Hope came and spent the night Thursday night.
On Wednesday, her mom asked if Hope could come and hang out with us for dinner because Hope's dad had an work related event.
Thursday, Hope's mom texted me shortly after I had woke up to ask if Hope could spend the night because the event might run pretty late.
This was pretty short notice for me, but I wouldn't pass up a chance for Hope to spend the night, so I said "Of Course!"
I rushed to get a few things done before they arrived...
Hope brought her swimsuit and 2 pool noodles and a newly bought floaty with a penguin head on it, since they had neglected to bring her usual, round floaty from her other grandma's house.
Mom stayed for a short while before leaving...
Hope just couldn't wait to go to the pool!
It was so hot out that I wasn't prepared to be in the scorching sun yet, so I fed her some lunch and got her interested in playing with some of the toys she had brought.
It seemed like she asked if we could go to the pool every 10 minutes or so!
(I gotta finish this later...current events are calling me!)
...Sooo...I finally agreed that if she would help me start dinner so it could cook while we were at the pool, we would go to the pool.
I trimmed some stew meat and Hope dredged the meat in seasoned flour...
She started to put the pieces into the frying pan, but she touched the edge of the pan with her wrist and decided that I should do that part.
After the meat had browned and I had added water and boullion, I went to put on a swimsuit and told Hope to get changed.
I collected towels and things we might need...floatie and pool noodle...and put them in a bag hanging on the back of Sarah's wheelchair...then we took the walk to the pool.
I parked Sarah back from the edge of the pool and prepared to get wet.
(I didn't want to trust my strength to let Sarah sit on the edge of the pool and dip her feet because I was afraid I might not get her back up into her chair without help. She will get that opportunity one day when the BF or Hope's mom is there to help me.)
The water was COLD! The pool is not heated...but it had been a very hot day, so the water wasn't icy!
Hope got right in...trying to use her penguin floatie...but found that the penguin head pushed on her throat and made it hard to float in the water.
I slowly submerged myself up to my chest...the cold water taking my breath away...and walked back and forth across the shallow end of the pool as Hope floated with the pool noodle under her arms...me holding one end of the noodle.
I think we were in the water about half an hour before I began to shiver...so I talked Hope into going back to the apartment...using the excuse that we needed to check on dinner.
Sarah seemed to enjoy watching us...she didn't whine or complain until we left the pool.
Before we had started dinner, the vcr we had been watching movies with quit showing the picture...still had sound, just no picture!
When we got back to the apartment, the BF had come back from collecting some items from the trailer we had lived in previously to drop stuff off...
He tried to make the vcr work...but no luck!
He had to leave again to trade the truck for the car and drop off a friend who had helped him at his home.
Hope and I changed clothes and she watched some iPad while dinner finished cooking.
When the food was done, Hope ate a big dinner...Braised beef with gravy over rice, some extra plain rice, peas and carrots and salad and milk.
She had nearly finished her dinner before I got Sarah's and my plates!
When she was done, I asked her what she wanted for dessert and she pushed a stool over to the fridge and climbed up to open the freezer and pulled out a popsicle.
She ate her popsicle and watched iPad while Sarah finished her dinner.
Sarah got pretty cranky shortly after eating so I brushed her teeth and got her ready for bed and put her to bed.
Hope and I walked outside to look at the moon and wait for the BF to return...but he didn't return until after we went back inside.
Hope changed her clothes and even brushed her teeth without being told!
After eating his dinner, the BF attempted to get the vcr to work...it still had no picture.
He found an old dvd player and hooked that up to the tv...and it worked!
He put in the movie Mary Poppins...and Hope became transfixed!
We had to move some furniture and pull out the hide-a-bed, and I had to put sheets on the bed...and as soon as that was done, Hope laid on the bed and watched the movie while I put food away...
It wasn't long before Hope complained about being hungry and asked for a cookie...
I gave in and let her have a cookie...then had her rinse her mouth out.
By the time I was done in the kitchen, Hope was saying she was still hungry...so I gave her some leftover pasta with white cheese sauce and she asked for 4 strawberries.
She ate half the pasta and all the strawberries...then rinsed her mouth out again.
I joined her on the bed and she wanted me to read the 3 books she had brought...
By the last page of the last book, she had nearly fallen asleep...she rolled over and reached out to hold my hand...and off she went to sleepy-bye!
She slept well all night...and she woke earlier the next day than expected since she had been up about 3 hours past her bedtime!
It was a very hectic day for me...but I wouldn't trade a minute of it!
My next post will be about the next day...this post is already pretty long!