Tooth Fairy

Yesterday, Sophia got off the bus and ran in the house as excited as she could possibly be. She lost a tooth at school, not just any tooth, but her FIRST tooth!!! Losing it at school, to a first grader, was the best way possible to lose it. Her tooth was loose and the teacher sent her down to the nurse, who (lucky for me) pulled it out and put it in a nice little tooth shaped necklace to take home (pictured above). All night long I answered questions about the tooth fairy, how she got in the house and how she would leave a $1 bill under her pillow in the morning. Then it came time for bed. Sophia thought about it and thought about it, and she decided she was not ready to give the tooth fairy her tooth. Chris said, what if it were $5? Nope, not even for $5. I asked what she was going to do with an old tooth. She quickly said she wanted to wear the necklace to school the next day. GROSS. I explained that was not an option since a tooth was really just an old body part that fell out, (ick) and that she could reconsider giving it to the tooth fairy the next day. So I guess the countdown begins. How many days will the tooth sit in the little tooth box necklace? Sophia has another loose tooth, so I'm guessing the novelty will wear off and the cash will eventually win. I'll keep you posted!

But the fruit of the spirit is...

As Anna practiced her memory verse she caught us off-guard. And as usual, we had to make the instant choice as parents - to laugh or not to laugh. "But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, penis..." Oh my gosh! Did she just say penis instead of peace? Luckily, I was not facing her so I could laugh silently, Chris on the other hand was facing her and had to praise her appropriately for learning such a long memory verse. She would burst into tears if she knew we were laughing at her. Ms. Lori would not appreciate it if we didn't correct her and teach it right. "But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against these things, there is no law." Galatians 5:22-23. Here's hoping it comes out correctly at church on Sunday! If not, sorry Ms. Lori!

I can't let my sisters go to school!

While getting in the car yesterday, little Izzy said, "Mommy, I just can't let my sisters go to school." I asked why, and she said she needed them to play with her. It melts my heart! Chris and I have spent years having people ask us why we had our children close together in age. As if that were a question I would EVER ask someone! But, needless to say, people ask us often, or ask us if our children were planned? Can you imagine asking someone that? Seriously! But, other than the idea of getting through the diaper stage faster, we knew we wanted our children to be close enough in age that they would play together, be great friends, and love to share in some of the same activities. By the grace of God, we have that! Our children play together all day long. The little ones miss the older ones on school days, and they are excited to see eachother when the bus pulls up in the afternoon. My kids rarely tell me they're bored or ask me what they can do. They just play together. What a blessing!

How many times can you watch The Land Before Time?

Sophia woke up Sunday morning with a fever and hasn't really been able to break it yet. She's been sent to our own version of an isolation room - my bedroom. Ughh. Since the germs were already in there, that meant Chris and I slept in the living room. Me on the couch, Chris on the floor. To be clear, Chris could have slept on the couch or a bed downstairs, but he wanted to be near his little girl. So all day Sunday and all day Monday, Sophia has spent time in our room watching The Land Before Time. I'm sure its a great movie, but, really, to spend ALL day watching it seems a bit much. To be fair, she discovered the Bonus Features early Sunday afternoon and has been navigating them since. I'm trying to encourage her to branch out and try a different movie. We'll see how this afternoon goes. Surely there's a limit to how many hours you can spend on a single movie?

Dora & the Health Department

Our pediatrician's office does an annual flu shot clinic for 1 week. The timing was perfect because Sophia had Thursday and Friday off from School. We went in on Thursday, and they said they had closed the clinic the night before and didn't have any more shots. Uggghhh. On to the Health Department. I took 4 kids, ages 1, 3, 4, and 6 to the Health Department where we proceeded to wait 1 hour and 45 minutes in a waiting room filled with non-English speaking families. No big deal - right? Except when your children are absolutly positive that they speak Spanish thanks to Dora the Explorer. I seriously wanted to tape their mouths shut as they butchered the language, probably insulted people saying who knows what! Thank you Dora for giving my children the confidence to humiliate me in public!!

Guess its not Wednesday yet?

I started my day by dropping off Anna at preschool and then heading to the bank to open a second savings account. I'm actually trying to keep Christmas and birthday gift money separate finally! I was waiting to talk to the banker when I got a call from the preschool director. I had dropped her off on the wrong day and needed to come get her! She was not happy with me at all and wouldn't talk to me for a while. Geesh. So, I guess its not Wednesday afterall!

First Haircuts

Last week the time finally came to cut my son's hair for the first time. It was traumatic for him and I both. He had beautiful little curls (which my husband affectionately called "flippers" as somehow that was more masculine than curls). We got out the clippers and, as expected, the sound scared him. He cried. I almost cried saying good-bye to my baby. He now looks like a well-groomed little boy. Still cute, just so different! Two days I had to come back and trim up a few spots that I missed. He did a much better job holding still and there were no tears from either of us this time. Hopefully he won't be scarred for life!

Please, please, please come home soon!

Chris has been out of town for two days and Anna, my 4-year-old has been devastated. She is a true Daddy's girl and normally wakes up every morning and crawls into bed with us for a little snuggle time with her Daddy. She keeps breaking out into tears saying "Daddy's not supposed to go on trips without me!" Her prayer tonight was that "Daddy please, please, please come home soon!" She misses him so much she has already made a big yellow sign to take to the airport to welcome him home. Did I mention he's only been gone TWO DAYS!

Can you be a stay-at-home mom if you don't stay at home?

Welcome to my world! I am a 31 year-old stay-at home mom with a wonderful husband and 4 beautiful children. Some people want to be teachers, doctors, lawyers... I always wanted to be a mom. It is great- most of the time. I get tons of hugs and kisses and get to experience plenty of firsts. First time to crawl, walk, say "mama," break an arm, throw up, fall in a toilet. You know the routine. Lately, I've been so busy I've begun to wonder if you can really be called a stay-at-home mom if you're never at home. I get caught up being the PTO president, errand running, "to do list" toting mom that I don't spend that much time at home. Luckily, 3 out of my 4 still nap so I'm guaranteed to be at home every afternoon. I'm thinking, though, that maybe they should call it an "on-the-go" mom rather than a stay-at-home mom.