Cheddar tooth

We have this recurring phenomenon in our family we like to call, "cheddar tooth". It all started with Amanda. In first grade Amanda lost her first top tooth and the new one grew in before she lost the other front top tooth, so she had one really BIG tooth in front. (Kind of an awkward stage for her!) We joked that she looked like a little mouse, and somehow that morphed into us calling it her cheddar tooth. It's now happened to Mads, although at a much younger age. Fortunately at this age it's not quite as awkward looking, still kind of funny! Here are some great views of the "cheddar tooth"! ( No, she is not in the buff, she is just a REALLY messy eater, so she only wears the minimum required amount of clothes at all meal times!)

The kid is so smart!

The other day Connor and I were sitting on the couch together and he said to me, " Mom, I know why they call them bunk beds, because when you jump on Sammie's (the bottom bunk) you bunk your head!" Now if he can just figure out to stop jumping on the bottom bunk. Maybe he's "bunked" his head one too many times!

My Favorite Things

Any of you that know me very well, this will come as no surprise that I am adding this to my list of my favorite things, DISNEYLAND! I LOVE that place! Weeks ago we decided to go this Thursday and Friday, since we didn't have school this week and our passes expire at the end of this week. The Dr. Shaun works for was going to be out of town this week, in Indianapolis at the NFL combine, so Shaun said he could get a couple of days off work to go with us, we booked the hotel and we were set. Last week the doctor asked Shaun to go with him, so the kids and I were on our own! That meant no BIG rides. But that was OK because the weather has been beautiful here and we all seemed to be over this nasty flu that is going around, so it was still going to be a fun little trip. A few days later we checked the weather and wouldn't you know it, rain in the forcast. But, as mentioned before I LOVE Disneyland and it was going to take more than a few raindrops to keep me away. Our first day really was pretty fun, (Check out the Tea Party below!) no rain until the end of the day, and we were pretty much done so we had dinner and went back to our hotel in time to watch the American Idol result show. A good day, all in all. In the middle of the night I woke up and couldn't open my eyes and I was super congested. I seem to have all of a sudden come down with a nasty cold, pink eye included! Gross, and really uncomfortable! By the time the kids got up in the morning, it was really raining! Had it just been rain we would have still gone, (I had remembered to pack our ponchos!), or if it had been sunny and warm I would have even considered going with a bacterial eye infection! But the combination of the two was too much, so we headed home and had a boring, "roller coaster ride of blah" inside day (Refer to Holman Family blog!). The bad part of Shaun being a PA, he's out of town for work right now when I want him at home, the good part of Shaun being a PA, he called in a perscription for me and it was ready and waiting for me at the pharmacy by the time we got home. No doctor visit and no annoying co-pay!I love that man! Oh yeah, and did I mention that my washing machine just broke yesterday and so I now have suitcases of dirty Disneyland clothes that I cannot wash? This week is just not going how I planned! But I still LOVE Disneyland!

Tea Party

After spending all day either in my arms, sitting on a ride, or sitting in her stroller Madison was ready to get down and move around a bit. I tried to find a large grassy area for her to crawl around on, (that's right, she's 11 months old and not walking yet, and not even showing any intrest in doing so!) but that was non exsistent at Disneyland, so I found the next best thing, a large concrete area, virtually uninhabited. Well, except for the Mad Hatter! He appeared out of nowhere and sat down next to her and started having a converstion with her, and then an imaginary Tea Party. She was intrigued, and certainly entertained!

Three hours later...

As many of you know both of my girls take piano lessons and Wednesday is our lesson day. We are off of school this week for President's Day, and so I was determined that they get a really good practice session in today before their lessons. With Amanda being sick all last week I did not enforce piano practice as I usually do. I told the girls that they were to go through each of their songs three times. In usual Amanda style, she hopped up to the piano and rushed through each of her songs. It's not that she is particually obedient but I have figured out her theory, in most things in life is "Hurry and just get it over with" (much like her mother). I did catch her trying to get away with doing a couple of them twice, she can't get anything by me! She was done in about 20 minutes. That's Amanda. Sam is a WHOLE other story! She had to fight, cry, whine, and complain the ENTIRE time. She had two pages of theory and about 4 songs. It took three, very painful, hours to get thru it! I was exhausted by the end. Someone out there tell me that this will all be worth it in the end!

My Favorite Things

Time for another one of my favorite things. This one I can thank my dad for. Blue Diamond Smokehouse Almonds. I cannot get enough of them! I am not a nut person. I do not like nuts. But, on the trip back from Utah at New Years my dad had a can of these to snack on in the car. He then left them at our house. Before I went to throw the can away I decided to try one. They were so good! Over the next couple of days I finished the can off and now have been found buying them frquently at the grocery store! They say almonds are a good snack, but these are way too good to be good for you!

Happy Valentines Day!

(This is best when viewed while listening to Sweet Pea on my playlist!) I was hoping to get this out on Valentines day, but our day got a little crazy! You'll notice that one of my children is missing from the photos. No, I do not have so many children that I forgot one! Amanda was terribly sick. She has acually been really sick for about a week now and so yesterday we finally decided to take her to the doctor. She had a temperature of about 102, ( and this was the day that I thought her fever had finally broken because she felt so much cooler that the previous days!), double ear infections, a sinus infection, and last but not least, infections in both of her eyes! Needless to say yesterday she looked and felt terrible, so she opted out of the photo shoot! I don't blame her, I hate my picture taken on my best day! Anyway, Happy Valentines Day!

Short sleeves

Connor is so funny, at least I think so. The kid hates to wear clothes. He would live in his underware if given the choice. So, he tries to get away with as little clothing as possible. Along these lines he hates long sleeves. We have had battles all winter as I have every day tried to get him to wear long sleeves. He always says, "I want short sleeves, these long ones bug me!" Well, with the warm weather we have had lately (in the 80's) I decided to break out the shorts. Today when I put him in shorts he was so excited! He said, "I love these! I didn't know they made pants with short sleeves!" So, here he is (after his class Valentines party) in pants with "short sleeves"! What a kid!

My favorite things

On Sunday, my mom told me that she read in the newspaper that the sales of one of the Stephaine Meyer, Vampire books had surpased the sales of the last Harry Potter book. This happeneing just a couple of weeks after I posted a blog about the first novel, "Twilight" in the series. A mere coincidence or could my blog be having that much influence on people?! Could my blog be as infuential as Ms Oprah Winfrey? I don't know but I have decided to occasionally post things that I would put on my "Favorite Things" list. Sorry, no feebies for you out there, though! The first thing I'm going to put on is my favorite mind numbing video game, ZUMA. Now I have always considered myself almost anti-technology. I think part of the reason society is how it is today is that people spend too much time in front of TV, computers or on their cell phones, or plugged into their i-pods, and especially too much time playing video games. That having been said, I LOVE this game! My girls were introduced to it at a friends house and they showed mild intrest, but they gave us an extra copy they had of it to download onto our computer, if the girls ever wanted to play it at home. I quickly became addicted! (That is why video games are soo bad!) It started because I realized that the graphics and the rhythmic noise soothed Madison! Times she got really fussy and I was so tired of just carrying her around trying to soothe her, I could sit at the computer and play this game with her on my lap and she would calm down and occasionally fall asleep, an extra bonus! It is a totally mind numbing game with little or no strategy involved, my type of game! While I still have not changed my stance on excessive video game playing, I am recommending this for anyone with a fussy baby! Even if you don't have a fussy baby, give it a try sometime. You can download the first three levels for free at http://www.PopCap.com/. That way you stand no chance of addiction because it is only three levels! Enjoy, and stay posted for more of my favorite things!

It's Spring!

It is officially spring here, my first tulip is up! I am sending this out to all you Utah and Missouri folks that have been blogging about all your snow. The fact is we are jealous! My kids whine and complain every time we see one of your pictures of you out on huge drifts of snow, or sledding, or building snowmen. We never get to do any of that except on the occasional visit that we happen to time just right. Believe you me, my kids would much rather have mounds of snow outside to play in, rather than one little tulip to look at!

Yeah, she was sick!

Well, Mads is getting a new tooth, but the good news is that she was also sick! Let me explain why that is such good news. She had a fever for about 3 days, starting on the same day that I noticed the tooth popping thru, so I assumed they were connected. The fever went away and I figured we were all done, then all of a sudden the next day she broke out in a rash all over her stomach and back. A fever for three days and then it disappears and then a torso rash...being the experienced mother I am I realized she had the virus Rosiola. All my kids have had it and it is not a big deal, except for the fact that you are contagious on the fever days, which of course I assumed was a teething fever, so I exposed who knows how many babies to! The good news is that MAYBE she will not such a pill when her other teeth decide to make an appearance, then again she will still be Mads, so we never know!

She's getting teeth!

Madison was right on track getting her first two teeth, on the bottom. At exactly seven months old they popped through. Both of her sisters had gotten their first teeth at exactly seven months also, the only difference is, Mads seemed to think that two was enough. She has not gotten any more since. Of couse it could be worse, Connor had fangs at this age! He got his fang teeth before his top middle teeth! (I had called three dentists before I felt like he would be OK!) Well, Mads next tooth has finally decided to make an appearance! It has been rough! With all of my other kids their teeth just suddenly appear with no warning. I didn't know what all those other mother's were complaining about when thier babies teethed. Now I know. She has been a bear for about a week now. Not sleeping well, fevered, not eating well, and just downright crabby! We will all be glad when it finally pops all the way thru and she gets back to normal, the main differnces being not fevered and eating better. She has never been a good sleeper and is always a little crabby, but at least now I can blame it on the teeth! So, here is one last look at her nearly toothless grin.

Check out my Slide Show!

Piggies

Mads is finally getting enough hair that she can wear piggies! Yeah! Pigtails are the thing I love most about having a girl! And check out those curls! (And the trouble she is getting into in her brother's stuff!)

Happy Birthday Gram! You would probably think this little bit of Birthday clipart was tacky, you have always had such good taste. I was going to put a picture of you up, but you would probably like that even less! I wish we could wish you happy b-day in person and just spend the day with you "Goofin'" off! Hope you had a good one!

Love,

Colie and Family