Autism Birthday Parties Aplenty

When your child is on the more severe end of the autism spectrum, social engagement invitations are not overflowing in your mailbox.  Which, quite frankly, is just fine with me.  When he was in Pre-K we got many of the obligatory invitations in which they must invite every child in their class to a party if they invite anyone.  Me chasing after him and trying to get him to interact in any birthday party activities that he could have cared less about while strangers are watching and he is just getting more overwhelmed with the loudness of the amount of children running around...well just sounds like a super fun time for all involved!!

However, we have a great group of families that we met starting four or five years ago through our support group that have become great friends.  Getting invitations to their kids birthday parties are like a big score....autism friendly birthday parties ROCK, at least for Bobby and his peers!!

Somehow, Bobby ended up with invitations to birthday parties for the past four weeks in a row.  I know, he is turning into quite the social butterfly.  Even though they are autism friendly parties, there are still some struggles that are unique to each special needs child that attends.

Our first birthday party of the month was not for a child with autism, but for the younger sibling of a child with autism who has had all these "quirky" children hanging around him all of his life.  He is used to them, like it or not.  When his mother invited Bobby to his party, I decided that we would only come to the second half of the party.  To another autism mom, this is totally normal and OK, no explanation needed.

Why wasn't I taking him to the entire party?  He had been to this particular facility numerous times and I was 100% sure that Bobby would be throwing a fit until he got to the swimming pool since he knew that it was there.  He would not have played nicely in the gym area and could care less about basketball.  He also doesn't care to sit and watch someone open their presents and eat cake.  Nope, all he would want would be SWIMMING!!!!

I was right, as soon as I pulled into the parking lot he started, "in the pool...in the pool...in the pool." He got out of the car and walked nicely with me to the building and he was stripping his shirt off the closer that we got so that he could be ready as soon as we opened the door.

The aspect of this birthday party that was the easiest.....buying a present for the birthday boy.  After all, this was for a typical child who likes to play with toys.  This was a breeze.  A new soccer ball, nerf ball, frisbee and I know that he will use them and wear them out.  Bobby played happily, by himself, in the pool while there were other kids running around from the pool to the hot tub to the pool mostly playing together.  Bobby had a GREAT time!!!

The following week's birthday party was for a girl who is also on the autism spectrum.  Historically, she has not wanted to open any presents or participate in a typical birthday party, very similar to Bobby.  Her mom decided to have a small party at a local park that is on her, as well as Bobby's, list of acceptable places to play.  The party was scheduled for right after school because there would be the best chance that the park would be empty while most people are getting home from school and having dinner before getting out for the evening to play.  One of the other invited guests ended up being sick, so the party list ended up being Bobby and the birthday girl, which was PERFECT for both children involved.

As moms in this specific situation, we often wonder what to do...celebrate or not celebrate?!  Is it for the kids or for the moms?  But, I'm pretty sure that you could ask this question over many other kids birthday parties today.  However, this case isn't the same thing.  This isn't a mom trying to out do another mom, this is just a mom trying to make her child's birthday special.  This definitely was not in the mommy handbook that we read while we were pregnant...what to do if your special needs child does not want to celebrate anything.  We instead have to look to our fellow special needs families and our children's behavioral therapists.  Yes, we sometimes even have to add "opening a present" to their behavioral programs....yes, we have to teach some of our children how to open a present.  If we don't bother with these things when they are young, they may never get it.  So we soldier on and try to plan a zero stress party for our children and hope beyond all hope that it is at least a little successful and that we don't end up going home after the party and cry our eyes out because our child hated every second of the party that was planned in their honor.

I am so pleased to announce that the party was a huge success!!!  The birthday girl and Bobby both had fun!!  No tears shed, no fits thrown....just a small intimate party for the two of them and a third guest that included a little boy that was almost 3, who came to play at the park, that had a super fun time.

As for a gift for the birthday girl, books were the obvious option.  She picks out a book from her collection every day and carries that one book around with her all day long.  I picked out a few that I thought that she might like and put them into a gift bag so that she could look in and not have to unwrap anything.  Her mom told me later that I scored with the Baby Einstein Halloween book that I picked out.  Even better news, she opened wrapped gifts on her actual birthday without any fits!! Whoo Hoo!!

The birthday party for the following week was for one of our support group kids that has Fragile X Syndrome, which is on the autism spectrum.  Bobby really enjoyed his birthday party last year because it was at a gymnastics center and they got to jump on trampolines for two hours.  This year the party was at an outdoor retreat area.  The scheduled activities included a bonfire to make s'mores, a hayride, pumpkin painting, playground area and food.  I wasn't sure how well Bobby would do at the party, but I knew that he would love the hour long ride to get to the party.  The fact that the trees were in full color was just an added bonus for the drive.

When I parked the car he could hardly wait for me to open the door.  There was a pond and Bobby was in heaven.  He went right over and parked himself in the grass with Mommy right beside him.

He kept sliding down closer and closer to the water and trying to get in and I would have to verbally prompt him back to sit beside me.  We did this for almost an hour.  One of my autism mom friends came over and sat with us to talk.  Bobby never went over to the birthday boy to say "Happy Birthday" or "thanks for inviting me" or any of those social requirements and the birthday boy didn't expect them or come over and say "thanks for coming to my party" or any of those social requirements.  This is what I really love about taking Bobby to autism kid birthday parties, social norms are pretty much thrown out the door....how much they are thrown out depends on the functioning level of the child and how much the parents are using the time as a teaching lesson.  Kids that are higher functioning will be working on these behaviors much more.

Then the parents announced that the hay ride would be starting soon.  I didn't know whether or not Bobby would like the hay ride or if I was going to try and then I realized that this was the perfect place to try.  If I needed to stop the hay ride to get him off, everyone there would completely understand.  I asked him if he wanted to go on a hay ride and I got zero response.  Then I changed my approach to something that he knew, "Do you want to go mow grass?"  He jumped right up and walked over to the tractor.  He was about ready to climb on the tractor drivers' lap, so I redirected him to the back.  The result....he LOVED the hay ride.  We stayed on and took the second trip too. Each hay ride was fairly long, 15-20 minutes long and Bobby was calm and happy for both rides.

This party was perfect for Bobby, and the birthday boy, a couple of hours spent enjoying nature. They didn't have to join in games.  There were activities set up if they wanted to participate or even if you wanted to take it home to complete.  But there is was no pressure put on the kids to do anything unless they wanted to.  It was so much fun to watch Bobby be so happy at a brand new place.

I knew that he would enjoy the final birthday party of the month.  Why?  This party is an annual tradition.  The birthday boy likes the same party every year....a swimming party.  Every October for the past 4 or 5 years, we have been going to a swimming birthday party for one of the boys that we met through our support group.

One great thing about this being the same each year, the kids know exactly what to expect...swimming, just swimming.  No games, no prizes, no food or drinks....just swimming.  Get in and have fun kids!!!  This was also an exciting year, because NONE of the parents from our support group had to get into the water with the kids.  They are all full fledged swimmers!!!  Yay kids!!

One particular reason that there is no cake at this child's party....he can't stand to hear the song "Happy Birthday."  For some unknown reason, the song upsets him tremendously and it takes him quite a while to get himself calmed down.  A super fun problem when you go to a restaurant because you just NEVER know when they are going to bring out a cake and start singing to a guest.  It is also fun to explain this to someone who just does not understand autism.

To all of my autism friends that invited Bobby to their child's birthday parties....Thank You!!  I can honestly say, he had a GREAT time!!!!

Pumpkin Waffle Breakfast

I opened up the pantry on this beautiful autumn morning to decide what to make for breakfast. Bobby had toast earlier, so I was just worrying about Daddy and me.  I saw the box of waffle mix and the decision was made.  I then went and laid on the couch for a while longer, no need to use up all of my energy so quickly.

I started thinking about what I was going to cook for meals this weekend.  Blah, who wants to think about that??!!  Maybe I'll make Bob some pumpkin muffins started going through my head since I have two cans of pumpkin in the pantry.  Then I jumped up off of the couch and went back into the kitchen.  I'm going to make pumpkin waffles.  Not sure why on earth I got so excited, but I did.  I looked and score, I have pumpkin pie spice in the cabinet!!  Whoo Hoo!!  Now I'm really excited. Yes, I know, I REALLY need to get a life.  

If you have been with Bobby's World for a long time, you know that I like to get Bobby as involved in the kitchen as I can.  I prep all of the ingredients into small bowls so that he can pour everything into the big bowl.  He is such a great helper!

 You just KNOW that this is going to be awesome!!

 In with the water, then the oil....

 Followed by the egg.  Yes, he is so delicate and gentle....if you look closely, you can see powder exploding up into the air from the egg drop.  FYI, if you decide to try these for yourself, I was worried how much pumpkin puree to put in because I didn't want to make the batter too wet.  I made the box recipe for 4-5 waffles and decreased the amount of water I used by 1/4 C.  I used 1/2 of a 15 oz. can of pumpkin and I could have used 3/4 can, everything else I followed the box directions and added 2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice.

 The house smells of pumpkin pie, lovely for an autumn morning.  Then I got an even better idea!!!!  I had 1/3 of a container of cream cheese frosting in the fridge from the pumpkin cupcakes that I made a couple of weeks ago.

 By this time, I had no choice.  I had to get it out, put it in a ziplock bag to use as a pastry bag and drizzle, ha ha "drizzle," well, put large dollops of icing on each waffle quarter.  Bobby counted for me to make sure that there were 4....there were.  Great Job Mom!!

 As I was making one for myself, Daddy yelled in from the living room, where he was eating his waffle in front of the tv.  "These are REALLY good!!"   Breakfast success!!!

No Bobby didn't eat one, but he did smell all of the smell out of one.  He just couldn't get himself to take a bite.  A little while ago he did ask for popcorn.  Really buddy, you want Mommy to make popcorn??  I gave in and popped some corn which the smell combined with the pumpkin pie smell and french vanilla cappuccino....I have to say, I LOVE AUTUMN.  Yum yum!!  

Autism Mom Friends....What Would I Do Without Them??

Bobby was diagnosed with autism just months before his third birthday.  He had been receiving Early Intervention services through our state, but it seemed like it was a lot of planning with no implementation.  We just weren't getting the help that Bobby really needed.  I took Bobby to multiple evaluations with our county Board of Education before he aged out of EI services to have a plan in place for the school system to take over after his birthday.  Due to the fact that Bobby's birthday is in May and I didn't want to start him in school in May for only a few short weeks until summer vacation, we were left with a couple of months with no help.  Actually, I was a little relieved to have a break from all of these meetings and evaluations and STRESS!!!  However, the fact of the matter was, Bobby needed help and everything that I read stated emphatically, the earlier the help the better.

I made an appointment with a new mental health doctor for Bobby.  I am going to be 100% honest here, the real reason that I was making the appointment was my last hope that I was going to take him into this doctor's office and he was going to say, "That Birth To Three psychologist is crazy, there is nothing wrong with this boy!!"  Thirty seconds into the appointment it was clear to me that this wasn't going to happen.  However, I left this appointment more prepared than I had left any other meeting thus far.  I liked him.  He said, "Do this."  He didn't say, "What do you think that we should do?"  I left with scripts for neurological testing, therapies and follow up appointments with this man whose diplomas on the wall showed that he was a true Medical Doctor and he wanted to work in mental health and especially with children.  Now, before you all ask who he is, he moved away.  I have no idea where he is and honestly, I would have to go through old papers to even find out what his name is.

He said something during our first appointment that really stayed with me.  As Bobby was crawling all over this man's lap, and this doctor happily gave Bobby a pony ride on his knee, he said, "One day you will know every other autism parent in the area."

What did he know that I didn't????  Because at this point in time, I knew NO ONE and had never felt so alone in my life.  How was I supposed to met these people??  Was I supposed to go up to someone in a store when I saw their kid flapping his hands and say "Hi, my son has autism too?"  What if they didn't know yet, they would surely hate me forever.  This was pre-Facebook, so I couldn't search out other autism moms on there, besides, I had a 3 year old son with autism who I couldn't leave alone for one second.  I didn't have time then to be on the computer and when I was on the computer every second was spent trying to learn as much about autism as I could.

My first autism mom friend came into my life the day or two before Bobby started his first day of Pre-K.  Oh my word, the stress that I was experiencing at this time.  Well her's was even worse.  She was working outside of the home and didn't have anyone to watch her son for the 30 minutes from the time he got off of the school bus until she could be home from work.  When someone from the school came out to my house to do some paperwork the week before school was to begin, she told me of her situation and wondered if I could help (I had an in-home day care at the time).  The school person gave me the mom's phone number and told me to call her if I could, do nothing if I couldn't.

I called, she screamed (with relief).  Their entire family came over to my house the next day to meet my family and for the first time I was meeting a child other than my own who had autism.  More importantly, I was meeting another autism mom.  This woman and I live parallel lives.  Our kids are in the same grade at the same school and we have become the best of friends.

Our boys started school and were adjusting to their new life.  I started Bobby in Occupational and Speech therapies at a private therapy center to supplement what he was receiving at school.  His occupational therapist, who also owned the therapy center, was very optimistic about Bobby's motor abilities and just in general seemed positive.  So I began asking him questions.  This poor man, every time I brought Bobby in for therapy, I had a list of questions.  "Do you know anyone who's tried this?"  "Do you know anyone who.....?"  Through our conversations I told him that I was a social worker (in my previous life before autism) and I guess he felt confident enough with me being a representative of his business.  Finally, his response to my ever growing list of questions, "Would you like to start a support group here?"  Me, "Yes?!?!"

It really didn't take that much work to get started.  He let us use the building.  We picked a time, every second Saturday of the month from 10-noon.  He even provided childcare.  I made a flier.  He posted it.  I sent the flier to our early intervention program.  He sent it to a couple of mental health facilities in the area.

Our first meeting was full.  I couldn't believe it.  There were more people in my town going through exactly what I was going through.  They were tired, wanting to meet others, tired, excited to learn about different treatments that others had tried, tired, worried about their child with autism just outside the door playing in the big indoor playroom, and tired just like me!!!!

I continued to run the support group for the next couple of years, but after a while I didn't need the large group anymore.  I met my best friends there.  I see most of these people often in therapy office waiting rooms, at recreational events for people with disabilities, at playdates, at birthday parties,at school, and most often on Facebook.  However, a few of these women have become my life lines.

I have no idea why it helps so much to know that there is someone else out there going through the same things that you are.  Being able to talk to someone without having to explain things or sugar coat it has been such a help to my mental well being.  We save the real "nitty gritty" behaviors that our children experience for each other, and our families.  Even though our other friends want to listen and help, it just isn't the same...for me, at least.  Don't get me wrong, I love and cherish my other friends, but with them, our friendship wasn't formed on this one commonality, it is based on some other point in our history together....school, work, family.

With my fellow autism moms.....we laugh together.  We cry together.  We brainstorm together.  We cry together.  We vent together. We cry together.  We love our children through some extreme behaviors together.  We talk honestly together.    Most importantly, we celebrate the smallest achievements that our children make together.  Trust me our relationships and conversations are not 100% on autism. We do now how to go out and have fun!  However, therapies, doctors, medications, school, etc. are always going to be top on our topic list.

My number one suggestion to anyone that has a child just diagnosed with autism is to seek out a support system.  Look for a support group in your area.  The support group isn't going to seek you out and call you and invite you.  Most of the times these groups are run by moms just like me who just do not have time to look for new members.  You have to be the one to seek them out.  They will be more than happy to invite you in to the group!!!  Facebook is also a great source on support.  There are some great bloggers and sites out there for any topic.  You just have to search and join.  They too are very happy to make some new friends.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiQzUEc_FmI

So, to all of the autism moms that I have met over the past 7 years and to those who I haven't yet met....I don't know what I would do without you!!!!

Craziness

Last night I posted this comment on Facebook:

Bobby is in desperate need of a haircut. Tomorrow is crazy hair day at school. It would be really wrong of me to cut only one side of his hair tonight.....wouldn't it????

Then my crazy friends started commenting...YES, DO IT!! and similar things.  You are all CRAZY too, thanks for being in my life!!!  However, in reality, the chance that an autism mom is just going to go cut just a portion of their child with autism's hair is what is crazy, especially that late in the evening on a school night.  I am definitely not ruining bedtime with a hair cut.

Crazy Hair-age 4 (aka. bedhead)

My autism mom friends are all in on the secret, we have to mentally prepare for getting or giving our children haircuts.  Come on, I would rather do just about anything than give Bobby a haircut.  The chance that I am taking him to a salon for one is just 100% totally out of the question.  Ain't gonna happen.  Poor kid is stuck with Mommy style haircuts.

Grooming children with autism is TORTURE for ALL involved!!  The poor kids act like you are killing them in a slow, horrible fashion.  Any one is a mile radius probably thinks that you are trying to kill to them too.

Crazy Hair-age 5 (aka. bedhead)

Thankfully this is one of the things, at least in my household, that is getting easier with age.  Bobby now lets me cut his fingernails with no problems.  After years of a lot of extremely hard work, Bobby will now let me brush his teeth, he doesn't like it, but we get through it.  There were literally years that he would not under any circumstance let me put a tooth brush in his mouth.  Fun times!!  Haircuts are so much easier than they were in past years, but we still have a long way to go.  For some weird reason, he does better with electric clippers than he does with scissors.  We used to use every bribe and behavioral strategy for getting through the hair cut, now we just muscle through and just get it done and save the reward for the complete end.  So, making him go through this two days in a row just to have a crazy hair style for school would just be wrong on my end.  Funny, but wrong!

I am just hopeful in the happy place in my brain, that one day he will just sit nicely for a hair cut.  For now, I am just mentally preparing for the hair cut that has to come in the very near future.

Crazy hair this morning, age 9.

A Letter To Me

I wouldn't write a letter to myself back in high school like Brad Paisley does in his song Letter to Me, I would write one to myself 7 years ago, when I was at my lowest, when my child was diagnosed with autism.  I honestly don't remember ME pre-autism, when I was dealing with all of the normal things that most people deal with and thinking that all of my problems were huge problems.  Boy, what did I know??!!  I'm not saying that my problems are bigger and more important than anyone else's problems, what I am saying is that they are much bigger and more important than any of the previous problems that I had experienced.  When your child has a disability, well, it becomes your life.  My autism mom friends and I often comment that we would NEVER want to go back to that time in our lives and relive that stress.  I would like to be able to share with myself the lessons that I have learned over the past 7 years.

Dear Me,
It gets better.  Honestly it does.  Sorry, but before it gets better it gets worse...a lot worse.  Then, with a lot of hard work, it gets a lot better...better than you will let yourself hope.  There will come a point in your life where you are NOT thinking about autism 24 hours a day.  Don't get me wrong, it doesn't go far away, but you get some mental relief from thinking about it all day long.  You will get out again with your husband, you will spend time with friends, you will once again think about things like redecorating your home and not feel guilty because your focus is not 100% on Bobby.  You WILL get to go on a week long family vacation to the beach and Bobby will go along too and it will be a great week!!  This thing called Facebook will come into the world and you will get to visit with friends online and you will "meet" other autism moms from all over.

Bobby will mature just like other kids.  He will learn some things on his own and some things will just get easier because he gets older.  The child locks will come off of the fridge, off of the pantry, off of most of the drawers and cabinets.  You will be able to leave the room without coming back to a dozen eggs broken all over the floor or Bobby covered in shampoo, lotion, shaving cream or whatever else he can get his hands on.  There will come a day that he doesn't just pour every container of liquid soap, shampoo or anything else that he can get his hands on down the drain.

However, there are many things that he is only going to learn with a great deal of hard work and repetition.  You will be much more successful if you can get over the sadness that surrounds his diagnosis.  Turn the tv off, get off of the couch and get to work.  Your first major success will be with potty training.  Bobby doesn't really seem ready until he is 5 years old and potty training him will be the HARDEST thing that you have ever done.  You and Bobby will shed many tears together but keep at it because the rewards from him not wearing diapers or pull-ups anymore are one of the greatest gifts that you can give the both of you.  Realize that if Bobby can learn to go in the potty, he can learn just about anything.  Potty training Bobby is a process and 4 years later you are 99% there. He has worn underwear full time for over 4 years now.  Congratulations!!!

 MAKE HIM TALK!!!  He's getting it now at age 9, but if you would have forced it more when he was younger, he would be further along.  Because Bobby is NOT non-verbal, he repeats many words and has a few that he says spontaneously, DO NOT GIVE HIM WHAT HE WANTS UNTIL HE VERBALLY ASKS FOR IT!!!!!  In April 2012, you will get a great behavioral therapist who will work with Bobby 4 days a week and his verbal language will grow by leaps and bounds.  His life becomes so much easier for him, and those who work with him, when he can verbally tell what he wants/needs.  It will come and those who work in the field are shocked at his language development this late in his life.

I already told you that it gets harder.  This is the reason.....

Bobby will develop a seizure disorder and this will turn your already crazy life upside down.  This starts the medication path.  This will lead to weight gain and major behavioral problems.  You will be walking around in a fog because you just don't know what to do and you will feel so bad for your baby.  Why does this have to happen to him???  I wish I had a great plan for you on how to deal with this blow because you will know an even deeper sadness.  However, you will became EXTREMELY lucky and his seizures are well controlled by medications, even with the HORRIBLE side effects, and when he is weaned off of the meds a few years later, the seizures stay away.  Sorry that I can't give you a look into the future further than age 9 1/2 to know if they reappear.  However, you will be much more prepared if they do.

Don't stress about getting Bobby an iPad, just do it.  As of this letter, he has had his iPad for over 2 years with no issues.  He loves it and uses it everyday.  The amount of time that he spends using apps will shock you.  He works with spelling and flashcard apps the most and all independently, it is like he wants to figure these things out my himself.  He wants to learn how to read and talk just like all of the other kids.  You will also load hundreds of personal pictures onto the iPad and he will spend hours looking through all of them.  The money that you will spend downloading movies and tv episodes onto this tablet is well worth it and yes, the iPad case is awesome and a must.

Speaking of other children, the decision that you will have to make to put your 3 year old child on a school bus and send him to school is a good one.  It is much easier for him to learn the routines of school at an early age.  School will be part of his life from the get go and he is actually happier when he is at school following his very structured day.  Up to this point you are beyond lucky and grateful to have only had incredibly wonderful teachers who love Bobby very much and only want to see him succeed.  Some great kids also come into his life at school and he learns more from them at recess than he could from any video or social story.  Now that he is in 3rd grade, he actually runs off at recess and plays on the playground.  You are going to be SO PROUD!!!

Something magical happens of the summer just after Bobby turns 9, you realize that Bobby can go places.  You will spend too much time trying to make Bobby learn how to walk through stores like Wal-Mart and Sam's Club before a light bulb goes off for you and you start taking him to outdoor places.  Over this summer you will walk with Bobby on almost all of the local rail trails and he will shock you with how well he does.  You will also take him to local playgrounds and you won't have to worry if there other children already playing, he will go right in and play along side them, not WITH them, but along side them.  Bobby will also learn to actually swim.  He will jump off of the diving board and he will swim the length of the 6 to 12 ft. end of the pool.  Again, you will be SO PROUD. You will take him to a local public beach at a lake which will be fairly crowded and he will succeed. You will be much more happy, Bobby will be much more happy and Daddy will be much more happy.

 I can't let you know what will happen beyond this date, but I just want you to know that you have made it this far.  You weigh more than you would like but you are out walking every morning after you drop Bobby off at school and it makes you feel so much better.  You are in a better mind set than you have for years.  You learn how to enjoy the times that your life are flowing and you learn to not let the fear of the times that your life will ebb run your life.  You are much more settled with your role as autism mom.  Good luck with your journey.
Love, Me

Spending Time With Friends

Oh what a week!!  It happened, even though we thought that they would come through at the last minute and keep it from happening, the federal government shut down.  Yes, Bob was one of the thousands who were told to go home and come back....sometime, whenever this craziness is over.

We invited the girls over Tuesday evening, after Bob was sent home from work, to celebrate Mimi's birthday.  The girls this time include my mom, my aunt Mimi, and my aunt Dianna.  Mom and Mimi were able to come, Aunt Di couldn't make it.  We had a great dinner, of which I didn't get any pictures, so UNLIKE me!!  Just so I'll remember the menu and won't duplicate it next year for her birthday....we had a Pinterest inspired dinner with a balsamic, brown sugar glazed pork roast as the star.  Pramanti Bros. knock off cole slaw, homemade french fries and baked beans rounded out the show.

As you have learned, we HAVE to light a desert on flames so that Bobby can "blow the candles out, blow" and understand that the dinner was a celebration.  As always, Bobby was front and center to help the birthday, in this case, girl blow out her birthday candles.

Wednesday evening I had been planning to go out for a Girls' Night Out with my autism mom friends for a couple of months.  The girls this time included my friends Noelle, Shelly and Andria.  We had purchased tickets for the musical "50 Shades, The Musical" and it was a perfect, absolutely perfect, girls' night out!!  We laughed and laughed for the 69 minutes of the show.  So much fun!!

Thursday morning Bob decided that he would go walk with the girls and me.  The girls this time include two of our favorite four-legged friends, Zoi and Ellie, as well as Noelle and her mom, Bobbie. After the walk was over, we decided to let the dogs go for an autumn swim since the temperature was perfect for playing in the creek.

 Bob brought some rope with us to use as a leash for Zoi so that she could swim further, so we took off her leash and tied her up!!  Looks bad but works great!

 Zoi couldn't wait, she got right in and swam around.  Happy, happy Zoi!!

 A down side to letting her go swimming is that I have to brush out all of her long fur.

Ellie decided that she had enough of being on the sidelines and jumped in the water too.  She started prancing and jumping around, splashing and just having the time of her life.  We added Zoi's leash to the end of Ellie's leash so that she could go further too.

Another problem with all of this swimming fun.....when Noelle and I take the dogs for their next walks, they are going to want to go swimming!!!

After school, Bob and I picked up Bobby, took him to occupational therapy and then we had a fun surprise for him.  We were off to celebrate the birthday of one of our favorite girls, Natalie.  He was super excited to get out of the car at Cheat Lake park.  He started off down the hill to get to the playground.  With views like this, who can blame him???

Bobby went right into the playground area and started playing.  It was great because he had the whole place to himself.

 Who wouldn't want to play here with views like this???

Time to get this birthday party started!!!

 The birthday girl, and all of the treats, have arrived!!

 Yippee!!   BALLOONS!!!!

 Lets all sing, Dora Dora Dora the explorer....

 What??  They are sitting together!!

 Holy crap, they are holding hands!!!!!!!

 Bobby has had enough of all of THIS craziness!!!

 What a birthday beauty.

 Give that cupcake a big whack!!!

 Bobby got a fun sucker from the pinata.  LOVE THIS!!

 He decided that he would sit and relax in the back of Noelle's car...

 Balloon ears....

The water was calling Bobby's name and he just couldn't resist any more!!  He walked down to the water and announced "At the Beach" and he was going swimming.  Oh no you're not Mr. Bobby!!!

 Leave your shirt on Mister!!!!!

 Getting a little frustrated....the wheels are spinning, "how am I going to get in there??!!"

 "MOM!!  Swimming at the beach!!"  Sorry Bud, not gonna happen!!

Bobby finally figured out how to go play in the water....

 A boy's gotta do what a boy's gotta do!!

 Yes, he is completely soaked now.  Time to go home.

Natalie's birthday party was an intimate affair, just perfect for her, and Bobby!!  They had a great time.  The 2 year old boy who just happened to stumble across the birthday party and got to join in had the best time of all!!  He was so cute!!

Just because......some of the beautiful views that we saw at the lake and creek.

So funny, people make fun of West Virginia all of the time.  Jokes on them, what a great place to live!