Outing the Tooth Fairy

Aaron has had a loose tooth for a very long time. It has been so long, I don't even remember exactly how long. I know when he had his six month cleaning this past summer, it was already loose and had been for a while. We asked the dentist about it and he said it should come out soon. I almost called the dentist's office last week to see how long we should wait, but last week was early release which throws all of our schedules off, so I put it off until this week. Aaron woke up yesterday morning and said it was so loose he was sure it would fall out any second, so I didn't call the dentist.

He came home from school yesterday and was having his snack. He said the tooth hurt and he just wanted it out. I know the baby teeth get to a point where they are so loose and what hurts is the point of the root poking the gums. If I can get a good grip with a napkin and give it a twist and a yank at the same time, the tooth usually falls right out. By this point the tooth is so loose, it doesn't hurt to pull it out.

At first Aaron didn't want me to pull it out. However, one of his dreams right now is to be become a Navy Seal when he grows up. He is only nine and I know this will probably change a dozen times before he chooses a career field, but we are milking this one for all it is worth. For example, here is a conversation and Aaron and I had a dinner last week.

Me: Aaron, I want you to take at least one bite of asparagus. You just have to try it.

Aaron: (Makes a twisted gagging face just thinking about it.)

Me: When you are a Navy Seal you may have to eat really nasty things like on Man Versus Wild (a survival show). Eating your asparagus is great training.

So he ate the asparagus. He didn't like it, but he ate it.

Last night the conversation went like this.

Aaron: My tooth is so loose. It really hurts.

Me: Do you want me to pull it out?

Aaron: No! It will hurt.

Me: No. It is so loose it won't hurt at all.

Aaron: Yes. It will.

Me: When you are a Navy Seal you may have to go through really painful situations and show lots of bravery and courage. Letting me pull your tooth would be great training.

He let me pull his tooth and it didn't even hurt. I left in in the napkin I used to pull it with and placed it on the kitchen island.

When we got home from church last night, Aaron remembered to get the tooth to put under his pillow for the Tooth Fairy. It was no where to be found. Of course, the one time I want the other people in this house to not pick up something they see and throw it away, it is gone. I told him to write a note to the Tooth Fairy and stick it under his pillow. He is certain this will not work and continues to search for the missing tooth. I start to fabricate some lie to convince him that the Tooth Fairy will indeed accept the note, but I looked at PK and I think we could tell by the look on the others face that it was time to out the Tooth Fairy...and Santa, and the Easter Bunny and the Leprechauns. I just looked at PK and said, "Do it out of ear shot of Hannah."

I know Aaron is nine and probably should have been told a long time ago, but I really wanted to do one more Christmas. PK took him down to the playroom and told him the truth. He said Aaron was a bit disappointed, but he snapped back quickly. He was really surprised about the Leprechaun's.

Each year the kids build a Leprechaun trap for St. Patrick's Day. If they don't catch a Leprechaun, the Leprechaun leaves them a little treat. You can read the post from last year here . As you will see, the kids didn't catch a Leprechaun, but as the Leprechauns do every year they turned our milk green, turned our toilet water green and left us some Leprechaun Dust. Last year they even drew on my face while I was asleep. When PK was explaining to Aaron that the Leprechaun traditions were just for fun, Aaron asked, "Then how did Mommy get those drawings on her face and where did the Leprechaun Dust come from?" PK assured him it was all me and it was just so the kids could have fun.

I made sure PK covered all the bases (Did you tell him about Santa, the Easter Bunny and the Leprechauns, too? Did you tell him NOT to tell Hannah? Did you tell him God is real and we will NOT be coming to tell him otherwise?). Then Aaron came into my room with an index card. He had written on it that he couldn't find the tooth he had lost and taped on a small white Lego in its place. He told me he hoped the Tooth Fairy left him a Lego guy instead of money and gave me a huge grin. I found little Lego packages in the Halloween treats at Target that include three pieces to create a Lego guy. I picked up a couple to put in his stocking. PK was totally shocked when I pulled one of those from my stash. I told him that is what good planning ahead does for a person.

The Dog That cold do inything by Hannah

The Dog That cold do inything by Hannah

(The Dog That Could Do Anything by Hannah)

Cary was a dog. A vary small dog. Not so tall at all.

(Cary was a dog. A very small dog. Not so tall at all.)

Cary new that he culd do inything.

(Cary new that he could do anything.)

Intill a bolly dog came then he new he colud do inything.

(Until a bully dog came. The he knew he could do anything.)

Cary howeld and more and more dogs came.

(Cary howled and more and more dogs came.)

Then someone thot that he shod resel.

(Then someone thought that he should wrestle.)

So the dog barkd yes

(So the dog barked, "Yes.")

The End

Giving to the Lord OR The Pride Before Our Fall

Yesterday after church, I went to get Aaron and Hannah from their children's church class. There are a few ladies who rotate teaching the class. The lady who was there yesterday met me at the door and asked if we were planning to attend next week. Actually we weren't. The church is semi-new to me and the kids and next week is a large yearly event which makes me feel a bit overwhelmed being the new kid and there is something that the family needs to take care of on one of the next two weekends, so I thought we would skip out next week.

Children's church at our church is lots of fun and games, but it is structured somewhat like the adult service. There is a part for a lesson and an activity to reinforce the lesson. The teacher asked if one of the students would like to teach the lesson next week and Aaron volunteered.

Aaron is really becoming much more assertive and self confident. The fact that he volunteered amazed me. He has to come up with his own scripture and lesson he wants to present. Since he has volunteered, I think we will reschedule our family event and I will just have to grab the kids and make a mad dash out the door before the big church event. We are gradually easing into things. We all attend the dinner and Bible study on Wednesday nights. I attended the monthly women's fellowship this past weekend and I think I am going to attend the women's Bible study this Wednesday morning. The Sunday special event will be too overwhelming. Baby steps, people.

If you know Aaron, you already know he is a pretty compassionate little guy and a deep thinker. A couple weeks ago, he mentioned he needed offering for children's church. I told him I would give him some, but he said he wanted to take it out of his allowance. Perfect. As he should. He told me he didn't want anyone to think he loves Legos (which is what is always saving his money for these days) more than God. Awwww. He gets it. (This could have been a pride comes before the fall moment).

Then later Sunday afternoon Aaron and I had the following brief conversation:

Aaron: Hannah and I are having a church service for the stuffed animals.

Me: Oh. That's nice. (Of course I am thinking what great parents we are that our kids would want to play church with their stuffed animals. This could have been another pride comes before the fall moment.)

Aaron: Yes. And any money we collect during the offering is going to go toward a family trip to Disney World. (This could have been the fall.)

Me: Oh. (Now thinking that our instruction in giving and blessing others has failed somewhere along the line.)

The Birthday Sleepover

The pizza and the peeps and the big sister who was the designated "helper"

The craft

The craft at the other end of the table

The presents

The cards and the peeps

The cupcake cake made of cupcakes

The candles and the singing

The silliness of first graders on extreme sugar

The fun and evidence of sugar and more sugar

The brother and his peep who only appeared for food

Animal Instincts

Hannah and I were sitting in the living room before school this morning and had the following conversation

Hannah: Mommy, if you sit totally still and just move your eyes, you can hear a noise.

Me: (After sitting perfectly still and moving my eyes to hear the noise.) I don't hear anything. What kind of noise is it? (Thinking maybe she hears the clock.)

Hannah: I can't describe it. Little ears can hear noises big ears can't.

Me: Oh, like animals. (Knowing this is where she is coming from.)

Hannah: I think I have animal abilities. The other day when daddy came home I was on the ground sniffing and I picked up his scent.

Me: (Complete silence and large gulps of my coffee to keep from laughing.)

Connie Cootie

When I was in kindergarten, there was a girl whose stop was near mine in what my family called "The Circle." Her name was Connie. I think she was probably in at least fifth grade when I was in kindergarten. Connie had had a case of head lice at some point. I was so traumatized by what the kids on the bus did to her, I still vividly remember it over thirty years later. She would all but run off the bus, ducking her head behind her notebook as kids shouted, "Connie Cootie! Connie Cootie!" It would begin with one kid remembering to torment this poor girl and as soon as the one child was heard many would join in. I guess I didn't join in because I have always had compassion. I was so sad for her. Day after day Connie endured this torment and humiliation.

I knew or was familiar with many of those kids' families. We grew up in a time where a good whoopin' was not frowned upon. I am by no means advocating beating or abusing your child, but the fear of a little discipline goes a long way. Even those mean little kids on the bus had parents who would not have tolerated the kind of behavior I witnessed. Most of them sat in a pew on Sundays and heard the Gospel preached. They knew of Christ's love and compassion. There was no compassion or kindness in their actions.

There has been a story in the news recently about a male college student who had a sexual encounter with a man in his dorm room. The encounter was secretly video taped and then posted on the internet. The college student committed suicide by jumping off the George Washington bridge into the Hudson River.

What humiliation this young man must have felt from his tormentors to take his own life. I am by no means condoning homosexuality. The Bible does say homosexuals will not enter the kingdom of God. However, the full scripture reference reads, "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom Of God." I Corinthians 6:9-10. Hold on! We cannot leave out the following scripture, "And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." I Corinthians 6:11.

There is a story in the book of John about a woman caught in the act of adultery. She is drug before a crowd of people and Jesus. The accusers want to stone her. Jesus tells the accusers, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."

Some of us "Holier Than Thou" Christians, may not have committed a sin from the list in I Corinthians, but Romans 3:23 says, "for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God." We have all had our moments. I have them every day. Keep reading in Romans 3, "(for all) are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Those scriptures aren't telling us only the ones who get caught are sinners. We all are. Neither do those scriptures tell us that only the perfect are redeemed by Christ's blood. It is offered freely to all of humanity.

If you had never heard the Gospel and your first encounter with it was someone pushing their beliefs of how wrong your sin is down your throat would the Gospel be appealing to you? A qoute from Oswald Chambers, "Conviction of sin is one of the rarest things that ever strikes a man. It is the threshold of understanding God. Jesus Christ said that when the Holy Spirit came He would convict of sin, and when the Holy Spirit rouses the conscience and brings him into the presence of God, it is not his relationship with men that bothers him, but his relationship with God." The Holy Spirit was given the job of bringing conviction to the world (John 16:8).

I am not suggesting we run out and buy all the rainbow flags and bumper stickers we can find and display them with pride. It is great to stand up for your beliefs. But when we are trying to be a witness to someone or a group of people, how about we start with a little compassion and an out pouring of God's love through acts of kindness? How about we start with the simple things like, "Jesus loves me. This I know?"

Rachel's Birthday Sleepover

Rachel turned 11 this year. It wasn't as traumatic for me as some years are. For example, when she turned 5 it was harder because at 5 you just aren't a baby anymore. Ten was tough because she hit double digits. Twelve will be hard to take because it is the last year before she is a teenager. Eleven is just there.

I usually let the birthday child choose the dinner menu for his or her birthday. Rachel's Girl Scout troop was having dinner at Scouts that night, so we didn't do the traditional "pick your favorite" dinner that night. Aaron and Hannah did surprise her with a cookie cake for breakfast and she used the celebration plate. I had the camera out and she said, "You aren't planning to take a picture are you?" Well, I was, but I can appreciate the 11 year old not wanting her picture taken in her bedhead.

Because I knew she wouldn't be home for dinner, I had mentioned a week before that I would take her to Starbucks after we dropped the other two at school. It had slipped my mind, but she reminded me the night before.

Here she is enjoying her DECAF Java Chip Frappacino. I skipped my usual nonfat vanilla latte and opted for the seasonal pumpkin spice latte. It tastes like Fall. I may have to treat myself to another one when it actually feels like Fall around here.

My kids have had a birthday party almost every year of their lives. Rachel would be quick to point out that she turned 6 on the cross country trek from California to Illinois so we kind of missed that year. We also didn't have a party when she turned 4, but we took her to Disneyland. Hello! Who wouldn't rather do that?

This year she wanted to have a sleepover. Big surprise there. I kind of like my sleep, so I don't "heart" sleepovers. Having one friend sleepover on a non-party night is fine, but when you have multiple friends there is a lot of excitement. Rachel invited eight friends and all of them came. I also let Aaron and Hannah have one friend sleepover to keep them out of Rachel's hair. More to keep Hannah away than Aaron. When there are multiple girlfriends in the house Aaron tends to make himself scarce. PK was still out of town for the party so I was a bit panicked as party time arrived and I realized I was going to be outnumbered 13 to 1.

The kids were all great! All of Rachel's friends got along well and there was no drama!! Bonus!!! Hannah had several friends sleepover at one time last Spring. It was a bonus sleepover...not a birthday sleepover and there was DRAAAMAA! The key to any successful party is to keep the kids busy.

We started with dinner. Rachel wanted to do snacky kind of things. We had Pigs in a Blanket, mozzarella sticks, chips with salsa and cheese, cheese cubes, strawberries and a vege tray. What is is with kids and Pigs in a Blanket?

Here's the spread. Loving that center island, by the way.

The girls enjoying dinner. We had one late comer who wasn't here yet.

What would a party be without a little Twister? The girls played while I cleaned up the kitchen and got ready to paint t-shirts.

Rachel wanted to tie die the shirts, but I have never done that before and with the number of friends we had that seemed a bit overwhelming to me. Instead we used puffy paints. I found multi packs at WalMart that were reasonably priced. I bought packs of men's t-shirts instead of buying individual shirts in the craft section. I think I got a pack of five for less than I would have paid for two individual shirts.

Hannah and Paige working on their shirts.

They worked on the shirts for about 45 minutes. I thought they would be done in ten.

Cookie cake at the dining room table. Aaron and his little friend did not participate in any crafts. They chose to hang out in the basement and play LEGOs instead.

We found out the nine girls is the maximum amount of kids with sleeping bags we can fit in the rec room in the basement. About 9:00 they all got set up and watched two movies. I came down to check on them about 1:00 and Rachel had started movie number three. She said, "This is our movie to fall asleep on." I said, "Uh, no. That is what the last movie was for." They were all out by 1:30 and slept until they smelled the bacon and cinnamon rolls around 7:45. Not too bad for a sleepover.

Aaron did get in one shot before breakfast. They had cinnamon rolls, bacon (with 13 kids two packages are not enough) and yogurt parfaits.

I found some suncatchers on clearance at Michael's and the girls worked on those and Fusion Beads until the parents came.

It is fun to sit back and watch them interact. Their personalities are so different and I couldn't help but envision their high school graduation and all the memories we will have made before then.