A New Chapter

An analogy that I gave Kimberly's Pre School teacher was that Clarissa opens a chapter and Kimberly closes it. With today being the first day of school I swallowed my tears and knew that a new chapter had yet began titled 'Grade School'. Clarissa is familiar with her teacher and fellow students except for 1 that will be new this year. Clarissa was given the honor to sit next to the new student since she is so good at making friends.

As she bounced up the sidewalk I had a flash of memory lane. The day she was born, seeing her first smile all the way to her first steps and words. Now she enters first grade with homework, spelling tests, and opportunities into the unknown. I want to be happy but in the same glimpse of the past I see reality. Clare isn't a "little girl" anymore. A young lady that is facing decisions with out me but knows I support her 100%.

When Clare stepped foot into the school... The chapter began.

Seven Years Strong

Yesterday marked our 7th anniversary. Although things aren't the way we had planned back 7 years ago we wouldn't change a thing. Quentin is my everything, I wake up and think how lucky I am to have him.

Our plans didn't go according to plans but we happened to have a great day. I woke up and was surprised to have three excited daughters (yes I counted the dog) and Quentin saying HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! I then saw the beautiful flowers and breakfast. Quentin gave me a kiss and told me he loved me. I wish that I could have enjoyed the breakfast he made BUT I started not feeling well and headed back to bed to help settle my stomach. It lasted a few hours and then I felt fine. We headed out to my in-laws to celebrate my mother-in-law's birthday. When we got home Quentin had the same odd sick feeling I had earlier that day.

A Piece of History

As I begin this entry of my family blog I am a tad emotional. I was going through old things that I had back in high school and figuring out what was worth keeping , selling, or throwing away. I THOUGHT I had finished going through one container when I saw a stack of papers I had not seen yet. Thinking they were mostly blank I didn't really look at it to deeply till I found a green clear folder. It was titled Historical Information My mother's Sid (according to my Great-Great-Great Grandmother) yes that's right. I read through it and it had siblings dates people were born and where they lived at the time. This is such an amazing piece to come by that I decided to not overlook ANYTHING in that container and make sure I had looked at ever piece of paper before throwing anything away.
With that historical note. I'm so happy to be able to add my kids and my siblings to this, and exciting as that sounds I truly hope that after I'm gone this story continues to grow.

Back 2 School Shopping

Its that time of year that we are getting things prepared for a new school year. This time it was a bit more exciting because Kimberly was able to join in the fun more so than normal. We hit some great deals even though it was the day before the tax free sales. We didn't want to work around the crowds. Clarissa had a great time looking at shoes and found some that will not work for school but the price couldn't be refused. So she came home with 3 new pairs of shoes but only 1 is for school. Here are a few pictures from SHOPPING!

Clarissa just found herself a cute pair of shoes (see below)

Here they are, she found them, tried them on, and fell in love all within moments.
I fell in love with the awesome price of $6.99. They are great for Clare to wear just for fun.

Kimberly found some cute clothes too.

These had Kimberly written all over them. Not only do the y sparkle
but they are purple and have a bow. They couldn't be more perfect.

Stitched Up

Today Clarissa tripped on our box of legos and fell into the wooden activity center we have had for several years. I ran over to her and saw so much blood that I couldn't believe my eyes. I rushed her to the sink thinking she had lost a tooth or bit her lip but what I found was nothing I could have pictured.

I could tell that this would need stitches and with no way of getting her to the clinic or hospital I tried to stay calm while making phone calls. Finally I got a hold of my mother in law who left work to come help me out. When she saw it she agreed that Clare needed to be taken in for at least some glue and possibly stitches. I took her car and got Clare into the clinic filled out paper work and then got her in. The nurse asked a few questions and looked at Clarissa's lip and said that the Dr. would have to judge if it would need stitches. When the Dr. came in and saw it there was no doubt in his mind Clare was going to need stitches. My heart sank. I've never had stitches before and Clarissa didn't like the sound of stitches and held back the tears. I held her hand through the entire process and the doctor and nurse both kept commenting on how brave, pretty, and mature she was. They explained that most kids her age would not have laid so still. After the doctor put in 3 stitches he put 2 more in to be safe.

We got home and we called all the people I had called to help us out back and let them know what was going on even Quentin was confused at what all was happening because he was in a bad reception area. Clarissa got a strawberry milk shake from ma (my mother in law) and shortly after that papa ray (my dad) came over with a balloon and flowers. And it didn't stop there Quentin brought her some flowers as well. It helped make her feel better and she's now even smiling. I can't wait for Saturday for her stitches to be removed.

(Strawberry Milkshake  from Ma)
This was taken shortly after getting home. She can't feel much on that side of her face. 

(Flowers from Mama Mary & Papa Ray)
Feeling better after a 2 hour snooze  

(Flowers from Mommy, Daddy, Kimberly, and Lady)
5 hours after everything happened and she's laughing, smiling, and acting like herself.

UPDATE August 6, 2011

Clarissa got her stitches out and she has to limit her smiling and laughing for 2 days.

August 8, 2011

And now the moment we have ALL been waiting for....
 

This looks amazing. You can hardly tell where it happened. We are going to put some scaring ointment on it and hopefully it will just keep looking better!