Student of the Month...

This one earned the "student of the month" award for his class! Good job Ethan!

Halloween

Yes, it was Halloween. We carved a pumpkin the night before. Ok, Todd carved the pumpkin. The kids don't like to touch the guts.

Halloween night the kids hit the streets with a hoard of children from the neighborhood. We live in a great place for trick-or-treating! Ethan was a Star Wars Clone Trooper (this was the only time all night he wore his mask) and Ava was a pumpkin.

Andrew doesn't look too thrilled about this excursion but don't let the expression fool you. We've discovered that he LOVES to ride around in the stroller as of late. I think I might finally have a new running partner! He was dressed up as a giraffe though he just looks like he's wearing pj's. The hat (which makes the outfit) was lost at the last minute...not that he'd wear it anyway!

Once Ava and Andrew had reached their max, we headed back to the house and Ava began passing out the candy to all the other kids. She took this job very seriously and really wanted to do nothing else. Andrew spent the rest of the evening dancing around in front of our house, at first in his "birthday suit" and then with the addition of a diaper. I finally got him dressed in some pj's before everyone labeled us as a bit "trashy".

Now after only 2 days of candy eating, Ethan and Ava have relinquished their candy to the "Candy Fairy" in exchange for potential toys, prizes and/or cash. I wonder what the "Candy Fairy" does with all that candy?? Hmmm...

Just as a note...our kids are not forced to give up their candy. It is a choice they make all on their own. In fact, Ethan told us boldly this morning that he doesn't care about the candy. It's not good for his body or his teeth...he just likes to eat it sometimes. Yes, and that's exactly how I feel about it too...but you couldn't convince me to give it all up so easily!

"Lost" Tooth

This rather nasty looking specimen is Ethan's first "lost" tooth. Though a prized possession and very exciting to him now...I don't think the time spent at the dentist was anything to brag about. About a week ago we noticed a swollen bump on his gums next to a tooth that had a lot of work done on it when he was four (hence the rather large silver filling). We doubted this tooth would hold out until the end of it's supposed life...but we hoped. After a dental consultation and a prescribed antibiotic, he was scheduled to have the tooth extracted. The day before his birthday I took him to a new dentist (long story...but I hated my current one) and they checked him out and pulled the tooth. This was torture for all of us! Ethan fears needles...and surprisingly, the numbing gel they put on your gums before the shot of Novocaine. It's not really the pain...but the anticipation that bothers him most which makes for some pretty stressful situations. He just about loses his mind and all control over his body! Once we were able to calm him down and convince him of the magic of squeezing your intertwined hands together tightly while closing your eyes...they were able to get him all numbed up and very shortly after, extract the tooth. Turns out the infection had eaten away one of his two roots. Yuck! Poor kid inherited the worst teeth and there's not much we can do about it. I just hope we get through the younger years with at least something besides black holes in his mouth.

Andrew is Healthy!

What? You didn't know he was sick? Well, neither did I but his doctors had decided that he needed to have EVERYTHING tested...just to be sure his health wasn't an illusion. Ok?? I've never been one to turn down thorough health care, so sure, you can take some blood. And, I guess you can have some more... Oh, you want everything he eats documented in detail and all of his poop collected for 3 days plus a couple of one time samples? A sweat test for cystic fibrosis?? But we had Todd tested an he wasn't a carrier. Oh, that test isn't thorough enough for you - why did we do it at all then? Ok, this was getting to be too much!

After much deliberation, we decided to go with the flow and let them run ALL of their crazy tests. Why? Because Andrew is a light weight. Yes, just like my other two kids, skinny. I guess this is something rather scary, in case he got the flu or something. But what can you do? Our genetics combine to make skinny kids - the heaviest of the three was a mere 18 lbs. at her year mark. Andrew is no exception. But turns out, after all the testing, the GI specialist could find nothing wrong. In fact, of all his "small" children, Andrew's labs were the best.

I could be annoyed at all the over-attention, and complain about the numerous $10 and $20 co-pays for multiple visits, not to mention the gas and time involved...but in reality, I'm grateful. Grateful that Andrew is, in fact, healthy and strong. Grateful for doctors who care enough to "make sure" everything is well. And grateful to my Heavenly Father for entrusting the care of His spirit children to me, an inexperienced, yet heavily opinionated mortal.

It's October 11th!

Happy 6th Birthday!

Nicknames

There has been a lot of talk of nicknames around my house lately. Probably because of the introduction of a certain neighborhood boy named (or should I say, nicknamed) "Spanky". I guess Ethan and Ava now feel they should also be known by a new alias...and tonight they have chosen. Drum roll please....I now introduce, "Marshmallow" and "Bonk Head". (surprisingly..."marshmallow" would be Ethan...not the other way around)

Ava and Prayer...

A couple of weeks ago, Ava gave her first talk in primary. The topic was "I can pray to Heavenly Father and He will answer my prayers." When I asked her what she wanted to say, she thought about it for a moment and then responded, "Remember when we lost my shoe and Heavenly Father helped us find it? That's what I want to say."

Yes, this was a memorable experience. We went camping at the beach back in August. I took the kids on a bit of a hike along the bluffs and down a very steep trail leading to the beach. When we arrived at the waters edge, the waves were crashing hard on an entirely rocky coast. When the water came up, so did the kids' feet and inevitably their flip-flops would slide right off and drift into the sea. This happened a few times and I was always able to retrieve them...until the last time. Ava's shoe was just gone. No trace left behind. We searched, we scanned the incoming waves, the outgoing waves, the rocks from here to there, and nothing. The ocean had claimed for itself a blue and white striped sandal. I was a little panicked. The walk home would be nothing short of torture for me. Ava was already crying. She would have to ride on my back up the steep incline and the half mile back to the campsite. And then, though it was time to cook dinner, we'd be off to the store to find some kind of replacement (we brought no other shoes). I know, I know. I sound like a bit of a pansy but any extra work added to the amount of energy needed to keep 3 kids happy while camping was just not something I was up for. The dread was setting in and in my last ditch effort to save us from this dilemma, I offered a quiet, yet earnest prayer. And then we looked one last time. Shining in the distance, resting on a large flat rock, quite far up on the shoreline and a bit removed from the tossing waves, there shown Ava's shoe. It was as if it had been plucked out of the thieving sea and brought to rest serenely on this ordinary rock. My heart leapt, tears came to my eyes. My prayer had been answered! In my moment of doom and gloom I had forgotten to include my children in my original prayer...but there was no way I was going to completely miss this life lesson. I quickly gathered my children and together we voiced a heartfelt prayer of gratitude and relief. They have not forgotten this and I doubt they will. As for me, I think I need reminders like this every once in a while and hopefully I too will not soon forget!