WARNING: NOT for LITTLE EYES (May Give Away Secrets)

Today, M lost a tooth. Literally. Sometime between the quesadilla he had for lunch and the marshmallow he was chomping as dessert, he realized his tooth was gone. Retracing his steps, as well as pulling apart the gooey treat, turned up nothing. This led to some distress, even while being assured the tooth fairy would still come.

Finally, just before bed, he came to me with a proposal: "Mom, I know who the tooth fairy really is. Can't I just borrow an old tooth and stick it under my pillow tonight?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, "Surely, I'M not the one who dresses in fairy wings and tutus, wearing TIGHT pink tights at night to bring money to the tooth-losers in our house." (Growing up, my siblings and I all knew my Dad was the T.F. - and this is the exact image that had me giggling to sleep on the lucky nights when I had tucked a tooth under my own pillowcase.)

In the end, I revealed the T.F.'s secret stash, an old tooth filled in as a prop, and Micah's own Daddy T.F. delivered the reward.

What kids won't do for some loose change & a little make-believe! :)

Swim Lessons

We tried out a new place for swim lessons this year, and it was such a great experience! Where she had never swam alone before, Autumn was swimming on her own by the second lesson.


Jonah improved his stroke, and began learning a few new ones.

Micah became a pro at floating, and was swimming by the session's end, as well.

This new place allows you to stay for hours after your lessons are done, swimming in their outdoor pool. The extra water time was not only a welcome respite from the hottest two weeks of summer; the added exposure gave them the practice they needed to solidify what they learned in lessons. So, so smart!! And even little Gaby got to splash around every day, as a reward for suffering through his big siblings' swim lessons!

First Day of Summer

We've sort of been laying low around here...chores in the morning, playing all day long. On the first day of summer break, we were all outside. A was swinging, and I kept tossing a big bouncy ball at her feet. She giggled as she sent it flying. Soon, J took over ball-tossing/fetching duty, and the other boys grabbed a swing. Which gave me the chance to snap a few pictures. I love spending these long summer days with you cuties!!

overheard

M: Daddy, guess how long I just held my breath.
D: I don't know....how long?
M: Two thousand three hundred and two seconds.
D: Wow! I'm surprised you're still alive.
M: Well, I took a few breaks.

Now for something cute to look at...

Part of why we moved to a rural town was so that our children would have the opportunity to raise animals. Last year, we experienced raising chickens. Some of them are still alive, so we decided it was time to up the ante.


We are trying our hand at raising lambs this spring/summer. Clint found two local sheep farmers with bum lambs they needed help with. When a ewe births three sheep, she will only care for two of them. The third lamb has to be bottle-fed, and is called a bum lamb (or a bummer.) Because sheep are social creatures, we decided to get a pair of bum lambs. The farmers will pay our children for their work at the end of the summer, at which time they will collect the lambs for eventual breeding.

Last Saturday, Clint took Autumn & Micah to go pick up the lambs. Unfortunately, one of them was sick (and not showing symptoms at the time.) He never ate much at all for us, and Clint had to bury him on Wednesday evening (after the lamb stopped breathing right in front of Clint & Autumn.) This prompted a lot of discussion about the resurrection, but the children handled it amazingly well!



Anyhow, we picked up a replacement lamb yesterday (the children had fun bleating back to her all the way home, while she complained about being stowed away in a kennel in the back of our car.) Oreo (the replacement lamb) and Cookie/a.k.a. Lambie (the surviving original lamb) are doing very well. It's fun to watch the kids play with them. Jonah spent 30 minutes in a game of hide-and-seek with Cookie on Thursday (she was feeling pretty lonely). Who knew that lambs could play that game...she was actually good at it, and would attack Jonah with lamb kisses each time she found him. And it's sweet to see them feeding a bottle to them. Gabriel chased Oreo around for 5 minutes last night, trying to get her to take his bottle. He was scolding her for not cooperating ("No! NO!") and had a stern look on his face that would have intimidated me into obeying.


So, wish us luck on our newest adventure. And, if you get an urge to bottle-feed a lamb, stop in. Feeding times are 7 A.M. and 6:30 P.M.