Vegas vacation

Summer was excited to go see her family in Las Vegas a few weeks ago. She got to see her Nono and Nona which is a treat that doesn't happen often. Her Nona does send her cards throughout the year via email which she really enjoys receiving. We were treated to a wonderful buffet dinner several times, and it wasn't until the last time that I realized they served free wine and beer while dining. Just my luck! Summer loved their orange chicken and fried chicken legs. My favorite was the pasta bar where you could pick the ingredients and they were cooked to order. Clint and my dad couldn't resist all of the meat they had to offer. We left there stuffed and happy every time.

One evening we went to see a few outdoor shows on the strip. The first was at the Treasure Island where we watched the girl pirates outsmart the boy pirates. It was the first time we have been to the show (at least Summer and I) although we go to Vegas every year. We also went to see the volcano erupt at the Mirage. This was Summer's favorite of the two. She even made a little friend while we were there. One this we skipped this year was the Freemont St. experience in downtown Las Vegas. We'll get to it next year though.
Summer and her cousins enjoyed playing together in the backyard. Mia taught Summer how to do the monkey bars which she was proud to show off to anyone who would watch. Lexie dared to swing on the swings despite that being how she hurt herself a few weeks earlier. They danced along with songs on Just Dance Summer Party on the Wii. Summer found a new favorite song when she won on a song she had never done before. She still was not a fan of playing against me. It seems that I win too much for her taste. If I play with the remote in my left hand, it is usually a lot closer and she can even beat me. Shhh!!! Don't tell her!

The kids built magnetic structures a few times. Of course, no one would pose with just a smile on their face. Silly faces were in order! They were followed by destruction of the pyramid by Mia's clasped hands. They really think they are funny, and I guess they are. They are cute to say the least!

Our last full day there, we spent time at the Adventuredome at Circus Circus. We were lucky to get to visit it this year since it seems they close it every year the week after the Superbowl for maintenance. Last year, we only got to visit the arcade and circus acts. We got wristbands for Summer, Amanda, Lexie and myself and happily headed off in search of our first ride. Summer was big enough to ride the bumper cars with me, but Lexie was not as lucky. They tried to ride the frog hopper, but it wasn't working at that time and they had to get back off. So, we moved ahead and found a mine train roller coaster ride for younger kids. They were both smiling when the ride started, but by the time it came around, Lexie was not looking too happy. With only one arm to hold on with, which she was not using, the ride was a bit too jerky for her and they ended up stopping the ride so she and another kid could get off. The next ride was a school bus that went up and around. It was perfect for Lexie, but a bit too slow for Summer. She did enjoy the airplanes, carousel and balloon ferris wheel rides. Later, they revisited the frog hopper and it was working. We rode to our hearts content (at least the adults) and then headed to eat at a Mexican restaurant with Nona and Nono. I think Summer could've ridden a while longer, but she had already done all the rides she was big enough for so it wasn't too hard to get her out of there.
Another highlight of the trip was Summer getting her name carved in one of the trees in front of Nona's house. Nona had told her she could do it the year before, but we never got around to it. This trip, Summer made sure that it was done. Her daddy and Paw-Paw did a lot of the work. She loved climbing the tree and even gave the other climbing side to Lexie although she was not able to climb due to her collar bone being broken. A lot of good memories were made on the trip, and I hope we won't have to wait a whole year to go back. But, we just might.

Report cards and such

It's hard to believe that January has come and gone. Summer got another great report card. Our parent teacher conference with her teachers was also great. I guess it is always good when the teachers have nothing bad to say. She has definitely won them over, especially Ms. Tracy. I think it might have a little to do with Summer's history with cancer, but whatever the reason I'm glad she adores Summer. She says Summer is a big helper and is always ready to do her work. She makes me proud for sure!

I got to see her on the playground a few times last week and it is so adorable to see her running around with her friends and playing. They were playing with a stick that was a "fire key" and keeping it away from some other kids who I assumed were on a different team. I think they might have had their own firer key, but in Summer's mind it wasn't the real one. I was even put in charge of hiding it for a little while. But, one of her friends got it from me and then Summer got on to me for giving it up. Luckily, I didn't get into too much trouble for giving it up to her although I was informed I wasn't supposed to. LOL

She loves her math homework the best. She only gets a few numbers backwards now, but not all the time. This week it was 5 and 7. I'm not going to worry about it too much. I know one day she will perfect them. She is doing really good writing and loves to write words. It is cute to see how she spells some words, sounding them out to figure out how to spell them. Most of the time it is not correct, but she is only in kindergarten so I don't make a big deal about it. I'm just glad she is trying and has the desire to write. Sometimes she asks me how to spell things she wants to write. I just love it when it is a little note for me. I have a few on my car visors that she has done as we drive around. They always make me smile when I see them. Her penmanship has really improved throughout the course of the school year. Practice makes perfect, right?

This week she has discovered all the fun things you can do with a protractor. She really loves to draw pictures with it. She drew her Nona and Nono a picture of their house, complete with the tiled roof it has. The protractor was very helpful in creating archways for her drawing. It looks great and she was very proud of the roof especially. She has also tried using a compass, but I think she prefers the protractor. She's so creative, always wanting to create something as soon as she gets up. We definitely aren't lacking in the artwork department. Maybe one day I'll get around to creating a display for all her best creations. For now, we store a lot of them in the craft cabinet or on her bedroom furniture. One day we are going to have to get rid of some of it. But, for now we look a little like hoarders. Oh well, they mean a lot to her and are always priceless in Mommy's eyes!

A great start to the new year!

School is back in full swing and Summer actually said she was looking forward to school on Monday over the weekend. Not because she likes school so much she can't wait to get back, but rather because she got to take a cuddly friend with her to school on Monday. It is one way they are rewarded for good behavior. This is the 2nd time she has chosen this sticker in particular. One of her friends had chosen smelly feet which meant she got to go shoeless in the classroom. Oh the perks of being good! She took her new bear Cupcake with her. It is almost as big as she is. She was very proud of it and showed it off as she went into the classroom, as did a few of her classmates who also chose a cuddly friend sticker last Friday.

Today when I picked her up, I was informed that her and a friend had made plans for Friday evening when I will be leaving for a youth retreat and she will be staying home with her dad. She said they are going to have a play date at the house to celebrate her friends half birthday. It was really cute, but I had to burst her bubble and let her know they could not make plans like that without talking to their parents first. She still insisted they had made some sort of deal. :) She will be getting to have a sleepover at Memaw's house with her cousins one night if things go as planned. So, it will not be a total let down when / if that play date does not happen.

Homework has not been much of a chore this week. She does not like it when I say, "Let's go do your homework." But, if a pull out a math lesson and let her see it, she will usually change her tune really quick and want to do it. This week she had to think of two words that start with snow. She had two math lessons and had to count as high as she could in a minute. The teacher asked them to draw 3 things that are cold. Summer drew a snowman, a basket full of snowballs, and a snow castle. She had to write three words that rhyme with cat and she chose bat, sat, and rat. She also had to tell me about two animals that live in Antartica (penguin and seal) and the animals in "The Mitten" story. If only homework could be this easy forever! Of course, she still write some of her numbers and letters backwards. So I usually make her erase the incorrect ones and rewrite them. She's not always enthused about this, but the purpose of homework is to learn, right?

As for the rock-a-bye baby routine, it was picked up the 2nd day back to school. :) I soooooo absolutely love that!!! Although if she grows anymore, my back might not be so agreeable to it. Until then, let the good times roll.......

Christmas highlights

It's hard to believe Christmas has come and gone. I let blogging slip to the wayside with all the busyness of the holiday season. Gumdrop delivered numerous missions for Summer and I to do before Christmas. We made cookies and candy with friends. We saw the new Alvin and the Chipmunks movie "Chipwrecked" with the Lynches before celebrating Christmas with them the day before Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve, we celebrated with my dad's extended family and my mom's which I have probably not done since high school. We used to do it that way every year as a kid, but after some people moved out of town it changed. So, that was exciting for me. Summer too because at age 5 you never tire of getting presents. At my Aunt Sandra's house Summer got some clothes, a unicorn diary and a fairy in a jar. She loved them all. She also enjoyed playing with her cousins outside as it was a beautiful and sunny day. She wore the dress that she had gotten from the Lynches the day before and refused to pose for a picture for me. That's pretty much normal for her though. That evening we headed to my grandad's where I have went for the past 34 Christmas Eves. I don't ever want that tradition to end, but I'm sure at some point it will. Life can't stay the same forever, right? She got "The bippolo seed and other lost stories" from my Aunt Leisa. We have read each of the stories twice, and she just loves them. She got another outfit that she has worn two or three times from my Grandad and Ella. She really loves the outfit she gets from them every year. She got a gift card from my Uncle Billy which she used to buy a big teddy bear she named Cupcake.

Instead of making cookies for Santa with me, Summer went to bed as soon as we got home from my grandads. She fell asleep in the car so her plan to trick Santa into leaving her elf was not followed through. She had planned to put him under her pillow so she would wake up when Santa came for him. That did not happen seeing as he was left in the car when I carried her to bed. She also missed out on opening the present I had told her she could open before bed. I was tempted to wake her up since she was missing out on so many of the things we planned, but I did not. I let her sleep and set the cookies and milk out myself. Trixie tried to get into them a few times before we finally headed to bed.

She was up by 6:30 Christmas morning. I told her she had to wait on her dad to get up before she could head to the living room. She complied, anxious to get in there but knowing she had to be patient. I must say I was proud of how patient she was. Her dad is a bit of a slow mover in the mornings. The first thing she wanted was her stocking. She was excited by the treasures she found inside. The thing she liked most was the bag of marbles I think. Then she started looking for her present from Santa. The remote controlled angel she asked for turned out to just be a fairy with "cut up wings" and an invisible string you attach to a hair bow and the fairy and then control or fly with a wand that you place under the string. She was not perfectly satisfied that her order had been met, but I think in time she will enjoy the fairy/angel. Santa also left her an air pogo which she had been wanting for years but did not ask for. She did ask him for a pogo stick but her Uncle Bradley had gotten her one. She was very excited to see this although it did not get hung for a few days. Once it was, a few days later, she had the time of her life breaking it in. Paw-paw joined us for the present opening which followed Santa's presents. Summer handed out most of presents and did a fine job if I do say so myself. She started with the rainbow in my room which I had found for her. She also got a dress from me and an outfit from her dad which she loved and wore right away. I was very happy with the gifts she picked out for me. Two pairs of slippers, a very fuzzy, warm blanket, an earring and necklace set and socks. Later that evening after a family gathering at Memaw's house, she got the big gift we got for her - a hammock. She likes it and had mentioned that she wanted one big enough for the whole family a month earlier, but she refuses to let me get on it with her. I'm hoping this is only temporary, but I'm not holding my breath.

The day after Christmas we celebrated with Amanda and Josh and their kids. When Summer got up, she was surprised to see the tree full of presents again. She was happy to get more Zoobles, but I'm thinking they are not going to get played with much. Amanda gave her a magic kit which she was excited about. One of her favorite gifts was a castle tent for her and her stuffed animals to play in. We have started working on a kingdom in her bedroom which is looking pretty spiffy. Today we added a table and chairs for the "party room" and a rug which definitely improves the look of the carpet underneath the end table we moved to enlarge the castle. I'm not sure what happened to the carpets, but her older sister's teenage years scared them in ways they can never recover from. I can never remember all she got, but I'm sure it was way more than she needed. I guess that is just what happens at Christmas.

The rest of her Christmas break was spent enjoying her new things and crafting. Clint's sister came down for a brief visit. Summer played a long game of dominos with us and did a great job keeping up with us. She also showed her aunt a few games on the iPad. We tried to get her in on some dancing games on the Wii, but we were not very successful at that. She did get to experience a world of fun at Chuck E. Cheese with her though. One other highlight of the break was a trip to the movies with one of her friends from school. We went to the new Muppet movie. It was great and had us all laughing. Summer even mentioned that we should get it, but I'm not sure we will. We usually don't when she says that.

As with all good things, it came to an end before we were either one ready. But, I'm sure we will get back into the school groove in a week or two. She did ask me this morning after I walked heer back to her classroom after chapel how much longer she had today. Not a good thing since chapel is first thing in the morning. But, we did NOT do rock-a-bye baby this morning like we did almost every morning the first part of the school year. Maybe it was just a fluke and she forgot with it being the first day back in almost 3 weeks. Or, maybe we are done with that. Secretly, I hope not. But, I'm not going to bring it up until she does. I hope she remembers tomorrow!!!

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.