Happy Holloween

It's Halloween and J.R. is enjoying this holiday so much, I can't wait until Christmas! J.R. is growing up so fast and doing so much more than what he did last year at this time. J.R. is almost 4 and he has been testing his boundaries lately. His favorite thing to do is say the opposite of what Tony and I say for example, If we tell him to sit down he will respond "no" and stand for the next hour. We have a crazy busy schedule as usual with the holiday season approaching. I'm trying to live in the moment and forget about Pediatric Cancer. I try to forget the 45 kids were diagnosed with cancer today and 7 children died of cancer today. I pray that our family doesn't win that horrible lottery, there I said it. I try not to think of Ty Campbell's family, the little boy who recently died and how they have to somehow get through these holidays without their 5 year old perfect little boy. Ty's mother requested that we send pictures of little boys jumping in muddy puddles. Ty liked to watch Peppa the Pig (J.R. also enjoys this show.) and they love to jump in muddy puddles. Ty didn't get a chance to jump in muddy puddles, he couldn't stand let alone jump. So in honor of Ty Campbell we took a day after swim lessons and made a muddy puddle here in the desert so J.R. and I could jump in it. I don't know why but for some reason I didn't have the heart to send the pictures to Cindy, Ty's mother.

Friday was an eventful day. J.R. had the day off from school, it was Nevada Day. The plan: Tony was to watch J.R. until noon then I would take the afternoon off and enjoy the rest of the day with my son. Well at 11am Tony texted me that J.R. was grabbing his right ear and crying because his ear hurt. I ran home quickly by then Tony had given J.R. ibuprofen and I grabbed the ear drops and wrestled J.R. to get those in his ears. By the time we got to the doctor his pain was gone. The doctor gave us a presciption for antibiotics and we were on our way. We went out for lunch, by this time it was 2:30pm. Then since J.R. was such a good boy we took him to the toy store so he could pick out a toy. His new favorite thing is Ninja Turtles. Tony told J.R. a few days ago he watched Ninja turtles when he was a little boy and J.R. has liked them ever since. The picture below was J.R. having a breathing treatment. We suspect J.R.'s allergies has caused the ear infection. We've had him taking breathing treatments since earlier in this week. This is the first time J.R. will put the mask on, before we had to hold it to his face but now he's a "big boy"!



Here's J.R. one day after school. He asked to go to McDonald's. He recently figured out that he gets a toy with his happy meal if he goes there. We don't go very often but J.R. always asks!

We got a hummer a month ago. J.R. loves the hummer. He doesn't want to drive in my car anymore, only the hummer. Here J.R. is driving the hummer.

This is J.R.'s first hockey game of the season, the Wranglers. It looks like there's not going to be NHL hockey this year since the strike does not seem to be coming to and end.

These are picture from J.R.'s Halloween school picnic and party. All of his "best buds" were power rangers just like J.R.

A few weeks ago J.R. had his last swim lesson on the year. He did so well this year. He can swim across the pool both ways with his fins and swim goggles on. I'm so proud of him!

The 5 pictures below were from Audrey's birthday weekend! We went to Imagination Mover's and then a festival in Boulder City where J.R. got his face  painted.



We went to Batman, J.R. had to get the mask and cape to be  just like Batman. We watch all the Batman movies when they are on t.v. now!

Last weekend we went to the Mini Grand Prix. J.R. had a blast, he spent most of his time going down the slide. This is the first time he has been able to go down the slide by himself! He drove the car pretty well by himself also.

Here's J.R., Sandi and MaryLou. MaryLou bought tickets for all of us to go to Veggie Tails at the local church. We all had such a fun time.

Here is J.R. and his favorite Uncle. J.R. and Scott have such a special relationship. They are so good for each other. I remember Scott when I was little and I'm so glad J.R. gets to have Uncle Scott around like I did.

J.R. feel asleep the night he got the Ninja Turtle toys on the couch, clutching his toy.



Some cute pictures of J.R. enjoying Halloween.



This is after the UNLV football game with Katie. We got to go on the field after the game.

Last night we went to the "Truck or Treat" in Boulder City with Audrey. Here's J.R. in full costume! He had so much fun, there was on open grass field he ran on for hours plus two jump houses!

These picture were from today. We went to "the farm". This is a wonderful place, there are animals, horse rides, hay rides and face painters. J.R. had a blast and was exhausted by the time we got  home.

I love this picture. It's J.R.'s ear of course but if you look close there's a little freckle. This is just one of the little things that make J.R. unique. When he's big and "all grown up" I don't want to forget all these little things that make up my special little guy.

Okay, I apologize now for the picture. J.R. has a thing since he  became potty trained and he likes to name his poops. He'll say it's a shark, dinosaur, dog always some type of animal. This time he told me he pooped a J and a T.... sorry to say he was right... this is so gross but as a mom I'm impressed... LOL He said the J was for J.R. and the T was for Tonya!



Ty Louis Campbell

Tonight as J.R. is playing race cars with Scott and Tony and I are sitting on the couch I open the mother's blog I read daily. The blog of a mother who's son is dying from cancer. This is what I see:

Ty Louis Campbell
10.04.2007 - 10.17.2012

http://www.superty.org/

What a kick in the stomach, I didn't believe it at first. No, this couldn't be true. I've been following this little boy's fight for two years and spent many nights in tears. This little boy has had the fighting spirit that most brave men don't even come close to touching... this little boy is too sweet to have something so horrific happen to him. He's been though too much to lose his battle.

I have learned so much from Ty and his mother. I let J.R. jump in muddy puddles the other day something that goes against my grain. I lay down with J.R. almost every night since reading this blog and realized I have the most wonderful conversations with my sweet little boy. I let J.R. play in the tub for "5 more minutes" (J.R.'s new favorite saying) after I'm ready to be done with his bath. I have tried to pay attention to the small things, leaves on the ground, the clouds, the birds in the sky and show J.R. how to appreciate them.  When J.R. fights me and doesn't act perfectly it annoys me but I have to remind myself I'm lucky he has the strength to fight me. Tomorrow J.R. is going to play with finger paint and who cares if it gets all over. Tonight I am going to  hug my little guy and give him kisses while he sleeps. I am lucky, we are all lucky if we have healthy kids. I take that for granted way too much. .

I never had the chance to meet Ty Louis Campbell but I can tell you he has changed my life. He took a little piece of my heart with him to heaven today.

J.R. is such a sweet little boy. He's sensitive and cares about others.He had his first play date with his school buddies last Sunday. Gabe and Elizar made it but unfortunately Gavril, his best friend was in Arizona last weekend. On Monday after J.R. got home from school he asked if he could have another play date but only invite one person, Gavril. J.R. said he wanted to spend more time with him since Gavril is in pre kindergarten this year. Here are some pictures from his play date. J.R. is going to be a Power Ranger for Halloween. J.R. requested that he get his friends Power Ranger costumes so that was the theme for the day.

I made some take away Halloween treat bags. In the bags were some Halloween toys and candy which included Pop Rocks. Well, here's a picture of J.R. trying Pop Rocks for the first time, it's pretty funny! He ended up liking it and asks for them daily since.

J.R. decorated the Halloween pumpkins.

Here's J.R. with some fun teeth. We played with these all night tonight.

J.R. has a full week planned. We had swim lessons tonight, tomorrow night is Hockey, Friday we are meeting his friend Audrey for dinner and a play for her birthday celebration, Saturday we are going to Art in the Park with Audrey and some other friends and Sunday we are going to one of three things depending on the weather: Pumpkin Patch, laser tag or race cars. I'm sure we'll have some entertaining and cute J.R. stories coming with all the fun activities!