Lets Talk Cake

Since Julien wasn't any help giving me ideas for his party, I went slightly overboard on the cake decorations.

When they were all placed on the cake, it looked fairly organized.

...but, with the multitude of obstacles in my way, I couldn't light the candles very quickly...

...and next thing I knew, the fire started up the goal post...

and Julien was quite amused at the fact that I was managing to demolish the entire Thanksgiving Day line-up.

Shall we take a closer look?

Oh well...

we managed to contain the blaze without having to involve the local fire department.

One of my New Favorite Things...

There are many times when we are out and about running errands and either Chris or I will go into a store and the other will stay in the car with Addie and Julien.
You know what I mean - times when you just have to pick up a Rx or grab the dry cleaning, etc...
We are good about telling Addie that Mommy or Daddy will be "right back" and she is content with that.
This past weekend, we were pulling into the parking lot of Walgreens and Addie must have been paying attention when I told Chris that I would just run in real quick because as I turned to look at Addie, she had her hand raised.
She looked at me and said, "me?".
She wanted to go too...
Sweet girl.
It was the fact that she had her hand raised that got me.
She is learning so much at school and knew that she got to have a turn too!

Back To Thanksgiving and Birthday Parties

Julien was happy to take a ton of pictures only because, according to him, "it's my 13th Birthday Mom".

I was at a complete loss for a theme, so it's really impossible to go wrong with football's and little plastic boxing guys.

I would like to say a HUGE thank you to Pastry Art for supplying us with Julien's Birthday Cake.

Julien was ZERO help with giving me any ideas for his birthday.

He finally told me that he wanted a strawberry cake and with only 72 hours left before his birthday, Pastry Art (go Carol!) agreed to make it for me!

Holy cow...it was amazing!

Nothing actually beats their Baby Bites, but this came so close. 

...more amazingly similar pictures coming soon!...

Thursday, November 24, 2011

I Knew It Was Pointless

but I had to try it anyway.

Today was pictures with Santa at the little Monkey's school.

I dressed her and sent her with her money just in case she decided to visit with Santa.

Later on this evening, I decided to ask Addie about her visit with Santa and this was her response - I love it!

I wonder if she was looking past me to see if Santa was coming in her room!

(You can pause the music over to the right. Keep in mind that certain corporations block videos, so if you happen to work for one of them, you will not be able to see the video at work...not that you would try to view videos during business hours...)

A couple weeks back, Addie was looking through a magazine, when she pointed at a picture and said, "Santa".

I have no idea where she learned that from and it was a complete shock to hear her say "Santa"...especially since she is so very afraid of him!

~~~and, it is so rare to hear Addie say two or three word sentences - this video is so wonderful!!!~~~

Julien's Home!!!

Now, I can get some rest tonight!
He had a wonderful time in Kansas City and I'm so glad to have him back home safe!
We reviewed the game footage and picked him out of the crowd - now it's time to call it a night!

Waiting Patiently

Addie didn't know it was Thanksgiving Day and she didn't know that it was Julien's Birthday, although we told her time and again...

or maybe she did know, but we just didn't know that she knew.

Addie was very firmly aware of the cake sitting on the counter and the party decorations and knew, that if she waited patiently and long enough, that she would get a piece of the cake.

From the time the cake came into the house the night before, until the time Julien blew out the candles, all Addie talked about was "cake" and "Carli" because Carli came for the party too.

While waiting for everyone to arrive, Addie was so sweet and patient.

She was content to sit on the porch and read, but as soon as we announced that Carli had arrived,

she ran to the front door to wait for her!

(please don't pay attention to my front door. apparently Cujo spent the morning rubbing against the glass.)

Addie waited patiently for Carli to stretch her legs on the front lawn.

...and even smiled the biggest smile while saying, "cheeeese!"!

Kind of Hard to Tell From the Picture

but this was Julien's 13th Birthday present (not from us).

Steelers vs. Kansas City

He is traveling home today, so please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Indecisive

I couldn't decide if I was going to start posting Thanksgiving/Birthday pictures in chronological order or in the order that I chose to post them.


Me being who I am, I decided that I needed to start with an after Thanksgiving Day story.


Everybody went out of town except us.
That meant that all the leftovers stayed at our house.


Some of those leftovers included green peas - yum!


As I'm sure I've mentioned on this blog before, as part of Addie's diagnosis, she is delayed in all areas of development...


...which means that some of the stages in toddlerhood that parents are so thankful to have made it through...are just now making it to our house.


One stage in particular is the desire for my child to place objects into her nasal cavity that frankly have no business being there.


I can promise you one thing - I will never, ever look at a green pea the same again.

I'm So Not Ready...

to go back to work tomorrow.

My house isn't perfect, all the clothes aren't washed and I'm not entirely sure that I can fit into any of my work clothes.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, I know we certainly did.

Julien is still away for the weekend - 12 hours away from home.
That little story to come soon.
I'm praying for his safe trip back home and I won't be at ease until he gets here.

Addie has missed him terribly while he has been away and has asked for him no less than three thousand times.

We have an unbelievably busy week this week.
I'm still trying to figure out how in the world I can manage to cram so many appointments and meetings into one day - I will have to cancel one of Addie's appointments scheduled for Tuesday...for the third time.
It is to the point where I'm embarrassed to call, although I'm sure they talk to so many parents in one day that they won't really remember that I'm the one that scheduled this appointment last Wednesday - and then remembered there was no way it would actually work for me us.

This is the time of year when everything gets even crazier and life is non-stop until sometime around the beginning of March.

We have so very much to be thankful for though, so there are no complaints on my part...we are so thankful for our family, our health, our jobs, our home - for everything in our lives.

....Julien did ask me before he left for the weekend if I planned to start coloring the gray in my hair anytime soon...

...right...like I have the time for another appointment.

On This Day

On this Day of Thanksgiving, we also celebrate Julien's 13th Birthday.

I have so much to be thankful for today!

Always on the Go

We ran from work, grabbed Julien from Wrestling practice, ran home, he showered in record time, we stopped for a picture and back out the door we went for Julien's football dinner.

I can't believe that he's only 3 1/2 inches taller than me!

He's going to be towering over Chris before we know it!

She Makes Me Smile...

Pictures of the Day!

Pure joy over those trains!

In the company of sweet friends!

Thank you Mary for inviting us to A.L.'s party!

There are no words to adequately express how very grateful we are for A.L. and her love for Addie!

In Absolute Heaven!

I do believe I have mentioned Monkey's love of trains.

She loves trains - loves them...so imagine her delight when she discovered the massive train display at the McWane Center!!!

She seriously could have watched them all night long!

We live a few miles from two sets of train tracks and in the very early morning hours when the house is really quiet, we can hear the horns on the trains.

Not so long ago, the no sleeping little Monkey was in my bed when we heard the horn on the train. 

She lay so very still just listening and I knew she was trying to figure out where in the world the noise was coming from.

When I told her that I heard the train too, she got so excited and sat up to try to see the train.

It was a very sweet moment - would have been a lot sweeter had it been around mid-day instead of long before dawn.

Funny Girls!

We totally missed the Memo on birthday party attire.

sigh...

Check out these weather girls!

Playing Hard

Addie tried her best to keep up with her friends.

She was rarely more than a few seconds behind them...partly because she was trying so hard to keep up and partly because her friends slowed down so that Addie could keep up.

:)

She was SO PROUD of herself!

This surface was challenging for Addie.

I did my best to stand back and let her do it by herself.

Once she got her balance, she did well!

Yay Me

I was actually well prepared for this outing.

I managed to remember to bring Addie a change of clothes...just in case she needed them.

...and she did.

I Am Not In Denial

With regards to the issues that I harbor regarding my youngest child.

One of the issues that I have is the fear of her falling, in particular, the fear of her falling backwards off objects such as seats without a back.

Addie is so incredibly blessed with friends and I am so incredibly blessed to be surrounded by parents who accept Addie and approve of the friendship that their children have with her.

Another Mom asked her sweet daughter to put her arm around Addie to make sure that she didn't fall.

These are the same girls that will wrap their hands around Addie's when they are on the tire swing at school so that Addie will hold on and have the opportunity to participate just like her friends.

These children are amazing.

Liv sat with her arm around Addie the entire time. 

She paid extra attention when Addie turned to pet the bunny.

Such precious little girls!

(You guys know my disclaimer on picture posting. Let me know if you want any pictures removed.)

A Bunny and a Birthday Party

We had a great time at a birthday party today!

Addie's friends were so helpful and sweet to her and Addie even got to pet a bunny!

More pictures coming soon...

TMI but Who Would Have Thought...

Just so you know, when you stick Nerds up your nose, the purple leaks right out..whereas the rest of the Nerd just disappears into oblivion.

Talk about a way to kick start the day.

Working Hard!

As previously mentioned, Chunky Monkey is working on increasing her hand strength and coordination - and drawing lines.

The goal is to draw a straight line from the green dot to the red dot.

Addie's therapists and I will help her place her marker on the green dot and then tell her to "Go, Go, Go....and STOP!" when she gets to the red dot.

She doesn't mind the work...progress is slow...but her efforts are enormous.

I love my sweet girl and all of her hard work!

Fungusville,USA

Julien managed to pick up a case of Fungus from school last week.
He was kind enough to pass it off to Addie and Chris.
Julien was awfully miserable and spent a great deal of time coughing so intensely that I was waiting for his left lung to emerge through his oral cavity.
Addie, being the sweet and concerned baby that she is, wanted to know if Julien was O.K.
I told her that Julien "was sick", but that he would get better soon.
When I woke Addie Monday morning for school...after her keeping me up the majority of the night, she sat on my bed, coughing like crazy.
She covered her little mouth and when I asked her if she was O.K., she said, "sick" and put her head over to the side in an effort to emphasise just how pitiful she was.

That is a new word - and absolute music to my ears!

They are all on their way to feeling better and I'm on my way to recovering some sort of sanity after functioning without sleep and desperately trying to find the miraculous cure to rid my home of the annoying cough that has settled amongst us. 

When I grow up, I want to earn the salary of top level executives at pharmaceutical companies.
That would only be fair repayment for the amount of money that I donate to them.

Game Time Visitors

Carli (and her people) came to visit for the big game.

Addie made it her mission in life to care for Carli the entire time she was at the house.

That poor puppy was absolutely exhausted by the time she left.

She never got one moment of rest, despite being cuddled and loved the entire time.

Addie didn't dare take her hands off of Carli - heaven forbid the puppy get to move one quarter inch without Addie scooting her back closer to her.

School Picture - Fall 2011

Addie still had her knee pads on.

Oh well, atleast they blend in!

Oddly Enough

It didn't bother me.
It's that time of year again when we have to revisit Addie's IEP.

One of Addie's goals involves increasing her hand strength, or more specifically -

learning to draw a straight line.

While Addie's friends are writing their full names and the entire alphabet, she is working on learning to draw a line...maybe then on to a circle...etc.

I'm OK with that.

I have my sweet girl and I'm so proud of any accomplishment she makes.

Although You Can't Tell...

She was MAD!

Apparently, the planets were out of alignment and I somehow, for whatever reason, made her mad in an attempt to get her so that we could walk downstairs.

She refused.

I was tired and really didn't feel like fighting the battle, so I walked downstairs by myself.

That made her even more upset because - of course - she doesn't know how to open the gate (thank goodness), so she just stood at the top trying to figure out how to open the gate, while fussing at me.

After I documented the moment like any good Mother would do, I went upstairs to get her.

It was amazing how she suddenly was ready to restart her day in a better mood.

Feel free to count the safety violations.

I do on a daily basis.