New Year's Eve

Today, we got to work on our schoolwork before heading to the dentist.

All 3 kids had a cleaning and all 3 kids had ZERO cavities.  What a relief.  The last visit there was 7 cavities - 5 for Andrew and 2 for Cairn.  Andrew broke one of us baby molars that we are going to keep an eye on - broke it probably because he is such a grinder.  Skylar has her 6 year old molars coming in - those are permanent teeth so they will get sealants soon.  Cairn is getting to lose her first molars and Skylar has loose teeth too.  Very fun visit.

Afterwards, we ran a couple errands to get supplies for our New Year's Eve celebration.

Groceries for cheese and chocolate fondue and all the yummy dippers.  Glow sticks. balloons and champagne glasses for our midnight celebration.

When we returned home, C came over and we started preparations.  First, we had to blow up the balloons for our balloon drop.

 Then we had to make our Happy New Year signs.

 Andrew just hung out and played during the sign making.

 Dad came home early and wondered when we were having chocolate fondue.  "tomorrow night, just like you requested."  Oops, mistake - he meant tonight so after our dinner, I put together the fondue and we gobbled it up.

 No, that is not a fondue pot in the middle of the table - it is just a pot.  In my quest for simplicity in my life so I can enjoy life more - I don't pull out all the stops anymore, just a few so I can enjoy things too.  Not putting the fondue into another fondue pot saved me lots of dishes and extra dishes.

Starting at 7 PM, we started playing a new board game on the hour.  The first hour we played Cadoo.  We didn't have to play the entire hour and not everyone had to play but it was a fun activity that kept the kids awake and occupied.  C LOVES her games.  She was always up to play a game.

8 PM was Candy Land.

9 PM the kids were watching a movie so we skipped the game.

10 PM was The Word Game - a great spelling and reading practice game.

By 11 PM, everyone was getting super cranky and tired.  So we decided to do our midnight celebration now and then put everyone to bed.  We played with our glow sticks, did our balloon drop, taught and did a champagne (sparkling apple juice) toast and went to bed.

At midnight, everyone was still awake and C had never seen the Times Square ball drop so we watched it, turned the lights off and everyone was asleep by 12:05 AM.  Can't wait to see what happens in 2014.

Tooth Update

It was a strange morning.  I woke up and started downstairs to do my workout when Cairn and Skylar came out of their bedrooms - it was 6 AM.  I am supposed to have the house to myself at 6 AM.  The girls got dressed and then watched me workout.  Needless to say, I didn't do my entire workout since I had an audience.

Andrew woke up at 7:30 AM.  He wasn't very hungry and his mouth hurt so he didn't eat much.

We took pictures of him before we left for the dentist.

 Andrew is not sucking in his bottom lip - that is just how much swelling his top lip has.

At the dentist they took x-rays.  Andrew has virtually no root in that one tooth that is so wiggly.  He has hit it before when he was little bitty.  The dentist suspects he will lose the tooth but we will give it a week to see if it tightens up again.  We also have to watch out for infection since there is so much soft tissue injury and with the rest of the root dying off.  No eating with the front of the mouth for the next week.

We went home to do our schoolwork (the kids started memorizing the Declaration of Independence today) before we headed out to lunch at Del Taco.  The kids had finished the Reading program for the library and one of their rewards was a free lunch at Del Taco.

After eating lunch we headed over to do some bowling.  It was supposed to be rainy and dreary all afternoon so I thought today would be a good day to bowl.

Tonight, Andrew said he had no pain in his mouth.  His nose looks swollen and painful to me but he said it didn't hurt.  Everyone was pretty tired tonight so everyone was in their bedrooms by 8 PM.  The girls were told to turn off their lights at 9 PM.  I went up at 9:07 and everyone was asleep - even Dad.  Meanwhile I continue to work - budget, school stuff and just all the other things I do.

Oh my baby boy!!

Tonight after dinner the kids were driving me crazy with their constant asking for more food.  They all had seconds and had finished everything I had made.  They even had dessert and some had had apples.  So I figured they were just bored so we jumped on our bikes to go for a bike ride.

When we left it was raining.

We rode a mile before I decided the rain was getting to heavy so we turned around.  We were almost home when I heard a crash behind me.  I turned and saw Andrew laying on the pavement.  He looked up at me terrified.  I could already see his nose starting to bleed.

I walked over to him calmly and then he burst into tears.  I tried to calm him down and get him back on his bike but he couldn't do it.  I could see our street from where we were but knew I couldn't carry him and push two bikes so I called Dad.

He didn't answer because he was outside so I had to call a neighbor to go over and ask him to call me.  Dad picked up Andrew a couple minutes later and drove him home.  He hadn't stopped crying yet.

When the girls and I got home, I took Andrew inside to get him cleaned up.

Dad took a picture before I started.

Poor guy!  He had scuffed his knee and his elbow, hit his nose and got a fat lip.  He also hit his front tooth.  I got him into the bathtub and he told me he could wiggle his tooth.  I checked and, yup, it was loose.  While Dad sat with him in the tub I called the after hours dentist.

There is nothing really to do but the dentist wants to see Andrew first thing in the morning.  

Update tomorrow!

2 More Teeth Out

Cairn had 2 more baby teeth pulled today to make room for her permanent teeth.  She struggled immediately afterwards but by Book Club time she was fine.

Before the teeth were pulled.

We dropped Cairn at Book Club and then Skylar, Andrew and I headed to the park to play.  I can't believe how mild this winter has been.  Loving it!!  Summer will be dry and hot though.

Cookies, Art class and dentist

What a day!

N and C were at the house by 8:20 and we got right to work on school.  I had all the kids on a laptop working on math facts, identifying body parts and states.  N also practiced some spelling.  About an hour later, we all got dressed to be outside and headed to the troop Cookie Moms' house.  We loaded up our wagons with cookies and headed to the high school to sell cookies to the kids going to lunch.  The first lunch group bought only 1 box and we were really bummed!  We had about a 30 minute break until the next lunch so we hit a couple houses.  We only sold 1 more box.

We headed back just in time to hit the 2nd lunch and we did great!!  We sold 58 boxes of cookies in 45 minutes.  Everyone thought all the girls were cute in their uniforms.  We had some extra siblings (Andrew, N and another brother and sister) and they were great helpers too.

When the kids went back to class we headed back to the Cookie Moms' house for lunch.  The kids sat around one table and ate while the mom's sat in another room.  The ages ranged from 3 to 14.  They were fabulous.  Everyone was polite, had good manners and ate their lunches.  Then they went outside to play tag and Duck, Duck Goose.  It was so wonderful to look outside and see such an amazing age range playing so nicely together and including everyone.

Then we headed to the library for an art co-op class titled, Anamorphic Art.  Click to see a definition and some examples.  

Here is what the kids did today.  

Skylar's ice cream cone - see it in the reflection?

Andrew's - he was just having fun making reflections.

Cairn's - she figured out how to write her name so it would be correct in the reflection.

After the class, we headed to the library park to play outside and meet some friends.  We didn't play outside long because it was getting a little chilly so we went into the library.  We signed up for the spring reading program and picked up some books. 

Then Cairn had a dentist appointment to check a sore gum.  She has been complaining about it for a couple weeks. so I finally took her in to get it checked.  One of her permanent teeth is coming in and pushing on another permanent tooth and a baby tooth.  It isn't supposed to come out for a couple years but because it is pushing on a permanent the dentist wants to get it out.  So I have to schedule another extraction for Cairn in March.  She just had 2 other teeth pulled at the end of last year.  They will pull both the upper canines because they suspect the other tooth is doing the same thing but might not be as far down so not bothering her yet.

We finally headed home again (we left at 9:30) for dinner.  First, we had to clean out the car when we got home though - it was a mess.  Everyone was plain exhausted by the bedtime.

Cavities, piano and new wii

I had to wake up some grumpy girls this morning.  They had stayed up past 11 last night playing together while I worked in the study.  I won't let that happen again - man were they grumpy and fussy.

Cairn had to get up and get to the dentist to have 3 cavities filled.  Her teeth are super super crowded in her mouth.  All 3 cavities were between her teeth - they are pretty hard to floss too because they are so tight.

She was pretty numb for a few hours.  I made everyone a milkshake when we got home.  All the kids did a great job staying quiet at the dentist.  We even had a couple hygienists comment how well behaved their were in the office.  The dentist came out to let me know how she was doing and asked if she was returning to school because Cairn had told him she was not.  I said, "we homeschool so she will do her schoolwork at home."  He said, "interesting choice" and then proceeded to tell me about her numbness.  I thought it was an interesting comment

We were supposed to go on a tour of the Governor's Mansion with our friends but Cairn didn't feel up to it and we would have been late because we didn't leave the dentist until 10:10.

Andrew had piano this afternoon.  Then we returned home for mom to get off her foot and do some schoolwork.  Schoolwork didn't last long because the doorbell rang.

It was my new Wii Fit Plus.  We had to open it right away and play.  It is super cool.  First, we each put in our heights and birthdates and the balance board would determine your weight, BMI, balance and fitness age.

Our fitness ages went - 57, 26, 14 and 21.  When Dad got home he got a score of 61.  We will see how they improve over time.

We all played a variety of games until bedtime.  Andrew loved the skateboarding game, Cairn loved the ski jump game, Skylar liked the bicycling game and I just liked it all.  I tried out some yoga moves and some balance games that didn't effect my foot too much.  The game kept yelling at me because I wasn't doing things right.  It was fun and I am so glad I got it.