Outing the Tooth Fairy

Misha has had a loose front tooth since well before Christmas. We gave her the ultimatum last week to loosen it up and get it ready to pull or Daddy was going to have a go at it with pliers. That was enough to scare-I mean motivate-her into a little tooth-wiggling action.

Last night after dinner I do the touch test and sure enough it is ready. Misha's not, but the thought of Daddy and pliers is enough to make her open wide. Out it came without too much difficulty. So later as she's getting ready for bed, I remind her to put her tooth under her pillow. She asks, "Are you the tooth fairy Mom?"

"What?" I respond.

"Are you?"

"What makes you ask that? Did someone at school say something?"

"No," she replies, "I just thought of it."

I ponder a moment, wondering if she is ready for the truth, or if I should perpetuate the lie further. Finally I say, "Yes, I am the tooth fairy."

"I knew it!" she exclaims exultantly. "Can I tell Amy?"

Hmm, Amy loves to believe. It is just a part of who she is. I think if she thought about it hard enough she'd realized the truth on her own, but she doesn't want to. However, I realize that Misha can't keep a secret and the tooth fairy is outed whether I want her to be or not. Frankly, I'd rather they know because now maybe we can come up with a fun "My tooth came out" tradition.

So, when Amy walks into the bathroom to brush her teeth. Misha looks at me and asks, "Can I tell her?"

"Sure, why not."

"Guess what, Amy, Mom is the tooth fairy."

"Really." Amy's not quite believing Misha and looks at me to confirm. I nod my head.

"Man!" Amy says. "Next you're going to tell me you're Santa Claus too."

"No," I say reassuringly, then think, "Not yet. There's still time enough for you to believe."

Anyone out there have any fun "My tooth came out" traditions?

Great Friends

Thank you to my friends for the wonderful breakfast birthday surprise. You guys are great. I am thankful to be surrounded by amazing, inspiring, thoughtful women. So much more to aspire to in the next 40 years.

Another Misha-ism

Misha and Amy were having breakfast at the counter yesterday morning. Amy in her usual fashion was trying to get Misha to do something. Misha, of course, didn't want to do her sister's bidding and said, "You're forcing me and that was Lucifer's plan!"

Amy became all indignant and whined to me, "She just called me Lucifer." Now that I was present and a witness to the argument, I recalled Amy tattling a few days prior that Misha had called her Lucifer. I had "strongly cautioned" Misha not to ever say it again. So this time around, I could see how the conversation was going, and replied, "No, she didn't. She said you're trying to force her to do something she doesn't want to do. That's different." Amy can't see beyond thinking she was being equated to Lucifer and huffed off.

And I have to appreciate the logic and wisdom of my six-year old.

She's Thinking...

This morning as I was helping the girls get ready for church, Misha asked, "Can you sin and have it be a good thing." I responded that it wasn't likely. She thought for a minute and then asked, "What if you push someone but it saves them from getting run over by a car?"

Snowplows

For those of you who have seen the movie "Air Force One" with Harrison Ford, do you remember the scene at the end of the movie when the F-15s deftly swooped in to surround and protect the U.S. President after he transferred to a new plane? That's the kind of the feeling I had on Friday evening.

Chris had a meeting in Lone Tree that night. The drive there was fairly uneventful except for the traffic which delayed his arrival by 30 minutes. While he was in his meeting, I drove with the girls to Target to find new shoes for Kristen. Within 20 minutes of our arrival, a light sprinkling of snow had begun, and Chris called me at Target to say that he was done already. We made our purchases and headed back to pick him up. The snowfall intensity increased within one mile, and I was happy to cede back the driver's seat. We drove to the mall for a quick dinner. I had the feeling that we should at least drive for 30 minutes north to see if the storm eased up any. It was late and the girls were hungry, so we didn't. The girls weren't too happy to have made the trip past Denver to just turn around and go home again, but when we left the mall there was more than an inch of snow on the ground and it was coming down fast. There was no question that we were headed home. The flakes were huge and beautiful yet the prospect of a long and treacherous drive home was not thrilling.

The cars on the freeway were moving slowly along which I was grateful for. We had been northbound on the freeway for only a couple of minutes when we saw a multiple car pileup in the southbound lanes. And just as we passed the accident we saw more flashing blue lights ahead of us. Gratefully it was from a snowplow just making its way onto the freeway. Cars slowed and parted as not one but three snowplows moved into formation in front of us. It was awe inspiring really as they choreographed into position in front of us. A goose bump moment if you will.

Spiritually speaking, I would relate it to the topic spoken of in church today, "Be still, and know that I am God." There were a few drivers who weren't happy with the pace the snowplows set and manuevered around them. For those of us following the snowplow, I think we were all happy to let them lead the way. Our way was well lit, the snow was cleared, and we were being careful. You could just tell that the snowplow drivers knew what they were doing and had done it before.

Incidentally, the storm eased as we drove further north and by the time we reached home, there was only a light skiff of snow on the ground. The second moral of the story, heed the first intonations of the spirit.

Chris and Kristen

Do they look related or what?

Misha's New Do

Misha has been wanting to get her hair cut for awhile now. Every time she pulled a turtleneck over her head, she would see her hair all tucked in and think how cute it was. Finally I took her to get it cut yesterday. I think she looks adorable.

She also tells me that with her new do, she has a new name. Introducing Dakota Eagle Kline. Dakota because she likes the name, Eagle because she says she has an eagle eye. Dakota. Misha. Whoever you are, you're looking pretty cute.

Nuthin' to Sumthin'

So Kristen is picking up very quickly the concept of how not to be in trouble. When I find her playing in water in the sink, climbing in the pantry, scaling my desk, or whatever equally mischievous activity she might be doing at the moment, I ask, "What are you doing?" Her reply has been, "Nuthin'" and then she continues on as though she has absolved herself from any wrongdoing. My usual response is, "Oh, that's not nothing, you're doing something."

Last night after dinner she was searching for a treat in the pantry. I came upon her and asked, "What are you doing?" Her reply, "Sumthin.'" I had to laugh.

I did it!

Kristen struggled to get her jacket on yesterday afternoon as we were leaving. Finally I hear her exclaim, "I did it!". Sometimes you just have to let them bask in their accomplishments without pointing out that it isn't quite right.

 

Maestro Misha

Misha loves to create, build, redesign, knot, etc. These pvc pipes were originally marshmallow shooters that Chris made for the girls. Kristen pulled them out last week and started playing with the pieces. The pvc pipe quickly became her activity-o-fun for the week, that is until Misha realized the potential. She kindly left a few pieces for Kristen to play with and then commandeered the rest. The result--a kazoo. No joke, it sounds just like a kazoo. Okay, maybe the jokes on me because I get to listen to it when she's home from school, but I guess it's better than the drum set she wanted for Christmas.

Blockbuster

Holy cow! We went to Blockbuster last night to rent a movie because we had a gift card. We hadn't rented from them in years and were in shock at the rental price. $5 each!!!!! Perhaps we didn't know our options and they just socked us for as much as they could, I don't know. Perhaps they just want people to join their online rental club and you get a better rate that way. What I DO know is that we will stick with Red Box for renting or just wait until our turn comes up at the library from now on. By the way, if anyone wants to watch "The Nanny Diaries" come on over, we're set for a movie night until the 19th.

Not as funny...

Well, I don't have anything nearly as funny as Tami's "A Bum with some Poop." Read Tami and Caleb's blog if you want a good laugh. There's a crazy phenomenon associated with blog writing. If my kids do something funny, they'll hear, "Don't move. Let me get the camera." Alternately, if they do something bad, they'll hear, "Don't move. Let me get the camera." with the understanding, of course, that they're still in trouble after I take the picture.

Really, though, the great thing about this whole blogging scene is that it has:

1) given me greater motivation to be more dedicated to keeping a history of my family's life. Let me digress a bit and say that bloggers love comments. I used to be a lurker myself. I read blogs but never bothered to comment. There are no rules that say you HAVE to comment, but you know, I love it when people do. It's like getting mail, email, or a phone call. Who doesn't like that? So for those of you who don't comment, try it. Better yet, start your own blog, and I'll be sure to reciprocate.

2) inspired my husband to start journaling as well

3) given me a connection to my friends that I rarely get passing in the halls on Sunday with kids in tow

4) helps me keep in touch with people who live far away

Any other ideas?

Snow shoeing

One of the items on my Christmas wish list was a pair of snow shoes. I guess Chris didn't realize that I had been snow shoeing before because instead of snow shoes, we went snow shoeing. A good plan because we both had a great time. To be honest, we could have done the hike in boots, but snow shoes added an element of adventure to our sometimes routine life. We actually hiked from Bear Lake to Alberta Falls-we usually hike to Alberta Falls at least once in the summer time. This offered a great change of perspective. For one, the falls were completely frozen and snowed over, along with all of the streams we traverse in warmer seasons. We ate a lovely power bar lunch in the winter wonderland and began our hike back to the lake. This time our hike was uphill. Ugggh. My heart never beats that fast on my treadmill. We weren't quite ready to be done when we got back to the lake so we decided to hike around it. I walked on water that day. Okay the lake was frozen over, but you have to agree it sounded good. There was a groomed trail on the actual trail around the lake but we decided to stay on the lake where the snowshoeing was more real-no path just powder to trudge through.

We both had a fun time. We probably overdressed for the occasion--my four layers plus a lined jacket to Chris' two plus a lined jacket-but it was fun and a great way to get in an afternoon of exercise. So maybe next time I ask for snow shoes, we'll both get a pair. There is no doubt that our children would NOT enjoy the experience; they won't be getting snow shoes any time soon.

Ten years so different

Christopher and I were able to get away for a night in Estes park on January 1st. My parents kindly agreed to watch our girls-you didn't have to ask us twice if we wanted to go. The town itself was pretty quiet, though at least half of the stores were open. We perused the sunlight-bathed, south-facing side of the street and then reluctantly crossed over to the shady side. Our leisure walk in the balmy 20 to 30 degrees changed to brisk window shopping.

We ended up in an equipment rental store. We planned to go snowshoeing up by Bear Lake the next morning and thought we would have to return on Wednesday morning to pick up our shoes and poles. Not so, we were fortunate in being able to rent our equipment and save a trip back to the cold "south side".

Our dinner offerings were rather limited though we did find a cozy place to eat-"The Other Side"-not too far from the condo where we were staying. Another couple arrived shortly before we did and had requested a window seat next to the fireplace. I asked to be seated in front of the fireplace and quickly realized why the other couple wanted to be off to the side. THEY DIDN'T NEED THE EXTRA HEAT!!!! We talked and tried not to notice them kissing. They kissed as much as we talked. Chris mentioned a time or two that they needed to get a room. Just as the couple was about to leave, they stood to take pictures in front of the giant wreath in the dining room. Chris volunteered to take a picture of them together, and these were their words, "Thanks, we're on our honeymoon." Enough said. Just at that time, Chris' phone rang and our girls were calling to share good news!! "Kristen went potty all by herself!" We left the dining room and the comfort of the fireplace to rejoice in the blessed news.

And that's when I realized that ten years makes a big difference. I'd like to see that couple ten years from now. I don't think they'd be quite so different from us--they'd spend their evening talking about home, family, children and life in general and would make a big deal if their two-year old was getting the whole potty thing. Kudos to them for beginning their life together in such a love-filled way and for being a great reminder to the rest of us to not always rely on a fireplace to generate a little heat.

Baptism Time Change

Just in case you wanted to come, we have changed the time for Amy's baptism from 10 am on December 29th to 4 pm. My parents are coming from Canada and if the roads are bad, we want to give them plenty of time to get here.

Salted Noodles

If you have read Chris' blog, you might wonder why I would take a bunch of pictures of Kristen's salted noodles. One, the lighting was bad and I had to keep trying to get it right and two, she put a LOT of salt on those twelve noodles. It was picture-worthy and now it is blog-worthy.

Merry Christmas

I love Christmas! I love the planning, the wrapping, the giving, the friends, the parties, and the excitement of my children as they anticipate what Santa might bring to them. Amy makes sure that Santa is fed as well as his reindeer and hopes to either catch a glimpse of them or at least hear the jingle of the bells. She swears she heard the bells last year, so maybe this year she got to see him.

I remember Christmas Eve as an exciting though sleepless time when I was younger. I'm quite surprised that my children sleep as well as they do. I got up around 3:30 to check on the girls, and it also happened to be that our newspaper was delivered then as well. As I walked in to Amy and Misha's room, Amy was peaking out the window, "It was only a truck." Bummer. "Go back to sleep." I whispered as Misha slept on. The joy of being a child.....

The fun begins in about 15 minutes. Merry Christmas everyone.

Can I Say Shut Up To Her?

So I took Amy and Misha to the dentist yesterday. Misha's teeth are now spit spot clean for another 6 months. Amy's too, but sadly, she'll be making another visit back to the dentist. The hygienist took x-rays of Amy's teeth and then began to clean them. She noticed a dark spot on Amy's tooth and in the x-ray. AND THEN, proceeded to go off about Amy having a cavity. The first words out of Amy's mouth were, "Will I have to have a shot?" Laura, the hygienist, said, "Well probably, but it will make it so that it won't hurt." All Amy heard was, " Well probably, blah blah blah." She will worry about that stupid shot now for the next month!

So I say to Laura before she goes any further, "It would be better not to talk about shots with Amy." And what does she do? Keeps on talking and talking and talking. Shut up already!!!!!!!because when I say worry, I mean, she will literally worry herself sick. We were saved by the doctor coming in at that point, and he is a little more sensitive to kid's fears and downplays any talk about shots. Besides she's had cavities filled before and would rather have that pain than the shot, and he knows that. I am going to see if I can get the girls in to a different hygienist for their next visit. Blimey (and I don't know why that word just popped in to my head, but writing this made me mad all over again!)

Can you spell cold? F-R-I-G-I-D

Chris has planned for the day when he would get to take his daughters skiing, and yesterday, it finally arrived. The temperature in our car as we were leaving recorded a whopping outdoor temperature of -8*. Balmy. I don't enjoy the cold. Shoot, I'm cold in my own home. So the thought of standing in freezing temperatures all day long wasn't floating my boat in the least. But my girls were thrilled to be going. They had new thermal underwear and warm socks and were even excited to get up before 6 am.

I had originally planned on taking Kristen, but with the temps as cold as they were, I felt impressed to leave her with a friend. Thank you so much to Christine for watching Kristen ALLLLLL day long. I'm sure it was a long day for her.

Once we arrived at Copper Mountain we were quickly packed into a parking lot along with the hundreds of other vehicles. Then we began putting on layer after layer after layer (and another layer for me) of clothes.

We finally met up with our group and began to work with the girls, teaching them the finer points of skiing, getting on the "carpet", and falling over. Since I wasn't skiing but just along to "help", I was able to walk beside the girls and hang on to them as they manuevered their way down the hill. The run was pretty packed and not a very effective area for teaching. So instead, we headed to the top of the "green" (equating to easy) ski area. I was able to ride up in just my boots and without a ski pass to help. I thought my cheeks were going to freeze as we rode up the lift. Brrrrrr.

Chris and the girls were a couple of seats behind me and I was able to get a picture of them coming off the ski lift. That was my last picture of the day. It was too cold to keep taking my hands out of my gloves to snap a pic.

We slowly made our way down the hill. Cindy Molloy gave the girls some instruction and they improved immensely after that. I think it was actually easier for me to help them without skis on. For sure I would have had as much trouble as they did. Amy must have gotten motion sick on the chair lift, combined with a lack of food in her system and the cold, and she had a mighty headache all the way down the mountain.

Chris calls it their $35 run since that was the last of the day. They were cold and hungry and were pleased to hang out with me in the lodge for an hour and a half while Chris went to ski (the real reason I was a "helper" for the day in my humble opinion).

Will I do it again? Would you? I won't say no because guilt is a mighty fine persuader, but it won't be my idea.

Bad Birthday Cake

I had wonderful intentions yesterday for Amy's birthday. Chris surprised Amy at school and showed up to have lunch with her. I purchased his lunch ticket for a Fazoli's lunch earlier in the morning as I dropped off Amy's birthday snacks. I asked him to find out cake and dinner details as I had neglected to ask her myself on the way to school. (I was concentrating on driving in all the snow!) Amy wanted a chocolate cake with pink frosting along with waffles and bacon for her birthday dinner. I could do that. So I made the cake earlier in the day and noticed instructions for "embellishing" the cake in a way that involved poking holes in the cake and adding pudding mix. Everything was on schedule, no problem. I looked at the directions for the pudding mix. It was your standard recipe with a little twist--peppermint extract. The recipe called for 1/2 tsp. I thought, "That really seems like a lot." I added lots less than half of the called-for amount, but whoa, when I tasted it, peppermint overload. Sadly this was after I had poured it over the cake. Aaaaagh! It was definitely not edible, but your breath smelled fairly fresh after just one lick.

4:30 and my efforts to have things running smoothly were significantly derailed. I began again, this time with cupcakes because they baked in much less time. Of course, now that the girls were home from school, I had their "help" which mostly meant debating over who got to lick the bowl. I told Misha that she could be my helper and could frost the cupcakes when they were ready.

Typical Misha style, she frosted a few and then she was done. So Amy got to frost them herself while I was busy making waffles. The original intent for a birthday cake was so much nicer, but this is what she got. But I realized that cakes or cupcakes or whatever are pointless at my house. Misha didn't want one, Kristen only licked the frosting off, and Amy ate one later. So maybe next time we'll do frosted cookies or ice cream or just something else besides cake. Suggestions welcome.

Happy Birthday Amy!

She's finally 8! Did I mention she likes to dress up--her sister too! What a wonderful experience having Amy in our home. When I dreamt about my angel baby, I hoped for a brown-eyed, curly, brown-haired girl. She was perfect. Happy Birthday sweetheart.

Ten years ago...

I found this picture the other day. It is of Chris and I a couple of months after we were married ten years ago. Merry Christmas!

The cute things they say

Kristen is girly girl to the core. Amazing how they're born that way--Amy too. That gene skipped Misha when it comes to her favorite interests. She loves to look cute and pretty but when it comes to her toys and activities she's a tomboy through and through.

This morning Kristen was engrossed in Polly Pockets and dressing and undressing them. The clothes were a little challenging to pull off and on, so every so often she came to find me and requested, "Mom, help me?" Her Polly Pocket was now perfectly attired and she walked away expressing the cutest little, "Woohoo" as she goes. (Those are Amy's Polly Pockets, but I might have hit on the perfect motivational tool for the whole potty training gig.)



The other night, Kristen picked up two of my coasters and stuck them on her head, "I Mitty". That translates to "I'm Mickey (Mouse)". I wonder sometimes where they come up with these things. Like the word "boo boo". We never say that to our kids, and yet she has started saying it. I think it comes from Nursery at church. The picture is kind of fuzzy because I couldn't get her to hold still long enough for me to get a good picture. You get the idea though.



I always know when my girls are growing because they go to bed complaining of pains in their legs. The pains usually last for a couple of nights and then their pants are no longer long enough. The other night as Misha was groaning in bed, I said to her, "Would you stop growing! Now I'm going to have to buy you new pants." She innocently replied, "Just for one leg, Mom."

Misha is notorious for being slow at our house. Slow to eat, slow to get dressed, slow to do homework. In my attempts to motivate her, she was working on her spelling words yesterday and finished rather speedily. She then said to me, "That was quick huh? I should do that every day instead of laying around whining!" I looked at her as though she had sprouted horns, surprised beyond belief. "Well, yes, you should."

And Amy. We went to visit our friends Jamie and Jeremy last night. Amy LOVES Jamie and her style. As we were driving home last night, I asked a very loaded question, "Who do you want to be like when you grow up?" Granted, it wasn't a fair question to ask, because I know Amy's answer. Misha said, "You, Mom." Amy took a couple of seconds because she's getting smarter and knows that her answer is going to matter. "Both of you." Good answer. Thanks Jamie and Jeremy. My girls had a great time.

Potty Training

Any good suggestions on potty training a cute but highly determined toddler? Apparently I missed my "window of opportunity" earlier this year--toilet training was trumped by appendicitis. I was at the grocery story last week asking about sizes of Pull-ups. The lady who came to help me innocently asked, "How old is your daughter?" I replied that she was around 2 1/2. "And you're just starting now?" "Amazing isn't it?" I say to myself. She doesn't know my life, and apparently she's pretty proud of hers. I let her brag and pat herself on the back for having an 18-month old who is already being potty trained. It seems as though she is happy going on forever, and I quickly realize the need to extricate myself from the conversation. Whew. So really, any suggestions would be helpful.

By the way, who is that young man holding my daughter? Chris shaved and he looks ten years younger.

Uh Oh, We're Busted!

Yesterday Chris "invited" Amy to help him in the yard to do some Winter cleanup. (Misha was at a friend's house, so she missed out.) Amy was lucky enough to help remove the pads from the patio chairs and the trampoline. When she first went outside, she left the back door open. As I was closing it, I could hear her mumbling, "I don't want to do this. I don't want to do this." It teaches them character right? I was busy inside the house decorating the Christmas tree. That's another story in itself. It goes kind of like this. "Mom, can we decorate the Christmas tree? Please? Please?" I finally pull everything out and the girls are content after they pull all of the boxes out of storage and open them. Then they're done.

But, back to Amy and Chris outside. I could no longer see or hear them in the back yard, so I walk out through the garage and to my shock I find this:!!!!!!



Chris' first words were, "Uh oh, we're busted." They're all smiles and not feeling the least bit remorseful up there hanging Christmas lights. My mother worry instincts jump into overdrive. Chris explains that she needs to experience the same kind of childhood that he had. What!! You lived in a one story house for Pete's sake! So thanks, Larry Ball (Chris' Stepdad) for giving me a heart attack. I came back out once to get a picture and again to ask if he could tie her on to the roof or something. The roof is sticky he says, "She's not going anywhere." Great now I feel better. I returned to decorating, seriously listening for some hefty "thump, thump, thumps" overhead.