Happy Campers

A few weekends ago John decided to get our camping stuff out of the attic and hose down the tents in the front yard. This immediately struck the kids interest and off the three of them went pitching a camp site in our front yard. I was at work so I came home to three fully pitched tents and two very excited children. For the remainder of the afternoon as we cleaned the tents and went through the old camping equipment both Ashley and Jack were asking us "Can we sleep in the tent, can we sleep in the tent?" It's so fun to see how excited they can get about something (in our minds) so simple. After the tents were clean and dry John put the large one on the back porch. Since Ashley and Jack had gotten distracted for a little bit later in the afternoon they thought that we had put the tents away. When we went into the house they saw it on the porch and immediately went to their rooms to get anything and everything they could to prepare for their camp out. We set up their sleeping bags, pillows, stuffed animals and portable DVD players and then plugged in the porch lights to give them some light. It lasted for about a half an hour with Jack until he saw a bug - then it was all over and he came back into the house and said he'd rather sleep in his room. Ashley the experience camper that she is begged to stay out there all night. Although the neighborhood is safe we still put one of the dogs out there with her to make sure she'd be ok through the night. Needless to say she had a blast and slept out there again the next night. We have since taken the tent down but she had a great time. Jack never slept in it - but they did play in it during the day and afternoons after school.

Spirit Week

Ashley is having spirit week at school this week which translates into each day the kids get to dress up to a specific theme. They have contests in their classrooms as some point during the day and the child who wins for their class gets to go downstairs to the lobby and play musical chairs. The one who wins musical chairs gets a prize.

Ashley really gets into it, it's so much fun! Monday was purple day so she wore a purple shirt, purple pants and purple & white socks. She said she almost won but another girl had done the same thing with her clothes but added purple shoes and purple make up. Tuesday was Hippie Day so we went full out (as much as we could). I didn't think it would be that hard to find a tie die shirt but I tell you it is very difficult! We went to a number of thrift stores and couldn't find a single one. But we went to one Monday night and found a shirt that would pass as a hippie shirt and a pair of jeans that had extra fabric at the bottoms to extend the bell style. I did her hair in a middle part, lent her my daisy sash and put dark eye shadow on. We had a lot of fun Tuesday morning getting her ready. When I picked her up at karate I asked how her day was and how she did for the contest for the day. She was over joyed with excitement that she not only won for being the best dressed in her class but also won the musical chairs game. Wednesday was PJ day and Ashley wore her favorite pajamas. She once again won her class contest and the musical chair game. She told me that most of the kids just wore T-shirts with pajama bottoms and she was the only one who wore her entire pajama outfit. Today is Missed Match day - we planned that one over the weekend. That one I think is the favorite for both of us.

Last year they did the same thing and after school we headed over to Grandma's house. I remembered when I was younger if I attempted to wear stripes with polka dots my mother would let me know her disapproval of my outfit and make me change right away. So we decided to have a little bit of fun with her. I told Ashley on the way not to say anything when we got to Grandma's house and see how long it took for her to notice the interesting outfit she was wearing. And if she did notice (which I figured would happen in the first 5 seconds of walking in the door) for Ashley to say "What Grandma? It's the latest thing, this is "in" now." So sure enough within moments of walking in the door and greeting my mother she noticed Ashley and said "What in the world are you wearing." Which my wonderful daughter responded to with exactly what we had practiced and even did it with a straight face! My mother looked at me in horror, it took everything in me to keep the laughter contained. We kept it up for a few minutes but then wound up telling her we were kidding. It was great fun, I think more for Ashley though.

I can't wait to hear what happens today at school with Ashley - I'm sure she'll win again. I mean who can beat this right?

Add to my list

Ever since Christmas has come and gone Jack has been asking for things. He sees commercials on TV, things in movies, toys at the store or sometimes his imagination will take over and he will ask over and over again if he can have the item he is focused on. We will tell him each time he asks "We'll see" or "Maybe" and then the latest "Easter is coming, maybe the Easter Bunny will bring it if you're good." which has created a new fascination for him. Since we did a list for Santa for Christmas we've come up with the Easter Bunny list. Now each time he finds something that interests him he will say to me "Mommy can we put that on my list." We started a list, but he's so spontaneous with his requests that we can't always get what he asks for added to what is on there. Now that we've started this we're not sure what to do after Easter. Maybe there will be a birthday list and since he's still learning time at school he won't understand there are 7 months between Easter and his birthday.

Purple Belt

On Saturday Ashley tested for her next belt in her karate school. She was so excited to do the testing and not nervous at all which surprised me. Since I had to work John texted me when she was about to do her sparring so I could get there in time to see her break her boards and her belt ceremony. I didn't want to miss anything so I headed out a little early and was able to catch her doing her last few katas and see her spar with 5 separate opponents. It's amazing to see how much she has learned and to see how skilled she has become. We also figured out why she doesn't fight as strong when doing her test sparring. She usually is up against one of her senseis and seems intimidated. Well Saturday she was up against another student who is a black belt and about her size. She fought so hard and so well - we were so proud! Then after the katas and sparring was over they lined up to break their boards. When she tested for her green belt she only had to break one board but for her purple belt she had to break two. They had the option to break one at a time or both at the same time. She opted to break one at a time. The first one she broke with her foot and the second she broke with her fist. She's one strong girl! Once all the boards were broken it was time for the belt ceremony. All the kids take off their existing belts and then the Senseis call them up one at a time to put their new belt on and give them their certificate. I love when Ashley gets her new belts, she always has such a grin of acheivement on her face!

Busy Tooth Fairy

If anyone out there is missing the Tooth Fairy that would be because she's been quite busy with Ashley and Jack over the past week and a half. On Valentine's Day we went to a friend's daughter's birthday party. They had a bounce house which the kids dove into right away. Well as is to be expected the kids got a little rowdy and Jack wound up getting bonked in the chin by another child. Normally this would not be a problem, however he had a loose tooth on the bottom. It wasn't quite loose enough to be ready to come out, but the collision between Jack and the other child caused it to come almost completely out. It was not a pretty site and we felt so bad for him, especially because he was supposed to be going to Ninja Nite with his sister later that day. We gave him some ibuprofen for the pain and headed home. When we got almost home he piped up from the back seat that he was feeling fine and wanted to go to Ninja Nite. So we took the kids and checked with Sensei (the teacher/owner) and he said it was fine that he would keep an eye on Jack and his loose tooth. Especially because there was yet another bounce house. When we went to pick up the kids sure enough Jack had lost his tooth. Sensei wrapped it up for us and we put it under Jack's pillow that night for the Tooth Fairy.

Now that a little over a week has passed Ashley was complaining that her mouth was bothering her a little bit. We figured it was because she has been a little congested but I figured why not check her mouth anyway because she said she had a loose tooth. When I looked in I found that two of her permanent molars were growing in, pushing out the baby ones and they weren't budging. That would explain her discomfort. So Tuesday morning I called the dentist to see if she could go in and have them checked out and see if we could let nature take it's course or if they needed to be pulled. Sure enough they needed to be pulled. Poor kid had to have both of them taken out but was quite the trooper. Daddy took her and said she did really well. Ashley told me that there were other kids at the dentist who were afraid so the dentist had them watch him pull Ashley's teeth and she said she didn't flinch, scream or cry - only curled her toes so the other kids couldn't see. So as a treat we took her to IHOP last night for pancakes (it also helped that they were having free pancakes so we all got a treat). So when we got home and the kids went to bed Ashley put her newly extracted teeth under her pillow for another Tooth Fairy visit.

Hopefully this will be it for a while, but we'll see. If you notice the Tooth Fairy missing again let us know.

Tradition Continues

While driving home on Monday after getting Ashley from karate Ashley and I were talking and goofing off a little as we always do. It was a little extra because Jack had fallen asleep in the back seat. After we entered our development she stopped and I asked her what was going on, if she was ok because I found it odd she just stopped. She said "I'm doing what Grandpa says you're supposed to do." It didn't hit me at first but then I realized, she had her hands folded in her lap and was looking out her window. What possessed her to do that I have no idea, but it made me smile.

It's gone!

This past Tuesday afternoon while Jack was home with John after school he was snacking. While snacking his loose tooth finally came out. Ever since we discovered his loose tooth we've been anxiously waiting for it to come out. I also had been watching extra close as it got looser and looser because I was afraid of him losing it in his sleep and swallowing it since it was a bottom tooth. I know that you cannot pull them prematurely because it will cause a lot of bleeding, so I try my best to let the loose teeth run their course and come out when they're ready. I remember Ashley's first loose bottom tooth it was very loose one night and when she woke up in the morning it was out and no where to be found. After searching her bed, pillow, covers, stuffed animals and everything else where it possibly could have fallen John and I concluded that she swallowed it. We left a note for the tooth fairy that evening and she was still able to cash in.

Jack was very excited to see me when I got home from work to show me the new found hole in his mouth. He also informed me that Ashley had helped him wrap his tooth in a napkin and put it under his pillow. I thought that was so sweet and then found that Ashley had also loaned him her Tooth Fairy pillow to put it in. Ashley got an extra hug that night for being such a great big sister. Although I had explained the Tooth Fairy concept to Jack previously when we discovered his tooth was loose Ashley gave him step by step information as they wrapped his tooth and put it under his pillow. These are the moments I know I will treasure as they continue to grow and the memories of them fighting will hopefully fade.

I was woken up the following morning to a very excited 5 year old staring me in the face with a big grin holding a dollar in one hand and a Tooth Fairy pillow in the other. Later that day Jack says to me "Mommy, I think I have another loose tooth!" Not sure if I like this idea ....