Ty Turns 5

How is my baby 5?!?!  It's crazy to me he is already 5.  He is in that semi-awkward place of being a 'little' kid and a 'big' kid.  In many ways he acts much too old for his age, but he will always be my baby (but I am trying very hard to not treat him that way!)  He is doing well in his second year of preschool and almost has his last name down, both writing and spelling it.  His is definitely a leader (thankfully in a good way) within his classroom and has done well with his new teacher, her maternity leave sub and now back with his new teacher again.  He has numbers down and is even starting to write and recognize the bigger numbers, and can recognize time on a digital clock.

Ty's Packer Party

Once he turned 5 we told him it was time to start going to Sunday School class and even though he sometimes gives us a hard time about going, he actually really loves it.  It is taught by two of his little soccer buddies moms' and the 3 of them are in class together, so it's fun for him.  Ty also has amazing recall skills and after each class he will pretty much word for word retell the bible story he learned in class to us.  His favorite is where Jesus performed a miracle by putting mud on a blind man's eyes and then the man could see.  Ty is my most vocal prayer.  He always reminds everyone to pray and the number 1 thing he prays for is "to not have nightmares!"

Ty's nickname is Repeat.  For a couple of years now, Ty has been repeating what others say, whether it be me, Vinny, his brothers, his uncle, tv commercials, and even sports commentators.  I'm not sure why he does it or how exactly it got started, but he just can't seem to help himself.  We always joke that he would make a very good sports play by play commentator!  He also likes to say "nothing to see here" when he is being funny or sneaky or running around the house with no clothes on.

He still has a touch of OCD, lining things up in straight lines or organizing things in a way that only makes sense to Ty.  He is silly and loves to laugh and make others laugh.   He absolutely loves dogs and cannot wait to get one of his very own.  He said he will name it "Ty."  If it were up to Ty he would own a whole pack of dogs and they all would be names some combination of Ty, Green Bay, or Packers.  Whenever we go to the pet store or the Humane Society, he says "I would name that one Ty, I would name that one Packer Ty and that one Green Bay Ty.  It's pretty comical.  For awhile we had to take a break from visiting any sort of animal place because he would just cry that they animals were so sad and they need homes.  One particular day at the pet store in the mall he just could not stop crying because there were about 5 tiny puppies in one of the windows and 4 of the puppies were picking on the one puppy and he was so worried that something was going to happen to the other puppy.  No matter what anyone said, he could not be comforted because he was just so worried about the puppy.

If Ty had it his way all he would do is play video games, so we have to monitor that very closely with him.  Video games are always his first choice, but when his time is up, he still loves his Imaginext Batman toys and he really likes to read (or more accurately be read to), his favorites are #1 Curious George and then the other favorites are all tied between Pete the Cat, Llama Llama, and Little Critter books.

He pretty much always says what is on his mind and doesn't have much of a filter.  He calls it like he sees it.  Ty is very pointed about telling you when he needs space or doesn't like what you are doing,  it is not always popular with some of my family, but I like that he is able to verbalize his emotions, now it is just working on saying things in a nicer way.   He has little reguard to other people's personal space and I think he thinks that smacking someone's butt is a way of saying he loves you (thankfully he only does this with our close friends/family.)

Mischievous is another way to describe him!

When Ty grows up he wants to be a hunter (but he changes what he wants to be quite often, sometimes it's a zoo keeper other times it's a builder like Trey, but most often it is so off the wall or random and it changes so frequently I can't even keep track.)  He also tells me that he wants to marry me when he gets older, but I keep telling him I'm already taken :)  My wish for Ty is he keeps loving with his whole heart and keeps that open relationship with God going strong.

November 2014

November was a good month for us!
Ty celebrated his 5th birthday at this awesome place called Dart Warz!  It was so much fun and we are all dying to go back!  It is an indoor Nerf  battle ground (think paintball except for inside with Nerf guns!)  It was seriously so much fun, I wish I had a better picture of Ty's vest pocket because you were supposed to keep the darts in your pocket that way you can have them ready to shoot.  He had his pockets stuffed, whenever he would bend over or run darts would spill everywhere!  We all highly recommend you check it out.  (Must be 5 years old to play and they offer black light play where you must be 8 years old.)

Ty in action!

Our "Team" minus me and Bella!

After Dart Warz we had the rest of the family meet us back at the house for a small party, a Green Bay Packer birthday party!  I made Ty's cake again, this time a camo colored cake on the inside!  (Those two ball cake pans are the best money I've ever spent!!)  All in all, Ty had an awesome birthday!

Ty's actual birthday is on Veteran's Day and there was a huge snowstorm that day so we didn't get to eat our normal Golden Corral meal, but he was okay with it.

The Sunday after Veteran's day Vinny, Tucker, Trey, and I ran in the National Veteran's Day 5k.  Now remember when I said that there was a huge snowstorm on Veteran's day, well the weather hadn't warmed up much, so it was FREEZING!!!  There was still a ton of snow and ice on the course.  It was seriously the coldest race I have ever ran!  Vinny and I ran together the whole time and even though I was running, I just couldn't seem to get my body warm, it was the slowest I have ever ran before, but it was actually nice to do this with Vinny.  Trey smoked all of us again, but got his slowest time ever because of all the ice he said he had to walk quite a bit.  Tucker keeps improving upon his 5k time each time he races and I am proud of him for taking on these runs.  It was a great way to honor Vinny and all of the Veteran's and the proceeds went to a pretty good cause too!

My parents gave us all an early Christmas presents of taking us to watch Wisconsin play CC.  We all proudly wore our WI Red, but got spanked by CC!  It was a lot of fun going to the game anyways!

We have had quite a winter so far and man has it been beautiful!  I just love the mountains covered in white!  I just had to throw this picture in here (I actually took it with my new phone..I am loving the camera and the phone in general.)

November also brought the official start of wrestling season!  This year all 3 boys are wrestling.  Trey finally decided to wrestle, but strongly told us that he is only doing practicing and only to keep in shape for running and soccer.  I think it is extremely important for the kids to participate in some sort of physical activity so Vinny and I were completely fine with him doing practices and no tournaments.  (I know there are a lot of people who do not like wrestling, but I honestly thing it is one of the greatest sports for kids to participate in, I know it's not for everybody, but if children are coached correctly the benefits are huge..I think I might have to post a separate post on this because it's kind of hard to explain in a few short sentences...)
Tucker moved up to 10 and under this year and it has been tough.  He now has to wrestle 5 matches instead of 3 and he is in A class, which is made up of very good wrestlers, some of these kids have been wrestling for over 7 years now, where as this is only Tucker's 3rd year!  Although challenging for him, he has made a big mental breakthrough, which for him the mental/emotional stuff is his biggest challenger.

Well remember how I said Trey only wanted to do practices, well the second tournament of the year, his cousin Bella (yes girls do wrestle, we have 6 in our club and they are AWESOME) decided to do the tournament, Trey, not one to get shown up by his cousin, decided to do the tournament too.  To say I was nervous was an understatement!  However, this boy got on the mat and it was like he has been doing this for years!  He did amazing!!!  He wrestled hard and listened to his coaches.  I was so proud of him!!  He took 2nd place (but he should have taken 1st, but the Ref was messing up on the handing out points and gave points to the other kids, and when our coach tried to talk to the ref about it, the ref wouldn't admit his mistake...so Trey ended up loosing by points..when he actually won!)  However now we always have two coaches on the mat, one coaching and one taking points down!  Trey has done every tournament since then and has taken 2nd twice and 1st 3 times.  My favorite part about him wrestling is that when his coaches tell/show him to do something in between rounds or when time has stopped, he will mimic their actions on the mat.  It is so comical, but it works for him because when the match starts he will do what they told him!

Fall 2014 (in review)

Fall 2014 was full of fun and very busy!!
Vinny and I both started another full course load of classes for college. Depending on how the college offers classes, Vinny and I both will have our associates degrees by summer (or Fall at the latest if they don't offer the classes we need.)  It's a lot of work, but totally worth it!  (I totally tried to take a picture of me and Vinny on our first day of school this semester, but he shut me down!)

Tucker and Trey started 4th and 3rd grade.  They are doing great in school, but 4th grade is definitely a challenge for Tucker.  He is such an over-achiever and always strives to do his best.  He was really bummed out that 1st quarter he got 1 B and the rest As.  I'm so proud he is working so hard to get the good grades!

Trey is excelling in 3rd grade.  He loves his teacher and before Christmas break he was moved to the highest reading group (he is so proud of this and will try to bring that fact up in most conversations he has.)

Ty started his 2nd year of preschool.  He is excited about being back at school, but definitely missed his friends that moved onto Kindergarten.  Luckily, his cousin is in the same class and he quickly made some new friends.  His goals for the year is to write his last name by memory and to have the beginning basics of reading down.  He excels at his numbers, he can now even recognize all his numbers and write them by memory.

All 3 boys played soccer again.  Tucker and Trey were on the same team this year and they did awesome.  These boys can play some soccer!  Ty was much improved this season (mostly because he is no longer the smallest kid on the team), he is still a star defender, but actually scored a goal this season!

Being in 4th grade, Tucker had to complete a science fair project.  He chose to do a project on plastic shopping bags.  He took 2nd place at the school science fair and even competed in the district science fair.  Although he didn't place, it was a great learning experience and he is excited for next year.

We found out last spring that Trey is a natural long distance runner.  This boy can just run and run!  He is so fast and even after he finishes a run he could go run again.  He participated in a season of Cross Country with the Landsharks running club  and did amazing.  He took 2 Second Places over all and 2 First Places in the boys division.  In the last race he took 1st place overall!  Pretty good considering he is running against kids up to 5th grade.  So proud of my boy.  He even told us that his favorite sport is now cross country!

Ty took his annual trip to the pumpkin farm with his preschool and true to Ty's quirky nature, he picked yet another tiny green pumpkin.  He was thrilled to ride the bus again and had a blast looking at all of the animals.

The boys and I did a family 5K at their cousin's school and we had a blast.  Even though it was late in the fall the weather was gorgeous!  This was Ty's 1st 5K and he ran the 1st mile in about 11 minutes and ran about 1/4 mile more, then I carried him for awhile, then ran the last 3/4 of a mile.  He was so tired, but proud of himself.  Tucker ran pretty good finishing in 30-something minutes (I feel bad that I can't remember!) and then Trey, that boy did awesome!  First place over all, finishing at 22 minutes and 10 seconds!  (Just a reminder it is 3.1 miles!).

I am going to end my fall post with out 'crew' we had out trick-or-treating on Halloween.  (Ty was Ironman (he had a Death Eater from Harry Potter costume, but chose to wear that to the Halloween Party at school.) Tucker and Trey reused their old costumes Ninja and Swamp creature, but got to buy new weapons to add on.)

Official Start to Wrestling Season

We have been going to wrestling practice on and off for a couple of months now, but we finally had a free Saturday 2 weeks ago, so Tucker and Ty had their very first tournament of the season.  Ty thought he was all ready for it, but it was a lot harder than he thought...so he had a rough go of it.  But despite the crying, he didn't give up.  2 weeks ago he took 3rd and then last week he took 4th.  He decided that he doesn't want to wrestle at tournaments anymore, so he is going to take sometime off for awhile.  

Tucker was a little nervous because he hasn't wrestled in such a long time, but he got out there and just did awesome.  Tucker's main problem is his head, not his wrestling skills, but he went out there with a clear head and listened to his coaches.  He has been working on being a more technical wrestling instead of trying to muscle everyone to their backs.  So far it's been working and he is undefeated so far this season! 

Well, I have to admit these are all the pictures I have so far.  I have been helping coach the 4 and under wrestlers in our club, so it's been hard to get pictures taken (and plus I forgot my camera the first weekend and my phone has been shutting down every time I take a picture.) 

Ice Fishing

Vinny and my dad took the boys ice fishing last week.  They went to Monument Lake and the ice was over 8 inches thick.  They didn't have much luck, only 2 little Perch, but they did have fun and the weather was beautiful.

Ty's Christmas Party

Ty had a Christmas party at preschool where he got to wear pjs and decorate cookies!  He looked so cute and we had a fun time. 

The pjs he is wearing are the ones Trey wore on Ty's first Christmas...oh the memories...I can't believe that tiny baby is so grown up now!

Ty's 1st season of Soccer

Since Ty finally turned 4, he was finally old enough to play sports at the community center.  He has been looking forward to this for years!!  So he was very excited to play.  Indoor is a very short, but fun season and the first game or two he was a little unsure, but the rest of the season he really got out there and played his little heart out!

 

Working hard to get the ball!!

He is watching intently!

So proud of his awards!

The big boys also played and I could have sworn someone took pictures, but they must be on my mom's camera...so I guess I'll have to go find them.

1st Snow fall

We didn't get our first snow fall until mid-November, so the boys were very ready to have some fun in the snow.  Ty went out while the big boys were in school and then again when the big boys got home from school.

This is what happens when Ty asks to make the hot chocolate all on his own!

4 Years Old!

My baby turned 4 this past November!  He picked to celebrate his b-day at the bowling alley!  We invited all the cousins and had a blast!

He is so big now!

He asked for a bowling cake too.

He is such a character!

Ty's 1st field trip!

Ty had his first field trip back in October to the pumpkin farm, he even got to ride the big yellow bus!! He was so excited about it and did great!  They got to explore the farm and then go to the field and pick a free pumpkin (any pumpkin they wanted as long as they could carry it!)  It was a great time!

So excited, he just got off the bus!

Searching very hard to the perfect pumpkin!

He took that job very seriously and searched and searched....

He found it!  Half orange half green, but perfect for Ty.

Very excited about it!

Best Fundraiser Ever!

At the boys school they only have to do 1 fundraiser for the entire year.  And it is seriously awesome!!!  They do what is called a FUNd Run.  They go around asking friends and family for pledges or donations and then one day at school they run a 1/10th of a mile track (the white line on the grass) for 15 minutes.  Parents give a kids a tally mark for every lap they run and when it is all over the kids go back to get their pledges or donations.  It is a huge deal for the kids, their class becomes a team, they create a name, and there are various competitions, like class that raised the most money, class that created the coolest name, class that ran the most laps.  Seriously Awesome! 

 

Ty and I go to do some tallies and watch Tucker and Trey run.  Tucker ran 16 laps in 15 minutes and Trey ran 17!  (I have to put out a disclaimer for Tucker's sake, Tucker ran 1st, so Trey knew how many laps he had to run to beat Tucker and he pushed himself really hard to beat him...Both my boys are fast!)  Ty actually ended up running about 8 laps, a couple with his Grandma, a couple with me, and a few on his own!

Tucker has the blue shoes on!

There goes Ty and Grandma

Trey is the single kid by himself with those long legs!!! He is such a good runner!

Ty was looking a little spotty again!

My poor Ty has had hives more than a couple of times in his short life!  From various things like amoxicillin, sunscreen, regular laundry detergents (which all make him break out pretty bad) to other random things that I'm not really sure what it is, but are very mild cases.  However on the last day of our Wisconsin Adventure I noticed Ty was breaking out in hives again.  They started off pretty mild, but ended up getting pretty bad about 10 days later.  They would be bad, then fade and then come back worse.  So I took him to the doctors a couple of times to try to figure out something, but because he was exposed to so much over vacation we were having a hard time narrowing it down.  By this time it was over 4 weeks of pretty bad/consistent hives, so our doctor sent Ty to see an allergy specialist for allergy testing.  My poor baby had to endure over 30 pricks on his back.  Those were the most common allergens.  All those purple dots represent a prick, the purple circles were hives that were already there.  So we wait to see if he has a reaction and no reaction to anything, so they have to go on to give 6 shots in one arm of a higher dose of the 6 most common things and no reaction to those either!  Although it really sucked for Ty, he took it like a champ.  He let me hold him and hug him and he just sat there completely still (while crying of course!!) and let them do what they needed to do.  I was really proud of the way he handled it.  So even after his extensive allergy testing, we still do not know what he is allergic (or maybe sensitive is a better word for it) to.  So he is allergic to something that is very uncommon and it will be very hard to narrow it down, if we ever can.  There is a possibility that he can grow out of this or it might get worse..only time will tell.   He ended up having these hive for just over 6 weeks and nothing major since then only a few spots here and there. 

To reward him for his brave behavior at the doctors I took him to Chuck e Cheese all by himself and then we ate some shrimp cocktail with his brothers!