The Birthday Party

This morning, Keree woke up super excited at 4:30am, yep you read that right, 4:30am because number one, her Uncle was home for the weekend and secondly, it was her Birthday party. We didn't know exactly what to expect because we had won her party over the Summer from a Martial Arts dojo. Basically the only thing we had to provide was the drinks and cake but of course we always go a little overboard. Because of the Dojo's schedule, we couldn't have it on her birthday weekend (her birthday is the 28th) because they had a competition. After loading the cars, our first stop was Cheerleading. I had really hoped Keree would nap for a short time on the way there since she had been up so early. She feel asleep for about 10 min but that was it. When we arrived, Keree was ready to cheer. Her Uncle enjoyed watching her and she really loved that he was there just for her. After the game was over, they passed out their stars. Keree was awarded her effort star today. We stopped for a quick lunch before heading over to the Dojo. We got there early but there was no use in heading home before we were allowed to set up. We started setting up at 230p, the Instructors were super helpful and very accommodating. They only had one table, so I was thankful that we had brought ours. After moving the tables to the nicer wall, we placed the table clothes on the tables. The table clothes were white with little pink and red hearts which we got on 90% valentine clearance. We then set up the Rapunzel tower we made with Keree as Rapunzel. On each side of it was the Cupcake cakes. In front of the cakes were 3 little bowls that housed the decorated kisses and a single bowl of spring colored tootsie rolls. On the left end of the table was some Vietnamese coconut cookies (in the bear jar), they are sort of like meringue. On the right end of the table was the basket of decorated water bottles, there was additional decorated water bottles in a box below the table and as it got depleted in the basket, we added more. In the front of the basket was two cupcake boxes, in the boxes were single servings of crystal light and Hawaiian punch to be mixed into the water. On the second table we set out all the gift bags for the guests and the Thank you candy bars. We were so pleased with ourselves when we finished with time to spare. We had planned on taking pictures of Keree by the table, with us, etc. But that plan was spoiled when guests started to arrive almost 25 minutes early. As guests arrived, the Instructors played games with the kids until we gave them the go ahead to begin the Instruction in Karate and Ju-Jitsu (which was about 15 minutes after the party start time). It was amazing to watch the focus and excitement on all the kids faces. They learned 6 key words (please, thank you, your welcome, yes sir, excuse me and I can't remember the last one). They then taught them the ready stance, which was to stand with their hands in a fist by their sides. They then showed them how to place their feet and hands to do a front punch. Finally, they taught them how to correctly high kick. It was so adorable watching all the kids try and to perform the tasks. A few of the kids that are high strung, we were amazed at their complete focus and concentration. After the instruction, we gathered almost all the kids over for a group photo. We were only missing one because he is super shy and the other little girl who is super shy is actually starting to run off in the picture. Otherwise I don't think it's too bad of a picture, most of the kids are looking and some are actually smiling. After the group picture, they gathered the kids around and sang Happy Birthday to Keree. Then as in tradition of their dojo, the Head Instructor walked into a back room and returned with a Samurai sword. He explained that Keree was going to get to cut her cake with the sword. Keree's eyes got super big because this sword was a good foot taller than her. The Head Instructor helped her hold the sword and they slowly made a cut into the cake. I love the pictures of her cutting because she has such determination and concentration. After cake cutting, luckily I had some extra help (thank you G) as we passed out the cupcakes, drinks and drink flavors. I was a little surprised by the parents lack of helping their children carry their cupcakes or mix up their drinks, so again the Instructors stepped in to help. While the children were finishing up their cupcakes, we let Keree start opening her presents. Usually the kids spend at least a 1/2 hr or more eating but they worked up quite an appetite because I swear they all inhaled their cupcakes in less than 5 minutes. Keree actually opened up her presents quite quickly also. She got a wide range of presents mostly Disney Princess related, I was a little shocked that she got nothing Tangled/Rapunzel related. She also got Monster High dolls, Squinkies and Zoobles. Once the presents were open, it was time to play games. The first game to play was spoon balls, basically you place a ball on a spoon and hope it doesn't fall off. Anytime their ball fell off the spoon, they had to start back at the beginning of the race. Keree did so well and she made it completely around the room at a pretty fast pace never once losing her ball off her spoon. After everyone made it around the room and claimed their prize (a piece of candy). It was time for Simon Says. They played 4 rounds of Simons Says and Keree never made it past the 4th or 5th Simon Says command. The final game they played was Duck, Duck, Goose. Some of the younger players weren't sure how to play so anytime they saw someone start running, they started running too. It was hilarious to say the least. After they were done playing, it was time for Keree to say Thank You and then we passed out the treat bags and candy bars. Keree gave most of her friends good-bye hugs, which are always sweet. After we packed up everything, it was then time to head out to eat with my Step-Mom P and her Mom S. We decided to go to O'Charley's because we knew their menu was reasonable and of course they have good bread. I know my Step-Mom wasn't too thrilled because we had my Mom join us but I really don't care. We ordered our food and then just enjoyed visiting together. Keree spent the majority of her time drawing in the menu activity book but after awhile she got hungry. She looked at us and goes "where's are food?". Usually she gets shrimp because she loves it but she surprised me this time by wanting chicken strips. Then after we were finished with dinner, they brought out a slice of turtle pie for Keree's birthday. We sang Happy Birthday to her and then she took a huge bite. She then passed it around and let everyone take one bite but she wasn't going to share any more than a bite. Once we were finished, we headed to our cars. My Step-Mom P didn't bring in Keree's presents, so we stood out in the windy cold and she opened them in the parking lot. Keree was excited because she got a Rapunzel lantern that lights up and plays music, which is fitting since all Rapunzel wants to do is see the mysterious lights on her birthday. My Step-Mom also gave Keree money to buy tickets to a baseball game. The sad thing, is she thought we could buy 3 or 4 tickets and instead, it will barely cover a child's ticket. We finally headed home and even though Keree was tired she didn't go to bed until almost 930p.

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.

Rain-out, Garage Sales & Lesson 13

Well I got up bright and early this morning to put together everything we needed for Keree's baseball game and they were also getting team pictures done. After I got everything together, I woke Keree up, dressed and fed, of course right as we were heading out the door, the phone rang. It was Keree's Coach, it had rained a little last night and they were calling the games. They cancel games this week but last week when there was standing water on the fields, they don't call them? It makes no sense at all. My Brother had came in from out of state for a wedding today, but he was making time to go to Keree's game. So I called to let him know and of course he was disappointed because he didn't make any of her games last year. We decided to head out to a few yards sales and Brother asked us to look for him a new suit for today, the one he currently has is more for fall/winter/funerals. Our first stop was a Subdivision yard sale, of course my Mom and I didn't recognize the name, because otherwise we wouldn't have wasted our time. Literally this subdivision has 200+ houses but anytime they have a subdivision yard sale maybe 4-5 houses participate. Which of course was the case yet again this year. We left empty handed. We were going to hit a neighborhood sale but decided to just try a Church Rummage sale in hopes of finding a Suit for my Brother. Well when we got there, it turned out there was no clothing. Now I did find some amazing vintage books and books with records. I was so excited to find The Goodship Lollipop and Snoopy vs. the Red Barron records, with their original cardboard covers. All the books and records were 25 cents and I got $3 worth. I also found a really cute Milk Glass Vase for 25 cents. Keree found a bag of what looked like nearly Brand New Mr. Potato Heads, there are 2 of them with tons of accessories, I paid 75 cents for the bag. My Mom got a new calculator, hanging file folder frame, a wine cork tray and 4 vintage pillowcase, each one of them was 25 cents.
Since we still hadn't found a suit for my Brother, we headed to Goodwi11. I gotta say that there high prices blow me away, plus they now take out all the size tags on Men and Women's clothing. Needless to say no size tags made for a very interesting hunt. It finally came down to my Mom trying on the jacket and then holding it up to my broad shoulders to see if it would fit him. We settled on two sports jackets and found complimenting pants for both of them. Without sizes, all we could do was hope they would fit him properly and luckily whatever didn't fit we would return. While there, I also took a short look in the baby/girls clothing. I found 2 super cute dresses for Keree I paid $3 for both of them. One of them is Laura Ashley and great for Fall/Winter and the other dress is Hartstrings and perfect for this summer, plus it's reversible. I also found 1 really cool platter and 1 really cool plate. The Platter has small pictures of all these places in Europe and Asia. The Plate has a small picture of Asian women. Now usually I wouldn't pay this much for a platter and plate but I really, really liked them so I splurged. I paid $2 for the platter and $1 for the plate.
Once we got home, my Brother tried on all the clothes we got him, luckily the tan jacket with just a few modifications fit him. We also lucked out and the two pairs of tan pants also fit him. So while he got ready, Keree watched me as I removed the buttons on his jacket and resewed them. When we have more time, we are going to modify it into a double breasted jacket. I also tacked the sleeves, so they weren't so long. We snapped a few pictures, before he headed on his way to his girlfriend's friend wedding. We had some chicken and macaroni salad for dinner, we then ended up spending the evening watching the Hallmark Channel. Seriously, like I needed to sit here bawling my head off to the point I got a headache. After getting Keree tucked into bed, I came back out to work on some bottlecap images and of course write this blog post. I'm heading to bed now.

Lesson 13

We got up bright and early this morning because my Mom and Keree had PT. Amazingly, we actually beat Keree's PT into the office. Keree was full of energy which both PT and I were lacking. Keree also decided today was a good day to really test her limits during PT, to see how far she could go until she got in trouble. The downside to that was her PT doesn't stop it from escalating and I have to step in. I mean seriously Keree testing the limits is nothing more than not listening and throwing the harder balls instead of the nice, soft foam ones. But still, the whole point was, she didn't listen to her PT and honestly I shouldn't have had to correct her. I love her PT, don't get me wrong but I'm finding that normal rules Keree should follow, she doesn't try enforcing anymore. It's not like we just meet her PT, she's had the same PT for the last 1 1/2 years and if Keree was getting a little wound up, she would diffuse the situation and they would carry on as normal. If that didn't work, of course I would step in. Now since Keree knows she won't be corrected by PT, she thinks she can go wild and don't have to listen. Which honestly all PT has to do is say "Keree your not doing whatever activity right, lets do it right" and Keree will snap to it. So it's really not even a enforcement or punishment, it's more correcting her to do the actual PT exercise correctly, which isn't that what we are paying for her to do. To make sure she gets stronger and reaches her full potential? Maybe, I'm making this a bigger deal, than it really is but more than anything it's frustrating. Ok, so off of my soapbox.

After we got home this morning, I worked on putting a few things online to sell, while Keree helped my Mom clean in the kitchen. My Mom's legs/knees started hurting so she went to sit down, so that left Keree with me. Of course Keree was extremely tired by this time and all she wanted me to do was get off the computer. Thank goodness it didn't take me too long to finish up what I was working on. As soon as I was done, I laid Keree down for her nap. Luckily, she actually slept for a few hours, so she woke up rested. After a little snack, we headed outside for a very short time to take a few pictures. Which honestly with a heat index of 105, you couldn't stand to be outside anymore than 5 to 10 minutes at a time. Keree did get in some tricycle and scooter riding. I also took a few pictures of the blooms on our vegetable plants, they are growing better than I ever expected. We ended up in the late afternoon having to run to the store because tomorrow we are in charge of bringing the treats for the Baseball team. We picked out some 100% Natural Fruit gummies and they had Capri Sun on sale. After we headed home and had baked potatoes for dinner. Keree and I sat down to cover Lesson 13. Which the Lesson following a new letter sound, is always a review Lesson. So we reviewed all the Letter sounds we have currently learned. We then covered the rhyming and word reading section. In this lesson they added a new section, which is called Sentence reading. They give the child a simple sentence to sound out and read, a picture to go along with whatever the sentence is and a handful of questions to answer. Keree did so good that she read the sentence perfectly and with no help. The sentence was "see me eat". After we finished all the sections, she didn't want to quit but I didn't want to start a new Lesson. So instead we flipped a few lessons forward and went to the Reading Sentence sections. Keree had a blast sounding out the words and trying her best to read those sentences. I was really starting to get discouraged thinking that this book wasn't working because she wouldn't apply it but I guess I was a little too premature on my thinking. Well Keree is already in bed and that's where I need to be since we have baseball bright and early tomorrow.

1st Tee-Ball Game

When we got up this morning, we weren't too sure that Keree would have her 1st ball game of the season. It had rained all night and of course the heat index at 7am was already 103 degrees. So at 8am, I called the rainout line and they said all games were on as scheduled. Keree was beyond excited. They are only out there an hour and the first half is for practice, the second half is the game. I have to say her Coach seems to actually know what he is doing, which is super refreshing!! He helped Keree on her throwing technique, which is something we tried to work on but he knew just the trick to help her. Since the team we were suppose to be playing decided to not join us until the last 15 minutes of the hour, our team got in lots of practice. Finally the Green team joined us and we enjoyed one inning of fielding and one inning of batting before the hour was up. Keree was disappointed she didn't get to bat again but she's excited about next weeks game.

Afterwards, we decided to hit a subdivision yard sale and church rummage sale. The Subdivision yard sale had great prices but really nothing I wanted or needed. I did score a pair of Tommy Hilfiger overalls for Keree for 50 cents, my Mom got a white wheeled 3 shelf storage cart for 25 cents and Keree scored a Pink Princess phone for 25 cents. We stopped by home quickly and then headed to the church rummage sale. Between Keree, Mom and I, we only filled 2 bags ($6 total) but we came home with tons of stuff. Keree had a blast going through all the toys and picking out treasures. Most of the stuff I bought was Shop related things, I got about 25 shirts to embellish, 4 pairs of overalls and 1 Jean Shirt. I did find Keree a Zutano heart dress and a Oshkosh stripe dress that reminds me of a Hanna play dress. The only picture I have to show of all our treasures is of all the fun toys that Keree picked out minus the 3 stuffed animals because they were in the sanitary load of the wash. Keree said her favorite find was Bug Scissors. You ask what are Bug Scissors? Well she found a pair of tweezers/flat looking scissors and she said they were perfect for picking up bugs so she wouldn't have to touch them. When it cooled down just a little bit (ok it wasn't any cooler) she showed me how they worked. I tried so hard not to laugh as she chased Ants around trying to pick them up with her Bug Scissors.