Surgeries, injuries, mini-vacations and a birthday, too!

My parents have both had a lot of health stuff going on lately. About a month ago, my dad had knee surgery. About 2 weeks after that, my mom fell in the garden and broke her wrist. My dad is still on crutches, and my mom will have a cast on her right wrist for about another month.

Here's Charlie's impersonation of them both:

And the latest? About a week ago, my dad had a spot removed on his back. It came back positive for basal cell carcinoma (skin cancer - but the "better" kind to have). He goes in tomorrow to have a pretty big chunk of his back carved out - ouch... Hopefully, after that, it will all be removed and over with.

At the end of April, I got to tag along with Shawn to some "work stuff". He was presenting at 2 different conferences, in 2 different cities, in 2 days! So, first it was off to Eugene.

Here he is, hard at work getting ready for his presentation the next day:

Okay, well, here's a more realistic representation of how we utilized the hotel room:

I have to admit, what I was most excited for that first night was getting to hang out with two amazing Rainrock friends, Ali and Nikki. Love, love, LOVE these two.

"Level Life."

After Eugene, it was off to Coos Bay. I can't say I know anyone in Coos Bay, so Saturday was just a hang-out day for me while Shawn presented. I caught the end of his presentation (on Autism) and it was awesome. He is SUCH a good speaker, I must say. :)

IF, and that's a BIG IF, I were to EVER let my child get a mohawk, here's a glimpse of what it would look like:

(I came home from the gym a couple days ago to this. Oh my gosh I laughed SO HARD. And then promptly told Shawn to finish it up, seriously. Ridiculous! So, it was really only about a half hour of a mohawk, but it made for a good laugh!)

This past Saturday was Charlie's cousin Eli's 5th birthday party. This was an event that we had to do some planning and processing around, since it involved a trip to Chuck E Cheese. But, more on that in a bit.

First, it was pizza, cake and a beautiful sunny day party outside.

Charlie charmed the girls in the "girl area".

While the rest of the boys hung together at the "boy area".

The birthday boy and his beautiful mommy.

Shawn got to be the official "Water Balloon Game Organizer".

Charlie was too shy to play, so he just sat and watched...

...until it came time to "pick a partner" for a game and Charlie's precious Ellie was the last man standing - not cool.

He ran right out there and grabbed her hand - melted my heart.
Here they are all lined up for the balloon toss. (You can tell Charlie's a little nervous to be out there by the way he tilts his little head like that!)

Ready, set, TOSS!

Present time!

"Eli, how old are you today?"

YUM.

On our way to Chuck E Cheese for "Party, Part 2". Charlie's not a fan of birthday cake - so his treat of choice? A banana. Crazy kid!


Last year, we also went to Chuck E Cheese for Eli's birthday. The experience was pretty traumatic for Charlie! He was having a blast playing the game and winning the tickets and what-not. As soon as he spotted that mouse, though, he freaked. Royally. He covered his eyes and wouldn't take his hands off of them until we finally just left. He talked about it for weeks, no months, afterward. He still remembered "that mouse" when we told him we were going again this year. So, Charlie hatched a brilliant plan to deal with his fear: he would dress up in his rhino Halloween costume and scare old Chuck E before Chuck E could scare him!

Judging from this face, perhaps you can guess how well that plan worked?

Needless to say, this was the view I had for a lot of our time:

Overall, I was pretty proud of our little trooper. He managed to have some fun, despite his fears of that creepy old mouse.

Racing Aunt Christine while Ellie and Jaz watch.

The best part for me was when he cashed in his tickets for points and got 40 points. He looked at all the little prizes for a long time, pondering. Finally, he settled on two 20 point prizes - one for Jaz and one for Eli. And not a thing for himself. What a little sweetheart, made my mommy-heart proud. :)