Were Counting the days...

Tommy and I will be heading to an unbelievable marriage conference in Fort Myers at the end of September! I am so excited and can't think of a better way to kick off our off-season together. I think its important at some point during the year to get away "alone" and just focus on one another. Especially with the busy schedules and distractions that life brings! The conference is designed to teach biblical principles that help achieve healthy successful marriages. I am looking forward to what God is going to teach us and the tools we will bring home to our family! I feel one of the best gifts we can give our boys is to show them the love and respect Tommy and I have for each other! I just want to encourage everyone to check out http://www.familylife.com/ to get more information on the conference. They are being held all over the country! It's not just for married couples either, my girlfriend and her fiance attended and absolutely loved it! I am truly looking forward to this weekend that I pray Tommy and I will never forget!

A Sweet Surprise...

Tommy surprised us yesterday. The boys and I had just walked in the door from picking Tyler up from school when a few minutes later Tommy came bursting through the front door! For those of you that are wondering "why" he is home, he pulled his oblique muscle a few days ago and was placed on the disabled list. He told me they were going to allow him to fly home and rehab in Jupiter, but that it wouldn't be until the weekend. He had my dad pick him up from the airport and when I spoke with him he played it off like he was on his way to the field. I even passed my dad at a traffic light on my way to pick up Tyler and Tommy was ducking down in the passengers seat. It was a nice surprise and the best part it was Tommy's birthday. We haven't spent his birthday together in probably three years. It's hard to believe but the season is officially over for us. Unfortunately, his injury came at a bad time because Tommy was hoping to get a September call-up. He is very upset about the situation but I guess its just another one of those times when you have to trust God's plan. The boys and I are so happy and can't wait to start our off-season ALL together!

I wanted to say thank you from the bottom of my heart for the friends and family that make our season possible. Mom and Dad I can't thank you enough for your love and support during the season. You make this life possible for us and are always willing to help out. From the airport rides, to taking care of our bunnies, cleaning our pool, picking up our mail, stocking our fridge before the boys and I come home, watering our flowers, and letting us invade your home on a daily basis. These are just a few things I am thankful for I could go on forever! We are so very blessed and grateful for all you both do!

To my wonderful friends who are always there for me when I need them. You all know who you are. What would I do without you? My "boynton girls" our sushi nights, play dates at the park, stampin up at Julie's, parenting talks, and our morning coffee get togethers are the things that maintain my sanity during the season. I have made the most wonderful friendships over the past few years. I love you guys! For my out of town friends thank you for always being such wonderful listeners. I can't tell you how much I look forward to our daily phone conversations. Sometimes I want to kick myself the next morning because I've stayed up way past my bedtime chatting, but I wouldn't change having those conversations for the world. This life can be hard and emotionally draining and I can't thank you enough for all your encouragement when I am ready to lose my mind. God has placed the most wonderful family and friends in our lives and I just want you to know how much I love you all!!

Ps. other people in this world are unfortunately not so nice. This morning Dylan and I went for our morning walk and then stopped off at the park to feed the ducks. I left my camera on the park bench and didn't realize this until a few hours later. When I went back my camera was gone but they were nice enough to leave my water bottle. I am so upset. I think I had over 400 pictures and a few videos stored on there. So, now I have to convince Tommy to let me get a new one because he said,"the one that's been sitting in our drawer for the past five or six years works just fine"! I guess we will just have to see!

Ten on Tuesday...

Ten things Dylan loves:

1. Tyler. I know this one is obvious but he is absolutely in love with his big brother! Tyler is Dylan's world and his day revolves around whatever Tyler is doing. When he wakes up from his nap that is the first person he calls for. He looks up at him with those big brown eyes and you can just tell how much he admires him. I will catch him saying, "Ty do you like me or Ty are you my best buddy?" It is just priceless. They have a very special bond and truly they don't do anything without the other.

2. Snacks. That boy loves some snacks. He loves to go over to the snack drawer and reach in and pick something out. I have actually considered moving it out of his reach because I must tell him a hundred times a day "No more snacks". His favorite are goldfish, granola bars, yogurt push-ups and the strawberry flavored Danimals.

3. Baseball. Everyday he dresses up in head-to-toe baseball gear. It is the cutest thing in the world. He will walk around the house singing take me out to the ballgame over and over again. He could sing it a hundred times and it never gets old. He has the sweetest voice that brings a smile to my face every time I hear it. He also always has to have a baseball card in the back pocket of his baseball pants(usually his daddy's) and two batting gloves hanging out the back. He will pretend to play a game and even goes into his pretend dugout. He wants to play T-ball so bad like Tyler but Tyler has made it clear that he is still too little. Tyler did say that Dylan could be the team mascot!

4. Swimming. What a little fish he is. He loves to swim and is very good at it. It seems like he pretty much taught himself. He did get a little help from Tommy and I but for the most part he was pretty determined to learn on his own. He has just recently learned how to dive to the bottom and retrieve the dive toys. He loves to jump into the deep end and pretend to be kung fu panda. Tyler and Dylan also love to get on the boogie board and pretend that they are on a boat and of course flip each other off of it. He also loves his underwater skateboard too.

5. Art Projects. He is into anything that we do with glue. I am trying to teach him to dot dot dot the glue, but he still seems to get it everywhere. We love to collect things from outside and make a picture with them.

6. Stuffed Animal Dogs. Oh how he loves his dogs. These special dogs were all given to him from his Mema. It is her special present that she loves to get for the boys. She always makes sure they have a very cute face and are very soft. A lot goes into the picking of these precious stuffed animals. They always look forward to the new dog that will be on their beds when they get back from seeing Tommy. He loves to make them a bed next to his each night. One usually always travels with us wherever we go. He also likes to change there diapers when they poo-poo with real wipes.

7. Hot Wheels Bike. He has finally mastered riding his hot wheel. He loves to ride up and down the side walk and loves it when I let him go in the road from our neighbor's house. Tyler and Dylan play chase and Dylan never gets frustrated when he doesn't win.

8. Morning Cartoons. Dylan is not much of a t.v. watcher, but he does like to relax in the morning and watch a few cartoons. I will have to say his favorite cartoons right now are Curious George and Mickey Mouse Club House.

9. Dunkin Donuts. Dylan and Tyler love donuts. I can't get a coffee without the two of them shouting their orders from the back of the car. Dylan loves the chocolate glazed and sprinkles. He makes a huge mess with the sprinkle donut and is usually too impatient to wait to get home so he hasn't been getting those lately. I think I may have to cut back on my coffee runs because I can't make it through the line anymore without donuts. Looks like it's time to start brewing up some Folgers!

10. Friends and Family. Dylan is such a people person. Anytime someone comes over he usually greets them with a huge hug and hello. He waves to everyone when we are at the store and loves to get peoples attention by saying hello. Dylan is hilarious. He is definitely the little comedian in our house. He walked through the entire airport with his monster teeth in his month and had everyone that walked by cracking up. He also loves to make people's names into nicknames. Here are a few: Tyler is "Ty", PaPa is "Pops", Riley is "Ral" and Mommy is "Ma". It is the cutest thing! He is our little ray of sunshine that can light up a room the minute he enters it. We love you "sweetie pie"!

Will you please, please play with me?



Getting in his ready position



How did that get by me?



Everyday "Dylan Essentials"

New School and No Tears...

well that is no tears from Tyler at least. Dylan and I on the other hand were a different story. Our morning went great and Tyler was a champ getting ready to go to his new school. I think he was mostly excited about his lunch. He couldn't wait to put his lunchbox in his backpack and walk around the house with it on. He also had one specific request and that was that his pretend turtle was taken care of while he was gone. He handed his turtle off to Dylan and asked him to please watch him and to make sure he didn't drop it. He made it clear to Dylan that he would be asking me for a full report. Dylan proudly took the turtle and hasn't put it down since.

We got out of the house on time, which I was worried about because the boys have still been sleeping in until 10:00am since we got back from Albuquerque. The one thing I wasn't prepared for was the sudden emotions that had quickly come over me. You have to understand that Tyler went to a very small program that only consisted of three classrooms with 10-12 students in each. It was more of a Sunday school type setting, so this is very different.

As he walked to his class with such confidence in each step it just made my heart melt. I felt myself biting my lower lip harder and harder to fight back the tears. All I could think was my baby boy is so grown up. He went right to his chair and quickly turned back and said, "bye mom I love you!" No tears, no hesitation, no doubts, you would of thought he had been going there for years. As Dylan and I walked (actually we were practically running) to the car Dylan started crying for his "Ty" and I lost it. So many things ran through my mind. After a tearful drive home I took Dylan for a 2 mile walk and felt much better. The best part of the afternoon was the huge smile on Tyler's face when I picked him up and the non-stop conversation on the drive home about how much he loved his new school! He is thrilled and said he can't wait to go back again tomorrow! Let's just say I think kindergarten is going to be a very easy transition for him. The change didn't seem to effect him one bit!





It may be just me but doesn't he look around 7 yrs. old?



Sweet goodbye kisses!

School Jitters

emotions were soaring high this morning. Not just for Tyler but for me as well. Tyler attended a little morning program for the past 2 1/2 years and will now be switching to a five day a week program from 9:30-1:00pm at Shepard's Care preschool. Tyler enjoys school but I will have to say if you gave him the option he would probably opt to stay home everyday. So, after a lot of tears this morning(some due from over exhaustion from traveling the day before) over going to meet his teacher at the new school he didn't want to go to I became a wreck myself. As I hugged him in the bathroom and reassured him he was going to love it I had flashbacks of his first week at Living Word. It was a week of the teacher taking him out of the car each morning crying and I thought, oh boy please don't do this to me again. I have already been through that!

Once we got there it was such a relief. Thankfully, it was a very casual come at your leisure orientation and when we got to his class only his teacher Mrs. Wilson was there. I could tell right off the bat what a kind, gentle, and patient teacher she was going to be. Tyler got the grand tour of the room and what to expect come Monday. He was all smiles on our way to the car, and seems to be very excited about his class and teacher. The program is going to be wonderful! I am thrilled with the curriculum they follow, which is the ABeka program, the organization, the positive atmosphere and most importantly the hearts they have for the children to learn and grow closer to God!



Tyler, you are the definition of a first born child. You are strong, smart, motivated, an over-achiever, love to please and always seem to amaze me with the things you come up with on a daily basis. I love you with all my heart and only wish that I could slow down how fast you are growing up! I pray that you have a wonderful school year and know that you will be such a wonderful addition to Mrs. Wilson's class. I love you!

Back Home...

what a trip we had! We had such a wonderful time with Tommy. Though I will have to say that Jenn wasn't exaggerating when she said that Albuquerque was crappy...it is! The field on the other hand is awesome! They had a wonderful playground area for the boys to play at and we took advantage of that almost every night. The boys went early to the field each day with Tommy and loved it. They also each got a day with us by themselves. One went to the field with Tommy while the other got to pick what they wanted to do with me. It was a lot of fun. During the season we never get one on one time with the boys and I feel it's very important that they get that. We are going to make sure this off-season we do a special day like that once a month. We also enjoyed the new friends we made and had a blast with Jenn when she came out for the weekend. We ate a lot of crappy food (that I will not miss), didn't miss a night of the Olympics, I caught up on the political campaign and the best part, we all had great quality family time together. I will have to say that two weeks is about the extent that I can handle living in a hotel with no refrigerator or microwave. It gets old pretty fast! Well, this trip wraps up traveling for the boys and I. I can't believe the season is coming to an end. It's always an adventure and there is never a dull moment. I guess back to real life again. Tyler has orientation tomorrow and gets to meet his teacher. School starts Monday so I have a lot to do this weekend! I will let you all know how tomorrow goes!



Me and the loves of my life



My sweet baby boy!





Ps. I didn't take a photography class or get a new camera but I will have to say it's pretty awesome when you have a best friend who is one of the best photographers around! I am truly spoiled. Thanks Jenn for the great pictures!!

look how cute....

I have been wanting to do this for a long time but just haven't gotten around to it. One of my girlfriends had one for her daughter and it was adorable. They actually sell them on-line and it's probably easier to order one, but I wasn't crazy about the fabrics they had for boys. Anyways, just thought I would share this it makes a great birthday present. Plus, it's wonderful for when they go to church or the gym nursery! Have a great afternoon!

New Mexico Bound

Yeah, we leave today to see Tommy. I am trying to pack the least amount of things possible. I have learned that as long as there is a pool I don't need to pack very many toys for the boys. They don't end up playing with them in the hotel room anyways. As long as we have movies, some crayons and coloring books and a hotel pool they are very content. I am excited about this trip. I am ready to get away and I think it will be a great vacation before Tyler starts school. We have a late flight, which is good because most likely they will sleep on at least one flight. The only downfall is they have been up since 7:30 and have asked me about 100 times when we are leaving. They are so excited! Tyler had his backpack packed before I could even get out of bed this morning!! Well, I will keep you all updated as much as possible while we are there. It will have to be while the kids are napping and Tommy's at the field. Tommy already thinks this blogging stuff is crazy, so I will have to sneak it in while he's gone:)

Cavities

today Tyler got his first cavity filled and Dylan had a sealer put on his back molar. I know I am being biased but my boys were the best patients ever! I think I was more worked up about the appointment then they were. Dr. B asked me to wait in the waiting room while he prepped Tyler because he didn't want Dylan to see him giving Tyler the novocaine. Literally, two minutes later he walked out and said the numbing is done we are ready to fill the cavity and should be done in twenty minutes! Tyler was a champ and did a great job! It was such a breeze. Dylan went next and did a great job too! He sat there like a big boy and did everything he was told. The thing Tyler didn't like was that his lips felt very big. He also wouldn't say much because he said he was afraid he would bite his tongue. We ended our afternoon with oreo cookie shakes from Chick-fil-A! This was the boys conversation while driving home:
Dylan: Tywer when I grow up I'm going to be a dentist.
Tyler: I'm not
Dylan: Ohhhhh, you want to be a teenage mutant ninja turtle Tywer.
Tyler: No I don't
Dylan: Ohhhhh, a kung fu panda guy.
Tyler: No Dylan (annoyed) I don't know what I want to be but I know I DON'T want to be a dentist!
The boys on the way to the dentist

Here is a picture of Tyler waiting to get his cavity filled

Here is Dylan waiting for his turn

The boys and the best dentist around Dr. B

don't they look so happy to be there! Haha

Ps. I know my last couple posts haven't been about the best topics from difficulty potty training Dylan, to crazy Sunday's and now today Cavities, but I am just keeping it real. On a positive note we do leave to see Tommy on Thursday! Yeah! We miss him like crazy!

Why....

does it seem like getting out of the house for church on Sunday's is so hard. I don't understand it. It seems like every Sunday there is some sort of morning issue that we don't have any other day of the week. This morning Dylan woke up in a mood and I could just tell it was going to be one of those days. All you moms out there I know you know what kinda day I am talking about. It started out like this Tyler wanted the blue cereal bowl and so did Dylan. When you only have one blue cereal bowl believe it or not this can turn ugly real fast. We worked it out and everything was going great until I here Tyler crying. Tyler walks into the kitchen with a big red mark under his eye saying, "Dylan kicked me". So, in the time-out chair Dylan goes where he will patiently wait for his spanking. After we solve that issue I quickly jump in the shower. Just as I am about to get dressed my door bell rings, its my neighbor dropping off her little boy (30 minutes early) to come with us to church. I try to talk fast since I am standing in my towel and out walks Dylan from my bedroom with RED nail polish in his hands. I tell him to please go put that back, say good-bye to my neighbor and head to the bathroom to check on Dylan. The nail polish is all over him. At this point I am ready to break down and listen to Calvary's service on my computer when my cell phone rings. It's Holly, the lady in charge of the children's ministry at church. She desperately needs a fill in because she had three people call out this morning. I being the person that doesn't say no accept and try to regroup so I can get us all out of the house. Somehow, we made it and everyone had a wonderful time. Except, Dylan cried for the first half of class for his daddy. As we were getting ready to get out the door Dylan decides he wants to bring Tommy's baseball card with him. For those of you that don't know Dylan has a very hard time being away from Tommy. It's extremely heart breaking. I tell him he can bring the card but needed to keep it in his pocket. Well, I guess he walked around class showing all the teacher's Tommy's card while crying saying he wanted his daddy. Of course, they all went crazy over him and when I picked him up he was sitting on a girl's lap laughing, while two others entertained him. As I watched him sitting there with Tyler and Julian by my side I realized the frustrations from earlier that morning were gone. It was then that I realized that I can't do this alone. I can try to be supermom but I need to depend on Christ not just for the extraordinary situations in my life but for the little things like getting out of the house on Sunday's. I stumbled upon this on the Internet today: All the interruptions—they aren’t interruptions after all. They are sovereign deliveries. The unpleasant things are God’s perfect plan for our day. Contemplating this bit of wisdom can bring a smile to our face, even when our schedule has gone off track and our to-do list remains unfinished. Because, as Psalm 118:24 so cheerily puts it: “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” This morning made me change my everyday outlook and I am greatful for the lesson I was taught!!

The rest of the day went wonderful. The boy's swam and we got a surprise visit from my sister-in-law and her boyfriend that were in town visiting her boyfriend's family for the weekend. Here are a few pics from tonight of the boys taking a bath and getting ready for bed.



my sweet big boy that never gives me a problem for bedtime and is out like a light in three minutes!

my sweet little boy that loves to play with his hands and talk for twenty minutes before he falls asleep!