Monday, December 29, 2008

Finishing Up February 2006 LID's


Looks like referrals are starting to come in. CCAA is finally finishing up with the February, 2006 LID's. March looks to be a big month. I wonder how long it will take and if we'll ever see a speed-up? Perhaps after they finish with March, 2006.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

My Kids Were in the Paper!

In the 2008 Giving Guide. We were at a picnic for deaf/hard of hearing families a year ago and they took a picture of my girls watching a magician. The asked if they could use it for ads, in their newsletter, etc. Someone from dance told me she thought it was Anna last Saturday, and then last night someone from band brought me the Guide.

Sunday, November 23, 2008

2 Years or 24 Months Down


I can't believe it's 2 years after my dossier was logged in with the China Center for Adoption Affairs, and I'm still looking at probably at least a 2 year wait, maybe longer. I haven't saved any money. I've pretty much lost hope. There's no reason not to leave my dossier in China as deep down I do believe in miracles. Or rather, I believe if I'm meant to have Amanda, things will work out. It just looks bleak in this ecomony.

Weekend Update:
My neighbor, who's maple leaves fell all over my front yard, told me last night that he contracted someone to rake his front yard so if I wanted to, I could rake my leaves into his yard. I did that this afternoon. I did bag some of them. Made the job much easier. Jessica has started taking a Friday night dance class and then we spent most of Saturday at dance. Anna is dancing in a version of the Nutcracker with the Metro Ballet . They are using "real" Chinese dancers in the Chinese Tea Dance in the dream sequence. Anna actually gets a nice part. There's a rehearsal, with a real orchestra, next Friday and then the performances are next Saturday and Sunday. She's pretty excited!

I never made it to work today, so it looks like I'll have to use one of my vacation days on Wednesday. My daycare provider officially dumped me Friday. She's not even doing before school care anymore. I'm still going to pick up the girls from school. Some days we'll go back to work. Other's I'll try to bring work home. I still haven't figured out all th school release days although I've got some of them covered already. I'm hoping to get some cleaning done this weekend. The girls know the tree isn't going up until I've got at least the living and dining room cleaned.

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Daycare Woes Again Among Other Things

So between dealing with nits, yuk!, and a dead car battery this week, I now find I have to decide what to do with daycare again. My daycare provider got a day job. She can still do before school care, but we were doing after school. Since she starts Monday (some notice, huh), I'm assuming she won't get the 2 weeks off around Christmas time. Jessica is adamant that she does not want to go back to daycare. I guess she figures she's too old for that now. I looked at the school's program again, but its so darn expensive even for one child (school release days are $40 per day per child. After school for Anna would be $17/day - too much for a pretty low maintenance kid and for only 1.5 hours of care needed).

And when I also have to look at higher camp costs for the summer now, I need to balance the whole year and not just days when school is in session. I'm actually toying with not using daycare at all. Luckily, I only work about 10 minutes from home, so I could pick up Anna from the bus and take her back to work with me to finish out the day. The odd school day off here and there, I can probably make up or just take off. But vacation days are limited. And looking at the program at school, they also closed on days like Martin Luther King Day and President's Day. I don't have those days off. I only get 8 holidays - so Christmas Day and New Year's Day, but not the Eve's of either, which the school's program is closed on. I don't have anywhere near enough to cover all the school release days, let alone the summer. I don't look forward to cutting the cord with my daycare provider who I've had for 8 years, but I think it might be time. It'll just be really, really hard! I decided to not make any definite decision for another week so I can really think everything through, but that's what I'm thinking now.

And the radio station I normally listen to is playing all Christmas music starting today. I don't think I can handle it. It's too early for this.

Monday, November 10, 2008

2 Lousy Days!


That's all CCAA referred this month. 2 days worth of LID's! They've referred through Feb. 17, 2006 LID's. I'd hate to take a bet that they'll finish February in 2008. With an LID of 11/22/06, who knows how long it will take to get a referral?

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Election


I hope everyone got out and voted. I believe very strongly that everyone should vote, even those who don't agree with me. I know we all witnessed history last night. I should have been thrilled as my guy won, but I was more relieved than anything. I guess deep down I still wished it had been Hillary. But it is nice to be on the winning side for once.

McCain gave a very impressive concession speech last night. It really showed his true character, which I didn't see until last night because of all the negative ads we were bombarded with.

Obama gave an excellent speech as well. I really hope he turns out to be a good president - as good as all the hype and excitement, as good as his speeches. We definitely need change and to turn things around in this country, not only with the economy, but also America's perception worldwide. Hopefully this was the first step.

Anna was excited because she voted for him at school. In her Scholastic News it said his favorite children's book was "Harry Potter". She figured he was her guy if he liked Harry Potter. On the other hand, she asked me this morning what he won. I said he gets to be president of the United States of America and she thought that was a pretty good prize.

Jessica has watched a lot of the stuff leading up to the election. We've discussed a lot of the ads and how if we know one side is distorting the truth, we know that the other side must be too. And we've talked about why I voted the way I did. Jess was anxious to hear what the results of her school election would be. They were announcing it this morning. She knows I voted at her school and has a pretty good understanding. I did see one of her classmates outside when I was being a parent volunteer yesterday afternoon. He asked if the votes of all the people coming in really counted. I told him yes, they really count! He was pretty impressed that we were really electing a new president.

Our senatorial race is pretty much a dead heat. Out of the nearly 3 million votes cast for senator, the difference between the top two is only around 700 votes. That calls for a mandatory recount, so we may not know the results until mid-December. It was such a nasty campaign, and now we don't even have a clear cut winner. Ugh, I sure wanted that one to be over with. You get to a point where you don't want to vote for either candidate, which I guess explains why the Independent candidate got 15% of the vote, with less than a majority, 42% each, for Coleman and Franken.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Update

Sorry I’ve been so lax in posting anything lately. I’m still having computer issues at home, but I also have been so, so busy. Here I’d hoped I’d be home tonight and now I find out Anna has a Brownie meeting. It’s on the other side of town, so Jessica and I are better off finding something to do rather than going home, as we’d just have to turn around again to pick Anna up.

Dance was the big time commitment leading up to the first weekend in October. Then I was working during every spare minute as I was dealing with an October 15th extended due date for my calendar year plans at work. I typically am very, very busy from Sept 15 – Oct 15th. Once I got that behind me, that next weekend was Chinese Culture Camp through our local FCC. We had a really good time this year. The food was excellent! The only downer was that Anna had a tummy ache. She was able to eat and function, but she asked for me during the breakout of the kids and parents class, so a couple of parents burst into the classroom I was in looking for Anna’s mom. Anna also skipped the disco on Saturday night in favor of watching a movie. We rode up with some friends and that made the drive go quickly.

I didn’t manage to get pumpkins until 2 days before Halloween, and then we were carving them at 5:30 on Halloween. I didn’t get pictures of the girls. Anna put together a costume from her dress-up clothes and went as a Blue Fairy (she could also have been a butterfly with the large wings). Jessica was a Skeleton Bride. She looked more like a Countess of the Dark. We trick-or-treated with friends again this year. Always fun for all of us. The weather was wonderful this year. Some years you can’t even see the costumes because we have to wear winter coats. The girls had to count their candy when we got home. Between the 2 of them, they collected 370+ pieces of candy, some quarters and some pencils and erasers. For my girls it’s all about getting the candy. I don’t think Jessica has eaten any of hers, and Anna has only eaten a few pieces. I think I’ve eaten more.

Saturday we had dance, then met 2 other families at a local indoor park for a picnic and running around (the kids, not us). Sunday I really wanted to stay home, but the girls talked me into going to the Mall of America. We had lunch at the Rainforest CafĂ©, then spent a good deal of time at Lego-Land (the girls have put Legos on their Christmas list now), then settled for 2 rides at Nickelodeon Universe. They talked me into doing the Pepsi Streak rollercoaster. I was a little nervous as there are places on the track where you’re sideways. I also barely fit into the seat and ended up in the front car. Was I ever glad when it was over.

I’m so behind in everything! My house is a candidate for Clean House or Clean Sweep. I know I owe lots of people gifts from swaps and I’m so sorry. I just can’t seem to motivate myself. I’ve also really wondered whether I want to just settle for my two girls. I bring it up with them every now and then. They still want 2 more sisters – yikes! But when I go to culture camp or dance or my single mother’s by choice get-togethers, I look at the pre-k or younger kids, and I’m really not sure I want to go there again. I love the ages my girls are now, I really do. But then yesterday I saw a mom carrying what looked like a 3 year old boy and he was so cute. Its really looking like the wait isn’t going to get any shorter. So I’ve got lots of time to wonder what to do. I think that’s why I’ve been pretty silent on my yahoo groups. I’ve always tried to motivate people and right now I want to crawl in a hole and forget I’m even waiting. Most of the time I really don’t think I’ll be getting a third child. I believe everyone else waiting will get their child, I just think maybe I may have to stop at some point.

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been up to lately. I actually don’t have plans yet for Thursday, but I noticed when I left the house this morning that one neighbor’s maple tree had turned completely yellow and was starting to drop (into my yard), and the other neighbor who’s elm tree spans 3 yards had also turned. So it looks like I’ll be raking leaves soon. Those seem to always be the last trees to drop their leaves, so I always have a limited time to rake before the snow starts falling.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Busy, Busy & In a Lull

Sorry I haven't posted much. I'm still having computer issues at home and hope to get those worked out soon. We've been so busy with school starting up again, all the activities starting, girls in 2 separate schools, and the big dance show. Dance has taken up every weekend this month, with the last 2 weekends and this coming one the most. I'll be doing dance stuff Thursday night through Monday noon. Both Anna and Jessica are in the production this year. The production is called "Ode to Flowers". Anna is a bamboo sprout in "Ode to Bamboo", and Jessica is a fish in "Chatting by the Lotus Pond". And I'm a backstage mom, so I stay for all the rehearsals. I'm also super busy at work. I hope to catch up soon. After October 15th, things usually settle down for a little while.

Monday, September 22, 2008

22 Month LIDiversary.


Since my LID date is on the 22nd, does this make it my Golden LIDiversary? Anyway, I'm starting to believe I'll never get a referral and even if I do, that I won't have the funds to complete the rest of the adoption. I may feel better tomorrow. It's definitely a rollercoaster of emotions. One day up, the next down, then back up again.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Anna's Question



Last night Anna asked me "How do you make it so you don't have to wear hearing aids? I don't want to wear them anymore when I'm a grown up."

She's only asked or made reference once or twice before as to why she has to wear hearing aids and most people don't. We had a discussion on technology and how they are working on implantable hearing aids (same concept as a pacemaker) and how they're working on trying to figure out how to make ears work (regrowing the hairs on the cochlea). And I told her they may have it all figured out by the time she's a grown up. Or, at the very least if she wants, she can have the little ones that go inside the ear canal. She seemed more concerned right now that her cute swirly-colored earmolds with colorful beads on them might not be what she wants when she's older.

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

UGH! Computers!

My home computer is refusing to talk to the internet. Hopefully I'll get it all worked out one of these days and be able to post first day of school pictures.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

I Totally Missed It For Once and Some Other Items

Last Friday was my 21 month LIDiversary. I totally missed it this month. I'm not sure whether that was a good thing or bad. We had fun that day as we went to the fair.





I figured out Sunday that Jessica will have to walk to school now that she's moved on to the Intermediate school which is grades 4-6. They only bus kids who are 1 mile or more from school and we're only 8 blocks. I'm so glad I let her ride her scooter there last week with a friend, and then let her ride it there again alone or I'd be freaking out. It just never dawned on me that my kids would ever not qualify for the bus. It looks like they will have to walk once they get to the Senior High as well as the requirements for bussing is 2 miles from the school. I'll worry about the 3 major roads/highways and 2 railroad tracks they'd have to cross once Jessica gets closer to 9th grade.

I did find a friend of hers who's mom will probably bike to school with her daughter and would swing by our house or wait for Jessica if I want. Right now Jessica is enjoying her independence and wants to go by herself as it "allows her time to think". I'm thinking once the days get shorter and the weather gets colder and/or when it snows, I might take her to daycare and have her take the bus from there as there's already another boy who takes the bus to that school from there.

The plan and the worry for the last year was that she'd take the bus to school in the morning, but ride the bus to daycare after school so I could pick the kids up from just one location. Now it looks like I'll be letting Jessica be latchkey most school days. My baby is growing up!!!! Since she's going to be riding something to school, I decided to buy her a new bike. The one she had was too small, and she says the brakes didn't work and neither did the kickstand. We pick up the new bike tonight. Anna has dance, but I guarantee Jessica won't be able to let the bike just sit in the back of the van. I'm sure she'll be wanting to ride it around the parking lot at dance. I went with a bike that will suit her as long as she's under my roof. It better last that long for what I'm paying for it. She loved it and figured out how to use the handbrakes and to shift gears immediately. She probably would have spent an hour riding around the parking lot of the store if it hadn't closed shortly after we got there. I'll post pictures of Jessica on her new bike later.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Some Older Photos

I sent a few of those one use cameras, and some old film to Snapfish to develop. Here is Jessica at her First Communion, and her cake, since I don't think I ever got around to posting those.


This year will be Anna's turn and she's very excited.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

State Fair

Friday we went to the state fair for the first time. Of all the Park and Rides available, we ran into old friends (a single mom and her daughter from China who is entering 7th grade) at the bus stop. We went separate ways when we got to the fair, but it was nice to see them. Later in the day, I ran into a friend from high school.


The girls had a blast. I splurged and let them ride the sky track, giant slide and many of the Midway rides. Jessica got a little woozy as one of the spinning within spinning rides ran about 3 times the normal length of most rides. We ate way too much, but tried to get one of something and each tried it. Too much money slipped out of my pocket, but we did have a really good time.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Giving Them Wings

Okay, so I let Jessica and a friend ride their scooters to Jessica's new school. It's 2 blocks up and 6 blocks over. They cross a busy street at a 4-way stop. Jess started on her bike, but the tire pretty much fell off the wheel so they came back and got scooters. Jessica took her cell phone and called me when they got there.

My baby's growing up. I know I used to walk 8 blocks to school starting in kindergarten, but times are different. I was proud of myself to let them go. And they were pretty excited that they could do it. The friend lives across the street from the school, but is in a different suburb, so won't ever go to school there.

Just another step in giving her wings. Now, any ideas on how to fix this bike???

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Dance Camp



Lots of driving, but the girls are done with Dance Camp. Here are some pictures from the performance they did Friday afternoon to show what they'd worked on. We're still driving back and forth for classes Tuesdays, Saturdays and Sundays for the rest of the month.

I think my old digital camera is on it's last leg. Pictures are fuzzy and the batteries wear out really fast, and it doesn't stay on very long.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Referrals


I guess there were referrals sent before the Olympics started. CCAA says they've finished through January 31, 2006, but since they were closed for Chinese New Year, it was really only 2 days of LID's. I guess they were closed until Feb 5th that year, so the next batch will need to at least go to Feb 6th. It's taken all of 2008 to finally finish the January, 2006 LID's. I would never, ever have thought it would take that long. So now we all get to sit back and see what happens in the coming months. Unfortunately, I suspect they'll maybe only finish February this year.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Busy This Month




Last week Jessica had Chinese dance camp. I was the morning carpool mom, so had to drop off Anna at daycare, pick up 2 girls in one suburb, 2 girls in another, then get them all to dance about 30 minutes away. Most mornings I got there even before the teacher, so we had to wait until she came to unlock the door. That's only because I got up an hour earlier. It's hard though, to get up an hour earlier, and then get to work 1-1.5 hours later than usual. This week I only pick up one other family and both my girls are going, so it's a lot easier. Then on Tuesdays, we try to fit in Jessica's trumpet lesson. She's really liking learning to play the trumpet. She wants to continue trumpet lessons and would like to stop swimming lessons. I'm not sure which direction I'll go. I'd like her to continue with swimming, but she knows how to swim. Right now, she'd stay in Level 4 until learning all the different swimming strokes. Clearly not as much fun for a kid.




We also went tent camping with my Single Mother's By Choice group. By Saturday afternoon, we had 9 moms and 10 kids. The kids ranged in age from 3-9. Fun, but crazy. We've had unseasonably cold nights and I didn't get a lot of sleep Saturday night because I was so cold. We really shouldn't need more than a sleeping bag in August! Many of the moms went on a boat trip or to a state park to climb rocks. We just hung around and took a little trip to the nearest town for ice cream. I wanted a nice relaxing trip after all the driving I did last week and will do again this week.


Unfortunately, I'm one of the few who didn't see the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics. I found someone at work who taped it though, so hopefully she'll be able to bring the tape in tomorrow so the girls and I can watch it. Did you see the synchronized diving last night?! It was INCREDIBLE!!! I've never seen synchronized diving before. I love all the diving, but that was something else. My girls got quickly turned on to the olympics as well once they saw the Chinese team. They root for China in every event and are bummed if they aren't in a swimming heat or if they don't do well. Anna also likes USA (she pronounces it like "you-sa", but I told her she better say America or Jess and I will quickly pick up on her Anna-ism).


Monday, August 4, 2008

Weekend Update

Did I mention I have Fridays off in July and August? A reward for working 48 hour weeks from mid-January to Mid-March. So we started off Friday morning by going to the audiologist to get Anna's new earmold and earhook. I'm pretty certain it was Sophie who somehow got the to hearing aids and decided they'd make a tasty treat. Luckily she only ate off a small part of one earmold and the earhook. Both fairly easily replaceable for not a huge cost and Anna was able to still use her hearing aid while waiting the 10 days for the new mold to be made. And I'm proud to say I didn't over react this time. Yes, this time. Last year one of the dogs got to both earmolds. There was a lot of yelling and screaming about putting hearing aids in a safe spot, the cost, etc. that time around. Anyway, Anna now has a new mold with similar colors - orange, green and yellow swirls.

After our audi visit, I brought the girls to daycare, did a little garage saleing, went to Michaels since yarn was on sale, then went home for a bit. I decided rather than try to clean the house, I should attempt to enjoy my Fridays off, so I went to a movie. A couple of weeks ago, I saw Mama Mia - loved it - such a fun, feel-good movie. This time I couldn't decide between The Dark Knight, and The Mummy (purely because it involved the Terra Cotta Warriors), so I let the guy selling tickets decide for me. He said definitely The Dark Knight. What can you say about this movie?! The acting was incredible and it was a good movie?? But very disturbing. Definitely "dark" and definitely not a movie for tweens or younger.

Friday night we hung out at home and watched College Road Trip.

Saturday, Anna had a birthday party at the IMAX at the zoo. I'm sure she had fun, but it's hard to do a quick drop off when 100,000+ other people are going to the same place and they've got people directing traffic. Jessica and I then eventually found a shopping center where I got her some new clothes for school. Anna was actually invited to another birthday party of another good friend at the same time but entirely different place. She really wanted to try to make both, but there was just no way. Instead, we babysat the birthday girl and her big sister that evening.

Sunday, dance started. Anna has dance class on Sundays from 12:30-2:30 and Tuesdays from 6:00-8:00 for the rest of August. I still haven't decided on whether to send her to dance camp next week in addition to these classes. It looks like a small group, so maybe. I only paid my daycare the fee as if she wouldn't be going to daycare. It's just hard to have to pay daycare and dance camp when she only goes to one. Jessica will be at dance camp (daycamp) this week and next. Then she'll also have class on the last 2 Saturdays of the month. It was originally Saturday and Sunday, but is now down to a longer time on Saturday. This month is all about dance. I'm glad to see the gas prices are down a bit since I'll be using so much more.

This morning, I brought 5 girls to dance and only one was mine. Good thing I have a . My schedule said they started at 8:30, so we arrived before 8:15 to get all checked in, but no one else was there and the place was all locked up. The teacher didn't arrive until 8:30. So 2 treks through rush hour traffic and I'm late for work. I guess I'll be using up some of my short-term absence or vacation since I can't just work longer. I still have to pick Anna up at daycare at the same time. I probably should be picking her up earlier since I'm dropping her off earlier. Oh well...

Thursday, July 31, 2008

Just For Fun...

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) Penny Montana

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (favorite ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) Chocolate Peanutbutter Chocolate Chip

3. YOUR “FLY GIRL” NAME: (first initial of first name, first 3 letters of last name) L-Kas

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Purple Panda

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Jean Monticello

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first) Kas-La

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink) The Pink Rootbeer

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) Chester Frank

9. STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy) Rose Reeses

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ) Elizabeth Andrew

11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) I don’t remember my 5th grade teacher’s name, so I’m using my 6th grade teacher’s name: Stupar St. Paul

12. SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower) Spring Lilac

13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you’re wearing right now + “ie” or “y”) Raspberry Sockie

14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) Oatmeal Maple

15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: (”The” + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather + “Tour”) The Knitting Sunny Tour

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Jessica Cooked Supper For Us Last Night

She decided she wanted to make mozzarella sticks, so I brought her to the grocery store where she picked out the ingredients she figured she needed. They were very good. She's going to be a good cook when she makes something so yummy at 9. I just opened the packages for her and let her go for it. She invited us to the table when it was done.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Anna's Family Day and Weekend Update

July 23rd marks 6 years since Anna’s Family Day. I received her on July 22nd, but the adoption wasn’t done until July 23rd so that’s the day we celebrate. To celebrate her Family Day, we decided to try out our tent. We went to a KOA only about 25 miles from home. The girls LOVED the campground. It was small in comparison to most of the campgrounds we’ve been to. It had a nice little playground and a pool in a field house. They advertised that it was heated, but it wasn’t. That didn’t stop the kids from wanting to swim. There were also a lot of other kids around for them to play with. The place was small enough that most parents were fine with the kids going there for hours at a time. We were very close to the playground area. We had so much fun that we decided to stay another day. We were originally going to stay Wednesday night through Friday morning, but stayed until Saturday morning. I had heard on several news stations that all the local campgrounds were booked solid every weekend through Labor Day. I think the county parks were, but I made reservations online at this place on Tuesday and went camping the next day.

Very nice people around us, too. The first day, there was a family of 4 in a very old travel trailer. I told the guy the next morning as I was trying to light the fire (I relied on fire for the first night’s supper and first morning’s breakfast) that I was able to put the tent up in less than ½ hour, but the fire took me an hour to get going. He helped me by chopping up the wood a little. As Jess was helping me use dryer lint to start the fire, they told me dryer lint mixed in Vaseline made an even better fire starter. I’ll have to try that! Then Friday night a family with 5 kids set up next to us. They had a pop-up camper a little smaller than ours, but same brand, and then the 2 older boys put up a tent (the campground allowed a camper and a tent or 2 tents on one spot). The dad and I were chatting and he told me his oldest was going to be getting his Eagle Scout in about a year, so when I had trouble getting my fire going with my wet wood (it rained really hard that morning), he sent his son to help me. He got it going right away.


My girls definitely want to go back to that campground. Whether it was the actual campground or just that there was one place the kids all congregated, I’m not sure, but we will definitely put it on our list of places to go again. We managed to weather the rainstorm Friday morning. After seeing the almost flash flood area by the restrooms and the standing water in many areas of the campground, I felt pretty good about just a few drips in our tent. The dew on Saturday morning left the tent wetter than the rainstorm.

Saturday we went to one of our SMC (Single Mother’s By Choice) meetings/playdates. My girls played outside a little, but then spent the afternoon inside watching Scooby Doo movies. I guess they can only go so long without those “screens”. I stayed way longer than I had planned, but it was at a friend’s house and it was nice to see her and another “old-timer”. Now it’s back to work. Next week Jessica starts Dance Camp already, and Anna her twice a week dance classes. Where did the summer go? We have one more camping trip planned the weekend of August 8th, with our SMC group.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

20 Months



Just noting it. Nothing to say about it.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

Jessica's Bridging Pictures

Here are some pictures from Jessica's bridging ceremony where she "bridged" from Brownies to Junior Girl Scouts. I forgot my camera and received these from another parent.

Monday, July 14, 2008

Happy 7th Birthday to Anna!


Anna had a birthday party on Sunday, but her birthday is today! Happy 7th Birthday to you!

Thursday, July 10, 2008

I Got the Tent Up.


It wasn't too bad. Now that I've done it, I learned a lot that I won't or will do next time. I opted for the inexpensive tent because I needed other things in order to tent camp.

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Our Camping Trip



Oh, but we had fun!!! There was a group of us - 8 moms and 9 kids for a long weekend - Wednesday through Sunday. We went up to Hayward, Wisconsin, which I guess is a popular vacation spot in Wisconsin. I have to say that I just LOVE group camping. We had our pop-up camper and everyone else stayed in camping cabins, with one mom and her son in a lodge.




The kids had a blast swimming, jumping on the jumping pillow, playing on the little and the big playgrounds, riding the wagon, eating ice cream, participating in a watermelon eating contest, playing impromptu relay races, seeing Hayward's big fish from a distance, going to the Wilderness Walk to feed the animals, seeing fireworks, roasting marshmallows, and all around having fun.



The moms paired up so we only had to cook one dinner for our stay. I did my normal grilling: potatoes, carrots, brats, hamburgers and hot dogs. There was always someone to take the kids someplace or to do something with. It was great.



The most fun, or should I say funny, thing was when we went tubing down the local river. Boy, was there a lot of laughter in that. When we got in, the current was so strong we all had a really hard time getting on our tubes while holding the kids tubes who were tied to ours. And we were helping each other, too. The ride down the river lasted about 1-1/2 hours. Anna and I ran into trees on the side of the river at one point and a man behind me yelled out "don't worry, I'll get you", and helped me out. One friend almost lost her bathing suit bottom when she had to stand up to get past a shallow area. For about the last half hour, we were pretty much tied together as a group. Next time, we decided that we would tie all the tubes together instead of just the kids to their moms. One mom who left her son with the designated babysitter (for those too young to go) took Jessica with her. That was a huge help. Later, she gave Jessica her first job as a Mother's Helper.



We had so much fun, we're planning a trip next summer. And we're also planning a tent camping trip for next month. I'm now excited to camp again! And my friend Joyce has a couple of videos on her blog (here) of a Tween Music Video and a Relay Race if you want to go over and check it out.