They sure can make me laugh!

Last night there was a mosquito in the girls' bedroom at bed time. Annie was soooooo worried that she wouldn't even go in the room. She was afraid it was going to bite her, give her Yellow Fever and make her go blind. (???!!!) She went crazy... "I CAN NOT SLEEP IN HERE! I WILL NOT SLEEP IN HERE!" Crying and screaming and shaking and thinking of where she would sleep instead. It was not like her at all! She is usually so easy to reason with. I told her that we would turn off her light, leave her door open and leave the hall light on so the mosquito will fly out to the light. That didn't work. Oh my goodness. She went on and on... what if it flew back in and bit me? Daddy got a mosquito bite on the head before. What if it bit me on the head? What if it hurt? I don't want to get Yellow Fever and go blind. Carly told her, "Mosquitoes with Yellow Fever are in Africa and there is no way a little mosquito can fly all the way from Africa to America." Hahahahahahaha! Finally, I reminded her that she should give all her worries to God. She prayed with me and went to bed trusting He would keep her safe.

So in the morning, we were driving out of our neighborhood to go to a playdate. We passed a street sign that said, "Confidence Drive" and Annie asked what confidence meant. I told her that it was to be sure of something, like I was confident she wouldn't get Yellow Fever from the mosquito last night. She said, "And I didn't! I can still see!" And then Carly followed it up with, "But I am feeling a little near-sighted today."

Sometimes all you can do is laugh. :)

Butterflies everywhere!

A couple Saturdays ago, we went to a Butterfly Festival. It was a veeeeeery rainy day and (sadly) some of the butterflies fell to the ground and because it was sopping wet, got stuck down there and were stepped on. But most of the butterflies didn't share the same fate and the kids had fun trying to catch them on their watermelon sticks to look at them close up. Annie had the best luck. And the most fun (so she's in the most pictures!).

This picture is funny to me... I wonder if anyone can figure out what was going on? :)

Day at the Dentist

All four kids had their 6 month check ups today (except for Trent... he has 3 month check ups). No cavities! Yay! Annie and Grey were good to go. Carly and Trent have little issues. Well, Trent's is a big issue. For Carly, it's not such a big issue. She's going to need braces. It's been pretty apparent and I've given her fair warning so she was expecting to hear that from the dentist. He said that in about a year, we'll probably be discussing getting them on her because her adult teeth have nowhere to go. Her mouth is very crowded and her adult teeth are coming in crooked. She seems ok with it and I'm thinking there have probably been improvements in orthodontics since I had them 20ish year ago so hopefully they won't be as painful.

Now my poor Trent. Some of his teeth have come in missing their enamel. They look rotten but they aren't really. Not yet, anyway. To help them stay strong, we have been painting fluoride on them every other day for the last 3 months. Maybe it has helped a little and maybe it hasn't. In any case, though, the surface of his teeth is not as strong as it was 3 months ago. And more teeth have come in missing enamel. (The dentists he's seen suspect that I had an infection while Trent's teeth were developing in utero and it caused a malformation with his enamel.) The dentist said we're between a rock and a hard place right now because the longer we wait to fix them, the more deteriorated the teeth will become and the more difficult restoration will be... even so much that he might need crowns. Ooooh, I don't want that for him! I have one and I clearly remember how much it hurt. I can't imagine that for him, times 6 or 8. :( But the benefit to waiting is that more of his baby teeth will have come in and if any of those need to be fixed as well, they can all be done at once. Plus, when dealing with general anesthesia, the older he is, the better. So the plan is that at his next appointment in 3 months, he will (likely) have more of his baby teeth in and the dentist will then talk with me more about "reconstructive surgery." That makes it sound so awful. But he explained that he will use a tooth-colored material to restore the surface and prevent any more deterioration. Not the news I wanted to hear but I'm thankful that there are options to help him. My Mommy-heart is unsettled about the anesthesia, though. Please be praying about that!

The man with the plan

Greyson spends lots of his time thinking. Thinking about how things work... thinking about how to get away with sneaking candy... thinking about how he can beat his sisters to the mail box... thinking about when he's a big man and can ride a motorcycle. And while he does all this thinking, his fingers are most certainly hanging out of his mouth. That's a very important part of his thinking process. We're trying to break him of that habit but I have to wonder if once we do, he'll stop thinking.

Anyway. Today he told me that if a doggy and a kitty went up in an airplane or a helicopter or a rocket ship, they might fall down to the ground and get broken. I told him that that would be very bad news for the doggy and kitty. So he thought about it for a minute and said that if that happened, he could get some tools and fix them. Daddy tools, he said. And tape. He was satisfied with that and I could see the relief come into his eyes as he no longer needed to worry about the fate of the doggy and kitty should this tragedy ever occur.

It could work... if the world was as 3 year olds see it. What an interesting world that would be! How I wish I could see his mental image of the doggy and the kitty all fixed up with Daddy tools and tape. I bet it's even funnier than mine is.

I guess I'll take that as a complement!

I think being a mom and feeling unappreciated at times just go hand in hand. And that's really ok with me. I don't think a person can truly grasp the depths of their parents' love until they are parents themselves.

Well yesterday the neighbor girls were over (T, age 9 and A, age 8). Carly and T were putting a puzzle together in the living room and I was sitting on the couch sorting through tubs of fall clothes for the boys. The girls were trying to find a specific puzzle piece and they thought it must be missing. I remembered that when we moved out of our house in SC, I gathered up stray game and puzzle pieces, put them into a little plastic baggy and put the baggy in the tub that stores the quiet time activities. So I brought that tub into the living room and started looking through the baggy.

When Carly and T saw that I was looking for their missing puzzle piece, Carly said, "You are a different kind of mom." I said, "What do you mean?" Carly said, "You hang around." I laughed and said, "Do you want me to leave?" They both said, "Nooooooo" and then Carly added, "A lot of moms just leave their kids to be by themselves but you don't."

I don't think she knew that that would mean a lot to me... but it did. And Carly, it's just like they say at Chick-Fila, "My pleasure."

It looks like we're going to the beach!

A conversation during dinner tonight...

Greyson- Can we go to the beach tomorrow?
Mommy- I wish we could but we live too far away from the beach now.
Greyson- Well we can drive there.
Mommy- It will take a really long time to drive there.
Greyson- If we drive a racecar, we can get there really fast.
Mommy- Do you have a racecar?
Greyson- No, but we can get one.
Mommy- Do you have money to buy one?
Greyson- We can use the ice cream truck money.
Mommy- I'm not sure the ice cream truck money jar has enough money to buy a racecar.
Anneka- I know how we can get more money... we can go to Cash For Gold. They have lots of money!
Mommy and Daddy look at each other and say, "What in the world?"
Carolina- She saw that on a commercial!


Ooooh, silly me! Why didn't I think of that?! Better start packing for the beach!

Henry (the Octopus)

Thanks to the Wiggles, everytime I hear Henry's name, I think, "the Octopus" after it. Hey, I wanted to name him Samson! I thought it was fitting because Goldens have long hair. :)

We've had him for two weeks now and he's grown quite a bit! Too quickly, just as it is with babies. He's a very sweet little pup. Josh is enjoying training him and he (Henry, not Josh, haha) will sit, lay, touch and allllllmost shake.

Henry's first day with us...

Henry today...

Daddy teaching Henry some tricks...