2 Years Ago....

today my Dad passed away. Honestly, I think I'm probably the only one who remembered him today. I mean I was around my Bro for the most of yesterday and he didn't say anything. This year has hard, there have been moments when I really needed his advice, there were times when he needed to be the one to fight the battle  with his family and most of all, he really needed to be here to see Keree grow. He would have been so proud of her. I really hate that there physical relationship was 9 months together, for 9 months she got to feel the love of her Grandpa. I have asked my Step-Mom if she would bury my Dad (he was cremated) and get him a headstone. She won't talk to me or return my phone calls. Keree doesn't understand why we can't go visit his grave site. I tell her that I don't remember where it is because honestly I don't want to have the in-depth conversation with her on cremation. And then tell her, that my Dad, her Grandpa is in a box in my Step-Mom's basement. So Dad, I remember you today, on Memorial day and really wish your time here on Earth wasn't so short. I miss you alot!

Otherwise, my Brother was in this weekend picking up more of his stuff. Of course, he had to come in while we are in the middle of a heat wave. Seriously, I really wish he could have waited maybe 3-4 days when we will be back in the low 70's. I still can't believe in a few short weeks he'll be moving to Michigan. Before he left we played with Keree's bow and arrow. We had to be quite the site with Raggedy Ann set up as our target. We all got a little teary-eyed at the end when we realized it would probably be the last time, we all would play together at this house in this yard. I know we are all ready for some new adventures, it's just a little sad when you think this was the house, I brought Keree home too. My Grandparents also came in, so we meet them for dinner tonight. They wanted to treat Keree out to McD's so she could get a Happy Meal. We enjoyed a nice dinner together, even if it was McD's before we headed back to their hotel room. My Grandma's Big Sister, Aunt Bonnie and Hubby, Uncle Bill came to visit them before they head back home tomorrow. We actually had a nice time visiting with all of them and didn't get home till almost 11p.

Memorial Day

I feel like I'm so behind on everything. I want Keree to have this awesome summer, full of fun activites but between the work, shows and general life and family drama....I have no time for the fun stuff. We got to see my Brother for a short time today before he headed home to OH. I hate that everytime he comes home he seems so stressed out that he can't enjoy himself. So, I fixed a huge lunch - bratwursts, spatzel casserole and turnip fries. I've eaten spatzel while I lived in Germany, so I was excited to fix it myself. Needless to say, it's so much better in Germany! Otherwise the turnip fries is a twist on traditional fries made with potatoes. They were ok, I will make them again and try adding some seasoning to them instead of just tossing them in light olive oil and parmesan cheese. Before my Brother left, Keree and him played outside. We found this awesome doorway toss on clearance for $1.49. It's perfect to put on our outside flag holder. They spent a good hour seeing how many point they good get, how far they could throw and tossing them from the front and back. For the rest of our day after my Brother left, I worked on business stuff. I know I've said it more than once but there isn't enough hours in the day. When I woke up this morning, I honestly thought about taking Keree and going up to the Memorial Day observance at the family plot (my Dad's side of the family) at the cemetary. It's a little weird to think that it was the first time in 60+ years that our family wasn't represented. I know my Grandpa is looking down on me, shaking his head that I didn't go but right now, I'm just not ready to go up there. Right now, I can't get pass the pain, heartache and disappointment from that entire family. But since it's Memorial Day (aka Decoration Day) , I remember the service members in my life, who I have lost - my Uncle Tootsie who served in the Korean War, my Uncle L'mont (US Army Infantry) who served and was killed in WWII, Uncle Sherman (US Army), Cousin Wayne (US Army) and my love, Dominic (US Navy).

Today

One Year Ago....Losing my Dad

It's hard to believe it's been one year since my Dad passed on. I'm pretty sure that there's only a handful that will remember it was today. Honestly, I'm not even sure my Step-Mom will remember. I have to say this past year has been hard without him. As much as we weren't apart of each other lives over the years....I have found that in all honestly are lives were really intertwined. Keree misses her Grandpa, we talk about him often. We talk about how he liked to play monster with her. She says how silly he was. We talk about how Grandpa liked to pretend to be a vampire when Mommy was little and now I carry on the tradition and pretend to be a vampire and chase her. I think what surprises me most, is how much I miss him still, how many times I stop and just want to pick up the phone and call him but I know he's not there. I think it's even harder to get over losing him because he spent so many years pushing us away, not wanting us around and then in the last year of his life, he wanted us there, he wanted a relationship with us, he enjoyed being around us.

So, Dad, our time with you was way to short and I miss you more than I ever thought I would. Love you forever!

Emotionally Resting

Today we took the day easy because of how emotional it was yesterday. Keree is standing next to a concrete basket that my Brother and I gave to my Grandma, one Mother's day a long time ago. It was one of the few things that my Uncle let me have. My Mom was thrilled because it matches the one that my Brother and I gave her on that Mother's day, way back when. 

Paperwork

Keree didn't go to school this morning because I had to spend my day running. After making about a hundred copies this morning, right after we woke up. We then loaded into the car for a trip 3 counties over (over a 2hr one-way trip). We made the stop at the million $ courthouse, where they had a hard time locating the paperwork I needed. So what should have been a 1/2 hr stop or so, turned into a couple of hours. While I waited on the paperwork, my Mom and Keree walked around and explored. They also got some reese pieces out of the vending machine. Because there was no place to get copies, we decided to stop by my Uncle E's work. So since we were there, we dropped off his wedding photo discs because he has never picked them up (he got married in June '10). Since he was nice enough to make the copies, it was then onto our next stop. I was dreading this stop because I really didn't want to talk to him. Luckily, he wasn't in and I got to speak with the secretary. So after dropping off a hefty check and paperwork, it was now 445p and we were finally heading home. I was emotionally exhausted, so we decided to treat ourselves to pizza. I talked my Mom and Keree into going inside and waiting for the pizza while I rested outside. Keree thought it was hilarious because I kept snapping pictures of them through the window. What was also nice, was the pizza girl gave Keree a clean pizza box for her play kitchen at home. Once we got home, we enjoyed our pizza, made a few phone calls and then settled in for the night.

No Go

Well this morning, we took our time. Keree's squad wasn't cheering today, so it worked out perfect for us to head back up to the Farm. As we were getting ready to head up there, my Aunt called and said that my Uncle didn't want us to head up there today. She said that they weren't heading up there either because it was just too cold and rainy. So since our day was now wide open, we decided to head over to a craft show. We actually were suppose to be doing this show but with how bad my Mom has been feeling, there was no way I could handle setup, the show and tear down completely by myself, while also having Keree along. Which honestly, I'm glad we didn't do the show, the Producer had actually allowed people with flea market type stuff in and I was really disappointed. I did find it interesting because I dressed Keree as plain as I could today because I was comparing prices and such. I was shocked at how many people recognized her. It was also nice because we did run into a few Crafty friends and we had a nice visit with them. It's also a little sad because we won't see most of them until Fall now. As we were driving home, we always pass a grain elevator. Keree loves this elevator because it looks like Rapunzel's tower. So since we didn't have anything planned for the day, we stopped and grabbed a few pictures of her and the tower. What's cool about this grain tower, is unlike most of them in the area, it's still being used for it's intended use. When we got home, we spent the day upstairs. Of course, I worked and Keree played.

"Cleaning" the Farm

After dropping Keree off at school, we ran a few errands before picking her up. Right as I was heading in to pick her up, the phone rang. I let it go to voicemail because you can't talk on the phone while in the school. So after I collected Keree and read the summary, which said that they worked in their journals (yet again), sang the ABC song (seriously...such a basic song) and worked on writing their names (which didn't apply to Keree since she already knows how to write it). I listened to my voicemail after hooking Keree in her carseat and it was from my Uncle T. He wanted me to come up to my Grandparents farm, since he is cleaning it out. Which I hate the whole "cleaning" word because these are my Families memories and traditions that will be donated. He offered for me to come up on either today or Saturday, so I thought, we better go today because he's know for changing his mind. I was heading up there, when I called him back. When we got there, I told Keree she had to be on her very best behavior and not talk. See this is the same Uncle who's ignored Keree completely and literally hasn't spoken to her at all. I'm mean, honestly, he's seen her at my Great-Aunt's birthday party and no acknowledgement and then at my Grandma's visitation and funeral, he didn't say anything then to her either. As we walked in, he was very welcoming and I've got to say it was weird to be there. It looked like the Farm house, just the closest were bare and all the paperwork they always had laid out wasn't there. What shocked me the most, is when he engaged Keree in conversation. He asked her how school was, how old she was, he treated her like she mattered, like she really is a member of our family. It was weird. While my Uncle walked me around, my Mom and Keree waited downstairs. I was surprised at how open my Uncle was, he gave me my Grandma's wedding dress and the Maid of Honor dress she wore for my Great-Aunt's wedding (which I didn't know that existed). Now there were a few things when I was growing up, I really, really wanted and had asked that when they died, if I could have them. My Grandma always told me "No" they were to be passed down to her daughter or her sons. See my Grandma didn't consider me, her granddaughter because I didn't come from her daughter's womb. Yep, my Grandma was nuts. But after my Grandpa died, the family basically blew up and we were basically the only ones who came to visit her, other than my Uncle. So when my Uncle offered up the Engagement present my Grandpa bought for my Grandma, I about burst into tears. I had thought about those lamps, dreamed about the lamps and knew the story behind them. My Grandpa paid $35 for the set, which was amazing because that was a ton of money back in the day. I claimed quite a few pieces of furniture, even though I don't have room for them but some of the pieces date back to the late 1800's and early 1900's and belonged to my Great-Great and Great-Grandparents. I didn't have alot of room in the van, because I was still loaded from our last show but I was able to take a few things. My Uncle let me take my Grandma's mixer, most of her pots, pans, cups and plates. Because he had to leave by a certain time, we cut our visit short. He said I could come back up the next day, so I'm looking forward to being able to go through some more stuff. When we were driving home, I was still amazed that he gave me my Grandma's wedding dress and the Engagement gift. Since it was cold and late, we decided to pick up pizza for dinner. When we got home, we unloaded the car, so we could pack easier tomorrow. We spent the rest of the evening resting because we were all exhausted. I especially was exhausted both mentally and physically.

More Birthday Prep

I thought we had been doing so well with Keree sleeping in till 7a or later. I mean it's been almost 2 weeks of all that extra sleep. I was in denial the last 3 days thinking that it was just a fluke because her allergies are hay-wire because of the weather change. But this morning, I faced the fact that we are back to super early morning wake-ups. I don't think I would have been so upset over the sleep but in the last week, I've gotten use to working in to the wee hours and I really appreciate even that extra half-hour of sleep. This morning, I was lucky enough that my Mom made Keree breakfast because unlike most every night, I didn't have Keree's clothes laid out. So as I searched her closet for something to wear in this cold (it's was 30 this morning)/warm (it reached 67 this afternoon) snap, Keree happily crunched on cereal. We headed to school and as now has become usual, only the Asst Teacher acknowledges Keree. I mean, I keep trying to figure out why the Main Teacher is being such a witch. Keree says she won't speak to her at all during class. It's one thing to be mad at my Mom and I because of the comment my Mom made at parent-teacher conference but you don't take it out on the kid. And then I was thinking maybe she's not talking to Keree because we didn't buy her a present for her baby. But hey, we did give her a Christmas ornament and we never did get a Thank you card from her for that either. Sorry, it's just really bugging me. Otherwise, while Keree was in school, I did a little running. I picked up a few more things for the boy treat bags because they seemed to be getting jipped a little compared to the girls bags. After I got home, I worked on printing up the last of the birthday stuff before heading to pick Keree up. We usually meet with the Homeschool teacher today but she never did call. In my experience so far, if they don't call, they don't show up. Because of this, we headed home instead of to the library. A little after 11a, my phone rings and it's the Homeschool teacher. She goes "I'm at the library, where are you?" Umm, you didn't call, so I assumed you won't show up and I'm not going to waste gas with gas prices reaching almost $3.25 a gallon. She was miffed but I really don't care. Keree is way above their current curriculum and though they promised me that they would advance the curriculum, they haven't. The only reason we are still participating is because Keree does enjoy it. Keree did get to play outside for a short time, she enjoyed riding her bike up and down the sidewalk before we headed inside. Our afternoon and into the evening was filled with Birthday preparations. I figured out that this party is costing me around $157 but you also have to consider that so far we have over 52 confirmed people being there. So that's about $3 a person. Which in the ground scheme, that's pretty cheap. I was hoping for around $1.50 a person but I did splurge on a couple of things that I thought was cool like Tangled candy and all of the girls are getting a handful of bows made by me. Which I guess if I did my calculations on how much they actually cost me to make instead of the price I charge, I would probably be close to $2 a person. We ended our evening by calling my Brother. He's coming in this weekend for Keree's birthday. The main reason I called was to remind him to bring his camera (also good to have another person taking pics) and my Dad's will (since I can't find my copy anywhere). Of course, Keree had to get on the phone and talk also. She was telling him all about the crown she made for KittyKitty. Which cracked me up because up until now, Keree says Kitty Kitty is her son but since he was wearing a princess crown, he is now a girl. I know a few people who wish it was that easy to change your gender. I'm off to bed, hoping she'll sleep in but knowing more than likely I'll be up hours before the sun.

Icepocalypse & Butter Steak

For the past 3 days all they have talked about was the incoming Blizzard. The news had people convinced that they were going to lose power, wouldn't be able to get out of their houses for days and of course starve to death. There was bare store shelf's because people seemed to be preparing for the end of the world. Now, I did head out in the craziness but we truly needed groceries. When the storm finally arrived today, 80% of the area saw little to nothing. Then there was people like us that got almost 5" of sleet, along with almost 2" of ice. I am thankful for once that Keree's school did close, so she had her 2nd snowday of the year. We are lucky to have never lost power, so far. We did lose our tv for about 9 hrs and internet for about 4 hrs. Because I wasn't sure if we were going to lose our power and I'm still not so sure, I decided not to waste our wood and start a fire, since we could stay warm with space heaters. We ended up spending the majority of our day in the bedroom. I dragged Keree's Rapunzel table in here, along with her Rapunzel mini tower and all the Rapunzel guys she got at Christmas. So, she spent almost her entire day playing with her toys. When she finally did get bored, which was after her nap and dinner, she drew pictures and wrote stories. Since, I didn't really feel like cooking, I had decided while shopping yesterday that I was going to fix a couple crock-pot recipes over the next couple of days. You see, the night I found out my Grandma had passed away, I couldn't sleep. So, I spent my entire night and into the next morning, reading and researching recipes. I saved the ones that sounded tasty and I was extremely excited to try Butter Steak. So, since I've also been in a funk, I decided to try the Tried-it Tuesday. So here is the recipe for Butter Steak. You take 3 lbs of stew meat, I used a lean trimmed stew meat, 4 sticks of butter and 2 envelopes of dry onion soup mix. I combined that all in my crock pot and set it to high. I decided to cook at high (4hrs) instead of low for 8 hrs because of the thought we may lose power and this way it would be done by lunchtime. So, when lunch rolled around and we still had power, I dropped the crock pot setting to low and just let it keep slowly cooking until 4p. Before serving, I cooked up a package of medium egg noodles. Drained them and then added them to the crock pot. Stirred it all up and served. It was amazing. Now, I did add some weber chicago steak seasoning because I thought it need a little kick. Keree ate a huge bowl of it, with no extras and so did my Mom. It was such a hit that this is now going to be a regular meal in our house. Plus there was plenty of leftovers for lunch and dinner tomorrow. As for me, I spent my day working on korker bows. I had made up a ton of korked ribbon almost a year ago and I lost the box it was in. A few weeks ago, I re-found the box, so I'm trying to get a whole bunch made up for upcoming shows. And as soon as I post this, I'm headed to bed. I'm so exhausted. I was trying to stay up to see if Keree's school was called off tomorrow. They are advising us to stay off the roads because we will have bad weather till 1p or later tomorrow. All the other schools are closed already in the two counties but not Keree's. I bet 10 to 1, that they will go against common sense and still have school instead of thinking about safety.

Another Heartbreaking Loss....

Our day started out well, we took our time getting up out of bed and then slowly got dressed. We got there in plenty of time to gather outside in the hallway since the other teams were still playing. Once it was over, I accompanied my girl over to the sideline with the rest of her squad, I felt like some kind of over protective Mom. But seriously, she couldn't carry both her megaphone and pompoms by herself, so of course Momma is gonna help. So once I got her settled, I headed over to my seat. We scored prime seats directly across from the girls, too bad the lighting was shotty and I was shooting across a gym, so my pictures are funky looking. After the basketball players played 4 - 6 minute quarters, all the while the girls either cheering or chanting on the sidelines. It was then time for the girls. They announced each of the girls names over the intercom and they got to run out to center court. Then they performed one cheer and ran back to the sidelines so the basketball game to continue. After that, their was 2 more 6 minute quarters before the game was over and all the children gather in the other room to awarded with one of 5 colored stars. Keree earned her Spirit star this week (which is gold) because she did such a great job leading the girls in cheers. After the game was finished, we headed off for a few errands (needed to make the car payment) and since it was almost 2p, we picked up some lunch. Once we got home, both Keree and I laid down for a nap. She was exhausted and was starting to get really grouchy. I didn't think I was tired but before I knew it, I was asleep too. In my drowsiness, I heard the phone ring but decided it could wait till after I woke up because nobody wants to talk to me in a half-sleep stoper. When I woke up, I had totally forgotten the phone had rang, so I didn't check it right away. We had been up for about a 1/2 hr at that point, when suddenly I remembered the phone rang. I checked the id and it was a call from my Grandma's house. I was a little perplexed because she never calls me, I mean once in a blue moon (4 times in the last 6 yrs) she would call but usually I am always the one who initiated the call first. So I decided to check messages and it was from my Uncle T. I knew then that something horrible had happened. My Uncle T has not spoken to me since July 9, 2003, the day of my Grandpa's funeral. Before then, we had been close, we spent various holidays together, he was the first to reach out to us when my parents divorced, so losing him and his wife was hard. I paced back and forth not wanting to make the call, I thought I knew what he was going to say but I was in denial about it. I finally got up the courage and when the call started, he was being so formal, like I was a client or something. I just let him talk because of course I was crying on the opposite end of the phone. I think when I finally did speak and he heard the crack in my voice, suddenly I wasn't the enemy, I was just his niece, the oldest and only granddaughter who was just told her Grandma had died. He told me, she had passed on peacefully in her sleep. I was thankful because she had always told me that she wanted to die in her house, in her bed and in her sleep. He asked me if I wanted to call my Brother or did I want him too. Of course, there was no way in h*ll I was letting him break the news to my Brother. He gave me a quick run down on what he was planning and we said our good-byes. I sat there staring at my Mom with Keree sitting on her lap and then, I just broke down again. I told my Mom that there was no way I could call my Brother and begged her to call. My Mom knew my Brother was already having a bad day, so she didn't want to call either. So while she called, Keree crawled up on my lap. I was waiting to tell Keree the day of the funeral that Grandma had passed but she over heard my Mom. She looked at me and bluntly asked "Grandma passed on, so that means she's dead (said with some urgency in her voice), did they put her in the ground and put dirt on her?" So, I told her that yes, Grandma passed away and she's in heaven now. I told her that we would go to the church for a funeral, her body would be in a box called a casket and then they would bury her, but she's in heaven. She looked at me and just goes, ok. The rest of the night, I had a wide range of emotions. I can't sleep and my stomach is in knots over how this funeral will play out because this side of my family is so splintered.

Wednesday

When I dropped Keree off at school, my Mom and I then went and ran a few errands....actually we ran to Michaels in search of some bulk wood packs. Of course, we were meet with "I've never seen anything like that here" or "I guess we never carried it." Umm, yeah, you are the same store that we've bought about 20 packs from since last Spring till just a month ago. I don't know where they hire these people from because the ones in my store, seriously have no knowledge of their products or how they work. When I went to pick Keree up, the summary said that they made marble paintings, talked about put downs and how they can hurt our friends, also that they shouldn't tell people they aren't their friends and that they should all play nicely. It seems that the Same Boy who hit my daughter with a toy (who will now be known as Bully Boy), is also the child who is telling people they aren't friends anymore and just wrecking havoc in the classroom. Now, one interesting thing happened today, I saw who Bully Boy's Mom was. I've seen her before but didn't know who's Mom she was. Of course, it explained alot of Bully Boy's behavior. She is one of those "natural parents" (as she puts it), she lets her child do whatever, never says "no" and believes the child is always right and should not under any circumstance be punished. All I can say is a child should have boundaries and a sense of right and wrong, which this child doesn't have and probably never will. After we picked up Keree, we then had to headed up North and visited two County courthouses. I was needing a copy of my Dad's birth & death certificate. I gotta say it was all a little surreal, having these two pieces of paper in my hand. It felt like His whole life was summed up on two pieces of paper. I did find a few interesting things like, his Mom's name is wrong on the death certificate and I also found out that my Dad passed away a little after 5pm on that Friday but my Step-Mom didn't call me till around 7am on Saturday. She didn't notify any of his family until Saturday. I'm perplexed still, why didn't anyone call us until 14+ hours after he passed away? I guess it's a question I'll never have an answer for. Keree of course fell asleep while we were on the road, luckily my Mom was along, so she stayed in the car while I ran in and got the certificates. As we were heading home, we passed another Micheals. So, my Mom ran in and luckily, there was one bulk pack of wood. She was so excited that they had some. The downside, they didn't know if they would be getting anymore in. When we got home, of course Keree woke up. Since she still wasn't feeling well, she asked to lay down and watch cartoons and I happily obliged. Before too long, it was time to leave for practice. Of course, I wanted to make sure to leave early so I would actually have a parking space at this field. There is only 15 parking spaces and if you don't get one of these, you risk parking on a dead end street and getting trapped or have to park almost a 1/2 mile away and walk. As I said, how smoothly and awesome last night's practice was. This practice was a disaster! The Coach had no control, the girls were running everywhere, she would release them for a water break and instead they would go and play on the playground. I'm so lucky that Keree doesn't run off without permission, she so knows better that she would be in major trouble if she did the things the other girls do. Since practice was going so poorly, she released them early. When we got home, we were able to watch Modern Families before Keree proclaimed it was time for bed. Which was good because I'm exhausted too.

Lesson 19, Science, Math & Birthday

hKeree was up again before 5am, I tried everything possible to convince her to go back to sleep but it was hopeless. I just don't get why she gets up super early, I've pushed back her bedtime to between 9-930p, she only takes maybe an hour nap most days, so she should be exhausted, right? And I can't complain because she has always been an early riser and honestly her sleep has improved so much since the beginning. I'm really beginning to think she is a child who doesn't need the 10+ hours a day the Experts suggest.
So back to our day, so as soon as I decided to get out of bed and get going, we called my Baby Brother and wished him a Happy 25th Birthday. I can't believe it was 25 years ago today that I spent the night at my Grandma's house on Maple and a little while after 6am, I heard the phone ring and they told my Grandma my Brother had finally been born (my Mom was in labor for 4 days). I couldn't wait to visit him at the hospital, I had dreamed my entire life about having a brother or sister. And I'm pretty sure a few weeks later, I wanted to get rid of him. But now days, I can't imagine my life without him. So, Happy Birthday to the best Little Brother in the World! Once we were dressed and ready to go, we decided to go and check on our Science Experiment....well something went horrible wrong because of instead of the shark growing, he instead dissipated. We were really disappointed that the experiment didn't go right. So next time we are out the store, I'll buy some real gummy bears and some of the other supplies we need to complete some of the other experiments. After we dumped out the blue water, we started Lesson 19. We actually whizzed through it even though they introduced a new sound. Keree is having a little trouble sounding out "the", she sounds it out correctly but I think because of my twang of a Southern Accent (which my daughter has picked up), the way we say The doesn't sound like The sounded out. I have a feeling that we may run into a few other problems down the road with our pronunciation of words. After we were finished, we worked in a Pre-K math book, she actually finished half the book before Keree decided it was time to play. I couldn't argue at that point since we had been doing school work for almost 2 hours at that point. So Keree played on her swing set, went down the slide and caught a toad. She placed him on some flowers and we watched him hop around. We also watched him secrete when a grasshopper jumped on top of him. Keree thought he was sweating but I explained to her that it was sort of like poison that he uses to protect himself. She thought that was pretty cool but was wondering if it would burn us. So we talked about frogs and toads that are poisonous to us and that the frogs and toads in our area are not poisonous to humans. After the Frog hopped away, Keree went back to playing on her swingset until it was time to head inside for lunch. We ended up fixing grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup and then Keree laid down for her nap. While Keree was sleeping, I got a call from my Grandma (my Dad's Mom). I was surprised she had finally returned my call but I know that my Great-Aunt had called her. Our call was a little strange, it started off as just pleasantries and then she finally asked about my Dad, his funeral, who was there, etc, etc. I told her that there was no private services and that they just put that in the paper so people would know that there was no type of services. She then asked me if I had seen my Dad before he passed away. I have nothing to hide and no reason to lie to her, so I told her about our few visits we had. Because of the issues within that side of the family, I didn't talk to either one of them about the other. We talked for about a half-hour before we got off, she told me that we needed to plan a time to get together and go out because she really wants to see Keree. That made me feel better because I was pretty convinced that she would be cutting all contact with us. I know my Great-Aunt had alot to do with her calling us and I'm thankful for that. After Keree woke up from her nap, we cleaned a little and then set the table with Uncle's birthday cake. Keree had so much fun putting the decorations on it and also counting out 25 candles. I think she did such a great job picking out the theme...of course it was baseball. Then later on this evening, I ended up catching a baby field mouse that was in our yard. My thought was it was too close to my house, so I relocated it to the woods behind our house. But before we let it go, Keree had fun watching it crawl around, she had never seen a mouse before, so she was fascinated by all of it's movements. We ended up giving it a cracker, so Keree could watch how it ate. My Brother called and he ended up not getting off work till super late, so he won't make it in tonight. Which I'm sad we won't see him on his Birthday but at least we'll have the weekend to celebrate with him.