Catie and her centerpiece

Catie and I went to set up her centerpiece Tuesday evening...she was so excited and nervous.  I am very excited and nervous to see how it does.  It's her first project.   She bought half of the materials herself.  I guess I should go back to the beginning.
I really wanted to do something for The Baby Fold Festival of Trees and wasn't getting any response from the groups I normally work with.   So I went to my daughter and asked her if she would be interested in doing a project with me for the Festival.   We could call it a scout project and I would let her take the lead...I just wanted to get something into the Festival again as I had been involved for several years and then was not.  So we went on-line and registered as Girl-scout Catherine and Mom.  We were in...now what?

so much sugar!

Next we had to come up with a design...we looked all over Pinterest. Catie loves Pinterest as much as I do so that was no trouble at all we spent hours combing the site and finally decided on a design that we kind of liked but we were going to change it a lot to make it her's.  It was going to be lovely.  It needed a name.  I thought about it...but before I could say anything Catie spit out a title..."All Tied Up for Christmas"   Perfect!  It was her project so she should title it.
We got a letter a few days later in the mail wanting us to submit a detailed description of her design.  Ok...we can do this...so we sat down and wrote it all out and mailed it back.  It's all official now.   So we waited...we knew that it was going to be a few weeks before some of the supplies would be available in the stores.   It was getting a little scary though.  The week before Halloween I told her that I was concerned that I wasn't able to find Candy Canes...we needed 8 boxes of Candy Canes for her design.   They don't go on sale till after Halloween and the Festival is just one week after Halloween...that gives us just 3-4 for days to make this centerpiece.    Catie was a little panicked too...every day I went and looked for Candy Canes....I did start to find them... unfortunately it was all wrong...it was in the dollar stores and they were old and cheap and faded and not pretty at all.
We wanted bright white and red ones...pretty sparkly ones...not ones that looked like they had been left over from last Christmas...I was so sad...I couldn't believe that I was going to let my girl down.
So we decided to wait...On November 1 I drove over to Walmart and looked all over the store...still no Candy Canes...asked a manage standing in an isle..."if the're not out we don't have them yet"
So we went back to the car...Catie was almost in tears..."now what mom?"  of course it's all my fault...we called Meijer...I talked to two managers...YEAH They have them!
We drove over to Meijer and to check them out...they were beautiful!  We had to look though carefully!   Make sure that we didn't buy any smashed candies.
We went home and began the process of assembling the Candy Cane Centerpiece.  It was fun...Catie has a red dye allergy though so I was a little concerned with her handling that much red candy...no problems.  She just made sure she washed up very well after she handled all of the candies.   It was an adventure we well repeat next year...we may well try to avoid the Candy Canes though.



UPDATE: While we were at the Festival this evening Catie was standing behind her centerpiece and someone walked up and asked her if it was her centerpiece.  She said yes.  She asked Catie a few questions.  Catie was very polite and answered them.  Catie was a little distressed...when we got to the centerpiece it looked a little worse for ware.  It seems children had been pulling candy canes out of it all evening.  I'm really disappointed in that.  The Baby Fold organizers had refilled it over and over again.  They were going to buy more to refill it again tomorrow.  As we stood there the lady that asked how she could place a bid.  So we told her how to place a bid...she stood there for a minute...then she asked how she could just buy it.  Catie nearly did a cartwheel.  I offered the lady my phone number...to help with repairs if the candy canes are too badly damaged by the people pulling them out and other putting them back.   Catie and I can repair the centerpiece for her.   So on the second night of bidding Catie's centerpiece sold for the Angel price!

Sold!   For the Angel Price!

First Boy/Girl party

  So Catie got this invite in the mail two days ago addressed to her...clearly written by a boy.  I though  "oh cool one of the boys sent her an invitation to the party that we are already planning on attending"...nope I"m wrong as usual.  I did not open it...because it was not my mail, but it was tempting.
  Catie burst in after school asking " is it here yet? is it here yet?"   She had already been informed of it's impending arrival.   She also was notified she was the only girl invited by the boy in her class.   He is a set of Triplets and his dad told them they could each invite three guests.  The Boy in Catie's class invited two boys and Catie.  The Girl invited three girls and the other Boy invited three boys...so Catie is the exception to the rule.
  Catie has been telling me for weeks she has a crush on this boy and he has a crush on her too...
They ride the same bus and have know each other for several years and love to play basketball together.  Catie's favorite sport.   So there was so real surprise that he invited her to his party...I am sure it's all very puppy dog and lady bug.  It so cute really.
   As the matter of fact when I was her age I was never invited to these kind of things...I was never the popular kid...so I am fearful if I don't let her go I will be sending the wrong message to her friends that we are overprotective...
Catie is a good kid and I know we can trust her,I just don't know the other parents so well.   I have only briefly met them and will have to talk to them before I am ok with this.   This is a big step for my little girl and I want to know she is going to be ok...She is only 9 and is so young.

talking with my dauther about the birds and the bees

UM MMMMM MMMM ok....really.....well....right now???? I think I have somewhere I have to be right now.....no really.
Just Kidding I am the one who brought the conversion up.   Nathan and I were watching a television show with her something about a wedding dress in Atlanta.  I don't know the name of the show...but she could spout out the name I am sure...it's on TLC.   Anyway a commercial for a new show coming on this fall about teenagers going to high school with their babies.  My daughter with eyes like saucers turns to us and asks how did thoses girls get babies in high school?
That's when we knew we had to have a conversation right away!   So I have been putting it off just a little bit.   I asked her earlier this week if she knew how mommies got babies?   She said  "Mommies and Daddies kissing and I have not done that yet"  and blushed deeply.
Poor little thing...I asked if she had heard anything at school about sex or messing around or anything like that?   Nope!  No!  What does that mean?
So we are going to give the very basic info to keep it very simple...I want to keep her ahead of misinformation.
I also am taking the time to remind her that she needs to keep her body good and clean and put on deodorant.  She also needs to be educated on warning signs of infections in her girl body...now that I don't bathe her I can't make sure she is clean and free of infection...if she get's yeast infection she has to be able to spot that on her own now.
Lastly I need to make her aware of the hazards of predators that would abuse her naive nature to get what they want and break my little girls heart in the process.   It happens and far to often it is the young lady from the good Christian home that is caught off guard because mom and dad have done a poor job of educating her for the real world.   I hope that we can mix our Christian values with common expectations and keep her safe and Chaste.
She's a good girl and head smart...head strong and open-hearted I just hope that combination will keep her safe.  

grouchy girl

I am feeling a great deal of stress with my coming from little girl today.  I think she has got a bunch of hormones rolling around inside of her.  She is all cranky and truly pushing my buttons. I know that her body is all rolling out of control and she doesn't know what is going on.  Her little mind is racing and freaking out and panicking and the idea of being all grown up...when all she wants to do is play with her dolly.   All day yesterday she played with her dolls  and all day today she has been griping at me...it's like having a teenager in the house with a split personality.   Tomorrow she will want to play with toy cars or something.  I know in reality she has very little control over this, but it sure is making my life awful hard....we seem to butt heads more and more everyday.   I'm not sure why I want more children.   The idea of having more hormones in this house just is baffling to me, but just as sure as I sit here I want more kids. 
She is sitting across the room from me and I can see the anxiety and anger and bitterness in her.   And right now there is nothing I can do for her.   I need to wrap my arms around her and give her a hug but she just won't let me....I'm not even sure it would help.

Teachers...and classmates, we find out today

In a few minutes I get to take my kids to find out who there teachers are and who are in their classes.   I am excited...I think Catie has forgotten.   It is going to be so nice to have an idea of who a better idea who will be teaching her.   I have had some anxiety about her allergies so knowing who her teacher is might make it easier on me.  I would like to sit down and talk to her ahead of time about things she can and cannot have ahead of time.   I also need to have a list made up.
I am so excited to see Alex's list too...he is so ready for school!   I am so ready for him to be in school.  I feel GUILTY typing that but this summer has been so hard.  He has tested me every way possibly could this summer and I am very ready for a break.  I love him so much and I know I am going to miss him and I know I am going to feel crazy without him at home, but I think this is the perfect time for him to go to school.
I am so excited to have school start...I am so excited to have time to be at school and help out with the classroom as much as possible can!   I never have been able to do this before!  I am so excited to do this!

struggling with my daughter's food allergies

Red dye...
after a particularly rough summer and adding red dye to Catie's food allergies, we are struggling.   She is finding that lots of foods that she loves she can't have any more.   The list is grow and daily we come across stuff that she can no longer have.  
It reminds me of the shellfish all over again!
This list is worst though...most processed foods have some sort of coloring in it these days.  I have had to look at every label and many more than I expected have red dye in them these days.   Even worse is at the restaurants we have had to ask about  most ingredients and more and more have dye in them. 
Between her shellfish allergy, her vegetarian streak, and the new red dye allergy...we might as well call it a draw and just eat at home.  It's just getting to hard to trust that someone else isn't going to hurt my baby.

I need to assemble a list a things that Catie can't have for her teacher to have on hand...but that will be so incomplete...that I am REALLY hesitant to even send it.

I also am suppose to send snacks for her to have for birthday parties...so when other kids birthdays happen she can have a snack because most birthday cupcakes have red dye. I am going to have to find a good snack for her to have on days that the kids have a snack that she can't have. 

This all so complicated....I am just so glad it's not one of the major foods like wheat or milk or eggs.

single mom from time to time

I have the best husband in the whole world!   I must be having a hormonal day or something!   Because today I feel like sometimes I feel like a single mother.   I called Nathan to see if he could take a morning off of work so we could take our son to an event called Day of the Dozer.   It's billed as a day of fun in the dirt and earth moving...I'm sure I will have tons of fun.   When I called I found that he would be again working...no real big surprise...but now I have to go do this dirt thing by myself with Alex.
I have to say this has happened so many times I can't even count...but I am very lucky...mist chef's wife's don't get as lucky as I am because Nathan has made every effort to be available when I need him...most chefs are not that way.   I am a very lucky girl.    I just tend to spend most evenings and all weekends with my kids instead of my husband.

School starts in 3 weeks~ yeah~ I think???

I am ready to get back into the swing of things!   My kids are getting squirrelly and I am getting worn down...summer is almost over and I am feeling done.  At the VERY same time I am feeling really guilty for wishing away my last summer with my boy.   He is 5 and going to Kindergartner this year.  I will be all alone until we have a new child.  It will be just me and I am sorry that I am having these feelings. 
Mom guilt is one of those guilt's that soaks into your soul and drains the life right out of you....
You feel like you aren't being the best mommy you can be and you start comparing yourself to other mommies...then BAMMMM!  Someone else is doing the job better than you could be. 
The truth is ...my kids love me...they love being home.   They love the things we do.   We have had a AWESOME summer.   They are getting tired of being home too...we running out of things to keep us entertained.   It's bound to happen when we have had this many HOT days in one summer.  I think we have done very well.
I am going to muster on and we are going to prepare for school...Alex is practicing his name and Catie is reading Anne of Green Gables.  It's been an Awesome Summer~
See you on the flip side!

three kids in one house...

I am not sure I am ready for this...my parents brought my niece to visit this weekend...it's been one fight after another.   Mostly between my kids wanting to play with their cousin...but I don't know how this going to be any different with another child. My daughter is so head strong...this is going to be interesting.   We will see how this goes.

you don't want to eat meat?

My daughter has been flirting with vegetarian for the last year for over two years.  We have tried everything we could think of when it came to get her to eat meat.  She has made the choice over and over to choose to not to eat meat at school everyday.  She eats something called sunbutter (made from sunflower seeds)  everyday.   I offered to make her lunch and she has opted not to take a lunch.  
She will eat lunch meat at home.   sometimes....
If I say I am going to McDonald's she breaks down in tears though.   I have to wait until she is on a play date or at school to go out to lunch because of her allergies and food dislikes to eat out. 
This is getting ridiculous. 
I am just saying...it's really hard to have a child that is choosing to eat differently!   IT would be different if she had a medical reason but this is just a dislike....

So proud of my Girl...want to nominate my kid for cool kid of the week!

My daughter did what I didn't really believe she could do...she had a fundraiser.  She had a garage sale to raise money to buy new socks and underwear for our new child.  You see we are in the process of becoming foster parents and we don't know what we will be bring home so we would like to have a few pairs of each size boys and girls underwear and socks on hand.  She
She did a great job of arranging the sale and setting up the sale and even advertizing the sale.  The best part about the sale was her salesmanship.  It took some practice telling everyone why she was having the sale and telling them that prices were by donation....she was only a little afraid to say what she was doing.   Once she was on a roll she was gone! 
She only had one person try to take advantage of her...a little disappointed I had to step in...feel kind of bad...and still not sure I should have...it was a donation sale...but the lady was clearly trying to take advantage of my baby.  
In the beginning Catie told me she wanted to help other children besides our other child...she asked how she could do that...I told her I wasn't sure but I would think about it.  I didn't have to think long before she came back to me and said she had an idea...what if she gave some of the money to the agency from the sale...I said that was a great idea and we agreed on amount and she is taking them a check tomorrow for $27.15
I couldn't be prouder if I had two of her!  She make my heart sing and I am the happiest mom on the planet!

garage sales suck....

Can I just say that again!!!  Garage sales SUCK!!!  I hate having garage sales!   It's like a failing black whole and they are very costly and time consuming and draining and damn the piss me off!   I hate garage sales.   So when Catie decided she wanted to have a garage sale!  Sure no problem!
You can have one baby girl!   I am right there behind you!  It's all your responsibility though! HA!  Fat chance!  Here I am up late making signs...not enough sleep waking up every hour...in a bad mood...cranky and dealing with a bitching daughter who can't figure out why there are NO customers! Yeah I hate garage sales!   They SUCK!

To teach her to sew or not...that is not a question?

I was online this morning looking for a simple sewing pattern for my daughter's girl scout troop.   So I googled teach my daughter to sew.  Half of the entries that came up were don't teach your daughter to sew...she's a modern girl, don't teacher to sew... only a man would require her to know how to do that, don't teach her to sew, I did just fine without it...and all kinds of crap like that!  I was more than half offended!  Here I was trying to give my daughter and her fiends a life lesson and all these "well meaning" women were trying to discourage me because someone screwed them up.
    I guess we all are a little screwed up...but why tell me not to teach my daughter to sew because of your particular screwed up.  That's like saying don't teach your son to drive because my dad ran over my dog with his truck while he was drunk. 
Ok...I'm gonna get off my soapbox now, but darn straight be sure I am teaching those girls to sew this summer.

the tank top war

I really dislike being yelled at...I really dislike not being able to yell back...I really dislike being expected to not yell back by my husband.  It was a really rough morning in my house...my daughter decided it was tank top weather and none of her t-shirts we acceptable wear for school today.  Nathan also worked this morning which is out the ordinary...I don't know if that though her off or what was going on.   She was just bent out of shape from the get go.  She actually told me that she might not stay popular with the clothes she has right now...I almost laughed!
I told her no and got into the shower and was followed into the bathroom by a griping child...I told her to leave my bathroom...so she stood outside my bathroom and griped.  I told her to leave my room so she stood in the hall and griped.  That went on for five or so minutes before she figured out I couldn't hear her and then she called my name.  I told her I couldn't hear and she came back in the room and it started all over again...then  I told her to go to her room and get dressed.
At this point I was really loosing my patience.  She slammed her door.  She started crying and opened the door so I could see....once I saw that she wasn't dressed I told her she was going to be late.  It was 30 minutes later than we usually went down stairs and she was still in her pajamas and still yelling at me about her clothes. 
That's when my volume control was elevated ...at 50 minutes past the hour she was still yelling at me about a tank top...she needs new t-shirts...even though my mom is buy her new clothes this weekend and she has clothes that fit right now...my patience was gone.  She broke out in fresh new tears and I was ready to cry now too.
I did yell for a minute...but apologized right away.   I think that Catie may be having some growing pains and not the kind that she can feel physically.
This is going to be hard on both of us.  I have no idea how my dad did this...God Bless HIM!!!

grouchy girl

Catie and I went on a wonderful trip with her girl scout troop this last week.  I had such a great time and really connected with in a way we really needed to.  We clashed several times over the weekend though.  I am having such a hard time getting her to understand that the business of being nice even with her friends.  She seems to think that when she is with her fiends or out somewhere special she should get a free pass on social skills....guess I still have more work to do.   Thing got way worse when we got home and she was able to be comfortable ....she broke down to grouch and was simple a not nice girl....

bracelet

Last weekend I went to the conference for foster parent and adoptive parents and people interested in both...while I was there I had a chance to visit many booth dedicated to educating people about children in the system here and abroad.  One booth had bracelets with names and ages of local children who need forever families.  I have looked at these children time after time and know that we can not help them because of our circumstances.  The idea behind the bracelets was you take one and pray that they will find their forever family.  So I took one of each...there were four...that was one for each of us.  I gave one to Nathan, Catie, and one to Alex.  Alex promptly gave his back he didn't understand and didn't want to loose it.  Catie is still wearing hers...she's such a good girl...I don't know if she praying for the little boys or not, but she sure does support the idea.  Nathan and I had to trade his was too small...but he keeps wearing it too. 
I only take mine off at night so I don't break it, but it reminds to pray for the child who needs a home now...the children we will be helping and the child we will one day make our own.  I hope until that day that child is safe...because until the day that the child come home to me...I can't be sure and that make me sad...

So if you see me with a rubber bracelet....feel free to ask my child's name...age and you can pray that child finds a forever home too.   You can also be praying for my baby out there that God is keeping him or her safe too.