Tooth on the Looth

The other night at dinner, Lucy was playing with her loose front tooth, wiggling it with her tongue and making silly faces. It was giving me the heebie-jeebies to watch, but I couldn't resist a still shot of my giggling girl.

Fast forward to lunch yesterday, and she tells me that when she bit into her pumpkin muffin, her tooth did something odd (which I won't type out because it's sure to make you shudder like I did when she told me) and she had to go to the school nurse.

Last night after dinner John offered to pull it, but she wasn't ready.

But by this morning, the tooth was ready. And out it came in a bite of breakfast!

She's happy. And lisping. And I'm so thankful that something is finally making this growing girl look younger for a change!

I'm going to cherish these toothless days...

(Or should I say, 'toothleth daythe'?)

I'm Cheap

In a continuing effort to get in the fall spirit, I did some brief research on corn mazes and pumpkin patches to visit during my daughter’s second week of Fall Break. I say brief because I realized quickly that they all charge admission, which is somewhere in the vicinity of $15 per person, which is far more than I’m willing to pay for an hour of organized nature, which my children may or may not appreciate.

Which is to say, I’m cheap.

I know the kids would have a great time, and it would probably be worth it, but I just can’t make myself fork over that kind of cash!

Fortunately, we live in a really great small town, and there are plenty of things to hold the kids’ interest that are totally FREE.

Earlier this week we took a stroll along our historic Main Street, starting at the hay maze. I sat with my baby boy while we watched his siblings play.

Then we admired (and f-f-feared) the huge inflatable decorations.

The local farmer’s market had an incredible selection of massive pumpkins that we browsed and, yes, hugged.

And then we went to Walmart and the kids helped me pick out a couple of pumpkins to take home. For $2.50 each. That’s more like it!

And the greatest part is that they loved it all so much, we went back to the hay maze again the next day.

I love me some free Fall entertainment!

How do you celebrate the change of seasons without spending too much?

Aloha!

My family and I just returned from a delightful trip to Hawaii! I never dared to dream that I'd get to visit our 50th state, but when the opportunity arose, we blissfully accepted it as a precious gift.

We were able to witness and support one of our very best friends in his chance-of-a-lifetime spot in the IRONMAN World Championship triathlon, piggy-backing on his and his family's adventure in Kona on the Big Island. And though I would be mistaken to use the word "relaxing" to describe our days there, it was definitely refreshing and a truly wonderful time for our family of five to spend together and with some of our dearest of friends.

I hope to share more specific stories in the days to come, but for now I am trying to remind myself that I love Fall and embrace the changing season, when in fact I'd prefer to still be basking in the warmth of that tropical paradise...

Recent Favs

Just a few of my favorite photos of my baby boy from these last few weeks...

Yes, that is his tongue trying to wrap itself around his foot. Yum.


He looooooves bath time! Don't you wish you could fold your leg so your foot is in your armpit, too?


This is my view when he is settled on my lap. I love this perspective of my babies but have never quite captured it like this before.


And for this one, I have no words.

One Little Word

We all know that words can be a powerful thing. They have the ability to encourage or destroy, to construct or offend, to heal or hurt.

Recently I came to the realization that I use the word “okay” far too often.

Like, I'm not saying I was, like, a Valley Girl or something, okay?

No, I'm talking about using it in instructing my children.

This one little seemingly harmless word doesn’t necessarily fall into any of the categories I just mentioned, but I discovered it was having a very negative effect on my parenting and my attitude. When I would tell one of my children to do something (or to not do something), and I ended my statement with “Okay?”, what I was doing was giving them the perfectly acceptable opportunity to reply with “No.”

I was asking the question, after all.

That was certainly not my intention! It was driving me crazy that my kids were thinking I was giving them the option to obey. What I really wanted was to know if they understood what I was asking them.

Light bulb!

I have been making a great effort now to remove it from my vocabulary and replaced it with this phrase:

“Do you understand?”

I know, it's several more syllables when I already feel like I talk myself in circles, but it's been worth the extra breath!

Now, if they answer no, I am given the opportunity to explain again.

If they answer yes, then we have an understanding, and they know that I have the expectation that they will obey.

It’s amazing how eliminating one little word from my vocabulary can bring about such change.

Now, if only I could change the 864 other things about my less-than-perfect parenting, I'll be next in line for Parent of the Year.

Promises fulfilled

This was the view from my bedroom window at dusk tonight.

Lucy has been begging her daddy to camp in the backyard all summer long. Tonight was the night that it finally came about.