Keree's 7th Birthday Extravaganza

We surprised Keree this morning with breakfast in bed. We made Keree close her eyes as my Mom sat her plate down in front of her and then we told her to open her eyes. It was so cute when she raised her hand up to her chest and goes "this is for me".

 Banana slices, apple slices, carrot cake muffin and chocolate milk

 After alot of giggling, over getting to have such a special breakfast in bed, she finally blew out her candle.

 

After we got dressed, we decided to use all the freebie birthday coupons she got. First stop was Build-a-bear. She had gotten a $5 coupon from the company but we ended up spending a little more (it was only $3.34 more). She ended up with a Cardinals t-shirt, Cardinal button-down shirt and some girl scout underwear all for KittyKitty. Once the Store Girl heard it was Keree's birthday, she also threw in some hairbows and gave Keree a special sticker. Keree was beyond thrilled and couldn't wait to get home and dress KittyKitty.

 Our next stop was Toys R' Us, where she had a $3 gift card. Our first stop was by the front desk. Keree got to pick out which birthday crown she wanted, of course she choose the pink princess one. We were disappointed because usually they give them a birthday balloon but they were out of helium and balloons. Boo!! Then they made the announcement on the store intercom that a special birthday girl was there. She just giggled anytime someone wished her Happy Birthday.We walked and explored the store. This was the first time for Keree to see one of the dancing dolls, so she had to try it out. It was so funny watching her dance with the doll. She finally decided after alot of thinking to get Tiana's Royal Turtle ride, plus it was on clearance for $3.22. (So we only paid 52 cents with tax).

Our final stop before heading home was to Pizza Hut. Keree had her monthly Book-it certificate, so she got a free personal pan pizza. While Grandma and Mommy got chicken alfredo pasta since neither one of us are feeling that great.

After lunch, Grandma and Mommy took at nap, while Keree played with some of her birthday gifts. Once we got back up, it was time to open presents. From us, Keree got some new tennis shoes, a winter cat headband, some stickers, a Brave hair set and a Spiderman bath chemisty set. Plus she got this really cool Brave card with a poster inside.

 Keree's Godmother and family got her the Secret of the Wings, Silvermist. Can you not see the excitement! She went crazy over her new doll. 

 Her Uncle N's presents are being delayed by Amazon and will hopefully arrive soon. But he did call, sing Happy Birthday and talk to her. Then he arranged for a very special birthday call to come at 6pm. So we got ready and then we sat there and waited.......and waited......and waited for the phone to ring. Finally at 6:01pm, Keree got a very special call from Mickey Mouse. He wished her a Happy Birthday. I taped the call on video because she was amazed by the whole thing.

 Then finally it was time for cake or cookie. Keree picked out a gigantic chocolate chip cookie with lots of frosting and M&M's on top. Of course, with Keree's current Fairy obsession, Tinkerbell also graced the cookie. We ended up all being so tired and not feeling well that we ended our night without eating a single bite of cookie. But before she went to bed, she did tell me that she had a great birthday and was so happy I was home.

Happy 7th Birthday

7 years ago at 1:15am you were born into this world.

 As I have done every year since your very
1st Birthday, this picture was taken at 1:15am.

And I'm so thankful that I was able to get
away from work and be here to take the picture.

Happy Birthday to my very sweet, very grown-up,
changed my life forever, Baby Girl.

My First Day

Well today was my first day and I survived. I have to say that going back to a full time, 8 hour a day job is hard after doing my own thing for the last 3 1/2 years. My day went like this,  I got up before 4:30am, out of the house by 5am and at the office by 6am. I wasn't meeting the guys who were training me until 6:30am. Luckily, the guys were just a bunch of good ole' boys and we got along great. Which honestly made the day go by alot better and even though I missed Keree. I wasn't sobbing and missing her, which was a huge improvement from yesterday. After 8 hours of work, it was time to head home. I called my Mom and Keree on my drive home. Of course, hearing their voices made me want to come home right away and being emotional, I started crying again. But I recovered pretty quickly. I took a picture of me in my new work clothes and sent it to Keree. She thought I looked pretty funny. After I got home, my night was spent talking to my Uncle, trying to watch mindless tv to take my mind off missing Keree and finally having to tell him, I need to go to bed to get up early.

Today's the Day....

This morning, we were all up bright and early. I can't believe today is the day, this will be the first time for me to be away from Keree for more than 10 hours. I gave Keree a great big hug good-bye. I walked them out to the car with tears running down my face and watched them drive off. Keree had an appointment at the hospital concerning the popping her good knee has been doing again. This is the first doctor's appointment that I was going to miss. I ran to Wallymart after they left, to pick them up some food for the next few weeks and also a few things for myself. Then, it was time to leave......I started to cry even harder, I'm know this is for the best of my family but honestly how can I really do this. I keep thinking, how can I really be away from Keree for weeks at a time. But even with the tears streaming down my face, I got in the car, started it and drove away. I cried as I drove, I cried through 3 States before I finally stopped for some lunch in Kentucky. Needless to say, I was so upset that lunch tasted horrible. So, I continued to drive and cry and threaten to turn back home. I kept trying to reason with myself that no job was worth being away from my daughter.

Then finally, I hit Tennessee. I still don't know how I got there because of all the crying I had done. I pulled over at the first rest stop into the state and called home. I told my Mom that I was turning around, that I was headed home. She laughed at me. Then Keree wanted to talk to me. She told me how her Doctor's appt went and then she told me "Mommy I miss you so much." Yep, I was going to turn around and go home. But I didn't. I got to my Uncle's house around 3pm....he was mad and told me that he wasn't expecting me. Umm, thanks alot, because I called you and told you and you said ok, that I could stay with you. I was honestly waiting for him to close the door on me and say that I can't stay there. With a Welcome like that, it made me being away from Keree even harder. We talked awhile and he asked me a thousand questions about this new job, which honestly most of them I couldn't answer yet. I called my Mom and told her I arrived safely. She told me about Keree's doctor's appointment, that her leg length is gaping too much. That instead of the 1/4" difference every six months, that suddenly it's almost 1/2" every three months. She told me that they need to increase the lift on Keree's shoes and hoping that will help the wear and tear that is happening with her good leg/knee. Then the Doctor said that come next year they we were going to have to have a long talk on lengthening. Something I didn't want to hear but knew it was coming, so were looking at another surgery.

After everything was said and done, I got ready for tomorrow. I packed my lunch, laid out my clothes and set my alarm. I feel asleep crying, scared at what lies ahead, missing my daughter and just wondering am I making the right decision.

Cookie Time

Today was the official start of the cookie selling season. We were suppose to be selling in front of a store but through a series of events, it didn't happen. Well, I still had to pick up our twenty cases of cookies. So we decided to sale them door to door instead. This way we didn't have to worry about delivering them to our relatives who would of normally bought them from us since we don't know when we'll be moving or how long we'll be in the area. We ended up selling 50 boxes in one day, so I think that was awesome. We probably could of done more but we had super cold, rainy weather moving in and it was killing Keree's legs.

 

 This evening, Keree opened up her very last Christmas present. Ok, it was already unwrapped but she hadn't opened the box yet. My Brother's girlfriend, got Keree the Monster High Create a Monster design lab. I wasn't sure if Keree would like it because whenever we go down the toy aisle and she sees the monster body parts, she tells me that they creep her out. I was sort of excited to try it but after reading the directions, realized it was going to be messy.

 I wish they could of figured out a better way with the water that is used to apply the tattoos. But Keree thoroughly enjoyed herself. She loved putting the tattoos on the dolls. And she loved picking out what went on her face, arms and legs. Still all I could think was it's so messy but then I thought, man, I wish we had another doll to design.  

 And finally, here is Keree with her finished Monster. Right now, she's calling her Miss Monster.

It's Getting Real

This morning, I got a call from HR at SCC. They couldn't figure out why I hadn't responded to their emails. Umm, maybe because I hadn't gotten them. So, I gave HR another email address to send it go and amazingly this time it came through both emails. I'm thinking that they had forgotten to send me anything! It gave me a few instructions with some paperwork I had to return for my background check and then she confirmed my address to send my drug test paperwork too. Wow, I guess this is really going to happen! We had some errands to run after I talked to the HR lady.

So when we returned home, this was all that was left of our snowman. Keree was sad to see it him melt. I was just happy that it was a little warmer outside today. Too bad it isn't going to last and soon it's going to be really cold again.

 

We also spent the day talking about buying an RV, RV living and  figuring out what lies ahead in the next few weeks and months. I've also been using my crockpot for cooking almost all our meals. It's just so much easier to be able to throw in all the ingredients, set the heat setting and walk away. I made Korean inspired ribs tonight and they were so good. They were so flavorful, tender and everyone ate seconds and thirds. I served them with a pickled style cole slaw.

Robotic Bugs

    This morning, we had to run a few errands and of course we ended up in the clearance aisles. We found a few other presents for upcoming birthday's and next years Christmas. I am a firm believer in not playing full price. Thank goodness, I'm pretty sure we are finished with presents except for Keree.
     Now Keree was thrilled because on a back bottom shelf, she spotted a Christmas Hex-bug. Now, Santa brought Keree a hex-bug in her stocking. He wasn't sure if she would like it but thought it was cool since she's on a JRFFL league through Girl Scouts. She didn't open it till New Year's eve but we had so much fun playing with it, that she really wanted another one. What I liked the most was that it was on clearance and instead of paying $6.99 for it, we got it for a little over a $1. She spent the entire afternoon building mazes for them to race around and stuff for them to run into.

Keree holding her Hex-bugs that she named Dasher and Dancer