Yesterday I had the privilege of serving at 3-2-1 DASH with Elevation Outreach.  The 3-2-1 DASH is a 5K that helps to raise funds and awareness for the Down's Syndrome Society of Charlotte.  My friend, Cat, has 3 #21 chromosomes.  It is always a privilege to serve alongside of Cat.  The picture below is of her and her father, George.  George ran the 5K. 

After serving at the DASH all morning and coming home for a quick nap, I went to church with my good friends the Mackay family at Transformation Church.  It was awesome to worship with my friends.  

Today is Daniel's 5th birthday.  Not surprisingly, Daniel chose Red Robin for his birthday lunch.  He also chose "Cars" for his party theme.  Here's a picture of the birthday boy blowing his candles out. 

As always, Daniel asked for helicopters for his birthday.  To his relief, Nana and Papa gave him helicopters.  Uncle Scott & Aunt Julie (that's me) gave him a playmobil car and....a rocket launcher.  The rockets launch when you step on an air pillow (see top of picture for rocket).

A few more pictures from today:

 

Even Sophie came to the party.

One more picture before I go.  Here's a picture of what happens at my house almost every night....

The Week In Blossom

Thursday night, Blossom locked us out of the house.  Yes, BLOSSOM locked us out of the house.  Scott and I were sitting outside with Greta when we heard a scratch at the front door.  I tried to open it, but it was locked.  The thing is, you can't lock our door from the outside without a key; therefore, Blossom locked us out of the house.  As she watched us out the window through her sad eyes, I foolishly tried persuading her to unlock it. 

Trying to open the door and get to her family, I'm not sure if she locked it with her nose or her paw.

Thankfully, Scott remembered he had left one of the basement windows open.  Unfortunately, he had to break a screen to get in.

Together again; all is right in Blossom's world.

April is National Autism Awareness Month.  I love someone with Autism....and here she is! These are photos from Laura's horse therapy on Thursday.  Oh dear, sweet, beautiful Laura.  I pray for the day you will talk to me.  I can't wait to know what you think about riding horses.  They say you love to talk and sing in your Laura language while you are riding.  I'd give anything to know what you are saying. 

Oh how I'd love to ask you what is going through your mind in this picture.  Are you flying?  Do you feel free?

Driving home from work yesterday, I saw my dad and my nephew cutting the grass together.  I stopped and took a few pictures.

Dad said he caught on really quick however, he liked to drive it too fast.  I just hope Dad trains him well because we will be counting on Daniel to mow our grass in a few years. 

I'm off to pack now.  Headed to Raleigh to watch the Carolina Hurricanes play tonight.

Instagram Ketchup

For those of you who don't follow me on Instagram (Lorraine) here is my "Instagram Week In Review":

Greta was taking a cat nap when Balto decided he wanted the spot beside her.  She was not amused.  

Oops she did it again...

All of my animals like Scott the best...

 

Balto fell asleep on top of his toys. 

Last night, Christy and I went to the Checkers' game.  They're in the middle of a playoff push and won the game in a shootout hugely in part to this guy.

We had the pleasure of hearing the guy behind us give his date "play by play" of the entire game. Very loudly. Clearly he wanted her to think he knew what was going on.  Sometimes he did.  Sometimes he did not and it was all I could do to sit there quietly.  Our main problem with the guy was that his girlfriend was not blind and she didn't need him to tell her the obvious.  But, we had fun with it and decided to describe the game to each other as if we were that guy.  When the announcer said the game would be going into a shootout I informed Christy that the players would not be using actual guns....however, that might be the only thing that could make a shootout more exciting than it already is!  I have a love/hate relationship with shootouts. They make me nervous! 

I watched the kids this afternoon so that my brother could attend the funeral of a very dear friend of ours.  Here's Daniel kicked back watching some toons on NickJr.  

At age four, Daniel already has a wicked sense of humor.  I asked him what he learned about in church today and he gave me a knowing smile and said, "God".  So I asked him if he knew who God is.  He said "Jesus".  Then I asked him if Jesus loved me and he told me that Jesus loves everyone.  *Smiles*

Daniel is a very smart kid.  So smart that his PreK teachers say he is by far the smartest kid in the class.  In fact, my mom said that they mentioned he might be a genius if he could just focus.  For this reason, they want him tested for Asperger's Syndrome.  I had not even thought of this possibility although having a sibling on the autism spectrum does make him a much higher risk.  Even though I take Daniel to school every day, I've never actually seen him with his class so I'm not sure how he interacts with them in that setting. Either way, he's just a super fun kid to be around.  

(I tried to take a picture of Laura but she wouldn't look at the camera.)

I guess I should say that I might be starting to understand and actually kind of...maybe...sort of...like my job.  The next few weeks are going to be very hard for me; I have to do a lot of accounting BUT, if I can do it....I might just be ok. 

Tough work week but I'm headed to Raleigh next weekend to see the Hurricanes.  Woohoo! 

Ketchup

Since we last spoke, I made a new friend...

It may come as a surprise to my blog reader, Sophie (my family's dog) is still with us!  Two and a half years ago they told us she had a very aggressive cancer.  Here's a picture from last week:

Sophie is such a joy.  I try to visit with her at least every other day.  We've had the privilege of being loved by her for 13-14 years so far. 

Here's a recent picture of Laura.  She lost her two front teeth early last fall and I sure can't see any sign of the new ones yet.  Poor thing...can't bite into an apple.

I have the "never dull" task of driving this one to PreK every morning.

 

Blossom has the best posture in dog world.

I really don't know what to say about this one.

 

He seems to sleep with his mouth open about 65% of the time.  Balto always knows how to get comfortable.

Most importantly, here's our oldest.  She turns 15 later this summer!  I guess she'll be asking for a car soon.  

 

 More to follow....

Old Time St. Patrick's Day Hockey Pub Crawl

The last time I saw my friend Megan was Christmas 2012 at an ugly Christmas sweater party that she hosted in her home.  Needless to say, it had been too long.  You can imagine my excitement when not long ago, Megan told me that she had never been to a Checkers Hockey game and wanted to go. Last night, we finally got together for a game. 

I was so focused on "Old Time Hockey" night at the game that it didn't even occur to me that people would be out celebrating St. Patrick's Day.  Turns out it was Charlotte's 14th Annual St. Patrick's Day Pub Crawl.  Now get this, not only did I not even know about this pub crawl, it is known as the "World's Largest Pub Crawl" and has even been featured on the Travel Channel's show "Extreme" on an episode called "Extreme Parties"!!! 

Let's back up...I had taken Blossom and Balto to the groomer yesterday.  Due to an overbooked schedule, it took them much longer to get to the "Barker Twins" than it should have.  Fast forward, I picked Megan up about 30 minutes later than I had anticipated.  To try and make up for lost time, I decided not to take the train downtown and drive instead.  The closer we got to downtown Charlotte we realized that may have been a mistake.  Traffic was gridlocked by a sea of green t-shirts.  

As it turns out, over 19,000 tickets (shirts) were sold for yesterday's event and well over 20,000 people attended.  Here is a picture of the ticket purchase area...

 

Some other random photos from the crawl...

  

From the French Quarter....

(All of the above photos are from the @RichandBennett twitter account) 

If we had arrived "on time" we were going to grab a bite to eat at The EpiCentre.  It's probably a good thing that we didn't because this tweet was found on Twitter....

@ClevelandViking posted the above picture from The EpiCentre with this tag:  

"That #awkward moment when you come downtown for a @CheckersHockey game and have to deal with this. #StPatricksDay"

So...back to our night.  It is Old Time Hockey Weekend with the Checkers and the Hanson Brothers from the 1977 Paul Newman movie Slap Shot attended again this year.  If you've seen the movie, you'll remember the Hanson Brothers.  The "brothers" have aged well and almost look the exact same as they did in 1977. 

While Slap Shot is usually ranked side by side with CaddyShack as the best sports movie of all time, I really can't say that it was my kind of movie.  It's a little "rough" for my taste.

On to the game...  The first 4,000 to arrive received special glasses for the game.  Here's a picture of Megan and I.  Not only did Megan rock her glasses but she even made the shirt she is wearing!!!

Thanks for a fun night Megan!  We'll have to do it again.

PS.  Doesn't Megan look like a superhero in this picture?

Remember Me?

It has been a while since my last post.  I really didn't think I'd ever post again.  There's something weird about putting your thoughts out there for everyone to read.  I like to think of my life as an open book but I guess it really isn't.  Unless you count Twitter.  Then I guess it is. 

Dad had a total hip replacement 4 weeks ago and has already been released from all of his restrictions.  He is back to driving a car and getting around without any sort of assistance from a walker or cane.  It's rather surprising how well this surgery went.  Dad has always been my superhero.

Laura is still Laura and autism is still autism.  I love her with my whole heart but I'm not sure how to exist on her planet.  I'm taking some ABA training online so that I know how to "be" around her so that I can help her be the best Laura she can be.  Funny thing about autism....it sucks.  

Daniel is a little comedian.  I'm still driving my almost 5 year old nephew to PreK every morning.  As he was getting in the car on Wednesday he said, "It's dirty car day".  I knew the answer before I asked the question but I asked it anyway...  "Why do you say that Daniel?"  "Because your car is dirty inside and outside."  Touché.