August 13, 2008 ~ A Morning Laugh ~

I had to laugh to myself this morning, as I was taking Camryn to daycare, at Mothers and the things we do. Today was bike day at daycare. The kids could bring their bikes and ride…duh. Anyway, I crammed Camryn’s bike in the back seat since it wouldn’t fit in the trunk, and had her ride to daycare in the front. We don’t live far from the daycare, so I figured it would be ok. After I gave her the lecture about sitting still and if we see a cop not to move, she buckled up and we went. When I pulled into the parking lot, I see a car behind me with a bike hanging out the window. I see another car with a child in the front and handle bars all up in her face. As I was leaving daycare I see another Mom pulling into the parking lot with her trunk all the way open and a bike sticking out the back. It made me chuckle. It’s such a little example of what Mom’s will do for their kids, but it also spoke volumes.

August 13, 2008 ~ A Moment to Brag ~

After a rough start to the year, with Camryn not wanting to dance, she has decided she does in fact want to dance. We got the letter from the studio letting us know what all she made. She got her 2 large groups that she is required to be in, she also made a small group, duet, trio and solo. Because this is pricey my mom (who helps me out so much…Camryn couldn’t dance without her) and I got together with Camryn and told her she needed to choose one out of the duet, trio or small group. She was put in a duet with a cute little girl named Callen, who is a year or so older than her, and a trio with 2 little girls who haven’t done a trio before. Camryn decided that she wanted to do the duet. I was kind of glad, since she did a trio last year…ya know, I like to mix things up.
Along with the letter, they send you a “drop sheet” to list the dances you want to drop. We were kind of curious as to what would happen if Camryn kept the duet and Callen dropped it. When we got to the parents meeting on Monday I told Camryn to ask Callen if she was keeping the duet and she said she was. WHEW! Just to make sure, I decided to ask her mom. Her mom very emphatically said “yes” she was keeping the duet. She went on to say that at first she thought “hmm, I would have never paired them together” then she said she got really excited! She even said she had nightmares and woke up at 3am in a panic thinking “what if Camryn’s drops the duet”!!! She went on and on about how excited she was that they were dancing together. I was so proud to see Callen’s mom so excited that she was dancing with Camryn!! I just had to take a moment to brag!!!

August 4, 2008 ~ A Little Prayer Request~

For some time now I’ve seemed to have this burden to do something in order to help even one person though an abusive relationship. I know what I went through was nothing like so many women go through, however, I feel like it could have been had God not poured out his mercy on me and gotten me out. I’m still not sure what I’m supposed to do with what I’ve learned, and I’m not even certain of everything I’ve learned yet. I don’t know if I’m supposed to write or what. Lately, at night while I’m lying in bed saying my prayers I have had a few thoughts pop in my head. I want to write something using these, as I feel they were given to me. Please say a prayer that God will make it clear to me what I’m supposed to do or say or write. I’ve been praying that he will give me the words and help me in whatever it is He wants me to do. The things that seem to be yelling at me are the following:
Be Still and Know that I am God
Divorce is not the unpardonable sin
Unexpected strength
How we tend to be the “monkey in the middle” blocking God’s will in our lives

July 8, 2008 ~ Days of our lives ~

The past couple days have been exciting around my house. And by exciting...I mean...boring... to most people but, whatever! Sunday, Camryn discovered that her boobs are getting more fluffy. Yesterday, she was stung by a wasp for the first time. Thankfully, she's not allergic. Dramatic, yes! Allergic, no! During her bath she told me to "WATCH OUT FOR THE STING...where did it go?" Yes, it was so tiny and 'un-hurting' (Uh huh, that's a word..in my world anyway) that she couldn't even find it or remember what foot it was. However, what fun would that be, to not get as much attention out of it as possible?!?! Also, while eating dinner, Camryn hit her knee on the table. After about 17.625 minutes of 'ohh'ing' and 'ouch'ing' she announced that she was "just being dramatic". At least she can recognize this and admit it. That's better than most adults! When dinner was over, she learned how to rinse the dishes and load the dishwasher!! She even thought it was fun. YUCK!! I'm just thrilled that she enjoys it. I'll take advantage of that while it lasts! So, boring to some, exciting to us! These are the days of our lives!

July 7, 2008 ~ Already?? ~

Saturday night Camryn and I were tired, so she didn't get a bath that night. I told her she could get up and take a shower with me in the morning. When we do this, I bathe her and she gets out then I take my shower and she sits in the bathroom and waits on me. Sunday morning was no different. I got her all cleaned up and out of the shower. While I was taking my shower Camryn pipes up, "Momma, my boobs are getting bigger". Really, she's 6 years old, flatter than a pancake. However, I had watched a video on parenting and how to "talk so your kids with listen and listen so your kids will talk". In the video the instructor said as a parent, we need to respond not react. He said that kids will come up and say some of the stupidest things, however, in order to keep the lines of communication open, we need to respond instead of react and cut them off. So, my response was "oh yeah?? What makes you say that?" To which my daughter said "because they are more fluffy". I poked my head out from around the shower curtain and said "more fluffy?" She said "yeah, look" as she was pulling on the skin of where her boobs would be if she had any. I said "oh yeah, I see". HAHAHAH!!! It cracked me up!

July 7, 2008 ~What Was That??~

In keeping with the theme of this page "adventures of a single mother" let me tell you of our latest adventure. Thursday night Camryn and I decided that we were going to rent movies and eat pizza, (goodbye weight watchers) since we didn't have to get up early Friday morning. We rented 3 movies and wiped out an entire medium pizza...half each!! We piled up on the couch and started our third movie, The Bucket List. During this movie we heard a loud 'thud' in the attic. It scared us both, but me, being the sole protector in our house, had to hold it together and act as if I was cool with it. We both chilled back out and settled back down when all of the sudden we heard an even louder "THUD-thud-thud" ring out from above us. Naturally, my first thought was 'OH MY GOSH, there's a homeless person in my attack'!!! Camryn jumped up and said "what was that??" Again, me being the cool, calm and collected one, said "I don't know but I think something is in the attack". Camryn, obviously being the one freaking out, said "maybe it was Chewy". After checking every where (and calling my Mommy) I decided that maybe it was a squirrel or something..at least that's what I was telling myself. We finished the movie, got ready for bed, locked the bedroom door (ya know, to keep the homeless person out) and went to sleep. Around 5am I was awakened by the sound of yet another 'thud'. WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON! In her sleep Camryn heard it and hit me and said "MOMMA"...as if I had done it. After that I heard another loud 'bang' and scraping sounds. You know the Ray Stevens video where the dead man sits up in his grave? Yeah, that's what I looked like in my bed, because now the homeless person is out of the attic and outside my bedroom door. Really good thing I locked it. Then, much to my dismay, my CLOSET DOOR STARTS TO OPEN!! Dear lord, he's in MY closet. I then jumped up to... do whatever I was gonna do to this homeless person... and discovered that my top shelf in my closet, the one that holds my big suitcase, had somehow broken away from the wall and my suitcase had been falling. After much thought, I figured that was what had been happening all along and what I had been hearing all night. WHEW!!!! ~ What a night!

July 2, 2008 ~WHEW~

I got my baby back, baby back, baby back...I got my baby back, baby back, baby back...!!! She made it home safely. When she saw me down the hallway she was walking up, she put down everything she was holding and ran to me and jumped up in my arms and hugged and kissed me!!! YIPPIE!!! She didn't forget me! She had a great time... It was obvious by the none stop chatter the entire ride home. She kept saying "I got my jabber-box turned on". Then she would giggle and say "Now my giggle-box is on". It was sweet! We finally went to sleep and were back in routine this morning! Thanks again for all your prayers!