Today is:

WORLD DOWN'S SYNDROME DAY !

My good friend, Duke, just reminded me !

Sam and his band of Angels deserve their very own day.

Nuff said!

Scott went to Prom !

Yikes...is he THAT old ???

Guess so.

He was so handsome. I didnt put pics of him and his "girl" because her mom may not want her on a public blog .

But, she was adorable. And they were so cute together.

I was beaming with pride for my boy. And cried at every check point!

Today, gotta take the Tux back !

Happy Monday everybody

Teeth-Meet-n-Greet-

Sam hasn't been to the Dentist since he was 2 yrs old.

He's 7 now.

Yuuuuup, you heard right. That's a 5 year "gap" in the teeth care of the little "angel" !

With Sam's hair cutting antics and general day to day "opportunies for growth" (that's code talk for challenges...which is code talk for "all-out" tasmanian defiance), this "Chicken" of a mom has conveniently avoided the .......Dah dah dah.. (sung in descending low bass tones)... dentist !

So, Tuesday after school, I took Sam to just "meet" the Dentist ! You know, give them an opportunity to size each other up.... do a little "posturing" so to speak!

Dr. "Bob", the family Dentist is a REALLY smart guy---

He was "busy", so he sent in his assistant to meet the Sam man.

She was really cute and had some newly sprinkled "pixy dust" on her face that seemed to capture Sam's attention.

He fell for her hook line and stinker! With little effort she got him to open his mouth and just "count" his teeth. Then he even let her brush his teeth!

Yeah, that's right! She brushed his teeth!...with no back up special-ops forces! He even stuck his tongue out and let her brush IT !

At our house, all the planets have to be lined up just right and enough willing rogue vigilantes available to hold him down to try to brush his teeth !

Then Dr. Bob peeked his head around the corner and said, "Hey Mr. Sam"!

Sam coulda cared less, he had a cute girl in his sights !

After an attempt to take a round of x-rays of his little choppers had failed, it was decided to schedule a future "visit" back in the chair to further evaluate with Dr. Bob's VERY good friend... the Anesthesiologist !

Of course my wheels were spinnin !

"Hey, ya think she could get an EKG and blood pressure and pulse oximeter while he's under?" (see post about the cardiologist !)

"and, OH YEAH..... a HAIR CUT !" (see post about hair cuts) ...

"and, OH YEAH....cut his toenails and fingernails, too!" (what the heck, let's get r done!)

Dr. Bob thought a "One-Stop Boutique Dentistry" visit was an acheivable goal.

I said I'd bring the hair clippers and nail clippers and shop-vac to clean it all up afterwards!

Genius plan !

Why havent I scheduled a Dentist visit to get Sam's hair cut YEARS ago !

"NO TALKING IN SPEECH CLASS ! "

Sam brings home a daily account of his "participation levels" in his various subjects at school.

Adjacent to each "activity" on the ledger is a HAPPY face or a FROWNY face...depending on his "participation level" ( aka--mood-o-the-moment).

IF a frowny face is the assigned designator, there is usually written in the margin a description of the "offense".

Most times they are violations such as goofing off, not putting toys away, saying "No" to a teacher.

This time the frowny face was next to his speech therapy class.

"Talking...not having a "quiet mouth" was the offense !

Marky, Scott, and I have been chuckling about it ever since !

OHMYHECK ! Sam was talking in speech class!

The nerve of him !

So here's a cluster of kids that don't "communicate" so well..(according to whomever's standards)...and one of em finally starts chirping, and BAM !... "no Sam, we need a 'quiet mouth' " !

I'll let you guys chuckle about it now :)

Sam Strikes Again....

This time was different, though.

It was MY heart.

I just got him out of the bath tub, all nice and snuggly warm.

Wrapped in a towel on my bed, he layed there looking so sweet.

I leaned over and kissed him on his cheek and point blank asked him:

"Are you my ANGEL ?"

First, his eyes kind of darted back and forth, as if he was debating
whether or not I deserved to witness this rare glimpse into his soul.

Then he looked me straight in the eye..

He said, very plainly...."Yes"

Next, I asked:

"Did you come here to bless all our lives?"

He said, very plainly...."Yes"

I tried to stay calm.

I answered back telling him, thank you for coming to me.

I whisper this to him every night as I tuck him in bed.

Then as quickly as the miracle came and the veil was slightly lifted, he looked away and we were done.

He rarely pronounces words with the ending consonant. Usually just an approximation of the word.

Tonight I got a distinct....Y E SSSS !

For once....

I am speechless.

CARDIO-COMBAT:

Took Sam to the Cardiologist last week.

Shoulda called ahead to issue a "Red Alert" status to the clinic letting them know Sam was preparing for battle.

I also shouldve called in some "back-up" forces for myself, as well !

Started off trying to get a chest x ray.

Finally got a wiggly portrait of his wire sutures from his heart surgery 7 yrs ago.

The xray tech was clearly special-forces; she got out her best tactile weapon to subdue the combatant:

BUBBLES !

Yup, Sam gave in. Put his hands in the air, the Tech snapped the picture!

The xray revealed that atleast 3 of the 5 or 6 wires that were placed during the surgery to hold his sternum together have come undone !

Betchya can guess when some of that happened .....

Yep, Cookie Cutter's battleground....I mean hair cut salon.

Sam's cardiologist is a seemingly nice enough guy. After trying to accomplish an EKG, a blood pressure check, and just a measly pulse-oxygen finger check thing....

The doc drew in a deep breath of defeat.

Then he said..."Well, Mrs. Jeanes.....next time Sam gets "put-under" for a procedure of some sort.. give us a call so we can show up and get our tests done on Mr. Sam !

What a Chicken !

"O'Sama" triumphs again!

Hi Friends:

Have had trouble with the "posting comment" issue...
AGAIN !

I messed with the settings, see if it works now !?

CHECK OUT ALL THE PIC'S BELOW !! ! ! !

Tonite Marky was a guest at the "preview/premier" of
SAINTS and SOLDIERS --Airborne Creed

Incase you're not "in the loop", it's a movie produced here
in Utah about WW II.

The co-producer is Ray Meldrum. He Loves Marky ! and....
MARKY LOVES HIM !

Mostly because Ray is just a neat guy....but also because it was Ray and
his circle of family and friends that created Markys JEEP WISH !

Ray invited Marky and Scott to come to the LDS film festival where the movie won several awards. The actors were there signing posters and shaking hands.

Marky and Scott were dressed in WWII gear right along with em!
THRILLING !

The cast stopped for a photo-op and made a presentation to Marky of this special
poster signed by all the stars...PLUS...There was our "LITTLE WARRIOR" standing right in the poster showing some real valor and just downright STUDLINESS !

RYAN LITTLE is the director of the movie. Along with Ray Meldrum, these guys really gave us the red carpet treatment at the festival !

The movie comes out in June in theatres.

Thanks to all the SAINTS AND SOLDIERS !

Marky is back on the front line this week !

He is, thankfully, feeling better....

That means Mom is feeling better !

All school work is caught up, coughing is subsiding...life's GREAT !

Here's a funny comment from a prior BLOG post about our "missing" Mary in our Nativity set at Christmas time. See blog posts further down with pictures of the HULA GIRL standing in for Mary, as she was AWOL for the season.

Cathy Wallace commented under that Hula girl Nativity picture:

"Great idea ! We've had a Shepherd with a broken arm for years...
....Never thought to give him a night off !"

Yep, takes a village, I tell you !

I got a huge gutbuster laugh outa that one.

So in case you're not all that "blog-savvy", ....just click on the "comments" below the posts and you can read what everyone says. The comments are just as enthusiastic and more entertaining as the posts themselves.!

So, Cathy, thanks for keeping me laughing...and crying, with your kind, sweet words.

Love to all of Markys friends,
Lynette