Happy 3rd Birthday Little Prince

I can't believe it but my little guy is THREE YEARS OLD! Where in the world did the time go? With every day and every moment that I spend with him, I am never at a loss on what a miracle his being here truly is. After years of believing that I would never be a mother, God blessed me with the sweetest miracle ever disguised as my little boy.

Today was his birthday party and though mother nature was a pure witch to deliver us almost 100 degree weather (didn't she know his birthday party was in the backyard???), his friends showed up to help him celebrate the occassion. As miserable as it was (and YES, it was miserable) the kids seemed to enjoy the activites that I had planned and thanks to a semi-cool basement to go to after about 35 minutes in the sweltering sun, the remainder of the party was not only pleasant but enjoyable for all.

My big boy had a great time and in the end that's all that really matters. I'm grateful to have met some wonderful families who were willing to brave the elements to come celebrate with us. Now, a 6 month rest before the party planning begins again....wonder what next year will have in store for us. Whatever it is I'm sure I'll be crafting up a storm to make it happen...LOL.


The back of the placemat


The front of the placemat


The microphone cups


The gift bag


The music CD


The notebook & pencil


The red carpet and stage


The craft table


The final craft project

Food for the Soul

We have all faced moments in our lives when the pressure mounts beyond what we feel we can handle, and we find ourselves thinking that we do not have the strength to carry on. Sometimes we have just gotten through a major obstacle or illness only to find another one waiting for us the moment we finally catch our breath. Sometimes we endure one loss after another, wondering when we will get a break from life's troubles. It does not seem fair or right that life should demand more of us when we feel we have given all we can, but sometimes this is the way life works.


When we look back on our lives, we see that we have survived many trials and surmounted many obstacles, often to our own amazement. In each of those instances, we had to break through our ideas about how much we can handle and go deeper into our hidden reserves. The thought that we do not have the strength to handle what is before us can be likened to the hard surface of a frozen lake. It appears to be an impenetrable fact, but when we break through it, we find that a deep well of energy and inspiration was trapped beneath that icy barrier the whole time. Sometimes we break through by cutting a hole into our resistance with our willpower, and sometimes we melt the ice with compassion for our predicament and ourselves. Either way, each time we break through, we reach a new understanding of the strength we store within ourselves.


When we find ourselves up against that frozen barrier of thinking we cannot handle our situation, we may find that the kindest choice is to love ourselves and our resistance too. We can simply accept that we are overwhelmed, exhausted, and stretched, and we can offer ourselves loving kindness and compassion. If we can extend to ourselves the unconditional warmth of a mother's love, before we know it, the ice will begin to break.

Preparing for a party

I know that some will think I'm crazy (and perhaps I am...lol) but I begin planning my son's birthday parties 6 months out. Since he's so young he isn't really able to pick his own themes. I, like most parents I guess, pay close attention to who he is and what he's interested in and make the decision from there. This year, his theme will be "music".

Picking this theme was a pretty easy choice since he has been my little maestro since he was a year old. His favorite instrument is the guitar but the drums come in a close second to his first passion. Last year I went with a "cars" theme because he loves those probably as much as he loves music. But this year I wanted something different and something that stood out. So here we are, a week away from the big day and I still have so much left to do. Being the crafty mom that I am, I enjoy "getting my hands dirty" when it comes to planning his party. I always personalize the gift bags for the kids but for the last two years that's all I've had to do since his parties were held at party places. This year the party will be at our home and I will be creating personalized gift bags, personalized place mats, music CD's along with a 'stage' for the kids to have their picture taken on. All of this of course sounded fabulous in theory...now comes the time to turn the dream into reality and I'm starting to feel the magnitude of what I've committed myself to. Yes, some things on the list have been crossed off and though the items that remain are not that life shattering, I still only have one week to pull it all off (wow...just 7 days - OMG!)

I do have to ask myself will it matter in the end if I get it all done? The truth - probably not. I'm throwing a party for a 3 year old and the kids that are coming to help us celebrate range in age from 2 - 5. For them, I'm sure the most important will be the chicken nuggets, cupcakes and any candy they can grab when that pinata breaks. So, I guess I need to just take a deep breath and remember that as long as my baby boy is sharing his special day with mom and dad that's all that really matters...the rest will be a piece of cupcake!

Craft Time

Even though I have been working on the little prince's birthday party, I put those plans on hold this week to do a little crafting. Baby McClary is due in July and I went to the babyshower today. Here are the pics of the gift....



This is the box after I painted it.


The final product.

A bittersweet moment

Today my great-niece graduates from High School. Wow...where in the world did the time go. I know this sounds cliche, but I remember when she was just a baby. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to be there to see the event. Living so far from where she is and the idea of a road trip with the little prince was more than I could handle, so at home we stayed.

As exciting as it is for our family that she has graduated and will be heading to college in the fall, this day brings about a bit of sadness as well. Today was my mother's birthday. My mom died almost three years. I know that she would have been so unbelievably happy about this day because my niece was her "road dog" for many years. It's a running joke in our family how my mother used to buy snacks for my niece and how we had to ask permission if we could eat them when we visited or she would get mad...LOL. They were the best of buddies when she was really young and as she got older it became difficult for my mom to let go of the 'little girl' she used to be and grasp hold to the pre-teen/teenager she was becoming. After a couple years of a "rough patch" they found a space that worked for grand-daughter and great-grandmother.

I can only imagine the huge smile on the face of my mother looking down from heaven as she walked across that stage and accepted her diploma. I know she was proud.

The Surgery

On Thursday the little prince had to undergo T&A surgery. He's never had surgery before and I pray that he never has to again. I had my suspicions that the earlier diagnosis of "allergies" was possibly something more when my little guy was constantly sticking his finger in his nose and sounded as if he had cotton balls stuffed as far up his nasal passages as they could go. He's been on medicine for months now for the 'allergies' but it wasn't really working.

So off to the ENT to find out if my suspicions were founded or if I was being a paranoid mom. The doctor checked his throat and confirmed that his tonsils were enlarged but without an x-ray he couldn't tell about the adnoids but suspected that the "stuffy" sound was because of those. His treatment method - take them both out.

I had a feeling that his adnoids were a problem but I was shocked by the tonsils. After getting over that (which took about 3 seconds), I had to deal with the sick feeling in pit of my stomach about my almost 3 year old child going under the knife (which took a WHOLE lot longer). I refused to think about what could possibly go wrong. I'm a woman of faith and I can't ask God to do His job and then worry that He won't. So I said a silent prayer and went home to tell my family - my prayer warriors - what was going on.

Now that I had prayer "back-up", we were ready for surgery day. I didn't explain to the prince what would happen until the day before. Mainly because I had no idea what I was going to tell him. The other reason was because I've learned if I give him too much information too early, he worries me to death about it and I was already dealing with my own nerves. So armed with the knowledge that he would have his tonsils and adnoids removed, we headed to the surgery center at 5:45am. I worried that the hardest part for me would have been the moment I had to hand him off to the nurses to take him back in the O.R. So when that time came I was pleasantly surprised that I was chuckling at my very drug induced baby. The nurse had given him a liquid to take that was meant to relax him, a process they do to make it much more pleasant for young children to go into surgery. When the medicine took effect it was quite comical to watch. He could barely hold his head up properly and though I wasn't saying a word (we were listening to the anethesiologist), he looked at me and said "mama, shhhhhhhhh". The nurse arrived to take him back and he happily went, as loopy as they come.

The surgery took only 30 minutes and an hour or so after being there we were in the recovery room holding our baby boy - he did great. We took him home and he slept most of the day, the effects of all the medicine. By Friday, he was up and playing like he had not had surgery at all...wasn't he supposed to be lying around? I suppose that speaks to the resiliency of young children because if you didn't know that he had surgery almost 72 hours ago you wouldn't believe it by the way he's acting. Guess the idea of a mini vacation for mommy just flew out the window....LOL.