The Lemonade Party

Last week we had a rare treat - we got Charles all to ourselves! July 24th is a state holiday, so Char didn't have school or work. Heidi Anne wanted to make a celebration out of it. At first she thought of doing a Tea Party with all of us and her dollies. But it's the middle of July! To hot for a tea party.

So she decided that a Lemonade Party would do just as well. It then became over 100 degrees. So then our outdoor tea party became an indoor on the beach towel lemonade party. She helped make the cheesecake the day before and the pink lemonade. We discovered that Heidi Anne doesn't like the taste of cheesecake - she loved making it but the texture just didn't agree with her. Live and learn. 

Another important part is we all got dressed up.Char got dressed up, her dollies were dressed up,and she "helped" me get on makeup (No pics-I felt like the Joker from the Dark Knight Rises). Since we were having fun I put a little blush and lip gloss on her. She felt like such a big girl. She would hold her drink up with her pinkie finger pointing out. She said she watched an Angelina Ballerina episode where Angelina went to a fancy tea party. So Heidi Anne "taught" us the rules for a proper tea party. 

Here's Heidi Anne in a dress that I up-cycled. She's outgrown all her clothing and we just can't afford any new clothes (not even at a thrift store price). Yeap, funding is tight. But with this dress I added some pink lace I found, let some of the side hems out, and she added the leggings to the outfit all by herself. It's become one of her favorite things to ware. 

PS-If anyone out there can help me with a refresher lesson on sewing I have some fabric I can turn into dresses for her before she starts Kindergarten next month. 

The Heidi Anne Cooking Show

Heidi Anne loves to help me cook now. She loves to pretend she's the host of a cooking show. It's the Heidi Anne Cooking Show!  

She loves an audience so she will put her dollies on a kitchen chair, and she'll have her dollies watch us cook. She'll ask me in a whisper, "Momma, what's next?" I whisper the next steps to her. She'll talk in her normal tone saying "Everybody, listen." Then she'll recite what I had just told her.

She's a little disappointed when we put things in the oven. She thinks that a dish should be magically cooked and ready to eat as soon as you put it in the oven. Since I can't magically cook things I can pre-measure the ingredients and have them waiting for her in little containers, just like all the real chefs on TV. 

 But her favorite part is getting to sneak bites of her creations and eating it cooked later. This is also why cooking takes nearly twice as long. But we're making memories and having fun. That's the important part. 

Under Pressure...

Yeap, that pretty much sums up my last few weeks. Even though we're going through a rough patch doesn't mean we've been totally miserable. We've still found a few ways to have fun. I just haven't had real time to capture those fun moments, like a Lemon Aid (to hot for tea) party we had. Or how much Heidi Anne loves to cook with me because she likes to pretend that she's hosting a cooking show. She should be able to read about she is trying to grow up, loving the thought of Kindergarten, ballet classes, even a mini music boot camp a kind lady put together for free just because she loves sharing music with little kids. 

I think I've just wanted to hide from the harsh reality we're facing right now. But then I thought of Heidi Anne, this is her life and her adventures. She should be able to read how well she dealt with all these changes too. How we had fun, we're kind to others, or that material things are just that. Things. 

Even though times are hard she should be able to see how Momma and Daddad pushed forward. That life in general keeps turning and life has countless once in a life time moments. One adorable example is that I got to hold my new sweet little nephew for the very first time! (He is soooo freaking cute!!) While I was holding that sweet little boy, her cousins were so excited to see her and show the baby (Brekker) to her. Then while the adults cooed and held the baby, they we're having a blast playing with blocks and played dress up. 

Heidi Anne, these next stories may not be in the correct chronological order but they all happened during the Summer of 2013 just the same.  Hopefully, I don't turn into a basket case....

That Didn't Go As Planned

Yeah, really behind on posts. In a nut shell, we couldn't afford my basic medications resulting in a horrible relapse in my overall health. Things went okay-ish for the first few days but then the whites of my eyes became a bit yellow. We're been getting by with the help of my doctors giving me samples of everything they could give me, but even that runs dry.

We haven't had many adventures lately. Thankfully, on Sunday, some people at our church donated money so I can get my basic medications. Which I got on Monday. Right now I'm just trying to get over being super sick, untreated, to medications that can be very hard on your body the first week or two.

Heidi Anne's First BAD and then Good Bank Adventure

My Aunt Deb sent Heidi Anne a check for her birthday. She was so excited to have money like a grown up. I realized that this was the first birthday check she would really remember and I wanted to make it as fun and "Big Girl" as possible. On our way to the bank I asked her what she wanted to get with her birthday money. The first thing she said was "I want to get you some of your medicine so you will feel better." --Sweet angel.

I suggested maybe some clothes, Heidi Anne has grown yet another inch in these last 2 weeks. She is now 43 inches tall and her shoes are suddenly size 11. She went from a size 4T and size 8 shoe to size 6/7 and size 11 shoe in 6 weeks. She just bypassed a whole size! (I have stretched my up-cycle abilities to the limit, so any suggestions would be great!). Anyways, back to the main story! 

Heidi Anne decided she would like new ballet shoes that fit her and maybe some paint supplies or play-dough. All the way to the bank Heidi Anne is getting excited to buy her own ballet shoes with her own money. She talks about how she must be getting to be a real big girl. When we get to the bank Heidi Anne proudly gives the teller her check. The teller looks at the check and said "We can't cash this check, it's not in blue or black ink." I asked her if she was serious. She said she was. I then asked to speak with her manager. 

So the "manager" comes over, I tell her what the issue is, how the teller won't accept the check. She then says, "Hold on, let me verify with the manager." Then another teller reminds her she IS the manager. The three of them giggle..YES GIGGLED!! After she catches her breath, the "manager" says "That's right! I forgot! Giggles some more!  When she finally caught her breath she said some very assuring words, (and I quote) "Sorry, today is my first day as the manager!"  YIKES!!

The "manager" tells Heidi Anne that it's her Aunt's fault that she can't cash the check, that she should shred it, and demand a new one. --Word for word! Heidi Anne starts getting teary eyed, thinking they are going to take her money away. I took the check back, told them how insane, ungrateful, and plan rude their "advice" was, then stormed out of there. Honestly, who on Earth would really do that? 

We get into the car and poor Heidi Anne has little tears rolling down her cheeks. She sadly said "I don't really need new ballet shoes." Yeah, my heart broke for her. I found a different branch location and explained that this was her first experience with a bank my daughter has had and how traumatic it's been already. (I kept thinking of that scene in Mary Poppins where the little boy screams about the bank not giving him his money). 

This teller was so sweet! She treated Heidi Anne like a serious customer. She made a big deal about how grown up she is to get her own money from the bank. She then gave her money in 
$1 and $5 dollar bills. You could tell she had worked with kids before, because Heidi Anne's eyes got so big when she would count each dollar bill, one by one. Heidi Anne exclaimed "Momma!! Momma! I got so much money!!"  The sweet teller told her what a rich little girl she was. Then the teller gave Heidi Anne an envelop to hold "All of her money, since that's a lot of money for such a big girl!"

As I left the bank, Heidi Anne was humming and smiling. I then had the "Let's go fly a kite!" song stuck in my head. She was so proud of herself when she bought her ballet shoes with her very own money.

Happy 3rd / 4th of July!

Little fun fact, here in Logan, we have our firework show on July 3rd of every year. I'm not sure if it's so people can sleep in on the 4th, thus preventing crankiness accompanied by the 5th or if it's because almost EVERYONE spends the 4th in the bigger cities or outdoors somewhere.

We set up the tent indoors, a little pre-camp attempt. While we waited for the fireworks to happen we watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Naturally, we all wanted something sweet. We raided the freezer and found some ice cream. 

To help keep Heidi Anne awake for the fireworks, Char and her played with some snap poppers, (thanks to a raid in the garage) and made a glow in the dark necklace for her. When they started to play with the poppers, Char threw one a little to close to her. He then got a lecture from her telling him that wasn't nice. He said sorry to her.

                            Somehow she started "accidentally" throwing them back at him. It was on.

                                             She would try to be sneaky about throwing them.

                                 First, she would innocently get a handful.

                                    Next, She walked away from us

                           Then turn around and try to throw them at his shoes. 

Don't Mind Me - I'm Just Acting Innocent and Casual.....

All of the sugar, excitement, and glow in the dark necklace did the trick.She was fully alert and ready to enjoy the firework show. Which we watched from our bedroom window, (we have a wonderful view of the arena from that room). We must have found a perfect balance because she was ready to go to sleep as soon as the grand finale finished.  

On the morning of the 4th, Heidi Anne and I had a great surprise, Char didn't have work or school! We got him for the whole day, that hasn't happened in 2 months! She didn't care what we did, as long as we were all together. He made a pancake breakfast for us. Then we went to a park (at 9 AM). Going outside on the 4th in Logan was like being in a ghost town. We didn't see a single person (no joggers, people with their dogs in the yard, hardly any traffic). We had the park to ourselves and I was feeling pretty good - so we all played. 

While we were all on the swings, Heidi Anne and I were swinging perfectly together. Recalling my elementary school days I told Heidi Anne "Sunshine, look! We're married!" She promptly said "We're not married, silly Mommy! You're married to Daddad! And that's not how getting married works." Char asked her "How should it work?" She rolled her eyes, you could see her thinking "Silly parents, do I have to explain everything to them." She rolled her eyes, sighed, and said "First, you have to grow taller, fall in love, kiss, and then one day both of you say "I Do" and Kiss some more. Then you are married. After that you have kids."

It was getting hot and we had some old gift cards for Coldstone, which we used to get "Special Ice Cream", which means we went to Coldstone and everyone got their own ice cream. Heidi Anne got Chocolate Fudge Ice Cream with Kit-Kat bits. She was in high heaven! 

Char got his favorite, Oreo Shake, and I got peanut butter ice cream with Reese's peanut butter cups. I have a friend who works there, however, when I've tried to drop by, it's her day off. She was working on the 4th, so I got to catch up a little with her.  

We came back home and played in the tent with Heidi Anne, worked on homework (do we know how to live it up or what?). 

Not  the precious moment described below - But still adorable!

Then Heidi Anne just wanted Daddad and Daddy cuddles. She was content to just be held by her Daddy. She fell asleep early, we tried to move her, but in her deep sleep she said "Daddy..."with a sleepy smile on her face, in the sweetest, most loving voice you can imagine. Once you hear something like that, you just want to hold your baby a little longer, because you know she won't always be this little. Some moments can't be captured with a camera, they can only be retained by your heart. That was one of those moments.

Cheater Camping-(Hint-We Had A/C)

About 2 years ago, we went to Driggs, Idaho with Char's whole family. It was back when I had liver failure and I had been given a expatriation date you could say. Well Heidi Anne LOVED it. Last year we took a day trip to Bear Lake, and in October we hotel camped at Bryce Canyon and visited the Grand Canyon 

These trips have been around her birthday. She started asking if we could really camp for her birthday this year. I blame the store for having a tent on display and for having really cute backpacks within reaching distance. She remembered that we got a tent for Christmas, which then made her want to go camping.

We decided to do an "Indoor Camp" during the 3rd / 4th of July. She was super excited watching Daddad set up the tent. I think we may give real camping a try while Char is out of school for his summer break. My friend, Valerie, is a veteran camper, who knows how to camp with almost no funds and with little kids. Oh Bonus- she knows all about my fun medical restrictions, which helps me to find places that will fit my needs).

Just a few years ago I wouldn't have dreamed of camping. However, this little girl wants to so much, how can I turn that down? Besides, it would be just for 1 night.

Missing All the Fun

Kayla and her Daddy-Mud Buddies!!

Heidi Anne is starting to realize that we're missing some fun adventures. Heidi Anne keeps asking me when are we moving? She sees all the fun her cousins have down in Salt Lake County (and into Utah county as well), and she wants to join in the fun.
On Saturday, my Brother in Law ran the Spartan Race . He's been training hard for this 12 mile obstacle race which included running uphill and downhill. He's been so excited for this it rubbed off on my niece   Kayla wanted to run too. Lucky for her, there was a Spartan Kiddie Run. She ran the race, got super muddy (any kids dream come true), and earned her first gold metal!Not bad for a 5 year old.

Oakley, Hadley, and Kayla

All of Heidi Anne's cousins were there. Oakley, Hadley, Kayla, and Rykken were there. (Brekker is barely out of the NICU but Heidi Anne LOVES babies). Anyways the girls went on the Max Zipline, which is 1400 feet high and 1/4 of a mile long. BRAVE Little GIRLS!! 

The next day there was a birthday party for my cousin about 3 hours away. We were sooo excited to go. But some things came up and prevented us from going. Heidi Anne was so sad. So now she asks when are we moving, I don't get to play with my friends anymore and I miss Kayla and Rykken. 

Brekker's HOME!!