Happy 2nd Birthday sweet Samantha Jeanne...

Here's a little taste of the last 2 years with Sam....

 Sam's 1st Birthday...

We love the laughs and 'girliness' you've brought into our lives.....Happy Birthday Samantha Jeanne...we love you dearly......

This wouldn't have happened....

* Post #2 about Imagination Movers' Concert*
scroll down to see #1 from last night....

Let me start by adding these pictures of the outside of the Paramount(no I wasn't driving mom, we were stopped!) :-)

What this post ends with is something that would NOT have happened if Eric was here right now!
Going back to a month ago....I saw a friend on facebook asking if anyone wanted her tickets to the Imagination Movers' Concert(she lives in Louisiana or I would have taken them), but it got me looking into whether or not they were coming to Colorado. I checked out their website and sure enough they were coming to the Paramount. I called Eric to see what type of tickets I could buy without him freaking out. I wanted to 'add on' the Mini Mover's Package to our tickets.....this was an after the show party with the Movers and a chance to take a picture with them. So...we both decided that 'buying' happiness was ok during this year! HA! This is kind of what happened at Christmas...Eric and I got carried away with wanting to fill the void of him not being here that they got ALOT of stuff!! :-)
So...why not spend more money to see their faces in shock for one afternoon?!!?
OH.MY.WORD. Completely worth it!!
Since we were sitting in the back of the concert we were the first family up in the "think tank" party room. Here is some quick video I took of the kids when we walked in....

So...they had toys and games set up....tables and chairs.....bottled water and a snack bag with a snack the kids could actually eat!...the bags had pretzels and then organic dried apples! HA..Josh was so excited!

Again...I was just blown away at the kids...they just started playing and interacting with their surroundings and took turns with the other kids...it was just so much fun to watch. 

Then...it happened...the Movers came into the room...

They just started mingling with everyone...I wasn't sure what was going to happen when we walked in, but this was so cool. I try to 'script' things out for the kids, especially Josh, so he knows what to expect and it helps him stay calm. But, I was wrong yesterday! He kept telling me he wanted to go up and tell them hello and I didn't want him to get his hopes up...so I kept telling him that I wasn't sure if he'd really be able to, but maybe he could wave to them!

Well...Mover Scott came right up to us and I couldn't get my camera out soon enough!

All 3 of us were taken off guard. Then the other three guys started handing out instruments for the kids to play WITH them! Rich, Smitty, and Dave stood behind a rope and started taking requests from kids! I couldn't get over it...Josh was beside himself and Sam, well...her mouth never closed and her eyes were huge!

The last song that you hear Mover Dave sing is telling us about 'picture time.' We were each assigned a group and when they called our letter(which was C) it would be our turn to stand in line and get a picture taken with them!  While we were waiting our turn Choo Choo soul performed again. DC is the guy in the group and he did his beatboxing and then he did some break dancing....right in front of us...I mean...if Josh stepped forward he would have been hit in the head by DC's foot! 

Josh and Sam did really well waiting for there turn...it actually went pretty quickly.  They had a professional guy there taking the pictures. So, I was talking with Josh and asking him if he could get the picture by himself or if he wanted Sam and I in it as well. What I was really wanting to do was record it all on my phone for Eric....but, of course, Josh wanted Sam and I right up there with him. Then, I saw a sign once it was almost our turn telling us not to bring our personal cameras up front. I thought well..that answers that question and apologized to Eric in my head that I wasn't going to be able to show the experience to him later....BUT...then it all happened....

Nina came over and got down on her knees and talked to Josh...then Mover Rich came over and picked Josh up...threw him around...(I wasn't sure if Josh was breathing!)...Nina tried to pick Sam up, but Sam had nothing to do with that! ;-)

Then Mover Dave came over and talked to Josh about his shoes(Josh wears Toy Story light up shoes) and then they all started stomping around and getting Josh to get his shoes to light up! 

The guys were INCREDIBLY sweet and down to earth and were so good with Josh. I can not find the words to describe the experience. It was surreal....it was one of those times where it felt like time stood still. All of the Movers got down to Josh's height and signed his 'VIP' pass for him....then Rich asked me a quite simple question, "did you guys enjoy the show?"...of course I said Yes and then these words stumbled out of my mouth in some way....I told him that their dad was in the Air Force and stationed in Korea for the year and this was definitely something we had been looking forward too....Rich then asked me if I had a phone that could do video...I pulled my iphone out and he said, "PERFECT!" Let's do this...let's do something special for him .....so, he had 'lindsay'..someone that was helping out to take a quick video....and this is what happened...

I was floored....fighting back some tears....and then proceeded to give each one of them a hug! HA!

Again, I don't think Sam said a word until we started to leave. She started pointing at them and saying, "bye bye Nina, bye bye ima moo moo.' over and over and over again....

We left the party and returned to the lobby. I immediately opened the video and emailed it to myself in case something happened to my phone between the theater and walking to our car! heehee

Can you believe it?!?! I tell you....they are wonderful people...all married with kids...from New Orleans...(except Nina, she's from Hawaii)

Oh my oh my.....when the 3 of us got back into our car there was a collective deep breath going on!!

So...there you have it....thank you Eric for not being with us yesterday because...we may have gone to the concert, but I wouldn't have spent the extra money for the meet and greet...and then we wouldn't have this awesome video... 

So...thank you for the memories we were able to make in your absence!! :-)

AN IDEA EMERGENCY!!!!!!!!!

If you are familiar with Imagination Movers...then you'll understand my title for this post!! :-)
WHAT.A.DAY!!! I'm completely exhausted, BUT I have to get this post up tonight. We left our house this morning at 10:15....did a quick run to Target, then on to Josh's gymnastics class, got back in the car, drove to Castle Rock and picked up Starbucks, then on to Denver and the Paramount Theater to watch Imagination Movers in concert with Choo Choo Soul as their opening act! RIDICULOUS!!! It was so fun to be downtown Denver again....I haven't been there since we moved and I forgot how much fun 16th Street Mall is and also walking around the Pavilion shopping area.
Anyways, the kids didn't really take interest in that. Although we did see a horse drawn carriage with green feathers everywhere on it(St. Patrick's Day). Also, in one of the restaurants on the corner by the Paramount there were bagpipe players playing very loudly. I had to basically pull Josh away from watching them so we wouldn't be late for the real concert!
I wasn't sure what to expect from the kids. I know from previous experiences with Josh and concerts that sitting too close doesn't work at all. He likes to sit far back so he can take it all in....almost like he is watching it on t.v.! Needless to say, we picked up our tickets at will call, went inside, down the aisle, and our seats were right smack in the middle and all the way down in the second row! I mean, seriously?!?! It was crazy....and right when we sat down I knew it wouldn't last long. This is how they had to look at the stage:

Because this is how close we were to the stage:

I believe we lasted maybe 10 minutes sitting in those seats! Josh leaned over to me and told me that he wanted to go watch it way in the back. So...away we went. Thankfully everyone in the row was standing up so we weren't too annoying leaving the row again! But, as we were walking back up the aisle I had a quick thought. I realized how truly thankful I am as a parent...well, for so many reasons, but what stuck out to me was when everything started with Josh(3 years ago!!)...when we finally got an evaluation through the state and started Early Intervention in Illinois...I had no idea then how incredibly blessed we were to have the therapists we did. I mean, I immediately knew, in my core, that I liked them. That Josh's OTs were special, but I had no clue until later how fortunate we were that they were all about Sensory Processing Disorder. That Josh began the specific type of OT and sensory treatment he needed, immediately! So, if you are ever in southwest Illinois or St. Louis...look up Patricia(Trish) Miller and Karen Wahn of Hand to Hand Pediatric Therapy out of Edwardsville.

Ok...I have definitely digressed, but my point was how thankful I was walking up that aisle because I wasn't annoyed or angry or frustrated that we were not sitting in the seats I had spent money on. 

I was SO PROUD of Josh. He first realized that he did not like sitting that close. He didn't have a meltdown. He didn't throw or hit or yell or even ask for anything to eat(he uses oral input to help calm/regulate himself)....instead he suggested a solution! He thought he'd prefer to watch it sitting from the back so he could take it all in! So, I gladly said yes, let's do that! Which leads to another reason I was thankful for my education as a parent. Thankful for Karen, Trish, and the Star Center for educating me on what is best for Josh...because if I was ignorant in what was really going on inside his brain...I probably would have made him sit there, been irritated he wasn't 'appreciating' what I had bought for him, etc etc etc....

Um, the aisle wasn't that long, so I suppose all those thoughts came quite quickly! HA!

But, we happily found the rows in the very back were completely empty...they each found a seat....some snacks....and well...I'll let the pictures and videos tell the story....after they felt secure...got 'in-sync'...they loved it...

 

So...that was the concert! After this last video that I took, Josh came up and asked if we could go BACK down to our 'first' seats! HA! Loved it!! We didn't because there was only about 5 minutes left and I told him that when the Movers were done singing...we were going to go upstairs and say 'hi' to them! ;-) oh yes, oh yes we did!! That post will be tomorrow...just as many videos and pictures, but I can't keep my eyes open an y lllo ng g er  zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.........