The Busiest Ever!

We're off to a late start on one of the busiest weeks we have ever had! Unbelievably the alarm wasn't heard this morning and so our tiny pickle woke around 7:40 and thankfully was heard over the monitor alerting us all to the fact that we had overslept. Dave and the kids jumped out of bed and took off for school and the office and the pickle...well her diaper was changed and by the time I came back in to pick her up from throwing it away was sleeping with her little hands tucked behind her head. Guess she figured she did her job and didn't need to stay awake.

Anyway, Blake will be turning 13 this Thursday. That is even more unbelievable! We are planning a huge birthday surprise here at the house that can only be worked on during the day and late at night while he is sleeping so that we don't alert him as to what is coming his way. Needless to say its a little difficult hiding such a huge surprise from him and even more difficult working on it while I am taking care of Ashley Kate. Our hope is to have it completed some time Wednesday evening and allow him to walk out to find it Thursday morning before he leaves for school. If we don't finish it then I suppose it could wait until Thursday evening, but he won't be home until after 8pm. He would go the entire day thinking we were doing nothing for his birthday. Then Friday evening we are hosting the ULTIMATE game of capture the flag in the woods at his grandparents house(I get to fill 500 water balloons by 5pm on Friday). The party is scheduled to end around 9pm and then we will be leaving that night( I assume by midnight) to his baseball tournament.

On top of all the birthday plans Allie is going to be playing as a guest player with another soccer team in a tournament in two weeks. In order to do this we will be adding 2 more soccer practices to her weekly schedule. This makes for a total of 5 soccer practices, 2 soccer games, 2 baseball practices, 2 Tae Kwon Do classes, physical therapy, riding therapy, a huge birthday party, and a baseball tournament all in 1 week. Oh yeah, and the completion of the birthday gift. Whew. I'm tired and its only 9am on Monday. Dave will be working late most nights this week giving and preparing for lectures in the community. He will be available to help during a few of his lunch hours. All of our normal helpers with Ash are out of town(our mom's and his grandma) so his dad is jumping in to help run the kids on the nights that their schedules over lap each other(most nights this week!).

I'm so excited about Blake's birthday. I just know he's going to love what we have planned. I can't think of a more deserving kid than our son to have such a huge surprise awaiting him. Ashley Kate and I have missed his last two birthdays and he has had to give up those two birthday parties. She was transplanted in 2006 just 6 days before he turned 11 and then went into rejection 10 days before he turned 12. He never complained, never made me feel as though he was missing out on anything, never said a word about it either year. His only concern was Ash. He is an absolute joy to parent and has been since the day he was born. I love him so much and can't wait to see the look on his face.

Well, Ash and I are off to begin the taping (did I mention I have to completely paint a room for this surprise?) and to get started while the kids are in school. We only have a few hours before the running begins so we better make good use of our time.

Have I told you how much I LOVE living at home? We are so,so blessed. Have a great week. Trish