End of summer party

I was really brave and decided to throw an end of summer party. I invited all my friends, set up a water slide, and bought ice cream...but the best thing I did was to recruit Sydney to come help with Ian. He is especially hard at these kind of things and this day was no different! He gave Sydney a run for her money but she was great! I think a good time was had by all! I ended up counting 69 kids total! I just love our back yard and I love having everyone over.

The begining of our journey

I dropped off some film yesterday that I've had kicking around for some time. I almost cried when I opened the pictures and found this...

This is Ian out front of primary children's hospital in the summer of 2003 and this is Ian the day he was diagnosed with autism. Thus, this is the day our journey began. I look at this picture, his snow white hair, his pure innocence and I long for those days back. As hard as it was then I never knew just how hard it would be. I never knew the hours I would spend on my knees in prayer. I never knew the hours I would spend cleaning up the messes he would make. I never knew that I would feel the pain that I have felt and I never knew the joy he would bring me. Isn't life funny that way? Aren't you glad we don't know what lies ahead of us? How many of us would want to go on if we knew? I am thankful for this journey but If I had known...

...If I had known I would do it anyway.

Uncle John Jay and the Shane Lee Band

On Sunday we were able to go and listen to uncle John Jay play his drums with the Shane Lee band. He is an amazing drummer and it's always fun to watch him play. On a side note, Shane Lee married my friend from high school, Jenny, and it was fun to see her up there playing with the band too! We also sang happy birthday to Millie and to Owen.

7 great things about our newest 7 year old

1. Millie is one of the kindest girls I know.
2. Millie loves the gospel. She is always reminding us about prayer and FHE.
3. Millie has a beautiful smile that lights up the room.
4. Millie keeps her room clean. (most of the time)
5. Millie is a great student and she loves to read.
6. Millie is obedient.
7. Millie is the perfect daughter

Millie's favorite things

Color- Magenta
Food- Pizza
Thing to do- Dance
Book- Junie B. Jones
Best friend(s)- Lezlie, Courtnee, Taylie
Millie wants to be a dance teacher when she grows up.

Happy Birthday to my Princess.

This year Millie and I had a great idea for her birthday party. We would go to the salon to let the girls get there hair and nails done. Millie told her best friend about it and lo and behold her friend had the exact same party. That really bothered me. I don't know why it did but I began looking at other ideas. Millie didn't care. She still wanted to do it. I found these really cute purse invitations when I was in Texas and so I made cute little purse cake to match.

Here are the girls before their make overs...

and after...

She had a lot of fun and the girls did too! Here's to being 7!

The zoo

I don't know if I was feeling especially brave or if I had temporay amnesia about all of our summer outings but I had the day off and I decided to take the kids to the zoo. By myself. Ya, well, that was a joke. First thing we did was the train and that went really well...

...Until we got off and Owen started crying he wanted back on. He really loves trains. I finally got him distracted just in time for Ian to start crying. And crying. And screaming. And crying. Honestly, I felt like we were on display at the zoo. People literally stopped to watch Ian throwing a fit. I tried to ignore them but it really was upsetting to me. We lasted 2 hours and then I loaded everyone up and went home.

Ian's overnight EEG

Of all the tests this one stressed me out the most. It's really a pretty simple procedure...They hook up some electrodes to the head and it measures and records brain waves. During a normal EEG the child is sleep deprived, hooked up and the test begins when the child falls asleep. The doctor ordered a 24 hour EEG and this test requires the child to be in a hospital bed for 24 hrs. Anyone and everyone that knows Ian knows that this child does not sit still for 5 minutes let alone 24 hours. I was really worried about how I would keep him in bed and how his behavior would be in a new environment. Well, our prayers (and the prayers of so many others) were answered. I really felt as though I was witnessing a small miracle! Other than a few melt downs, Ian did fabulous! He stayed in bed for 24 hours and he kept all the equipment on. Primary Children's took really good care of him letting him order anything he wanted of the menu at any time and bringing lots of drinks and snacks. The room we were in was pretty crappy. It was right next to the emergency room and we could hear the helicopter land and leave and the ambulance come in. The blinds were also broken in the room and so once Ian was finally asleep (around 1 a.m.) I laid there wide awake because of the lights blaring in. Oh well....

Thanks to all those who prayed in our behalf. We are hoping these tests will reveal something!