Pearly whites!!!

Porter had his first dentist appointment today.

He did so good.

And it ended up being a pretty great day for me.

See, a little while ago, I started noticing that Porter had some dark spots at the bottoms of his teeth, by the gums.

I was worried about it...mostly because I put him to bed for SO LONG with a sippy cup of milk.

I knew that was a dumb thing to do.

I knew I didn't want to do it.

But it was so easy, and I guess I was lazy.

Well, Bottle Rot Syndrome has always been on my mind.

But up until now, his teeth looked fine.

Until I found the dark spots.

So yesterday, I finally googled Bottle Rot.

And what I read, totally described what I was seeing.

Porter had the dark spots by his gums.

Porter's teeth are totally chipped up, which I thought were due to weakened teeth.

And the kid never eats, so I thought he had sensitivity from ruined teeth.

All signs of Bottle Rot.

Well, when I got to the dentist office, they kinda laughed.

They said, "That is not bottle rot!" and then showed me pictures of bottle rot.

And ya, he didn't have Bottle Rot.

He had stained teeth with a little plaque.

I can't even tell you how happy I was.

I was feeling so much guilt yesterday when I thought I did that to him.

Anyway....I am glad it turned out good.

And we will for sure take good care of his cute little chipped teeth!

Porter was such a good boy.

He let them do x-rays.

He was a little nervous, but did what he needed to.

He was excited to watch "Nemo".

They let him play with the brush and suck machine...letting him put it in his mouth himself.

He thought that was all pretty cool.

He had a very curious tongue, and followed her around everywhere she was going...making it very hard to brush.

She told me that he had the strongest tongue she had encountered.

Kinda funny, I thought.

He looked so cute sitting there.

Good job Porter!

I am glad we get to keep his pearly white, very crooked, very chipped, cheesy smile.

It is my favorite!

*****

Today was such a nice day!

After the girls did homework, they headed to the park for a little jump roping, and playing.

I am not asking for super hot weather, but it sure would be nice if it could stay like this for at least a little while!

Even at 6:30 at night they were out playing on the tramp with no coats on.

Good stuff.

We are a little happier with some nice fresh air!

All done...kinda.

The quilting is pretty much done.

I still need to put the binding on.

But...I am close.

That shouldn't take too much time.

I just need to find the time.

Finishing a present 6 months after the birthday...not too bad, right?

Oh well.

Madi's happy with it.

Elsie had another bad night last night.

I sure hope she sleeps better tonight.

She had fun hanging around me while I finished up the quilt.

She pretended like I was driving a car and she told me where to go.

We had a birthday party.

First we had to go to the store and buy balloons.

Then we went and picked up all her friends.

Oh, and we had to pick up the birthday cake.

Between each stop, she would 'hop out' and go get whatever it was, then get back in and tell me when she was buckled up.

Elsie definitely has a great imagination.

She could go on like that for the entire day!

Sleep wanted.

It has been a long day.

Elsie was up at 4:00 a.m. this morning.

I got up with her, and tried my darnedest to get her to go back to sleep...

Finally at about 6:00 she was back asleep...and that is when my sweet Porter woke up for the day.

So, right now, I am pretty dang tired.

I had a talk with Elsie tonight, and asked her NOT to wake up that early anymore.

She gladly said "Okay!"

I hope she remembers.

Anyway...so I was planning to skip church today.

But I also really wanted to go.

So we went.

Sacrament was, again, pretty hilarious to those around me.

We weren't very quiet...I tried hard though.

Anyway, we survived.

The rest of the day went smoothly.

I enjoyed my classes, the kids enjoyed their classes...all good.

If I would have stayed home, I am sure it would have been a day full of fighting.

So I guess I made the right choice.

The kids played good after church.

Elsie loves to have a horsey back ride.

In fact, all day Friday she made Dad give her horsey back rides all day long....

Madi and Cassi also put together a band to go along with Cassi's guitar.

Drums made out of oatmeal canisters...

Maracas made from mac and cheese boxes.

Tambourines made from kitchen utensils.

It was pretty fun.

Too bad bedtime snuck up on us so quickly.

I am sure they will get back to their band equipment tomorrow.

(The girls got their little knit hats on sale from Target the other day.

I think they look cute in them and they sure love them!)

We had a pretty laid back day.

Everyone slept good last night...and we just hung around this morning.

I did some quilting while the kiddos played nicely with each other.

It was pretty nice.

But messy.

The girls had a birthday party at 11:30.

Porter napped while they were gone, so Elsie and I watched a movie while I quilted some more.

When the girls came home, they continued to play really nice upstairs.

It was great.

A little later they had a friend, Keva, over.

They decided they wanted to do some painting.

So they sat and painted for a little bit.

I had a hard time figuring out what to do with Porter.

He just wanted to make trouble for the girls.

The rest of the day went pretty good.

Not much fighting...more messes made.

But over-all, happy kids.

The girls got some lipstick and nail polish from the birthday party.

Cassi was so excited to have lipstick...she would love it if she could wear make-up every day!

Oh man, those days aren't very far off, are they?

Cassi had guitar lessons this evening.

She is learning a Taylor Swift song now.

And she is very excited about that.

If I haven't said it before...I think she is absolutely adorable playing the guitar.

And she does so good with it too.

Keep up the great work Cassi!

Proud

For the last couple weeks, Madi has been working on jump roping.

Her friends talked her into trying out for the speed jump team.

She made it through many cuts and today was the final try-out.

We didn't think the little kids would behave very well if we took them, so I stayed with them at home and Brent went to support Madi.

First thing he texted me saying that Madi had to do it in front of all the 4th and 5th graders.

My stomach dropped...I was so worried for her, and her nerves.

This is the girl who won't say prayers in front of our families, cause she is so nervous.

It was a good thing I didn't go, cause I probably would have made things worse as I tried to make things better.

But Brent said she did awesome.

She made it through 2 of the 4 rounds before she was cut.

There were 18 kids going for one of the 2 spots that Madi was trying for.

Yes, it is a bummer that she got cut....

But I am so PROUD of her for putting herself out there.

Making a goal, and working hard towards it.

She made sure to practice at home as much as she could.

We even had to get her some nice comfy pants so she didn't have to jump in jeans.

It was a fun experience for her, and now she knows even better what will be expected next year if she decides to try out again.

Good job Madi.

Your Mom and Dad are very proud of you!

So proud, we decided to go out to dinner to Primos.

The kids had a lot of fun, and we didn't have to cook.

That's always nice.

Now I need some sleep.

Elsie and I were up at 4:30 this morning...I hope she doesn't do that again tomorrow!

I love you, a bushel and a peck!!!

Emmy and Elsie sang this song over and over and over again the whole time Emmy was here.

I love Elsie's sweet little muchkin voice.

So we thought it would be fun to record it.

Grandma Ene also loves this song, so we thought she would enjoy listening to it.

Thanks Em.

My great little helper.

We are getting close to getting this quilt done.

Madi has fun sitting and quilting in her spare time.

It warms my heart to see her do it.

I hope it is something she enjoys, and we can continue to do it as she grows older.

But today, I had an awesome little helper.

Elsie was so serious, and really trying hard to get that needle in and out.

So cute!

Look at those little fingers working.

What a sweet little helper.

****

I decided to stitch it in rows...instead of around the blocks.

It was so much easier not to go the opposite direction of what feels normal.

So now it is all stitched on one side, now I need to unroll the quilt, and start the other direction.

Shouldn't take long.

It takes about 10 min. to go down a row.

So if I could just sit down for a good couple hours, it should get done.

I have had some great helpers.

Heather came over yesterday again and helped for a long time.

Thanks Heather!

I am excited to get it done and in the wash and then show the final product!

Blankets

Porter loves his blanket.

He really does take it everywhere.

We keep it home usually.

But around the house, he is regular little Linus.

He has a new habit of putting it on the back of his chair when he is eating or snacking.

It has to be on there pretty perfectly.

He is funny about that.

Then he sits and rubs the blanket.

When he goes to bed, he likes it to be around the top of his head.

Like, rolled up and arched around his head.

Then he rubs it with his fingers.

Pretty cute.

I don't know how long he will do this, but I wanted to be sure and write it down so I never forget it.

***

Elsie is also a blanket girl...with her Emmy blanket.

She loves to cuddle with it.

Porter also has to have his Emmy blanket when he is sleeping.

If it's dirty, and I try to use another one in its place, he gets mad at me.

I love my kids.

Peanut butter cookies!!!

I guess we didn't make enough cookies yesterday.

So this evening we put together another batch.

I had some great helpers...

Stirring....

Mixing....

And eating.

I love my sweet girlies.

Playing at the station.

It was a pretty good day today.

The Young girls came over this morning....all the girls, including Heather who sat and helped me stitch Madi's quilt.

Things are going really good on the quilt.

I will be really excited when it gets done.

Thanks a ton Heather....that was a lot of fun having you hang out with me.

Then at noon...it was my plan to sign up for Robie Creek.

But the site crashed...like it does every year.

I tried all day long to get back on....

Then at 2:00, Elsie's speech Therapist came over.

And between the time of 2 and 3, the site opened back up, and the race was full.

I am so bummed!

I am still hoping to get a chance with someone deciding they don't want to do it....but I still just wish I KNEW I got in.

Oh well....

After speech, we hopped in the car and took some cookies to Dad at the Fire Station.

The kiddos always love to go to the station.

But no one loves it more than the boy.

He just eats the whole thing up.

And Dad loves that more than anything!

The kids had fun playing in the firetruck...sliding down the fire pole, and talking with all the guys at the firehouse.

They all climbed up the bucket truck, not when it was extended, but still high up on top of the truck.

Elsie wasn't so sure about that.

She is like her mamma...she likes her feet firmly planted on the ground.

You can always tell when Elsie is done with doing whatever we are doing.

She had had enough horns, and heights.

And she was ready to go inside and have some cookies.

Silly kiddo.

When she went inside she perked back up and had fun showing off for the guys.