Losing Teeth

Man, this girl waited a long time to lose a tooth.  She felt like the last kid in the world and then finally... one day it happened.  That day just happened to be her 7th birthday.  We celebrated and did the whole tooth fairy thing and that was fun.

Lately though, it's been a bit crazy.

I've had this dream where I am talking or eating and then I realize my teeth are falling out, one after another.  Just as I begin to freak out.. I wake up.  

Emma is experiencing this in real life.  One after another they are falling out, right and left.  Teeth that we didn't know were even loose are falling out while she eats or plays at the playground.

I think the toothless smile is adorable and that little trick with the straw coming through the open hole of missing teeth never gets old.

Now we know what she can wish for for Christmas... that never gets old either.

Happy Birthday Hunter!

Dinner time is quite often hectic with people coming and going, but we try really hard to plan around eveyone's schedules so most nights we can eat as a family.  We go around the table and each persons shares one good thing and one bad thing that happened that day.  We call it "good and bad"  and usually one of the kids reminds us if we don't bring it up at some point during dinner.  It's a fun way for everyone to contribute to the conversation.  The night before Hunter's birthday, it was my turn to share something good and bad about my day.  I started out by saying,
"My good thing about today is I bought Hunter something for his birthday that I think he is going to LOVE!"

Austin (who is my shopping buddy during the day) turned to Hunter and with all the excitement he could muster up blurted out..."IT'S GUMMY BEARS!!.....IT'S A SECRET!!"

That wasn't the gift I'd been thinking of, but he had been with me when I bought a giant bag of gummy bears for Hunter and I had told him it was a surprise.  Poor guy had been holding that secret for days and it just couldn't be held in any longer.  We laughed and laughed.

Hunter's birthday was full of plenty of other surprises and all sorts of good things.

Good:  Hunter was SO excited for his birthday, he got up extra early because officially being 10 meant he could be in a crossing guard.  He got to do it on his birthday!
Bad: Since Hunter shares a room with Austin, guess who woke up extra early too?

Good:  We had a delightful birthday breakfast with sausage and bacon just for Hunter.
Bad:  We missed Linsey, she leaves for school before 7:00 which is just too early.

Good:  Hunter had a great day at school.  He got to pass out really cool gummy lizards that his dad found for his class treat and his teacher let him sit in a comfy chair all day.
Bad:  School is still school... which means school work.

Good:  I promised Hunter I would come to school at 11:30 and bring his favorite lunch!
Bad:  I called the restaurant at 10:00 to place my to go order only to find out they don't officially open until 11:30 so picking up something at 11:10 isn't really possible.

Good:  They made it anyway and let me sneak in the side entrance, treated me like an old family friend and even threw in a Birthday Sundae for Hunter.  As I left their unopened restaurant, the cooks and other staff were all calling out... "Tell Hunter Happy Birthday!"
Bad:  Nothing bad about it... shout out for The Rock!

Good:  Hunter and I had a great lunch together.
Bad:  His teacher plays the Disney channel during lunch so our conversation was.. well... a little distracted.

Good: We had a yummy steak dinner (no vegetables even) as a family (no scouts, no mutual, and Hunter skipped soccer practice.. just for this one night).  Hunter opened presents and we all had fun playing with his gifts.

 

 

 New game and bean bag chairs... oh and gummy bears!

 

 

 
Bad:  The cool helicopter toy he got ended up on the roof.

Good:  Linsey gave Hunter his own can of whipped cream as a birthday gift!  (There is jello under that pile.)

Bad:  It made quite a mess.... oh well.  (I love Austin's face in these pictures.)

Good:  It was a great day, Hunter went to bed happy and exhausted.  I love that he took his new bean bag chair to bed with him.
Bad:  The big day is over... sad.

Good:  We still had a birthday party planned so the fun wasn't quite over yet!

 We had 10 boys over for pizza and games.

 

 Laser Tag!

 Bad:  Now it's really over... til next year!

Happy Birthday Hunter!  We love you!

Back to School

I have mixed feelings about the big day, but it's come and gone and school has officially started.

Ready or not, here we go!

I was really reluctant to let Linsey go to Middle School last year, but she loved it and everything went so well that it was much easier sending her off to 7th grade. 

 

Hunter is in 4th grade.  He has become very independent and although I walked to school with Hunter and Emma, Austin in tow, he walked ahead and darted off to his classroom all on his own.  Way too cool for mom I guess.  sigh...

 

Emma is in 2nd grade.  She was thrilled to have me walk her to class and gave me a big hug before she went in which made me just a little bit sad.  It's fun to see my kids grow up, but I just wish they wouldn't do it so fast.

 

Emma and Natty have grown up together, Emma will tell you they have been friends since Heaven which I believe is true.  I'm so excited they are in the same class together this year!

 ...and they have the best teacher in the world.  Mrs. Miller!  Both Linsey and Hunter had her and I just love everything about her!  It's going to be a great year!

And this little guy...  he's my buddy and it's really hard for me to see him growing up too.  Here Austin is on his first day of preschool!

Oh I love Miss Cindy too.  She has taught all of my kids and it seemed natural to drop off Austin at her preschool.

 

He loves preschool, just wants me to stay with him too.  He's slowly warming up to the idea and so far we've had no tears.

Now if I can just get used to the idea of all my children being one year older and one grade higher, and here come the papers and homework, busy weeknights and melt downs...

Like I said,

Ready or not... here we go!