Mother's Day

Tyler had a special 'mother's day' day at school on Friday. I was able to be in to his class about half way through his day. The kids sang us several songs (which were very heart warming), gave us snacks (they had even made muffins in class the day before), and then shared a poem, and their thoughts on mom with us. It was a lot of fun. Even leading up to the day was fun because Tyler was very excited about it. They have been practicing songs the last few weeks and one of the song's went something like, My mommy has a special name it's M-O-M-M-Y.....A couple weeks ago he started singing this a lot except my special name was M-O-O-O-Y. I was much realieved to hear him spell it right on Friday :). Below is the poem and hand print they presented to us as well as the back side where he answered the questions, What does your mommy do while you are at school? and Why do you love yor mommy? It was actually really nice to be called mommy a few times too. It seems like Tyler's maturity has shortened my name to mom more often than not these days. And of course our monkey see, monkey do, Hailey therefore calls me "mom" a lot too. Happy Mother's day Mom and Maura. Dave and I are so lucky to have great mom's and families.

Future Drummer - Blue Man Group 2020?

We've mentionned that Tyler is fascinated with drumming, right? I think there are cute little kids activities that come and go, sway with the tide of life, but now and then you see something that is more than just a passing fancy. It's that level of interest that your child shows in a thing, an idea, and activity that makes you think, "If I do this right, if I help nurture this 'act' my kid enjoys right now what could it become in the years to come?"

I have this thought quite frequently with Tyler, and on a number of different subjects. Drumming is certainly one of them. He's pretty much been doing it for 2-3 years now and unlike his interest in Thomas the Train, it has never wained. He has started to express an interest in guitars as well and really does seem to have a keen ear for rythm and a great sense of timing. He is fascinated by Blue Man Group and Bucket Drummers so readily avaialable for view on the internet and YouTube. Also, he loves a wide variety of music to include kids songs, John Mayer, 70's Rock 'N Roll, MXPX and a little country music too.

I know that music makes him happy and I hope that it is a big part of his life in years to come. All I can think of is, "Dad, don't screw this up!"

ordinary pics

Not much has been going on this week and I've been too busy to post blogs but have still been taking pictures. Here are a few.

Winter, Spring, or Summer??

Still loves her daddy more than anything

Making (and eating) pizza

I turned around for 2 minutes to clean up the kitchen and this is what I turned around to see. Manner's aside, are they comfortable??

Tyler came down with a cold on Thursday which was an excellent excuse for them to move all of Hailey's blankets and animals from her room into Tyler's and make snuggle beds to play in. And of course Hailey had to blow her nose just like Ty.

Another one of those Hailey being Hailey moments. This is her look when she says "What!!"

And they broke out the Thomas trains

Of course any that can be drummed, is drummed.

Hailey & Orangy

Just pictures (with the neighbors cat):

Day 1

Playing

"Kitten!!!"

"Dare he is!"

"He's so cute. He's so soft."

One quick note, she spent a good 5 minutes with 2 bottles of bubbles in her hand, trying very politely to get Orangy to take one of them and blow bubbles with her. "Orangy, blow bubbles?? Here you go. Bubbles, Orangy?"

Day 2

"Orangy, nice kitty"

Orangy, I will follow you everywhere

Uh Oh

"Come back!"

Broken heart

Tyler's magic act

Now you see him

Now you don't

Tyler the Soccer Star

This year's version of youth soccer hardly resembles last year. The kids actually kick the ball towards the other teams goal (other than Ty's first goal this year!) and there is less time spent 'twirling about' for no apparent reason. Saturday was Ty's last game of the season and he was just awesome. He must have had 10 breakaways with shots on goal and all in all he scored his first two actual goals against the other team! I was quite the proud papa!

Barbershop Faux Hawk

I'd like to say that I have been cutting Ty's hair all of his 4 1/2 years but the truth is that since he only started growing hair at 2 1/2 years I can only take credit, or blame, for the past 2 years. Saturday there was a changing of the guard as Ty and I went to a barbershop in Clearview for his first actual hair cut! He had come with me about a month ago to watch me get my haircut and was actually kind of excited to get his done as well. When it came time for his buzz there was a little tension and craning of the neck but after letting him touch the clippers and feel that it wouldn't hurt Ty powered through like a trooper. When asked what kind of haircut he wanted he quickly replied, "A mohawk!" Thankfully the faux hawk did the trick with the help of lots of gel.

The shaggy boy getting ready.

Let the trimming begin.

Please don't make me bald like Dad did that one time!

Hey, I look cool!

Faux hawks rule!