Good Morning, Sunshine!

The other morning when I went to see if Sleepy Pants was awake yet, I found this:

Naturally, I ran to get my camera, and woke him up with the flashing and beeping.
This is the "I just woke up" face:

I asked for an explanation and he said "I's hiding, Mommy...unner dere."

I asked for a "cheese face" as well. This is a "I just woke up and am still slightly groggy cheese face":

Sometimes I love being a Mommy. :)

Mommy, Hockey Rink!

Tyler and I spent yesterday morning shoveling our driveway and sidewalk out front. Tyler loved the "Hockey Rink" (massive amounts of ice covering our driveway) and was quite devastated once all the ice was gone and he couldn't "ice skate" anymore. And this was even after he fell A LOT.

Before the falling...and the breakdown.

Fall #1 (actually it probably wasn't, but I didn't take pictures everytime he fell down).

Fall #33

Fall #451

Helping me shovel. I hope his back doesn't hurt as bad as mine does today.

The "hockey rink" out front. The home owner's association is SUPPOSED to take care of that...

Breakdown because Mommy was shoveling the Hockey Rink away...and he was cold. Oh and Fall #3,688

Afterwards, snuggled up in a blanket with the tears *almost* gone.

All I can say is Man! What a workout! Who wants to rub my shoulders?

I Wouldn't Say FAST...

Tyler and I went sledding this afternoon. There wasn't much snow, so we didn't exactly fly down the hill, but we had fun. A whole 20 minutes of fun! (I'm not complaining, since I am not much for snow and cold either).

Here, Mommy - hold the snow for me.

What a cute snow monster.

What IS this stuff?

I ran ahead while Mr. Brave went down the hill by himself.
No, Mommy - go way, do myself.

Ta da!

Mommy and Her Boy. Awwwwwwwwwwwwww.

Even Ducks Have Toothbrushes

Meet Clyde...

Clyde is a duck. He was given to Tyler when he was one day old by his Uncle Chris.

Clyde and Tyler do everything together, especially when it involves sleeping (meaning he cannot sleep without Clyde and Clyde cannot sleep without him).

Today Tyler informed me that Clyde needed his teeth brushed. First we found a toothbrush.

Then we decided what kind of toothpaste to use.

After putting toothpaste on the toothbrush (or pretending to, so Mommy wouldn't have to give Clyde ANOTHER bath)...

Clyde had his teeth brushed.

Apparently, even ducks need toothbrushes.

Re-Add/Add Me To Your Blog Lists

Dear dear friends...I have a problem. I love comments on my blogs and don't get many (thank you to those who DO comment). I think it's cause I had a private blog, emphasis on HAD. I switched it to public so now if you add me to your blog list (or re-add me if you already had me on there), you can always see when I update my blog. Then if you don't want to comment still, I forgive you and you are excused and don't have to. So anyway, re-add me to your blog list and maybe, just maybe, it will show when I update my blog from now on. If it doesn't, I am at a loss and will just keep reading your blogs and wishing I could be as cool as the rest of you.

Insert random picture:

Some crazy sunglasses we found when going through Josh's 90's gear. He "claims" he got them as a souvenir from a tour at the Pepsi plant and never actually wore them. If it was me I would have totally sported them everywhere. Go 90's!

One Word - Blog Challenge?

So I got this off a friend's blog and I won't tag anyone or make them do it, but it would be fun to see other people's answers...

ONE WORD:
Answer the questions using only one word. Not as easy as you might think!

Where is your cell phone? Purse
Your significant other? Cute
Your hair? Long
Your mother? Warrior
Your father? Silent
Your favorite thing? Family
Your dream last night? Weird
Your favorite drink? Bubbly
Your dream/goal? Love
What room are you in? Computer
Your hobby? Reading
Your fear? Abandonment
Where do you want to be in 6 years? Happy
Where were you last night? Home
Something that you aren't? Morbid
Muffins? Chocolate
Wish list item? Shoes
Last thing you did? Type
What are you wearing? Pajamas
TV? Off
Your pets? None
Friends? Yay
Your life? Happy
Your mood? Content
Missing someone? No
Drinking? Water
Smoking? Yuck
Your car? Blah
Something you're not wearing? Hat
Your favorite store? Target
Your favorite color? Purple
When is the last time you cried? Movie
Who will resend this? Dunno
My favorite place to eat? Chinese
Favorite place I'd like to be at right now? Beach

:)

Ice Skating

Because of the Inaguration, Josh had the day off work, so we decided to bust out Tyler's new bob skates and head off to the rink. Tyler was thouroughly disappointed that the hockey goals were not on the rink, but instead sitting off on a side behind the boards and glass. Instead we kept skating to "where the hockey goal goes" and then he would pull his hands away from us and just stand there yelling "shoot, score, goal!" Then he would ask to purposely fall down, and notice everyone else on the ice that fell down. Tyler didn't last very long, but we had a lot of fun, and by the end he was taking a few steps on the ice without holding hands. About 30 more times and I bet he'll have the hang of it!

A family picture, courtesy of a father of twins who "went through this stage last season."

Me, trying to keep my balance and not fall on my butt, (granted, there were not that many people there to witness it, but I still would rather not).

Tyler, tired, after a long (45 minutes) skate.

Daddy and Tyler sitting in the player's bench. Tyler's admission sticker took up his whole leg.

Tyler and Mommy taking a break by the boards.

Daddy suffering a backache to help Tyler learn how to skate.

The front side of the backache.

My cute hockey boys.

SNOW

Yes...I know snow here is nothing like up north, or out west, but I have seen barely any of it this year, I had to take some pictures of the Maryland snow.

Tyler is TWO!

Tyler is two, as of January 12th, and what better way to celebrate than with TWO parties?!

PARTY #1:

The people...

We always do Tyler's birthday up with a big bang, not because we invite all his friends and have millions of kids running around the house, but because we invite a couple friends and then the millions of family we have close by come over and it fills up our not so big townhouse oh so very quickly. This year we had Dan, Becky, Jake and Tess; Kathy, Jennifer, and Darren; Grandma and Grandpa "A"; Uncle Kris, Aunt Jamie and Lucy; Uncle Gary and (Soon to be) Aunt Marlee; and, of course, Mommy, Daddy and Tyler.

Kathy, Grandma, Daddy & Dan

Jake, Becky & Tyler

Aunt Jamie and Lucy

Kathy, Jen, (soon to be) Aunt Marlee, Uncle Gary,
Darren, Tyler, Uncle Kris

Grandpa

Lucy

After everyone got there we busted out the grub. We decided since it was Tyler's birthday, he could pick the menu, and he picked all of his favorite foods: Mac & Cheese, Cheese Dogs, Apples, Grapes, String Cheese, Pickles, and MMs. We added Pizza to the menu for all the guests who weren't below the age of 10 and didn't enjoy his favorite foods as much as he does. Ironically enough, he didn't even actually eat much of anything. The balloons and the taunting of the present pile was more exciting.

After our tummies were full and we were all regretting our fifteenth handful of "MMs", we played some games. First was "How Well Do YOU Know Tyler" with a questionnaire and then a DVD answer key. After that we had a hockey shoot-out, which Tyler won (not just because he was the birthday boy, but because he's actually GOOD). Prizes were awarded in the form of giant candy bars...

Which brings me to what happened next...the LOOT!

After our dismay last year at his pathetic attempt at present opening, we were very pleased with his new "rip the paper into as many shreds as possible and then hold the present over your head cheering when all the paper was off" technique for this year's birthday. The present pile went from large to non-existent in a very short amount of time. He got cars, cars, and more cars, stacking blocks, TMX cookie monster, a race tower, some trains, books, money, and clothes.

Hmmmm...what could it be? A very noisy noisy car, I believe.

Tess enjoying TMX cookie monster while Tyler went in for another kill...

After presents, we rounded the troops up and sent them to the table for cake. Tyler wanted a "puck cake" for his birthday, so after jumping into his toy basket and finally finding the NHL puck from a past Caps game, I made this:

It was much yummier than it was pretty.

Finally, after everyone left, Tyler had his post party crash during the "Oh Canada" theme of Hockey Night in Canada. Shortly after watching the anthem, he rested his head against the couch and proceeded to try and sleep sitting up during the hockey game. I nixed that and put him to bed still crying for his precious sports and brand new presents.

Which leads us to Party #2....

PARTY #2

The people...

This party took place on a weekday, on Tyler's actual birthday, so we decided to tone it down a bit. We only invited Grandma and Grandpa "L" and Uncle Chris, (different uncle, different spelling). It was much easier to get ready for and much quieter (but both were definitely fun).

Uncle Chris, Grandma, Grandpa, Daddy, Tyler

The spread...

Since Tyler chose the menu for Saturday, Mommy and Daddy went with a classic favorite: Nachos Grande! I don't think that Tyler ate any, but everyone else definitely enjoyed them. Check out the spread:

All the fixins for Nachos Grande...YUM!

After dinner, we played the questionnaire game and hockey shoot-out game with our new guests. Tyler won the shoot-out AGAIN. Isn't is sad when you actually try and you can't beat a two year old at sports? Story of my life. I actually got a good picture of him in action:

The loot...

The party guests decided to "do it up right" (?) with ginormous gifts...larger than the birthday boy. I started guessing what was in them, but gave up shortly. Come to find out, it was a basketball hoop and a baseball machine, and some clothes. Mommy and Daddy added to the pile with some blocks and more clothes.

The cake...

Doesn't it look familiar? Yes, Tyler could not settle for just ONE puck cake, but instead had to have TWO. Unfortunately, I think my cake decorating skills didn't improve at all between the two. But this party I got a good candle shot (please disregard the red eye, someday I will eliminate it using Photoshop).

All in all we had a fun time and Tyler got way too many new presents. He should be busy until New Year's next year...