Talk Fest '08

Trying to catch up on blogging, I am going to start back at the first weekend in April. My friend since grade school, who I never get to talk, was actually able to get away for a weekend to visit us! She and her daughter, Claire arrived on Friday afternoon. Believe it or not, we had a lot to catch up on, so we got down to the business of talking right away! It should also come as no surprise that Emma and Claire hit it off right away. They were in their own little girl world and we hardly knew they were here.
Saturday morning we woke up to the news that Skybus had folded and there would be no return flight for Amy and Claire. I think both Amy and I thought Allan was playing a seriously bad joke on us. Luckily, we got busy finding alternate ways to travel back to Ohio and they had a rental car booked that morning. I think we all were thanking God that we don't live any farther than 7 hours away!
We continued our "talk fest" as Allan termed it throughout the rest of the weekend. We also managed to fit in a little shopping at the outlets (girls only!). I'm not sure if it was due to our talking or what, but for some reason, we only made it into three stores at the mall before returning home to the guys.
Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate and we weren't able to take in some of my outdoor ideas. Fortunately, we still had lots to talk about, so we drank a little wine, relaxed and talked!
Even though the flight situation was a huge bummer, we had a great weekend. It was so nice to catch up with an "old" friend who has been like a sister to me for an unmentionable number of years. We definitely need to do it more often.

Toothless!

It finally happened! Will LOST his first tooth. He has had three teeth pulled prior to this, but he finally was able to lose one on his own. Hurray! It happened on Tuesday night after dinner. Dad was tired of this lose tooth "hanging around", so he suggested that Will tie fishing line around it and then pull.

I should also point out that Will's two top front teeth have no roots. They have been gone since his last dentist visit in February, according to the x-ray.

So, Will went along with the fishing line idea, but insisted that HE be the one to pull the tooth out. After gently pulling a few times, he decided that he was done with this idea and he would wait a little longer to remove the tooth. Dad said that he would take the fishing line off and, can you believe it? the tooth came off right with the fishing line! :) What a sneaky dad! It happened so fast, that Will didn't even know what had happened. We picked the tooth up off the kitchen floor and ran to the mirror to see our new Will. What a look! To make things worse, the other front tooth is still hanging on crooked and he REALLY looks goofy.

That night, Will put his tooth in a glass for the fairy. Can you believe the fairy was so busy that night that she didn't get to Will? (my nomination for Mother-of-the-Year was revoked because of this) Will patiently waited and thank goodness, she got to him last night. She left him two gold coins and her dress turned the water orange this time!

We Have a Tree House!

After a ton of stressing, research, discussing and deliberating, we brought Sharon (Uncle Dennis' awesome girlfriend) into the process. There is a lot to this story, but I am sure no one wants to read about all of my doubts, questions and deliberations. So, to make a long story semi-short, I discussed everything with Sharon. Not only did she come up with a great idea and location to place the tree house, but she also pitched the idea to Allan and CONVINCED him to build it on Saturday. I will be forever grateful to Sharon for this, and so will our children.
We started on Saturday after breakfast. The guys, Allan, Dennis and John were heading out to the local Lowe's to purchase the supplies. We sent Will along to keep them on track and Sharon gave Dennis a firm speech about sticking to the task before they left. For those readers who have men in their lives, you know why we had to resort to those measures.
The day was perfect, with 70 degree weather, and the project went smoothly with only a few doubts. It is amazing what a group of hard workers and good ideas can get you!
We worked until almost dark and ended up with a fort in the trees, two sides of spindles and a slide. Since Sharon and I couldn't bear not letting the kids play on the fort until the rest of the spindles were done, who knows when, we finished them the next day, on Easter. And while the Knot Master (aka Dennis) was in our midst, we added a swing and rope for climbing/swinging.

I knew the whole thing was worth it when the kids had to be pried off to come inside to eat and the words "thank you" kept coming out of their mouths. It was truly priceless hearing little Jack say thank you over and over. They have played in the tree house everyday since it was built.

I can't begin to express enough thanks to everyone who worked on the tree house and especially to Sharon who initiated the whole project. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!
Once again, we had an awesome time completing a project with family. It almost isn't work when you have as much fun as we did! I think our muscles told us otherwise though. :)

Tonsil Update

We had an appointment with an ENT yesterday regarding Will's tonsils. Long and short of it is that he is going to have the tonsils taken out. The doctor will look at the adenoids during surgery and determine from there if they also need to be removed. His guess is that they will have to be removed as well. No big surprise there.
So far, the surgery is scheduled for June 25th. We have really been playing this surgery up, just in case, so Will is now fully prepared and almost looking forward it. His main thought is: ICE CREAM and Popsicles. He even wrote a letter to his friend yesterday telling him that he had to have his tonsils removed and.....p.s. I get to eat lots of ice cream.

Dry Morning #2!

Last week, Jack woke up with a dry diaper. This was amazing, so I immediately put him on the toilet. After being uncomfortable for a bit, he relaxed and we heard the SOUND. It was the beautiful sound of pee tinkling in the toilet!!!!!! It was such a celebration! Emma and Will came in the bathroom and we had high fives all around. Then, we did some dancing, clapping, singing and other antics that no one really wants to envision. :)
Jack then went to Emma's school and told everyone he saw that he went potty in the toilet. It was hysterical. He was like a rock star that day! Everyone was giving him high fives and candy (it was the Easter party day). We really lived it up because I certainly didn't expect it to happen again anytime soon.
Leave it to Jack to prove me wrong! He woke up again this morning with a dry diaper and I put him on the toilet. He wasn't happy about it this morning, but I told him to just sit for a minute while I got Emma's toothbrush ready. All of the sudden he was yelling "I did it! I did it!". He sure was! More high fives and celebration today! One step at a time and big celebration with each one.

Our First Geocache!

In a word, it is fun! Last weekend, we ordered pizza for lunch and had 15 minutes to wait for it to be done. Allan, the genius, decided to look for our first geocache. We had previously downloaded geocache sites onto our GPS for future use.
For those not familiar with this activity, here is how it works: People hide geocaches all over the world. You can go online to geocache.com to find the locations. You must have a GPS to locate the geocache. The GPS will direct you to a pretty specific area. From there, you have to hunt for the "box". Inside the box will be a log book to sign and "treasures" as termed by our children. You have to leave something, if you take something.
For our first hunt, we headed to a local park. We parked the van and had to hike into the woods to find our geocache. Will and Emma were literally running down a path trying to be the first ones to find the "treasure". They didn't understand that it wasn't going to just jump out at them! Of course, Allan had the GPS in hand and Jack and I brought up the rear because his little legs had a hard time maneuvering over the logs and around the puddles. :) After Allan had directed the big two to the general spot, they began searching. All of the sudden, we heard a scream. It could only mean that Miss Emma had found the geocache! They waited to open it until Jack and I arrived at the spot. It was a green metal box and inside was a log book, which we signed. There were also a few trinkets that we could choose from to take. We left an American flag and took a geocoin.
The kids talked about this "adventure" and "treasure hunt" all day long. It was SO much fun! And it was free! We haven't gone hunting again yet, but plan to make this a family activity as often as we can.

Catching up

A lot has been going on since I last blogged. Since I don't have a lot of time and the beautiful weather is calling me, I am just going to hit the highlights without much detail. I know, that will be hard for me to do, but I am going to attempt it!

Aunt Pat and Uncle Larry drove down, with my mom in tow, to join in on the Welcome Home Celebration for Chris. We had a GREAT visit with lots of catching up, card playing, cocktail hours complete with homemade wine (thank goodness Uncle Larry inherited Grandpa's winemaking skills!) and way too much food! It was a wonderful visit, but way too short. Uncle Larry promises that they will be back and I WILL hold him to it!

The end of February our time was devoted to Will. He was in a Cup Stacking tournament, a Cub Scout pinewood derby and had a sleepover at SciWorks with his dad and a couple hundred other scouts. He won a third place medal in Cup Stacking, but didn't place in the derby.

The beginning of March brought lots of beautiful weather and we have been taking advantage of each day. Will started baseball practice and is extremely excited about playing this year. He is in a more serious league this year, so we are all anxious to see how things turn out.

Allan put up a bird feeder for me (my birthday present) and we are squirrel-free so far. We tried wrapping copper sheeting around the post in hopes that it would not allow the squirrels to climb. Stay tuned our final results. Now, if we could just keep the deer away from the backyard flowers and plants......

Here are a few pictures to highlight the last few weeks.

We have grass!