Happy 4th Birthday, Amata

Amata turned 4 on Mother's Day this year. We didn't get to go out on her birthday, though, because we ended up with a couple of sick kids, but she still enjoyed her gifts & ice cream cake.

She actually got to open one of her gifts a day early because her auntie, Meggie Pie, was here for the garage sale that weekend. (And don't even try to call her Megan in front of Amata, she will correct you.) She loved her new Baker outfit and all of the goodies that go with it!

I did end up taking her & Tyler with me to Mankato to get some groceries and a quick trip to the pet store. Once we got home, she got to open her gifts.

She got a stuffed monkey with a blanket...

Some Moon Sand, which needs to be an outdoor toy because it is NOT just like Play-Do that doesn't dry out!

She also got a washable Dora Doodle Mat, however, we did discover that is wasn't the same as the magic markers that will only write on the things it is supposed to write on. These markers show up very well on skin, too.

And what was probably her favorite gift, her own digital camera with an LCD screen to preview the pictures...because she really doesn't care if they ever get developed, she just wants to see them right away. (This is my favorite gift, too, as I'm hoping this would stop her from using my digital camera)

Caleb decided that if Amata was going to start taking still pictures with her new camera, he would be in charge of the video camera. (Notice Tyler in the background, excited as always)

Her cake is actually a brownie ice cream sundae pie from Schwans, but she loved it as did the rest of us, 'cuz it was yummy!

Poor Baylee...she always ends up asleep during cake time. (She was one of the sick kids that day. Cameron was the other, but he still managed to suck down the cake!)

We did make it to the Wow Zone last weekend to finish her birthday celebration for pizza & games. And by now, a couple of weeks since her actual birthday, she has even started giving her correct age when people ask how old she is. Prior to her birthday, she was telling everybody that she was going to be 6.

Sweet Victory

I was at Wal-Mart last night to pick up necessities for the camper. Probably the exact same “necessities” that we bought last year and should still be there, but somehow disappeared since last season. And when I was going to check out, I noticed that they no longer had the 25 items or less signs on the self-check-out lanes. I got to say, it is pretty sweet to think that not only did somebody actually read the comment I left at Wal-Mart.com, but they even did something about it!

I also noticed that the check-out lane that they keep all of the baby formula in is also no longer a 10 item or less lane. Of course they waited to change that one until my babies were all done with formula, but it makes me smile none the less, because that is just crazy to think that any parent buying formula would have 10 items or less.

Now if only I could find the person who keeps buying every single package of hot dog buns…I’d like to have a word with them. Because, seriously, this is the second time in a row that there have not been any at all. I don’t mean they didn’t have any good hot dog buns or any really cheap hot dog buns; I mean there was not one single, solitary package of hot dog buns left in the entire store. (Or at least the bun isle, because I admit, I did not actually look in every single isle.)

The Nerve

About a week ago, we had our annual garage sale. It went really good. Of course, it did rain on Friday but it wouldn’t be a sale without some rain! We were busy the entire sale, we actually set a new record...$1392.00! My share was about the same as usual, but I really didn’t have any big stuff; I think almost everyone else made more than in the past.

There was one thing that really irritated me, though. At one point I looked down the driveway and noticed a familiar person walking up. Familiar in a bad way. It was a former daycare client…one who still owes us quite a bit, even though her children haven’t been here in almost a year. Now she certainly isn’t the first person who has stiffed us on a bill, but I just think it takes a lot of nerve to come to my garage sale and buy my stuff knowing you owe us money! I guess it shouldn’t surprise me, a good friend of hers also owes us money & yet still brings her daughter trick-or-treating at our house every year.

And as if that wasn’t bad enough, the very next day I got a phone call from a previous client who also owes us money (although not a huge amount). I chose not to answer because I see no reason to waste my breath on someone like her, but she did leave a voicemail saying she was looking for daycare for her 4 year old. No mention of the fact that she still owed us from the last time we cared for her daughter over a year ago. And when I didn’t call her back after that, she called again a couple of days later. It makes me think there are probably a few other bridges she has burned with other daycare providers and so now she is trying to find somebody who doesn’t remember her.

I’m just saying that if I owed somebody money that I had no intention of paying, I would at least try to avoid from them.

Peanut

I had discovered that on Jeff Dunham's website, you can sign up to be notified when an item comes in. And since my Christmas gift for Cameron didn't happen, I had signed up hoping it would become available by Cameron's birthday, but that would have been too easy!

However, today I received an email from jeffdunham.com stating the Peanut doll was now available. So I went to the website & purchased one. AND I have received a confirmation email this time, so that's a good sign. I just wanted to let you know in case any of you wanted to run out & buy one, too. (an interesting side note, his actual company is called Brasma...I just that it was a odd.)

So Long, CJ

Well, it looks like miracles do happen. CJ's biological mother actually checked in to a treatment center that allows children to stay there with their mothers. She had checked into a similar one a couple of months, but left early because "the other girls didn't replace the outlet covers after they had used them, and what if he was crawling around with a fork in his mouth?" Personally, I thought a better question might have been why what would a nine month old be doing crawling around with a fork in his mouth, but she never asked for my opinion.

She had to make it there for 2 weeks before he could go with her, and since I had no idea if the people at that center would replace the outlet covers, I wasn't certain CJ would be going until the social worker actually arrived here on Wednesday morning to pick him up. (I learned long ago that nothing is certain in foster care until

it actually happens) As long as she follows her "plan" as prescribed in the chemical dependency assessment and she doesn't relapse she'll get to keep him.

As far as babies go, he was actually a very easy little guy to take care of, once we came to an agreement on exactly how much he needed to be held. But the fact was, he was still a baby, and we seem to have an abundance of little people around here these days.

Since he is not with us anymore, and since some people (Megan) called me a sucker for taking him in the first place, I will share the one picture I did take of him right after a bath.

How could anyone have said no to this little cutie?!