Monte's Birthday Party

Every year we've picked a fun theme to celebrate Monte's birthday. This year we picked Indiana Jones, thinking it sounded fun. (I'm always tempted to re-do the superman party, it will probably always be my favorite, and so appropriate for our little hero!)
With all the craziness that happened the weekend before and of the party, I could not have pulled it off without a team of willing volunteers! (Ok, and some slightly unwilling, but they healed fine...)
As I thought more and more about our theme, it seemed to perfect for Monte! I ended up giving a short, teary speech, and here's the gist of it. Like Indiana, having Monte in our lives has been a terrific adventure! Filled with peril, (no explanation necessary) skeletons, (how many MRI, CT's, and x-rays has this kid had!!), fear, excitement, and a strong belief in our Savior Jesus Christ. As Indiana could not retrieve the cup without recognizing the hand of Jehovah, so we could never have made it through this far without our faith. We're so grateful for our Heavenly Father who has given us such a special son, and entrusted us with this adventure. We stumble and fall, and bleed a lot, but we have gone to places we never knew we could, and seen things I never would've believed! And how thrilled we are to be celebrating 8 YEARS! We are so excited that even after 44 surgeries and countless other crisis's, he's doing great!* ish. (We'll let that go for now).
Anyway.
Here's the details of the party:
I gave Garrett Anderson, our favorite nerd, the assignment of drawing in chalk letters on the driveway with the words "Iehova" in them. You know, to represent Indiana Jones and the Holy Grail. He not only did the word Jehovah, he also added all the letters to spell Montgomery Tyler Fogelquist, Monte, and mixed it all up, making the biggest scrabble game I've ever seen! We had great fun hopping from letter to letter!
Doug's dad, Dave, it the ultimate hard worker. Anything I asked for, he was thrilled to produce. He managed to hang a rope swing on our 30 foot branch. We placed a pool of freezing water filled with snakes underneath. I admit a little snickering when a few of my "favorite" kids fell in!
We also had a balance beam set up where we took turns throwing huge "stone" rocks at the kids to see if they could make it across. (beach balls covered in duck tape). We also had a treasure coin sand dig, a diamond sand dig, and a blind simulation. We hid the holy grail and other random cups in a dark playhouse, blindfolded them, and sent them in two's to retrieve it.
Most popular might have been the snake cake...I'll post pictures later!
I sent them home with homemade white chocolate skeleton skulls and skull rings.
We invited our favorite families. This too is interesting. I initially wanted to invite just the kids that are special to Monte. Ie, his church class. But as I thought about it, I realized that those kids also had siblings that were Monte's friends, and that their parents were also his favorite people. So instead of a small intimate party, there were probably 45 people. So, it was a huge, awesome, amazing bash! The lesson here is simple to me. The parents that embrace kids with a difference, and want to befriend them and be a part of their life...had kids that also realized how special it is. We sure love them, and all of our friends that have been a part of Monte's life. Thank-you for caring for him and us so much!

Monte's Birthday Bash...The background!

So in spite of the elements combining against us, both physical, temporal, and emotional, we managed to throw a heck of a birthday bash for Monte. After-all, it's not every year that a boy turns 8 years old. In our church, the 8th birthday is usually a special milestone marked by baptism and a huge family celebration. In our special situation, however, it was a bit different. Luckily we had 8 years to prepare emotionally for that difference. When you have a son with a "Go directly to the Celestrial Kingdom" pass, baptism is one of those earthly ordinances that the celestial need not bother with. Like I said, it's been an emotional year!
Anyways! My parents came out to visit right before, and Doug's parents came the weekend of to help make it special for us. Monte loved the attention from the grandparents, and it was fun to see them again, and in our own elements. Speaking of the elements, let's not forget that the eve of the party our house was hit with Missouri RAIN. So, yes, it flooded. Yippe. So as our welcome to our home party for Doug's parents, we spent all night moving the contents of the master bedroom...everywhere else. If you need a reason to declutter, having your in-laws and friend's husband unloading your master bedroom is a great one. Wow. (I've been de-junking ever since!)
So the birthday bash scheduled for Saturday couldn't happen. I sent a text to our close friends, asking them to evaluate the evilness scale of having a birthday party on Sunday. Since one happens to be in the Stake Presidency, I was a bit worried. Luckily, they're all just as evil as us, they thought it was a great idea! Hooray!
Another birthday tip: if you hold a party after 1-4pm church, everyone will LOVE anything you serve them. The nachos and homemade root beer in industrial size containers were decimated! Ok, enough background, check the next post for the details!

Nifty Crafty

So I have this new, patient friend who is a great influence on me. She has me re-making over my wardrobe. I added ribbon to the bottom of my skirts to make them longer and give them a fun new accent, took in skirts that are now too large, mended holes, shortened tank tops and turned dresses into aprons. It's been a terrible test of my patience...but I'm actually not hating it. Plus that results are fun!
Keep watching for the adorable tutu I made Piper...

FInally, Something New

Ok, so I just had to leave that last post up for a bit, I'm so happy with the weight loss! It's now up to 16 pounds. To answer questions: I've been doing the Curves workout since Monte was about 3. I'm convinced that it's thanks to Curves that I can still lift and carry Monte, I haven't had a serious injury, and I'm STRONG emotionally and physically! Still, I've been stuck at a certain weight for a long time. I finally decided it was time to get serious about losing weight since I turned 30. Luckily, Curves came out with a new Weight Management Program (i.e. Eating Plan). It's a high protein low sugar lots of fruit and veggies and whole grains and cheese and snacks diet. Turns out, my body really appreciated that kind of eating! I saw results right away, and decided to change some eating habits that I wasn't aware of before. I still enjoy food, love my splurges, and cook a lot, I'm just never skipping breakfast, eating 3 meals plus 2 snacks a day, enjoying more fruits and veggies, and not overeating junk food. Hmm. The main reason I love this program is that it's the first one I've seen that follows that Word of Wisdom!
Anyone else interested in Curves yet? Forever grateful to Amber, who brought me into it!

See Anything Missing???

So, here's some recent pictures, from a "Night with the Stars" Branson Celebrity Event we got invited to. Yes, we went on a real date, stayed out past 1, and even danced in heels! Wow!! And here's a picture of me with my favorite performer, Dominic from the Haygoods, for any locals! (Watch for them on the CW this fall :) ). Anyway, notice anything missing? I've lost 12 pounds and 10 1/2 percent of body fat since my 30th birthday in April. And, nope, not missing it at all!

More Branson Fun

Finding a turtle in our back yard, going to Silver Dollar City, meeting our friends for shows, posing at museums! Also, on the first cold day of fall, Piper picked out this amazing outfit! And what would happen if my genes hadn't overpowered Doug's dark hair and made her blonde...

Monte is a Scout!

Monte's birthday meant a new transition...into the scout program. We're excited for him to participate with his friends, and his leader is fantastic. Naturally, he looks the best in the uniform...

The Month of The Grandparents!

We were so thrilled and excited when we learned that both sets of grandparents were going to visit us this month! We had a lot of special times with them, showed them a taste of Branson, and just loved spending time with them. Piper keeps asking for her "grandma's and pompas." They spoiled us rotten and loved us nicely!

First Day of Second Grade

I can't believe it, Monte's a second grader! He's at a new school, (2-4 graders are split into two elementary schools) with 2 new teachers, new para-educators, and entirely new staff. Lots of prayers, meetings, and agonizing over this...but he's loving it and having a blast. So grateful for Missouri! They have such a love for kids like Monte and make it their priority to help him have a great experience. (His Principle says his number one goal is to help Monte feel loved). He also has 2 friends from church in his class, which is awesome (There's over 300 kids in second grade, and only a handful LDS, so talk about a miracle). We went with an orange backpack and lunchbox to match the orange chair.

Taking Time to Read

Other Mom's I know always ask how I find time to read...here's one way I sneak it in!