Sister Supervisors

Vania and I watched James this weekend so our parents could visit Venessa and her family. I think this is the most time he has ever spent away from one of our parents. I could tell he felt more independent. We may have spoiled him just a little with all of the shopping, movies and restaurants...

James did his part to help with Thanksgiving preparations. He is excellent at crunching graham crackers for pie crust.

James wanted to go to Five & Diner for dinner on Saturday night. He insisted on sitting at the counter and told the waitress "Elvis is dead."

With limited resources, James chose to eat the scrambled eggs I prepared for him rather than starve. 

Coach James

The steps after high school for James have proved challenging. While his classmates move on to full time jobs and college, James is trying to find his own path. This summer he started a program at Easter Seals to learn job skills. His favorite jobs include stuffing envelopes at the Blood Center and hanging up clothes at the Salvation Army. Unfortunately, last week James got very overwhelmed and frustrated during his training. He is currently taking a break but will be slowly incorporated back into the daily program. 

I think James also misses his high school activities. He decided his next step was to be an East High girls swimming coach. For weeks he had been pestering me for a schedule because the team needed Coach James to help time at the meets. Tonight James assisted at the meet at East against Indianola. Coach Erin Lowe and the team made James feel very welcome and were incredibly patient. James doesn't like to see anyone upset or hurting. After many races he would ask the girls, "Are you okay? Tell me where it hurts." He really felt like a part of the team. It was a great night! Thanks EHS Swimming!

Adventures in Breakfast

James has always been very particular about what he eats and who prepares it. There was a time when he would only eat fried eggs. And then there were the AE Cherry Vanilla Yogurt (but only in a 6 oz. container) years. He gets more adventurous with his food choices as he ages. There are rare evenings where he eats what has been prepared for dinner. And this morning he ate scrambled eggs prepared by me for the very first time. BIG DEAL friends, big deal! 

The Next Chapter

This week James started a summer program at Easter Seals. He will spend the summer learning job skills with a group of his peers at Des Moines area businesses. I have to admit that I was pretty nervous for this new chapter but it seems to be going well. James also got his first cell phone this week. He calls our dad every day at lunch. Even I have gotten a call. Tonight I took James to see "How to Train Your Dragon 2". He has been anxiously awaiting the sequel and it did not disappoint. James was still so pumped after the movie that he dropped his almost-full bucket of popcorn all over my car. He told me I was "fired".  

Congratulations James!

James has baby-stepped all the way to high school graduation! If James could, I know he would thank all of his teachers, classmates, friends and family that made this accomplishment possible for him. He told me his favorite part of graduation was "taking pictures with the girls". 

Happy Birthday James!

Today James is 19 years old! Every year for his birthday he goes to Monster Jam and gets pizza from Pappa John's. 

James got everything he wanted for his birthday: Skittles, Tootsie Rolls, and a 1999 VHS tape of one of his favorite Branson shows, The Baldknobbers.

Mom made a Monster Jam cake. 

James can't stand to hear "Happy Birthday to You". Or maybe it is just because none of us can sing.