A couple of posts ago I mentioned Brooke had a loose front tooth. Evidence:
Her tooth finally, finally, finally came out. Oh blessed day. I was busy with Madison so Brooke asked to take a picture of the gap on her own. Her selfie:
After she took that picture she got really embarrassed and said, “I can’t even look at that picture! It looks so weird!”
Maybe she’ll like this picture better:
Brooke needed to let her friend Ania know she lost her tooth so she drew her a picture:
Brooke was thrilled to loose her tooth. She’s sort of obsessed with money these days and views teeth-losing as her only source of steady income. She was also anxious to try to catch a glimpse of the Tooth Fairy. Before bed we noticed she was fiddling with her toys. Upon closer inspection we realized she had placed her tooth in the center of her pony castle with every pony face down around the castle. Brooke told us the ponies were getting ready for the Tooth Fairy’s arrival and were bowing. Then we noticed she had a hidden video camera all set up focused on the her tooth ready to catch the Tooth Fairy in action.
Can you believe she actually got the Tooth Fairy on camera? Amazing!
Brooke has decided it’s time to decorate for Halloween and she has taken matters into her own hands. Last night she used chalk to decorate our front steps. Should you choose to visit us your bravery may be tested.
You’ll find a footprint:
A bone:
The cutest…er…I mean SCARIEST Frankenstein I’ve ever seen:
Some bugs:
And this picture from bottom to top is broken glass, a skeleton head, a rat, and a knife stabbing a heart(!!!) (should I be worried?!):
If you make it through that gauntlet there’s a big BOO waiting for you:
Caroline has been DYING to start kindergarten. All through the summer she’d ask me how many days until kindergarten. I’d answer and she’d groan, “Nooooo! That’s toooo looooooong!” while Brooke simultaneously moaned, “Nooooo! That’s toooooo soooooooon!”
Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on who you talk to) the days and weeks passed and the first day of school was upon us.
My cute kindergartner:
My super second-grader:
Ready to scooter to school:
I got to attend kindergarten orientation with Caroline.
The kindergartners had their first day of school and then were off for the next two days so the teachers could test them all individually. Oh cruel world! FINALLY the testing days ended and Caroline was able to start for real. She has loved school and I love having her in school. She happily tells me about what they did during the day and greets me with new words and phrases that she’s learned in French. I can also catch her singing songs and repeating school rules to Brooke and Spencer. Brooke hasn’t been one to volunteer much about what happens during school so the insight I’m gaining now is wonderful. It’s also fun because Caroline will say something such as a French word or a song she learned in music class and Brooke will jump in telling her the correct pronunciation or will start singing along so I’m finally able to glimpse a bit of what Brooke’s learned also.
I know I’ve mentioned before how much Caroline simply adores Madison. Have I told you that last year when she went to preschool she would come home and while cuddling Madison she’d say, “There, there. It’s okay. Mama’s home now.” Once I asked Caroline if she realizes that I’M actually Madison’s mom. She gave me a quizzical look and matter-of-factly stated, “No, she’s my baby.”
Another time Dallas took the big kids camping while I stayed behind with Madison. When they returned, Caroline immediately asked where Madison was. I responded that she was napping. Caroline visually crumpled and said almost in a panic, “No! I need to give her a hug!” She just missed her baby so much that delaying their reunion even further was almost too much for her.
All of this is to say I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised at what happened when I went to pick her up after her first real day of school. I stood at the gate with a big smile and open arms ready to give her a huge hug and hear all about her day. She hardly glanced at me. Instead, her eyes locked on Madison in her stroller. She ran right past me mumbling, “Baby! Baby!” and then stooped down to give Madison a hug that lasted a good minute at least. Every day since then it’s the same story. I get bypassed and Madison gets her hugs every time. I’m so glad Madison has a “mom” who loves her so much.
One day the girls were playing and I heard Brooke say to Caroline, “So, now do you understand that school isn’t fun?” Despite her insistence that school’s the worst, Brooke seems to be enjoying herself as much as the situation allows. A few days in she came home from school and announced, “I have a new BFF.” Cute. I don’t know the girl at all but I hope it’s a good friendship. I also hope this year is a good one for the girls. I think we have a promising start. Let’s keep the positive momentum going!
We had the chance to go to the Ogden Temple open house. The temple was so beautiful; I can’t believe the transformation it underwent.
My only other experience touring a temple before it opened was when Brooke was about two-years-old. The temple had designated walkways that you were supposed to stay on and rope barricades to section off areas where they didn’t want people to walk. Brooke wanted to walk everywhere BUT the walkways and took the partitioned off areas as invitations to roam. After trying to keep her on the path and relatively quiet proved to be a losing battle we decided to give up and leave soon after we began the tour.
I was ready to have a repeat experience of being frazzled the whole time, but the kids were great. We prepared them beforehand as to the different rooms they would see and other things they could look for.
One of the first rooms we entered was the bride’s dressing room. I hadn’t thought to mention to the kids that this room existed because, frankly, I forgot temples had these rooms having only been in one once a decade ago. I pulled the girls aside and quickly explained to them that this room was for the brides on their wedding day. As I was saying this I happened to stop right in front of one of the mirrors. Not wanting to interfere with the flow of traffic through the room, I was ready to keep corralling everyone through when I glanced up at the mirror and saw four reflections staring back at me. I saw me holding Madison with Brooke and Caroline at either side of me. As I looked at my three daughters in the mirror for the smallest second I felt like I caught the briefest glimpse of the love that Heavenly Father has for them and how one day several years from now they might be one of the brides I was telling them about looking in similar mirrors in a temple on their wedding day. That was such a beautiful and unexpected moment, and it made me glad we had made the effort to visit the temple with them.
After the temple we had to stop at the train station and look at the trains close up.
How is it even possible that we didn’t take a picture of Spencer with the trains?! Oh well. He was there and duly inspected every inch of each train.
