A day in the life of..

Sunday was the good ol' company picnic. Tyler was with Scott this weekend and he didn't even want to go to the picnic, but of course I made him. He had a blast! He ate 4 snowcones and even invented his own "mystery flavor". He ate 4 bags of popcorn, climbed on the rock wall 6 times and jumped in every jumpy thing you can imagine. He also won some prizes playing games and got his face painted. He got a scorpion on one side and "Get Away" on the other side. I asked him why he put that and he said it was because he didn't want the scorpion to bite anyone. OK. It was a great day, the sun was shining and it was pretty warm. Tyler rode on the back of a Harley! Everyone who knows me knows I HATE motorcycles, but my friend Alecia's husband, James had his Harley out there and was giving the kids rides and how could I be the only mother to say no? I felt bad so I let him. He had a helmet on and everything, but I was still freaking out a little bit. He really liked it. Funny/not so funny story: When we got to the picnic some of my friends came up to me and were asking me, "Guess who we saw in Ybor last night?" For those of you that don't know, Ybor is like a party place, they close the streets and there is a bunch of clubs and stuff. So, I am thinking they must have seen someone famous or something but NOOOO.. they saw Tyler!! I was like what?!? Sure enough they saw Scott and Tyler in Ybor the night before at like 11 o'clock! It was funny in theory because imagine Scott with Tyler and like 8 people walking by are saying "hey Tyler!" Scott probably thinks Tyler hangs out there all the time. It is not funny because what the heck is my kid doing in Ybor at 11!! I am going to have to talk to Scott about this one!

Today was Tyler's mass. He was a reader. He reads so well. You can always see how proud he is. After mass they asked all the parents to go into the cafeteria for a special St. Patrick's Day presentation and then they ambushed us with a parent advisory meeting! I know I should go to these things anyway, but I really just don't have time. BUT, they tricked everyone into going and made us listen to all this stuff about the future, blah, blah, blah for like 20-30 minutes before they brought the kids out to sing. Anyway, the songs were so cute of course and they all had to wear sunglasses for one part and Tyler wore the ones he got in NY. They sang a song that had all 50 states in it. Pretty cool huh?

Tyler had a game on tuesday night. It was pretty uneventful. He hit the ball great, but only got up to bat one time. He was pretty bummed about that. His fielding is getting better and better.

New York – What a great time! Tyler was in heaven from the moment we left home until we left. You know he was so excited for NY anyway and the day we left we had to get up at 3:30 in the morning and he was up and ready for some action! The airport limo picked us up and he was yapping away to the other people in there. We flew on Delta Song and they had the TV screens at every seat! Tyler thought that was pretty cool. He watched Cartoon Network for some time, and then he played the trivia game that you can play against the other passengers and he won!! I was playing too, so I thought that was pretty funny. The minute that we landed in NY his eyes were huge and he had this big grin on his face. He was so happy to see the snow on the ground. Mike’s Aunt Luchia and Uncle Feliche picked us up from the airport and as soon as we went outside Tyler was bouncing around – I told him to touch some of the snow, but he wouldn’t. When we got back to the house there was all this fresh snow in the backyard, so Tyler wanted to go out and play in it. We got all bundled up and headed out. At first he was apprehensive, he was stepping on it and crushing it, but wouldn’t touch it with his hands. I finally said to him to just go ahead and stick his hands in there and make a snowball. He did. I took like a million pictures! He wanted me to keep taking more and more pictures! “Take a picture of me doing this… take a picture of that.” It was sweet. When he made his very first snowball he looked at me and said, “Mom, I think this is the best day of my life!” I almost broke out in tears. I mean there is not a price in this world I wouldn’t pay to make my son happy. When he said that, it was like pay off for everything. Once he had touched the snow, there was no going back! He made a snow angel and we made a snowman, he wanted to stay out there forever! The next day we went into the city and did all the touristy things. We rode the train into Battery Park and I think that was the only time on our whole trip that we were absolutely freezing! It was so cold with the wind coming off the water. We saw statue and got out of there!! Tyler looked at me at one point and said, “mom, I can’t do this anymore, my cheeks are hurting!” We went to Ground Zero and that was hard and weird because I know that Tyler knows a lot about 9/11 and everything that happened, but when you see it now, it is surely not like we saw it on TV and it is hard to grasp he whole thing. He asked me if the buildings just fell into the hole. I tried to explain, but it just looks like a building site now, and that is all he saw. I showed him all the names of the people that died and the pictures that showed the twin towers. We walked on Wall Street, saw all the Broadway Theaters, went to the Top of the Empire State Building and shopped at Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s. It was a great time. We saw Rockefeller center, Trump Tower, Radio City Music Hall, NBC Studios, the Today Show Studio, Times Square and St. Patrick’s Church. We went for a carriage ride through Central Park, saw the Plaza hotel and went to the big Toys R Us with the Ferris wheel in it! When we went to Toys R US, Tyler’s face lit up and it looked over at me and said, “Mom! Look in my eye. Do you see a tear in my eye? There is a tear in my eye!” I started laughing hysterically it was so cute. He spent forever trying to pick out the best toy and finally settled on this Yugio thing. He even got to pick a treat in Candy Land and he selected the Wonka Bar. They are having some promotion right now and there is chance to win a golden ticket, so he was excited about that. He didn’t win the golden ticket, but he told me that was “OK, because even Charlie didn’t get a golden ticket on his first try.” Isn’t he so cute? Dom and Holly’s wedding was on Sunday and what an event that was! I have never seen a wedding like this one. It was a huge event. Tyler was the man! He looked so cute in his little suit. At one point in the night he dropped a strawberry on his shirt and came to me and said, "You are not going to like this, I spilt something on my shirt. But don't worry, I still look good!" All the other kids there were following him around and laughing at his jokes. (He tells the WORST jokes!) He was in heaven! I thought I was in the movie Grease! Tyler does this funny dance move and every time he would do it, all the kids we doing it. It was the funniest thing. All the girls kept coming up to me and asking if I was Tyler’s mom and telling me how funny and hot he is! Yes, I did say “hot”! They were all hugging on him. The reception started at 6 and Tyler stayed dancing the entire night until we left at about midnight. They had this amazing spread for dessert, it was an entire room filled with desserts and they even had cotton candy for the kids! Tyler had 5 chocolate covered strawberries, 1 cotton candy, 2 scoops of strawberry ice cream, 1 pack of smarty’s and 1 Kit Kat! Can you imagine how happy this child was? The whole trip was a great time for him. For two nights we went and stayed with Mike’s Aunt Mae and Uncle Ronnie in Connecticut. Talk about heaven! It was so beautiful! When we got there, there was already a ton of snow and Tyler just loved it. We got there late one night and when we woke up in the morning he looked out the window and was so excited! We saw like 7 deer in their back yard! By the time we had left the snow fell 9 inches! It was awesome because I was happy that Tyler actually got to see the snow fall. He built a giant snowman, like over 5 feet tall and made snow angels and threw about a million snowballs! He even played snow baseball. The first day we were there we went for a long walk in the forest and it was just awesome. We crossed a frozen creek that had some holes in it that we could see and hear the water flowing underneath. It was kind of scary. Tyler was the so surprised to see real snowflakes. The snow was falling on my jacket and I showed Tyler. He said it looked like a Chinese star. I don’t think I have ever even saw snowflakes that were so perfectly clear. It was very cool. Of course, we got lost in the forest and ended up walking to find our way for like 2 hours!! When we got home I wanted to go right in, but Tyler stayed playing outside. He cleaned off the steps of the house and just did anything he could to stay in the snow longer. He really loved it. So, can anyone guess where Tyler wants to live when he grows up now?

Yesterday I picked Tyler up from school and he was in one of his talkative moods. This rarely happens, but I feel happy when it does because he really has some funny things to say. First of all he said to me without any coaching, "You know how I said yesterday was a horrible day? Well it wasn't the worst day of my life. The part I didn't really like was when I had to sit out in the field and wait for SOOOOO long for all of the soccer teams to come out. I think I got a sunburn!" I was so happy he said this and then: "The worst day of my life was when I was locked outside!" How bad do I feel now?!?! So we kept on talking and then he of course did his regular countdown for NY - "2 more days until we go to NY!" So we talked about that, and the snow and how cold it is going to be and here is our conversation:
Tyler: I wish I had a warm Jacket.
Mom: You do have a warm jacket.
T: Well I wish I had a soft jacket.
M: What are you talking about, your jacket is very soft.
T: Well, what I really wish I had is a fur jacket.
M: OK - Puff Daddy!
Is he comical? I think he really sees himself as this little miniture gangsta!!

I love Tyler more than anyone in the entire world, but that kid can be such a brat!! Sunday was a great day for him. We had the pancake breakfast in the morning, the soccer awards in the afternoon, and THEN one of his classmates called and wanted him to come over and play. He was super excited about that, so I took him over to Matthews and he played for a couple hours and then I picked him up (He didn't even want to leave he was having so much fun!) and we had to go and meet Bernie, Kathy, Elizabeth and Mia for dinner at Ruby Tuesday's. (And he loves seeing and playing with Mia.) So as we are driving there Tyler says, "We did a lot of things today." And I say, "Yeah - we were super busy, it was a great day!" And he says, "No, it was a horrible day! I didn't want to do any of that stuff!" Of course I almost chocked when he said that so I went through the day and reminded him of all the things we did and the comments he made about how fun they were and he totally denied it!! He said it was a horrible day!! UGGGG! I know he didn't mean it and he was probably just tired and overwhelmed from the day, but how was that for making me mad? I mean does he think all that stuff was my idea of fun? I mean my life is ruled by him - I never have time for anything on the weekends because he is all booked up! Crazy kid! We are going to have to work on the whole appreciation thing!

Sunday was Tyler's soccer closing ceremonies. The last time he got his soccer trophy, it was no big deal, just his team together and that was it. This year - HOLY COW! Last year he played for Belleair soccer club and this year they combined that club with the club in Seminole and call themselves Gulf Coast United. I guess they wanted everyone to realize how big our club is now, so they had every single team out there for the ceremony! It was crazy! There were like 30 teams at least and they all paraded the field and then got their trophy's - it was pretty long, but special. There were like at least 1,000 people there clapping for them as they paraded by and we all know how Tyler loves an audience!! After that, there was lunch for everyone and they had the big bouncy things and a rock climbing wall. Tyler was in heaven!! His trophy is really nice! Now if I only had that trophy shelf I've been asking for....

Sunday morning it was our Boy Scout packs turn to host a pancake breakfast fundraiser. It was pretty much madness. It was at the church, so right after mass we came over to help out and they had the boys serving everyone breakfast. It was so cute. Tyler would take people's tickets and then go get their breakfast, but then he would forget who he got the ticket from!! It was pretty funny! I had to watch him and keep reminding him. He loved helping out. It was so cute. He kept going around to the tables and asking people if they wanted anything else. I can't tell you how many people came up to me as they were leaving and told me how great the help was!! When we were leaving I asked Tyler if he had fun, and he replied, "Yeah! I love to help people." How much do you love this child?!?

Saturday morning Tyler had a baseball game - he did AWESOME!! They won 11-8! Tyler played first base and got 3 outs the first inning!! He was up to bat 3 times and hit awesome each time. For the 2nd innning he played in the out field and then for the last inning he played pitcher. He got 2 outs while playing pitcher, it was so great!! I should note that in this league he plays in you either get 3 outs or 5 runs. It is RARE that a team gets outs because they are still young and learning. Almost every game we play we tie because no one gets outs and we just keep getting 5 runs you know? Anyway, Tyler getting five outs in one game was borderline amazing!! My dad and Lilly were there with me, Mike and Scott. Tyler was so happy! We went to Beef O' Brady's after to celebrate his big win!

Baseball is here! Tyler had his first game on Tuesday. Mike's cousin Bernie and his wife Kathy and their daughter Mia came to the game to see Tyler in action! They are here visiting from Canada. Mia made a sign for him that said, "Go Tyler Go Go Yeah!" It was so cute! She had it like taped on to the end of a stick and was waving it around. Very cute. Tyler was proud and happy. He went out to the pitchers mound and yelled. "Hi Mia!" Tyler only got up to bat one time, but he had a nice hit and did end up scoring a run. He played catcher, first base and pitcher. He got two outs while playing in the pitcher position. He loves playing that position. I think mostly because since the kids don't hit that hard, all the balls usually go right there. Anyway, I don't think he really trusts the other players on his team because when he gets the ball instead of throwing it to the player on the base he runs to the base with the ball. It worked, but he needs to throw the ball. As always with Tyler, you have to have some funny times - one inning he was pitcher and of course he has to go to the bathroom and I can TOTALLY tell, so I try and ask him in between batters very quietly if he needs to go. I am trying to mouth the words and point at the bathroom, but he just doesn't get it - he keeps yelling at me, "What?! What are you saying?" Finally I tell Mike to ask him and he of course does have to go and he runs off the field and into the stands to LOUDLY announce to be he is going to the restroom! But wait, the worst has yet to come. When he was playing first base, he was waiting for a batter and he was sitting there knocking on his cup (* I feel it is important to note that ALL the children do this and I have no idea why.) acting like a crazy child and I kept trying to signal to him to stop without drawing attention to him, but of course he mistakes my intentions and yells out, "Don't worry mom, I have my jock on!!" Everyone bust out laughing. He is going to be a handful!

Before the Boy Scout Banquet on Sunday, Tyler was with Scott, so Scott dropped him off and then we had to get ready. I jumped in the shower and of course Tyler headed outside to play. I guess somewhere along the line Mike forgot that Tyler was outside and he locked the door. So, I got out of the shower and was drying off and I could faintly hear Tyler crying. Of course I rushed all around the house calling his name and realized he was out side. I finally found him on the side of the house and he was hysterically crying and his little heart was beating so fast!! I guess he thought we had left him - he said he was knocking on the door and got scared. My heart was broken. I felt so bad for him. He was so scared. Everything was fine, he just got scared, but it was so horrible! How sad is that?

Sunday was Tyler's Boy Scout Awards Banquet. You know those crazy scouts, of course the meeting was like 4 hours!! Even I almost fell asleep. Tyler had his head on my shoulder and I am sure he was almost out! They had 3 guest speakers that were each like 80 years old and they talked about how scouting was in the olden days. I think at some time in his life, Tyler might find that fascinating, but right now it just bores him! Luckily he was excited enough about the awards at the end to last! First they had the ceremonial face painting - I guess it is a ritual that they paint their faces with colors and different lines that mean all these different things. Anyway, he got his face painted and officially became a Tiger! He was really proud. He received patches for all kinds of things, the camping we did last week and Scout Sunday and Friends of scouting. He also earned a TON of belt loops! Since he is so little, they go around his entire belt!! He was SO happy about that! He got belt loops in, basketball, computers, baseball, swimming and geez - there were many more - I will update later. The only bad thing was they left him off for some of the ones he should have earned. I was mad about that, but of course he could care less because he was so wrapped up in the ones he did get. He was so excited when we left, he wanted to leave all his stuff on and go show his friends. Even when we went out to dinner that night he wanted to leave his face paint on! He is so cute!

Saturday was Opening ceremonies for Tyler. Nothing really major happened, but it was still cute. It was pretty cold out. The teams lined up and sang the National Anthem and the pledge and then the mayor threw out the first pitch. I have some really great pictures, I promise to put them up soon.