Happy Birthday Tim!

I am playing catch up here.  The card reader went wonky and I couldn't get my pictures to load. 

This past week Timothy turned 21!  What an amazing journey it has been.  I have talked loads about what a miracle it is to have him here with us, so I won't rehash it.  But, we are so blessed to have him alive and well.  Timothy wanted to have a party with his fencing friends.  He decided on a medieval theme.  I think he chose that theme so he could have lots of meat at the feast. LOL!

He has a really nice set of friends.  Most of them are from larger families and are homeschooled/or from strict households.  They are really well behaved and do well with multi-age groups.  It is so nice to see in this day and age.  They had no problem including the little kids in their activities (plus parents and grandparent as well), and everyone had a super good time.

They started the party off with a fun game of Amtgard.  Basically, (from my perspective) they chase each other around with padded foam sticks and hit each other.  I am told there are all kinds of rules, levels, and a national organization but, this is what it looks like.

After Amtgard, everyone went on a neighborhood scavenger hunt.  This was so much fun.  We broke into teams and received our lists of things to look for and a map of how far we could go.  I am so glad I came up with this idea because it fit the time perfectly.  Everyone got a President's gold dollar for completing the mission.

On Timothy's actual birthday, we went on a long nature walk in a local state park.  Timothy loves to be outside, and this was a perfect way to celebrate his big day.  Even when he was an infant, the outdoors was a calming place to him.

Tom Sawyer is like his big brother in many ways.  He also enjoys the great outdoors and has a birthday coming up at the end of April. 

UPDATE ON BOOMER

Boomer is turning out to be a wonderful dog for Tim.  Tim is growing by leaps and bounds with this new responsibility.  Boomer is growing by leaps and bounds, too.  In fact, we got a bit of a surprise at the vet's office.  She said that he was a Labradane.  You read that right.  Boomer is a lab/Great Dane mix.  I guess Tim got his big dog after all.  On the bright side these dogs make great family dogs and he is a quick learner. He is doing very well in puppy kindergarten.  He weighed 35 pounds at his vet appointment (that is a six pound gain in two weeks)!!  However, he does have a lot to learn, as the photo below proves.  What happens when the table is not completely cleared after dinner and the puppy is left unattended for five minutes?

Good thing I am an animal lover. LOL!

Blessings,
Dawn