{GNO}!

I took matters into my own hands and organized a much needed GNO!  I even went as far as to make personal invites and passed them out.  Out of the 20 invites I passed around, 8 (including myself) were able to make it:)  I chose a place called, Painting with a Twist where you go for 2 hours and everyone paints the same canvas w/an instructor.  It was awesome!  Here is how the night went:)

We sat down to our canvas that the instructor had already penciled in some "cheat" lines. 

Feeling good about my painting so far:) 

Somethings emerging! 

Huh, interesting.... 

And, voila!  Aside from some humorous moments in paint mistakes, I think it turned out fairly decent:) 

Some of my peeps, others were on potty break or grabbing a snack. 

And here we all are (minus one that had to leave 20 minutes early)!  It was fun to see all our variations of the same painting and we all decided we are totally doing this again!!  **If you locate the girl w/the dark brown hair in the back row, above her head is the instructors painting, ours were supposed to "look" like his;)

What can I say? Too {CUTE}!!

Baby R got to start dance a couple of weeks ago and this girl is ALL smiles!

This pic was taken right before we walked out the door her first day and as you can see, she is ALL smiles!  I think she is so happy to finally get to be included in something like her siblings are and that puts me in all smiles:) 

Here she is on that first day, trying her best:)  Sorry for the small iPhone video, but that is her right up there front and center, she's already the star of the show, lol!:)  

Yesterday was her second class and when she came flying out of her room with her cupcake stamp on her hand she wanted to know which class she went to next.  When I told her she was all done, she was a little sad.  I really hope this girl continues through the year enjoying dance because she is too cute in her little leotard, tights and tap/ballet shoes.  I just want to eat up all her cuteness!

Feeling.....{fill in the blank}.

So yesterday, as usual G was complaining about going to church.  It's always the same sad song every. single. week.  He tells us he hates church, he hates the clothes he is wearing cause they are bad, he hates the car, he hates the people there, he hates people singing, he hates the chairs...the list goes on and on.  We hear this same thing week after week and it's really hard not to lose it because he sounds like a broken record, but I always have to remind myself that it's the Autism, not G.

Well, when we got home G was in a great mood!  I LOVE it when Autism takes a hike and we see G in all his happiness and all his awesome boy-ness.  G went so far as to not fight when asked to help sweep under the table before dinner, and he did it willingly!!  He was also beaming yesterday because with his Autism, his fine motor skills are pretty poor but he finally figured out how to snap on his Transformers head without any one's help!  He was seriously so proud of himself to the degree that Mr. D walked over and told him how proud he was of G and that he loved seeing G proud of himself.  Then Mr. D asked G, "do you know how I know you are proud of yourself?  It's because you get this gleam in your eye and I love to see that gleam".  G was on cloud 9 the rest of the day and our Sunday was so enjoyable!

Now, enter Monday:(  I hate Autism.  It sucked my G right back into it's grips today so I sit here questioning everything I'm doing.  Am I feeding him something he's not supposed to have?  Should I be rotating those foods too?  Should I consider a more strict diet?  Should I be giving him those certain vitamins?  Should I be giving him deep pressure right now?  Should I be making him draw to re-focus?  Should I allow his sisters to watch his ugly Autism moments or should I quickly shuffle them to the next room?

I could sit here all day listing off all my "Should I's" but what good would that do?  I have a child banging his head into the floor and throwing his prized toys and telling me non-sense because it's the only thing his head can think of to tell me in these heated moments.  I don't have time to go through a list.  I have to think fast in these moments and my decisions aren't always correct which really, really sucks!

Right here is where I started getting really down and deleted all of it.  I know life could be so much worse, I just get really down when I witness G being grabbed by Autism and not being able to get free once and for all.

I'm praying for today to take a much better turn right now because I can only take Autism for so long before I want to scream myself.  I want my G back.

Can I still call him my {baby}?

Birthdays come but once a year and my G celebrated his 9th this past week!

We did just a family party this year but had to celebrate on two days due to Mr. D's nasty meetings that got in the way:(  But, we made the best of it and it turned out to be a lot of fun celebrating on multiple days:)  We took him to a family play center called, "Amazing Jake's".  It was hard getting pics of all the things the kids did because majority of the time we were there, we were split up because the girls were to short to drive the go-karts or climb the rock wall so Mr. D and I took turns taking G on the bigger stuff.  But we did get all 3 of them together on this little rocket ship ride.  Here is G and Baby R who had the most hilarious face when the thing first took off, but she soon got into the groove and went with it:) 

Of course Little R loved it and laughed the entire time, she ended up riding this thing multiple times:) 

We got together to do the mini bowling lanes.   

Doesn't Baby R look as big as Little R here?  Baby R can technically wear her big sisters clothes!!! 

That night we allowed G to open half his presents:) 

Everyone needs an Angry Bird mug to store your pencils and crayons in, right? 

Admiring the bag full of mini Angry Bird figurines his g-ma sent. 

We saved cake for his ACTUAL birthday-day (does that make sense?).  So, here we are, day two of still celebrating G's birthday:)  He didn't mind one bit! 

So, yes, if you follow along, G is off of sugar but I broke the rules for his special day:)  It is totally legal for him except for the sugar part.  I'm going to have to ask my cake lady if she can start using Stevia;)  But come on, don't you love his cake?!?! 

And the last of his gifts:)  The big one was saved for the very end:) 

I wish you could hear the giggles coming out of him as he was opening this big box.  He had NO IDEA what we found for him!!!!!

Know what that is peeking out of the box?  G sure does, look at his face!!  He was so freaking excited I couldn't get a decent picture, they were all blurry! 

And since you still don't know, let me help you, it's of course an Angry Bird.  This is the almighty, Mighty Eagle.  He's huge because he's huge in the game.  If you play Angry Birds, you know that you can use the Mighty Eagle to wipe out your entire tower.

G had a great birthday and we love this bugger so much!  Things he's loving right now are:

1: Angry Birds (just today he saw a new one is now available, so help me!)

2: Plants vs. Zombies (another app game)

3: Batman Legos

His laughter is super contagious and adorable.  Whenever I hear G laughing hysterically, I can't help but laugh too:)  He is a bright shining light in any room he enters and people take notice, in a good way.  I get more compliments on his big blue eyes and how fun he is that my heart just melts for him all over again when I hear things like that:)  He deserves the world in my opinion!  

Happy Birthday (baby) G!!!

{SCORE}!!

Little R started soccer again this summer and has a pretty awesome team this season!

She remembered all the rules from last summer:)  She's even running a lot more to go kick the ball:) 

Their team name this year is the, "Rowdy Rascals".  I don't know who came up with the name, I assume the coach did but her team has won EVERY SINGLE GAME so far!!!  Technically they don't keep score but I admit that I do and I know other parents do as well cause I hear other onlookers asking what the score is and someone will always know;) 

The ref dropped the ball in and she kicked it first, it is so fun to cheer her on because she'll hear me from the stands, stop and then wave and jump up and down with the biggest smile.  I then have to motion her to start running again:)  She's too cute and I love her spunky yet passionate personality so much!