Birthday Time Again

A few weeks have passed since our youngest child's (L) birthday and he is still talking about his special day with a big smile on his face and is full of anticipation for his next birthday.  I love purposefully planting happy memories and love that he was so taken by his day. I enjoy planning my children's birthdays and taking time out to really think about my child, what they would like and how I can make them feel special.  L joining our family was a very special time for us and definitely worthy of a celebration - we are so thankful for him!

 

Typically, we will ask the child what they would like for their birthday - present wise and how they would like to celebrate.  Sometimes they would like a party, other times they want an experience or a meal out.  The birthday child chooses the meals for the day, tells me the cake he'd like and has unlimited computer time (that's the only time, so is very special to them). They are normally busy enjoying other things to be clued to the screen all day anyway.

 

 

 

L chose coco pops for breakfast and party food.  He loves Ben 10, so wanted a Ben 10 cake and party theme.  (He also loves skylanders swapforce).  Personally, I would rather a pirate theme or a younger character but its his day so he gets to chose and I have to accept he's growing up - even though he is just 4.  He really wanted to have a party this year with his friends. This year he has been invited to quite a few friends from preschool parties and has been patiently waiting for his turn.  He didn't have any grand ideas for a party, just that he wanted one.  He doesn't have a massive group of friends so a soft play type of party we ruled out due to numbers and decided to do a party in the garden with a few of his friends and our family.

 

 

 

As I said before, Ben 10 not my favourite but it is L's, parties are a  great time to get really creative.  Pinterest can give you lots of ideas on little touches on the theme to make it stand out.  If you can't make their brilliant ideas or have the time, someone is normally selling the product on Ebay.  I managed to get a great deal on Ben 10 tableware at party pieces so I decided to do that.  I also read Annabell Karmels party planner book and took to making the food as creative as possible (for me).  Sandwiches I made in advance and froze, cupcakes I bought value and then decorated with L, sausages bought precooked but presented in a fun way.  This way I didn't spend ages prepping food.  I made his cake from scratch but bought a paper cake topper of Ben 10 from Ebay.  The running order of the party went:

 

Hello and welcome

Decorating biscuits

Free play - I had football goals and water play table set up in the garden along with balloons and we have a trampoline

Party games - musical chairs (that did not go well - not quite old enough), pin the tail, traffic lights, musical statues and pass the parcel

Food and Cake

After the food, L and his friends played with his toys inside as it was getting too hot outside.

 

 

 

Party bags were simple, cake, balloon, sweets, sticker and a small gift. Party prizes were a sweet from the tin.  It was easy to clear up as they spent most of their time in the garden.  We did the party in the morning and the afternoon, more family came to visit and he opened presents through the day. 

 

Looking forward to the next one!

 

Below is L eating a white chocolate covered marshmallow dipped in sprinkles.

 

I'm Back!

Well its been over a year since I last blogged, not an intentional decision but life just moved at a pace which meant for that season, I needed to concentrate all my efforts at home. I was hoping to keep blogging so that our long distance friends could see what we've been up to since re-locating.  However, we are now in this place so thought I'd give you an update and will unpack more in later posts. 

 

It has been a really busy season for us.  Upon moving here, we struggled to find a suitable school for our eldest son.  This meant we started a new chapter of home schooling and fighting the system in order to get him in the right setting.  This was a hard fight but we won! He is now at an excellent school -Thames Valley School.  It is a free ASD school sponsored by the NAS.  The week B started school, we then got told the landlord wanted his property back.  We looked into buying but there was not enough time to complete so we quickly found a rental house that we thought would do us for the next 6 months, whilst we looked to buy.  However there was lots of stress with contracts and things going wrong.  We did move in, a month before Christmas.  Christmas felt a little bare as when we packed, we put a lot of our things into storage and just got out what we would need for the next 6 months.

 

During this time our 2nd eldest N, had started the process of diagnosis which we are still going through.  We had to change his diet to low salicylate which meant quite a rethink as he could no longer eat a lot of vegetables and fruit. He is now back to eating normally - Thank you Lord! Its a completely different system to Poole and we are slowly working our way through it. Obviously moving here we had new doctors for B, (although not CAMHS, even though we saw them weekly previously). The NHS service is just different here.  This has led to some more diagnosis' for B, which helps us to understand him more. Our youngest L, has speech delay and has been assessed and is now on the long waiting list...  Thankfully he will be starting a school which has a resourced provision for speech and was told by one his therapists that it was the best school in the area for speech.

 

After Christmas, we started searching to buy a house and this is when the market turned.  It was hard finding and viewing a property before it got snapped up.  This led to so many disappointments as well as being outbid, offers accepted only to then be gazumped - a big rollercoaster.  We eventually found a property but then there was a problem with the mortgage and it was really heart breaking when it all fell through.  I felt like the whole thing had been such a big waste of time and was so disappointed. House prices had escalated to the point where we could no longer reach so it was time to accept this was not the plan for us.  We started to unpack and clear out, making this place our new home.

 

Along with all of this, from moving down here Jon and I between us have lost 5 people.  The first being Ally Mullany.  She was the head teacher of the boys school down in Poole.  Not every parent has a lot to do with their children's head teacher but we did.  She was vibrant, petite lady with bright red hair.  She was very caring and did whatever she could to support us.  We went through some really hard times whilst my children schooled there.  She had been to our home and my children had travelled in her car.  It was unexpected and a shock when she died, being so far away, grieving felt odd as technically we did say our goodbyes and she gave us a present.  About 2 months later my aunt was diagnosed with lung cancer and it was terminal, a few more months my uncle died of emphysema.  My aunt, from diagnosis only lived a couple of weeks.  I remember back to my childhood and how she faithfully sent birthday cards.  Even though she wasn't a part of the everyday, she thought of us and was part of our story. I remember how funny my uncle was, he had a great sense of humour and made me laugh.  I remembered back to the parties that my parents used to throw and seeing him dressed up.  It is sad to loose family and to see the pain that's left behind.  It is a good reminder on how short this life is, and how family comes together during these times, to love, support and remember.  This year, Jon lost his aunt and his brother in laws, father.  Whilst I don't remember his aunt I did know his brother in laws, father.  Its quite scary when relatives near/close to your parents age start to die.  Whilst I feel we have had a lot of deaths recently, it doesn't make it easier.  I know more about funerals than I care too.

 

Its been an eventful year with more than that to add but they're not my stories to share.  It has been challenging at times but we have also experienced many blessings.  Life has not worked out quite as we had thought but we have peace in God and will trust in His plan for us.  Yes, I am still glad we chose to relocate! 

Now that I have got my excuses for not blogging out of the way I hope to be back soon :)

 

If you are new to reading my blog, or want to find out more about me then please read my testimony May 2011 posts and for our autism story look at posts starting from 30/4/2012 Thanks.