Four days to Halloween

So as for today, we spent the day working on Keree's Halloween costume. Of course, it's no surprise that she wanted to be Rapunzel, she's obsessed with her. We finished up her gigantic yellow braid and some signs to put around her wheelchair. I had really prayed that as soon as the cast came off she would miraculously walk with no assistance but in the back of my mind I knew that wasn't going to happen. It has truly been heart wrenching to watch my active girl be reduced to this struggle. We try not to dwell on the struggle but instead look at what she accomplishes everyday. Luckily, I'm not a Mom who tells her she can't do something, it may scare me to death but if she wants to climb the highest mountain, I tell her go do it. So we look forward to the next few days, filled with our annual Trick or Treat jaunts (starting tomorrow night).

10th Day of School

Today is the 10th day of school or really Keree's 8th day of school. For Lunch, I packed her favorite soup, chicken corn chowder with lots of crackers and a side of grapes. 

Night before 1st day of School

Kindergarten Registration

Today we headed off to our home school to register Keree for kindergarten. Now I know that basically school starts in 6 days but I had a plan. I'm not that fond of our home school, originally we were suppose to attend a different school but they changed the school lines on us. So because of that, I did a ton of research on how to get Keree into the school, I originally planned on her going to. Well come to find out, if all the Kindergarten classrooms are full at the homeschool, she should be able to go to whatever school has an opening. Thus, getting to go to the school I want her to attend. Yet there was only one snag......

Turns out, that also this year they decided to change the rules, verbally. So that means, even though the Kindergarten classrooms are full, Keree is stuck at our home school. To tell you how upset about this, is an understatement. Our other snafu was that because I still have some of Keree's paperwork in Vietnamese. The school started to insist that they had to call Keree by her Vietnamese name. Umm, yeah her COC is in her English name but lets not call her that. I told them she wouldn't answer her Vietnamese name, that she doesn't know that name. They said, too bad! Well this Momma bear was hot! I drove right over to the Superintendent's office and all I had to do was talk to his very sweet secretary and with one phone call, everything was straightened out. Otherwise, we have a giant supply list....I mean seriously do they really need 4 boxes of 24 ct crayons, 40 sticks of glue, 4 bottles of glue and the list goes on. The list is single spaced, 2 columns, 12 pt type and front and partly back of the paper.

A Giant Box

Of course we are still in a heat advisory. I gotta say I'm sick and tired of this 100+ degree weather and really hoping that heading North this weekend we will get a small break. Heck, anything under 90 degrees sounds cool right now. We spent our day finishing up Keree's County Fair entries. Tomorrow is the first day to turn in your entries and so far Keree is up to 40 something. Also in the mail was a giant box from Keree's Great-Grandparents. For some reason they think because my Mom and I don't have normal 9-5 jobs that we are poor. Ok, money is tight but heck, isn't most of the world's money tight right now. Inside the box was some new clothes (tshirt, skirts, jeans), hair headbands, two new lunch boxes, a Kai-Lan book (which Keree said her YeYe picked out just for her) and finally some glue and a dish rag for me. I swear they spent just as much to ship the package as they did buying all the goodies. But it made them happy and it made Keree happy, so that's all that mattered. After going through Keree's giant box, we sat outside a short while before we headed back in and got back to work. We spent our evening working and watching Wednesday night tv (Keree's favorite show, The Middle)before heading to bed.

1st Cheer Practice

I was surprised that even with the heat (it was 113 today). The new Cheer Coach, still wanted to hold practice. Of course, I also did do something a little crazy and volunteered to be Assistant Coach since no other parent stepped-up to do it. I asked her ahead of time what she wanted me to do and she said to just run them to the bathroom, that she was a strong coach and didn't need help. Ok, sounds good to me. Practice went well, two of the girls weren't there but hopefully they will be there on Thursday. They learned quite a few new cheers and worked on their Half-time routine, which honestly isn't as exciting or challenging as last year's. I think what bothered me most was during the entire practice the Coach stared at Keree's brace. I mean, it wasn't like I hide anything on her registration paperwork, it clearly states that Keree wears an AFO, so I'm not sure what the problem was. Also, after turning in my paperwork in for Assistant Coach, she never did ask me for my shirt size. Things that make you say hmm. I'm hopeful that this season will be alot better than last years.

Hot Monday

Today we had another record high day. I'm so sick of this hot weather. I think the news said it was day 32 of 90 degree + weather and of course the heat index makes it over 100 everyday. Keree spent most of her day playing and working on craft projects, while I tried my best to make some head way on everything I have left to get done before this weekend's show. I only took two pictures today and this was the better one, she was talking on the phone to her Great-Great and telling her about her day.

No Water Park

Today we had a few errands to run in the morning but our plan was to end our day at the local water park (somewhere we have never been). They were having an amazing deal for their 20th anniversary and all 3 of us could get in for under $7 total. The plan was to surprise Keree, all she knew was she was suppose to be good. Now my daughter, she is an angel, honestly. I know, I'm stricter and harder on her than most Moms and I expect alot from her. On the most part and pretty much 99% of the time, I don't have to worry about her behavior. Well today was one of those 1% times. It started off by her waking up super early. I told her she could watch cartoons as long as she stayed quiet so my Mom and I could get some more sleep. Instead Keree bounced all over the beds. When she was told to stop, she continued. I warned her if she continued she would lose her privileges and wouldn't get the surprise that was waiting on her. I guess she thought I was bluffing or something because she kept pushing and acting nothing like her usual sweet, well-behaved self. Needless to say by the time everything was said and done she lost the privilege to go to the Water Park. Now, because it was super hot and I really wanted her to not to loose that privilege, I gave her one more chance to earn the water park back. I had to run to the store for dinner fixins and I told her if she was on her best behavior, than she would get her surprise back. Well.....I'll just say we headed home and stayed. So since we weren't going anywhere today, I ended up fixing slow cooker lasagna. Now, I really don't like meat in my pasta, so I decided to subsitute the ground beef for meatballs. So I layered meatballs, noodles, small curd cottage cheese, mushrooms, tomatoes, spaghetti sauce and finally mozzeralla cheese until my crock pot was full. I then cooked it on low for 6 hrs. I have to say, I wasn't really sure how it was going to work out but it turned out so good. I was also excited because today I got my first tomato from our garden. I'm excited because my tomato plants our full. Headed to bed and just hoping that Keree will be back to herself by tomorrow because I can't survive another day like today.

Hot, Hot, Hot

It never did cool down past 97 last night, so this morning it was just plain hot, muggy and miserable inside and out. Because of this, Keree woke up in a total funk...no, it was more than a funk, she was downright crabby. Since we really didn't have any plans today other than being around the house and me working on crafty stuff, I let her hang out in her pajamas until after 10a. While I was cleaning out a box, I found an old kids meal toy that I had gotten (when I worked outside the home, I ate a kids meal almost every day). So, I let Keree open it up and get to work putting the stickers on it. While she was busy, I realized I was out of quite a few things, so that meant a trip into town was required. Once Keree was dressed, we headed outside to give her new kids meal toy a spin. It took Keree awhile to figure out the proper way to make the helicopters fly but eventually she got the hang of it. By then, she was in a little better mood, so we headed to the store. Of course, all the things I needed were full price and even though I needed them, I couldn't bring myself to pay full price. So I grabbed two things, I couldn't wait on and vowed to return on Monday hoping that everything else I need is on sale. We decided to walk through the super household clearance area while we were there. Everything was 90% off and as much as I was protesting us walking through it, I'm glad we did. I was able to score my Cousin's wedding gift (3 really cool wall hangings), my other Cousin's graduation & birthday gift (embroidered pillow & treasure box) plus a ton of really cool things for Christmas presents. We got out of there with literally 2 carts overflowing with presents for $37. Really wish I had remembered my camera because it was impressive. Once we got home, Keree played and I worked. Keree decided that she didn't need to take a nap today and I was too hot to fight her on it. As the night wore on, I was surprised that she didn't want to go to bed early. Finally she decided she was tired and headed into lay with my Mom until she fell asleep or so I thought. I got caught up doing some work and before I knew it, it was almost 2a. While I was turning off the lights, I was suddenly surprised to see my daughter. She had fallen asleep on the couch in this funky position. So after snapping the picture, I picked her up and tucked her into bed. Still not sure how she indeed up on the couch.

Heat Wave

Like usual, we were up early and even though it was almost 123 degrees yesterday and didn't drop below 101 degrees overnight, this morning when I went outside it felt cool. Ok not cool but tolerable. So we got dressed quickly and headed out. We enjoyed some cinnamon rolls while sitting in the shade for breakfast, it was wonderful. While we sat there, Keree wanted to talk. I was surprised when she brought up death, cemeteries, resurrection and adoption. Needless to say it was a wide range of thoughts and feelings. What cracked me up even more was when my Mom came out to join us and Keree told her to go back inside because we were talking about serious stuff. My Mom looked at me and I told Keree to tell her what we were talking about, my Mom looked at me perplexed but I just shrugged my shoulders and told her that Keree brought it up. By the time my Mom had headed out, we were actually about to start heading in because suddenly it got super hot. Honestly, I'm not sure being inside was any better since we still opt not to have a/c. For the first time in a long time, it was just too hot to do anything once we were inside even with the fans. So we indeed up just sitting in front of the fans with a great big glass of ice water and watched some mindless tv shows. By the time early evening rolled around it was still blistering hot outside and we were super hot & sweaty. So off we went to take a dip in the kiddie pool before bed. We spent almost 3 hours cooling off in the pool and only headed in when we couldn't keep the mosquitoes at bay any more. So after heading inside, we headed to bed.

Inaugural Swim

Today was suppose to be a day full of family together time. My Brother had promised Keree that his girlfriend and him would spend the day playing Rapunzel with her. Then his girlfriend had talked on the phone with Keree and also promised her that they would spend the day playing together. This morning, when my Brother arrived, we assumed his girlfriend would be with him but instead she opted to stay with her family. Keree was disappointed that his girlfriend wasn't there but she was excited to play with her Uncle. Keree and Uncle, played outside for a short time this morning with water guns. It was so funny watching them pretend to be attacking each other but instead they attacked my Mom and get her wet. But once we headed inside, it perplexed me when instead of playing with Keree, he spent most of the day upstairs rearranging his former room. So Keree spent her time playing Rapunzel by herself because I was trying to get some work done. I was irritated by the whole situation because I had made a triple batch of Butter Beef, so I would have enough to feed everyone both lunch and dinner. If I knew the girlfriend wasn't going to show up, I honestly would have not fixed it at all and opted for something mexican instead. Of course today also turned out hot, which was great since we finally set-up the kiddie pool yesterday. So late afternoon, we decided to head out for the inaugural swim. We thought that the water would have really heated up over night and during the day but instead it was still chilly. Keree had a blast flying down the slide. My Brother got in for a short time but it was too cold for him. As for me, I enjoyed being in the cold water but I'm also someone who loves cold showers. Needless to say, we had so much fun. After drying off and heading inside, we relaxed and watched the newer Wall Street movie together. Keree and Mom went to bed around 9p but I stayed up with my Brother and finished watching the movie. His girlfriend arrived around 930p and was upset that Keree was already in bed because she wanted to play with Keree. WTH! It's 930 at night and now you want to play with my Daughter. Why didn't you keep your promise to her and spend the day with us or at least show up before bedtime? Needless to say, as soon as the movie was off I headed to bed because I was just aggervated.

Home

Today, we spent some time unpacking and doing laundry. As for me, I got back to work on replenishing all that had sold over the past weekend and trying to build up inventory so I don't have to kill myself in between shows. Luckily, today was much cooler than the past days we have had, so I was able to work upstairs also for a bit sewing. As for Keree, she got to play with my Brother for a short time which she was thrilled about. Otherwise, she spent her time drawing and playing Rapunzel. Of course everything she was drawing was related to Rapunzel and the entire story but at least it keeps her happy and busy.

A Long, Hot Day

This morning we got up early to drive up to Hannibal to set-up for their Tom Sawyer's day craft show. They said you couldn't start setting up until ? but when we arrived, most people had started setting up hours before then. We expected the park to be alot bigger but surprised when it wasn't. We had to park across the park (the complete opposite side of where our spot was) and loaded up quite a few things in the wagon & flat bed and went to find our space. It was blistering hot and nearing 107 degrees. Our first order of business was hooking up our electric and getting our fan going, then we set up the tent. At that point, I was finished. I had all the signs of heat exhaustion but we had to keep going. Keree spent her time sitting on the flat bed in front of the fan, while my Mom and I tried to get the grids up. Once they were up, I was near collapse, my face was beat red, my head was pounding, I was dizzy and I had stopped sweating. Even though I like having everything set-up ahead of time and not having to get up super early....I so wanted to get to the hotel and just cool down. Luckily, my Mom was feeling just as bad and so we headed to our hotel. After checking in, we quickly unloaded and headed to our room. Which honestly being that we got stuck in a smoking king room, it wasn't all that bad. They had done a really great job in scrubbing the smell away. Of course, I was so hot and sick, that I spent the majority of our first 15 minutes in the room getting sick, it wasn't pretty. After I finally had some control, I immediately changed Keree and myself into our bathing suites. My Mom thought I was nuts but I knew it was going to be the quickest way to get our body temperatures down. We spent almost 2 hrs by ourselves in the pool, we were having so much fun. Keree jumped off the side of the pool for the first time with us holding her hand and then she jumped off the side of the pool all by herself for the first time. With the water wings and floatation pad, she was swimming everywhere and it was so nice to know that if she did get further away from me, that she wasn't going to get hurt. We only got out when people started showing up. So we headed back to our room and since we were blessed to have a microwave and fridge, we heated up some frozen dinners I brought from home. Keree crashed shortly after dinner and so did my Mom. I spent my time working on lining clips and finishing up bows. I finally headed to bed around 2a, which wasn't that good since we had to be up by 5a.

Picking Out Clothes

I was up before Keree this morning, so while I worked on all those last minute things for this weekend, she slept. Which honestly I work everyday for hours a day but I'm never done. I still always have a stack of bows or something to get done. Keree joined me a little after 830a (loving she's sleeping in later but that could be because she's staying up later with me). She played happily before she finally decided, a few hours later (ok it was almost 1p) she needed to get dressed and she needed to get dressed now. Usually, I pick out the clothes she should wear ahead of time and she gets dressed by herself but today she loved that she was going to get to pick out what she was going to wear. She picked the shirt her Godmom Stef and family sent her two Christmas's ago (which is still too big on her at a size 2), some jeans (they are size 3-6 mos, so they are shorts on her), her good red socks (the tragedy of her wearing them on a non-fancy day), her favorite robeez Monkey slippers (they are size 18-24 mos, love that they fit over her brace so easily) and let me not forget her tropical loopy bow. I don't think she looked bad at all....my Mom on the other hand, well she chuckled at the outfit she put together. Looking forward to getting out of dodge for the July 4th weekend and hoping this show is as good as everyone says it will be. Keree's picture are awful but the sun and heat was unbearable even for a short time.

Book Report Winner

Last night, we got a call saying that Keree's book report won at the Library and that she had to pick up her prize bag asap. So while I stayed home this morning and tried to fix our tent so we could use it this weekend, my Mom and Keree headed to the Library. Keree was so excited to see her Book Report on the board with the 3 other winners (her report has the fantastic ribbon on it & the arrow pointing to it). The Children's Librarian then gave Keree her prize. It's a canvas bag with the Summer Reading Program's logo and inside was a free movie ticket voucher, a padlock, an eraser computer mouse, some pens, pencils and papers. My Mom and Keree then looked for her dragon that she made the day we signed up. My Mom was surprised that Keree remembered that her dragon was orange. Heck, I'm amazed she remembered that because I didn't since we were so rushed that day. After they took a few pictures, they headed home. Both Keree and my Mom were amazed that I had fixed the tent (replaced two section, part of a leg and did some major rehabbing to it), replaced the top, waterproofed the top and set it up and put it back down all by myself. Actually, I have to say I was quite proud of myself also. Since it was so miserably hot, my Mom and I took it easy, while I worked upstairs on crafty stuff. I was upstairs from 11am till almost 130 am. I got alot done but still have so much more to get done tomorrow.

Reading & Chinese Food Day

Since Keree had finally read 8 books on her own, we headed out, so she could turn in her Barnes & Noble reading list for her free book. She was suppose to pick a book off the list but had her heart really set on this Rapunzel book. So, I decided I would just pay for this book (eek! I hate paying retail for books) and also let her get her free book. When we arrived at the cash register, the Cashier instead let us just use the credit for the Rapunzel book and didn't make her choose one off the list. Hooray! Keree was so excited to get her Rapunzel book for Free. She told me she was keeping her receipt, so she can show everyone that it was free. That the ticket said 0.00 for the price. Honestly, the girl cracks me up sometimes. We then ran to the Library to have her reading list stamped and to pick up her little weekly prize. Which she picked out another Frog Princess, she wanted the Frog Prince but they didn't have anymore. Since I had promised her last week that the day we went to the library, we would eat out. We headed to the local Chinese restaurant thats downtown. It was our first time eating there. I had heard good things about them but we won't be eating there again. We placed our order as soon as we walked in, Keree wanted wonton soup and I decided we would split some Shrimp LoMein. As we were paying, the cashier wanted to know, where Keree was from. Keree told her Vietnam, which weirdly the Cashier was also from Vietnam. She asked Keree what province and Keree told her HCMC, it turns out that the Cashier was from DaNang. The Cashier then turned to me and goes, "you pay lots of money for her?" I looked at her and go "No, there are lots of fees involved in adoption and they go to different entities." She looked at me and goes "You buy her, but that ok, she cute." If I hadn't just paid the women, I would have walked out without our food. I was appalled by the whole conversation, because it didn't just stop with that comment. Most people don't ask, most people don't give Keree and I a second look, they honestly think because I'm a single Mom that I slept around or something. I'm honest with Keree about her adoption and we talk about it alot. Especially with all the stupid things said during this school year by her Teacher but this one just caught me off guard. Needless to say, as we waited for our food, I was steaming the entire time. Then they decided to take over 40 minutes to cook our food. I was plain pissed off by the time we left. As we drove home, Keree asked about what the women said, I told her that some people don't understand adoption and they think you can just buy a baby like buying something in the store. I told Keree that's pretty funny because we can't walk into Wallymart and buy a baby can we. Keree laughed and was ok with it because my explanation made sense. When we got home, we finally sat down to have lunch. I was so disappointed in the food. The wonton soup was the worst I have ever had and the shrimp lomein was beyond bland. Guessing, it will be a long time before we eat Asian out again because honestly it's just better to cook it yourself. As for the rest of our day, we read, re-read and re-read her new Rapunzel book. I worked on bows and trying to catch up for our 4th of July show.

Can't Believe it's Wednesday

I can't believe it's Wednesday, so that means I just have Thursday to finish up a bazillion things for a show that starts on Friday. We decided since we are having to spend almost 5 days away from home at a show over the 4th of July weekend, we will only be spending 1 night, instead of 2 at this show. So we will leave super early Friday morning, set-up, sale stuff until 11p, close-up, head to the hotel and then re-set-up Saturday, sale until 11p, pack up and drive home. So that means we will be home like 4am or 5am Sunday morning. It's going to be rough but saving money, is saving money....well unless we do amazingly well at the show and we may opt for another night in the hotel then. So as for today, Keree spent the majority of time upstairs with me. I finished about 60 bows, which isn't even a dent in what I need to have done. Now, I did get about 7 outfits done, which was huge. So while I sewed, Keree spent her time playing, she did have a few moments of awfulness but I know it's because she misses my Brother so much. I just wish Keree could express her pain of missing her Uncle better than having her moments. I'm just hoping that by Friday she's alot better. We did spend about 20 minutes outside today, Keree rode her scooter up and down the sidewalk, while I worked on pulling weeds before my Mom mowed. After we came in, we ate a late dinner (after 8p) and then watched the season premiere of Toddler & Tiaras. I have to say that everytime I watch it, I'm shocked at the behavior of the kids on it.

Cleaning

Well our plan was to head home today but after much discussion, we decided to stay an extra day. We rented a rug doctor machine and spent the entire day scrubbing my Brother's apartment floors. Honestly, we though one or two rounds per room but we started before 7a and was still working on it when he got home at 7p. There were times when I was down on my hands and knees scrubbing with a scrub brush in some spots. The funny thing is, my Brother is a total neat freak, I mean color codes his shirts, etc. But for some reason, even though he vaccumes his floor and works on getting stains up, it still was a mess. So while we cleaned, Keree worked on some sticker mosaics. She loves doing them and most of the time it gives us a solid hour of complete silence and concentration. Since I hadn't originally planned on fixing dinner this evening, when I ran to the store I saw a La Rosa's frozen lasagna. LaRosa's is an Ohio based company (which also has expanded to include Indiana & Kentucky) and we've never tired them before, so I thought why not. My goodness, they have some of the best tomato sauce I have ever had, their lasagna was stuffed with cheese. Because everyone else in the family likes meat lasagna, that's the kind I bought, I was thrilled that the meat was smooth and not chunky like most times. I honestly spent the rest of the evening talking about how good the lasagna was. It was so good, that I was tempted to go to the grocery store before we left and buy a few of them for home. We ended our evening by just being together, talking, playing and just enjoying our time together. I have to say Keree and I are really going to miss Ohio and this will probably be our last time visiting my Brother there because he's looking to be transfered out of state by Halloween.

Lazy, Crafty Day

After we got up in the morning, we got to hang out with my Brother a short time before he headed off to work. He was suppose to get the code for his apartment complex swimming pool but he had forgot. Our original plan was Keree and I was going to go swimming, while my Mom worked on crafty stuff. So since we couldn't go swimming, we ran to the grocery store and bought our weeks worth of groceries so I could cook every night. We ran to the $1 store there because for some reason they usually have a better assortment and then headed back to the apartment. I spent the rest of the day working on bottlecaps. Keree either played with Rapunzel or played wedding with a plastic wedding ring. As for my Mom, she worked on coloring rice for I-Spy bottles. For dinner, I cooked panko encrusted pork chops, baked potatoes, carrots and garlic bread. After dinner, Keree spent the rest of the evening reading books for the summer reading program. She finished 4 books and then wrote her very 1st book report. The book report portion is a weekly contest to win a bag full of books and goodies. She's very excited that she has the chance to win. We headed to bed when the news came on and are looking forward to tomorrow.

Off to Ohio

We got up early this morning trying to finish up our errands before heading to Ohio. We were only going to go for a few days but my Brother asked us to stay through the weekend, so I guess we will head home on Monday. After we got our errands done, we finished our last minute packing and then decided to take a few pictures of our Asian lilies because we were pretty sure that they were going to be done blooming by the time we got home. I also remembered and took a picture of Keree with her Summer Reading bag that she got yesterday. Now the plan was to leave early enough to get there and have dinner waiting when my Brother got off work. Well...we should have known that after getting struck in construction traffic not even 50 miles from home, that the trip wasn't going to be easy. I swear between the bad drivers, reckless truckers and endless road construction it was starting to turn into the trip from hell. I can't even count how many times a trucker crossed the line with his load and almost hit us. I can't even count how many times a car driver would just slam on his brakes for no apparent reason. I think I did count that we went through 274+ miles of road construction, sometimes we sat almost an hour for only 1/2 miles of road construction, it was nuts. Amazingly Keree slept through a good majority of it and when she wasn't sleeping she was watching movies. What is usually under a 5 hr trip, was over 8 1/2 hrs. Needless to say we didn't make it to my Brother's in time to fix dinner, in fact we got there almost an hour after he got off work. So instead we ended up having take-out pizza instead of a nice home cooked meal. After dinner, we settled in for the night and headed to bed early.

Library Summer Reading

Well for some reason, we decided that since we had a week with no shows to head out to Ohio to visit my brother. Well it's not all for a visit, we also have some business stuff to get done. What we didn't factor in was how much work we needed to get done before the next show. But more than anything Keree is super excited to see her Uncle. We spent the morning unloading two levels of the van. We then headed into town because we had a few packages to send out and then we stopped by the Library to sign Keree up for the summer reading program. I have to say I found it very chaotic and interesting as we filled out all the paperwork. There were Mom's in line already comparing how many books their kids had read that morning. It was so funny to hear them go Oh, Susie read 10 and Johnny read 11 and then when the other Mom said bigger numbers, they would correct themselves. Geesh, it's a summer reading program, it's not the Olympics. So after receiving her bag (which I forgot to take a picture of today, I'll remember tomorrow) and making her Name Dragon, we headed home to pack. While we packed, Keree spent her time learning how to tie flowers together to make necklaces. It was so cute that she made a crown for our plastic goose, GoselynBob. Because it was so hot out, we took it easy the rest of the day. Nothing like another record breaking heat.