Ty's Top Favorite Christmas Presents!

How can one choose which gift he likes best when you've been showered with so many! Here are a list of Ty's top five favorite gifts:

1. A Mini Pool Table

2. Mario Cart for the Nintendo Wii

3. Geo Trax Airport

4. Buzz Light Year and Woody Dolls

5. Books, Books, and More Books

He has yet to indulge in many of the gifts he received. Most of them are still in their original packaging. I think that's a true sign, we bought him too much! I'm sure next year will be a whole different ball game.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

In honor of Jesus' birthday, we made him a cake. Our kodak album explains all the details about the cake. Attached, here, is the video clip of us singing Happy Birthday to Jesus before getting to eat it. Soli Deo Gloria ~ Glory to God Alone.

Getting Clever Before the Christmas Gifts Arrive!

The other day, I was so beyond BORED being at home, afterall, it's been almost 6 months or more since Tyson has really received a replenishment of toys. I know that might sound spoiled or materialistic, but when you play with your child's toys as much as they do, you too get tired of their toys. Anyway, with less than 4 days before CHRISTmas presents arrived, Tyson and I got clever and decided to build a fort in his room. The fort consisted of two boxes, a hula hoop, a folding chair, his duvet cover, and mounds of pillows. He fully enjoyed hanging out in there. He was quite entertained by being pretty imaginative with his flashlight, ax, telescope, and microphone (just to name a few of his "survival" tools). When I was a kid, I once recall telling my dad, "I'm so bored" and he replied, "Sometimes it's okay to be bored!" I think he was implying that life is not always filled with excitement and sometimes boredom leads to great things, such as building a fort. The "good ol'days" included building forts, riding bikes, and playing chase. We've come along way since those days! It's kind of sad, but it's truly reality.

The First Christmas Present Has Arrived...From Gram!!!!

Gram sent Tyson a nice Christmas package early! She figured it was better that he opens his gift now before all the gifts arrive and it becomes too overwhelming. He woke up from his nap to this nice surprise and was excited to see what she bought for him. He received a great "Cars" sticker and coloring book with over 700 stickers in it (every child's favorite thing). He also received a gift card to Best Buy and this weekend he "blew it!" He purchased, for himself, a new Nintendo Wii Game called, Carnival Games. He is really enjoying it.

Gram has been sending so many little trinkets in the mail that now when the mailman comes he expects to see something from her everyday. It's ashame Gram doesn't live closer because I know that she would love spending her spare time with him!

The Elf on the Shelf - A Christmas Tradition

As I said in my previous post, "Gingerbread House Fun", I'm big on family traditions, especially at Christmas time. If you and your family do not have many traditions or are looking to adopt a new family tradition this holiday season, be certain to READ this post. You still have plenty of time to introduce this fun event to your child.

It's called, "The Elf on the Shelf". For the first time, we chose to begin this charming tradition this year. Most children want to know how Santa really knows who's naughty and who's nice. The answer... "a pixie-elf".

Let me explain...

I purchased this fun tradition at the "stocked market", but you can get it most anywhere or at www.elfontheshelf.com. It arrives in a really nice and thick BOX and includes a storybook and a dainty little stuffed elf. The idea behind this tradition is to place the elf on the tree within days after it has been decorated. Surprise your child by making him aware of the sudden arrival of this elf. The elf's sole responsibility is to watch your child's behavior daily and to report it to Santa each night. Every morning, after the child wakes, they will discover that the elf has returned from the North Pole (with a little parental encouragement), but is now resting in a new and different place. You will have so much fun watching your child race out of bed to try and find his new position.

You can even become a bit more creative and clever with this tradition, by telling your child that the elf is not allowed to be touched, but that they are able to speak to him as much as they wish. The elf, on the other hand, is under strict orders, by Santa, not to speak back. And finally, all grown-ups are under no such rules or restrictions.

This is not only a FUN tradition, but is also a great way to get your child to better control themselves before the fews weeks leading up to Christmas Day! All it takes is a gentle reminder that the "elf is watching" for the unacceptable behavior to be modified.

This product even provides you with the opportunity to register your elf's name at www.elfontheshelf.com and recieve a special response from Santa.

This is just a temporary tradition, obviously, as children will not believe these stories for long, but it's certainly worth adopting just to see the look on their faces as the elf arrives each year!!!!!

Gingerbread House Fun!

I am BIG on family traditions, especially at Christmas time. My mom always found ways to create and add fun to the holidays. Decorating a gingerbread house was always one of those things that she insisted we do. So... I figured I would continue the tradition and today I invited Tabby and her two boys over for some gingerbread house fun. Word to the wise, never attempt something of this much detail with a multiple of age ranges. You've got some kids eating the candy, some kids throwing the candy, and some kids throwing themselves on the floor while the others are pulling the Christmas Tree ornaments off the trees etc., etc., etc. You get the drift. Pretty darn stressful.

As many of you know my personality, I am beyond neurotic when it comes to my cleaning habbits and the need to keep things OVERLY organized and straight. I'm convinced Tabby is truly trying to break me of my obsessive compulsiveness. As a matter of fact, I think she's paying Jude to do her dirty work. LOL! I am still finding frosting (3 hours later) everywhere, thanks to him. Gotta love those curious little 2 year olds.

Let's just say, those darn gingerbread houses, NEVER, turn out as pretty as the picture looks on the box. It's always harder in real life than it appears from the directions. Tabby and I got a real chuckle out of the fact that her house CRUMBLED to the ground, while mine stayed in tact. She said, "It's just the way I expected this adventure to turn out." Poor James... after seeing his house crumble, he asked, "Who broke my gingerbread house?" And Tabby replied, "I did honey. I am so sorry!" He kindly exclaimed, "That's okay mommy, I still love you anyways!" Very sweet.

I will definitely be keeping this event in mind when Easter rolls around. JUDE, you are not welcomed in my home when we bring out the DYES for the Easter Eggs. LOL! In any event, I always have a fantastic time when spending it with the Sheilor family.

Until next time Tabby...

A Visit With Santa Claus

On Friday, we took the kids to the Triangle Town Center Mall, in Raleigh, to visit with Santa. Surprisingly, there was little to no line. We got a BIG chuckle out of this picture and contemplated making this our Christmas Card to read, "Have Yourself a Cranky Little Christmas!" Tyson and Aeila handled the visit fine, but Salene was NOT a fan of Santa at all.

Children... they add so much humor to your life!!!!

Christmas Decorating Has Begun....

Our household got a JUMP start, two weekends ago, on Christmas decorating. Due to the cold weather, we still have yet to be able to accomplish decorating the outside of our home, but the indoor decorating is complete. Hallelujah!

We purchased Tyson a 4-foot tree, with colored lights, for his room, and he had a blast from opening the box, to assembling the tree, to fluffing the tree, and finally to decorating it. Tyson also set up his Mickey Mouse Porcelain Snow Village that Poppy and Cee Cee bought him for his second year of Christmas. He always enjoys making his room look festive.

Afer assembling our BIG tree, in our living room, Ty insisted on sitting next to it while eating lunch. He is a true lover of the Christmas Holidays. We are focusing most of our Christmas celebrations, this year, on the TRUE meaning of Christmas - the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ - but DEFINITELY want him to be able to enjoy ALL of the traditions we enjoyed as children.

Be on the look out for a few other posts this week.

The Halloween Celebrations Keep On Coming and Coming!

Tyson has been a really busy boy this week. Today he had is Halloween party at pre-school! I was able to capture one or two great pics of him with his classmates. This is just a sneak peak to the MOUNDS of pictures I am sure we will have after tomorrow evening! Enjoy. Oh, by the way, the little girl in the Ariel costume, her name is Avery. She told her mommy the other day, "Tyson is my boyfriend!" Mommy exclaimed, "Oh really?" And Avery responded, "Yeah, but I think he also likes Piper!" The ONLY other little girl in his class. Where is this two-timing coming from? Not my man. He knows better :)

We wish you all a very Happy and SAFE Halloween! Brush those sugar bugs out of those teeth before going to bed tomorrow night.

"Oops" Gets Fixed & Accessorized!

As you may recall, Tyson was able to visit, for the first time, "Build-A-Bear" in Myrtle Beach, back in June. It was there that he created his friend, "Oops". Unfortunately, Oops' sound died. So, mommy and Ty ventured out to the Valley View Mall yesterday (where a new "Build-A-Bear" just opened) to get him fixed. For those of you who didn't know, your child's friend can be dismantled and fixed at anytime. I was so happy to hear that. Tyson watched intently as Oops was cut opened, the filling was removed, and the new sound was inserted into his body. We purchased a new accessory for him. Tyson chose a skateboard. How appropriate for my daredevil of a son!

Epperly Elite Gymnastics

Tyson, Piper, and Avery started Gymnastics class on Monday. It's the first class that I have enrolled Ty in where I was unable to participate with him. He's a big boy now :( I was a little sad about that, but my dear friend Jill reminded me about the two babies on the way and how I should have plenty of opportunity to accompany them at their extra cirricular activities!

I hope Ty really enjoys this sport and learns a lot. After all, nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.

Fall Is Here...

On Saturday, we visited the Sinkland Farmland pumpkin patch with the Sheilor family. What a blast we had! This is our second time visiting this pumpkin patch. Tyson remembered it from last year and made sure he didn't miss a trick. From the petting zoo, to face painting, to a miniature horse ride, to a hay ride, to picking out our very own pumpkin, to eating a yummy snack from the baked good sale, Tyson did it ALL! Afterwards, we enjoyed a yummy lunch at Chick-Fil-A in Christiansburg with our great friends and family in Christ, Jeremey, Tabby, James, and "Juda". Enjoy this video clip of Tyson and James as they went for a miniature horse ride. It was quite comical in my opinion.

Fall is such a fantastic time of year! I hope everyone is finding some great ways to get out and make some fall family memories together. If you've never been to this pumpkin patch and are local, I highly recommend it.

A Visit from "Butterscotch"!

Tyson is really enjoying pre-school at First United Methodist. I just love the curriculum and it amazes me at how much he is learning. He has even taught me a few things, no lie. I know, I just made myself look unintelligent, didn't I?

Each class day, Tyson has "circle time" where he and his classmates say the Pledge of Allegiance, count out the day, observe the weather, learn the days of the week, say a prayer, listen to a Bible story, and determine who the helper for the day is.

Of course, every student looks forward to snack time, which is always Ty's favorite time of the day, I am sure. Before snack, Ms. Becky takes this opportunity to teach them the proper way to wash their hands, take car of their trash and use proper table manners. Most importantly, they learn a memory verse and say their blessing.

Other class time activities include the learning centers, music time, Chapel, and group sharing time. Group sharing time is also another one of Ty's favorite. This is when he and his classmates gather together to have "show and tell".

The Yellow Bears have a special mascot named Butterscotch. He has become a part of Ty's life. He goes home with a different child each week and is returned on Tuesdays. Tyson received him last Thursday. Tyson is responsible for taking good care of Butterscotch. At the end of the weekend we (Ty and I) are responsible for filling in a notebook to record all the things that we did during Butterscotch's visit. At the end of the school year, we will get a copy of ALL of Butterscotch's adventures as a keepsake. Attached is a picture of Butterscotch buckled up in the car. For the most part, we took him everywhere and we always put safety first.

The last night Butterscotch spent the night, Tyson was really sad. I don't think he realized how much he loved him until it was time for him to leave. They always say, "You never realize what you've got until it's gone!" And in this case, for Tyson, it certainly was true.

A Little Football Fun!

Darren, Tyson, and I decided to go to one of Ashton's football games, two Mondays back. As soon as I pulled into the parking lot, I got chill bumps, filled with excitement for the day Tyson plays football. Darren and I sat with Rob, Jill, Nick (our pastor), and Gretchen while Tyson played with the younger kids. It was Ashton's game where Tyson met his first true love... Cami (our pastor's daugher.) Ashton's team won!!!! Yeah!!!!! After the game, John-John (our Pastor's son) and Ashton showed Ty how to stand like the real football players do. It was impossible to capture Ty doing it, but it was a cute picture of Ashy and John-John.

My Little "Stinker" Has an Explosion!

I write this post in brown because that's the color that I dealt with on Monday of last week. Let me set the tone for you AND this is a hilarious story, so if it seems long, it's well worth it.

On Mondays, I attend a woman's Bible study at my Church. Tyson goes to the child watch. Becca, another mother who also attends, invited us all over to her house afterwards to have lunch and to let the children play.

After lunch, she sent the kiddies upstairs (keeping in mind there were approximately (5) 3 year olds and (1) 2 year old. After about 45 minutes or so, I started thinking to myself, "I wonder if the kids are okay! They either have fabulous toys or they are up to no good!" Being none of the other mommies seemed concerned, I let it be. I let another 15 minutes go by and still no PEEP out of their mouths. As I got ready to say, "I'm going to go check on the kids", a small voice from Sydney (the 3 year old who lives at the house) yells out, "Uh-oh mommy, come see what Tyson did. He pooped in the bathtub!" For the love of Pete, of all the children up there, why did my son have to be the cause of the silence being broken. And did she say, "Tyson pooped in the bathtub"?

Mortified (this was my first time to Becca's home and boy is it a gorgeous one), I bolted upstairs. I found Tyson laying, fully clothed on the bedroom floor with his arm over his eyes. I believe he was either embarrassed or afraid he was going to get in trouble. I bent down and said, "Ty-ty what's wrong?" He refused to speak. I picked him up, brought him to the bathroom and got down at his level. I said, "Honey, you are not in trouble, but you have to tell me what happened!" It was then that I realized, no he doesn't. The SMELL speaks for itself. I fearfully got up, opened the shower curtain, and found the culprit for the stench. Here's where the story gets FUNNY, YET STINKY.

What did I see, you ask? Well, I saw poop smeared all over the bathtub and it's walls. Then, I looked a little further and noticed a perfectly white, nautical-themed towel containing the "log" or broken log (of poop that is and this explains the smeared poop). And finally, at a small glance, I notice in the corner of the tub, was a pair of saturated, white girl panties. Needless to say, the mess was cleaned immediately. Becca was so lax. I think this would have thrown me over the deep end. Especially after seeing my hand towel destroyed.

On the way home, I said to Ty, "So tell mommy what happened." He said in his sweet little voice, "Well, I had to go poopie, but Piper had to go pee pee. So since Piper was on the toilet, I didn't have anywhere to go poopie. I got into the bathtub and pooped in there." I said, "Well why did you use the towel to wipe your hiney? Was it because there was no toilet paper left?" (There really wasn't). He exclaims, "No. Sydney saw the poopie and didn't like it in there, so she tried to clean it up!"

Lesson to be learned - Don't leave (5) 3 year olds alone for too long. It's sweet that all of them tried to help clean up and figure the situation out for themselves, but it was definitely something they shouldn't have been touching.

On the way out of Becca's house, Judie (another mommy) said, "Can I have a wipe? Nicholas has poop on the back of his sock!" I can laugh about this story now, but at the time, I thought I would die. Just another story for the wedding day! :)

It's Hokie Game Day!

Tyson was able to enjoy a low key Virginia Tech game vs. Furman. He was beyond well-behaved, although I would say that had something to do with the ice shaved slurpie, the bag of popcorn, and the freshly squeezed lemonade. The final score was Tech 24, Furman 7. Go Hokies!

A quick tailgate before the game filled with pizza and fruit punch!

Grandad, Ty, and Daddy head towards the football stadium!

Mommy getting some snuggles during half time!


The Half-Time Show, Pic, Compliments of Ty

Ty's First Day of PRESCHOOL!

Ty really enjoyed his first day of preschool on September 2, 2008. Here is a quick video clip of something they were doing right before class let out. According to TY, they were "going on a bear hunt". He seemed to really be into it!

Tyson Has a Special Announcement to Share!

Make a Smilebox greeting

TY Gets His First Manicure!!!!

Before leaving for the beach, I was in desperate need of a manicure. I told Ty he could come along and watch. But then I thought, wait a minute, you don't have to just watch, you can join me. He was so excited. He insisted on getting green nail polish but I finally convinced him that boys can only get clear. Ty was a bit concerned that daddy would be mad, but daddy handled it a lot better than I thought he would! All the ladies in the store thought it was adorable. I always say, "Tyson is my son and my daughter." Not sure how long I can get away with it though. LOL!

Unintentional HUMOR!

As the summer comes to an end, I thought I would close with a few hilarious excerpts from Ty. Ever watch the show, "Kids say the darndest things!" He would have been a BIG hit on that show after reciting these statements.

1. After Ty pooped one day, I said, "Woah, how does all that poopie come out of such a little body?" As serious as he could be, he replied, "It comes from the poopie machine in my belly!"
2. On a recent drive home, I said, "Ty, where does daddy work?" He replied, "Bolling Steel!" I said, "Why does he work there?" And he responded, "He works there cause he has to make lots of money so we can go to the beach a lot of times!"
3. One Wednesday night, I yelled down to the basement, "Come on Ty, it's time to go to Church!" As grown up as could be he says, "Okay Mom! See ya later dad. Sorry, I have to go!" You had to be there for this one. It was hilarious and sad all at the same time because he sounded so grown up.
4. I have been teaching Ty about upper case and lower case letters. Tonight, I tested his knowledge and said, "Hey Ty, what is a BIG letter called?" He said, "Upper Case!" I was so proud. Then I said, "What is a small letter called?" He said, "A downer case!" (As he pointed to the ground. TOO FUNNY!! Makes sense, right?

Summer Blast!

A few weekends ago, Darren and I took Ty to a "summer blast" at the Greenhill Park. Despite the hot weather, I think Ty had a good time there. He was able to check out all of the important utility vehicles, rescue squad vehicles, and so much more. Take a peak at him on the tractor. And then, watch Darren and Ty as they drive a real garbage truck. Ty fully enjoyed getting in it. I just pray that Ty never wants to be a sanitation worker though :)

"YEEHAW!" I am sure you northerners are just laughing your butts off right now. There is a lot more to do in Roanoke than to ride a tractor and a garbage truck. I PROMISE.






















Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely. ~Auguste Rodin

This is a stinky job, but someone's got to do it!

West Salem Baptist Church Picnic

Our new family in Christ has provided us with tons of extra FUN activities to attend. Here are a few pictures of the church picnic at John Cannon's house. It was a HUGE turnout and Tyson had a blast. He got to hang out with his "buddies", pig out on some delicious homemade foods, swim, slip and slide, and "hunt" for snakes. I am so thankful to be a part of such a spectacular church and group of people.

Cannon lives in an area with lots of land. On the way home, Ty and I spotted this Deer eating whole apples in someone's front yard. We just thought it was so cool. It's antlers were fuzzy and he was not scared to see us stop and stare.

Passing the time on a LONG car ride to Pennsylvania.

On the way to see Aunt Ashley, Uncle Dan, and Cousin Aeila, we hit some major traffic. Tyson handled it really well, BUT, I was bored out of my mind. This is a picture of some of the goofy things I did, to help pass the time. This is GREAT black male for his wedding day!

Baltimore Hip Hop Dancers Dance on the Sidewalk

Throughout our visit to Baltimore, we came across a few interesting citizens who tried to make some extra cash or possibly this was the ONLY way they worked to pay their bills. I thought these dancers where quite interesting, to say the least. The next day, Ty attempted to break dance, but wasn't nearly as successful as these guys were! I keep hoping he will be a hip hop dancer, on the side, one day. Uncle Dan, are you up for teaching him the moves?

A Few Cool Clips from Our Baltimore Disaster

Daddy and Ty shoot a few hoops together! I think we have a basketball player on our hands. What do you think?

This was Tyson's FIRST time bowling on a real lane. Well, if you can call ESPN Zone's bowling real. He's quite the athlete. Loves anything to do with sports.

A Few Cool Clips from Our Baltimore Disaster

Daddy and Ty do a little "rowing".

Daddy and Ty play a little soccer!

Daddy and Ty ride a Harley Davidson Motorcycle.

Clips of the Adventures at Myrtle Waves!

If "seeing is believing" then these video clips will do the trick! Above is Tyson's very FIRST experience with a grown-up water slide. We are so amazed at how brave he really is! Enjoy viewing Ty as he rides down the "Riptide Rockets!"

This is a clip of Tyson and Darren riding the "racing river!" Watch how fast it goes. Ty really enjoyed this river a lot.

My explanation of this clip is in the actual clip and should do the explaining as to what's taking place here, but I just have to reiterate this quote, "Growing old is inevitable, but growing up is optional!" Thank goodness Daddy is not a bump on a log and is always willing to join in on the fun. As it looks, Daddy was having more fun in the "saturation station" aka kiddie zone, than all of the children combined.

Tyson and Daddy decided to ride seperately on these water slides ~ "thunderbolts". Who wins the race? Well, Daddy does of course. As he says, "Ty, there's one thing you will learn about daddy, I don't loose!"

This slide is the only slide I force Ty to wear a life jacket on. It's name is not "super chute" for no reason. The slide is a 20-foot enclosed tube, with a 4 foot vertical drop into 8 feet of water. This is the slide he wanted to ride "adain" and "adain!"

As Cute as Tigers!

Early Friday morning, Tyson and Alayna met up to attend a puppet show, Barefoot Puppets Presents "Trickster Tales" and a face painting at the Salem Library. The puppet show was truly incredible. I think Joanna (Alayna's mommy) and I laughed more than the kids did. All of the puppets were handmade and boy were they very intricate. The sound effects and background music were also created by the artists. I am so glad we didn't miss out on this event. After the puppet show, to our suprise, there was a face painter there. Take a peak at how adorable our little kiddies looked after they got their face painted! Some of the BEST things in life are FREE.

Help Ty WIN!!!!

I just entered Ty into the "The Great American Photo Contest". Please vote on his picture by using the link BELOW. Thanks for your vote.

https://www.greatamericanphotocontest.com/voter1/index_c.aspx?id=655106&referid=strm_d1_1_tst3_0718&referid=strm_d1_5_randazzo&width=122&height=150&ext=.jpg&p=655106&x=.jpg

Monkeying Around on a Friday Night!

After a yummy dinner at El Rodeo and a visit to Starbucks, Darren, Tyson, and I stopped at Pet City, on Williamson Road, to buy some more African Cichlids for our fish tank. The pet store contained more than just fish. It had reptiles, birds, kittens, dogs and monkeys. The monkeys are NOT for sale, they're just something entertaining to watch while the customers shop. I had the opportunity to speak with owner and I learned some interesting facts about "Winkie". Being that I took such an interest in his "son", he was kind enough to let Tyson and I enter his "room" to pet him. I was very nervous, but Winkie remained calm since his daddy was in there with us.



Some Interesting Facts about Winkie:

• Winkie is 42 years old.
• Winkie absolutely loves Hardees hamburgers, Taco Bell tacos with extra cheese and no lettuce, and a scrambled egg sandwhich on lightly toasted bread and a small amount of mayo.
• After Winkie escaped (accidentally) from the pet store, on Mother's Day last year, the owner dialed 911. When the operator asked what the emergency was, the owner responded, "I need to file a missing person's report!" 9 cop cars rushed to Pet City and after 3 hours, Winkie was captured.
• Winkie had a brother that accompanied him at Pet City, but he died last year.
• Winkie is famous. He used to be in a few movies in Myrtle Beach, SC.
• Winkie is set free in the store towards the end of the day (about 1/2 hour before closing). We got to experience him roaming the store.

2008 Annual 4th of July Beach Trip "Gone Bad"

My sick little man.

They say, "vacation used to be a luxury, but in today's world it has become a necessity." True! But, they also say, "No man needs a vacation so much as the person who has just had one." MORE TRUE! After this last trip to Myrtle Beach, I couldn't agree more with the latter quote.

Usually, one complains about a particular family member or the weather ruining their vacation, but not in my case. This time around it was a gastro-intestional virus that plagued our 8 bedroom, 9 bathroom beach house.

Darren and I arrived on Friday, June 27th. Things started off great, like they usually do. And then the "fun", not really, began. My mother-in-law came down with, what we now know to be, a really bad virus on Saturday. She even had to go to a local urgent care facility to get pricked and probed and diagnosed. On Sunday, Tyson got it. On Monday, Darren, Whitney and my mom got it. And on Tuesday, three other family members received it. From then on, it was a downward spiral. Out of 15 vacationers, 11 (to date) have contracted the virus. Many viruses last about 24 hours, but not this one. Tyson is still sick (6 days later) and as a matter of fact, I spent 4th of July cleaning up puke ALL OVER MY 4 Runner. Oh the joys of motherhood.

It's so true when you hear, "be careful what you wish for!" I have longed for solitude for months now. Well, when I finally had the opportunity to be alone, because everyone was bed ridden, I realized those family members and friends who can drive you the MOST crazy at times, really are the ones you miss the most when you are alone. You'd think I'd be grateful to be one of the few healthy people standing and don't get me wrong, I am, but it was so boring, not to mention lonely. There was no one to eat those fattening foods with and no one to talk to on the beach. As a matter of fact, almost everyone, on this trip, lost a minimum of 3-8 pounds on this trip, while I gained about 5. HA HA....

So.... How did this trip change my life? I'll tell you. Most anyone who knows me, knows I am overly clean. However, I never considered myself even remotely close to being a germaphobic person aka mysophobic. I used to laugh at certain people in my life who washed their hands every time they used the bathroom. I even have one close friend who brings her own towels and sheets from home when she travels (never mind the fact that she Clorox wipes everything before "living" at her rented "home"). Now, I have gone from clean to CLEANER! I walked around the house with clorox wipes the rest of the week, I bleached my bathroom from top to bottom, I refused to eat or drink after anyone, and even worse, when we returned home I put all of Ty's toys in the dishwasher, machine washed my flip flips and pillows, and I even went as far as trashing ANY food that we brought with us.

Thankfully so, I am still standing and healthy. I've read the virus can live inside of me for a few days before it shows up, so let's hope that I remain healthy and don't contract the virus. I would be shocked after sleeping in the same bed as Darren and Ty (one morning waking up to TY's diarrhea all over the bed) and cleaning up puke, if I don't get it.

Overall, I am sure from the pics, you can see we made the MOST of our trip. It's ashame that this is the way we had to spend our vacation. We all have come to the conclusion that it was the HOUSE that caused all of this chaos. We plan on contacting the new residents, this week, to see if they got sick. If so, we hope that we can get our money back for all the hardships.

We are most thankful to be home in a clean environment. There's no place like home!

Ty and Daddy sick as a dog!

Ty Gets His First Skate Board.

Ty was beyond thrilled to recieve this skateboard. Can you tell?

From God to Skate Boards, the Higginbothams have become great influences in our lives. Every Wednesday, after church, TY witnesses Julian on his skate board and almost EVERY Wednesday, Ty says, "Hey Mom, maybe one day I can get a skate board!" It's so cute!!! After running into Goody's tonight, I spotted a miniature skate board, just the perfect size for Tyson. So, I suprised him with it. I think, by far, this is his favorite gift ever. The "Higgs" have not only brought God back into our lives, but they are turning our son into a cool skater dude! LOL!

Off he goes!

"WIPE OUT!"

Ty really gets into skate boarding~ take a peak at the video clip above.