Birthday, Barnyard, Big Truck, Baseball and Basement Cleaning

Alliteration. I can be such a MckMamma wanna be. The birthday is of course in reference to Ryan's big first birthday. What an amazing year, I've been busy and haven't slipped into the "this time last years too much", but I'm sure it is coming in the days to come. At this point, day 3, we were still in shock, trying to figure out what to do. When do we stay, when do we care for our older boys, when do the doctors round, when will they do the surgery, who are all of these people and what do they expect out of us? The list was endless and exhausting. I don't think I even started blogging until Sunday, Day 5 I think. I am planning to reread and add some reflections to my ordinal posts. One of my many projects in the works is using one of the blog to book services to print out those entries, so that Ryan can someday read about what happened during those first few months and the year that lead to Thursday, his amazing first birthday. I took Kyle and Grant to the farmstead for their very first visit on their exact first birthdays and was glad to make it a threepeat with Ryan. We had a wonderful day and I think Ryan enjoyed our short trip. Kyle is getting a little old for the farmstead, so after lunch, we were so fortunate as to happen by a Firestone grand opening that included and appearance by monster truck Big Foot. Not only did we get to see Big Foot up close and personal, but we showed up right as he was getting read to crush two old pickups, we didn't even have to wait. As he started the engine, I grabbed Ryan and ran inside thinking Grant would be ok. This proved to be wishful thinking and Mom had to carry my poor frightened little boy inside to me, I felt terrible, but he was soon feeling much better with the aid of a goody bag and piece of cake and the opportunity to watch from the window. The 3rd B for baseball has no photo documentation, but it did mark the first time all 5 of us have attended one of Kyle's games. I remember thinking last year while I was pregnant that maybe I would be pregnant at one game and then bring the baby to the next. It ended up taking a year for that to happen and I don't know if it was worth the wait as Ryan did not seem to be a fan of baseball, preferring instead to practice walking on the cement and climbing on the bleachers. I had wanted to go out to eat afterwards as we sometimes do on birthdays, but by the end of the game I just wanted to get him home where he could move unabated, that we settled on KFC drive through. This actually left us all in a better mood for present opening. Kyle and Grant had spent a good deal of time designing wrapping paper, making cards and making sure his presents were just so and they were both excited for their brothers big day. We are planning a small party tomorrow with just grand and god parents, then a big party in late July to celebrate one year home. The final B also has no associated photos for good reason as it stands for basement cleaning in preparation for our first big garage sale. The cleaning out the basement actually took place over Memorial day weekend and I really can't overstate how big of a job it was and how good it feels to have the basement back and free of all of the junk we have accumulated over the years. I enjoyed parts of the sale, like seeing little kids excited to get new toys, a grandma picking out clothes for her first grand baby and a young Hispanic family buying my old vacuum and several things for their baby on the way. Kyle also got into the sale, demoing his old toys in hopes of making a big sale. When Jason got home, his exact words were, "Dad, I made 17 dollars and I even got to talk to a Spanish guy. I think he meant Spanish speaking, but he was excited.

I did not take all three boys garage saleling today, the middle one wearing mismatched shows on the wrong feet. I also did not buy an Indiana Jones movie rated PG-13 for my 6 year old. 6 is not even 1/2 of 13 and I am a much better parent then that. If I had done that, I would have watched with him, not gone to the store for birthday cake making supplies. I am not up past midnight blogging when I still need to mop the floor and get ready to teach Children's LOTW tomorrow at church. I also did not give my baby a cupcake for snack for the express purpose of recreating his requisite first birthday cake eating pics in better light.