New chompers for the boy

Today was another milestone day for Shane. He got shiny new chompers!

He was late getting his teeth in, but they came in looking normal. A few months later I noticed his upper front teeth were bumpy so I took him to the dentist. They told me he had pitting in his enamel. How cool. Not

So that of course made him more susceptible to decay. My littles are fanatical about brushing their teeth. If we get home late and I try to send them to bed without brushing, I have to promise we'll brush first thing in the morning, or I have a riot on my hands.

When I saw Shane had brown spots on his teeth I thought it was staining from his vitamins. Aunt Cindy used to be a dental hygienist and she sadly informed me it was decay so off to the dentist we go. ALL of his teeth had some decay on them. ALL of them. I seriously wanted to cry.

The major culprit is his nighttime bottle habit. Yea, yea I hear ya, but the kid has awful reflux. It was so bad, he used to vomit in his sleep. He wakes up with a burning throat so I keep a bottle on the nightstand, but no I don't brush his teeth after each feeding. (yes, we're working on filling that bottle with water instead of watered-down hemp milk).

So between his bottle, reflux and just plain ol' bad teeth, the kid was doomed and so was our check book. Even with dental insurance, we're going to be choosing between rice and beans or beans and rice for dinner this month. At least rice and beans are gluten, dairy and corn free! ha! ha!

So here's my little man with his pearly whites that are actually white!

We're working on getting him to sit still for his glamour shots.

Icicles are dangerous

This story from Reuters reminds me of the time my brother came home with a broken windshield on his truck and told my parents an icicle fell and hit him as he drove under an overpass. They believed him. I did not. In fact I'm pretty sure I laughed at his ridiculous story.

But apparently in Russia, icicles are a real threat -
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Six people have been killed in three days by icicles falling from buildings in a central Russian region, ITAR-TASS news agency reported Tuesday.
Plummeting chunks of ice is an annual hazard for pedestrians in Russia during the spring when the sun finally melts thick layers of ice and snow which build up on roofs over months of freezing temperatures and darkness.
Medical authorities in the region of Samara told ITAR-TASS that five people died in the city of Samara and another person died in the nearby town of Otradny between February 23 and February 25.
(Writing by James Kilner; Editing by Matthew Jones)

I had no idea the spring thaw could be so hazardous, and it's just one more reason for me to stay toasty warm inside until the mercury hits the 80's.

Fort Frederick

Daddy was home today because it's Presidents Day. We debated between a day trip to Jamestown or staying a little closer to home and going to Ft. Frederick. It's cold and windy (here and in VA) so we opted for Ft. Frederick. We figured we wouldn't waste the whole day if we needed to bail because of the weather.

Of course the little museum was closed and there weren't any reenactors or interpreters there, but the kids had a blast just running around. They even have a fun little playground that we spent quite a bit of time at. The visitor's center was open and they had little Union soldier hats for sale so the 3 little ones got those.

Then we headed to the outlet center for some birthday shopping for Aunt Honey and baby Jennifer (who isn't a baby anymore, that's just what they call her...like poor Shane will be 40 years old and still known as Baby Shane...)

They all 3 absolutely conked out on the way home. Later they're going to Ethan and Joanna's house for a playdate while I go to a meeting for school. They'll be so tired; I think they'll wake up around noon tomorrow. I can't wait! :)

Ella's baby cloud

The kids got craft foam (I think that's what it's called) for Christmas and today we broke it out for the second time. The first time, Shane managed to eat about half of it before I could stick my finger in his mouth and scrape it out.

Ella made daddy a baby cloud. She wants him to take it to work along with the monkey she made him. Poor daddy...if he took everything Ella made for him, he'd have a pull a wagon to haul it all!

Pictures from the dance

They got to decorate little picture frames. I'm glad to say she didn't forget about me since she drew me, daddy and herself.


They were supposed to just do 1 picture and 1 frame. The photographer, however, was powerless against the charm and cuteness of Ella. Now we have 1 for home and 1 for daddy to take to work. Perfect!

This is a picture of a picture so it's not very good quality. One day I'll figure out how to use the scanner- until then...

Daddy's Girl

Ella and Daddy are off getting married right now. Ok, not really but Ella is hoping so.

The Frederick County Rec Department sponsored a Daddy/Daughter Dance. How cute is that! It's for little sweetpeas age 4-6 and their daddies. Ella is wearing her Christmas dress and Bill's tux still fits so he's wearing that. Like a typical girlie-girl, she has been talking for weeks about what she was going to wear. Like a typical guy, Bill walked into the closet 20 minutes before it was time to leave and started digging around for his tux.

He got her a wrist corsage to wear and you would have thought the President himself showed up on our doorstep. She was so excited. I'm betting she'll sleep with it on her pillow tonight and wear it to church tomorrow. Such a cutie.

Hopefully, they'll get some pictures of them at the dance...I'll post those tonight if they do.

Basketball

I have to say that whoever thought 8 am on a Saturday was a good time to play basketball must be one of those weird morning people. Oh, we're up by then, but dressed and out the door??

Hank didn't really practice this week because we were all sick but he didn't do too badly. He did earn a star for his memory verse and for improving on offense (poor guy had nowhere to go but up in that regard though).

He had a great time and I dragged Ella and Shane along since Bill is sick now. Ella wore her cheer-cheer outfit which everyone thought was adorable. And Shane...well, my challenge with him -as always - was to keep him from running head first as fast as he could into the fun.

Ketchup mousse

I was in the bathroom discussing something with one of the kids and this is what I was greeted by when we came out...

We're all still recovering from the flu (hence the rivers flowing from his nose to mouth) and it's clear the fevers did him in since he has obviously forgotten how to eat like a person. He wouldn't hold still for a good picture, but the ketchup starts at his forehead and goes to the crown of his head and there's lots of it. He also has it on his tummy and legs. I wonder if it's a good moisturizer??

The sad thing is that the other sibling just sat there and watched him do this to himself.

Upward Basketball

Today was the first day of basketball for Hank. He was so excited (we had to register in November) that we created a little countdown calendar so he could tear off a page each day and it told him how many days left until basketball began.

Then the plague struck our house. Jake has been sick all week and yesterday the little kids and I came down with it. Fever, coughing, body aches. No fun.

Thankfully Hank seemed to have the most mild case of us all so we dosed him with ibuprofen and off he and Bill went.

The Upward program is unique in that each kid gets equal playing time and the focus is on encouraging them. This is good because Hank has never played before and he often gets confused between football and basketball.

Today he earned a star for enthusiasm which doesn't surprise me one bit.
The battery in the camera died so Bill only got a few pictures. Without further ado...