Kelsey at the Dentist

Right before school started, I was able to get the older three kids in for their semi annual teeth cleaning at the dentist.  Kelsey was 3.5 at the time, and kept asking when it was her turn.  Since she was so excited, and she had a mouth full of teeth, I figured why not.  I couldn't get her in at the same time as the older kids, but I brought her back a few weeks later and she was a big girl all by herself!

The hygienist was super nice.  She showed Kelsey every tool and let her hold them and make them work.  Honestly, Kelsey almost looked/sounded like she wanted to move on from that part.  She was ready to go, and didn't need any instructions.

In true little sister form, she did great!  She kept her mouth open the whole time.  Even when she didn't have to.  It was funny to watch her try to answer the questions with her mouth open (but no tools inside).  

She looked so small in the chair, but so grown up at the same time!

Happy Tooth Cleaning!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

For hubby's birthday, Kelsey and I visited him at work, bringing a cookie cake and taking him to lunch.  His co-workers were very nice and brought him donuts in the morning and kept putting awesome memes up around his office.  It was great!  When he came home he had a few cards waiting for him...

 And a pinterested door surprise.

 Surprise!

 Of course, no birthday is ever complete without a few presents, AKA birthday tools.

 And a cake!  Hubby likes the yellow cake with a chocolate marble effect.  

 And it was yummy!  I mean, hello!!!  Sprinkles!

 Happy Bithday Hubby!

Way to get older!

Another One Bites the Dust! (Dylan edition)

Dylan lost his first tooth on Sunday.  3 days later, he lost another!!!  Again, I didn't realize it was that loose.  He had eaten breakfast and brushed his teeth.  I sent him outside to get in the car and 2 minutes later he came running back inside!  He had lost another one!

 Actually, Kari had pulled it out for him.  Her story is: "He told me it was loose, so I asked him if I could see how loose it was.  When I wiggled it, it was only hanging on by a thread.  I asked him if I could pull it and he said yes.  And out it came!"

 I made him quickly go put it under his pillow before he left for school.

 And pose for a few pictures before we were late.

And then get in the car so we could go to school. 

When you loose a tooth in the morning before school, you get a little bit less fanfare :)

Got-Ta Dance!

Sometimes I just want to smile.

Happy Weekend!

Dylan's First Tooth!

Remember how being a younger sibling is hard?  And how all your older siblings get to do things before you?  And how you hate that?!?!  Dylan got all the way through kindergarten without loosing a tooth.  Without one even being loose!  And he got all the way through the first week of 1st grade before he came to me and told me that he had a loose tooth!  So, what did I do?  I grabbed my camera, of course!  Think of this as the before.

When I wiggled his tooth, I was surprised how loose it was.  He had never mentioned it felt loose before and it was clearly ready to come out.  So ready, in fact, that his other tooth had already started to come in behind it!  You can clearly see it here.

I asked if he was brave enough to pull it out, and he didn't think he was.  I asked if daddy could take a look, and maybe pull it out, and he said ok.

Please note his body posturing.  Tense.  Pain.  Fear.

When in actuality, daddy had already pulled the tooth out of his mouth.  I love the look on daddy's face has he solemnly puts the tooth in Dylan's hand, though Dylan is all ready to tense back up for another pull. 

Oh!  That's it!  It's out already!!!

That was easy!

Welcome to the whole in the mouth club kid!

Some day Kelsey.  You are next!  Don't worry.

Tooth Fairy is gonna go broke!

New Pajamas!

The weekend before school was starting, we had a family reunion down at Pa's house.  I was assigned to bring rolls, so we headed to Sam's club.  On our way down the aisle, we passed a display of pajamas.  The kids instantly fell in love and begged.  And, I guess I was in a generous mood, because I looked through and found the right size for each child.

The teenage mutant ninja turtles jammies have removable capes....  Don't know why, because, as far as my memory goes, they don't have any.  But, the batman pajamas had capes, so I guess they didn't want the TMNT to be left out.  And, besides, Kelsey looks super excited about it, so I guess it is ok.

When I asked each child to pick out which pajamas they wanted, Kari and Dylan picked out the same pair.

On the way home, Kari was looking at the tag and said "Mom, why does it say boys?"  I answered "The manufacturers assume that mostly boys like TMNT."  To which she responded "Well, they are wrong."  Prepare yourself...  Imma get political for a second: I don't understand this whole changing gender thing.  Why can't you be a girl that likes teenage mutant ninja turtles?  Why can't you be a boy who likes to wear skirts?  It is a bit unusual.  Weird even.  But no weirder than going through surgery to change something that you were born with, that doesn't/shouldn't affect your likes or dislikes, your sexual preferences, or your career choice.  Just my opinion.

Kaitlyn and Kelsey both chose the hot pink, velvet, princess dress pajamas.  I tried to get Kelsey to pose Glamour Shot-esque.  This is the result:

Curtsy!

And this is why my children got new pajamas.  Because I am a pushover sometimes and because it made for a fun picture session.

Packing Light

All this travelling this summer means that I didn't always completely unpack right when I got home.  Hey!  I was tired.  *Cough, lazy, cough*  One day, when I was getting ready for the day, Kelsey came to spend some time with me.  After a few minutes, she got bored.  *gasp!*  I went to go looking for her and found this:

Actually, it took me a few seconds to find her.  Not gonna lie.  At first, I was just frustrated that everything that was in the bag was now out of the bag.

But, I quickly realized she wasn't where I thought she should be.  I could hear her giggle, so I knew she wasn't far off.  

When I finally looked at/in the bag, I was completely surprised.  I had no idea she could fit inside!

I guess, when her grandparents say "I'll just pack you in my bags and take you with me" I'll have to be a little bit more careful!

Cheese!

Silly "Baby"!

Chicken Pillows

I didn't go to Utah for your average "trip".  So, there wasn't a whole lot that I brought home with me.  Other than, you know....  people.  One of the things I did bring home was a recipe for Chicken Pillows from my little sister.  I was so impressed with them in Utah, that I thought I had better bring them home and let my kids try them.  They are my toughest critics.  That way I could tell whether I needed to add them to my repertoire.  (Things I love in this picture: Kelsey's profile and Kari's background smile)

The recipe consists of croissant dough, chicken, cream cheese, butter and bread crumbs.  I mean, really...  How can you go wrong with that?

Thankfully, the recipe was a success!

And the kids ate it too!  ;)

Hubby wasn't 100% fond of it, but I suspect that is because he got the leftovers...  He was more like 80% fond.  With an acceptable range of 3% + or -.

And then...  and then, because I had the camera out, and because my children are weird, the photo session turned into a goofy picture session.

Because, well, that is what kids do I suppose.

They must get that from the other side of the family!

Class Clown

Kelsey is my fourth child. As such, she feels the need to gain attention any way she knows how.  Thankfully, up to this point, it is mostly by doing silly things, rather than misbehaving.  Which doesn't bother me at all.  But her true personality is that of a clown.  She loves the attention.  She loves to be silly.

And I love her.

Summer Bowling

This summer we also signed up for the Kids Bowl Free Program.  It gives us 3 free games EVERY DAY.  I don't know about you, but that is too many for us.  I can play that many in a short amount of time, if I can concentrate and not be distracted by kids.  But, that rarely happens.  And it isn't something I really desire to do daily.  It ended up working out that we would go about once a week.  If they had free lanes, we would often divide up so that Kari and I could bowl on one lane, and the littles could bowl on the other.  It works out pretty well.  By the time Kari and I had finished our 3, the littles had gotten through 1.5-2.  And it was clearly time to go.

Kari is working on bowling without the ramp and bumpers.  She did a pretty good job!

Sometimes Kaitlyn hated being relegated to the "kids" lane.  But once she saw that Kari and I didn't use bumpers, it didn't bother her too badly :)

Dylan really just enjoyed hauling heavy balls around and bashing into things with it.

But Kelsey would get excited.

Everytime her ball would go down the lane.

And she would scream like this.  Every.  Time.  She knocked any pins down.  If there was any one close by I had to try to get her to tone it down a bit.  But, I find it pretty hilarious.

These were our scores at the end of the game.  Please note my 124.  Quite possibly my best game ever.    

Sure glad that semester of bowling in college has paid off!

Kelsey's Gymnastics

This summer, we took the big girls out of gymnastics and let Kelsey give it a whirl.  It is the first time she has had any organized activity to do, and she really had lots of fun.  And I thought it was also decent for the big kids to have to sit out and watch for a while. Builds character.

 First, they did a kind of obstacle course just to get a little bit warmed up.  (and yes, on the rings, she is supposed to pull her feel up :)

Then they went over to the side and did the official stretches.  They had a whole routine worked up about smelling their feet and kissing their knees.  It was pretty adorable.

And then they moved all over the gym.  They jumped on the tumble track (Yes, she is going backwards. Please note she is floating)...

... did this cool/weird trampoline pad thing (No she is not on the beam.  Look below it)...

,... worked on the floor a bit...

... and worked on gaining more shoulder and arm strength...

She looks happy?  Right? 

They went over to the beam (yes, my child has no concept of personal space)...

And got to jump into the big foam pit!

Not pictured: uneven bars.

At the end of each class, they line up for stamps to show how much fun they had and how much they learned.

Is she doing back handsprings?  Nope.  Not yet.  Did she gain strength and learn some life skills?  Absolutely!  She also got a cool stamp (on her leg).  So...  there's that.

Because I have to be fair, I don't think I can let her do gymnastics now because none of the other kids got to do regular, after school activities until 1st grade.  Plus, gymnastics for 4 kids is dang expensive!  So I must admit that for now, keeping her out doesn't hurt my feelings.  I was afraid I was going to create a monster by letting her do it, and then asking her to stop.  Thankfully, she seems to be doing ok sitting out.  For now.  And I am grateful that Pickle, and Grandma and Grandpa were able to come and watch her :)