Toothless

My poor little Luke. For the last, oh I'd say, probably a month, he has been walking around with Billy Bob teeth. Do you know what I mean? The fake ones you can buy that are all crooked and black so you look like a redneck? Well, that has been my Luke, minus the black. His two front teeth were loose, and had the permanent teeth coming in behind them, so they literally stuck out at at least a 45 degree angle, if not more, and were twisty and crooked. We have been bribing, begging, threatening, anything we could think of for him to wiggle those teeth and get them out. Shane even pulled a Grandpa Clayson and threatened to get the pliers out, but Luke was not having any of it. He eventually lost one of them right before we went to visit Susy, and the Tooth Fairy found him there, but the other has been hanging on for more than two weeks past that one.

Again, we have been begging, but mostly threatening pliers or string around a doorknob, for him to get it out himself. Well, yesterday, he and Josh were playing soccer in the backyard. They have become little soccer nuts since starting soccer this year. Anyway, Luke suggests to Josh that they play tackle soccer. Thank the Lord for small blessings, this was what we needed. Luke had the ball, and Josh tackled him to the ground. Luke's face, and mostly tooth, hit the ball, and out it popped. Thank goodness, that drama is finally over. And just in time for school pictures tomorrow. So he will look like this:


instead of Billy Bob. I think I'll take the toothless picture.

Diaper Free!!

Another exciting thing has happened that we need to blog about. Thirteen years ago, Kaitlin was born and diapers began. I did get a little break in between her and Josh, (she asked to be potty trained when she was 2, and Josh was born when she was three), but we have had diapers for the last 10 years. I shudder to think how many diapers we added to the landfills, but there was no way I was doing cloth diapers, so there you have it. But in August, under the bribe of $10 from Dad, Kaitlin started to potty train Parker after we got home from visiting family in Idaho. Within 3 days, he had it down.

He's only had two accidents since the first of August (that I can remember). One was yesterday, during his nap, because I forgot to take him to the bathroom first. The other was about a week or so after he was potty trained. We were watching a movie as a family, and Parker was on my lap. I started to feel something wet and warm, and I yelled and kind of tossed him off my lap and said, "You peed on me!" I must have startled him, because he turned to me with a wild look and said, "It's your fault, Mom!" So there you have it, both accidents were my fault, in one way or another. He only has to have a pull up or diaper at bedtime, because he's still 50/50 for staying dry through the night. But I'll take it. It has been so fun not to have to carry a diaper bag around. I love it, and I love this kid.

Parker and the Mysterious Ticking Noise

Parker is a musical little soul. Just last night Shane got me to hear him singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" in bed as he went to sleep. He will now make up words to songs to try and be funny. He thinks he's hilarious. => Kaitlin found this on youtube, and it has became Parker's favorite. He sings it almost every day, and tries to have other people do other parts, so that we can all sing together.



If you want to see what this video looks like without Parker singing to it, go to Youtube and type in Harry Potter Puppet Pals, and look for the one labeled "The Mysterious Ticking Noise." They are kind of fun.

3 Birthdays

Tanner's birthday came first this summer and he turned the big 5. Yes, we have another kindergartner. We debated about sending him, seeing as his birthday is so close to the deadline, but Shane and I felt it was the best thing to do, so there you go. He got the two things he wanted most for his birthday; a pair of binoculars, (he calls them night glasses) and a stuffed puppy that he named "Rhino." He was very excited.

I love in this video how Tanner has the puppy dance .




Josh's birthday was next, where we had him turning 10. We now have our first Webelos scout (bonus points if you know what webelos stands for =>). He got a Red Ryder, you'll-shoot-your-eye-out BB gun, with accompanying accessories (bbs and targets.) The cake was cheesecake, because he wanted it to be so. Watch Parker in this video try to get closer and closer so that he can blow out the candles.



Shane's birthday was next, with him turning, well, let's just say older. => I try to convince him to say he's in his early 20's like me, but for some reason he rejects that. Maybe it's because we now have a teenage daughter, but I don't know for sure. Anyway, he got shirts and a new sleeping bag for camping, and a date night with me to shop for the rest, 'cause he's kind of picky sometimes, but his schedule hasn't allowed him to take advantage of that gift yet. Maybe soon?.... Anyway, we couldn't put the number of candles on the cake to match his new age, mainly because I didn't have that many candles, but we worked it out in the end. His cake was blackberry shortcake, because we had wild blackberries camping the weekend before and he had a hankering for more. It was very yummy.



And I have to end with this picture, just because it cracks me up.