first real loose/lost tooth

Reed has had his first loose tooth since the beginning of the school year in August. Two weeks ago it finally fell out! You may be thinking that his toothless grin is missing more than one tooth, although in this picture you cannot tell. This is true for when he was four years old he had to have three of his top teeth (including his two front) pulled due to falling off the couch at Chea's house and hitting his mouth on their coffee table, oh and he might have had a couple of cavities rotting away also. The same night of this momentous occasion, the tooth fairy's appendix ruptured- which would explain why it took me so long to post about it. Climbing the stairs to the boys bedroom quite possibly could have caused her appendix too much strain and caused it to burst. I wonder if she could get workman's comp for that?

let's be kind to one another

When I was growing up whenever any of us siblings would fight my mom would start singing the song "Let's be kind to one another..." I think it is a primary song, at least a really old primary song. Anyway, not only would she sing this song but the two siblings that were fighting would then have to hug each other for a specified amount of time. If I was one of the one's having to hug, I can't tell you how much angrier this made me! But now that I have children of my own, when I am at a loss for a punishment to fit the crime I, too, will have my boys hug each other. I do believe that they share the same sentiments as me for this type of consequence.

up and running

So I have been without a home phone and the Internet for almost two weeks! This would explain my lack of posts amongst other reasons. But today they finally fixed all the glitches and I am happy to say that I am up and running! The phone I could live without for a little while longer but I have come to the conclusion that I am addicted. Addicted to the Internet. I am not one to sit and watch tv but you can bet your bottom dollar that I will spend countless hours surfing, for no particular reason. I am mostly excited about having something else to do other than unpack. I'll save the unpacking for my friend Amber. Yes, she claims to "love" unpacking (well, I exaggerate when I say that) and I have to say she did a magnificent job on my canned goods. Thanks Amber!

starting the new year with a bang

Well, more like a burst or rupture is another good word to use. Last Friday night I was in extreme pain, something comparable to labor (and I am not kidding). Turns out my appendix ruptured and I needed immediate surgery. Here is a list of the smart and not so smart of the event:
Not so smart: Using a heating pad all night long (apparently this is what caused my appendix to burst, but it was also the only tiny relief I could find).
Smart: As much as I didn't want to, I went to the doctor. Actually, I did better than that I went to the Emergency Room.
Not so smart: Driving myself to the Emergency Room. I am my mother's daughter when I said, "I'm fine, and I'm sure they will just send my home telling my it is just a stomach ache".
Smart: Colby called his mom and asked her to come up to help out. This was by far the best thing because she stayed the entire week, not only helping while I recovered but also helped out with the move, yes, we finally moved into our new house. yea! Thank you so much Debbie!
Not so smart: Chea driving up on Sunday in her Prius without checking the weather. Yes, she brought along Heidi and my mom and they all ended up having to stay until Tuesday because there was no way her electric car was going to make it through the snow storm. On a side note, Heidi actually stayed until Thursday. I am hoping she will post about this...hint, hint!

I have to say that the first couple of days were pretty bad, in fact, I told Colby that if I had any desire right now to have another baby (which I did not, thankfully) this little surgery nipped it in the bud,nothing like cutting through your stomach muscle to bring back memories of a c-section...

new year baby

Happy Belated Birthday Colby! I know I did not do a post on his birthday (Jan 1st) but I was out of town and he was hunting so he wouldn't have even seen it anyway. There are three phrases that sum him up.
Number one: "Don't sweat the small stuff". Colby is the calm and rational one in our relationship. I don't know how he does it but he always seems to have everything under control and doesn't let little things get to him. He is always telling me "don't sweat the small stuff".
Number two: "That's who I am, that's the way I roll..." This is another phrase he uses often. Colby is very comfortable being who he is and feels no need to impress anyone which is very admirable but at times I wish he would just listen to me when I ask him, "You're wearing that?"
Number three: "Any man can be a father, it takes someone special to be a dad". Colby is a great dad. My boys attack him when he comes home from work and won't leave his side for the rest of the evening. Even though I know that he has a stressful job, he never complains about having to wrestle or watch a kid appropriate show with them when he comes home.
I couldn't ask for a better husband and dad. Happy Birthday!

the rest of the story

It all started when Chea came up for a visit and we were shopping at Salvation Army. We spotted this great piano and discussed the pros and cons of purchasing such a piece of furniture:
Pros: already painted black, great patina, the perfect prop for a photo shoot, and best of all it was only $20!
Cons: over 100 years old meaning the sucker was heavy!, having to ask Colby to pick it up and then transport it down to Queen Creek.
It was obvious the pros outweighed the cons so without REALLY thinking it through, I bought it. Now came the hard part...convincing Colby that it was a good idea. After three guys loaded it into the trailer I wasn't so sure myself that it was a good idea. But since it was already in the trailer I didn't say another word until Colby asked what I was gonna do with such a heavy piano. I meekly replied, "I was hoping we(you) could gut it so it wouldn't be so heavy." Without any VERBAL argument (trust me there was plenty of body language that said otherwise) Colby proceeded to gut the piano. Luckily, gutting is his area of expertise- although usually it is an animal going under the knife. I wanted so bad to take a picture of this process but did not. I didn't want to distract Colby from the task at hand. The gutting took an entire afternoon, and a few hours in the wee morning, along with a saw-zall and many choice words (so I am told. Like I said, I tried to stay out of the way). I have to say that I was shocked when Colby showed up in Queen Creek with the piano in his trailer. Shocked but ecstatic! I would have my photo shoot after all.
Next was Wayne's turn. After the piano was dropped off, Wayne was in charge (I shouldn't say "in charge"- that was Chea) he was responsible for moving the piano so we had the "perfect lighting". He was also responsible for making my boys laugh and smile during the photo shoot. I say thanks to him because there is no way my boys would smile the way they did if it was me trying to do the entertaining. After we were done taking pictures Wayne had the opportunity to remove the piano from the site without damaging it. Let's just say he was not pleased and probably felt like he got "suckered" into it. We were able to get a picture of him though...

With such an "inexpensive" prop, well at least monetarily inexpensive, the pictures turned out stunning! And that is the rest of the story.

pictures from christmas card photo shoot

I am so glad that Reed is getting older. He was so cooperative and all smiles.


How can you resist Blue's little dimple?


Beau was not so cooperative but I know I shouldn't expect anything less from an 18 month old. Nonetheless, he is still a cutie!