Life on the Mason Dixon Line » Tyler

Mars/Venus Indeed!

Susan — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 23:57:57 +0000

I am a girl.

My sister is a girl.

I didn’t really have friend-boys growing up to know what boys were like at Tyler’s age.

They are different than girls.

All boy.

Yep, he is spitting. This was at a local winery where we went to listen to blues music. Yes, I spit (or worse) while exercising, but at a winery? All boy.

Science gone wrong

Susan — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 02:30:36 +0000

After Tyler got a volcano for Christmas, he has been fascinated with the concept of overflow so Paul showed him and Anna the Diet Coke/Mentos videos on YouTube. That was a mistake. A big mistake.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Paul and I bought a couple 2 liters of pop (yes, POP) and a pack of Mentos on a Sunday while the kids were at their mom’s house, then waited for the kids to return to us on Tuesday after school. Apparently as soon as Paul picked the kids up from school, Tyler was begging to do the experiment. If you have ever met Tyler, you know he is um…persistent. [he gets that from me--until it becomes annoying and nagging. that he gets from Paul]

Paul called me as I was driving home from work. He was desperate for me to get home so he could get relief from Pester Tyler. I insisted that they wait for me to get home b/c I wanted to take photos. Paul wanted to knock out the experiment before it got dark. We compromised: I sped up and Paul hid in the bathroom away from Tyler. As soon as I walked in the door I grabbed the camera, Paul grabbed the ingredients (minus a couple Mentos that did not make it past snack time).

I was too late. Paul told Tyler that he could not drop the Mentos in his 2 liter b/c he was wearing an NC State shirt. Of course Tyler refused to change shirts and he was beside himself and in complete meltdown when I got home. It didn’t turn out like that on the video that’s for sure!

Growing Boy…Help!

Paul — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 02:16:37 +0000

Anyone want to help fund a growing boy? Tyler’s last few dinners have been:

A foot long meatball sub, and two bowls of cereal.
Bologna and cheese, two cups of peaches, and three bowls of cereal.
A quisidilla, four bowls of cereal, and two packages of grips.

I’m a little concerned because: 1. the size of the meals are growing, and 2. as a result the number of trips to the store are growing. I went to the store Friday, then again today (the kids weren’t with us Sunday afternoon until this afternoon). After dinner tonight Susan had to go back to store again. I’ve known the day was coming when he would start eating like this because I remember how much I ate when I was younger, I’m just hoping this will be a passing phase for him (sure to return) and not be a constant until he is in his 20s.

So mom, I know I ate even more than this but did it start when I was 7?

This kind of hunting I can get behind

Susan — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 01:11:39 +0000

Paul and Tyler went hunting a couple times over Christmas break (yes, there are headless, skinless dead [do I need to add that?] squirrels in my freezer; what if I accidentally grab that instead of a burrito for lunch I will be PISSED). I have to say that I still am pretty wigged out by the whole gun thing. Turns out that Paul could not find some sort of orange something to go hunting so he put Tyler in my orange T (let the record reflect he DID call me at work to ask!). So Tyler tramped around the woods in a T shirt that says, “Better than all the udders!” Apparently my nap-needing disease is passed by osmosis–check out this photo that was snapped of Tyler “hunting.”

Yep, that is a Tyler-sized bump on that log.

Arriving home after a long day at the office…

Susan — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 01:03:58 +0000

Yep, after a long day of hustle and flow of the grueling working world, all I want to do is come home to peace, tranquility, and the schedule being executed by MY expectations (ALWAYS BUSINESS BEFORE FUN DAMMIT!!!!!). However the kids got some really sweet gifts for Christmas that they wanted to play with…

The artist at work

So instead of the fantasy world I live in where the kids are diligently working on their homework, Paul is making a delicious calorie-free dinner made entirely of cheese and garlic, the pets are all napping cuddled together on the couch while classical music plays on the stereo (you know–to build up the brain power during homework), and an ice cold Landshark beer (or glass of red wine–depending on the time of year) is waiting for me, I came into the Red Hot Chili Peppers on iTunes, cats fighting in the hallway, dogs drooling on the new couch, and….well…. this:

The scene at my kitchen table when I arrived home from work.

Tyler had been asking to make and launch (? is that was you do to a volcano?) the volcano that Elli, Michael, and Sydney gave him. So that project started while Anna channeled her inner Gerogia O’Keefe by painting with her new easel and supplies. She is SO gifted in her artwork.

Another angle

Boo!!!

Susan — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 23:55:18 +0000

1 week before Halloween, Paul and I took the kids to buy their costumes. Anna’s costume was easy from the get go. She wanted to be a vampire. As long as we steered away from the Elvira-type costumes, we were good to go. Tyler on the other hand was much more difficult.

About a month before the big day, Tyler announced that he wanted to be Jason from Friday the 13th movies. First of all, where on earth did he SEE one of those movies. Second of all–he is SIX!!! What comes next in the progression of scariness? Well, I put my foot down–NO WAY! Absolutely NOT! Paul didn’t see anything wrong w it, he voted yes. Stalemate.

Fast forward to shopping day. We pointed out every superhero possible. Tyler wasn’t having any of it: Jason the killer was the only option for the wee one. Sigh… if only we had others to help persuade…

2 weeks before Halloween the debate moved to Robin and Jason’s house. Robin voted no, Jason yes. Stalemate, continued…

Which is how we ended up in the Halloween store smack down. Then as I was trying to find something tough, yet not against the law, I looked at the price tag: $60 for a costume!!!! For a child 4 feet tall!!! Seriously!? Then, as I was sharing this outrage with Paul, Tyler ran up to us w a creepy hockey mask in his hand. Paul took it from him, flipped it over:

$4.99.

The decision was unanimous: we have a serial killer on our hands, people!

“Where is Jake?”

Susan — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 23:54:38 +0000

We were just hanging around Sunday afternoon–Tyler and I were in the living room playing the Wii and reading the paper, respectively; Anna and Paul were building something in the playroom. All of a sudden Tyler asked, “Where is Jake?!” He said it like he realized we had seen the other dogs, but not Jake.

I was stunned and grateful I had the newspaper to hide behind. He asked again. I had to respond. I defaulted to Paul’s evasive, “What, Buddy?” while I frantically tried to think of an answer. Was he thinking religiously like where is his soul? Was it an existential question–where are any of us really? Did he forget we buried him? The poor boy repeated himself a third time. I had to say SOMETHING!

“Jake died, baby, remember?”

“”Oh, yeah.” So sad.

Is it the shoes?

Susan — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 00:33:48 +0000

Tyler saw them in Omega Sports and headed straight for them. We ordered his size from another store, but he insisted on those. Not like most kids (and me too) who change their mind when they can't walk out of the store w the purchase. AND they were on sale!

Remember when Air Jordans first came out? There was a commercial w Spike Lee where the tag line was, “Is it the shoes?” Like those shoes really made Michael Jordan THE MAN. Welp, it didn’t work for Air Jordans. It didn’t work for ruby slippers. Could Tyler’s shoes be the exception to the rule?

Today was Tyler’s first soccer game. He has been pretty excited about the 2 practices he has had so far. He and Paul have played in the backyard quite a bit. I usually crack a beer and bring my Droid out and launch the vuvuzela app for sound effect.

The kids (ages 5-6, Tyler is 6, will be 7 in December) play 4 quarters. Q1 he played in the back field (can’t cross half field line), Q2 sat out, Q3 played goalie (we thought he would break the goal swinging on it he was so bored), then came Q4… He played ?forward?–where he could run and try to score on the other team’s goal. These are not the greatest quality photos, but he really was impressive. I think he gets that from me:

Tyler is #5, on the left in this pic

But alas, no matter how much ass Tyler kicked, soccer still sucks. We ended in a 0-0 tie. What the hell kind of sport ends in a tie? In the words of the great Vince Lombardi: Ties are like kissing your sister.

Sanders Family Loose on the Town

Susan — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 23:38:46 +0000

Oh yes, it is back to school time and we were caught shopping.

No caption: a picture is truly worth a thousand words.

Seriously, we just needed to get Tyler some shoes for his triathlon last week b/c his shoes were at his mom’s house and they were in the mountains. The kid goes through a pair every 8-10 weeks anyway so we decided to make it his back to school shoes. So then of course Anna needed shoes too. I am still working out the kinks to 1) shopping, 2) shopping with others, and 3) shopping with others who are not in my section. The above pic is the picture I came back to after I looked in the women’s shoe dept.

Obviously every shopping trip needs a break for snacks. Tyler was clearly gearing up for YEARS worth of shopping:

Tyler ends his vegan phase.

Anna has been very good lately about trying new foods. She picked out the horned melon at the grocery store one night, and we had it for dessert. It pretty much tastes like nothing jelly. Here is some proof:

After she and Tyler decided they didn't really want to eat it, they mixed the horned fruit w juice from some oranges we had and made "slop."

What snu?

Susan — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 05:01:28 +0000

It is funny how life seems to be so hectic, but when I go to list what has been happening, there really isn’t too much.

Anna is playing softball again this spring. She is on a team w a different coach, but a couple girls are the same from last year. Funny thing about softball–the socks. One is purple and one is gold. The purple one went missing (wherever missing socks go) after 1 game. Instead of just wearing regular socks, she wore the gold one and a regular sock. Didn’t want you to think it was a gang sign or anything.

PS–the purple sock turned up this past weekend (after about 3 weeks on vacation). It was under our bed. Imagine that–a dirty sock 2 feet from where the clothes got pulled off and dropped. Who would have thunk it??

Anna rounds 3rd on her way home.

Tyler is playing baseball (T ball really). He is the only kid who gets overhand pitched to and he SMACKS it every time. He has a great swing and really crushes it. He gets that from me I am sure. The main thing he has been doing though is GROWING! This past weekend I think he ate and laid around the entire weekend. He even put himself down for a nap (normal for me, NOT for this 6 year old boy).

What do growing 6 year old boys and lazy 77 year old dogs have in common?

A few weekends ago Paul and I went to see Simplified play at the Blind Tiger again. Their songs are great and it is always a good time (made better by the recent legislation banning smoking in bars and restaurants). Turns out the band’s drummer broke his wrist so they had a new kid who did ok. Just a little different vibe since he was new.

We like that band so much that their song, “Home,” was the one that we walked down the aisle to at our wedding. Lyrics:
Never thought I would be the one who,
Found someone to make me feel like you do,
It’s true I dreamed of you,
And you came in right on cue,

At the Simplified concert April 16.

Tyler and I were playing basketball one afternoon (which means I was rebounding for him–I am allowed 1 shot per 1 million Tyler shoots). All of a sudden he stops and runs over to the yard by the fence. He wanted to pick me flowers and insisted that I put them in water right away so they would last. Here is a photo of my gift:

What more could a girl ask for?

I have been reading quite a bit lately (Paul would say “as usual”). I recently finished House Rules by Jodi Picoult. She could make the phone book a best seller. LOVE her writing style. I also finished Walking on Broken Glass. It was ok. I am part way through The Irresistible Henry House. It is quirky so far. Henry House is an orphan who is adopted by a Home Ec Dept of a college in the 40′s so his 6 “mothers” rotate weekly for a semester, then he gets a new batch of mother every 4-5 months. It follows him through life to watch how messed up this makes him. It is supposedly fiction, but I think these programs really did exist. I introduced Paul to Bill Bryson and Dave Berry. That’s right, Paul is STILL reading! He even said his next book will be FICTION. Imagine that!!!

We have been riding a lot more now that the weather has warmed up. We are doing our first mountain ride this weekend. Can’t remember exactly how much climbing, but its a lot. Hopefully the bike Garmin will work to measure climbing feet like it is supposed to. Last weekend there was such a drastic change in pressure w that big storm that it said at one point that the incline we were on was 850% grade! WHOA!

Sanders Hanukkah, part 2!

Susan — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 01:12:59 +0000

Paul and Susan on Christmas morning

This post has pictures that represent Christmas Day to New Year’s Day. Just to recap, we had 9 celebrations in 11 days. For some reason I also thought that was a good time to do a home improvement project of painting all the door knobs. Which also means the latches, screws, etc. You probably realized that. Wish I would have…

Christmas w Steph, Roy, BizNKids, and MomMom, Dec 26

Point of interest on this photo–I THOUGHT both eyes were crossed. I did a redo for Paul just now, thinking my eyes were crossed again. No such luck. My sister was like this all the time from birth and had surgery to make her normal. Perhaps I had preemptive surgery to make sure mine did not wander…EVER!

Anna--Dec 26 Christmas; celebration #9

I just love love love this photo of Anna. You get glimpses of what she will look like as a young woman, yet she still has that baby look too.

Tripp gets a robot for Christmas!

Sleepy Becca posing for pictures

The robot Tripp got for Christmas was very cool, it even danced to a Duran Duran knock off song (sounded like the song, but like they changed it to not have to pay royalties). But then it started to somewhat stalk MomMom. Kind of scared us. Rebecca was SO sleepy, but she always wants to get a good picture. And the truth still holds–sometimes the kids like the box the toy comes in rather than the toy itself!

New Year’s Eve 2009. Basic math I should have realized when I bought the sparklers: [(Sleepy kids x bad weather so they didn't get any exercise for days) x (Paul has been w said kids for 80 hours x Susan has been sick for 80 days)] x fire sparks shooting off a stick = probably not a good idea. Not to mention I had accidentally sprayed some grass (and a little driveway) with my door knob project so Tyler of course wanted to prance there w his sparklers. He was drawn like a moth to a flame. (get it–flame??)

Skinned squirrels in the refrigerator. Seriously. Ugh.

Paul took Tyler hunting w some friends and their kids. Tyler was a little loud (lucky for the squirrels), but the others were more successful (unlucky for Susan). We had 6 dead bodies in the fridge. It was like The Soprano’s. Paul made fried squirrel, scrambled eggs, grits, biscuits and squirrel gravy for New Year’s breakfast. They say that how you spend NY Day is how you spend your year. God help me.

Sanders Family Hanukkah

Susan — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 01:07:19 +0000

We are not converting, we are celebrating Paul, Tyler and Anna’s birthdays and Christmas! We started way back in November (about 10 years ago it seems), we had Thanksgiving and visited w my family. But that last 7 days we have had 7 celebrations. Really 7 in 6 days–tonight is a bye night. Here is the summary:

Day 1, 12/17/09: Anna’s 8th birthday. Paul and I met Robin and Jason, and of course Tyler at Rio Grande for Anna’s birthday dinner. Anna chose the restaurant–Rio G won for the 3rd year in a row. I just LOVE this picture of Anna.

Anna at her Rio Grande birthday dinner, Dec 17

Day 2, 12/18/09: Kids Family Birthday Party. Stephanie and Biz planned a party for Anna and Tyler at their house. Sandie, Brandon, Haley, Hunter and Mom Mom all celebrated with us.

Tyler had a Star Wars cake complete w light up light sabers. Anna had a doll cake complete w Barbie-like doll you lifted out of the cake before cutting.

Day 3, 12/19/09: Tyler’s 6th birthday. Before we could celebrate Tyler’s birthday, we had to play in the snow! That’s right, we had about 7 inches of snow on Friday night/Saturday morning. Then we met Robin, Jason and Lacey (their baby) at Chuck E Cheese to celebrate Tyler’s day.

Anna, Tyler and Frosty. This was after sledding off the ramp Paul built for them!

Ahhhh, my NRA reps.

Day 4, 12/20/09: Extended Sanders Family Christmas/Susan’s half birthday. OK, 1 was celebrated a little more than the other, but still…

Paul and me before starting to open presents at MomMom's.

Day 5, 12/21/09: Susan’s manager Christmas party and Cole’s Annual Christmas party.

(photos unavailable, cameras confiscated by security, paparazzi bounced from property)

Day 6, 12/22/09: Celebrated Paul’s birthday at UNC vs. Marshall basketball game!

My first time in the Dean Dome! I mean... me doing whatever Paul wanted to do for his birthday!

Paul and I are vegging out tonight. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, not sure what the plans are. Then we get the kids on Christmas Day about noon. Then Christmas w Steph and Biz, et. al on Sat afternoon! 9 events in 11 days! Whoooooo hooooooo! Keep in mind this was including 10 loads of laundry, 0 minutes of napping, 3 days of work (which included creating a plan to restructure our cardiac rehab program to make up for $96,000 worth of revenue that we cannot bill for in 2010 and 4 days of 11 state inspectors surveying our hospital), baking 120 cookies and only 30 minutes of physical activity and NO tears shed! Happy Sanders Hanukkah!

The Drums Are Here

Paul — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 19:28:30 +0000

The moment that Susan has been looking forward to has arrived. Tyler’s new drums came this weekend and I got them together before he got here today. This morning before Tyler got here I caught her in his room playing them (I had guessed that would happen). When he got here he was so excited. Susan’s parents are coming this weekend and he said that they would love to hear him play so he has been practicing for them.

Click here to view the embedded video.

First day of school photos

Susan — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 19:04:36 +0000

Anna was very excited about wearing this outfit that Granny bought her. Jason brought the kids over special to pick up this outfit the night before school started.

CHEESE!

Anna was most looking forward to showing Tyler around and helping him ride the bus.

Tyler was most looking forward to riding the bus. Here he would not even stop to get his pic taken.

Tyler clearly had enough of the picture taking.

Now In Color

Paul — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 19:19:05 +0000

Tyler’s mohawk now has green, white and blue stripes which he is extremely excited about. His original plan was to grow his hair out long “like a rock star” but then he decided he would rather have a mowhawk and wanted it colored. He was already considering it but when he saw a picture of Glen Plake he was sure of the idea.

We all went shopping for school clothes today with my mom and sister. When Tyler and I got bored we went to one of the music stores and Tyler was stuck to the drums. I some how eventually got us out of there without buying any drums but Tyler was not happy at all about it. As you can see from the pictures here, he ended up playing some guitar when we got home since he is still without durms.

Rock, Chalk…MOHAWK!

Susan — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 16:42:03 +0000

The long awaited mohawk! Stay tuned for color!

My New Drummer

Paul — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:41:56 +0000

Tyler has been into playing drums the past few days and I think he is ready to go pro!

Congratulations, Graduate!

Susan — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 23:32:23 +0000

OK, in general pre-school graduation is lame in my book. I mean–aren’t you SUPPOSED to do that? But its Tyler, so hey…

Click here for pictures.

This was his reaction when I said yes, now he gets to go to Anna's school.

Weekend Full Of Cycling

Paul — Tue, 26 May 2009 17:54:33 +0000

On this long weekend we spent a lot of time on our bikes. Saturday we went to Hanging Rock to ride with Bryan and Tamara. Because this was Bryan and Tamara’s first time riding in the mountains we decided to ride the 22 mile route to the top of Sauratown Mountain and back up Hanging rock instead of doing the entire 63 mile Hanging Rock Triple Hump which also adds in Pilot Mountain. This turned out to be a good decisions because I am pretty sure that my body would be laying dead somewhere in the woods right now if would have taken them up Pilot also. On top of the extra distance Pilot is the steepest of the three.

There are a lot of rolling hills on the roads between Hanging Rock and Sauratown and as we were getting close to Sauratown I told them that the climb would be starting soon and I got a few worried faces since what we had already done was not considered climbing. The climb up Saurtown is around 3 miles with the second half of the climb being much steeper than the first half. I had warned them about this before we got on the climb, but as soon as we rounded one of the corners where you can see the grade go up I heard Bryan saying “Oh man!”. Everyone made it to the top and at that point Bryan and Tamara weren’t so excited about doing the second climb. Luckily we had parked at the top of Hanging Rock so I was able to tell them if they wanted a ride back home they had to get to the car . Once you get off the top half of Sauratown it is a really easy decent without any real curves but right in the top third of the mount there is a really tricky switch back corner that I had warned everyone to be real careful through. Susan and I made it down the mountain first with Tamara right behind us. Bryan showed up several minutes later with a few tears in his eyes because he had scared himself so bad through that corner .

On paper Sauratown is the harder of the two climbs but Hanging Rock always feels much harder to me (even when I do it first). Susan and I have ridden there several times and she thinks the same thing. Apparently we aren’t the only ones because Bryan and Tamara both about died on that climb. Bryan got so tired and wobbly that he went off the road at one point and decided that since he was already stopped he would take a quick break. Tamara said she wanted to stop but couldn’t get her foot out of her peddle so she just kept going (a good thing for her since it is very hard to get started on a hill like that). In the end we all made it and had a great time. OK, that was my take on Saturday…here is Tamara’s http://memosandlovenotes.blogspot.com/2009/05/mountain-climber.html.

Sunday we went on a ride with the Blues that was suppose to be a easy 35 mile ride. None of us had done this ride before but we had a queue sheet so no problem. We took off and all went well at first. Eventually it started raining and then there were a couple places in the queue sheet that were wrong. In the end our 35 mile spin turned into a wet 50 mile ride. Fifty miles wouldn’t have been a problem if we had brought enough food for a ride like that but we didn’t so added in with our ride from the day before I was starving by the time we got done.

Sunday’s ride was a much more relaxed ride. We were going out for a walk with the kids and Tyler wanted Susan to ride her bike with him. Anna knows how to ride but has always been scared to and would never do it so I was going to walk with her. All the sudden before we left she decided that she was going to ride also. We rode all around the neighborhood and Anna did great. She has outgrown her bike so she had a little trouble with banging her knees on the handle bars but she was excited to be riding.

Monday morning Susan had be at work early and the kids and I slept in. I slept until 7, Tyler slept until 7:30 and Anna got up at 8. Normally I am up by 5:30 or 6 and Tyler is also so Susan wanted to know why we can’t do that when she is there. As soon as Anna got up she wanted to go out for a ride again. We rode around for a long time and Anna was asking for a bigger bike. I told her we could go to the bike store and look but that we couldn’t get one right now (I couldn’t pass up a opportunity to go to the bike shop ). They had a couple of bikes that would be good for her and of course she wanted the more expensive of the two. Of course now she has her heart set on the bike so it should be fun until we are able to get one for her.

Not Enough Weekend

Paul — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 21:30:26 +0000

We had a good weekend but it went by way too fast. Susan went scrapbooking Friday night and had a good time. For me I sat at home and did NOTHING. It was nice to finally have a night where I didn’t have anything I had to do. OK, so I had plenty that I should have been doing around the house but nothing got done.

Saturday morning Tyler had a basketball game that he was very excited about. He told me before the game that he was going to get every rebound. It turned out that he was about right. There is another boy on his team that likes to get rebounds and the were about to kill each other. They were both in the game together in the 3rd period and the coach took Tyler out so the two of them weren’t playing at the same time because they were “too competitive with each other”. My mom was there and got a good laugh because I was the same way.

After the basketball game Susan and I ran 20 miles. We had a good run and the weather was really nice which made things easier. Our marathon is 19 days away and that was our last long run until the race. Our longest run that we have between now and the race is 7 miles so we are very excited! After our run we showered and went to Lauren and Elliot’s for dinner. I’m not even sure what time we left their house but I am pretty sure it wasn’t very late. We went home and went right to bed.

Sunday morning we got up and went for a ride with our friend Tamara. She called us that morning to see if we were still going because she knew we were running 20 miles the day before. I knew it was cold outside and wanted to say no (and she also wanted me to say no because of the cold) but I said we were still going. We are doing the 63 mile bike ride the day after the marathon so we have to get use to it. It was 30 degrees with a windchill of 24 when we left the house so we had a very uncomfortable ride, but Susan and I were both glad we went. I’m not sure if it was from the ride or the icing affect from being so cold but I was much looser after the ride.

After the ride Susan and I went to Biscuitville to get breakfast. When we got done ordering we had to tell the lady at the register that we really did only need two drinks and that all that food was just for the two of us. After we ate we picked up the kids, played with them, went to the grocery store, ate dinner and then it was time for bed. I need to figure out how to get 4 day weekends because that all went by way too fast.