Toothless the Nightfury Dragon

Fred lost his first tooth!  His two front bottom teeth have been loose for a month or so and he has been working to get them out.  Every night at bedtime we brush teeth and I wiggle them hard a couple times to help out.  The other night I could tell that the one was really loose; and well; having one child who swallowed a tooth, let's just say I didn't want a re-peat of that scenario..... so I asked Fred if I could just try one more time to get it out.

POP!

Out it came, no problemo, just a little blood & NO TEARS!  Oh, Fred - you are such a little man, good job dude!  Let's go show Daddy & Sissies your toothless grin!

We booked it downstairs and he took in all the "cool, dude" and "awesome" accolades and we went to head back upstairs to bed.

While still in the kitchen and with everyone around, little man grabbed his tummy and started whining "Oh, Momma, I don't feel so good....." while his eyes were rolling up in his head and he started flopping around like you do just before you faint.....

I jumped into action, grabbing him and talking to him to keep him from passing out, trying to gain eye contact and (gently) smackin his cheeks to try to get him to snap out of it.  My mind was racing 1000 miles an hour... please don't pass out; you did such a good job not crying when you saw blood and your sisters will never let you live it down if you faint after loosing your first tooth.... when Fred suddenly perked right up, jumped out of my arms and yelled

  

"Boo! haha Momma, got ya!"

If he wasn't toothless before, he certainly would be now........

Birthday Madness

Fred is six (6!) and Rose is fourteen (14!)..... wow how time goes by in the blink of an eye.  Seems like Rose was just turning six, and now she's getting ready to start high school. 

I decided to make our birthday celebrations a little less of a production this year (to save sweet moola and teach contentment) so our parties were low key and no-stress!  Fred hung out at his favorite park with his buddies, and Rose went to the movies with friends (sans parents or siblings, eeekkk) and then hung at her favorite park with her buddies (sans parents or siblings, eeekkk)..... I laugh at the differences AND the similarities in their choices of party venues!  giggle giggle

Enjoy the pics of days gone by!

Her love of reading begins...

Rose turning 1 and diggin in!

Halloween 1998 cheering on Momma's school!

Halloween 1999 - she wore that bunny costume every day for at least a year!

Jelly Belly 2001

Seaworld 2004

chilling with friends 2006

We met Josh Groban 2007 (He has pretty teeth!)

becoming a photographer 2008

......and now.....

a beautiful, smart, talented, crazy silly

wonderful daughter that I am blessed with.

I love you, little one
________________________________________

Now Fred's pics of days gone by

our little man (aka squirt) arrives!

My 2 fav men! 

Yes, his thumb is always in his mouth!

It was in his mouth during ultra-sounds and

went back in right after birth! 

I'll be a sad momma when he stops....

2007 with his "Adventure hat" he wore everywhere

Halloween 2008 whudduya mean I can't eat it all now?

Summer 2009 

2010 Fred & his little dudes

Oh how I love you Little Man,

you are already reading and have your own little life.....

but you will always be your momma's boy!

My Book Bender

Read

by Ann Turner

Do you remember

learning to read?

That book full of squiggles

like ants, escaped.

the teacher's big thumb

on the page,

your heart beating inside

afraid that all you'd ever see

was ants---

Then a word popped out.

"See," and another, "cat,"

and my finger on teacher's

we read "I see cat."

I ran around the room

so happy I saw words

instead of ants.

I just love this poem!  Fred is learning to read and it is so fun to hear him reading EVERYTHING and sounding out the words on signs, buildings, shirts, bags and of course, books EVERYWHERE we go! 

I just love reading, too.  So, I am starting a book blog... I hope you will check it out and I hope you enjoy my musings.  I haven't quite figured out how I am going to format it, so it will be a work in progress (just like me!). 

http://www.mybookbender.blogspot.com/

A rose by any other name.....

Little man decided he wanted to change his name.  I think all kids do this at one point or another, but this was stinkin' adorable!  His name is written on his backpack and he (or one of his class-mates) crossed it out and wrote in their cute kindergarten penmanship "Fred". 

So little man will now be known as Fred.

One question... why Fred?  What I wouldn't give to read that 5 year old super-hero's mind!

Money, Money, Money ~ In a rich man's world

Little man has an obsession with "The Circle Dot Store", which is commonly known as Target.  He refused to call it Target for a long time - now he does & the rest of the family calls it The Circle Dot Store.  This obsession of his is not limited just to one store, any store he knows sells toys he will beg to visit every time we drive by.  Maybe it's a boy thing, he LOVES games of any kind, video is his favorite, but any card game, board game, or guessing game will do.  Anyone want to play rock, paper, scissors?  Uno?  Candy Land?  Wii?  Nintendo DS?  A puzzle?  Tag?  If the game involves guns, oh that's so much better!  His obsession became begging to visit the store, one particular instance sticks in my head and goes like this:

"Mom, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
"Don't know son, what are you thinking?"
"Chuck-E-Cheeses!"  (With the cutest little melt the Momma smile I've ever seen!)
Because you know Chuck-E-Cheese has the best games ever, and then you win toys! 

I decided it was time to stop the begging and begin the earning.  You know the saying, if you give a man food he will eat for a day, but if you teach a man to fish he will eat for a lifetime?  So begins the responsibility of earning money by doing chores around the house...... ALLOWANCE! 

Little man has had chores for a couple of years now, easy ones for his age like clearing the plates after eating, picking up toys at the end of the day and such.  He is such a good boy and helps out a lot, but allowance brings a whole new set of responsibility in our household.  I spoke to him about making his bed everyday, keeping his bedroom floor picked up and keeping his backpack where it belongs.  He will earn some money to be able to spend it at the Circle Dot Store with his own money instead of begging for toys every time I go!  We also have a rule that of course, extra chores are encouraged!  Just ask what can be done and we'll negotiate a job and a price!  My girls don't really care to do extra, but Little Man has cleaned windows, folded and put away his own laundry, wiped down cabinets and anything else I can think of for a 5 year old to do to earn extra cash!  He's a working machine!  Every morning as soon as his little head pops up from the top bunk, he is making the bed as he gets out of it! And in the evening when his big sissy's are doing their chores, he is asking what he can do to earn an extra quarter!

After a lot of hard work for a couple of weeks, he had enough money to go buy his own toys!  This is what he bought with his hard earned cash!
 

Marshmallow Gun Attack on Daddy! 

Nothing like the pride of ownership and victory over Poppa!

Now, If I could just get everyone to not eat the marshmallows that they find hiding in every corner of the house!  ;)

Trick or Treat my Pretties

Halloween is one of my favorite times of the year... what a great time to have fun, dress up, eat candy!  Yummy!

• Rose was too old to care about carving pumpkins :(
• Bella carved her own pumpkin :)
• Little Man and LaLa made carving pumpkins very fun :) :)
• Trick or Treating with 4 kids gets you lots and lots and lots of CANDY!!

Rose the Candy Cane Witch

Bella the Zombie Southern Belle

Little Man as Darth Vader

LaLa as Snow White

 

LaLa originally wanted to be Princess Leah - which I loved (Darth Vadar and Princess Leah - how cute!), but she changed her mind after I bought the Snow White DVD.  Bella was going to be a cute Southern Belle but decided at the last minute to add the zombie part (I think it's because she loves to play with the makeup!).  And I can't tell you how many times Rose changed in and out of her costume; adding leggings, shorts, changing her mind, then changing back again.... Little Man; however, never once changed his mind on his costume!

It was a great evening with lots of laughs and sugar all around!  Come to think of it, we will all be on a sugar high for at least a week!

Happy Harvest!

Spider Ranger

My son is the cutest little man I have ever met! He loves video games, cars, and all things "manly" - so much different than my three girls! Duh...
So he informed me the other day that he is a "Spider-Ranger". He loves Spiderman and the Power Rangers, so in his little mind, he can be whatever he wants, so why not be both?
I love that little dude.