LIttle b's 11th Birthday

I'm back with pictures and everything! I am very excited that after a short trip to Staples, I am now able to download pictures to my buddy #2....my laptop. Buddy #1 is my big, goofy, yellow lab...named of course, Buddy.

On Friday we celebrated little b's 11th birthday. All day long he kept asking me if he were really 11 years old. He loved hearing that he actually came into this world at 4:19PM, crying, screaming and not wanting to be bothered by all of those people in that cold, bright room. He was born by C-section as were two of my other 3 children.What made little b's grand entrance so different was that when the doctor made his incision, little b was crying his little heart out before he was even removed from my uterus. The doctor even was surprised at his set of vocal cords. Needless to say little b's personality has changed little. He remains demanding, loud and stubborn...resistant to change. Even so...he is still my little b...even though he weighs more and his taller than me.

Back to his birthday though. We took 3 of his friends to the PHILLIES game for a fantastic extra inning game with fireworks to boot. There were 10 of us going, mom mom, Big B's sister, A, the 3 boys, S , E and myself. We took 2 cars. Big B had the 5 boys in his Jeep while us girls drove down in my van. As we were driving down Broad Street not too far from Temple U....Big B calls my cell and states that he has a flat tire UGH! Not to fear. The 5 boys then joined A, S and myself in my 7 passenger van. Mom mom went to wait for AAA to come and fix the Jeep. Yes, 8 of us sitting in a 7 seat van. I now realize that I don't fit between the two seats in the middle row of the van...even sitting on the floor. My buttinski got squashed but it was okay because everyone else was seated properly using a seat belt. We finally made it to Citizens Bank Park, registered Little b's birthday and walked a very long time to our seats in the nosebleed oops I mean upper level section. We all had a great time, especially me after I tasted the first sip of that cold, crisp Coors Light which was needed badly by that point.

The Phillies ended up winning in extra innings and the fireworks were awesome. S was so tired by that time...nearly midnight, that she actually fell sound asleep during the show. I didn't think it was humanly possible for someone to be able to sleep through a very loud firework display but I was wrong.

The pictures posted do not do the fireworks any justice. They were spectacular as usual and my stinking camera did not capture the true beauty of the display.

To describe some of the pictures in my post....

I had mentioned in my previous post that my beloved KIRBY had been broken and repaired. I had taken pictures of two of my favorites this week, 1 of course is S and the other favorite is my vacuum. I missed my Kirby and I'm glad it's back in my arms.

There is another picture posted of E with a ladybug. He asked me to take a picture of it so...I did.

The family picture was taken by our social worker for our 1 year update. The picture and every other family picture taken will forever remain bittersweet for me. I feel truly blessed that God has given me the chance to be a mom again with S. But as I look closely at that picture I realize that there is one huge part of our family missing. My precious Katie. She is still my first daughter and many times it hurts that she is not here physically to share in our joy and to play with her little sister. There are still many times I wonder why life had to throw me this particular hand at cards. I sometimes still question "why" but quickly dismiss it as I would rather not bring those feelings of grief back to the surface. I am presently reading When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Harold Kushner. I was given the book to read within a month or two after Katie's death but I have no recollection of what I read. I am now rereading it in the hopes to settle my sometimes questioning mind. But that could be a whole other post.

For now, I must close. I hope everyone enjoys the pictures and I relaly enjoy reading everyone's comments.

Until the next time,

J