Happy Birthday, Jon!

We had seven traditional candles and one out-of-control, singing Chinese candle that was large enough to account for the other thirty.

A little Oreo Madness and an amazing Cougar win made for a memorable 37th birthday.

Happy Birthday, Jon!

Are You Ready For Some Football?

It was our first real splurge since Jon started working again back in May. But Saturday NFL games don't come around too often so it was an opportunity we couldn't refuse. Caleb was insanely jealous of our lower-level seats on the 20 yard line but this was an outing for just us two.

The view from our seats.

Blitz

I took this picture for Caleb. It is a display of all the high school football teams in the state of Washington. Pretty cool. I'll admit that I had to use the key to find my Alma Mater. But in my defense, the helmet has change since I was there.

The Seahawks do a great job with all the pre-game hoopla. Each player makes an individual grand entrance through the gate and under a shower of fireworks. So fun and exciting.

I sure love my football! I don't even feel out of place in the NFL stadium where I'm convinced the man to woman ratio is 4:1. For me, it was as ideal as any date night could be.

Now bring on those Cougs! Only 13 days to go--but who's counting?

Whose Bed is it Anyway?

There were two in the bed
And the little one said,
“I’m scared, I’m scared”
So they all rolled over
Let the little one in

There were three in the bed
And the middle one said,
“My ear hurts, my ear hurts”
So they all rolled over
Let the middle one in

There were four in the bed
And the mother one said,
“No alarm clock, not yet!”
But they all rolled over
Mother forced herself up

There were three in the bed
And the father one said,
“Time for work now, time for work now”
So they all rolled over
Father got right out

There were two in the bed
And the mother one said,
“I want my bed back!”

Mariners Win!

We were beginning to think it was us. We couldn't even remember the last time the Mariners won a game we attended. It was oh-so fun to watch them earn a thrilling, hard-fought win on Friday.

We had peanuts and Cracker Jack (and chips and Big League Chew), thanks to free goodie bags provided by Jon's company. They also provided the tickets. Keep the free stuff coming!


When the Rays were up by three in the fifth, Caleb was ready to throw in the towel. He just couldn't bear to witness another loss. We repeatedly denied his pleas to leave early.

Things started to change in the bottom of the seventh inning when Caleb's favorite player, Griffey Jr., hit a homer. By the end of that inning, the M's had tied the game.

Caleb broke out his famous dance moves. I simply don't know how his grooving didn't make it to the JumboTron.

He certainly put on a show for those around us. Dad may be hearing all about it from the many coworkers that were witness to Caleb's dancing come Monday morning.

The game went into extra innings. The Rays hit a homer at the top of the eleventh inning and Caleb once again began begging to leave. It was nearly 11:00 pm but we'd come this far, Jon and I were determined to see the game through.

The M's got up to bat and managed to get one man on base but they were soon down to their last strike with two outs. It didn't look good.

We were resigning ourselves to witness yet another loss at Safeco Field when the game was saved with a walk-off two-run home run!

It's not hard for anyone who knows Caleb to imagine the celebration that occurred in our area of the stadium. It really was exciting.

Caleb stood and stared at the field until the sprinklers came on. And then he wanted his picture taken. Victory!

We missed you, Uncle Chad. We thought of you and wished you were there to watch such an exciting win with us.

Go M's!

Free Night at the Museum

Last night, Seattle's Museum of Flight offered free admission. We decided it would be worth our while to take advantage of the opportunity. On our way, we stopped at IKEA for dinner because kids are currently eating free. Three free kid meals and five free museum admissions. Can't beat free!

I'm not sure what Natalie was expecting, but shortly after stepping into the entrance of the museum she declared, "Mom, this is not fun! This is just looking at things!"

Once we made our way to the children's area, she was a little more content.

We stood in line, with all the other local mooches, for the kids to take their turn sitting in the various aircraft.



The World War I/World War II wing was particularly interesting to me. I was fascinated by the history.

The kids liked trying the biplane simulator. They're terrible pilots.

Once we got home, I was anxious to get the kids in bed. It was already late so I bribed them, as all stellar mothers do, to have their rooms picked up and be asleep in 30 minutes. Their reward? To go out to lunch today after gymnastics.

They may have been slightly outside the 30 minute window, but I decided they'd put in the necessary effort to earn today's reward. And what was the best part about lunch? It was free! Well, technically Grandma paid but since we used McDonald's gift cards, it was free to us.

On a side note: Did I just happen into an unsually "classy" McDonald's or do all their restaurants currently play classical music while all female employees (not just the managers) are dressed in skirts? I mean, I'm a former employee myself and I know I never had to wear a skirt and I'm positive we didn't have classical music to soothe our customers. I was beginning to wonder if my leotard-clad daughters were grossly underdressed. Maybe it's that new Angus beef and fancy coffees they're serving now?

The museum was fun. Should we try the free bowling tonight? Oh wait, we have some free Mariners tickets to use. I guess the bowling will have to wait.

PEERS

Earlier this year, I was contacted by ASTAR (Caleb’s autism clinic) to see if we might be interested in having Caleb participate in PEERS: Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills. The group was to be made up of 12 soon-to-be middle school boys, each with either an Asperger’s Syndrome or High-Functioning Autism diagnosis. The 12-week program was designed to teach essential social skills to pre-teens whose disabilities prevent them from naturally assimilating with their peers.

It sounded like a great opportunity and yet we had to decline the invitation due to unemployment and our inability to afford the cost of the weekly sessions. The PEERS miracle was only one of countless blessings we received during our six months of unemployment. A few weeks after first speaking with the director, we got word that ASTAR wanted to offer Caleb a scholarship for the program, enabling him to attend free of charge.

The meetings were held each Tuesday evening. Because of work conflicts for me, PEERS became a weekly father/son outing. Jon patiently attended the parents’ group while Caleb worked with the other boys. It wasn’t exactly up Jon’s alley—he described many of the parents to be “a little special themselves”—but he was willing to make the sacrifice for Caleb. When Jon started working again in May, he would drive to Bellevue to work, home to get Caleb and then to Seattle and back—about four hours of driving in all.

Each week had new skills to focus on and homework assignments to go with each lesson. The homework usually entailed having a phone conversation with one of the other boys or maybe communicating through email. It was pretty humorous for us to witness the interactions of these quirky young boys. I was always entertained by Jon’s stories of the group members and wished that I could attend to witness it for myself.

Caleb loved it. He was extremely motivated to earn points for attending and completing his “homework.” The fact that pizza was served each week was an added bonus.

This last Tuesday was the PEERS graduation and family potluck. I didn’t have to work and would finally get my opportunity to put some names with faces. I met a boy who rapidly swiped his fingers down his nose as he spoke at me in an unusually loud voice. There was the six-foot-tall boy who demanded to know why the cougher across the room had attended if he was sick. One scrawny boy crept into the room acting like a bunny. And then there was my own son who acted out his own one-man baseball game. I delighted in and even got a bit choked up by all the weirdness.

The program directors gave the boys a light-hearted quiz of what they’d learned and then presented each boy with a certificate. The boys were then allowed to choose a prize from a table full of brand new toys and games. It’s not surprising that Caleb went straight for the basketball. As if he didn’t have enough of them at home already. Oh well, he was happy.

The group then walked to a small downtown park to enjoy some food and playtime. It was an enjoyable summer evening with my only regret being that I didn’t get any pictures. Caleb was sad to see it all come to an end.

Jon later said that the whole PEERS experience reminded him of an old Blind Melon video. He recalled the video from the early nineties but I’d never seen it and couldn’t understand the analogy. So I searched online.


I watched it. I cried—just a teensy bit. Is that really how my little boy feels? Probably.

No wonder he enjoyed PEERS so much. I’m so thankful that he got 12 weeks of frolicking in the field with some of his fellow bumblebees.

And he got to eat pizza, too.

Make Way for the King

He was king for a day as he celebrated his 11th birthday yesterday, but it was last Friday when Caleb first donned his crown.

The kids spent a whole week at Grandma's house and Caleb participated in a drama camp. He got the lead role of the king in a play called "Who Stole the Tarts", which was performed at the end of the week.

Caleb did a fabulous job portraying the king who stole the tarts but blamed it on the knave of hearts. He learned a lot of lines in just a couple of days.

He had lots of fun and we loved watching him perform.

The birthday celebration started early with Donuts for breakfast. It took two maple bars to hold that many candles and several matches to get them all lit. While the rest of the house was quietly sleeping, Jon and I sang to our big boy and watched him make his first wish.

Later we met Caleb's favorite friends for some birthday bowling. They've reached the age where simply smiling for a picture is no longer cool. Instead, I got these studly poses out of them.

The girls had fun, too. It's great that a birthday for one means a party for all!

It's only fitting that the birthday king should earn a strike on his big day. Here's his celebratory pose.

After bowling, we enjoyed Caleb's requested BYU birthday cake. Look at all those candles!

He tried to burp the candles out (such a gross eleven-year-old boy thing to do) but it didn't work too well, not to mention he was quickly reprimanded for such behavior. So, he resorted to the traditional blowing method.

Caleb requested BJ's for dinner. He ordered pizza, cream soda and got a birthday pizookie for dessert.

Thankfully he chose to simply blow this candle out.

We ended the day with presents. He was spoiled rotten, as a king should be, with so many fun gifts from friends and family. It was so fun to have my whole family here to help us celebrate Caleb's special day.

A birthday fit for a king.

Happy Birthday, Caleb!