Happy Birthday Tyler

We celebrated Tyler's birthday a day early because he wanted to go to the mall on his actual birthday (today) and use his discount. Jessica is also at work today. It worked out well because it stormed so Ty finished work early.

I had a pork shoulder roast in the crock pot all day for pulled pork.

Jasmine got him a Skylanders throw blanket.

He wasn't all that excited about clothes. Actually, he probably didn't  need new clothes, just needs to clean his closet!

Camel pack for running. 

Much more excited about the games we got him.

A check from Grandpa and Grandma

A gift card from Adam

A game from Uncle Ken

And a game from Aunt Lou (actually I don't know which game came from who)

And a keep cool thing from Jessica for his job

Travis is hanging out after his little boy surgery.

Ice cream cake. Jessica went to get him a cake, and the bakery was almost empty of cakes, so she got an ice cream cake. It came in a big box , so silly us, we thought we were getting a big cake! 

 Even though we celebrated last night, we didn't let today go unnoticed. Rick bought a dozen donuts for Ty to take to work. It was a rough day for Ty at work because of vehicles getting stuck due to the constant rain.

He took the trolley to the mall to use his birthday discount at FYE, and I picked him up there.

I had just been pricked 64 times in the back for allergy testing, and then they stuck 25 needles in my arm. That did NOT feel good. Basically I'm allergic to every kind of grass, several trees and molds, pets, cockroaches, dust mites and such. I did not test positive for any food, but he only tested the most obvious ones-milk (I'm lactose intolerant but not allergic), eggs, peanut butter, tomatoes and a couple of others. Not allergic to any of them. All in all, it was not a pleasant day for either Ty or I.

Jessica made this while I was at the dr. It was really good!

I bought mini cupcakes and Snickers ice cream.

Ty bought the turtles with Grandma Sims' birthday money and the rest with his own.

Kind of empty here tonight with Adam at basic, Jessica at work and the twins in bed. I haven't said much about them. But as you know, this is an adoption blog where I share the good and the challenges, and today was challenges. The twins are in soccer camp from 9-12 each morning this week. Kayla has not outright broken rules, but she's taken advantage of things. Like, I  limit her drinks because she has lots of pee pee accidents. But the first day of camp she filled her 20 oz bottle three times because no one was watching her or thought anything about it. She knows not to do that. She did the same today. She only did it because she could get away with it, not because she really wanted that much water. In the two days she has had THREE major pee pee accidents and hidden them. We are talking Lake Michigan sized accidents. She can easily get to the bathroom, but she waits until it's too late. I send her but it's funny to pretend to go and not go. She has her final warning that if she does this tomorrow it will be her last day of camp. Our rule is that if we can't trust you out of our sight because you deliberately break rules then you don't go.

Kaleb was doing better but going to camp has given him unnatural feelings of empowerment. Do you parents know what I mean? "I'm a soccer player so I can do whatever I want." And today what he wanted was to eat not only his own lunch, but two extra hot dogs which meant two other people didn't get any. He really saw no problem with doing it because he's a soccer player and that puts him above rules.

Really, though, the summer has been pretty issue free because other than TMI camp and soccer camp, the twins have been with us all the time. I'm their summer tutor. I'm their summer swim teacher. I'm their running partner and playmate. I make sure jobs get done. So things have gone fairly smoothly. And they've seen that less issues means more privileges. Same rule. If I can trust you, you have more play privileges because I don't have to watch you every second.

Are the rest of you seeing any changes in behavior with school out for the summer? Do you stay on a schedule? Outings?

Anyway, my firstborn is 23 today! And yes, it does seem that long since I gave birth to him. It has to be because it feels a lifetime ago. He has lived in ND, Okinawa, SD, England, GA and FL. We've gone on some cool trips and he's had some experiences other kids haven't had with moving with the military.

Ty is still working for Goodwill doing contracted services like weed wacking, mowing, trash pick up, sign repair etc. He's doing great, and he seems to get along with his whole team. There is a supervisor right with them who looks out for them too.

Have a great week everyone!