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.

Teddy got new shorts!

It's been a long time coming, but Teddy's original shorts have officially been retired. They were pinned to him some time during Summer's chemotherapy treatments I think. Summer was the first to wear the pink and white striped shorts, size 24 months. They were put on Teddy sometime after Summer turned 2, but I haven't been able to pinpoint when by looking through old pics yet. I do know that she has been carrying the bear around since she was 1 year old. Anyways, the shorts are now shreds and don't resemble shorts in the least. They were replaced with a 3T size pair that both Summer and Lexie have worn. The transition was surprisingly easy. I found some shorts that had what I thought would be a cool and soft material like the other pair was because that is what Summer loved so much about them. They didn't get hot when she snuggled Teddy. Summer never complained and easily got over the loss of Teddy's original shorts while on a sleepover at Memaw's house last weekend. I had already pinned the new pair onto Teddy so when the old pair fell off Memaw put them in Summer's over night bag and that was the end of them. They are now being stored in our oak cabinet which also sports items related to our wedding and various trips to the beach. I also still have some of my original dolphin collection from high school. Some have already been passed along to Amanda and now Summer who inherited her big sister's old room. Cool thing is, they both like dolphins like me.

Summer seems to be testing me lately. Either that or she has just gotten more hyper / silly over the past few weeks. Her noise level is often irritating, and I am working on accepting it as part of who she is right now. The amount of energy a 5 year old has at times is quite amazing. Jumping up and down at the end of the day! I mean, seriously, where does it come from? She's over the nap stage so it's not an after nap second wind. She is a bundle of energy for sure and keeps me on my toes.

One annoying habit that she has right now is to tease me about how she and her dad are Alabama fans. She told me this morning after a walk with her dad that he switched teams and doesn't like Tennessee anymore. She boos me when I root for Tennessee, but I refuse to stoop to her level of poor sportsmanship. I am trying to figure out how to curb it without actually forbidding her to do it. I have tried to gently sway her to be nice and let me cheer for who I want to, but she is not going for it. Today on the way home she kept repeating and motioning "Alabama (thumbs up), Tennessee (thumbs down), Georgia University (thumbs toward each other)." She tried to get me to join her, but every time she said it, my thumbs went down first and up second. She tried and tried to get me to do it her way. But, I refuse to convert give Alabama a thumbs up. I guess you just had to grow up where I did to understand why, although my brother is an Alabama fan too. Let's just say he is a little more redneck than me. No offense Brad. :) Summer is a hardcore Alabama fan even though she never even really watches the games. She knows their color is crimson. She "roll tides" with the rest of them. She taunts me to no end. And although she looks really cute with her two new pairs of earrings and hair bow her daddy got her while we were in Tuscaloosa last weekend, I really wish that she would stop. It is not nice. She even got me to sing Rocky Top today just so she could boo me while I did it. Oh my! What is a mom to do? How do you instill a sense of respect for others in kids these days?

Who is Summer? A cat, a cheerleader or a witch?

Today was an unusually early morning for us. The girls both came into my room at 6:00 a.m. Lexie to snuggle and Summer to wake everyone up. So, Summer was redirected to the living room where she entertained herself for a few minutes by making something out of construction paper, tape, crayons and fuzzy sticks. Since they were up so early, they got to watch Barbie Rapunzel before school at Lexie's request. It is Summer's favorite Barbie movie too right now. We rarely ever cut the TV on in the morning because it considerably slows down the eating process so this was a treat. Summer had a frozen PB&J sandwich for breakfast and then decided that my potato soup looked yummy and dug into that too. She is such a non-breakfast food eater. The past few days it has been nachos with meat, beans, cheese and sour cream for breakfast. Unlike Lexie, she has to be forced to eat cereal.

The week started off great with Halloween parties at school. Summer wore an Alabama cheerleader uniform to school and saved her witch costume for Halloween night. We trick or treated on Carter Road and then went to a trunk or treat at Stuart Heights Baptist Church. They both were awesome. Clint was the only one not dressed up. Summer and I were witches and Trixie was a bat. We met up with some friends at the trunk or treat and the girls enjoyed playing games for candy. The inflatables were also a big hit and brought lots of smiles to the kids faces. Trixie was a little nervous although I carried her in a front carrier as we walked around. Of course everyone wanted to pet her. However, I advised against it seeing as how she sometimes gets snappy when she feels threatened. Kids are not always the gentlest dog handlers and she knows that. Summer is getting better though, and she loves being Trixie's mommy. She is thinking Santa might bring her a cat for Christmas this year, but I told her I didn't think so. She got one two years ago and it ended up getting killed. Evidently she thinks she needs another one, but I'm pretty sure Santa is going to say no to this idea.

Last week, we attended Disney on Ice for the 3rd year in a row. A lot of our friends came too, and we had twenty seats filled with friends when the show began. Summer dressed up as Tinkerbell and Lexie wore a fairy princess dress. It was a great time for the kids and adults. Time for mommies and daddies to catch up and little children to dream of magical characters. Summer left with a beautiful horse that she just would not let me walk away from. I tried to bet the guy selling it to me $16 that she would never play with it again. He didn't take me up on it, but I think I won that bet. Maybe she will surprise me though.

Summer's good friend Willow had a costume party for her birthday over the weekend. Summer wore a cat costume. Again, she did not want to wear the witch costume which she had chosen for Halloween. Luckily, it, along with the others, came out of our stash so we didn't have to buy any costumes this year. She enjoyed celebrating with her friends and is looking forward to the next birthday party which is at an indoor mini-golf place. Looks like along with school comes a slew of new party invitations!

She is really growing up so fast and learning so much in school. Her first report card was all plus signs. The teacher said only good things about her which of course made me super proud. She does need to work on some of her lowercase letters and numbers. Sometimes she gets them inverted. She also likes to start writing her letters at the wrong place and does not like to conform to correct penmanship as it is generally taught. I'm hoping she will get over her stubbornness and conform. There are times when conforming to other's ideas is good although I do understand that is not always the case. I am really impressed with things she is learning though and absolutely love both of her teachers. She is enjoying school too, but is looking forward to the next half day. She really wishes school weren't so long. Yesterday, she had a major meltdown when she left with her daddy so he could take her and Lexie to school instead of me. It was only the 2nd time he has done it so maybe she just wanted her routine drop-off with mommy snuggles and rock-a-bye baby in the hallway. But, she was not a happy camper when she left the house or when she was dropped off. I called her daddy to check on how it went and he said she whined all morning. Her teacher emailed me around ten to let me know she had been kind of weepy all morning, but that she was okay. I hated to hear it, but I am glad the teacher took the time to let me know how she was doing. I love, love, love this school!

I am a little concerned about Summer's health now. Scans are approaching and she has some urination issues which have me worried. She is urinating more frequently than normal (sometimes 3 times in thirty minutes) so I took her to get checked out. Her pediatrician says to just drink more water and cranberry juice and keep an eye on it. I hope this is all it will take, but I've got a weird feeling so I've got a call into her oncologist. I pray it will be nothing, and they will find nothing wrong with her. That way we can continue to live at peace and not in fear. Lord knows I love that little girl more than anything in the world and I don't know what I'd do if something else happened to her. With that said, I'm going to try to focus on happier things.

This weekend has a lot of fun in store for my little girl as she goes to a sleepover at her Memaw and Nanny's. I think it may even turn out to be a grandbaby sleepover which is great because she absolutely loves to spend time with her cousins too. I'll get a little down time, but it won't be as relaxing as I'd like. I'd say its a win-win though!! Bring on the good times.

Early to bed, early to rise

The girls have adjusted nicely to their bedtime routine. Most nights they are sound asleep by eight o'clock. Tonight, they were both tucked in by 7:30. The first few weeks of school, they were up before the alarm clock went off except for one or two times. I did have to wake them both up this morning despite their on-time bed time, but for the most part they get up on their own and are well rested. As long as they don't get up before 6:30, I am happy. But, they have beat that once or twice. The getting ready routine seems to be working good too, and we have not yet been late for school. I hope I didn't just jinx myself. :)

Summer had another run in with the sick bug last week. She didn't have much of an appetite, complained of a headache, ran a fever and threw up twice (once at school and once in the elevator). On our visit to the doctor last week, I learned that her previous strep test had been negative. The one they did on this 2nd visit to her new pediatrician office was positive. She has been on antibiotics for a week now and has almost finished them up. She missed a day and a half of school due this illness. That makes 2 1/2 days of school missed so far this year due to sickness. Oh well, perfect attendance is overrated. After her first dose of antibiotic, she woke up the next morning feeling good but still was not allowed to return to school. Instead she sang some song with the Wii Sing It game. She also made some craft projects which she does on a daily basis it seems. The girl is so creative and crafty!! She was good to go back to school the next day and seems to be back to full health at this point. Of course now that she is in school, she is exposed to lots of germs so I'm not holding my breath that she will not be sick again soon.

The week ended early with a half day on Thursday. Then fall break was upon us. Friday morning we cleaned out pumpkins and worked on carving them. Summer was not a fan of the ooey gooey pumpkin guts, and Lexie wasn't either. Summer picked out a cat pattern for me to put on one of the pumpkins. It was pretty difficult so any help from the girls was out of the question. They did enjoy putting silly faces on some of the smaller pumpkins we got at festivals the previous weekend.

Summer got to spend two nights with her Memaw, the 2nd one being a grand baby sleepover. She told my mom that she wished they could have a grand baby sleepover every fall break. She really does love spending time with her cousins and Memaw. PawPaw too for that matter. I am glad they all bring happiness and joy to her life.

Sunday night after Summer got home from her Memaw's house, she spent some time with her PawPaw before returning home to help me decorate the other pumpkin with light bright type pegs. Again, she picked a cat pattern, but this one was much easier. To her dismay, we were out of 9 volt batteries so she did not get to see it lit up until the next day. When she did get to see them all lit up, she lit up too with excitement. Oh the good times that come with each season and holiday!

Her fall break was finished up with a quick tennis lesson and a trip to the Pumpkin Patch, a playground on Signal Mountain. She and Lexie both loved it, and I was very happy that Clint decided to join us on this adventure. The kids each needed their own adult to play with them since they are at different levels as to what they can do on the playground. Summer thoroughly enjoyed playing with her daddy, and Lexie had a blast too. After almost two hours of playing and a picnic, we headed back down the mountain. The girls played outside for a long while that evening, riding bikes, playing with horse shoes and coloring with chalk. Summer climbed the crepe myrtle tree in the front yard several times. It seems she is really into tree climbing right now. She wanted to do it again today, but I think the rain stopped her. I'm sure she'll be back up it later this week. Unfortunately, this is probably not just a passing phase. I just hope she's careful. I would hate to have a little girl with a broken bone, but kids need to be kids, right?

First field trips and fall fun

Summer got to ride a bus to her first kindergarten field trip. The first graders also went to the Apple Valley Orchard, same one we went to last year with Summer's preschool. Her daddy and I followed the bus up there. Well, we might have led the way. :) The first part of our tour was the hayride which was fun for all. Then we watched apples being sorted and boxed. The kids got a glimpse of the inside of the cooler, if they could see through me and the other parent who were allowed to take a quick picture of the inside. It was really odd, but maybe they had opened the door too many times that day to give the kids a look at the inside. When we got to the cider making room, the kids and adults were all lined up and placed about the room by the "Nazi" tour guide. I'm not sure the kids realized it as much as the adults, but there was definitely some whispering going on between the parents about her lining up skills. Clint even had to leave the room it got too structured for him to bear. LOL We left as we had come, through the gift shop and headed to hear the story of Johnny Appleseed. After quite a long tale, the kids were told about the different kinds of apples and how they are pollinated, among other interesting tidbits of information. We finished the trip up with a picnic lunch and fresh apple cider. Then the kids loaded back onto the bus and it was a done deal.

Lexie visited Fire Station #7 with other PK3 & PK4 students on her first field trip. Unlike Summer, she did not get to ride a bus. Several parents helped chauffeur the kids over to check out the newest fire station in Chattanooga. It just so happened that there was not one, but rather two, fire stations at Enterprise South which is where we were told to go. We found that out the hard way when we came across the TDOT station, which at first we thought was the fire station. We quickly realized our mistake, but stopped any way to ask for directions. We were asked which fire station we were going to. I didn't know, and I was the lead car. Neither did the teacher that rode with me. No one behind me had a clue either which one we were going to. I finally reasoned that it would be a public fire station, rather than a private one. So, we headed to the white building we could see sticking up in the horizon that the nice lady at TDOT pointed us towards. Thankfully, it turned out to be the right one. It seems no one really knew exactly where we were going, but we did all end up in the right place. The kids got to tour the station and see where the firemen cook, eat, sleep, shower and relax. They really seemed to enjoy checking out the big trucks. Their faces lit up with delight when they were inside the trucks. Lexie was no different. She wore the hat and sticker they gave her with pride. Although it was a little windy and cool, the field trip was fun for all and hopefully they will all remember to stop, drop and roll if their clothes should ever catch on fire.

This weekend has brought lots of fall fun. It seems like we always have lots to do in the fall. We ended the school week with a trip to Chuck E. Cheese. The girls played and cashed in their tickets for candy, a ruler, and a purple fish (not live of course). Before bedtime, we enjoyed a nice, warm bonfire complete with marshmallows to roast. Lexie is not a fan of them, but Summer and I love some nicely toasted marshmallows!

Yesterday morning we got up and went out to eat breakfast for a change. Then we headed to the Punkin Festival in Soddy where the girls mostly played on the playground. They also enjoyed a ring toss game where we won a green finger, plastic frog, and a bracelet. Summer tried to get me to buy her a necklace with interchangeable bottle cap pendants. We also saw them at the Hamilton County Fair last weekend. But, I did not cave and buy them. We did buy 3 pumpkins for the girls to paint with Paw-Paw (which they did last night). The girls loved the inflatable slide which was free, always a bonus! The cotton candy was not a huge hit, but it, too, was free. Summer exited the slide before Lexie and colored a picture of a pumpkin. She even got an extra one to take home and color. We checked out some old cars which Summer said were too "bumpy" before we left.

Our afternoon was filled with more inflatable fun at Brody's birthday party. Pump It Up was the perfect place to celebrate with him. Several of Summer's classmates were there, so she had plenty of kids to play with. Her good friend Giada was there, and they had fun sliding and jumping together. Giada's mom and I talked and have tentatively set up a play date for sometime during their fall break. Summer is very excited about that! She ended up hurting her foot after a bad jump and has been limping on it ever since. I examined it pretty well and think she will be okay. She does not seem to be in any major pain and can move it in all directions without complaining. She is not sure that she should go to school with it hurting, but I assured her she will be fine. I may end up writing a note for PE, but only if she complains again in the morning. The day ended with another bonfire for the girls and even more marshmallows for Summer. She declared that PawPaw cooks them perfectly which will put a smile on his face should he ever read this or even better should she tell him herself.

After church today, we ate lunch and headed to the Children's Autumn Festival put on by the Ronald McDonald House. We bought a lot of tickets and did all the activities we wanted before we ran out. We even had enough tickets left to snag a few craft kits to take home for us to do later. After getting our value pack of tickets, we enjoyed free Mayfield's ice cream sandwiches. Summer wanted to head to the craft area first. The kids made sand art and decorated pumpkins with markers and stickers. They made ghost suckers, sticker art, and iced and decorated chocolate chip cookies after getting their Ronald McDonald tattoos. They went down the inflatable slide a few times and even rode a horse after patiently (well mostly) waiting in line for a good while. Summer wanted to decorate a tiara on the way out, but they ran out just before we got to the table. It was no big deal though, and we happily headed to the car. Summer was a big help, helping me carry her pumpkin and the craft kits to the car. Oh the joy it brought us both!

The weekend was busy, to say the least. But, we had fun and made some good memories during it all. I know the rest of the fall will probably be like this. Go, go go! But, I don't think I'd have it any other way. Life is too short not to enjoy it.