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.

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

A Conditional Offer

Today, pretty much started out as a lazy, uneventful day. I was spending the day packing, cleaning, sorting, etc. Then suddenly the phone rang, it wasn't any number I knew, so I let it go to voicemail. Yes, I admit, I'm one of those people. Most of the time, there is no voicemail left but this time it was different, there was a voicemail.....

 It started out as "Hi, Ms. This is Mister So-So from SCC. I came across the application that you sent in and would like to talk to you about it." I'll preface this and say, that since I lost my job shortly after Keree came home, I haven't had a good job. I've had jobs, here and there and even started doing Shows. Now I love doing shows, making children's clothing and accessories to sale but I'll admit that sometimes it's hard. It's hard because you never know how you will do, you don't know if the customers will be buying or just browsing and you also have to factor in the weather, economy, everything. So, back in December I was just surfing the net and came across this job post. It was a good job, I was qualified and thought, well heck it won't hurt to put in my application.

I quickly returned the phone call, apologized for not answering and we started talking. By the end of the conversation they conditionally offered me the job. All I have to do is pass my background and drug test. I was shocked!!! Actually, it was more like what just happened, did that really happen?? Now, I'm trying not to get my hopes up. Plus, this will be a little weird, I haven't been in a normal 9-5 job for almost 4 1/2 years. Also, the biggest thing with this job is we will be going on the road full time. This job will have me spend 3-6 months in a job location before moving onto another job location. Being that I'm a single Mom, I can't leave Keree behind and not see her for months and months at a time. So, if this all go through, we have a new plan, we are getting an RV and were going to be living in it full time. Three days into the New Year and our whole lives are about to change big time!

Second Day of 2013

Well today was the 2nd day of the new year and what did we do......well I spent the day packing. Not only packing away Christmas decorations but also packing to move. I'm excited about what this new adventure is going to bring us but I'm also really having bitter sweet memories of this house. I mean it's the place I brought Keree home too. But I'm also glad not to have to worry about all the problems this house has either.

 The most excitement of the day we had was this little guy. Being that we live in the country, every so often we have a visitor get into our house. Well this guy was brave, we caught him actually sitting in our chair. We grabbed our Christmas cookie tin and trapped him inside. Keree didn't want us to kill him but she sure didn't want him inside the house.

 So I took him outside to the road's edge. He wouldn't move, so finally I sort of tossed and dumped him out. He sat there for a minute and then ran across the road. Since they always say, if you see one, there are more, once I got back inside, I sat quite a few traps to catch any more of our unwanted visitors.

On to a New Year....

When 2012 started, we really thought that this would be the year when our luck had changed. That by the end of this year all our troubles and worries would have faded away. Honestly, every year we start with those hopes and dreams.....well the year turns out worse than the previous year. So this coming year, we have no expectations. We are just happy to be together and even though we know we have some major life changes happening in the next few months, we are ready for the adventure. Because as long as we are together, that's all that really matters!

Our day started off by saying good-bye to my Baby Brother. We were sad that he had to head back to Michigan but we had got to spend 11 days together over the holidays. We made amazing memories together as a family. And to tell you the truth, life is more about the memories and time spent together.

 As for the rest of our day, we had a few errands to run and had hoped to beat the incoming snowstorm. Well we got caught up in the Clearance aisles (have a great start on next year's Christmas presents), so we got caught in the snow. It started snowing around 10am and will continue into tomorrow. We probably would have more snow on the ground in these pictures, if we hadn't used most of it for our snowman the other day. Once we got home, we spent some time packing, talking to out of town family and just relaxing (which isn't something we have done in the past few weeks).

I had hoped that Keree would make it till midnight this year, but that isn't the case. It's 10:50p and she's been asleep for about a 1/2 hr. And I have to say, I'm not sure I'll make it to midnight tonight either. Happy New Year's Eve Everyone!

Happy July 4th!

Today was the hottest 4th of July since temperatures have been recorded in our area. I have to say, I'm sick and tired of all this hot weather, today is something like day 21 of 98 degree weather and hotter. It's also like  day 7 of 104+ degree weather. It was sort of a weird 4th, this is the first 4th of July since Keree's been home that we haven't attended a festive parade. Since my Bro had to leave today, we opted to stay home so we could spend our last few minutes with him and The Girlfriend. It was a nice and very short visit. 

Keree is really going to miss her Uncle. Especially since we found out that he won't be home till Christmas this year. My Bro was trying to figure out how soon and how often we could come and visit him. If it was up to me, it would be every other month just because they have an amazing Vietnamese community there and do so many community and heritage activities. 

 Keree is pretending to be a tree in this picture.....Why you ask? Well she thinks if she stands there long enough that a bird will think she's a real tree. She's determined that one day she will have a wild bird, probably a Robin, land on her.  

 By the end of the day, we had sweated thru our clothes, so Keree put on her Americana dress that my Mom made her. Since our cell phones will not work inside the house, we have to sit outside in the front yard to talk on them. So while out there we called Keree's Great-Grandparents to check on them with all the heat. I really wish they lived closer because it would make checking on them alot easier.

Splash Pad, Summer Fun & Drive-in Movie

The new splash pad opened the day after school got out, but we haven't been since it's been way to crowded. So as a way for my Brother to spend sometime with Keree, we said "Let's go to the splash pad and play." He wasn't keen on the idea until we told him "The Girlfriend" could come along. I honestly didn't want to see her but decided if it was the only way for him to spend some quality time with Keree, I guess, I can put up with her. 

We thought that being a Sunday morning that the splash pad wouldn't be that crowded but I'm guessing because of the heat - it was 104 today with out the index, that more people came out early. I have to say that Keree's favorite part of the park was the giant mushroom. The water seemed a little warmer and it really felt like it was just a nice shower.

 I have to say that even with "The Girlfriend" there, we still  had fun. She was honestly trying to make an effort, which was more than she's done in the past five years. After about 1 1/2 hours, we took a short break and let Keree play in one of the tide pools they have on each side. I have to say, I'm not that thrilled with that option, lots of babies with no diapers, eeww. So, we didn't stay that long before returning to the splash park.

 We ended up being there for almost three hours. I have to say my favorite part was the buckets, it was great because you never knew how quickly they were going to fill up and pour down on you. I really wish someone would have gotten a picture of both Keree and I underneath one.

 Once we headed home, it was around 12:30p. So, I spent some time preparing lunch. I made slow-cooker Gyros and some Corn Salad. It took a little longer than expected, so we didn't eat until almost 3p. We called my Aunt P so she could come and visit my Brother for a short time. Of course, she didn't show up until right before 3p. While we waited for the food to cook, Keree, my Mom, my Brother and The Girlfriend spent time playing baseball and washers. The Girlfriend hated being out in the heat but the rest of us were use to it. We stayed hydrated and that's really the key to being out in the heat.

 After everyone ate lunch, The Girlfriend left to visit her family. Keree and my Mom went to lay down for a nap. My Bro, my Aunt P and I sat outside and talked about random stuff. I really thought after 5 hrs she would get the hint we had stuff to do and head out but that wasn't the case. Finally, my Mom had to be rude and told her to leave because we needed to leave. My Brother got my Mom a gift certificate for Mother's Day to go to the Drive-In movies. I hadn't been since I was little and this was Keree's first time. She had no idea what to expect but she was super excited to see Brave.

 We all piled into the back of my Brother's SUV, except for my Mom, who sat in a lawn chair. The minute the movie started, Keree was mesmerized. She said she had waited forever to see Merida and wanted to memorize the movie so she could play it out at home.

 I gotta say that I enjoyed Brave. I know, I've read lots of mixed reviews and the movie is a little on the darker side but that's how the true fairytale is told. It's not all bright, sunny and cute.

 My second favorite part was watching all the vintage ads for the refreshment center. Many of them I remembered when I was little.

 What is great about this Drive-In, is that for the price of admission, you get two movies. So we also got to stay and see Madagascar 3. We all kept thinking Keree would fall asleep during it but she stayed up until the end, which was after 12:30am. When the movie ended, she was lucky enough to be the first one to wish my Brother, Happy Birthday.

Emotional Saturday

This morning, we all woke up on the wrong side of the bed. My plan for today was to work upstairs, of course, my Mom wanted to work outside all day. So instead, Keree decided to head outside with my Mom, while I worked upstairs. I didn't get as far as I wanted but I'm happy with my progress. While outside, Keree spent her time cleaning off her water toys and then she played a little bit in her water table. After about 2 hours outside, Mom and Keree headed inside. 

So Keree joined me upstairs, so I let her do a few home school assignments. Well after about an hour, Keree needed a little help and as I was helping her, she collapsed into  sobbing. I asked her what was wrong and she said that I was going to yell at her. I have no idea where that came from, so we stopped and tried to play, nope didn't help. Finally, she begged me to hold her and sing Farmer in the Dell. So, I held her tight and sang. After about 2 hours of sobbing uncontrollably, she finally calmed down.

She still couldn't tell me why she started crying in the first place but I'm thinking maybe it has to do with her week at VBS, they talked extensively about orphans and orphanages and I think deep down it  upset her. The previously years, they barely touched on the subject and by the time I found out they were talking about orphanages and orphans it was basically the last day. In the evening, she started talking and asking about her orphanage and how if I hadn't adopted her, she wouldn't have been able to adopt her stuffed Kitty. We took tonight easy, Keree is super excited that she gets to sing tomorrow in the VBS musical, so we practiced the songs and hand movements and also washed several cartoon movies.

Summer Library Reading

We missed the original sign-up date for the summer Library reading program. It was on Monday, so signing up on Thursday of the same week, isn't so bad. Luckily, that means we missed the rush of Mom comparing how many books there kids have already read and sizing up the competition. Unfortunately, that also meant we missed all the fun activites that you had to RSVP for. That's ok, most of them involved junk food and that's really not how we roll around here. Now if it was a veggie or fruit activity, like build the Library's largest Veggie tray instead of build the Library's largest Ice Cream Sundae, then Keree would have been bummed out. 

After signing up at the Library, we headed off to the store. Keree is almost obsessed as much with the new Brave movie, as she is with Rapunzel. So, I had saved all the money and gift cards she got from her Birthday in February for her to use this summer or for her to keep saving. Well today, she decided to use her Birthday money. She got a small Merida that lets you change her clothes, the three Brother who turn into bears and finally the larger Merida but not the Princess one, Keree wanted the Archery Merida. 

 She spent the entire day playing with Merida, here she is taking her for a piggy back ride. She also loves the fact that you can kinda shoot the bow and arrow. Keree also loves the fact that she has Irish Step dancing shoes on, so she also was making Merida practice the steps with her.

Summer Movie

 This morning, since Keree has been so good during all the chaos, we decided to take advantage of our local movie theatres free summer movies. They also have a special that if you sign up for their free movie rewards card, every Wednesday you get a free medium popcorn. I couldn't believe how much that bag of popcorn would have cost us ($7.00) and it was stuffed full. We came home with two bags that were both more than 1/2 full.  I was a little hesistant for Keree to see Kung Fu Panda 2 because I had heard many reviews from other Adoptive parents and so it made my extra cautious. But instead, I decided we would just go for it. I wasn't sure what to expect but other than a little intense section when Po finally remember how he ended up in the radish crate, it wasn't anything Keree couldn't handle. She was a little curious at the thought Po's birth father was still alive at the end. After the movie ended, we talked about  what she thought of the movie. She said her favorite part was after Po remember and he went back to fight with the Furious Five and he goes in slow motion "I love you guys."

After the movie, Keree got one more treat. We had a free $10 gift certificate to K0hls. My Mom was hoping she would pick out some clothes but instead, she saw this soccer ball with Rapunzel on it. The final total with tax was $10.49, so we paid a whooping 49 cents for Keree's new soccer ball. To top off our day before heading home to move and pack some more stuff. We had a coupon and got a free lunch from Wendy's. 

Venus journey across the Sun

We spent the day moving and packing like we have done for basically the last week. Finally we sat down for a few minutes to rest. So we watched awhile on television and the internet Venus moving across the sun but finally Keree had to take her telescope outside and see for herself. Luckily, I have a very strong filter (part of an old welding helmet) that I was able to place across the telescope so she could watch. 

I tried to take some pictures of this once in a lifetime event but couldn't get anything decent. 

 Of course, Keree also thought she needed some sunglasses because the sun was so bright.

 Keree loved using her telescope that her Uncle had gotten her two Christmases ago.

I found this pic on the web that better showed Venus moving across the sun. It was amazing to watch and to share it with my daughter.