sea horses

We have had a fun week as we help Ammy prepare for her first school report. Her subject was star fish. Aside from the never ending battle between Mom insisting that they are really called sea stars because scientifically they are not fish, and Ammy insisting that her teacher calls them starfish so that is what they must be, things went really well. Ammy enjoyed using the internet to collect some basic information at home and has been reading about it like crazy at school. The final project, the diarama shown below shows both her creativity and my extreme self control as I tried very hard to let her do all of the work with just a little bit of guidance. It was very hard to let her have ownership and not fix it when she went to bed! You cannot see the bottom of the box but she covered it with Brown sugar to look like the ocean bottom. A little bit of using her resources, since mom kept forgetting to go to the store to pick up some sand.

Make a wish

Through all of the struggles we have been through in the past 3 years since Amethyst was diagnosed with her tumor I have been amazed at the kindness and generosity of strangers. There are many amazing organizations set up to help those going through hard times and they are mostly run by volunteers. Yesterday we met two more amazing ladies from the make-a-wish foundation, working hard to give Ammy a week that she will never forget.

Ammy's wish is to stay the night in the Cinderella castle in disneyland. The suite located here was made in 2007 for the year of a million dreams promotion. The suite is only used as a prize that can be given and no one is able to stay for money. The space was set aside for Walt Disney and his family to be able to stay in the park. The operators of the park feel like it would be against Disney's vision to allow anyone to stay there for a price. Although this would be a difficult wish to grant it would be truly magical if it were to happen. Hopefully we will know within the next few weeks!

If we are unable to stay in the castle there is another place set up called Give kids the world which make a wish partners with. It is super cool as well. Each family staying there are placed in two bedroom villas. It has a carousel, train station, horses, swimming pool, mini golf, as well as an ice cream parlor with all you can eat ice cream open from 7:30a.m-9:30 p.m. They celebrate Christmas every thursday complete with cariage rides, and santa clause. All make a wish kids who stay in the area are welcome to come and hang out, so even if we stay in the castle we will be able to partake in these fun things as well. I think Steve and I might be almost as excited as the kiddo!

All this should be taking place after the new year, that way Ammy can get the most out of her experience since we will be done with chemo.

This year was the best Mother's day I have had. My little one is old enough to be truly thoughtful, but still young enough where her thinking is a bit ecocentrical. This meant I got to spend the morning sharing in her favorite activities. We began by snuggling on the couch while we watched Strawberry shortcake. Then Ammy decided to make me some breakfast. Our delicious meal was made of pancakes and toast! She then gave me all of the paper flowers and cards her and her friends have been working on over the last week.

It seems like the last few weeks Ammy has been asking for more and more time together with Mom. I have loved finding the time to Just hang out. In the past I have let homework and housework interfere with the time i could spend with my girl. Through my stress management class i have really began to realize that this moment in time will never happen again. I can spend it looking at the past, worrying about the future, or i could choice to enjoy this moment and the ones i have in my life!