Another One Bites The (Fairy) Dust

Emma lost another tooth!

Thank goodness she has lost both while Garry has been in town because looking at wiggly, wobbly teeth makes me a little sick. Ugh.

She woke up to a silver dollar the next morning. At first she thought it was a quarter, and she was a good sport about the price going down, but Garry explained to her that it was actually a whole dollar!

Wear Them Out!!

Usually it seems like you spend a lot of time or money (or both) on a Halloween costume that the kids wear once and then you promptly put away. But not this year. We were so busy!
First, Macey was able to go to a birthday party and dress up. She had a great time and afterward we went to a party at The District (a large shopping area close to our home). The girls painted pumpkins and went trick-or-treating to the stores. Macey declared it to be the best day of her whole entire life!

Emma was also able to have a class party! That's her on the front row -- my little witch!

Molly was just the cutest Elmo! She was so good about leaving her hat on and at one stop even did a little Elmo dance.

One night my sister and I took the kids to search for The Great Pumpkin! The kids were able to get their faces painted, do a cake walk, do a ring-toss, and fished for prizes. The actual search did not go well for the little kids. The big kids were fast and furious in picking up candy. But, now that we know how the "search" works, we'll be ready for next year!

The girls were able to go trick-or-treating at Daybreak (the community around Emma and Macey's dance studio) and then trunk-or-treating at our church.

Holy cow! We were busy!

Sporting a Big Girl Haircut

For the last two years I have kept Macey in the same hairstyle -- a little ponytail on top of her head. For the last year she has hated it, saying it made her look like a baby, and she was right.

But, Garry took the girls to Cookie Cutters to get haircuts. I told him I thought Macey would look really great in a bob. Check out my little girl!

Writing About The Un-write-ables

It has been hard to update my blog lately because it seems like I have been suffering from from bloggers block. There have been two huge things on my mind lately but they have been unwriteable. So it's been hard to get anything else to the surface.

First, Garry was out of town for a few weeks. It was a stressful time, but I could not really write about it because I did not want to advertise that I was home. ALONE. And the good news was that I did have company for some of the time! My parents came for a few days and my sister came and spent the night one night and another night my other sister took the big girls and let them have a sleep over at her house. I was really grateful for all of their help.

In other news, I am starting the fifth month of my pregnancy. It's been an interesting pregnancy because I was so sure that we wanted four kids and then when I found out I was pregnant, I realized that I was starting all over. There were moments of severe panic! I was still having problems getting Molly to sleep through the night! What was I thinking?!?!

At my last doctor visit they could not find a heartbeat, and I had to go in for an ultrasound. That was not a fun time. They said everything looked fine, but I am anxious for my next visit. I'm thin and usually nurses can find heartbeats fast. So, it's an anxious time.

I could find out this month the gender of the baby, but in my world of pink (pink clothes, pink hats, pink shoes, pink blankets, pink CARSEAT) I am daring the fates to send me a boy. We usually get what we're unprepared for, and so I think, hey, bring it on! So we'll just be surprised in March. I'm not that worried about it. Okay, I am worried about the pink carseat. . .

Kiss, Kiss

I love Miss Molly, but she is certainly a handful at times. Whether it be with Nestle Chocolate Powder or markers or baby powder. . .she's made messes with all of them this week alone (sigh).

After a particular mess, she got a stern talking to. She stood there, took her verbal lashing, and looked up at me, big blue eyes shining.

"Mama," she said, "I want mwa-mwa". She had to say it twice before I realized that she wanted a kiss. After all, if you listen to a kiss, it's not a kiss. It's a mwa-mwa.

I guess everyone just wants a hug, a kiss, and a certainty that things are going to be okay.

In The Valley. . .

In Maryland we were spoiled by living on top of a huge hill. We never had any water issues except when the drain next to the community parking lot would get clogged, overflow, and we'd lose a parking space for a day or two.

Here in the valley. . .I have water issues. Due to an ill-placed gutter and a front yard that was sloped incorrectly, everything from the front yard drains into one window well. When we moved in, it had flooded. And it flooded the next day as well. Our neighbors lent us a pump that I can put in the window well and pump out the water. But, this means that we have to be home during every rain storm, which is not going to be practical forever.

Another problem is snow! We had our first snow fall yesterday and I had to pump out the window well five times in the morning due to everything melting into that window well.

I know from the fact that there is an orange-bucket device in that window well that they had a pump in there before. They took the pump but left the bucket device. I am guessing that when they tried to sell the house (before it turned into a short sale) that they removed the pump so prospective buyers would not be immediately aware of the water issues.

We need to put in another sump pump down in there, but we do not have a dedicated power source near that particular window well. We'll have to have an electrician come out and create one or just deal with an ugly cord for awhile, because I cannot spend many more nights, half awake, listening for the rain.

If anyone has any advice or experiences, please share!

Saving the World. . .One Trip to the Beach at a Time

This year the Utah PTA had a state-side program that celebrates the arts. Students are encouraged to do a project (art, music, photography -- lots of options) around the theme "Together We Can. . ."

Emma is a great little artist. We are always amazed by what she draws and what she comes up with. So I bought her some markers and some paper and explained the theme. I said, "Emma, you have to finish the thought 'Together We Can. . .' and then draw a picture about it."

Wanting her to do her own work, I walked away and let her loose. I checked in later to find out that her theme was. . .(drumroll please!)

Together We Can Go To The Beach.

She drew a picture of our family at the beach.

Haha! I know it won't win any prizes but I had to laugh as I filled out the application, included the title and "inspiration" and under materials (watercolor? oil on canvas?) I got to write 'Crayola Marker'.

Go Emma!