More Birthday Fun

Our family doesn't just have one birthday celebration. We always have one at home and then we have one at Grandma's. We went to Marion this weekend for Clayton's second party. It was just my family but it was fun. We got down there Friday evening which was Halloween. My mom's church had "Trunk or Treat". They take their cars to the church parking lot and decorate the trunks of them and hand out candy to the kids. It's a safe way of trick or treating. I had never seen it before and it was actually pretty cool. There were lots of cars and the people dressed up too. My nieces dressed up and so did I and we went to Trunk or Treat. Here are some pics.



On Saturday we had lunch and then Clayton got to open his presents. He is at the stage where he wants money so he got $50 and some boxers in a Guitar Hero tin. My dad had surgery a couple of weeks ago and had to have his hair cut and the nurse brought the hair back in a bag and gave it to my mom. No idea why they would have done that but since they did we thought it would be funny to wrap it up and give it to Clayton. He opened it and thought it was funny.


Some have said our family is weird. I wonder why! I tease Clayton about loving Sponge Bob. He watches the show but always says he doesn't really like him. It's kind of a running joke now so we got him a Sponge Bob cake.

After cake we wrote wishes on paper and attached them to balloons and went outside and let them go. I wonder where they went. I was hoping maybe they would have flown up to Springfield but we haven't found any yet!! Who knows where they could be.





Then it was time for some silly string fun. It was a fun weekend and I think the boys had a good time. Here's some more pics.


Funny faces in the car.




Sean & PawPaw.

Clayton's 13!

Well, he made it. Clayton is now a teenager. He started celebrating on Thursday night. He had a couple of friends come over for pizza and a cookie cake. Here they are enjoying the pizza.On Friday we went back to the campground in Havana. We had agreed to go before we realized it was Clayton's birthday. There was a big group of people that went and someone else made the reservations. Clayton wasn't thrilled about spending his birthday at the campground but he managed to have a good time. Here he is lounging in the motorhome. It was the last picture of him as a 12 year old!
Here he is as a teenager. Doesn't he look older?

He had to open his presents as soon as he got out of bed.

He got an iPod, some accessories to go with it, some Qik N Ez gift cards, and some cold hard cash. I think he made out pretty good. That afternoon we had cake for him.

The campground had Halloween festivities and in the afternoon there was also a costume contest. No one in my family wanted to dress up so I hadn't planned to. On Friday me and Carl went to Wal-Mart and found a hilarious costume and, much to my disbelief, he agreed to wear it. I then had to find one and all I could find was a witch. Some people may say that is appropriate! Anyway, here we are.

Anybody need a plumber! His company was called "McKrackin Plumbing". Their motto is "We're number 1 when it comes to number 2". He actually ended up having a good time. He was strutting his stuff. He ended up being the only male grownup that dressed up so they put him in the category with the women. He got second place. But, he's first place in my book.

SOOC Saturday

This is one of my favorite pictures of the boys. Clayton was around 4 and Sean 11. They were playing outside and I found them together under a tree. Cute, cute, cute.

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.