The Birthday Gift

My neighbor just came to my door and handed me $20.  His son, Watson's, birthday was last week.  Tyler and Watson are buds.  Unbeknownst to me, Tyler took $20 of his own money and gave it to Watson for his birthday.  Knowing that I wasn't aware of Tyler's gift, his dad wouldn't let Watson accept it, so he returned the money.  When I returned the money to Ty, he said that Watson was saving money for an xbox and Ty wanted to help him. I think we will make a trip to Target tomorrow to find a birthday card for Mr. Watson and maybe slip a twenty in it ;)

Will the real Tyler Richardson please stand up?

If you know Ty, you know he is a spaz.  I mean that in the kindest of ways.  He is constantly jumping, bouncing, and climbing the walls.  I have actually received a phone call from his teacher saying that Tyler is literally climbing the walls in the cafeteria, AGAIN! His brain runs at 90 MPH and so does his mouth...lol.   He is extremely compulsive and does so many things without thinking them through, which causes people to misunderstand him.

Something happened the other day that has had him on my heart and I never want to forget it. I started not to blog about it because I figure not everyone would be interested, but then I remembered what I created this blog for.  I want to share the moments of our family with others that care for us, but most importantly, I want a record of the little moments that are always forgotten as time passes and life happens.

Tyler received this text the other day from 2 different friends:


He came to me and said, "Mom, I don't know what to do about this.  I only have seven people in my contact list."  Bo and I discussed it with him and explained that it was just a chain letter/text and could be ignored...blah, blah, blah. Nothing bad was going to happen if he didn't send it, nor did it change his relationship with God.  God loves you anyway, we told him. He had tears in his eyes and said, "But, I feel like I'm letting my friends down.  They must have thought of me as a friend if they sent it to me and it makes me think that they care about me.  If I don't send this back to them, they will think that I don't care about them and I love my friends."  He felt the message must be true since he has been struggling with some things lately and his struggles ceased around the time of receiving it. Obviously, we had a deep conversation with him, and he came to an understanding, but what a heart!

Tyler's compassion gets overlooked at times due to his daily struggles, but this is the real Tyler. He is misunderstood by many. Ty may be a spaz, but he's my spaz, and I love him dearly.

Thank you for allowing me to monopolize your inbox so that I can treasure this memory!

Halloween 2012

My children are usually dressed as the popular Super Hero of the year every Halloween.   Not this year!  I was very proud of Tyler for stepping outside of his box and going as an iPod!  Connor was an Angry Bird bomb, which for him, was a little outside of his box as well.  They both received so many cool comments!  Of course, everyone tried to push Tyler's buttons...haha!  But, most importantly they brought home lots of good candy for me and Bo! ;)

Tyler is 11!

Ty had a great time with his friends and family on his 11th birthday.  We started the day out at the skating rink and skated until our feet were sore!  Cake was served at home followed by the cracking of a pinata.  Thank you to all our friends and family that made it out to celebrate his special day!

Tyler visits a local radio station

Tyler is busy earning his Communications Badge for Boy Scouts.  His pack took a field trip to Kiss 102.7 and learned the ins and outs of the radio business.

Did you know that most of what you hear on the radio is pre-recorded?  It could have been recorded a week ago from another city!  Many radio personalities work for several stations and record their time and email it to the station.  Technology is awesome!

2011-2012 School Year Has Come To An End

School has been out for 2 weeks now.  Sarah, Tyler, and Connor all had a great year!  

Sarah walked away from her junior year with 7 A's and 1 B.  She earned her 3rd academic letter this year! We are so proud of her!  This was by far the toughest year she has had in high school.  She participated in an internship at a Carrollton Orthopaedics and really enjoyed it.  She left school early every other day to learn the ropes of a doctor's office.  While the experience was something that she enjoyed, she did learn that she does not want to be an orthopaedic doctor! Our baby girl is now a SENIOR!!  

Tyler made all A's and B's this year and is moving on up to the 5th grade.  He was accepted into the gifted program this year, which we hope will challenge him more in the years to come.  He was awarded the following awards on the last day of school:

• Certificate of Achievement for Recognition of Excellence in Reading
• Certificate of Achievement for Recognition of Excellence in Social Studies
• Certificate of Achievement for Recognition of Excellence in Science
• Certificate of Achievement for Recognition of Excellence in Language Arts
• Certificate of Achievement for Recognition of an Awesome Achiever - A's & B's during the entire 2011-2012 School Year

Connor is zooming to 2nd grade next year.  He was tested for the gifted program this school year as well.  More testing will take place over the course of the summer and we will know more at the start of the next school year.  Connor received the following awards:

• Music Award for outstanding participation and performance in music class
• Best Attitude Award for always having a positive attitude
• Mathematics Award for outstanding performance on the CRCT

Both of the boys took the CRCT  this year and excelled in every area.  A score of 800-849 meets expectations. A score of 850 and above exceeds expectations. 

Connor's scores:
Reading :854
Language Arts: 879
Math: 903

Tyler's scores:
Reading: 873
Language Arts: 930 (a perfect score!!)
Math: 876
Science: 890
Social Studies: 852

We are so proud of all of them!

Jekyll Island Field Trip

Tyler had the opportunity to go on a field trip to Jekyll Island with the Science Club at school. Chaperone names were drawn from a hat and my name was drawn!! I was so blessed to be able to share this experience with him! As you will see in the slide show below, we were able to see some really amazing sights!

This digital slideshow personalized with Smilebox