Time Slows for No One

Time slows for no one.

As a Mom, I find myself staring at my children and just wishing their growth would slow. Thinking maybe I could find a way to keep them small, a way to prolong the journey to grown just a tad.

My oldest child. My son just took another step towards grown today. He turned seventeen. Today.

It seems such a short time ago he was little and watching Teletubbies and Buzz Lightyear on a loop. Now he is driving a car, shaving his facial hair, dating girls, and planning his senior schedule.

I was feeling a bit reminiscent so I took a look back at his many birthday parties. (Which can I say I am super thankful for digital cameras!)

We lived in Denver when my son turned one but we happened to be home one month before his birthday so we celebrated with family then. On his actual first birthday, we had a Super Bowl party and had all of our friends over. The Denver Bronco's beat The Green Bay Packers that year and won their first Super Bowl. When the city lit off fireworks in celebration, I told my then one year old that those fireworks were just for him. {The first of many parental lies I would tell him over his 17 years!}

His Second Birthday. After a year of watching non-stop Teletubbies, we threw him the biggest Teletubby party! Tubby custard, Tubby flowers, Tubby cake.

His Third Birthday might have been one of my favorites back then! He loved cars and trucks back then (some things never change!) so we can a cars and trucks themed party. All the food was shaped like "3's" and served in dump trucks. I even froze cars and trucks in the ice ring for the punch.

His Fourth Birthday came one month after we relocated from the country to the city. We knew hardly anyone but Uncle Dean pulled together a few people and we had a small party in the backroom of a McDonald's. Luckily Chicken Nuggets were his favorite food back then!

His Fifth Birthday: a pirate themed birthday. We even had a buried treasure chest.

His Sixth Birthday. We had a skating party at the local skating rink with all of his school friends. His theme was firefighters.

His Seventh Birthday. He wanted to go to a fancy restaurant in Kansas City that has since closed. It was at the top of the Hyatt and it rotated 360 degrees. We still laugh how this little boy ate the entire piece of Mile High Pie all by himself.

Ninth Birthday. We had a backyard cookout and indoor camping. This was the first birthday The Husband shared with us. He braved the cold January weather to help the birthday guest roast hot dogs and marshmallows!

His Tenth Birthday. Sports themed and held at the local community center. Everyone enjoyed indoor swimming.

His Twelfth Birthday. Our theme was "Party Like a Rock Star" and we played Guitar Hero. He invited old and new friends. It was my first (and maybe last) attempt at making an ice cream cake.

Thirteenth Birthday. We celebrated with a store purchased {Cold Stone Creamery} ice cream cake at home with family

For his Fourteenth Birthday we celebrated by watching The Super Bowl with his friends.

His Fifteenth Birthday was again a Super Bowl Party.

Sixteenth Birthday. He requested no more parties. Just family. I am not gonna lie; it might have broke my heart a little!

His Seventeenth Birthday. He requested a homemade Tres Leches Cake. Too bad he could not take his eyes off the K-State game!

I am super proud to be his mom. Relatively speaking raising him has been pretty easy! I am in shock that next year he will be 18 years old.

Time, my friends, does not slow for any of us. I am sure you parents out there know this to be as true as I do.

My Weekend Project: A PVC Camping Lamp Post and Flag Holder

I have seen a few of these around campsites and I knew I would like to have one. The only problem that I had is The Husband. He already thinks we drag too much stuff with us when we go camping and if I had told him my desire to have a PVC Camping Light Pole he would have shut it down quickly! So, that leaves a girl with only one choice: Figure out how to do it by herself. I did some internet searching and found a few road maps on RV forums. They seemed easy enough! I visited the local hardware store for the supplies: An exterior post lantern light 2 inch PVC pipe (I used 5 feet but had to purchase a 10 foot piece) A 3 inch toilet flange A 3 inch to 2 inch Reducer PVC Glue A 12 foot electric cord kit 2 - 3/4 inch PVC Caps I also used a few supplies we already had on hand: White Spray Paint 3 1/2 foot - 3/4 inch PVC Pipe Drill Bits (1 inch and 1/2 inch) Tent Stakes The first step was preparing the lantern light. I could only find black i

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The Short Chic came down with a pretty nasty case of strep throat back in April. So, when The Boy started complaining about his throat hurting about 12 days later, I was pretty confident that he had inherited his sister's strep. Instead, The Boy was diagnosed with a peritonsillar abscess growing on his right tonsil. We had to immediately see an ENT Physician who took a needle and drained the abscess. He removed about 5.5 cc of puss from The Boys throat.and then told us that once you have a peritonsillar abscess you were high risk to keep getting them. The Boy's tonsils were now compromised and needed to be removed. We were told to plan for a two week recovery so we worked a surgery into our summer plans. Between family vacations, summer sports, and the beginning of school The Boy had his second surgery. A tonsillectomy. Pre-surgery prepping went well. It must be nice to be young and have healthy veins for an IV! The Boy had lots of pre-surgery visitors. My

Liver Cheese: A Family Tradition

Today is an anniversary date. One of those dates you wish you did not have to remember but there is no way you can forget. Fifteen years ago today,two days after his birthday, my father died of lung cancer. He was a lifelong smoker and his cancer was aggressive. His battle was short. He fought for six short months after his diagnosis. He knew the chemo was not working and that his time was limited. When he came to this realization he became the best dad in the world. In the days before my father's passing, my family shared some memorable moments. One of those moments centers around the deli meat: Liver Cheese.I would not be surprised if you have never heard of it, or even never tasted it. But I was raised on it as it was one of my Dad's favorite things. What is it? Well, it is a German food that is actually called Leberkase. It is bacon, corned beef, pork, and onion that is ground together and baked. It comes with a

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