Notice anything missing?

So....because picture day is tomorrow.....
Hallie decided she needed to give us a little deeper insight. No, not into her winning personality or her sentimental little soul - just into her mouth.

Her first milestone of the first grade - losing a baby tooth. And it WAS the first one in so she's doing it in the right order (she's very proud of that). Mom was pretty sure the smile wouldn't make it in tact to picture day since the daily briefings on the wiggle capacity of her tooth started a month ago. We told her to keep it in, but we could see that the desire to wear the badge of a toothless grin in her school picture was too great. After gently explaining, a couple of nights ago, that the restaurant was not the place to share the napkin she was using to dab away, we told her she wasn't going to make it. Last night, after hearing that it was bleeding a LOT (which meant the napkin was red and not pink) Mom asked her if she could have a look - just to check things over. (Let Mom just add here that it's been about 25 years since she's pulled a tooth, and never one belonging to someone else, so it was a first for her too) Well, after a slight grab and they found themselves staring at a tiny little object - shocked that it just jumped right out - no root, no twist, thank goodness! Her first comment was that she couldn't wait to tell Taylor (her bff). Mom carefully washed it off (after putting in the drain stopper) and after finding the 'tooth fairy' that we bought, put it in the little bag. Yes, she contemplated the idea of doing it the old fashioned way and just putting it under the pillow but, the way that kids sleeps, we'd, ehem, the tooth fairy would never find it. After we explained to Hallie that the tooth fairy brought money and not toys (she's not the Great Pumpkin, after all) she happily trotted off to bed. Mom had to admit, for as much griping as she does about 'kids these days', a dime sounded pretty weak, so the benevolent and generous tooth fairy left a dollar.

You'd have thought it was gold - or Christmas. In the morning Hallie wanted to show us her dollar and wanted to bring it to school to share. We told her that she worked hard for that dollar when the tooth first came in and that we'd hate for her to lose that special single. Attn. Grandparents....it should be noted here, that she not only intends on showing you the vacancy in her mouth, but the actual dollar as well. She asked her teacher if she could tell the class and after regaling them with the details of her adventure, she explained that the tooth fairy (that held the tooth) was just the helper. She wasn't the real thing.


Funny thing about these rites of passage. As a parent, you are so excited for them (when it's a good thing, of course) and yet, feel a sense of loss at the fact that the time is gone. Mom and Dad clearly remembered how hard it was for those teeth to come in and now, since both came in together 5 or so years ago, we anticipate the other following its buddy soon. We SO get why parents all over the world have little boxes of teeth rattling around in their dresser drawers. It's a good thing the tooth fairy gives back the teeth to the Moms and Dads otherwise, she'd probably have a fight on her hands.

Just a guess.....but you might want to tune in at Christmas for our version of "All I want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth". Hopefully, we won't be looking at four.....

Lemons Into Lemonade

We were headed south for the wedding of one of Dad's best friends with the intention of having plenty of time to stop at Hotel Granny and Grandpa first. As the journey unfolded, we found ourselves in traffic the entire drive - and, the unreasonable, no danger or stray animals in sight kind. With a grumpy dad at the wheel, hungry kids who had long since devoured the supply of crackers, granola, fruit bars and water (and a mom in need of a chiropractor as a result of the twisting and handing things to the back seat) we were ready to jump. Since Mom had packed a lunch to eat in the hotel dining room, we decided to stop at a park and eat before heading straight to the wedding rehearsal. Thanks to the awful traffic and because of the carefully planned and food grouped meal, we had a wonderful 45 minute diversion, of the picnic variety, at cute little park off the freeway. So, on an otherwise hectic and overcast Saturday, we made sunshiny lemonade out of lemons - metaphorically speaking, of course.





Oh... and if you stop at this park in Carlsbad, a bit of advice.....
Never was there a warning so important to heed!

....and coming up next

The little chef with the charming style and disarming smile.......

Mom's School Project

The edits are a little rough but that isn't the point of the project (on which we only have 6 days to work) so Mom doesn't mind sharing. It's actually for use with a great tool called Voicethread It's one of the many things she'd love to spend all day with creating lessons and staff development and it is definitely worth checking out.

Anyway, Hallie was so unbelievably adorable, the little segment deserved more that just being handed in to the professor. Enjoy the next Food Network Star!

Big Bear Lake

Summers spent at the lake are some of the fondest memories of childhood. Our latest lake memory came from just one day but was glorious nonetheless. Thanks to Aunt Charlotte and Uncle Mike, and in celebration of Natalie's visit to California, we got to spend a fun afternoon in Big Bear. After meeting up at the cabin, and the necessary reorganization of family members, we headed down to the dock. Our skipper, Uncle Mike, took care of the arrangements and led us to the boat. Once the young 'uns had their life jackets secure, we got under weigh. For one wonderful hour Uncle Mike skillfully sailed us around the lake while we enjoyed watching the kids, looking at the beautiful homes and spending time together as a family. There were few others on the lake and, though overcast, the weather, complete with cool breeze, was pleasant and comfortable. This was definitely one of those 'moments' in time that will always be a special memory for our family. It's a very special thing - to experience an event that is not only bringing up parents' memories of times gone by, but creating memories in the children that will be recalled and shared on a similar day in their future. Will we be sharing our memories of this with their children - our grandchildren? Such a joyous thought.....

It was the first boat ride for Hallie and Anna (discounting the various happiest boats on earth) and Natalie played her role as the guiding cousin beautifully. She told the girls what to expect before encouraging her grandpa to find some waves. Even she wasn't expecting the dousing that that came next. The next adventure for the two older girls was to try to get dry and stay warm for the rest of the ride. Hallie was a little grumpy about the chuckling that occurred after the wave crashed over the side but recovered quickly and laughed about it - having earned her stripes - and retold it to her dad later on. The rest of us managed to avoid the waves and had only to shake out our shoes a little. Anna had fun watching but did not want to sit "where we get wet". The sounds of the water, and our voices talking and laughing - caught on the wind are still easy to hear even now.

Once docked, we unbuckled the kids (only to re-buckle them in the car) and headed back to the cabin for lunch. Everyone contributed to the fine picnic lunch we shared on the deck of the cabin. We counted quail and chipmunks and watched the birds congregate around the bird feeder. The sun finally came out but never making it too hot for us to enjoy the sights and sounds of summer in Big Bear. The girls even took a trip down to the nature center with the grands. They explored the exhibits and even came home with some grandparent inspired items from the gift shop. The girls didn't want to stop playing and would never have been ready to head home. The time to go finally came and luckily, everyone was sleepy enough to coax into saying goodbye until the next time.We couldn't have asked for better weather or a more wonderful afternoon.