Miracle League Baseball–Going Big League

This last Saturday, the Miracle League had their Halloween costume and Celebrity Pitcher Day.

The White Sox had the first game of the day and Trevor Hoffman was their celebrity pitcher.

He was SO nice and was happy to pose with the kids.

Cody was ready to play ball that day! Don’t mind that his glove is on the wrong hand.

Cody was first up to bat and used Trevor (yes, we are on a first name basis now…he just doesn’t know that yet) as a Tee.

When it was time to play outfield, little man was excited to get his glove on (the correct hand this time) and play catch.

That, however, was interrupted by a shadow dancing intermission.

His second time at bat, Trevor pitched to him. I love Cody’s little “is that all you’ve got” head tilt in this picture.

When the pitching didn’t quite work out, Trevor was happy to be a tee again.

Cody’s favorite part of the game, other than hitting the ball, is running home!

Sometimes, he runs past home, but he always goes back to it!  

Cody had an AWESOME time at the game and we are so happy to be a part of the Miracle League. You just can’t help but have an awesome day after watching these kids play!

One of the local news stations did a feature on the game and my little dude happened to be in the clip

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Proud Mommy Moment

Last week, we had DJ’s parent/teacher conference. Our conferences are all pretty standard “I will give him additional work to challenge him. His handwriting could be neater.” ;)

As soon as I walked in the door I barely had a chance to sit when his teacher wanted to tell me that DJ has been volunteering every day to assist a young boy that is in the process of mainstreaming. The little boy visits the class for about an hour or so a day.

This little boy happens to have Down Syndrome.

I tear up every time I think about it. Truth be told, I am crying writing this. They are tears of being proud of my son for the choice he has made.

His teacher said that he has taken it upon himself and gone out of his way to make sure this little boy keeps up with the class, follows directions, and is comfortable in the class. Most importantly, she said he is very patient with him.

While other kids didn’t jump at the opportunity to help, she wondered why DJ was so willing. She didn’t realize that his brother had Down Syndrome.

He understands. He gets it. All the advocating we do for his brother…he sees it.

I never realized he did.

On the way home, I asked him how he felt about helping the little boy and he said “mom, he reminds me of Cody. I have to sometimes be strict with him to get him to do things. I don’t always understand what he says, but I understand him.”

I asked him what makes him volunteer and he simply said “I want to.”

These are the moments when all those doubts of not being a “good enough” parent are put aside.

I am beyond proud of my boy and I am thankful that he doesn’t see kids as “different”.

Summer Splashin’

It is the last week of summer vacation so every day this is what the boys have been up to…

Splash attacks on a swimming big brother…

Over the water swimming while standing mimicking big brother…

We hope you enjoy the rest of your summer vacation, too!!!

Our First Bonfire - San Diego Bay

We were invited to our first bonfire last Friday and we were all excited to go for the bonfire, old friends we hadn’t seen in 4 years, s’mores and Sea World fireworks.

The boys didn’t mind the cold water and waded in the water.

This is the “really, mom? Do you have to take a picture?” smile.

Sunset at the beach is always AH-MAZING! This is a shot SOOC (straight out of the camera). The light was beautiful and the clouds were perfect!

Once the sun started to set around 8 it was time to roast some hot dogs. DJ had never roasted hot dogs over the fire before so he was pretty excited. He ended up cooking for everyone!

It was getting a bit cold and Cody decided to enjoy the fire, too!

We had the perfect view of Sea World. I was wondering why they had a Christmas tree up in July then as it got darker, I realized it was a flag. ;)

In order to spot my kids and my God-daughter, I made them all wear glow bracelets! The only light out was the fire so I am glad I did.

By the faint moonlight, the waves had this awesome, perfectly lined look. It took awhile to get the right settings. It was completely pitch dark outside and even the light from the fire wasn’t enough light. I loved the way it turned out, though, and how you can see the lines of the waves.

The boys and I enjoyed our very first bonfire ever! :)

Cody loved the fire until they threw more logs on and the fire became HUGE (see above). He kept his back to the fire and didn’t even want to look at it.

This is my favorite picture from the night (other than the water one). You can see the fear in his expression and the lighting worked perfectly to portray it.

A Birthday Party Safari

My son had his 9th birthday party on Saturday and we went with a Safari theme. You will see why later. :)

I was excited to make the cake because I wanted to make the zebra striped cake! It worked out EXACTLY like I wanted it to!!

I am not really that good at cake decorating, but I have to admit that although this isn’t exactly what I wanted, I did pretty good. :) All that mattered was that the birthday boy LOVED it. :)

The bottom layer is the zebra cake with a vanilla pudding filling then topped with a vanilla whipped icing. The zebra edible cake tattoo is from Wilton. I purchased the full sheet and cut it down to fit the cake.

The top part of the cake was the popular one. :) It was a vanilla cake with chocolate pudding then caramel frosting. The caramel frosting was DELICIOUS! I used the Duncan Hines Frosting Creations with the Caramel Flavor Mix and I can’t rave about it enough! The guests loved the caramel frosting!

To make the giraffe spots, I used a full sheet of the Wilton’s Edible cake Tattoo in brown and cut out the shapes.

I usually do a “Favorite Things” theme for the boys’ party favors, but this time I opted to try something different and had 3 different party favors:

The first is a mini candy bar.

The flags for the favor boxes and the candy labels were printables from Pottery Barn.

The second party favor was a printed picture of the guests behind a cardboard cutout of a Jeep (purchased from Birthday Express).

Using a mini portable printer, I took pictures of guests then printed them during the party.

Here are our pictures with the Jeep.

The final party favor was a pair of binoculars (purchased from Birthday Express).

I had DJ find some tree branches in the backyard for me then hung the branches with twine from a chandelier.

My husband kept shaking his head at me when I told him my idea. Turned out much better than we both thought, though. :)

The tags had hand written notes. One side said “Thank you for coming”…

…and the other said “DJ’s 9th Birthday”.

We served Lionade (lemonade) and Jungle Juice (Hawaiian Punch). These labels were from Pottery Barn as well.

My “famous” red velvet cake pops made an appearance in tiger colors.

The Jumper company (Aaron’s Jumpers) happened to have a jungle themed jumper that went perfect with our theme!

Speaking of jumpers, they dropped the jumper off on Friday night. SOOOO being the big kid that I am, I got in the jumper with my boys. 3 jumps in and I landed wrong and sprained the back of my knee. 2 hours at Urgent Care and a leg brace and crutches/ a cane later, I am now banned (by my husband) from jumping in any more jumpers! ;)

For the party, I opted to use my cane so I could have more mobility. Of course, the cane had to fit the party theme.

The reason behind our Safari theme is our special guests that came.

Pacific Animal Productions chauffeured our special guests and gave the party attendees a surprise treat!

The first friend that visited was a Fennec Fox.

Adorable, right???

Then an African Savannah Monitor was up next.

DJ even got a special kiss from this guy. (ewwww)

I wish I could keep this Wallaby in my backyard!!!!

The Kinkajou wanted nothing to do with our show. He preferred to be shy and in his cage.

The grand finale was a python! The kids LOVED this and weren’t even afraid of it when it slithered across their legs!

DJ is SO BEYOND happy about being able to hold the python.

Thank you to everyone that shared this special day with DJ. He had an awesome time and can’t stop talking about his party.