None of the above

I saw the perfect opportunity for a little physical therapy for Summer. So, instead of workbooks or crafts, we went outdoors. First, we worked our arms by carrying stuff to the car. Then she got to throw the trash away from my car, which she did without complaining I might add. We walked up and down steps, did some hopping and walked around in a pool of water. It was so much fun and it really didn't feel like it was work except when I tried to get her to walk up the stairs with alternating feet. The steps are kind of wide, but eventually she was getting into doing it right. Of course not every time because that would just be too easy. She had to say she wanted to do it the other way, at which point I told her we would end the exercise and just go home. I know, I'm brutal. But, it worked and she finished walking up what was not the last set of stairs for the day. I really wore her legs out because on the last one she could hardly walk anymore. As a matter of fact, she asked me to carry her not too long after we left the water portion of our fun. But, the main point of the excursion being exercise, I did not. I'm supposed to tire her out and then push her to go a little more, and that is what I did. We "hiked" about looking for animals and just enjoying the beauty of downtown. It is amazing how nice the city has become over the last decade. Used to be, we didn't go downtown except on rare occasions. Of course, now we live here so it is pretty hard to avoid. :) Anyway, it was a great adventure for us both that lasted about an hour. I hope to get a few repeats in the next few weeks. The beauty of downtown is there are a hundred paths to take and you never know just exactly which way the road is going to lead you. I love the variety of activities we can be at in just a matter of minutes. Plus, no car ride needed!

But, I think we would all give it up for a yard with a tree house. I know Summer would. On the way to a cookout/play date last night she said, "What if my daddy is allergic to my two dogs and two cats when we get our house? Maybe we should just get a bunny rabbit." Got to love that logic!

Not a cancer patient anymore

I just filled out the registration form for Summer's summer camps and was happy to leave the question "Is your child currently receiving treatment for any condition?" blank. We still go to the clinic for monthly port flushes until they decide to take it out, but she is not currently receiving any treatment. PTL!!! I am super excited about the camps she will be attending, but a little nervous too since I will be dropping her off and I'm not sure how cool she is going to be with that at first. One camp is more of an active "motor skill" camp and the other two are more creative centered around arts and craft activities. The camps have added a little chaos to the music classes she is signed up for, but it will all work out I'm sure. Maybe I should've just skipped the music classes for the summer, but I've already paid for them so we'll try to make them. I think we are going to skip Playgym for the rest of the summer unless she is really just wanting to go one day. She loves her classes.

She is growing so fast now. I am curious as to how much she weighs because it seems like she has gained a few pounds in just the past few weeks. Although I can still carry her around, I can't do it for too long. She fully wears a 5 now although she will still wear some of her size 4 shirts. She just got a package of new clothes in the mail yesterday and couldn't wait to put them on. So, even though her clothes were still clean, I let her change into some new ones. One more change of clothes is not going to hurt the laundry pile. Of course, I could always just put them back in her drawer. Her too small pile is growing more and more everyday and needs to be boxed up, but I can't seem to get that done. Seems like she is outgrowing stuff every week, so what is the point right now anyway? We stay so busy around here, I can't even keep the kitchen table cleaned off for too long.

Next week Summer and I are going to be in a wedding up in Detroit. Summer and I went and picked up our dresses from the seamstress the other day after her last t-ball game. We are going to be two pretty girls with those pool blue dresses on. I love the fact that they are matching and hope we get some good pics of us in them. Clint will be dressed up too, so maybe we'll get a good one of the family too.

Well, I'm off to see what activity she has planned for us next. We've already played a game of War (with playing cards) and Littlest Pet Shop doctor this morning. I'm sensing she will be up for something more artistic this time. Maybe we can do some workbook activities. But, if it's up to her, I'm guessing it will involve scissors, tape and paper.

Flying colors!!!

Summer had her physical therapy appointment yesterday. The lady didn't really see a big problem that can't be fixed with a few exercises at home. So, we opted not to go for a 6 week session with her. Who wants to go to the doctor when you can be home? Or at the pool? Swimming is one of the activities she recommended to help strengthen Summer's legs and overall body. So, lessons it is I guess. There doesn't seem to be a lot of problems in her legs due to the vincristine (Praise God!), but maybe just a lack of overall endurance due to spending much of 8 months laying around. That was great news to me, and I was so relieved to have just been a little bit of a worry wart. However, I have noticed myself stumbling a lot more since the visit yesterday and am wondering if I may need some physical therapy myself. LOL

Her first dental appointment went well today. We got lucky to get a friend of a friend as Summer's dental technician. So, there was a connection to start with. Her son also plays t-ball against Summer sometimes. Summer was pretty apprehensive about the whole appointment, and I am thankful that it turned out the way it did. The dentist said her teeth look great. He was not at all worried about the gap in her front teeth and says that is good for when her other teeth come in. I told him I thought it might have been due to her thumb sucking (which she STILL does), but he said she probably just had a lot of space to start with.

Yesterday, Summer was a big talker. Josh was with us for a few hours, and she talked his ears off. I know he was wishing he was in the front seat instead of me, but he did a good job grinning and bearing it throughout the time he was with us. It was neat to see how she engaged him and wanted to show him all of her "cool toys." Like, how cool is it really going to be to a 24 year old? It made me smile to see her trying to entertain him and be his buddy. I know she is probably hoping to do the same thing to her big sister today when she drops off Lexie, but I doubt she'll have as much time. That's okay though because Paw-Paw will be here shortly and I'm sure she will be wrapped up in playing with him.

Friday night fun

It has been a fabulous family day for us. This morning Summer had her Playgym class. Afterwards, we all went to the sushi restaurant down the street. Then family nap time. We took a bike ride this evening and played on the playground.

This is her favorite part of the playground. She needs no help spinning herself round and round. However, she still has not learned to pump her legs on the swing.

Summer was adorable, if I do say so myself, throwing the football in her princess dress. She put it on over her clothes and made sure not to forget her high heels. I'm just lucky they weren't her princess shoes. I actually vetoed them and told her to put on tennis shoes, but we came to a compromise on her pink dress shoes. She did really good catching the balls that her daddy & I threw her. Plus, she had fun as you can see from the next few pics.


After the playground, she wanted ice cream. So, I caved and stopped at Cold Stone to get her a kid's creation: cake batter & reese's cups. She ate it all except for the one bite she gave me. While we were there, we were having a talk about playing sports and practicing. I told her that being the best wasn't important. I wasn't the greatest at any sport I ever played, but I had fun and that was what was important. She said, "This is what is important. Just staying with your kid and snuggle and love them." Then my heart melted. It was one of those priceless moments to me.

On our way home we decided to stop for dinner. Backwards, I know. :) After dinner, she played in the fountains in front of the aquarium. She had a blast getting soaking wet. Now, she is having herself a nice bubble bath before we play some Hungry, Hungry Hippos. I hope to follow that with some reading. She got several new books for her birthday. Plus, we have some from the library we need to get to reading. Then probably snuggle time in my bed or on the couch. What a way to start the weekend!

Heartbroken

This morning when Summer got home, she was ready to do crafts. So, we made a birthday card for a party we are going to this weekend. Then she made a picture with some stencils, sequins, and stick glue. After that, she was still wanting to be crafty so she asked me to draw her a cat, dog and rabbit. Instead, I printed off these:

Then she cut them out and made a beautiful picture with the animals and a red sun she had drawn with a marker. She brought it in here to me and wanted to put it in a picture frame. Well, then she made the mistake of putting it into the top of the paper shredder (which for some reason was not on the can that catches the paper) and this happened:

She was instantly heartbroken and wept at the loss of her beautiful picture. She didn't think the shredder was on, but she was mistaken. Hopefully, it was a lessen learned. It took her a good five minutes of cuddling to get over it. Of course then she wanted to snuggle with me and watch cartoons. There's always some good to come from bad times I guess.

I remembered this morning that her preschool paperwork is not here. Another bummer. Looks like I won't be getting that done today. I did call the preschool though to check on when I need to register by so there's one thing accomplished.

Well, I better get back to the girls.

N.E.D.

No evidence of disease for Summer! Praise the Lord!!! I am so thankful for my beautiful, healthy daughter. She is such a blessing and joy in my life.

T-ball is going great. She continues to improve and actually started going after balls in this last game. There is only one more game for this season. I am kind of sad, but it is getting hotter and hotter outside so I'm sure we won't be missing it too much. Plus, we've got all the accessories now so we can just play in the yard if she decides she wants to. I kind of doubt that will happen, but never say never.

She got to go to her Memaw's after her game yesterday and won't be coming back until in the morning. So, I am trying to get all the stuff I need to done while she is gone, but the big pile of papers to my left it just not tempting at all. As long as the bills are paid, I can leave it there indefinitely. LOL

I still have yet to turn in her preschool registration. I really need to get on that, but just keep getting sidetracked by life. I seriously need to do it this week though. So, maybe tomorrow after she comes home we will head that way. Who knows? We may even stop by Chuck E Cheese afterwards. Wish I could find that birthday coupon I printed off!

Post scan post (no news yet)

Summer had her CT scan this morning. No results yet, but I am anxiously awaiting them. They are going to schedule her two appointments - one with an opthamologist and one with physical therapy. Hopefully, they will both turn out to be unnecessary, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.


The weekend was a nice family weekend. We went to the strawberry festival on Saturday. It was soooo hot outside, but it was fun. Summer and Lexie rode some carnival rides. They were all sold out of strawberries by the time Clint and my dad made it to where they had been selling them. So, when we had enough of the heat, we left and stopped at the fruit stand close by to get some locally grown strawberries which were delicious. I actually just made a strawberry pie to finish most of them off. I am so excited because I might actually get to eat most of it. Summer is now declaring that she doesn't like strawberry pie and it is disgusting. I know she said she liked it a few days ago, but that's how it goes sometimes. She just says things to be contrary. Well, she is in her room right now thinking about where that kind of attitude is going to get her. Or, maybe she has drifted off to sleep by now. I'll know as soon as the microwave beeps which one it was. :)


We had Sunday dinner yesterday with my mom's family. Summer got to bring home the rest of the angel food cake which I took for a surprise for her after her scan. She finished it all off without offering me a bite. Sniff. Sniff. We both love that stuff! We stopped by my Grandad's house to pet some of his horses since we got there a little early. He breeds those big Budweiser horses. And, boy are they big! I can't imagine riding on one of those cause. I can remember as a child riding horses, but they were quarter horses or appaloosas. We even had two horses of our own for a few years or so. We had some good times on my grandad's farm growing up too. I just love walking down memory lane sometimes and when I go to these family dinners, especially Grandad's farm, I get to do that. Plus, I am making new memories with my daughter. Oh, life is so good sometimes. When you just let everything else go, especially negative energy, and try to enjoy it. Looking on the bright side of things has gotten me through many a day in the past year.

Well, I haven't heard anything, so I'm assuming she fell victim to a nap. Oh well, it won't hurt her. Now what to do with a few hours of unexpected free time???? I would say pedicure, but she wants to join me for that special treat. Well, this post is written, so I'm on to bigger and better things. Or, maybe just a hour or so on the couch with a Wii remote in my hand? Hopefully, I won't sit there watching the clock waiting to see if they are going to call me with results. No news is good new though, right?