River of Time

Saturday we took the kids to the River of Time. I loved it! I would've spent all day there, but the kids were done after 2 hours. We did see some pretty cool stuff...


This is a table of homemade soap. Tommy apparently didn't know what it was because I saw him licking one.


How cute are they?!? I told Casey that we should do that when we get old. We need to start lessons right away if we're going to get as good as they are.

The boys panned for gold. It was really just little stones painted gold, but Adam was none the wiser.


Rachel made a doll out of some scraps. She loves to craft!


The rootbeer, without a doubt, was Casey's favorite part of the whole thing. You can bring your bottle back the next year and they refill it for a fraction of the original price. We'll be back!


The kids wanted to play at the park they saw on the way there, so we indulged them.

Not for the Faint of Heart

Here I am. Just ignore the mustache. And flakey boog. It was 7am. I was at the periodontist's office to have #5 extracted and then have an implant placed. #5 is my ugly tooth with much recession and no bracket. The tooth has given me problems over the past 10 years. It's a long boring story, you just need to know that the tooth is coming out. And I'm more than ready...

Well would you look at that. I have a big hole in my head! It's not supposed to look that way, the big cavernous hole leading up to... my brain. There should be some BONE somewhere for Pete's sake. The dr. flapped back my gums only to find NOTHING. I had no bone on the lingual OR the buccal side of the tooth. That makes it pretty hard to place an implant- there's nothing to put the post into. So instead of getting the post of the implant in as planned, Dr. M. had to hammer in some bone- some human, some not so human. Mooooooo. Excuse me, that just slipped out.
Well, after all that messing around, the periodontist did some slicing and dicing and closed me back up pulling tissue from hither and yon to suture over the extraction site/bone graft. And now we wait four months for the bone graft to take. And then the implant process can begin.
I feel that I am babbling, so if you have any questions feel free to ask. I hope you have enjoyed this post as much as I have.

Would you like to see something cool?

I am just dying to post a really gross picture of my mouth that was taken at the periodontist's office today! Dr. M. said in all his 25 years of doing this he has never had a patient bring a camera along. Well, imagine that.
So, should I? Does blood and alveolar bone bother anyone?

Well That Doesn't Happen Very Often

We stayed home from MOPS this morning because Thomas hasn't been feeling well. So just when I thought my day had totally went down the toilet, my 3 pumpkins were suddenly out cold. And the silence was beautiful. I chatted with an old neighbor on the phone and put cherry crisp in the oven.

Ah, sweet morning. Everybody loves everybody after a long night of separation. We are all refreshed. Anna is sleeping through the night now. Wow, that only took 13 months (please note the sarcasm). I was bordering on insane, but then came the morning (sometime last week) where I woke up and realized that someone hadn't cried in the night. And I smiled.


The day seemed to spiral downward after Tommy punctured his upper lip with the garden pruners. With Tommy, these incidents just... happen. I was just happy that it stopped bleeding and wasn't going to need a stitch.

I'm having spelling issues with Adam. He has started 1st grade. I would like him to complete it. However, spelling is killing us! He just doesn't get it. He knows all his letters, but to put them together? Oy. We have been practicing "went" and "this" all week. He sits there and fidgits and scratches his head and then I start to get loud. That's what I do when people don't understand. The loudness doesn't seem to help, though. I'm so frustrated and so is Adam. Any words of advice would be appreciated.

I Don't Want it to End

It's now time for another installment of "Summer Evenings"


I have waited 3 years for this thing to flower! I love it.
Amanda, the rabbits are destroying my new aster, but not touching this one.


I kept trying to get Anna to smell the flowers. Instead she would poke out her little tongue and lick them. And then laugh. Weirdo.


Adam has a new hobby. Thank you, God.
"Come, Adam. Come show mother your pretty rock." You never heard that sentence when he was holding a jumping spider or the world's longest sewer bug.


Oh Tommy. He is a huge pest, but you can't deny that he dreamy brown eyes.

Labor Day Weekend

Since Adam and Rachel were off playing put-put and eating pizza with grandma and grandpa, we decided that we should do something fun, too. So Sat morning we went to Dow Gardens. I get winded just thinking about all the walking, but it really is beautiful, and the Children's garden is adorable!



We spent Sunday and Monday in Deckerville.
I just never get tired of this shot!


Before coming back home we stopped out at my great aunt and uncle's place on the lake so we could say hi to my grandma. We also got to see family and friends that I rarely see. It was a wonderful day.
Adam is of course looking for some shells.


Abby didn't really get in the water, but she sure liked playing with the life jacket.


We were back in full swing this morning! First day, always so exciting. I thought Rachel would come home blubbering (Amanda knows what I'm talking about), but she was very good and didn't seem overly tired for the first day. Hopefully tomorrow will be another good day.


What a pouty face. A lot of days end like this around here. But tomorrow is a fresh day. Hopefully Anna can hold it together.

I Almost Feel Guilty

I almost feel guilty because I have been having a wonderful day. Why so wonderful you ask? Because my parents picked up Adam and Rachel and I won't see them until Sunday. Do you know how productive I can be with only 3 children under foot? OK, so the house still isn't clean, but there is bread to be eaten, and ... well, we're getting to the rest.

I have been slowly trying to expand my little flower garden out back. Anna was helping me this afternoon. She tastes the dirt to make sure it's OK. And she chewed on a tomato for a while.


When Abby went down for her nap Casey took Tommy to the bowling alley to play in the new game room. They both had a great time. Tommy bought 2 guns- one for him and one for Abby- with the points he earned. What a nice brother.


I took my 3 little muffins to Bay City tonight. Tommy was so thrilled with the river that he bounced the whole time we were there. Or maybe it was the ice cream cone kicking in, I'm not sure.

My young 'ens, I love them so. Not even a case of diarrhea (Abby) could ruin this day.

Cuteness

I could squeeze this child all day long! Abby couldn't wait to try on this hand-me-down coat that made it's way to our house tonight. She will be so stylish come fall! Again, we have been blessed abundantly with girl clothes from friends. Awesome.


Poor, poor Anna. She is forever getting thrown into her pack-and-play because she is naughty and wants to climb on the table. Putting food in front of her doesn't help, unfortunately. The doctor wants her fattened up a little so she had cheesecake tonight. She needed a bath after that. Disgusting. I don't like this learning to feed themselves stage.


This pic was taken 5 seconds after the previous one. See, life's not so bad. She just realized that no other 12 mo. olds she knows had cheesecake tonight.