The Last Day of the Year

It is hard to believe another year has already come and gone. This past year certainly had its share of ups and downs. We all have so much to be thankful for. My little girl has truly been a blessing in my life. My husband is alive and healthy. I could go on and on, but you get the point. I can only hope the new year ahead is better than the last because it was pretty good. :)

Okay, so a little about my baby. I mean big girl. Yesterday Summer started calling me "Mom." It was weird at first, but kind of cute. She also referred to Clint as "Dad" instead of "Daddy" - scratch that - "Daddio!" It is funny how she ended up calling Clint that. I don't know how it happened really, but I can remember a few cards from Josh and Amanda containing something similar - "Sir King Daddio!" Memories...

Summer did revert back to "Mommy" later in the day. I wonder what it will be today. She is really growing up so fast. I am trying to preserve her innocence, but it is hard in today's society. I must say I am very thankful for public broadcasting stations. They do provide educational shows that teach kids positive behaviors and a lot more. I couldn't imagine letting Summer watch Nickelodeon these days. Or, Cartoon Network for that matter. It is sad how the simple things in life have become so complicated. What happened to all the good cartoons? Nowadays the shows are just too grown up for little ones to watch. I guess with time, change comes too.

Time out.

Okay I'm back to finish this post off. Summer wants me to play with her. I might just see a day of playing house in my future. I think Lexie will be here in a little while. It should be fun with the three of us. Summer woke up and asked where Lexie was this morning. She hasn't been doing that lately, but today she did. She told me she wants to spend the night with Amanda and Lexie at Memaw's house. I doubt that will ever happen, but she is spending the night with Memaw tonight.

We are going to visit Clint's parents in a few weeks. My dad, Amanda and Lexie are coming with us. It should be a fun trip. We always get to eat at nice places in the casinos for free when we visit them!!! Plus we can go to the movies for free and I can play video poker!!!! Maybe I'll sit out of the movie and hit those poker machines!!! :) I can't wait.

Well, my little girl awaits me. Patiently. Thank God!!! Now maybe He can work on my patience. LOL

I hope you all have a great new year ahead of you! God bless us all!!!

P.S. She did start with "Mom" again this morning...followed by a few "Mommys." :)

Time to clean up the decorations!!!

I am putting off getting my house cleaned up. Mostly because every time I do clean it up, it is a mess in no time. I did get the decorations out of Summer’s playroom yesterday. We did a little reorganizing and packed up some toys to send off to my mom’s house. We also hung her Dora canopy over her bed. She absolutely loves it. She still keeps asking if there are any more presents, but there are not. Not here anyway. We do still have to do Christmas with my best friend and her family. Summer got lots of presents, of course. I’ll give you a quick run down.

Panda bear (Rod & Cade), Dress, (Grandad & Ella), Pink light-up teddy bear (Billy & family), Pink pig and book (Mark & Leisa), Princess Bucket with lip gloss & pink kitty cat (Santa), Art Easel, supplies & t-shirt with pic of Summer & Shelby (Memaw &* Nanny), Baby doll set, paints, and fuzzy art board (Paw-Paw), Candyland Castle Game (Wade, Amy & Katie), Puppy Dog (Jeff & Laurie), Ballerina Barbie (Alyssa), Princess clogs, Cinderella shirt, food for her kitchen (which she said was her favorite present), mini race track, walking & barking puppy, and 101 Bible songs (Mommy & Daddy). I think that pretty much sums it up, but I am sure there is something I am forgetting.

Needless to say, the girl is spoiled!!! She just now came in here and asked for another present. I actually do have one more thing that I did not wrap up, but I think I am going to wait a while to give it to her. It is more stuff for her art supplies. She has so much to play with now. She has already been painting this morning. Now she is at her art easel. It came with magnetic letters and it is amazing how many she knows. A LOT MORE THAT I THOUGHT!!! She even knew what "Y" was which surprised me.

Our other kids had a great Christmas too! Josh especially was happy with his gifts which makes it all worth it in the end. He got a silver chain which he said he had always wanted. Woohoo! I think Amanda and Lexie had a good Christmas too. I gave Lexie her blanket that I had crocheted for her. I forgot to take a pic of the finished product though. :( Maybe Amanda will bring it over one day when she comes. Hint, hint ;) I think Clint liked all his gifts too. I got a hair straightner which I love! I had never used one before yesterday, but it worked like a charm even though it was rainy outside. My hair is still straight today.

We had a White Elephant party at our friends house last night which was a lot of fun. We made homemade pizzas and everyone loved them. Several people helped put them together and they were each different, but YUMMY! It was a good time for all and something we should do more often. Everyone can probably use more fun in their life and spending time with friends is a great way to do it. New Year's Eve is coming up and should be another great night!!! I can't wait!

Santa's coming tonight!!!

I am so excited for Christmas to be here. Tonight we have our Christmas with my mom's side of the family. It is going to be different from previous years because we aren't doing any gift exchanging, but I am sure it will still be fun. The kids are still all getting gifts so it will be exciting to watch them. Tomorrow is when the real fun begins. I hope Summer is as excited as I am anticipating. I don't think she will be getting up an earlier than usual, but we will see in the morning. My dad is going to spend the night with us so he will be here for all of the excitement. I can't wait!!! We are going to my mom's afterwards for presents and breakfast. I am hoping we will also play some fun games while we are there. Then tomorrow night we have Christmas with Amanda, Josh and Lexie. I hope they like their gifts. It is always hard to know if they are going to like what they get or not. This year I think we did pretty good though.

I need to get my camera emptied and make sure all my batteries are charged and ready for the big day. I better get off here because I still have laundry to do, banana bread to make, and a book to read. I am reading the Twilight series and it is good. I am on the third book now. I can't wait to finish all my chores so I can hit the couch for a few hours!!!!

Merry Christmas to everyone!!!

Two more days until Jesus's birthday

We went to my aunt's house for my dad's side of the family's Christmas gathering on Saturday. We had a great time over there. I think we were there almost 8 hours!!! Summer played dolls with my granny. She also peed in her pants. We all thought it was my cousin's dog, then discovered it was not. :( Luckily she was spending the night away from home so I had plenty of clothes on reserve. After dinner and presents, we played a game, "Catch Phrase," which was so much fun. (I hope that is the correct use of all those commas. LOL) We must have played it for hours. Finally after midnight, I decided to come home and go to bed.

Summer has opened three more presents, two of them yesterday. Her fourth gift was another puzzle - more difficult than the one before. This one has 24 pieces. Needless to say, she was a little frustrated with it. She rolled around and kicked a little while saying something like I can't do this. It's hard. It was cute, but I tried to explain to her to be patient that she would learn how to do it in time. I also told her I would help her. So, every time she wants to put it together, I help her. It is a picture of two lab puppies - a black one and a brown one. I didn't really think about the difficulty when I bought it, but just the fact that it had dogs on it (which she loves). I think it is good though to challenge her rather than her just being able to put it together in a minute or two.

Yesterday afternoon she opened a crafty gift where you pull pipe cleaner through a picture to make 3D art. She really liked it and caught onto it quickly. I guess I can take the pipe cleaners out so she can do them again, but I will wait to see what she thinks about that first. I don't want to ruin her works of art. LOL

She got to open another gift before bedtime since I am a little behind on the twelve days of Christmas. It was a set of ten Angels on Assignment books. Each book focuses on a different word that teaches her positive behaviors/thinking. We read three of them before bed last night. She learned about Hope, Joy and Charity. They are angels in the books. I am really glad I got them because she needs all the positive she can get in her life. We all do! Just look at the joy in her face as she anticipates me reading them to her. She really loves that a lot. We read "The Christmas Story" almost everyday before nap time. I am so glad she enjoys it and hope she will learn that Jesus is the real reason for the season.

The sun is out!

One Week 'til Christmas

I can't believe that in one week, I will be patiently waiting for Summer to get up to open presents. LOL

This month is flying by. Nothing unusual anymore. Times goes by so fast that sometimes I think I am not paying enough attention. Before I know it, my little girl will be all grown up.

I haven't done too good with the 12 days of Christmas this year. They just keep slipping away from me. Before I know it, it is bedtime and then another day begins. I'll have to make sure to go pick something out for her when I finish this post!

Today we are going to visit Josh who just had his second ad third surgeries on his leg. I am sure he is getting bored sitting in the hospital all day long, but hopefully he is resting and taking it easy. Wish there was something I could think of to take him that might help pass the time, but I don't have a clue of what that would be. Oh well. I did get him some Reese's cups which I think are his favorite.

We are also thinking about taking Summer to see "The Tale of Despereaux" today. The first showing is at noon and it sounds perfect to me! Although she did not make it entirely through the last movie, we are willing to try again. She is FREE for the next 6 months. I can't say I was completely upset about leaving the last movie. It wasn't my favorite movie or hers either, obviously. :) Anyway, I think it will be fun. It is something Clint and I both enjoy and we can do it with her, so that makes it perfect for us! I can still remember taking her to the movies when she was six or seven months old. That was NOT the perfect age to go to take her. She wanted to crawl around and stuff - anything but sit still. But, all in all I still have good memories of the occasion.

Not sure what else the day will hold, but I think I have enough on my plate to worry about to get me at least through nap time! I better get off here and go find that present.

Christmas Earrings, The "Ride", and PICTURES!!!

This morning Summer and I put on some Christmas earrings. I almost forgot that I had them. Of course, I got them from Avon. It is 10 pairs of holiday earrings sure to match any outfit you choose. I choose the snowflakes (yeah, I'm dreaming...) and Summer chose Christmas trees. Not sure what we are going to do today, but I doubt it will entail any trips to the mall. We went twice yesterday. After visiting one of my friends who just had a baby at the hospital, we headed to Hamilton Place so Summer could do the bungee jump trampoline thing (???). We were hungry so we stopped to eat at Smokey Bones which is one of Clint's favorite places to go. Although we rarely go there because we prefer to shop and dine in Hixson. Anyway, after our wonderful meal, we headed back out in the cold rain towards the mall. We made a few stops on the way to the "ride" trying to find the perfect gift for a Chinese/Elephant Christmas party we are attending the day after Christmas. No luck. :( When we arrived at the "ride" Summer wasn't really up for it. She wanted to play on the little merry-go-round ride instead. Go figure. We never put money in them, but she still loves to play on them. After a few minutes of coaxing, she agreed and headed to the big trampoline. The guy put her harness on her and her face was covered in fear, lips slightly quivering. We played it up telling her it was fun, acting excited to see her trying it (we weren't acting though). The fear quickly faded and was replaced with a small smile at first. The guy pulled her legs and she flew up in the air. He gradually made it go higher and higher as she got used to it. She swung and bounced for a few minutes before it was over. Overall, I would say she enjoyed it. She was a little small to do flips and bounce herself, but at least she gave it a shot. We were so proud of her. Clint is hoping she will do it again the next time we go back. I think he wants to raise a little daredevil. Well, at least not a scaredy cat. LOL

Happy to go back to the merry-go-round

Summer is with me in the office right now. Drawing on paper. She just drew a candy cane. It is very curly. :) She has made both Clint and I look at it several times.

I think she liked it!

We have opened three Christmas presents all together now. Maybe she will get another one today. She has been a good girl so far today. Of course, it is only 9:30. The third gift was a pair of princess shoes, two tiaras and some dress-up clothes. She looked so cute dressing up, but the sleeves itch on one of the dresses, so she wouldn't pose for a picture. When she decided it was coming off, it came off quickly! Maybe I'll just cut those itchy sleeves off!

The look of joy on her face

some looks are silly, yet still precious

My Princess Summer

Time with Daddy

Summer has gone to spend the afternoon with Clint. But, only after a horrible, crying tantrum about how she wanted to stay with me. In the end, she left happy as a lark her bear in tow. Clint was carrying her golf set and the diaper bag full of goodies I packed for her, I mean them. :) It is loaded down with two Handi packs of pretzels and crackers, a bag of grapes, two bananas, a jar of Del Monte spaghetti (yes, she still eats this one particular baby food!), two sippy cups (watered down apple juice and chocolate milk), and a bag of chocolate protein. They were also headed to Smoothie King, so I am pretty sure they are not going to starve before I see them again. I am hoping they will meet me at the mall this evening after my appt. and dinner with Selena. Maybe I will finish up my Christmas shopping! I only have about three more gifts to buy.

Make that five! We are having a couples Chinese Christmas party the day after Christmas. I think it will be fun, especially if people get creative with their gifts!

Summer got her second Christmas present today. A Crayola Color Wonder Glitter Coloring Set. She loved it. Her old sets are all used up. I really love these things because I don't have to stand around and make sure she isn't coloring the walls. Not that I have to do that anyway because she is a pretty good girl. I even trust leaving regular markers (washable of course) in her access at all times!!! She loves to paint, draw, color, whatever. She is so artistic! Unlike me. I have to try really hard to do something decent. I can color in the lines though. Mostly. LOL

The other day she brought me a book to read and I think I recall her telling me she wants to learn to read. She only knows a few letters, when she wants to of course. Some times she tells me "I am not a big girl right now." :) Anyway, they were the very basic baby books. "Happy Baby Colors" and "Happy Baby Words." I think these will be very good books to start with, although the learning to recognize the alphabet is probably the very best place to start. I do try to sometimes get her to learn to recoginize the first letter of some of the words. I think she knows "b" and "g" for sure. We have a long ways to go. But, she is only two. How important is it for her to know all that stuff now anyway?

Kicked Out

I just got kicked out of my two year old's playroom. :) She was calling me for help and when I came she decided she didn't need me after all and I could leave. She was putting the puzzle together that she got yesterday and thought she needed my help for a moment. But when I arrived, she had figured it out and had two pieces to go. It didn't take her as long as I thought to master it after all.

Now she is in the office with me, playing in the trash can. Don't worry. She DID take out the trash first! She put it all up on the desk...LOL Wish I had the camera close by, but I am way behind on pics anyway. I need to get them on my computer and post some before Christmas comes and goes and they are all old news. Well, I guess they are old news now anyway.

Summer is already looking forward to playgym on Thursday. They had the week off last week due to the holidays, and she must be having withdrawal. She has asked about it for the past two days.

She has decided that she wants to be a dancer when she grows up. She saw some little dancers performing on stage at the Grand Illumination last Friday night. She loved watching them and told me that she wanted to be a dancer too. She was talking about it at lunch today too. She sure had a lot to say which is not really unusual for her. On our way into the hospital this morning to visit Josh, she asked me why it was cold. I told her because it was winter now. She said that it wouldn't be cold in the hospital. It would be warm. She told me that the hospital probably had the heat on. Is that crazy or what?

Right now she is playing with a calculator. I wonder how long it will take for her to figure that out. I guess she needs to learn all her numbers first. We have been working on that a little with some books and flashcards, but she doesn't seem that interested in the actual number. She is learning to count though. Sometimes she loses her place in counting, but that is just a natural part of the learning process.

Okay, enough about Summer. I better get back to her anyway. Apparently she just "winned" on the calculator.

The first day of Christmas

I'm not sure if I had mentioned this before, but I am doing the 12 days of Christmas with Summer again this year. Of course, I've already messed up. It wasn't supposed to start until December 13, and I started today! Summer opened her first official Christmas present this morning. It was a puzzle (which she loved). She has been doing her puzzles a lot lately and I am glad I had gotten some puzzles for her because I really think it is time for some new ones. The one she got today is actually her first puzzle that has "real" puzzle pieces. You know, the cardboard kind. Not the thick or wooden ones or the plastic kind either, but the grown-up kind. She did a pretty good job of putting the puzzle together without much help from me. I did help her to look at the pieces a little bit when she was just trying to fit them into each other. Anyway, I would say the first present was a success. It will take her a few days to master, but I am sure she will do it. She is so smart!

Now I've got to figure out how to spread out the rest of these gifts....I thought about a system where we keep track of whining and if she does it too much, no gift???? Not sure we could keep up with that though. LOL. I'd be carrying around that chart everywhere! She might not get any more gifts. :) She really isn't that bad, but at times it does grate at my nerves slightly. I'm so thankful she still takes naps everyday! Without them, the whining might last all day!!! Yikes!