"working"

Notice how he "starts" his mower and how he yells "good job dada" to Eric..
SO CUTE!

Fun Stuff

Friday morning we hit the pool for swimming lessons and it was COLD!!!!
Saturday Ryder got his birthday present and I do have to say it was a BIG HIT!
Random picture of Eric's garden..looks good huh?

Sunday we had dinner out on the picnic table.. fun times were had by all!

Ryderoo is TWO!!

Wow.. I cannot believe that my baby is 2 already.

Ryder picked out his own cake this year. He insisted upon having a Nemo and Dori cake and that is all he could talk about.


Ryder's 1st birthday.

The day Ryder was born.

Aviation adventure

Late last night Eric decided to take the boys to the air show at HAFB, he had gone to some airshows when he was a kid and has great memories to show for it. This afternoon after helping my dad fix his TV, Eric, my Dad and 2 of my 3 sons headed out on their adventure. I opted to stay home with the 2 year old (he will be 2 in just 17 more days!) and Grandma Michele.
They were gone all afternoon and when they got home I heard about how long it took in traffic to get there and how much walking they had to do and how Grandpa's hip hurt, but most of all I watched the 8 year old's eyes light up when he was telling me about the airplanes and how he wishes he could be a pilot and actually fly in one.
I am so glad that my dad decided to go with my boys I am sure that my sons will have priceless memories just like Eric has!

If Mama ain't happy...

I am not looking for advice or suggestions I just have to vent. Here I go...
It is the 2nd official day of summer vacation and I already want to throw my 8 year old out of the window!!! It is as if a small monster has taken over his body. I have given the kids chores to do everyday and I am trying to keep everything on schedule so they know when it is acceptable to play the XBOX and Wii. Yesterday morning the boys woke up at 6:30 and began doing chores.. emptying the dishwasher and spraying everything in the kitchen down with Lysol. Now some of you might say "what great kids" yes the part where they are doing work is fantastic, but at 6:30 a.m.?!?!? Here comes the 8 year old into my bedroom to empty the trash..I hear the 5 year old spraying who knows what on whatever is standing still. Keep in mind that the 2 year old sleeps until 8 a.m. and I like it that way. So this morning I tried to explain that chores will be done at a certain time and XBOX and Wii will have a specific time to be played. Here is where the 8 year old transforms into the small monster. He thinks that because he finished his chores at 7 a.m. that he can play XBOX for the rest of the day and the fight begins. I am not proud to say that there was screaming from both sides. I know that I am not the best mom and I still have lots of things to learn but I thought for sure that we could calmly discuss the situation and come through it. But nothing is resolved for now. I need to write the schedule down and post it on the fridge. Another problem comes about when I and the 8 year old are not fighting than the 8 year old and the 5 year old are fighting about playing together, playing alone, he's kicking me, he's talking too loud, he's not listening to my demands, he's touching me.. and the list goes on and on. Oh the sounds of summer...
Patience.. I am learning (no, i have always known this) that my children have NO patience, they ask 3 times in less than 2 seconds for the same thing and then i get angry. Take for instance right now, the 8 year old is insisting that I get him something RIGHT NOW! How is it that I have to ask them ten times to do something before they actually hear me and respond when I get angry and they can expect me to get them what they want the first time?!?!? ARGHHHHH!!!!! And now the 8 year old is screaming "when are you going to get it?" "Please mommy!!" and the tears are coming now over a ding dong XBOX game. Why do I even have a stupid XBOX all it does is cause problems.
I am done.