It is already July! We've been having a fun summer so far. I'm going to try to catch you up on some of the things we've been doing.
At the end of May I had a 3rd and hopefully final wrist surgery. It has healed faster than the previous two surgeries so that is good because we left for vacation 10 days after surgery - immediately following my appointment to get my stitches out! It was interesting after this surgery that Karla suddenly started doing a few things on her own. Things we've tried getting her to do on her own before but she never wanted to. So, I did think about faking a sore wrist for longer than necessary...but I didn't. :)
Karla went to "Lil Kids' Quest" on June 1-3. It was a local VBS held outside at a park. It was 2 hours each morning and after the final day families were invited to have a picnic lunch while viewing a lady from a zoo showing various animals. Karla loved Kids Quest. I actually didn't find out much about it from her until later when we were on vacation. Each day she would tell me she had fun but then didn't want to tell me about what she did. They did games, crafts, bible stories, and songs. She made a new friend in her little "class." It was nice for me to recognize a lot of people there from our community and we met at least 3 other children that are going to be attending her preschool in the fall. Somehow meeting their parents and talking to them makes me feel better about Karla going to preschool. A few weeks after Kids Quest we got a "highlights" video in the mail! It was pretty exciting. Karla was in it about 5 times!
Talking to the animal trainer about a possible name for one of her animals.
Karla met with her allergist in June and he cut her asthma medicine in half for the summer to see how she would do. So far so good!
Karla attended her first wedding and reception a few weekends ago. There has been lots of pretend weddings around here and lots of Barbies getting married ever since! The reception was on a farm and all the bridesmaids and groomsman had cowboy boots. So Karla has "gotten married" in a fancy dress with her boots on...and so have her Barbies.
Karla telling secrets with her cousin Audra at the wedding.
There is one little girl Karla has been having regular playdates with. Sometimes here and sometimes at the little girl's house. It is nice to hear and see them playing together. And, I have to admit, it is nice that she has someone else to dress up with and play Barbies with!
Ever since we were on vacation Karla has been talking about "her husband." I guess in a way he is like an imaginary friend! She's always telling us where he is, what he does, etc. He has looked like various men, including Survivor Man (a man on a reality TV show). Not sure why or how she got this idea in her head.
Somehow we stumbled across the show Survivor Man on TV and Karla was enthralled. She and Jason now watch it together occasionally. One day we were outside and Karla was sitting on the sidewalk and I looked over at her and it looked like she was trying to pick up an ant and put it in her mouth. I asked her what she was doing and she said, "I want to eat an ant like Survizer man." I put a stop to that right away! I couldn't believe she was even thinking about that because she doesn't like bugs very much!
She got her first summer treat from the ice cream truck...and she is still talking about it.
She got a bike (with training wheels) for her birthday in November and had attempted to ride it a few times when Jason or I asked her to. Then just in the past few weeks she is really riding it! And not insisting we stand right next to her while doing so!
Karla definitely doesn't like to do things if she can't do them really well. Hmm...two firstborns raising a firstborn....poor Karla. :)
Karla and I got a membership to our local pool and she LOVES it. She's never begged for anything...until now! If the sun is out at all, she wants to go to the pool! She has made a new friend there too which is neat, and again nice for me because I don't have to be the other mermaid. :)
One night recently I made a pizza and I was really distracted by different things that happened that day so I messed up the recipe...and I've only made it for years and years. I didn't say anything to Karla about messing up and just put it on our plates. She took a bite and unprompted said "Mommy, you make the goodest pizza I ever ated!" Made my whole day!!! And the pizza really was good. Whew.
The other night I was reading from Karla's bible and read "Jesus and his discples went to one of their favorite places, the olive garden." Karla interrupted and said "Oh I LOVE The Olive Garden." I laughed at that for a while.
On 6-22-11 something amazing happened. Karla was having her quiet time in her room, got tired, crawled into bed and fell asleep. She has NEVER fallen asleep when she wasn't asked to - except for when we were in Guatemala but that doesn't count! I went up to her room wondering why she hadn't come downstairs yet and at first didn't see her. I was looking around her floor not her bed! I was shocked. Playing in the sun and at the pool is tiring! We also didn't have power that whole entire day and it was pretty warm in the house.
For some reason I have always wanted to get a picture of her sleeping "unexpectedly." I guess in scrapbooking magazines I've seen pictures of kids asleep in various places. The sweet thing about this is, earlier in the day she came across the pillow she is sleeping on. I told her I had made it. That it was my first crochet project that "Mammy Shirley" helped me with. It hasn't left her bed since!
For a flashback, click
here to see the only other picture I have of her sleeping in an "unexpected" way. I think about this often for some reason....I guess because it was so strange and because I was so NOT going to move her for fear of waking her!
This morning I ran my first 5k. I had told Karla and Jason earlier in the week that I couldn't sign up unless they would come and support me. So they said they'd cheer for me and they got up early today to go with me! They even made a sign for me!! Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of Karla up on Daddy's shoulders holding the sign. It was so sweet AND motivating! My friend Rachel ran with me...and helped me when it got hard! I am blessed to have such a supportive family and good friend!
Here is a picture of Karla with Rachel's son Aidan - part of our cheerleading team! We all got free Rita's ice after the race.
After the race we had a family picnic at our house. It was a really nice day. We didn't go to see fireworks tonight because we are all worn out. Last night our neighbors (who have the boy Karla is sweet on) invited us over for a little fireworks show in their backyard. So Karla was up late last night and up early this morning. We are going to go to the local fireworks this coming Saturday. There are currently lots of fireworks going on in our neighborhood...but Karla is sound asleep!
Happy 4th of July!
