June

Since school got out in June we have been busy getting caught up with doctor’s appointments.  I picked up 5 kids to tutor over the summer, so I feel that I am working all the time this summer.  I am also taking a summer class for recertification.  CJ and I have spent a little time shopping.  CJ did not fit in most of her shorts, so I wanted to get her new shorts.  Also, it was that time to start thinking about bras.  I took her to Victoria Secret for her first fitting and bra.  They had a big sale so we spent the afternoon trying on all kinds of bra and CJ’s learned how to put them on.  This was funny because I forgot that bras can be complicated to learn how to put on at first.  Her dad was not pleased with the fact that she was growing up and that his little girl needed these items.  CJ had fun shopping and being very girly. 

I did not sign CJ up for Girl Scout Summer camp.  She was very upset about this, for a while I was very worried about money because Jay was talking about quitting his job over the summer. Jay decided not to quit his job, so I was not as worried about money, but it was too late to sign CJ up for overnight camp. I told her that instead we could take a family trip with the money and go anywhere she would like.  She told me that she would like to go to American girl Chicago store.  At first when I told her dad what she would like to do he thought she was kidding.  Soon he realized this was really what she wanted to do.  So we started planning to spend a day in Chicago at American girl and then head to Wisconsin so I could show CJ and Jay where I grow up.

I put Jay in change of finding us a cheap hotel in Chicago.  This was not an easy task because the hotels there were so expensive.  Jay found one that looked great. It was historic, owned by Al Capone and all the pictures looked beautiful.  We had to laugh because as we started to learn about the hotel we found that it was suppose to be one of the most hunted hotels in Chicago.  This freaked CJ out. She was not sure if she wanted to stay in the hotel.  I had to remind her that ghosts were not real.  She did write on our receipt that we were not to stay in Room 441.

During CJ’s American Girl Club meeting they featured Samantha who was the daughter of the ship merchant.  One of the activities that they had was knot tying.  CJ did not what to do any of the other activities.  The only thing that she wanted to do was tie knots, so for the hour meeting she just tied knots and did a little jump roping which she had not done since we got her a jump rope.

  Later that day Jay took CJ to work on riding her bike again which again she has not done in a while.  Her first attempt she fell and skinned her knee.  After that she did not what to get on the bike and just wanted to go home.  Jay made her try some more and would not let her give up even though she failed the first time.  He is so good with her.  I give up some times when she starts to scream.  He does not and is very patient with her.

On Father's Day we went for a nice motorcycle ride for ice cream.  It had also been a long time since we all have gotten on the bikes and gone for a ride.

CJ got in to this Music camp called Create.  She had to audition for it and it was only for the most gift and talented students in district 1.  The camp was half days for 2 weeks.  CJ loved the camp and at the end of camp they put on a small music for the parents. It was amazing after only 10 days of half day camp how good they were.  The name of the musical was “Joust” it was a twist on King Author, so all the kids were to dress in Renaissance style outfits.  With only a couple of days to come up with an outfit I just had CJ try on my old outfit.  She fit in it and looked very cute.  She sang, played bucket drums (which she really liked), and played recorded.  I really hope that she continues with recorded because she likes it so well.

   

This summer I have been trying to let CJ be more independent and learn things on her own.  Some of this has been hard for me, like not just cleaning her room for her but making her do it herself and if she does not giving her consequences for it.  But one of the fun things that I have been doing is letting her learn to cook.  This month’s American Girl magazine had a small cook book in it.  One of the recipes was a crisp.  CJ wanted to make it but change it from a apple blueberry crisp to a peach crisp like she gets at school and loves. She made a homemade peach crisp for dessert and it turned out very well.  She learned how to use the oven and did everything on her own.  I even made her learn to clean up on her own.

This summer had been very hot, so one day Jay got out the hose for him and CJ to play in.  It was just like we did when we were kids.  They had so much fun getting wet and cooling down.

We went and had CJ’s 11th Birthday Pictures done.  I cannot believe how grown up she looked in the pictures. 

I took CJ to the doctor for her 11 year old check up.  She is doing fine and the doctor could not believe what a health child she was.  She was like we never see her but that one time for pneumonia.  We did talk about the fact that CJ breaks out in hives with different clothes.  Like when we were trying on bras and swimsuits she got hives on her skin.  Just as we were talking about it CJ got a hive on her back that just showed up.  Dr. Hobbs said that she may be allergic to something in the fabric or even latex, but we do not know and it is not bad so if it happens I am just to put cortisone on her or give her a Zyrtec.  

As we were on our nightly walk we started to notice all these blackberry bushes were becoming ripe.  After our walk we went back and picked wild Blackberries.  CJ learned very quickly that wild blackberries had thorns that really hurt but she really liked getting into the bushes and picking the berries.  We got enough to make a cobbler this weekend.