party on, reagan

about 5 years ago, before we moved from south carolina, i had a very hurtful experience that left me very gun shy about reagan's social inclusion. i learned about a birthday party that reagan had not been invited to for a child who i had thought was one of reagan's friends and whose mother i thought was one of my close friends. i learned about it in a way that left me feeling very mad. there are a lot of gory and hurtful details that i won't leave here, but it still makes me very angry and sad to this day. it's something i can't think about too much or i will still cry. i think some people think reagan doesn't notice exclusion, but he was the first one to put together that he hadn't been invited to the party. he's often keenly aware of how people treat him though he may not have the ability to decipher or handle a situation the way you or i would. he probably handles some situations better than i would because he has no guile or passive aggression in his questioning. i love a good comeback that can sting for hours. reagan just wants the truth.

but

"sometimes humility is overcoming hurt feelings when we feel others have mistreated us."
quentin l. cook

so i still have much to work on in that department.

contrast that with reagan's boy scout camp out during easter weekend. reagan loves scouts but mostly just the attending and being around the other boys part. he calls them his team. the boys are so kind to reagan and they always make him feel included. reagan will not attend an overnight scout camp out.  i don't blame him. i like my bed too. however, reagan's scout leader, johnny murphy, who acts exactly like you would think a man named johnny murphy would act, suggested that we have the scout camp out in our backyard. i said, "heck, why not!? what are we going to lose?" so the scouts planned a backyard camp out and we had pizza and watched a movie and i got a cake for reagan. everyone sang to reagan and reagan made it to 10 pm before he went up the stairs and crawled into his bed. 10 pm is 3 am to reagan. i woke up early and made my fantastic pancakes for the troop as a thank you for accommodating our special needs. then all the scouts went to the middle school field and played ultimate frisbee. maybe it was a small gesture to them but it was a huge deal to our family. being included makes a difference. i want to be the person that makes the effort to make a difference for others.

easter weekend needs no catchy title

easter weekend needs no catchy title

scarlett had her 5th grade field day the week before spring break and to say it was of epic proportions would be an understatement. i searched through my hazy memories of elementary school, and i don't recall any of the school events having as much preparation and publicity and merchandising as the events of this year. they had matching class t shirts, matching class sport socks emblazoned with "Westog's Wunderdogs!" across the calf, fair paint and colored hair spray. the event signups went out weeks in advance and parents were given parking passes so they wouldn't be towed from the stadium. there was a bus ride over to the high school stadium and a commentator and music playing throughout the day and several hard core track and field events. as my childhood friend, rachel said, "this is quite a far cry from using our toes to get marbles out of cold water and winning a jolly rancher stick. yikes." yikes is right. it was a really cool day but i also worry about what type of message we are sending when 5th grade field day is so highly orchestrated. apparently last year there were some heated interactions between parents, teachers and the scoring table so this year was actually toned down. i'm pro-athletics, but anti-unnecessary displays of ostentation. i only like necessary displays of ostentation.

scarlett participated in multiple key events like hulahooping, football throw and the relay egg and spoon race. scarlett had a lot of fun and thankfully her class won the overall prize. after the trophy was awarded, several cars were flipped over and set on fire in the parking lot.

herschel found his favorite thing as we were running for our car before the police showed up. a WINCH! a glorious winch!

that night was the scout camp out in our backyard. i'll go into more detail on that in a subsequent post but it was thrilling to say the least. blythe screamed herself to sleep because she wasn't allowed to sleep in a tent with the boys.

the next day was the beginning of easter/conference weekend. we enjoyed the glorious weather, the inspiring and uplifting and timely messages. my big takeaway from general conference was that the divide between the followers of Christ and the world is bigger than ever before. it's a glum realization. i didn't take it as a downer conference, but i feel i have to tighten up all my efforts more and more. casual flip flop gospel living isn't going to cut it. steel toed boots gospel living is required.

i had dreams of making shaving cream eggs that looked like this:

they did not look anything like that. i don't even have a photo of the final product. but i had fun doing it. it was a mess and it just renewed my love for marbelized/tie dye designs. 

all that effort and the easter bunny forgot to put them out.

easter egg gangsta

sunday was our traditional hunt. i spiced it up a bit with 4 giant eggs with money in it. one egg even had a whole $5. blythe found that one and i might as well just go buy some brightly colored garbage for her with it.

we have no grass but lots of shade. it's our trade off.

some healthy scarlett skepticism on the candy distribution.

herschel did not change out of his pajamas at all that sunday. sunday best.

i also made chocolate chickens for the easter bunny to put out, but the easter bunny forgot about those too. the easter bunny seems to be really struggling this year to keep things together. 

max's chocolate chicken is a book and a max and ruby episode that holds a lot of meaning to our family. i tried to escape it but i'm now embracing it. there's a story behind that with a much deep meaning, but i'll save that for a later too. so much on my mind, such short windows of solitude to write down my thoughts and memories.

we had dessert with our dear friends, the roberts. abuela was there and she loves me the best out of both her biological daughters. mostly because she's never taken a road trip with me after i've eaten only garbage food.