Category: Family

My how the time has flown by. At times it’s hard to believe that my lovely daughter was born ten years ago. My life has changed so much since she’s been around and I enjoy the time we share together. She’s top priority in my life, which is how it should be since she’s my responsibility.

We don’t have to much planned today. A small dinner at home with all her favorite foods and a trip to her favorite ice cream parlor; Rita’s. Because her school week is so busy I gave her presents to her this past weekend. She loves Deuce Gorgon;  her new Monster High Doll and her new Bamboo Splash drawing tablet.

This morning, I gave her Monster High storage trunk and after school I’ll give her the knitted voodoo doll. I still need to attach the limbs to the body and embroider the face. I’d been hoping to do this already, but the days have been filled with hanging out with work, household chores, and of course hanging out with my lovely daughter. So although I had every intention of finishing the project while she slept that didn’t happen since I was sleeping too! However, once my work is complete today I will finish the limbs so it will be waiting for her once I pick her up from school today.

Yesterday I snapped the above photo of my daughter with Angel the guinea pig, aren’t they cute?

Happy Birthday to my lovely daughter!

My daughter’s tenth birthday is next week. I’ve already made her a few things like the knitted voodoo doll. The head, body and limbs are complete. I’ll put it together once she’s asleep.

Earlier this morning, I purchased a few items for her…

 

Such as this adorable Monster High Collapsible Trunk. Judging by the reviews… it’s large and will fit nicely at the foot of my daughters bed. I do think I’ll make it more sturdy by sewing a liner inside the trunk and then attaching it to the fabric that’s already there. I know that my daughter will love it since it features her much loved Monster High dolls. I like it since it neatly keeps her items in one place. The Monster High trunk will arrive on her birthday.

 

My daughter loves the Monster High dolls! Over the past few years I’ve purchased several for her. She doesn’t have any of the boy Monster High dolls. People snap them up quickly in the store and resell them for well over $150! There’s no way I’m paying that much for a doll that normally retails for between $12 and $21 in the store.  However this the Monster High doll, Deuce Gorgon for $30. I haven’t seen him that low in months! He’s been snapped up and resold for over $150 so I quickly bought the doll since he was only $10 more than I’d pay if I could find him in the store.

 

Initially, I was going to purchase this item at Christmas time, but I held off since I felt she had enough for Christmas. I did add it to my Amazon Wish List knowing that one day I’d eventually purchase it for her. Well guess what? I checked this morning and the price had dropped by $10 since Christmas!

My daughter loves to draw. She’s an extremely talented artist.  She likes computers and has been wanting to digitize some of her sketches and so I decided to purchase the Wacom Splash Tablet. It looks like it’ll be the the perfect beginner tablet for her. I’m an Amazon Prime member and decided to go with next day delivery  for the Monster High doll and the Wacom tablet. They’ll be here tomorrow so I don’t have to worry about them arriving by her birthday.

My daughter doesn’t expect a lot for her birthday. She knows that what you receive isn’t really that important and she seems to be truly happy with whatever she gets which is nice.  The main way I show her how much she means to me is spending lots of time with her. But to make her birth date “extra special” I try to do additional things for her. I can’t wait to see the look on her face when she receives her gifts. She’s such a wonderful daughter smart, loving, and enjoys sharing with others. It’s nice when I can do extra special things for her throughout the year.

 

Well, it’s been a busy weekend…

We had an unexpected (but much welcome visit) from my six year old nephew this weekend. He stayed with us while my brother and sister in law moved into their new home, which is just a few states away from us… much closer than Texas that’s for sure!

This meant, that the weekend of sewing and the mommy daughter fest that my daughter and I were both looking forward had to be put off until next weekend. The selfish part of me was a bit disappointed – my daughter and I had been planning this time for weeks. But you know what? Even with the change in plans we still had fun including my nephew/daughter’s cousin into our activities. Guess what?  He had a lot of fun too! I took lots of photos, so I’ll be sure to include a few here (within the next few days.) Since the weather was lovely, we stayed outside most of the time, soaking up the sun, breathing in the smog free air and being silly. By the end of each day my daughter and nephew were tired and fell asleep almost instantly after I read them a bedtime story.

Still looking forward to hanging out 1:1 with my daughter next weekend. My daughter was slightly disappointed that our extra special time was put on hold, she didn’t pout and welcomed her cousin into our adventures this past weekend.

My daughter made honor roll for the third quarter in a row. Of course we both are thrilled about that! I’ve mentioned before, I expect her to do well she has the ability she just needs to apply herself. I don’t accept excuses for poor behavior.

Throughout life, you’ll face numerous milestones and while there might be cases when one has a legitimate reason to feel sorry for themselves, life still continues so you might as well learn how to deal with the challenges that you face.  Currently the occasional challenges she faces are minor; not always wanting to do her homework because she might not understand something or teasing at school. I’m hoping that by showing her ways she can handle the challenges she faces now,  it will continue to be helpful to her as she gets older.

Train up a child in the way he should go, And even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Proverbs 22:6, American Standard Version

The Holy Bible has a lot of common sense teachings and can be applied to more than just the spiritual aspects of daily life. As her parent, I know it’s wise to prepare her for challenges now. As I told her, running away or pretending a problem doesn’t exist isn’t smart  since those problems will still be present when your forced to deal with them and in some cases they can get worse. I gave her examples from my own life both past and current challenges that she’s known that I’ve faced. I didn’t run away since I knew they’d be there, I dealt with them and moved on…

 

This weekend, as a surprise for doing so well, I’m taking her to the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus. Saturday and Sunday are the last two days they’ll be in town and I know she’s been wanting to see the event. I haven’t been to a circus since I was a child, so I’m sure I’ll have a sense of nostalgia as I watch the show with my daughter and pay for overpriced popcorn and bottled water. 😉

Last evening I gave my daughter two choices for today’s lunch/dinner; Chinese or Little Caesar’s. She chose Little Caesar’s.

Months can go by before we venture into a restaurant, and we rarely frequent fast food joints but I was making an exception today since I really just wanted to hang with her. Last month was the first time she ate Little Caesar. She disliked their pizza, still liking our homemade pizza better than any restaurant pizza we’ve tried thus far. She tried their Crazy Bread and liked the concept, but wasn’t thrilled with the undercooked bread we received.  I had to bake it when we arrived home since the dough was partially cook. Blech!

The more I thought about it the more I realized I could make it myself. Since it’s “her day” I asked her if she wanted me to make it or head to the restaurant. She was all over homemade Crazy Bread idea. I have a basic idea of what goes into Crazy Bread. It’s most likely pizza dough. A quick online search showed me what makes Little Caesar’s bread “crazy” and it was about what I’d expected. Garlic, Parmesan cheese, and corn meal are added to the mix. Thankfully, I had all those ingredients at home. My daughter helped me prepare our version.

 

For the dough, I used the recipe I’ve created for making pizza dough and added some finely minced roasted garlic and some other seasonings.

 

Once the dough had risen, we cut the raw dough into strips…

 

Then we placed the homemade Crazy Bread into the oven that was preheated to 415 F. The bread baked for 10 minutes. They were removed and brushed with a mixture of homemade roasted garlic oil and Parmesan cheese and placed back into the oven for about two minutes. Results? My daughter loved our homemade crazy bread and even though I made two batches it’s now all gone, she loved them and said it was better than Little Caesar’s version. I’ll definitely make these in the future and I’ll add a few extra ingredients.

 

This morning, I made vegetable fried rice and my daughter ate some of this afternoon. What did she have for breakfast? I made fruit pudding which was a simple blend of pureed strawberries, blueberries, and bananas. Unfortunately, I don’t have pictures of that since my daughter ate it before I could take pictures but I do have great memories of today spent hanging with my daughter and bonding. Life passes by so quickly, take the time to hang out with those you love.

Yesterday, my daughter, nephew, and I had a lot of fun making playdough.

I gathered all the ingredients; flour, salt, cream of tarter, water, and a bit of oil. I then cooked everything in a large pot. My six year old nephew was excited, and helped me stir the playdough. My nephew is staying with us until this Friday. It works out perfectly, since my daughter is on Spring Break.

 

In the above photo, the dough started gathering around the spatula, that’s an excellent sign since it means that it’s almost ready. Of course, we had to wait for it to cool. Which was hard for them my daughter and nephew since they were ready to get creative.

 

 

After the playdough had cooled, we separated the playdough into sections and dyed it with food dye. This was a simple project, but we enjoyed it immensely and my daughter and nephew were entertained for a few hours while they worked on their creations. Towards the end, they decided to make Minecraft zombies, and let them dry. Once they’re dry, I’ll make sure I post a picture.

You can have fun without being glued to a technology gadget…

This week, my nephew is taking a break from his technology toys. I told him, you don’t need all those gadgets to have fun. I’m limiting their technology time And you know what? He’s still having fun! I always question the amount of time that some Children (and some adults too) spend with technology gadgets. They’re great, and I truly appreciate mine but I can’t help think that they can be a hindrance also since it can reduce social interaction — if you aren’t careful.

Interaction is very important in our household, and so I make that time. Yes, sacrifices have to be made on my part, but it’s worth the effort.