Happy Valentine's Day

Camden's school party is tomorrow, but her day started off with treats from Momma and Daddy.  Last week she requested a Reese's cup shaped like a heart, cookie dough candy (she's never had these, but she's on a cookie dough fix in ice cream kick and has seen the candy at the video store), and Peter Pan stickers.  Three easy requests...and I struck out on two of them.  Apparently only movie stores sell cookie dough candy and Peter Pan stickers don't exist.  Oh well, I found lots of other sweet treats to fill her bag, along with Tinkerbell and Minnie Mouse stickers.

She was very pleased with her giant Reese's heart.  I also win (or lose) the Mother of the Year Award for letting her have several bites for breakfast this morning.  Hey...peanut butter counts as protein!

I also packed two small cards in her lunch box, so hopefully, she will like her nice surprise at midday (along with chocolate pretzel hearts!).

 

I feel a little guilty for all the chocolate she will consume over the next week, but it's a fun candy holiday.  And if Halloween is any indication, we will have this candy around a long time.  In fact, it will probably make it's way to the cabinet with the half a bucket of trick-or-treating goodies we still have.

Valentine's Prep



Camden's school party is on Friday, so we selected Valentine's this weekend and began prepping.  The first box she picked up was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...and she was done!

 



Miss Lana wanted the kids to use this as an opportunity to practice their names, so she has written "Camden" on all 23 cards, as well as 4 for her teachers.

We are slowly adding her friend's names (yes she is doing that as well), then adding a heart lollipop in the small holes in the card. 

She is very pleased with them.  I very pleased with her efforts and her writing.

Papaw's Birthday



Monday was Papaw's birthday.  Last night was the first night we could have him over.  Kevin fired up the grill for a surf & turf (shrimp & venison steak) and asparagus.

 



I stopped at our local cupcake shop for a birthday treat.  Camden said she needed pink and that Papaw would have blue (they only had purple - close enough!). Kevin and I didn't have one (we're on a diet), but they had an apricot curry one that looked yummo!  In another month or two, it's calling my name.

We lit the candle and Camden presented it to Papaw.

  

 

After an amazing (ha!) version of "Happy Birthday" they dug in.

 

Then it was time for a few rounds of Camden's game.  Camden successfully beat me and her dad.  Papaw whipped Kevin, too, while Camden cheered them on.

 



February Kiwi Crate

It actually might be the January Crate...We don't always do them right away.

 

I was going to take her to Home Depot for their project on Saturday, but she just wanted to stay home (especially when she spied this box in my room).

 





The comet toss was easy to set up.  Although she had quite the time with a roll of scotch tape.  Boy it sure is sticky.  We probably wasted more than we used since Miss Independent kept insisting she could do it.

 

Next we set about getting the board ready for the next game.  Lots of things to color and squares to glue.

I had to resist the urge to make sure things were colored well.  It's her board!  She did do exceptionally well with the glue stick and little squares.

We played several rounds that afternoon and several since.  It's actually a great little game that she can play easily.  It's basically a short version of Candy Land.  This is the perfect length to keep her wanting to play until she reaches the mailbox at home.  She even plays by all the rules.  It's the best game we've had to date.

One Sick Girl

 I am very thankful that Camden is rarely sick.  However, when she gets it, she gets it.

She woke up Sunday morning saying her throat felt funny.  A quick check showed a white blister.  She laid around most of the morning, not eating, croupy coughing, and complaining of a headache.  We took her temp frequently and, while it raised, it never got to an official fever.  Her body was hotter than hot though.  Kinda weird.  Kevin had to work, so I encouraged her to lay out with me on the couch.  She feel asleep within minutes and slept for several hours.  I checked her throat again and saw lots of reddish blisters at the back of her throat, but no white ones.  She vomited once and went back to bed about 6:30.  Actually she just wanted me to lay in bed with her in the dark.  I missed the whole first half of the Superbowl!  Small sacrifice for my baby. 

Her guard standing over her while she slept.  As much as she mauls him, he absolutely adores her and wants to be near her most of the time.

 

She woke up the next morning (13 hours sleep!) still croupy. vomiting, and with blisters.  She finally wanted to eat something (applesauce) after almost 24 hours of not eating.  Kevin was home for the day, so I went to work and he took her to the doctor to make sure it wasn't strep (she had all the symptoms).  After a negative culture, her doctor confirmed it was a nasty viral infection in her throat.  She isn't contagious as long as she doesn't have a fever.  She is acting about 80% herself and getting better every hour.  However, we are going to keep her home one more day to make sure she is ready to handle the go, go, go of school and the germs she might encounter with a slightly compromised immune system.

The Arctic Map

The treasure map she made to go on her Artic adventure last Friday.

Swim Lessons

Camden's taking swim lessons again. It's always 4 lessons over 2 weeks.  It's been over a year since her last lesson, but we are going to try to get her in several sessions in a row to really get her swimming.  There is always about a month break between, but hopefully she'll do 2 more sessions before summer.

 

She could hardly stand waiting for her class to start.

Three kids in her group.  Very happy with what this teacher is doing with them.  Really focusing on face in water while swimming and kicking legs.

This was the first day and she was doing so well.  By the second lesson, she was propelling herself on the board and putting her full face in the water.  The teacher was very pleased!

Heartbreaking moment:  One Monday when the half-hour lesson was over, as Camden was getting out, I saw her lip pouched.  She was so disappointed that she had to get out of the water.  Half-hour was simply not enough time for our fish.  She held it together until she got to me and as we walked down that long hall (above) backed to the locker room, her wails began.  That was so not characteristic of her.  They were real, heart-broken sobs.  She did her best to keep from having to take her swimsuit off (she has the strongest toes in the book).  I felt bad because they have open swim immediately after her lessons, but I didn't come prepared to get in the water.  Wednesday I brought my suit and we enjoyed a good 1 1/2 hours playing.  It's such a great facility.  Next week, though, it's Kevin's turn!