11 Days and counting

Gumdrop has been here a week and likes to hide in silly places while we are sleeping. Summer is always anxious to find out where he is when she wakes up. This morning he was hanging upside down on the fridge door with a new mission tucked in his shirt. He has also been on the staircase, a light fixture, a present, and in the tree. Summer thinks it's funny that he messed up the ornaments even though I think only one or two were messed up. She seems to enjoy the missions he brings and did a really good job helping shop for our angel tree child. Of course, she did want to go to Build-a-Bear and get the little girl a bear. While we were at it, she might as get one too. That was her plan anyway. And, it worked for her. She ended up with a fluffy white sheep named Lamby. I do not regret the decision to buy it so far because it is actually causing her to play with all of her other Build-a-Bear creations more frequently. However, at the time I was really feeling suckered after spending $90 before leaving the store. Two stuffed animals with outfits and shoes. Summer also had to get reindeer headband for hers which she later decided does not look as good as just the plain lamb head. Luckily, the delight on her face offset some of the guilt. I'm sure the little girl will be happy too. Her bear got Twinkle Toes to match the ones she is getting.

We've had one other shopping mission which I'm happy to report did not end up with Summer getting anything. She's been very helpful with the deliveries, carrying as many bags as she can. Today her mission is to take some puzzles, instruments, puppets and barnyard animals to a local children's shelter. She was delighted when she saw the elf had left a big box with all of the items in it right outside our garage. She helped me lift the big box into the car and hopped happily into her car seat. She has also been through her toys and got rid of two boxes of stuff. Yay! I hope these missions will help her to see ways she can help others and want to give back to her community.

She has a really fun cookie decorating mission this weekend with her friend Willow. I think Santa just might be there too. I'm lucky she doesn't ask too many questions about there being so many different Santa's. She has seen three already this month and all of course were different people. I guess him having a lot of helpers isn't such a far fetched idea in her mind. Oh, to be a kid again....

Gumdrop Arrived!

The elf has returned much to Summer's delight. She started asking last week when he was coming. I was scrambling to communicate with Santa about her upcoming missions, but we finally got them all worked out. She was very excited to discover her elf this morning sitting in one of the cubbies by the fireplace. He had a scroll for her which had a letter from Santa on it. He was sure to mention the naughty and nice lists. It seems she is currently going back and forth a lot, but he is sure she will be at the top of the nice list by Christmas if she can get into the true Christmas spirit of giving to others. We will see. I have my doubts at times. But, if Santa is able to pull off the remote control angel, anything is possible! I hope she will enjoy her missions to come. The first one is tomorrow. We'll see what she thinks about it.

Tonight we are supposed to go to Rock City, but the weather is causing some concerns. Hopefully, all the precipitation is over and we will not freeze to death should we decide to venture out to meet up with our group. Tonight Lana's Love is taking us along with other local pediatric cancer patients for the yearly outing there. It is always fun to see those we have met along our journey and to also enjoy the Christmas lights. It's been two years since Summer had her last treatment. She had her last scheduled CT last week which turned out great for her. NED!!! Now she will be monitored by chest x-rays and ultrasounds which they also did last week to get a baseline for the future. She has an MRI coming up after Christmas along with an ECHO/EKG. I am hoping she will again have great results and that her heart will show no signs of damage from the chemotherapy. I'm so thankful for my healthy girl. She is truly my miracle!

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last posted. The holidays are upon us and it is a mad rush from one place to another. We did manage to spend a whole day at home over the weekend though which was nice. Summer played outside in the trees and bamboo. She rode her bicycle, swung on her rope swing and had some one on one time with her Daddy. We were supposed to have a family game day, but the only games we played were on the Wii. Clint also played me one game of backgammon, doubled me, and won. Oh well....next time.

This morning I stayed in Summer's class and made snowman ornaments with the kids. It was lots of fun and very messy with all the sticker paper, but worth the time it took to clean it up. They all seemed to enjoy making their own version of the snowman. A few of them thought he should have legs, but I assured him that he just slid around on the snow. Haven't they seen Frosty the Snowman? Maybe not, but a few of them did sneak on some legs made out of scarves. Summer, being the craft girl she is, was in heaven which is always a nice way to start the week. Over the weekend we made some garland which we will send to someone special through the mail. Her attention span was not so long on that craft, but she did start a pattern that I tried to follow. It was quite a task for a five year old to do on her own so I wasn't surprised when she gave up. :)

She is anxiously awaiting the return of her elf which means I need to go ahead and write Santa and tell him what kind of elf we would like this year. I'll be asking for one that spreads Christmas cheer to others and will help us learn that it is better to give than receive. Of course, she will be receiving too on the big day because you should reap what you sow, right? I'm going to try to not go crazy this year and so far I think I'm doing pretty good. One or two more things should tide her over. The hard part is deciding what they should be. Really the only thing she has asked for that she desperately wants is a remote control angel which she asked Santa for. Let's hope he pulls through on this one! Basically, she says it is an angel flies so it shouldn't be that hard, right? Too bad she didn't ask for a helicopter because they are everywhere right now. I've also thought about a plasma car, but not too sure it would get used. Plus, I'd need to get two so her and Lexie don't have to fight over it should it be a big hit with them. She did enjoy riding it around the store the other day, but probably only got on it because I asked her to. So????

School has been going good for her. The book fair started last Friday. Summer and Lexie were excited to go by and pick out a few books before heading to their classrooms. Summer gobbled up sausage balls and grapefruit juice while Lexie munched on a mini blueberry muffin, a doughnut hole and some OJ. After school on Friday, Summer told me she had a wish list in her book bag. It turned out to be two wish lists. Her books of choice are: Bieber Fever, Leo the snow leopard, Willow Smith, and ???? I can't remember the last one. Oh well, it was pretty good to get all those considering I don't have the lists with me. The girls both love their nightly stories and love picking out the books for me to read. Sometimes we read their library books which they get every week. Other times they pick from our bookshelves. Summer also reads the books she gets from her teacher a few times a week. I can't wait until she can actually read on her own, but I know I will miss the time we spend reading together when she out grows it. Let's hope we have got a few years at least before that happens.