I either posted about this long ago, or meant to! The "nobot" is one of our many nicknames for Tyler, as he goes through phases where he uses the word "no" quite a lot ... and he says it VERY indignantly.
We used to joke that the nobot jumped in our car at Roberts when I dropped Abby off in the morning, and stuck around until we got home and back in our morning routine (I personally think Tyler likes being shepherded by Abby, even if she does boss him around profusely!) Fortunately that wore off, because I was getting ready to drop the nobot off at the nearest intersection. Recently, the nobot has made appearances in "the big bed" late at night. Yes, this little whatever-he-is robotically shuffles across the house in the wee hours of the morning/very late at night and climbs in bed with us. He's very quiet when he gets to our room. We often don't know he has arrived, until...
He proceeds to sleep sideways, steal our pillows, kick us in the face, order us around (he's not awake ... he's sleeptalking) and reprimand us for putting our pillows in certain places, allowing our bodies to occupy more than an inch or two along the edge of the bed, etc. (huge crimes, huh!?!) It goes something like this:
Tyler/Nobot: NOOOOOO Mommy, NO!
Me: What Tyler? What did I do?
Tyler/Nobot: NOOOOOO Mommy, NO!
Me: Ty-Ty, go back to sleep ... we're fine.
Tyler/Nobot: Moooooommmmmy, your arm is in my way!
Me: But Tyler, it's under my pillow.
Tyler/Nobot: Nooooo! Move your arm Mommy.
So what do I do? I move my arm! This brings me to the whole getting Tyler back to his own bed discussion, and I didn't want to go THERE in this post. But, I just came across this nobot graphic again and thought now would be a good time to share it. Fortunately, Tyler's cherubic persona during the day nearly makes up for his nighttime alter ego. We had a great day together today. He cracked me up so much ...
A friend sent this photo from Tyler's school Easter Egg Hunt a few weeks back, and I thought I'd share it. I didn't have my camera handy that morning, but you should have seen our boy loading up his shirt to shuttle his eggs back to the communal basket. He wanted to keep hunting so bad, but he just couldn't hold all his finds! What a funny dude.
Well, it was a fun-filled field trip with Abby's class today! Since their was no room on the bus for all of the parent chaperones (bummer!) I carpooled with three other moms. Mrs. Shaw says she hopes we enjoyed our peaceful time in the car alone ... guess her ride wasn't as relaxing! It was great seeing Abby experience Wakulla Springs again today, but for me, it was just as much fun to watch her interact with her buddies. Here she is hanging out with Emily and Aly.
We had an AWESOME tour guide aboard the "Alligator" (a name we overlooked since Ranger Jeff was so personable, and since we WERE there to see alligators!)
Not only was the scenery beautiful and the waters so clear ... 
We learned a lot, like "turtles enjoy hanging out at the SHELL station!" I knew there was a reason I liked Ranger Jeff ... his punnies! 
Abby and Nya ... they are good friends, and they team up each day during center time (there's an odd number of kids in the class, so Abby has always had a buddy).
Well, here they are! The alligator pictures. Abby made me take photos of just about every gator we passed in the boat (we had to shout "woohoo" for Ranger Jeff to stop the boat each time) but I chose my few favorites. It's amazing how close they were ... and we must have seen about two dozen!
This white-tailed deer wasn't using his little head ... being so close to the river. Ranger Jeff told our group of wide-eyed kindergartners exactly how the gators can grab the deers by their feet and pull them underwater. I've never seen five- and six-year olds listen so intently. Now I'm listening intently for Abby to wake up having alligator nightmares! 
More turtles. Hope they stay perched atop that tree trunk (incidentally, the one that's believed to have appeared in the Tarzan movie ... NOT the Disney version!)
After the boat tour, Abby and her friends (here she is with Harlicia) searched the shore for little shells.
Then we headed home. I love this shot of Abby and Emily, walking arm in arm! 
It was our doorbell that rang tonight, courtesy of the UPS man, who was delivering my (err .. Abby's) wings for the much-anticipated fairy party. Oh let me tell you, I was excited! It is wrong to get this giddy about a six-year old's birthday party!?! I say NO. But you can say I've gone overboard if you catch me fluttering about the house wearing said wings! Now that would just be crazy people. That's where I draw the line!
Of course you KNOW who Shrek is! Well, most of you probably do ... he's an ogre. But do you know he lives in our mailbox? 
I really never think twice about this (nor does John our mailman now) but I'm sure passersby give us a second glance. Shrek somehow ended up in our yard (a straggler from a nearby trashcan perhaps?), then was run over by the lawnmower ... I believe about a year ago now. He looks a bit worse for the wear (see the closeup shot above), but he's been sitting on our mailbox ever since. Sometimes he actually hangs out in the newspaper cubby, and sometimes he just suns himself atop the mailbox itself. 
Anyway, the kids always greet our green buddy when they run up and get the mail for us. Funny they like him so much, and they've never seen any of the Shrek movies. But in their playroom, they do have a figurine that Uncle Aaron (or maybe that was Auntie Jenn ... or some godparent type figure that likes to give us annoying things) gave them. It makes obscene noises! NICE. The one in the mailbox is more polite!
Tyler was very tentative - can't say I blame him! 
So, on Friday afternoon, we left the kids with friends, then met Aaron in Lake City so we could all drive to JAX together. We felt like secret squirrels, as we rushed to get ready (in the room next door to Mom and Dad) and be downstairs when they left for dinner. We were all sitting there in the hotel lobby, with newspapers in front of our faces, and when they came in we dropped the papers and yelled "surprise!" Here's Aaron hugging Mom, while trying to high five Dad. I love Dad's expression: "Yep ... got her!"
... then we headed to a wonderful dinner at a restaurant called "Matthew's" in San Marco (thanks Dennis for taking pictures, as we were busy celebrating!) ... 
... before hurrying off to the show with birthday gifts in hand!
This picture was actually taken on our way in to Wicked ... you better believe these two witches are excited! And rightfully so, the show was GREAT!
I see shades of that naked guitar-playing cowboy from New York City. Only this one is a guitar-playing pirate, who has been known to run buck naked through the house. Thank goodness he didn't roll that trick out during his playdate with Hayden!
Just kidding! I wasn't REALLY going bananas. If you know me well, you I love stuff like this ... and it probably wouldn't surprise you that I can get a bit carried away. Abby and I worked together on this whole project (we did the majority of the experiment in Iowa during Spring Break) ... and she did a TON of writing in her log book and for the display. But alas, she had to go to sleep last night and that's when my creative juices get flowing. Here are Abby and Tyler checking out the finished product this morning. We were pretending to be judges - asking her questions about the experiment and results. 
Turned out pretty good. And her monkey dress matches the display (did you notice?).
RESULTS: 