Casey's Birthday and Update

My baby turned 18 yesterday.  I can't believe it.  That old saying is so true: "Where HAS the time gone?!"  We didn't have a big party or anything.  Nah, we gave up doing that a long time ago.  We just had the usual cake and a few gifts here within our little family.  The bigger party will come in about three months, when he graduates high school.

His 'big' present was quite a surprise and quite last minute . . . an iPod Touch.  Ty is tired of Casey using HIS iPod all the time so he suggested it yesterday morning as a gift.  We decided to go half-half on it, and he dashed to town before work to buy one.  Pretty cool!  And I don't think Casey ever suspected or even thought about getting one, hehe! 

He also got a new sketchbook and two sets of pencils and other sketcher bits (like those pencil shaped paper smudger thingies).  He is my arty child, likes to write and draw, and putter around on the guitar.  He also got a small gift bag crammed full of his favorite candies and gum and beef jerky.  That was a last minute idea too.  I thought it was fun, and would love to receive something so simple but so pleasing.

I baked and decorated the cake . . . chocolate cake with chocolate frosting, and chocolate ice cream to go with it.  When I was a kid I always wanted a beautiful cake from the bakery but money was tight and my mom always whipped up a simple box mix cake.  When my boys were small I started always buying beautiful bakery cakes but how funny is it that we all prefer the simple box mix cakes instead??

Minion wasn't quite sure what to make of all this fuss.  This is the first birthday he's seen celebrated (mine isn't as festive, and blends into Christmas) so he was all 'Oooh what's that and that and THAT?!' and getting into balloons and paper and everything.  This morning he was chasing a stray balloon around the room.  He was having a blast, just fascinated by this new toy, but I was both hoping and fearing that it would pop.  It didn't.

As for Casey's shoulder, I picked him up early from school and we headed back to the hospital so he could see the orthopedic doctor for his followup.  First thing the doctor did was tell him to get rid of the immobilizer wrap he'd been wearing since the ER visit.  He asked a couple quick questions but really didn't do anything but tell us Casey will need to have physical therapy twice a week for the next four weeks.  He signed a paper to get therapy set up, and wrote a new note to keep him out of gym for this next month, and we were on our way.  He's a very nice doctor but . . . really?  We had to physically come to see you for this?

So we walked over to the therapy part of the hospital and got his first appointment set up.  We'll need to get these made for as late in the day as possible because I don't want to keep pulling him out school, and I need to try and schedule them for the days I'm off so hubby doesn't have to miss any work.  And what does the receptionist say when I tell her ". . . as LATE as possible"? 

"Does 2:15 work?"

Ugh.  Well, we ended up taking that one because everything else was earlier but I really hope we can get the remaining ones for l-a-t-e-r.  Casey's just happy he doesn't have to wear the brace anymore.

And how has your week been?