There is so much I want to write about Timothy turning 6, but there is much partying to be had so I will have to save it for later! Thank you Grandpa & Grandma Massey for the awesome birthday presents! Timothy's day started off SO happy!

We're off to see Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs!!!!!!!!!

Birthday Thank you!!!

I can't tell you all enough how much you warmed my heart by leaving comments for my birthday!!! In case you don't know, I ended up receiving 44 comments! Ask and ye shall receive, right? I highly recommend doing this! Several fun things combined to make those 44 comments:

1. Friends and family who follow but rarely (or never) leave comments, left me me wonderful notes! Thank you Andrea, Sheila, Priscilla, and Luther!
2. Pam at country mouse, city mouse, left me multiple comments to make sure I would reach my goal. Thank you, Pam!
3. Katrina at Callapidder Days, TWEETED my birthday. I totally got b-day wishes from that AND it brought new people to my blog. Always what we want, right? Thank you, Katrina!
4. Faithful CF friends and real life friends left me happy b-day wishes!
5. Dan followed the comments closely and left me a birthday surprise by being THE 36th comment. That was fun!
6. And I'm so happy people kept commenting after the 36th comment. I wanted as many as possible! The most I've ever gotten before my b-day post was 21 comments-just a couple of weeks ago about vacuum cleaners!

Thank you all so much! My birthday was great (more on that in the next post), and I'm so glad you all celebrated it with me!

WW: Veggie Tales Birthday Cake

A few words with this wordless...Such a happy little girl! Before we even lit the candles she had pulled Larry from the cake and started licking his feet! She saw no reason to use a fork.

I asked if she was ready to open presents, and she said, "No, I want to play with my ship." This drove Timothy crazy, since he wanted to play with one of her presents. She went to bed without opening them! First thing this morning, Timothy asked, "Are you ready to open your presents NOW?" She said, "Yeah!!" like it was a brand new conversation! My step mom made this adorable tutu, and Samantha didn't want to take the leotard off! How many days will it take to open Christmas presents?

Click on over to 5 Minutes for Mom to enjoy more Wordless Wednesday!

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!

Samantha, today on December 8th, you turn 3, and I love that...

you have been calling yourself 4 yrs old for almost 9 months, confusing and amusing many!

you can take a tomato and pickle from your kitchen and name them Bob and Larry. And then care for them like they are the actual actors in the movies. I love that Larry's mom is a green bell pepper and Larry's dad is a cabbage. And that you are creative enough for a french fry to be Junior.

you talk to Timothy as your equal, convinced you can do anything he can do.

you adore him, and cry often "I want Tim [no o] thy". (You dropped "Bubba" months ago)

you are a daddy's girl, but still want me when you don't feel good (or Daddy says no).

you appreciate girly things ("That's pretty"), but will play with a car any day!

I have had 3 amazing years with you where you teach me patience (or is that try my patience?), show me that circumstances don't have to be obstacles, and remind me to snuggle.

I love you, Samantha!

And now that you're 3 I'm going to TRY to stop calling you Baby Girl!

Timothy's Birthday Party

As I was posting pics from Caedmon's party, I had this odd realization. I never posted pictures from Timothy's birthday party! It was almost 3 months ago, but I'm doing it anyway!


Deciding on what to do was quite a process for me. Timothy LOVES kids, but because of his sensory issues he gets overwhelmed by them a great deal. And I really wanted to go somewhere so that I didn't have to clean up after the party.

He had actually done well at a Chuck E. Cheese party earlier in the year (I know, shock!), but there were a few issues that made me decide against it. He had a really hard time with the giant animals that make noise. He found some Mario arcade game and watched it the entire time we were playing games. This is probably why he did okay-just blocked out all the other visual and auditory stimuli. And like I said, he just stood by the machine and watched others play-he's such a perfectionist that he has to observe something for a while to know that he can do it before joining in. He never played it once while we were there. I didn't want him tuning out everyone and everything at his own party. This game made him very unwilling to leave. And lastly, Samantha HATED it. She clung to me the whole time-Dan was gone, and it was awful.

For a while I was going to rent a bouncy thing and set it up at our playground w/in our military housing. But by early June it was hot here, and heat is a huge trigger for Timothy. Our playgrounds don't really have much shade, so I nixed that idea.

And then I was at McDs one day and saw a family having a birthday party, complete with presents and birthday cake. I remembered McDs birthdays were big when I was growing up. Turns out the McDs here don't "host" birthday parties, but the manager was quite willing for me to come and reserve tables, decorate, and she provided plates, napkins, forks, etc. I bought happy meals for all the kids, and they got to play on the playplace. Simple and fun.


It was NASCAR themed. Timothy doesn't have a "driver" or anything, but these 2 cars came with the cake.


Timothy actually got tons of presents. Here is his first $5 that is going to save for his Nintendo Wii.


The manager did give out frisbees...


And I did simple goodie bags (I printed the b-day cake on my computer and put each child's name on it).


The nicest part was had a few parents tell me THEY actually got to sit and have a conversation. There was plenty of room, and they didn't have to worry about where their kids were the whole time. It was nice!

Caedmon's Birthday Party

Who needs scheduled games when kids can find any way to entertain themselves!

The birthday boy decided to try this...


Which Maili thought was a great idea!


Timothy had to join in.


By the time Samantha joined the fun, Caedmon stepped it up a notch. Samantha decided to copy him.


My favorite part was that they thoroughly enjoyed posing each time so that I could get pictures of them. These children all play so well together, and it's very enjoyable to watch them do it!

My baby boy is 5

I have such a unique relationship with Timothy, birthed from continually trying to understand him and connect with him emotionally. He's a bright boy, but so many things (everything socially) he has done a year to 2 years behind anyone his own age. Even though he is quite independent (aka strong willed), this "delay" has allowed me to have him as a baby longer than I normally would have been able to. Things are changing, though, and he is reminding us daily that he is maturing. It's painful and beautiful all at the same time.

He turned 5 yesterday, and since he just promoted to the school-aged SS class we decided to get him a Bible for his birthday. Kid's Bibles are so cool nowadays! When I was a girl we had Precious Moments, but not all the hundreds of options they have now. Anyway, I got him the Super Heroes Bible, along with some Bible Hero action figures that he asks for every time we go to Berean. His b-day party with friends won't be for a couple of weeks, so you'll see more pics then.

I'm spoiled

I have really great friends who love me so much, have literally carried me through the last couple of years of my life, and show me love in so many ways I can't imagine it. I blogged about the flowers Christi sent me 2 weeks ago, and as I was going to link to that for this post I realized that I didn't put a close up of them. Here they are:

Can we say gorgeous? And I wasn't expecting them at all!!! And then I got another total surprise on Tues when Gindi (my "roomie" from college) sent me these for my birthday. Again, beautiful flowers, and listen to this. We made my "unofficial" birthday Tuesday because Dan was going to be leaving on Wed. G sent the flowers early to make sure I had them by my b-day, not knowing I was going to celebrate on Tues. But that's when they arrived! There are a million other things she does for me and gives to me ALL the time, but if she's reading this I know she's already turning red and wishing I would shut up. Did I mention I was spoiled?

Thank you, dear friends. I love you!

P.S. Please don't think I have a flower limit. If you have been dying to send me flowers, don't let these 2 beautiful bouquets stop you.

I am 35 years old!

And I was 34 when I woke up this morning! I've lived a year in one day. Hee hee. Okay, that was a bad joke, but one that is totally my sense of humor.

I received 2 pieces of painful news today of people I love so I can't call it a perfect day, but in terms of my birthday it's been a good one. I've actually been trying to think about why I've been so happy about this birthday. I keep coming back to this one thought that I feel like I'm on a real adventure with my Savior right now. He's pushing me out of my comfort zone like never before, and I'm learning to be okay with falling on my face. I seriously feel like a child some days, in good and bad ways. Bad because I act really childish, but good because I'm living. I'd kind of sum it up this way: Just because I fall off the bike doesn't mean I'm destined to never ride. At 35, there are so many things that I feel like I'm just starting, and I'm looking forward to what's ahead, whatever that is!

Samantha Turns 2!!!

Samantha's b-day was December 8th, 1 week after Dan's. Samantha's CF has a median life expectancy of 37. Because of that, it's not hard for us to feel a little emotional when she turns another year, and more importantly, rejoice in another year of incredible health. That being said, I'm glad I didn't have a huge party or tons of presents this year because she was way more concerned about the cupcakes!!! Happy Birthday, baby girl. I love you.

Dan turns the big 3-0

Yes, my husband is 5 years YOUNGER than me. Don't rub it in. Music I enjoyed in college, he listened to as a jr. high schooler, and music I skated to in elementary, he DOESN'T KNOW. It's terrible. I wasn't worried about turning 30, but I have never met anyone so eager to be a 30 year old in my life. Dan, welcome to the 30s!!! Since I'm so behind on blogging, this actually happened December 1st. I've got to think for a second to remember what we did...

Chris (good buddy of Dan's) & Becky Dittmer met us at Arby's for lunch. Dan wants it all the time, but we never think to eat it here, so he didn't even know there was one in San Diego. So his little surprise was that he didn't know where we were going and didn't know his friends were going to be there. Afterwards, we were going to head to Julian, which is a mountain town right outside of San Diego, famous for their apple pies. Weather was really cold and Sam was starting to get sick, so we bought Mrs. Smith's instead. Dan has been wanting a chess set, and I thought as he entered "adulthood" this would be a good time to get it. He had no idea and was happily pleased.

I really thought I did more for him, but I guess I didn't!!! It was one of those lovely days, though, where everything is peaceful and you really get to experience the ones you love. He said it was perfect.