Family Home Evening -- Week 5

This week I stole a lesson that we did in Activity Days last week. At AD's the girls made these mobiles that represent the Faith in God program. I showed our kids the one I had and we talked about each of the things listed. I was amazed at how much they already knew. They have been listening at church for sure. It was also a nice opportunity to talk about some of the things they didn't understand. The topics were:

Parents
Scriptures
Service
Testimony
Tithing
13 Articles of Faith
Sacrament
Prayer
Talents

After the lesson I had the kids pick one of the topics and color a picture about it. They both chose "Scriptures" and did some good work.

We had Popsicles for our treat since Sunny was in the middle of her whole tooth ordeal.

Random

Such is the life of Griffin.

Sometimes I feel like I blog about the other kids more than I do Jackson. That is probably true, only because he doesn't like to take pictures anymore. He is "too cool" for that now that 1st grade is halfway over with, but the other day he made this snow pile thing that he was really proud of. So, here it is in all its snow pile glory.

Her New Smile

The whole thing went great. She had about a million shots in her tiny mouth b/c the dentist couldn't find a place that wasn't infected to put the numbing medicine into, but she was tough. I was so proud of her! Here she is displaying her tooth and a letter she made for the Tooth Fairy.

The dreaded tooth. If you look closely you can see the infected part. Yuck. This is one baby tooth I will NOT be keeping.

She was trying to smile, but her lips were still numb.

The new and improved Sunny smile. I have to say, she has such an adorable little lisp now. A few hours after we were home she came up to me and said, "Mom, I have the same voice, only it's a little different when I say my "s" sound." Yes, it is a little different and very adorable.

Sunny's Tooth

I've written about it on Facebook, but I figured I should blog about it too. So, you all remember the story about Sunny and her poor front tooth. She has already had antibiotics to kill the infection and was doing great. She was scheduled to have the tooth pulled on the 27th. Things were good...until Saturday. She woke up and her upper lip was a bit swollen and she started complaining about her tooth hurting again. I called the dentist's cell phone and he immediately called in a prescription for a stronger antibiotic.

I thought all was well and it would get better fast. WRONG! Sunday morning she woke up and her whole lip was swollen. It was HUGE. The pictures don't do it justice. There was also a big mass under her lip, and I noticed that it was pushing her tooth down. The poor girl was in so much pain. I was alternating tylenol and motrin and it was not helping her at all. Finally at 8:30 I called the dentist again and he called in a prescription for loratab. He said that the antibiotic was very strong and would get the infection, but that it was slow to start (great, thanks for telling me that earlier). He said the "mass" might pop and release some blood and puss and that if that happened it would help relieve the pain. If it didn't happen he would meet us at his office on Monday afternoon and drain the abscess. Then we would go ahead and get it pulled on Wednesday.

So, off Ryan went down to Provo to get the medicine and Sunny and I started watching a movie to get her mind off of the pain. Pretty soon she said she tasted something funny in her mouth and sure enough, it had popped. It was gross! After that we gave her the meds and she was finally able to sleep. This morning the swelling has gone down a lot, so I think she will make it to Wednesday, but she had to miss school today, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

Before this happened her two front teeth were perfectly straight and even. Obviously not anymore.

The dead tooth is just barely hanging on. These pictures are gross, but they really pale in comparison to the real thing. All I can say is that Sunny Bunny is one tough cookie.

Family Home Evening -- Week 4

Oh what a night (day) it was! Daddy was home all day since it was a holiday and we had such great adventures. We decided to go sledding at Jolley's Ranch with Mimi and Bear. As we were driving out there, Ryan and I decided to stop by our old apartment in Springville to show the kids. That separated us from Mom and Dad, but we (thought) we knew how to get to the ranch, so no big deal. Well, it turned out that we didn't quite know how to get there, and we ended up driving pretty far up Hobble Creek Canyon. We were lost, no cell phone service, and no gas in the van. Luckily we turned around and made it to a gas station and then were able to get a hold of Mom and Dad and make it to the ranch.

It was such a great place. They had three hills that were perfect for the kids. Lila had a blast riding down with all of us. She kept saying ,"Fun, Funny, Snow." Griffin sat by the fire with Bear and I think he enjoyed himself too.

As for Jackson and Sunny. I think they might be professional sledders one day. After the first initial run down the hill with me and Ryan they were ready to do it by themselves. They were going head first on their bellies, backwards, spinning, and any other way you can think of. The guys that worked there were great. They kept getting the kids different kinds of sleds to use so they could go faster and farther. I think Jackson holds the record for the farthest, but don't tell Sunny that :)

After sledding we went with Mom and Dad to Cracker Barrel, which is one of my all time favorites. Enough said! On the way home we sang songs from the primary cd, and had a little lesson about families. Where we came from, why we are here, where are we going, etc. I so love my little family. I think I have been blessed with the coolest kids ever and I am so grateful that they are mine. I am so thankful for the opportunity to be a Mom to these kids, and to teach them and help guide them through life. And, to do all the really fun things (like sledding) with them. The truly are awesome!

And, yet again, no pictures b/c I forgot the camera. But they pretty much just looked like little marshmallows in their puffy snow clothes. Very cute!

1st Dentist Visit

I can't remember if I wrote on the blog about Sunny's dentist visit last week or not, but now Jackson has had his visit, so I'll write about both of them.

Jackson went today for his first ever visit to the dentist. I waited so long b/c I was scared to take him. At one time, kids with heart defects had to take antibiotics prior to dental work. Every visit for the first 2 1/2 years of his life they would tell me to make sure he got them or it could cause a serious infection for him. Then, the guidelines for antibiotic use and dental procedures changed and they told me that he did not need them. Well, lets just say I was hard to convince of that. I have been paranoid about taking him and so I just didn't. Well, he is almost 7, so I finally had to bite the bullet and do it. He did great! No cavities! Dr. Smith also said that looking at the x-rays, Jackson won't lose a tooth for another 6 months or so. I thought that was so funny. That poor kid just wants to lose his first tooth, or at least have one loose. Oh well. He loved going and we really like the dentist we picked. So, yea for Jackson.

Poor sweet Sunny on the other hand. She had an accident a few years ago where she got hit in the mouth. It damaged her two front teeth and one has started to die and become abscessed and infected. She also had 5 cavities (can you even believe that?!?!) I was shocked. Neither of my kids drink any juice, they hardly have any treats, and they are excellent about brushing their teeth. The dentist said she just has weak enamel (turns out Ryan does too) and that it wasn't really her fault. So, she has to go back next week to have her dead tooth pulled and to fill 3 of the cavities. The others were really small, so we will just watch them.

Sunny is really exited to have the first visit from the tooth fairy in our house. She loves that she gets to beat Jackson! She is wishing for a CTR ring from the tooth fairy. I think that can be arranged!

Avocado

Today for lunch Lila and I decided to fix Griffin his first real food. Avocado. He loved it (as I'm sure you can tell).

For those that don't know, I started making baby food for Lila, and I love it. I don't do cereal for my kids (except for their first taste, and I use it to thicken some other foods) so their first food is avocado. They are totally healthy and full of good fats. They are also so easy to make. When Lila was little I made a bunch of it, along with other things, and froze them. This time I am mainly just doing fresh. It is really so easy (and healthy), and I love being able to do that for them.

If you've never tried it, I would strongly encourage you to. It really is simple and kinda fun!

In other news, Griffin got his first haircut on Wednesday when Uncle Joshy came to visit. Don't you love how I cut all of his hair out of this picture?!? His Mohawk was getting freakishly long and was starting to curl over on itself, so I decided a snip-snip was in order. Josh held him and I just trimmed off about 1/4 of an inch of the top of the Mohawk. It looks pretty good.

I can't believe I had to cut his hair this early. As you all might remember, Jax was completely (and totally) bald until sometime past a year. Then we ended up buzzing his curls away at about 2 years old.

Sunny had her first hair cut, which was just a trim, at about 2 1/2.

Lila still hasn't had a hair cut, though she could use one. She is looking a little shaggy and has a mullet going on when her hair is straight. I've attempted to even it out several times, but I always chicken out.

And so, Griffin beats Lila at the hair cutting game and also edges out all of his siblings for the honor of the earliest hair cut. (I'll try to put a picture of it soon, but I promise, you won't be able to tell a difference :)