Ta Da!

Ava lost her first tooth! We've been waiting for the moment for weeks and it came, as most things do, completely unexpectedly.

We were away for the weekend: Marc and I with adult friends and the kids with my parents. Phin has a nasty cold and yesterday was quite rainy. We had a long ride home from Chicago, but I won't bore you with those details. We got home a little before 6 and were unloading the car. Ava decided that was the moment to pull her tooth. She tried on her own first and then followed me around asking for help. I gave it a tug- she broken down in tears, so I suggested we take a break, finish unloading the car, and then focus on her tooth.

When it's your first loose tooth and it is dangling in your mouth, taking a break is apparently not an option. I soon heard SCREAMING from our bedroom; there she had found Marc dropping off suitcases and persuaded him to give it a tug. The screaming subsided to mild crying and soon I had a little girl in back in my kitchen with a hole in her mouth and a tooth in her hand. Wow! Can someone please pause time just a bit?!

She chose to NOT put her tooth under her pillow for the tooth fairy last night. She is keeping it for today so she could show it off at school. I just hope it manages to make it back home.

I asked around, by the way, do you know the tooth fairy leaves a DOLLAR now? I guess she keeps up with inflation. Back in my day- she just left a quarter!

Our Adventures with Hootie

Ava's class has a little mascot. Hootie the Owl. This year everyone will get a turn to bring Hootie home for two nights and write of their adventures with Hootie is Hootie's journal. Hootie and the journal will be auctioned off at next year's school auction.

Hootie came to our house this week. He didn't fit into my "weekly plan" that I so diligently organized on the weekend. No his visit threw a wrench in the works and reminded me, yet again, that plans of mothers must be held loosely. Hootie will only come once (from my understanding anyway) and he doesn't visit on weekends. We had yesterday afternoon and today to make Hootie's visit memorable- a tast very important to my VERY excited 5 year old. We will work on writing his adventures this evening, but as I just sent all our photos away to Walgreens, I thought I'd upload them here, as well. Enjoy our visit from Hootie. Captions of the photos are in Ava's words and will be exactly what she will record under each photo in Hootie's journal. The pictures that do not have Ava in them were taken by Ava for this project. She did very well;)

Ava and Hootie (I took this picture myself)

We had Pizza for lunch.

We played with Hootie in our Bean Table. He tried to eat some of the beans. It was funny.

Hootie met all my stuffed animals. He was very happy with them.

I showed Hootie all my earrings.

My mommy helped me and Hootie make him a Green Bay Packers sleeping bag.

Hootie LOVES his sleeping bag. It fits just right and is very soft.

Hootie really liked my Guy.

Hootie thought the bathtub in my Barbie house was just his size.

When we went to Target, we brough Hootie. He road in the cart with Chloe.

I brought Hootie with me to Awana. I am in Sparks and I love it.

I brushed my teeth. Hootie did not. He does not have teeth.

Hootie slept with me at bedtime.

While I was in school, Phin took care of Hootie.

We went to feed the goats. I didn't let Hootie feed the goats himself, I did it. I did not want the goats to eat Hootie.

We took Hootie to Walmart and we got to look at the Fish.

I am a pretty good cook, obnoxious as that may be to state about oneself. My children, however, have zero appreciation for my culinary prowess. Ava is learning to expand her palate and she will graciously try whatever is placed on her plate. She is finding more and more foods she likes. Phineas, however, is a different story. Getting Phin to take one bite of any food he's decided he won't like is akin to torture....for us, not him. The kid would live off hotdogs, cheese sticks, and mac n cheese if we left him. He'll dip anything he likes in ketchup from french fries to strawberries. He has a picky palate, but it is a palate completely baffling to the rest of the human population.

Tonight I made chicken chili. It is one thing I guarantee you I am good at making. It's awesome. I've not met a person who has tried it and disliked it. Today, both kids were hesitant to try it. Ava did so without complaint, however, when instructed to do so and, of course, found it to be tasty, but a bit spicy. Phin would not eat one bean. We finally got him to "taste" it....which was a small nightmare. The kid wouldn't put it in his mouth, he barely licked the bean and acted as if he'd been severely poisoned. I wish we would have video taped it- we definitely could have had a YouTube sensation on our hands. Our deal was if he tasted it and still didn't like it he could have a sandwich. He was convinced he'd given it a fair taste. We conceded that he could have a sandwich.

so...instead of a healthy, home cooked meal, Phin chose to eat a Peanut Butter, Jelly, Bologna, and Cheese sandwich. Yes one sandwich. And yes, though, he wouldn't eat it one bean, he ate his entire sandwich.

Settling In

My parents came over the weekend to help us chip away at a few projects. We've lived here almost a year and a half and still have a couple things waiting to be completed. We rarely get to them unless one of our parents visit us. It's just the life stage we are in;)

My mom and I finally peeled off a golfing border from the kids bathroom. I have it decorated in monkeys and had almost forgotten that border didn't match. It was up near the ceiling and who looks up there? I was just so used to it's presence. Recently, a visitor made a comment and I realized we still hadn't pulled that puppy off. My mom and I got it off yesterday and WOW does the bathroom look better. Brighter and more fun....who knew how much those vintage golfers and dark colors on the border actually WERE doing to distract the "fun" effect I was striving for.

My mom and I also painted part of the basement. It's finished but was bland. We painted it blue, put up polka dots and I am waiting on a cute quote to arrive in the mail. We're having an egress window put in in the next couple week. We are hoping to make it brigher and more fun for the kids.

My dad and Marc started work on a MAJOR project;) We have a crawl space that is about 4 ft. high. We haven't shown it to the kids because it was dark and dingy and I didn't want them locking each other in there! My dad and Marc started work to make it into a secret hide out! They had to do some water sealing and them put in electricity. My dad will return this weekend to put up drywall and carpet it. Because it's entrance is four feet up into the wall, they then constructed a fort to gain entry. It will have cool stairs leading up to it and hopefully a slide coming down one side. Underneath them build a house for Chloe to easily access. I can't wait until it's finshed and I can post pictures. It surpasses my dreaming. The kids are going to LOVE it. It's SOOO cool, I'm thinking we need to have regular "come play" times here in the cold Sheboygan winter.;)

I can't tell you how good it feels to be crossing stuff off that list and making our house even more of a home. I want our kids to have beautiful memories here and I love the way Marc and My dad are working their booties off to help make that happen. Thanks GUYS!

Confession # 928374923874-

I have to get a bit better at getting three kids and myself up ready and out of the house in time to have Ava to school by 8:15. It is only the second day and this morning, we had to have McDonalds in the car on the way to school because I ran out of time to give Ava breakfast....and we arrived at school at 8:14...