Ladybug Party

In all of the sadness of the last few days, I've neglected to update everyone on the Ladybug turning 1. Can you believe it??!! She's ONE already! We had a....wait for it...a Ladybug themed party. Do you know how difficult it is to find red and black ladybug party supplies? They don't exist. There are party supplies with hot pink ladybugs but last time I checked, ladybugs were red and black, not hot pink. So a lot of our decorations were hand made by the one and only Chad Flora. You thought I was going to say Melissa, didn't you? I'll have to do a whole separate post on the decorations. Anyway, below is a picture of the Ladybug and the Doodlebug on the party day. She's sitting in her new red chair that she got from Granny and Granddaddy.
We got a bouncy house. Here she is with Maddie in the bouncy house - John in the background. Oh yes, even the adults get to jump. The Doodlebug got to invite a couple of friends over so he wouldn't be surrounded by girls and babies. I think he had more fun than anyone

My friend Lynn made the cake and the cupcakes. They were SOOOOOO good and the cake was so cute. Below is a picture of it. (And yes, the poster board it is sitting on was made by Chad). I highly recommend Lynn for all of your cake/cupcakes/cookie needs. She is fantastic! She even made the little ladybug candies that are sitting on top of the cupcakes. So yummy!
I could barely get the cake in front of the Ladybug before she started poking it.
The weather was great for the party. Everyone had a great time - kids and adults. The party lasted into the evening so we could celebrate Chuck's birthday too. He and the Ladybug share the same birthday. Me & Chad, John, Chuck & Melissa and the Nichols' all ordered fajitas and partied into the evening. Royce had to do a blindfolded taste test to prove he could tell the difference between a cupcake and a piece of cake. He's right - he can tell the difference.

We didn't get a separate cake for Chuck so I just took one of the Ladybug's cupcakes and put candles on it. I bought 40 candles and used all but one of them. You do the math.....

Heartbroken

I'm writing this post this morning with a broken heart. Last night while we were at dinner, Maxx got into the leftover goody bags from Carly's party. Those bags were filled with nothing but M&M's. He ingested anywhere from 1.5 to 2 cups of M&M's. I took him to the emergency clinic where they laid out a very detailed plan of what they were going to do to help him. Around step 3 he took a turn for the worse. He developed a severe case of pancreatitis. He's had this before but this case was so severe and came on so rapidly that his chances for survival were very low. He's also diabetic so that wasn't helping his case. Without going into all of the details, that I'm sure I'd get wrong anyway, we made the heartbreaking decision early this morning to let him go. It was the hardest decision I have ever had to make. I've had Maxx since he was 6 weeks old - he was my first born. As hard as the decision was, I know it was the right thing to do. I didn't want him to suffer anymore than he had to. It was a decision Chad and I made together and I'm so incredibly thankful to have a such an awesomely strong husband. Maxx will be missed by so many people, no more than me, but I know he's in a much better place now. And I know his last couple of days here were good ones and I know one of the last things he did was something he really enjoyed - eating people food.

Bernice ma me na

That's right. "Bernice ma me na." Those are the new words to "Feliz Navidad." New words by the Doodlebug. Bernice ma me na. Just thought you might like to know.

Everyone sing!!!!!!