Will Fear Be A Factor For YOU?

Parker's birthday is on May 23 and usually falls on Memorial Day Weekend. The next week was the last day of school so Parker asked if we could just wait until summer to have his 12th Birthday Party. That was fine with me cause I wasn't feeling to good around he birthday and couldn't imagine throwing a party for him.



So we went online looking for ideas for a "Teen" birthday party. We didn't want anything too kiddie for such a grown up boy! We found some ideas for a Fear Factor Party...and away we went!

We went to WalMart and got everyone a camo-bandana and I ironed on the Fear Factor Logo.

First up was the Kitty Litter Key Find. The kids had to find the correct key in the pile of kitty litter and kitty poop (rolled out tootsie rolls). One key at a time they had to run to the padlock to see if it worked.

Snakes anyone? We had a snake pit full of snakes. In a kiddie pool filled with water were the snakes and each of the kids had a time limit to grab the snakes with their mouths and get out as many as possible and drop them in a bucket! My best friend, Heather, came over to help out with the judging and timing of it all! (She is awesome! She brought her son, Jackson, who is Dexter's friend) Dex & Jackson tried each of the challenges after they big boys. Here is a picture of them!

Next up was the Blood Clot, Maggot and Fly Jell-o! Eat the Blood Clot Jell-o as fast as you can. Austen downed his in 14 seconds! Winner! It was really just Cherry jell-o, raisins and white rice.

Then the kids dealt with the Wiggly Worms. They had to eat 10 gummi worms and then transfer a bowl full of worms to another cup. These were gummi and rubber worms, rolled in honey and dunked in real dirt.

Shoot for Shots made a few people throw up, or at least get the heaves! They each took 5 shots with the basketball. For every shot they missed they had to eat 2 teaspoons of baby food. We gave them a choice of green beans or sweet potatoes & corn. The green beans were pretty solid and after the first kid had such a hard time, everyone else chose the runny potatoes. I was laughing so hard when Spencer tried to drink the baby food. He was really close to puking and kept covering his mouth like he was ready to blow! He tried to plug his nose so he wouldn't be able to taste it. Drew and Austen chugged theirs, no problem, I think they wanted more!

I didn't think Parker was going to make it. He just about tossed his cookies after every challenge...it was pretty funny!

Last, and the one they enjoyed the most was the Shrunken Head Dunk. I filled another kiddie pool with all different kinds of Jell-o, pudding, spaghetti noodles and we let the boys put in their own can of whipping cream. Then they had to dunk their heads under to find the shrunken heads (potatoes) to pull out with their teeth. I couldn't believe how they went to town on this one. They didn't care about getting dirty and covered in what looked like barf! We gave them goggles so they wouldn't get the stuff in their eyes, but as soon as they went under they couldn't see anything. Our only injury of the night was when we had 2 kids going at the same time. One grabbed a potato, threw it out of the pool and then dunked his head back in, only he couldn't see and smashed his face into the back of the head of the kid below him. They both kept going (they were really into this messy challenge) when the one kid got done and was jumping around because he got all 4 potatoes he had blood running out of his nose! Eek! Not to worry, they had done a lot grosser things tonight!

By the time they were done and everything was thoroughly mixed together it really did look like throw up...but it was cold! When I was cleaning it up it was still cold. I asked the boys and they said, Yeah! It was freezing! (I had to leave it all in the fridge until the last minute or it would have melted. I think the cold stuff made it even more fun! Warm would have made it sicker, though!

We had such a great time doing the party. The top 3 winners received a certificate and a gift card to blockbuster. We video taped the whole thing and hope to be able to put it on a DVD for everyone!

I'm BAaaack!

Hello All!

My friend Cyndee asked how my blogging was going so I thought I better update a little!

First off, for most of you, you know that I have been really sick and losing weight and feeling pretty miserable. I got down to a sickly 142 pounds! I looked dead (people actually told me that!).
* I saw my LapBand Doctor on Wednesday.
* He looked at my X-rays on Thursday and called to tell me that,
* My band had slipped

My doctor was awesome. When he told me about the slip he said, they could fix it, put in a new one or completely remove it. He said he knew I had been through a lot so he wanted me to talk it over with John and sleep on it and then call him in the morning with a decision. I still may have Gastroparesis and may throw up. I don't want to risk another slip so I opted for the removal.

* John called our insurance, got approval to have the band removed
* I Called the doctor on Friday Morning and told him I have decided to have it removed. They said they could perform the removal on Monday morning. YIKES! so soon!

So everything came together super quick so I knew this is what needed to happen and on Monday, June 18 I lost my best friend that has been with me everyday for the last 3 years, 10 months and 7 days!

I haven't thrown up once or even had heartburn! Everything is back to normal and unfortunately so is my appetite! It's back and so are all the cravings. Only this time I don't have a device implanted in me to say, "Uh, hello? You are full!" It's nice not to feel depressed anymore feeling like I can't go on throwing up every meal! It was getting really bad!

So I have to be really good and watch what I eat and get some exercise. I need to gain some weight back to look healthy again and that has been put back on already! Now just to maintain!

It is wonderful feeling normal again. Life is good! Yahoo!

Oh! And I would put my LapBand back in tomorrow if I could! I love the band and don't blame it for my problems. I could have NEVER lost 130 pounds on my own!

If you are reading this and thinking about having the LapBand, do it! I certainly would. It was wonderful and I loved it!...and miss it dearly!