but Tyler is on a different schedule, so he still went, mostly because he had to take Birthday treats and he knew Miss Amy would have a special surprise for him! Then a few hours later we were off to soccer and then home to have a pizza party with Grandma and Grandpa! Then off to bed, he is usually the last one to sleep, but after his day in the limelight, he was out pretty fast!

Tyler is one of a kind! One of Rick's cousins that we saw in Denver last weekend described Tyler as "the prize that we got from an expired box of Cracker Jacks"!??? Now I know Tyler is always rarin' to go and looking for the next crazy thing to do or say, but I wouldn't trade that for the world! We love you Tyler man!

Idle Hands!

Tyler's handy work with the spray paint can, lucky for us his choice of color was purple, not the off white that was sitting right next to it!
He couldn't stop at the grass, he continued his masterpiece on the house, window and outlet box.
Now you are probably wondering where the parents were? I get to say I was away from the house at the time of this occurance, Rick was home and of course I think there was a football game on! Tyler has never really been a trouble maker, or one to go looking for something to get into, but we have had some instances with our cute little neighbor girls (twins), only a few months younger than Tyler. They have bonded because they both don't go to kindergarten until next year, so that leaves them with afternoons that they play while all the other kids are gone. I've found that if I don't suggest something for them to do, or keep checking on them (which a parent should do anyway) they find themselves in trouble. For instance today, I was cleaning and they were outside playing hot wheels cars, and I hear Riley say, lets throw these onto the deck, then I hear a loud bang against the sliding glass door! Needless to say, I had to redirect their thoughts of fun to something a little less hazardous to my house!

As for me and my lack of focus, I really need to get going on organizing my office! I think if Tyler were there for me like I am for him, he could say"mom that room is a mess, lets go in and start doing something about that!" Maybe that is asking too much of a four year old, but a little push would be nice.

On another subject:

Rick went to play in the John Deere Golf Tournament today, he and his partner won it last year and they both came home with flat screen T.V's and a trip to Georgia to play golf for a week. I just talked with him and he said he was able to score some free golf tees this year, but the big prize went to someone else. I was sad for him, but I know he had a great time. I didn't even ask what the prize was so that I wouldn't look disappointed when he came home. Is that bad?

I am in the process of cooking dinner, so that should cheer him up, that is another area in which my hands could be less idle!

8 Random Things

I was tagged by my bosom buddy Lucy, here are some things people might not know about me because they are so Random!

1: I love free things. Although I don't consider myself to be cheap, I love when I am given something and gives me and my family joy for absolutely nothing out of my pocket!
For instance we were able to get free tickets to the Air Force/TCU game on Thursday night. Not only were the tickets free, but we got to partake in the pre-game tailgate party put on by the Coors distributers that gave us the tickets. So we get to go to the game, eat wings and ribs and steak and mashed potatoes and have drinks....FOR FREE!


2. I love spending time with my family. It seems as though this time is getting overshadowed by to many other things. My kids are getting too big, too fast and I just want to hold onto them and cherish every day! When we are all together is when I am the happiest!


3. I love this country, this month has been a really good time for me to sit back and ponder the freedoms I have and how much I am able to do just by living in the U.S.A.! I frequently take this for granted!

4. This may contradict #2 (but you moms with relate!): I love to have "me" time! This year I have three days a week that I have 2 1/2 hours of alone time, I try very hard to use that time with whatever I want to do; whether it be volunteer at school, workout, shop, eat, meet a friend, take a nap, or read a book. Everyone needs their "me" time!

5. I have never been stung by a bee~

6. When asked by one of my family: "Where is my ....."? I can 9 out of 10 times go to my mental file of where I last saw it or where I put it away! But recently Madelynn lost her recorder that she needs for music class at school. It has been killing me that it has been a week and we still haven't found it!

7. Sunshine is a staple to my well being!

8. One of my favorite past times is laughing, If you could hire a funny person to make you laugh during the day, I would!

I don't know who will respond, but I tag:

Allison

Kadi

Carrie

Shannon

FRIDAY

I love Friday! I think most people do, but as for my family, they look forward to Friday as much as mom does because it almost gaurantees a "good mood" from me! Now don't get me wrong, I am not a grouch the other six days of the week.





Take today for instance: I played pool with Tyler for almost 2 hours! We had a great time, we laughed, I tried to show him the correct way to hold the pool stick (is that correct terminology).



- The weather was beautiful, not too hot, not too cool. My friend from Mesa called and said that they were only in the 90's today! I think this is the first time that I am really appreciating the change of seasons.

Now I have to sequey into this next picture:

This summer when we were in Montana visiting my family, Andrew went on quite a few bike rides with Grandpa and Grandma or whoever happened to be up for it. One day we rode to the park and Andrew mentioned that he didn't like the particular bike he was riding because the seat hurt his "balls". O. k, if you don't have a boy you probably can't appreciate this story, and if your son isn't quite as candid with you as my 10 year old is (you are lucky)! So I relayed his comment to Grandma Linda and had a chuckle and dropped it before it became the topic of conversation between all the younger siblings and cousins (very impressionable 4 year olds)! So today Andrew recieved a letter from Grandma, and this article was inclosed:

Andrew had a good laugh and loves that his Grandparents in MT, are looking out for his 'boy problems'.

There also was a picture of a man that had put a snake through his nose and out his mouth! That was pretty cool stuff too!

Labor Day - No Joke!

Hi there friends and family,

We had a fabulous Labor Day weekend.

It all started by me being determined to clean out and get rid of EVERYTHING!

Friday morning (after a long week of going through all closets, and every nook and cranny) I finally had a nice size pile of stuff to do a garage sale!

It's not Nordstrom Rack, but my customers sure thought these things were great!

I was so excited when an hour into my sales, I already had earned a whopping $50! So I kept my door open until right after Tyler left for school, he was quiete the salesman, showing people how the toys worked and that the bikes truely did do wheelies! Then he moved onto doing skateboarding tricks.

Yes, he will be a professional dare devil one day!

So Saturday rolled around and I was just as gung-ho about selling! I talked my neighbor into pulling together some stuff the night before, and she had a ton of furniture and other big items that drew a crowd, so we joined forces and together sold almost all the big things and had a prosperous day! My family has been wanting a fire pit, so we took our hard earned money down to Lowe's and bought one, the kids each recieved $10 for helping and unselfishly giving up some toys that really they never played with. Then we loaded up the van and took the remaining items to Goodwill. Man do I love a good garage sale, how refreshing is it to purge your home of unneccesary junk, and get money for it! (just blows me away)

Saturday we also had a fun surprise with the arrival of Rick's sister and her family from Wyoming. They have their own plane and decided to fly down for a couple days. They are so much fun to hang out with, we went swimming and shopping and went out to see the Bourne Ultimatum (which I loved, but not when I was sitting in the second from the front row!) Then Monday morning they flew home.

Monday I ran in a half marathon down in the downtown area of Colorado Springs. It was a lot of fun. I ended up doing it by myself because my friend Kadi was in an accident and hurt her back. So I ran and walked it and finished in 2hours and 50 min., which isn't that great of a time, but I had a fun time just doing my own thing and enjoying the beautiful trail! Rick and the kids drove to certain spots to cheer me on, they are so kind to patiently wait for mom all morning and be my biggest fans at the end! Tyler even ran with me past the finish line, someday they will be the ones I'm cheering on in the races!

It was a beautiful day, but after the late nights with family and my run we were all ready for some R&R. After the race we went home for a nap and then got ready for a BBQ with some friends. We had a nice evening and broke in our fire pit by roasting marshmellows and making smores. I didn't take any pictures because I was too busy feeding my face, but next time we fire it up I will.

Oh, I want to give a shout out to my friend Melissa who ran her first half marathon this Labor day in DisneyLand! Way to go girl! This was at her birthday dinner the weekend before.

My kids had today off of school for a teacher work day, so we spent the day at the pool soaking up the last sun rays. They each got to bring a friend along, which made my job easier by not having to entertain. Andrew is getting so good we are thinking of putting him in a swim club next summer. Madelynn is getting good too, but is still sticking close to the edge. Tyler is just happy floating on his tube and talking to himself about whatever toy he happens to be holding.

Well I hope you all had a great weekend too!