WORDS CAN NOT EXPRESS....

Words can not express the gratitude we feel from everyone. I really can't even begin to thank everyone for their hard work and amazing donations. This was really a site to behold. As you can see so many people donated their things and their time to help Joseph in his journey through this life. It's amazing to witness how good people really are and how willing people are to help. It was an overwhelming site of hard work, love, and service. I really can't say enough to everyone that helped. My family and I will be indebted to you forever. Thank you!

The man of the hour. JO JO!

Swinging who knows what

As you can see the garage sell was massive! Thanks to everyone for all the donations, it's was incredible site to see.

Look how many people we had! It was awesome.
The guardians of the cash box!
We even had a pancake breakfast! Thanks Kathy & Gary
My good friend Maren made the cutest aprons to sell at the garage sell too. I wish I had more pictures of all the other people that helped so much. You know who you are, thank you!

Mark Your Calenders

This is a REMINDER about the benefit garage sell we are having in behalf of Joseph my son who has autism. It is going to be Friday the 14th & Saturday the 15th so save the date. It's going to be at my parents house.(accross the street from Mesa High) We have received so many great things from everyone. THANK YOU so much it really means so much to me and my family. It's going to be a great sale with lots of great stuff ( things from Decor Unique too) so don't forget to come and check it out. Also, if you have anything you have been wanting to get rid of we would love to take it off your hands. Again, I can't even begin to thank everyone for all the things you have donated, thank you again. Spread the word!

Thanksgiving!

We had a great Thanksgiving we spent it at our friends the Cowan's along with about 30 other people. It was a lot of fun and the food was great. The only thing missing was of course our family and the leftovers. So we knew we couldn't do anything about our family but we could do something about the leftovers. We decided to have are own Thanksgiving dinner on Sunday. Todd made the turkey and I made everything else. It was great! It was totally white trash. Instead of putting the food on nice plates we put it in the tupperware so all we had to do was place it in the fridge when we were done. I have to say I loved it that way since it meant less dishes. Todd did such a great job on the turkey, it was so cute to watch how into cooking he was. Now we have lots, and lots of leftovers! YEAHJohn LOVES food. He will eat anything and loves it. He loved the mashed potatoes the most. He also tried pickles on Thanksgiving and loved those too! (he's is mommas boy)
GIVE ME FOOD!
Jo Jo actually sat and ate with us for a few minutes. He enjoyed his pickle and gluten free bread. The kid is SO picky!
Here is Todd with our WHITE TRASH thanksgiving!

The Champions!

The "Stormin Mormons" were the intramural champions for the Big Red this year. They played every Wednesday night and had a blast. I was only able to go to two games since babysitters are hard to come by, but it was fun to watch them play. The other wives may disagree but I'm pretty sure Todd was the cutest one out there! Congrats!

Halloween Night

To Infinity and Beyond! We started off our Halloween night at the commons in downtown Ithaca to do a little trick or treating and to let Joseph play on the playground. He LOVED it and even let me put the thing on his head. Later I decided it was cuter without it so I took it off.
My little Devil. Is he not the sweetest little DEVIL you have ever seen. Actually I think I paid for putting him in this costume last night, he slept for a total of about 2 hours.
Our little DEVIL
I just Love him
little Devil with his Daddy. I love the Binky. We bought for Jo Jo when he was the devil but he wouldn't use it. I'm glad we saved it.

the night continues....

On his way to try this whole trick or treating thing out.
Getting closer....
Yeah, he did it!!!

I think he likes this whole Halloween thing. Look at that grin.

And to another...
When we got home he sat by the window and watched the trick or treaters come. It was so sweet. I really think he enjoyed it. YES, another huge step. It was a fun night for both the kids. I'm pretty sure Jo Jo is a BIG fan of Halloween now.

Joseph's Halloween Party

So this picture is out of order but I'm way to lazy to change it. He loves the scooter and will ride it all over the school. It reminded me of Eddie Murphy in the movie trading places. He was craking me up.

Today Joseph had a Halloween party at his school. They went around and trick or treated around the school. It was so cute and he did so well. He would take the treat and put it in his bag all by himself. ( OK, most of the time he did) After we went back to his classroom and had treats. I made gluten free/ Diary free cookies that he wouldn't touch, I'm so glad I went to all the trouble. I can't wait to see how he does when he really goes trick or treating tomorrow.


After the party his OT, Meg took us to see the OT room. This is his favorite place, as you can see the huge smile on his face. He LOVES the ball pit.
He loves to swing also, I really can't get over how cute/ old he looks in the picture. Look at those dimples, I'm pretty bias but really isn't he handsome? We think so. It was so fun to see him at school having so much fun.

John Loves His Big Bro

John LOVES his big brother. Wherever Joseph is you can find John. Since Joseph spends a lot of his time at his TV John will get right in front of it and look up and him and give him a HUGE smile. It's so cute.
It's crazy because Joseph doesn't seem to mind John getting in his way. If I was to do that he would freak. He is really warming up to John. The other day I saw him give John a kiss. It was the sweetest thing. He's a good BIG BROTHER.
John is just the happiest boy, how could Joseph not just love him
He's just about to get this crawling thing. He's mastered the army crawl

Jo Jo just got back from getting his blood taken for the 2nd time, and is still so happy. He is always so sweet even when things aren't so great for him. Ok, I know Joseph needs a hair cut but we are trying to grow it out. Since Joseph only gets two hair cuts, the buzz, or the grow out.
So the other day I handed Joseph a banana and when I came back into the room John had gotten it and was eating it as fast as he could. He loves to eat but I just took him to the Dr's and he was down 2 lbs. It kinda got me worried.

Our weekend in Buffalo, NOT FUN!

We went to Buffalo this weekend to see Joseph's Doctor. Dr. Patel is a pediatrician and also a allergist. She wanted to test to see if he was allergic to anything. So we spent Friday and Saturday getting him tested for sorts of things. Needless to say it was a very LONG weekend for us all. ( This is Jo Jo in are room after the first day of testing. We went and got him a new DVD for him to watch)


We got to stay in the Ronald MacDonald house and it was awesome. SO NICE. This was are room. So much nicer then any hotel we would have gotten. We were so grateful to be able to stay here.
This is us at the Doctors office. In between getting shots he would get to watch his TV.
He got a shot in his arm every 7 minutes from 10am until 2pm on Friday and Saturday. It was so sad and needless to say it was a VERY long two days. We found out he is VERY allergic to dust and dust mites. (great!)

We want, What you don't

We are planning on having a garage sell to earn some money for all of Joseph's treatments. Most of you all know that Joseph was diagnosed with moderate to severe Autism last year. So we are trying to earn some money that with help with all the extra costs. I'm sure all of you know how expensive Doctor visits can get and therapy sessions. So if any of you have anything that you have been wanting to get rid of, we want it!!! You can drop anything off at my Mom's or Todd's or any of our brothers and sisters houses. We would appreciate anything. The tentative date for the garage sell is December 15th. So come and do some Christmas shopping. I will let you know more details later. Just wanted you not to through out anything, cause we want it!

Tagged

My husband...

What is his name? Todd Robert Runyan
How long have you been together? Married 4 yrs & 2 months, dated for 8 months, so thats a grand total of 4 yrs and 10 months!
Who eats more? Ummm I really like to eat, that's why I still haven't lost my baby weight but Todd can pack it inn. I wish I had his self control he always will pick the healthy item while I chose whatever taste best.
Who said I love you first? Todd did, he texted me I love you in Korean and then told me what it meant that night. I freaked!!!
Who is taller? Todd, I think he is 6'2
Who sings better? Ummm, we both are horrible singers. We both will start laughing when we sing because it really can't get any worse.
Who is smarter? Definitely Todd, he never studies and gets A's it's pretty annoying.
Who does the laundry? I do and I HATE it.
Who does the dishes? I do and I HATE that too!
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do, I'm to afraid to sleep on the side closest to the door.
Who pays the bills? Todd does. I'm horrible with money
Who mows the lawn? Our landlord. Some day we will have our own yard
Who cooks dinner? I do, I'm not very good at that either. Todd makes his own spaghetti a lot and we have microwave dinners quite often. I'm pathetic. Pretty much anything a good wife does I hate doing. Sorry Todd!
Who drives when you are together? Todd does but I'm the worst backseat driver.
Who is more stubborn? We both are pretty stubborn. I'm very vocal and Todd his silently stubborn
Who is the first to admit when they're wrong? Definitely Todd, I'm a brat when comes to saying I'm wrong.
Whose parents do you see the most? Probably mine but since we live in NY we don't get to see any of them very often.
Who kissed who first? Todd did, ( after he had his friend call my friend and ask if I liked him he was all about it. Can anyone say 2nd grade!!!)
Who proposed? Todd did at the beach on the 4th of July.
Who is more sensitive? We both are pretty sensitive
Who has more friends? Probably me, I'm more social then Todd.
Who has more siblings?Todd, he has 3 Sisters, & 3 Brothers
Who wears the pants in the family? ummm, we both do I hope!

I tagg...
Valerie Clawson aka BIGGY
Jamie Recalde
Natalee Abney

Buttermilk Falls

My mom is in town, so we are taking her around Ithaca to show her some of the sites. I'm posting a lot of pictures for my Dad since he got left at home. ( we miss you Dad and wish you were here) This is us in front of Buttermilk Falls.
It's a huge hike up to the top of the falls and it's just straight stairs. Joseph LOVES stairs so the minute he saw them he was on his way. Seriously, he didn't stop he was running up the stairs the whole way. The kid is in shape! He had so much fun. It really was hard to keep up with him.
Todd and Jo Jo hanging at the Falls
To get Joseph to stop we had to put him on Todd's shoulders.

This is looking down at the park. You can see my Mom she is in the yellow shirt. Her and John sat this one out and hung out down at the park.
G-ma and John hanging at the falls
Seriously, can he get any cuter?
Just the cutest. He really is the sweetest boy. We lucked out!

Golf Anyone?

Joseph's service coordinator & my saving grace bought John this cute outfit. Doesn't it look like he is about to go play some golf. I love it. Thanks so much Margo.
All he needs now is a set of clubs.
He's a sweetheart