Silly Tyler

I have one of those tall Rubbermaid wrapping papers boxes that holds all our Christmas wrapping stuff from year to year. Tyler found the top to it while I was wrapping presents one night and immediately put it on his head. I said "what are you doing?", and he said "This is my helmet!" I said, "Helmet for what?" "For when I'm a race car driver!" If you don't know, this is his biggest dream right now, probably fueled by his obsession with the movie "Cars" for the past year. He then proceeded to get out his goggles and got in it "so he could go swimming" (his hair is wet because he just got out og the tub). Life with a three year old is so much fun (99% of the time!).

Tyler's Christmas Program

As you can see, Tyler and all his friends were dressed up like angels for this year's Christ the King preschool Christmas program. I don't think he sang a single word...he wasn't feeling too well, and looked like he was doped up on cold meds (he wasn't!)...he just stood there with his mouth hanging open, staring at the large audience while his friends sang, did hand motions, etc. But that's Tyler, and he was still cute standing there! They had been practicing every day for several weeks, and the next morning when I went to drop him off at school, he said "Mommy, why aren't you staying to watch us practice again?" They had been "practicing" for so long, he didn't realize that the previous day was the real deal and now they were done!

November and December Happenings

Arrgh! This is so frustrating...the pics came in backwards chronological order, and I'm having the worst time trying to move them around! So I give up...we'll go backwards! This one was last weekend during my attempt to get a decent picture of the kids for a Christmas card. I actually liked this one, but wanted them actually looking at the camera for the card, so I thought I'd post this one here on the blog. It's going to be such a fun Christmas! The kids so look forward to getting up in the mornings and finding "Bob", our Elf on the Shelf (for those of you who don't know about the Elf on the Shelf, you can visit www.elfontheshelf.com). This is also the first year that Ashley has has to share the daily ornament-hanging duties on the Christmas Countdown calendar, but luckily Tyler is pretty good about allowing her to hang them for him, as long as he gets some input on where it goes.

Here's Tyler hatching out of an egg at the Zoo! This one and the next one are from our visit to Zoo Lights...we went with MaMaw and Grandma and Grandpa Schulz over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Here's Ashley the morning of the big Cheer-Off Competition! What a crazy few weeks leading up to it...practice 6-7 days a week! But the girls did a fantastic job and I couldn't have been more proud of her. I know the hair and makeup is a little scary, but it looked REALLY good from the audience! :-)

This is just a cute pic...when we were at the cheer coach's house for brunch before Cheer-Off, they noticed that Tyler was carrying the fire hat he had just gotten at Firehouse Subs, and remembered that they had a firefighter costumer that was about his size. He was thrilled!

Other news to report...people keep expressing surprise when they find out that Mallory now works for Perkins Restaurant, so I guess maybe we never formally announced it...he started with them in September and just "graduated" from training last week. He is a manager at the location in Collierville, which is such a blessing...a nice short drive and great employees and customers! And the kids and I love to go eat there (Tuesdays and Saturdays, kids eat free! And there's a balloon man on Tuesdays, who Tyler professed his love for last week as the man was making him his requested penguin). Ashley moved straight from cheer into basketball...she's back on Coach Jen's team (one of my good friends)...she was with this group of girls two years ago and is glad to be back on their team again. She's probably the smallest girl on the team, but she's trying hard! Tyler is as silly and lovable as ever...he's three and a half now, which seems crazy. And I trained for and ran my first 5K on Halloween, which I've always wanted to do...I've despised running all my life, and I was so proud of myself when I ran every last step of that race!

New pics coming!

I'm sure you've all given up on my blog by now, as I can never find time to download the camera. But I finally did it yesterday...many new pics from 11/1 thru yesterday! I will sort thru and get a post going in the next few days (hopefully! Busy weekend ahead!). Also, I am very proud of myself...for the first time in about three years, I am sending out Christmas cards! The past few years, I've been so disappointed in myself for forgetting to do this until it's just too late. The kids were dressed Christmas-y yesterday morning before church, so I decided it was then or never. For those of you who will receive our card, you will see that Tyler, who is usually my camera hog, was in too silly of a mood to cooperate, but I went with it anyway...it captures Tyler's personality perfectly. I don't want to post the pic here and ruin the surprise! :-)

Fall Fun

I know, I know...been slacking on the blog again. Uploading pics to Facebook is just so much easier!

I think October is my favorite month, both because of the weather and the fun fall activities. When it hasn't been raining, it's been gorgeous here. The pic with my dad is on his 61st birthday. The pic of the kids on the train is at the "Picnic in the (Pumpkin) Patch" that we have at our church each year (the youth sell pumpkins to raise money for their choir tour). And of course, the pic of Woody and the snow princess is for Halloween. Tyler has had a costume phobia all his life until this year, and even then he had to be talked into it, but once he put on the Woody costume, he realized how much fun it can be. And I couldn't believe our very anti-princess Ashley would choose this costume (in fact, I wouldn't buy it for her when she first picked it out...I told her she had to sleep on it because I couldn't believe it), but she was beautiful and had a wonderful time with her friends (we went to a neighborhood Halloween party with some of her friends from school). This was Tyler's first time to trick or treat...he went to two houses and then declared that he'd had enough (realized how much walking was involved!), so he and I went back to the party while Ashley continued on with her friends and their parents. Good times!

Catching Up

Wow, I didn't realize how long it had been since I downloaded my camera! Lots of random cute pics to share...

Ashley and Tyler were being SOOOOO sweet and lovey dovey to each other at McDonald's one night. Ashley's willing to be lovey-dovey to him any time, but he has to be in the right mood to accept it, and he was on this particular night! It just warms my heart to see them being so sweet to each other, and when Tyler says "I wuv you Ashwee", it makes me tear up every time! I remember when he was a baby, and I just couldn't wait for him to be able to respond when I told him I loved him...now he says it all the time, and often initiates it. He was upset yesterday morning when he realized Mallory had already left for work before he got up. He said "But I want to tell him I wuv him!"

Here's the obligatory Pee Wee Bears picture. Ashley is a little disappointed this year that she's one of the bigger girls (squad is second and third graders), so that means she has to be a "base" this year instead of being on top like she was last year. But she's still enjoying it and is also doing well in her tumbling class...made significant progress last week on her journey to do a back handspring (you'd be suprised how much training that takes!).

My boys...

And finally, we took the kids to the Delta Fair a few weeks ago and had a GREAT time! Tyler was such a trooper, riding around in the stroller without complaining, and Ashley was a great big sis, always willing to ride with Tyler on the littler kids' rides. But Mallory and I both could see how much more fun it will be for her in about two years, when she won't have to ride the bigger kids rides by herself any more. Visions of Disneyworld are starting to dance in my head... :-)

Quick pics - more to come

OK, I really don't have time to do a proper blog post right now, but I just downloaded these pics and HAD to share these two of our sweet Ashley. The first is from Sunday, which was her first day ever to acolyte at church...she's been looking forward to this day for years and she looks so beautiful here! And the second pic was just taken a couple hours ago...she got her braces today! I think she's aged 5 years in the past few days...where did my sweet little baby girl go? But so exciting to watch her growing into a young lady...

Ashley and Nate

Ashley and Nate first met in two-year old preschool at Christ The King. They spent three years there, and both then ended up going to Germantown Elementary and were in the same class together last year (along with another friend from two-year old class, Audrey). So they've basically known each other their entire lives. We were so excited to find out that Nate is playing for our Pee Wee Bears football team this year -- it's so much more fun to have someone on the field to root for! I found an old pic of Ashley and Nate from Halloween of 2003, and thought it would be fun to compare to this picture that was just taken a few weeks ago. They are growing up too fast!!

For Aunt Helen

Aunt Helen was so sweet to send Ashley a "Happy Back to School" giftcard to Children's Place so that Ashley could pick out some new school clothes (and have the autonomy to choose things I'd never let her get when Mallory and I are paying!). I haven't mastered the art of emailing pictures...it seems to take forever, when it works at all...so here you go Aunt Helen! In the first couple pics, the entire outfit (from the headband all the way to the shoes!) came from your giftcard. She was also able to get the hoodie jacket and shirt that are in pics 3 and 4. She had so much fun shopping and it was a great lesson in "getting the most for your money"...lots of things got nixed because they weren't worth what they would have cost her. She is wearing the whole green and orange outfit tomorrow, even though I told her she'd probably be burning up with all those layers (I sound just like my mom!).

First week of school

Ashley's first day of third grade was Monday, and I completely forgot to take a picture of her...she looked so cute and was so excited! So on Tyler's first day of three-year old class, which was Wednesday, I tried to take a pic of them...Tyler was so wound up he couldn't stand still, and Ashley was coming down with a cold and feeling bad, so she has her fake smile on. Not the best picture, but I saved it for posterity! Ashley again looked adorable this morning in another of her new school outfits, so I took her pic...another weird smile, but we were in a hurry, so that's all I had time for. And of course Tyler also wanted his picture taken, even though he didn't have a new outfit on (LOVE having a little boy who isn't worried about that stuff yet!). They are both doing so well and loving their new classes!

Ashley is amazing!

Ashley takes tumbling lessons once a week to help with her cheerleading skills. The gym where they usually meet got flooded a few weeks ago, so they are practicing in a "borrowed" one, which has this cool rope hanging from the ceiling. On her third try, she made it ALMOST to the top, higher than any other girl had gone. It was so cute...they were all chanting "you can do it! Believe in yourself!" She just couldn't make it any farther, but I was so proud of her for ignoring the rope burns on her legs and feet and trying so hard. And this picture really doesn't do it justice...it seemed much higher in person. I'd just be scared of how to get down once I exhausted myself to get all the way up there!

Our Mii Family

If you have a Wii, you know what a Mii is...some of our Miis came out looking so much like the real deal, I just had to share! I think Mallory's and Tyler's are the most life-like (Tyler has two because Ashley wanted to make a new one, but then she made it exactly the same but with a different color shirt and a slightly different smile), but I think they all bear some similarity to their real-life counterparts.

Starting on the top row, Grandpa Schulz (my dad), Mallory, Papaw (Mallory's dad), blue Tyler, Grandma Schulz (my mom -- hers isn't very good!). Second row -- Mamaw (Mallory's mom), red Tyler, me, Aunt Helen (Mallory's sister), and Ashley (I hate the hair on this one...it's actually a ponytail...she needs a new one now that she got her hair cut!).

Second annual Raleigh Girls Lake Weekend

So, one of my oldest friends on the planet, Heather, has a beautiful house right on Sardis Lake in Mississippi, and last year, she invited me and Carrie (well, okay, it was really more like Carrie invited us, but Heather being the good sport she is thought it was a great idea) to go down for a girls weekend to reconnect after having drifted apart over the past several years. We had an absolute blast and are now planning on doing this every summer, so this weekend was our second trip.

These are not very good pictures...I'm hoping Carrie or Heather has some better ones that they will email me! But the pictures aren't that important...what's most important is that we got to spend almost 48 hours totally relaxing, reading, talking, watching movies, sunning on the boat, etc. with no husbands/boyfriends/children/animals/etc to take care of! Everyone, moms especially, need time to recharge their batteries and just be a "girl" again, instead of a mom, or a wife, or an employee, or any of the many other roles we are expected to fill each day. And how wonderful to get to do that with two women who know every secret you have, who know exactly what you look like with no makeup on, who know which 15 pounds you've been losing and regaining for the past decade, who have witnessed your life's highs and lows and everything in between.

Zoo Day!

For those of you who don't live in Memphis, we have been having themost amazingly mild weather for late July! Of course, we had the most shockingly hot and humid June this year, so I suppose this is helping us average back out. But regardless, we made a trip to the zoo yesterday...I cannot remember ever using one of my many zoo memberships in July or August in this sweat-inducing town, so this was a pretty big event!

The kids are not huge fans of the zoo (nor was I as a child), but the beauty of a membership is that you can go for as short or as long a time as you want to without having to feel like you "didn't see everything" or "didn't get your money's worth". For example, we completely missed one entire side of the zoo this time (missed all the "big money" animals...pandas, giraffes, elephants, polar bears), but a good time was had by all and there were no meltdowns, so I'd say it was a successful trip! And the "Birds and Bees" exhibit really is awesome...last time we went, it was the first weekend the exhibit was open, so it was literally wall-to-wall people...kids were EVERYWHERE with the feeding sticks and the birds were all kind of freaked out by the crowd, so we really didn't get to experience it. As you can see from the pictures, the kids really enjoyed getting up close and personal with the birds and Ashley really wanted to take one home with her!

Poop Prizes

Yes, friends, I am one of those people who is going to share with you intimate things you may not really want to know...so just skip to the end if you're a little squeamish about bodily functions. As you may recall, I didn't think Tyler was ever going to be potty trained...Ashley was so easy in this area (as many girls are) and at the age of 28 months, we just decided one day to wear big girl panties, and that was basically the end of it. With Tyler, even at 2 1/2, he was nowhere near being ready to even attempt it. But though we struggled for a while, the peeing part of it just suddenly clicked one day when he was about 3 months shy of his third birthday, and he's done great with it...we even gave up nighttime pullups at the same time, because he REALLY gets it and has had very few accidents in the pee department.

Poop, however, is a different story altogether. Everything I've read says that you should not stress over it...kids sense the stress and sense that it's a control issue, and then they get even more set in their ways about pooping when and where THEY want to poop, if only to exert control over one of the few things that you as the parent cannot. But he basically poops in his underwear every single day and doesn't even try to use the potty, and is in danger of being "left behind" in the two-year old class next year for at least a little while until he is fully potty-trained. So we decided to implement a reward system, with Hershey kisses and Hot Wheels cars for successful potty usage. It seems to be working...as a result of having a case of salmonella poisoning for the last week, he's earned WAY more cars than we ever expected, but at $1 a piece, it's a small price to pay for getting this big milestone behind us! We're still working, but we've had a lot of successes in the past week, so let's hope it continues once his digestive tract is back to normal!

Cute story: Tyler got face to face with me earlier and started rubbing his nose on mine. He said "Mommy, I'm giving you escalator kisses!" (instead of eskimo kisses)...how cute is that? :-)

Our life is so dull sometimes...

OK, now I see why I've been such a blog slacker...there's so little to write about in our everyday life! Most of you probably know that Mallory is looking for a new job at the moment, so when he's not posting resumes and having interviews, he's been cutting down tree limbs, cleaning out the garage, keeping the house clean, doing the grocery shopping, etc. We are going to be painting our bedroom this weekend, so hopefully I'll have some before and after pics to share Sunday. Once that's done, if he hasn't found a job yet, I fully expect to come home and find him rebuilding the house brick by brick, just to keep himself occupied! He is not one who enjoys down time, unlike his lazy wife! :-)

Ashley is in the midst of having orthodontic work done...she has an appliance across the roof of her mouth and a retainer wire along the inside of her bottom teeth. We've had to tighten the appliance at home every night for three weeks (I had one of these as well, but she's handled it a lot better than I did!), and Dr. Parris said yesterday that we're almost there...just 5 more tightenings and we'll be done with that part. She'll keep that in for six months, though, and she'll be getting braces across her upper front teeth next time we go, so soon she'll look very different! Third grade starts in less than a month...where does the time go?

Tyler is...well, Tyler. It's so hard to put into words what a funny little person he is. He says the funniest things sometimes, and he's become even more loving lately than he already was, lavishing hugs and real kisses (not just putting his mouth on us) and telling us "I love you" all the time. He is obsessed with popular music and is constantly asking me who sings various songs and what the name of the songs are. He can identify songs after hearing just a note or two...his favorites right now are "Boom Boom Pow" by the Black Eyed Peas and pretty much anything by Nickelback.

See people, I'm serious about this...

Isn't our blog so cute now? Perhaps I will be more motivated to keep it up to date! I just know how much I enjoy reading other people's blogs, even people I hardly know...hopefully my blog will be one you look forward to checking out once in a while. :-)

Independence Day in Hot Springs

We had been planning for some time to spend July 4th in Birmingham, to meet up with Mallory's family there, but they were unfotunately unable to make it. But since I had a three day weekend (and the kids were with their dad), we decided to go ahead and go SOMEWHERE, preferably within about a three-hour drive. I had not been to Hot Springs since right after my high school graduation, and Mallory had never been, so we decided to make the utterly boring drive over to Arkansas (the two hours between Memphis and Little Rock is some of the worst road and most boring farmland you can imagine).

They had some fabulous art galleries filled with works by very talented local artists...had we had more time and money, I'm sure we would have come home with a painting or two. But beyond that, I have to say I wasn't too impressed. Lots of junky, tourist-y shops. The Arlington, which is THE hotel in Hot Springs, was terribly dated looking inside, and I'm so glad we didn't decide to stay there (it was between that or a Hampton Inn, and I have to admit, the free breakfast at the Hampton won us over. That, and the fact that the room at the Arlington would have been a smoking room, which would have made us both ill). The bathhouses, which is what Hot Springs is known for, didn't hold much cachet, as the water temperature was advertised at 104 degrees...since we were walking around in 98 degree weather with high humidity most of the day, I don't think we really missed much by not partaking in the public bathing.

We really did have a nice time, though...we went to Oaklawn (the horse track), which has a small casino inside. Mallory had to drag me away from the video poker machines. And we ate lots of yummy food and just enjoyed each other's company and being away from home. Sunday, we decided we'd had enough of Hot Springs, so we went to Little Rock and toured the Clinton Presidential Museum (which I recommend to all Americans, regardless of political affiliation!) before stopping by to visit my college roommate Amy and her family. Fun weekend!

Ashley gets a haircut!

Ashley has been growing her hair out long for at least a year now, much to my dismay. I mean, sometimes it does look really pretty, as she is blessed with gorgeous, thick, wavy hair, but being 8 years old, the majority of the time it looks unbrushed and is hanging in her face (it's not too often that I can even convince her to wear it up in ponytails or braids or something).

When the school year ended, we had a deal that she would get her hair cut shorter for the summer, as she swims every day at YMCA summer camp, but at the last minute she changed her mind. However, I think she finally realized that Mom was right about it being easier to deal with in the summer, so she agreed a couple of weeks ago to get it cut to her shoulders, which we were finally able to accomplish this morning. Doesn't she look beautiful! And older, I think (ugh!). Our bedtime conversation last night was all about going to college...will she have to go to class every day, what if her roommate doesn't like her, etc. I told her "Ashley, we have 10 years before you have to worry about this." And then I sadly realized that with 8 already behind us, 10 years is going to fly by in the blink of an eye, isn't it?

Moss Family Reunion!

I am so happy to be part of such a large extended family now! Every year, for almost the past century(!), the Moss family vacations at Perdido Key, FL. This started when Mallory's great-grandfather Moss was just a baby, and now it consists of 70+ people (seems to be growing exponentially due to all the new babies being born on various branches of the family!). We had a wonderful week meeting all of Mallory's cousins, and are glad to be reconnecting with the group of them who live in Brownsville, TN, which is only about an hour from here. Ashley had a blast making new friends with so many of the cousins. The top pic is on a ferris wheel...I thought Tyler would be scared, but he wasn't scared at all...I love this pic!

Sorry!

If there is still anyone who bothers to check my blog, I'm sorry for being such a slacker! My biggest problem is that I'm just not much of a photographer, and I feel like blog posts are always more interesting with pictures. So if you'll indulge me and let me do some "word only" posts, I promise I'll try to be a more regular blogger!

With that said, here's a funny Tyler anecdote for you: he came down with some sort of illness yesterday, as he was quite hoarse when I picked him up from school and then fever set in during the night. He must have heard me tell someone on the phone that he had a "croupy" cough, because when we arrived at Grandma Schulz's this morning, he said to her in a very dejected, pitiful voice "I'm sick Grandma. I feel creepy."

Tyler's party

Well, originally I wasn't going to do much of a party for Tyler, because he didn't really care one way or the other. I figured I'd just invite a couple of my friends and their kids out to a playground for a little play date and bring some cupcakes. Things are never quite that simple, and it evolved into inviting our entire Sunday School class and all their children for a picnic lunch party after church at said playground. Well, wouldn't you know it has rained non-stop this entire weekend, so everyone ended up coming over to our house after church today. It worked out fine...we had a pinata that we beat to death (or should I say, Ashley beat to death) in the garage (note to self: next time, parents would probably appreciate you sweeping out the garage before inviting kids to crawl all over the floor picking up candy!). A good time was had by all, and now we can FINALLY stop eating cake and get back to normal (after today...as you can see by the size of that cake, there is a ton left, that will find itself on the table in the breakroom at work tomorrowm morning!).

The moment you've all been waiting for...

I know, it's taken me forever to post these pics, but the bathroom is finally complete! It's actually been done for probably 2-3 weeks now (keep in mind we started this at the beginning of February!). The pics make the lighting look kind of weird, but rest assured, the lighting is lovely and we are very happy with it! Compare with those earlier pics...it's an extreme makeover!

TyTy Turns Three!

Here are a few pics from his birthday last night. Gramma and Grampa Schulz picked Ashley up after school and the three of them decorated our house so Tyler would be surprised when we got home. He got a t-ball set and a t-shirt from Aunt Helen, a big boy bike and helmet from Mommy and Mallory, clothes, a Spiderman umbrella, and new sections for his train track from G & G, and lots of stuff from Mamaw and Papaw...a new floaty-vest for swimming, some jungle animals, and a water balloon ball game. The umbrella is his favorite so far...he and Ashley have been pretending it's raining in the house all last night and all morning so far. Sure wish it wasn't really raining outside, as we are scheduled to have a big party at a park tomorrow after church, and I have a bad feeling we'll be hosting all those people inside our house tomorrow instead!