The Tooth Fairy

Brodey was determined that his first loose tooth would fall out on it's own and he would not let me pull the thing, even though it was barely hanging on. Yesterday morning he came running into our room at 6am upset because his tooth had fallen out in the middle of the night and he was sure he had swallowed it. Then he threw up. Seriously.
Jeff (super daddy) did his best to look for the tooth in the toilet but didn't find it. I later found it on the floor by Brodey's bed.. but way to go daddy!! Took one for the team for sure.
Anyhow... here he is holding his tooth. It seems like that tooth just came in and now it's already out! I may have cried...

Later in the day Brodey and I had this conversation about the Tooth Fairy:

Brodey: "I wonder what she looks like"
Me: "I bet she's reeeaaallyyy pretty"
Brodey: "Yeah! Like you sometimes!"
Me: "Sometimes?"
Brodey: "Yeah... like when you are going somewhere special"

This is Jeff's most favorite thing Brodey has said yet. Little stinker.
(Jeff and I went out last weekend and while waiting for the babysitter Brodey grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the bathroom saying "You HAVE to see this mom!!" and pointing in the mirror "You look GOOD huh mom!!??"... guess everyday mom isn't looking so good! ha!

Here he is this morning... the Tooth Fairy left him $1.35!

Almost a vacation...

We were getting ready to head to the lake for the weekend with some really good friends so Jeff and the 3 big ones got our vacation-mobile ready to go by washing her Thursday morning.
Unfortunately we got strep throat.. or hand foot and mouth disease... or maybe just a carpet allergy (new carpet installed in the basement on Thursday) on Friday morning and had to cancel. Puking, fevers and blisters in the throat... two different pediatricians, with TWO DIFFERENT diagnosis... and everyone woke up fine Saturday morning. Such is life with four kids!!
Oh well... at least I got a clean truck out of it!

Brodey, the big kid

Few special things about our big Brodey:

He learned to swim last summer but could only swim short distances and mostly under water. Last week we went to a friends pool and all the big boys were swimming without floats and Brodey wanted to also. It's not too big of a pool, but there is no shallow end at all and I was nervous. I let him anyway and he did so great! Suddenly he can swim a pretty good distance above water, tread water, and even float on his back! All without formal swim lessons. He has no fear of jumping off the diving board and does not need to hold his nose. Way to go Brodey!

Brock must have an incredibly large bladder because he can drink glass after glass of water before bed and be dry in the morning without getting up in the middle of the night. Brodey on the other hand can't have anything to drink after 6pm and we still have to wake him up to potty around 10 or 11 when we go to bed to avoid wet sheets. The other night I took him to potty and he was still very much asleep. So asleep that he stood in the bathroom, took off ALL his clothes, and then STEPPED into the toilet. I must have been asleep too because I stood there watching him and didn't think to stop him until he almost had both feet in. The next night he left the bathroom and walked into Lyla's room and tried to crawl into her crib. Middle of the night potty runs are so entertaining to me.

He has his very first loose tooth! So weird. Bottom front. I can't believe he's old enough for that.

He is also riding his bike without training wheels. We haven't been very good about teaching him, so I was really surprised when he broke out a wrench the other day and removed the training wheels BY HIMSELF and then hopped on it and rode down the driveway. I literally stood there with my mouth open speechless. What is more shocking... his wrenching using abilities or bike riding skills??

In just two weeks we'll be sending him to kindergarten. Not that he needs it... he's obviously already a genius. Too bad it's the law.. I'd much rather keep him around here to shock and amaze me with all his smartness.

Sibling love

Brock thinks that now that he is 4 he is qualified to carry Lucy around the house. I disagree. Our compromise is him getting to "hold" her in his bean bag chair.

I love her face.... I'm fairly certain I make that face a lot when Brock is talking to me. Kind of a mix between "Huh??" and "Wow!"

Lyla loves to sit on the counter while I make dinner or lunch or washing dishes or even unloading the dishwasher. She'll come stand next to me and say "I jump?".. that's what she calls sitting on the counter... jumping. Even though there is no jumping.. just sitting.

Sometimes she sits over on the island with Lucy Rae

My grandfather made me this baby cradle when I was little and my grandmother painted it. Lyla LOOOOOVES this cradle. She puts her babies down for naps and is soooo sweet tucking them in with the blanket my grandmother made. She also uses it as a stroller and pushes her babies around the house... it makes a horribly annoying loud noise since it doesn't have wheels and isn't meant for pushing. But she doesn't care.

Today she thought it would be fun to put Lucy in the cradle. She kept say, "sssuuuccy, rock.... sssucy rock!" so I put her in there and took some pictures. Lucy didn't seem to mind... this might be the best sharing they do with the cradle so I'm glad I documented it!

Popsicles

Thank goodness for Popsicles, if not for them we would probably NEVER go outside during the summer.

Lucy, still 3 months

She can now roll from back to belly AND belly to back! Way to go Lucy Rae!

Little things

** In the movie Toy Story all the toys have the boy's name on the foot "Andy"... today I noticed Lyla has "BRODEY" written on the bottom of her foot. With permanent marker, no less. I have no idea how he got a hold of a permanent marker, or how he got her to hold still for so long.... but I do think it's pretty funny. No one has claimed Lucy yet.

** Today in Target Lyla walked up and down the toy isle saying "OOOOOHHH! HI baby!!!" to all of the baby dolls and patting them on the head. The boys and I just stood back and watched... such a little cutie.

** The boys attended Vacation Bible School at a local Church last week. On the last day they had a little production and sang all their songs and did the hand motions for us parents. (Brock stood up there with a completely blank expression for the whole thing... that surprised me) Anyhow, the Church gave all the kids a CD of the songs they learned so we've been listening to it a lot in the car. Lyla sings (or tries to) right along with the boys and even tries the hand motions. It's soooo funny to watch in the rear view mirror. She reminds me of Brock when I would bring him to Brodey's preschool parties and he would jump right in with the singing even though he didn't know what he was doing.

** Me and the boys made some paper airplanes and they were running around the house throwing them and laughing.. so Lyla grabbed a crumpled up napkin and joined the fun. Yes, a crumpled up napkin. And she was laughing and having just as much fun as the boys. Why do we have toys??

Bedhead

3 Months!

Already???
Lucy is a fantastic baby. Sleeps from 7pm until 8 or 8:30am. Takes two 2 hour naps during the day (I normally have to wake her up after 2 hours) and one 45 minute nap. Amazing. Just last month I wrote about how she never naps! Hopefully she'll stick with this new schedule for a while.. I like it! She's so so happy when awake. She loves all her siblings and loves for them to play with her (even though they make me nervous sometimes... rowdy little buggers!). It is soooo easy to get a smile from her and even easier to make her giggle. She still only rolls from back to belly. Loves to play in her excersaucer and on her play mat. Not always a fan of riding in the car... but Lyla will hold her hand when she cries which makes her feel better. Sweet little girls.

**Lucy's ears don't actually stick out like they are in the photo.. it's from the headband, I promise! Whew.

4th of July... the UN-fun part

We got home from fireworks late and by the time we got everyone in bed it was after midnight. We were exhausted. Then around 4am I woke up to the sound of water running. I woke Jeff up and he bolted out of bed and discovered our basement was flooded. A water pipe and broken (turns out not broken, just separated???) and water was pouring from the ceiling. So after turning the water to the house off we spent the rest of the night ripping up carpet and trying to save our furniture. Not fun! But, thanks to the help of a great brother in law, we had all the carpet out, the pipe fixed and fans everywhere, and were poolside by 11am! Not bad!

Doesn't our less-than-two-year-old, with out any stains, EXPENSIVE carpet look good out on the lawn?? No??

4th of July... the fun part!

We watch fireworks every year with friends on the THIRD of July in Kennesaw... such a fun tradition! There are entirely too many pictures in this post.. I just couldn't narrow it down any further!!

Have I mentioned how much I love holidays and making coordinating festive outfits???

Whoa cutie.

I think this is our first ever picture of us as a family of SIX!

Jeff took the three big kids down to a very crowded parking lot down the road to play on the jumpies... I took this photo of them walking back because I was so impressed he still had all three! Jeff = super dad. He deserved a standing ovation for this.

Doesn't this one just scream DANGER!??? One four year old holding a lit sparkler next to two toddlers. No worries.. no one got hurt. It was a miracle.

Lyla liked the sparkler, but she LOVED all the attention from my great friends Kelly and Kristen the best. Such good friends I have.

I thought I took a million pictures of this pose, but turns out I only actually took ONE. And Luke isn't even it! And Lucy is screaming. And Lyla had already taken off her bloomers. Oh well.
From left to right:
Maddy, Brock, Dylan, Lucy, Brodey and Lyla

Lovin the fireworks... no one cried.

Brodey can not watch fireworks with out sitting on Mama Gann's lap... it just wouldn't follow tradition! She is so sweet for letting them both climb all over her.
(Brock is holding a dollar that Papa Gann gave him. He wouldn't put it in his pocket because he didn't want to bend it. He just held it like that all night!)

FUN night in Kennesaw!!

Summer Swap!

How cute is this bunch??

A friend and I are doing a little trade off this year... I take 2 out of 3 of her kids on Tuesday afternoons and she takes 3 out of 4 of my kids on Thursday afternoons. Summer is more fun for everyone!!