I won! I won!

I can't believe it but I actually won something and I wasn't even trying.

Rachelle at Take a Walk with the Riedmiller Family gave me my very first blog award. First, I would like to thank my parents, without them I would be nothing. I also need to thank my husband for being there with me from the beginning, laughing at my jokes and encouraging me. Then, of course, I can't forget my boys. Without them, what would my life be like. My life would be so boring, nothing to do but relax, watch TV, go out to eat, sleep!! And, I also would like to thank all the people who knew me when - before I had a blog and GOT AN AWARD!!!

Okay, enough groveling. Thank you, Rachelle, for giving me this award. I haven't been doing this for long but I have gotten so much out of this. I love being able to take a peek into the lives of others and see how they handle the challenges that have been given to them. It is so encouraging and uplifting. I look forward checking on my new friends daily.

Here are the rules (I didn't come up with these:)

1. The winner can (and should, really) put the logo on his/her blog
2. The winner must link to the person from whom they received their award.
3. The winner must nominate at least 7 other blogs for an award.
4. The winner must place links to those blogs on their own blog.
5. The winner must leave a message on the blogs of the people they’ve nominated.

Now come the problems. First, I can't figure out how to get the logo from Rachelle's blog to mine. Then, I'm not completely sure about the linking thing. I have everyone on my blog list so hopefully that works. The big problem is that I don't know 7 other blogs besides the ones that Rachelle nominated! But, here's who I do give awards to:

Sean, Natalie and Evan at The deMello's. Evan deMello is the little boy that introduced me to the blogging world. He is from my hometown and was born with a heart defect which required him to have a heart transplant. His parents had a COTA site to keep everyone updated on his condition. He had the transplant at the end of June last year and, sadly, lost his battle in October. His parents were so brave and inspiring throughout his fight and have continued their story about their brave little warrior and their lives without him. Evan never ceased to amaze me and neither do they.

Through Evan's blog I met Sara at ThinkPinkalicious. She is a mommy to the sweetest little girl, Maddie. Maddie has a rare form of dwarfism. Sara and Maddie had a wonderful summer and I was able to share in their fun through Sara's wonderful descriptions of their capers.

Sara found a jewelry website and was looking at it and noticed that the owner of the website had a little boy with CdLS. She e-mailed me and that is how I met Lisa Leonard at It's the Little Things. Lisa's son is David and he is 6 years old. She has another boy named Matty. She is very creative and a great photographer. I always enjoy checking in on her.

From these three, I have met all the other bloggers on my list and then some. I have truly enjoyed the time I've spent with each of you and thank you again for letting me peek into your lives. I look forward to much more.

Have a great week.

CdLS Blog Challenge - Public Scrutiny

The challenge this week is to write about our experiences with public scrutiny. We have always gotten lots of looks when we're out and much more so now that Sean has gotten older. He is about the size of an 11 year old but now sports a pretty nice mustache which can get some double takes. I am holding off as long as possible before I start shaving him because it's quite a chore just getting through his hair cuts.

I do remember one time when he was around 10. My mom and sister were here visiting. Clayton was about 3 and my niece was just a baby. We all went to the mall. Sean was still small and was in a regular stroller. After shopping for a while we went to a restaurant in the mall to eat. While Sean loves riding in a stroller, he doesn't like it when it stops moving. I took him out of the stroller and was holding him and feeding him crackers while we waited for our food. I had noticed a man and woman looking our way a few times, but with three little ones we were putting on quite a show so I didn't think a whole lot about it. As that couple got up to leave they came over to us and applauded me for bringing Sean with us . The man commented how lots of parents don't take their kids out and it was very good that I was doing that. The man had worked with special needs kids and that's why he had noticed Sean. They asked about his syndrome and then went on their way. I thought it was very nice of them to have stopped to make their comments.

Another time, only a few years ago, I took Sean in to Dollar General to pick up something real quick. He had been at school all day and wasn't in much of a shopping mood (come to think of it, he never is!). We went in, I went directly to get what I needed, and then got in the checkout line. There were several people in line so we had to wait a little bit. Sean has the patience of a gnat so didn't like having to wait. He was starting to get antsy and a little loud. I was singing to him and clapping with him (things he loves) to try to keep him occupied. I looked up and saw a man and we made eye contact. He said "Good for you, good for you." I just smiled and turned my attention back to Sean. I'm not sure exactly what I was getting kudos for but I took it as a compliment.

I know people aren't trying to hurt my feelings or Sean's when they say stuff or ask questions. I try to always look at it as showing people that these kids have lives just like everyone else. There are so many people that are never exposed to these kids and if I can show just one that they are just people, too, then maybe they can show someone else. I would much rather someone ask me a question than just stare and go on by.

And, like Maddy's mom said, maybe there will come a day when we won't have to explain why our kids look different. They will just be kids like every other one.

And the Countdown Begins...

Well, it's actually been going on for a while but one month from today my baby will turn 13. I don't know where the time has gone. Thirteen years ago I was waddling around the office with elephant ankles wondering how I was going to make it two more months (my due date was two more months). Anyway, Clayton is so thrilled that he's going to be a teenager. He's been taunting me with that fact for several months now but I'm sure it will be more constant now that he's this close. When you're young you can't wait to get older and then we you do get older you wonder where the time went. I wouldn't want to necessarily go back in time just to be young again but there are a few things I wouldn't mind getting another chance at. Okay, now I'm rambling. I tend to do that when my boys have birthdays. I don't know why. Stay tuned as the countdown proceeds.

CdLS Blog Challenge

Well, as usual, I'm a day late and a dollar short. Actually, I'm two days late. Here goes anyway. My simple pleasures are

Sitting by the campfire with friends & family.

Having lunch with an old friend.

Logging on to check on new friends.

Fixing my son a smoothie and
getting a hair combing in return.

Garage sales on Saturday morning.

Watching Sean carry his lunch tray at school.

The challenge also asked if pleasures are drawn from more simple things because I have a child with special needs. I have always been happy with just being home and not needing to be entertained so I don't think that changed. I appreciate the simple things more. I will always remember when Sean learned to drink out of a straw - he was about 5. We celebrated like he had just won a gold medal in the Olympics. When I saw him carrying his lunch tray at 19 years old, I cried. Those were simple pleasures that I would not have thought about otherwise. So, I guess the answer is I do appreciate the simple things more.

Now, I'm going to enjoy another simple thing - sleep. Good night.

Look what I've been doing

I have been experimenting making bracelets. I used my sister and one of my blog friends as guinea pigs. My sister has two kids so I made her a bracelet with both of her girls' names on it. My blog friend has one daughter so hers had one name.

My nieces liked my sister's bracelet so they wanted one of their own. So, guess what one of their Christmas presents is! When I took theirs to work one of my co-workers wanted one for her niece so I made one for her.

I had one made for myself many years ago and paid big bucks for it. It is gold and I am more into silver lately so, of course, I had to make myself one.

I now have a request to make two more for another co-worker. My key ring making is on hold until I can find some more key rings so I guess I'll be making bracelets for a while. I just thought I would show you the ones I have made. I think they turned out pretty cute.

Looking Back Sunday - Birthdays

Sandi, Jessica's mom, did this and I thought it would be fun. Looking for these pictures (in boxes) I realized how badly I need to make some albums. I've never done scrapbooking but that is going to be my next project. It's 20 years of stuff so hopefully I'll be able to get it done before the next 20 years fly by. Anyway, here's Sean on his first birthday. He looks so cute. He didn't much like getting into the cake, though. He didn't like the feel of it. Hope you enjoy these.

Why did they put this goofy hat on me?

Now, what am I supposed to do?

Oops, I think I lost something!

SOOC Saturday

This is what the toys looked like when Sean went to bed.

This is what they looked like the next morning. He had some fun during the night!

Thanks to Melody at Slurping Life for this fun Saturday meme. If you’d like to play along and share your “straight out of the camera” (SOOC) shot, click here for details.