Photographic evidence

Babies are born everyday. Mom's get pregnant and nine months later a perfect beautiful baby is born. We have all heard stories of perfect and healthy babies being born to mothers that did not do anything we all hear we should do to ensure a healthy pregnancy. Babies come in hospitals, in taxi cabs, in an aisle at the local walmart, at home, in tubs of water, in public restrooms, in 3rd world countries with no medical care, in sterilized delivery rooms and in the most unclean places imaginable. Birth is an everyday occurrence and one that we all see and hear about so often that we often forget about the MIRACLE that is a baby. A miracle straight from God that no man can ever recreate. A miracle that no man can fully explain. A miracle that man has taken for granted so horribly that it has become to mean nothing to so many people. A miracle that is often looked at as a mistake or a problem that we can choose to destroy if we so desire. Oh, the tears that God must shed each time one of his precious miracles is looked upon in such a way. As if the pricelessness of a newborn baby is not miracle enough to prove the existence of an Almighty Creator, he sends an even more evident miracle as further proof for us fool hearted humans to again show us His love, mercy, protection and power. For our family, that evidence arrived 7 years ago-January 25, 2003-14 weeks earlier than expected in the form of our perfect and beautiful 2 pound 4 ounce Kalysa Glori. Every time Kalysa has another birthday, I can not help but spend the day marveling at the wonderful Lord that we serve that (for some unknown reason) thought me worthy enough for Him to hand deliver my own personal package of perfection as a way to prove to me even further of the love He has for me and to remind me of the faith that He so longs for me to have in Him.

I thought I would share with you some of the photographic evidence I have collected that is proof positive that I serve an Awesome God!!

At 20 days old on her very first Valentine's day. The nurse had put heart sheets on her tiny incubator mattress and a precious little bow in her hair before we arrived for our daily visit. Not long before I got to the hospital, Kalysa ripped her ventilator tube out and was breathing well on her own so they did not put it back in(one of 3 times she ripped it out before it stayed out for good). This was the first time I got to see her entire perfect face unobstructed. I could not have held back the tears with the Hoover Dam when I saw her laying there. Unfortunately, after several hours on her own, she was getting really tuckered out working so hard to breath that the ventilator had to go back on later that day so she could get some rest.

When the ventilator tubes were removed for good (at about 5 weeks) we were able to spend our visitation times actually holding our tiny baby. This was the first time I got to hold her whole little body in my arms, and yet another day that the Hoover Dam would have been no use! We finally were able to participate in all diaper changes and dressing her up and getting her ready to learn to suck and breath at the same time so that she could go home.

Home from the hospital at 69 days and up to 4 pounds and 9 ounces. This was still about 3 1/2 weeks before she was even due to be born. Here she is all dressed up in her first Easter dress. You can see the wires from the apnea monitor she was sent home with. She stayed strapped to the monitor(meaning I was also strapped to carrying that stupid thing around) for about 5 months as a precautionary measure. She did not need it at all. It did not go off one single time for any medical reason but as she got a little bigger she was able to move around enough and twist the connectors that were detecting her breaths out of line just enough to send that awful siren blaring through our house. I tell ya-no one would have been able to sleep through that if there ever had been a real emergency!

With Keslee being only about a week from her 1st birthday when we finally brought Kalysa home, she kinda thought she got a new baby doll. She was the same little mothering soul then that she is today. Kalysa always wanted to be moving and Keslee was more than happy to be sure the baby's swing did not stop moving or to set and lightly bounce the bouncy seat every time the batteries died on the vibration function. She was always so gentle with her new baby but I still was not confident in her ability enough to actually let her push her around in the little shopping cart. Although she REALLY wanted to, we just used it as a photo op! Kalysa would have been about 3 months old in this picture.

As a comparison, we used the same little shopping cart when Kalysa turned one year old. She still fit just not as comfortably!

As soon as Kalysa came home from the hospital, she had an occupational therapist that came to the house twice a month to work with her and help us to make sure she was meeting each of the normal milestones. At birth they told us it was possible that she may be blind or deaf or have any number of mental delays that would last a life time. Her therapist came until she turned 3 years old and then we sent her to a special ed 3 year old pre-k class for about 3 hours a few times a week. At 3 years old, she was the only kid in the class that did not have to have speech therapy(which is a very common need-the ventilator tube pressed up on the roof of her mouth for the first 5 weeks of her life and basically reshaped it. It is very high!). Her teachers agreed that she really had no special needs but they loved her so much that they did not want to disqualify her from the class. She worked on ABCs and writing her name while the others did various therapy sessions.

At 4 years old it was so evident that there were no mental delays that the special ed teachers were forced to give her up and let her go to a regular pre-k class.

She loved going to school and was sad when she did not have homework like her brother did. She was the only one of the 3 kids that was not so sure about our decision to pull them out and begin our homeschool adventures. Of course when UPS delivered our first big box of curriculum and she saw all the fun "homework" that was just for her, she lost that apprehension and got excited! She was our first homeschool graduate when she finished her first homeschool year and got Kindergarten graduation pictures made.

Now here she sits, on our bathroom counter seven years after we first met her, awaiting a birthday present that she has been longing for for months......

BANGS! I think I got them a little short because she was to excited to sit still but they will grow out a little and be perfect. She loved them....especially after I pulled the rest of her hair back into a pony tale and her sister looked at her with awe and love and said "Oh Kalysa! You look just like a cheerleader!" Now what 7 year old wouldn't want to hear a compliment like that?!?

SEVEN YEARS! I just can't believe it has been seven years since we were given the miracle that completed our family. I can't believe that after seven years and as many pictures as I like to take, Kalysa has still not learned the art of the fake smile for the camera! This goofy scrunched up grin(or a super wide, all teeth showing, eyes bulging out smile) is what we have always gotten when we try to make her smile for a picture. With her smiles it is either real or nothing even close to looking real. :)

Phenomenal Parents?!

If you read my last post you will understand that the week we just had was filled with struggles and trials for my children as well as me. Weeks like that can really bring a homeschool mom down and make ya start wondering why we are doing what we are doing. Is it really worth it and are we really getting anywhere? Don't ya just love it when God, in His infinite wisdom, knows the internal struggles we are facing and promptly sends reinforcement and encouragement!?! Now please know that I am in NO way trying to brag on myself or my children by telling this story but am trying to brag on my God and the love and grace He shows His children. I know who we are and know what we are as a family but hope that others will still be able to see Christ through us.
We went out to dinner as a family and had a very good meal. It was nothing special, just the 5 of us enjoying each other and some cheese enchiladas, no different from any other time we visit a restaurant as a family. Towards the end of our meal an older lady that had been having dinner with her husband a few tables away came over to our table and said...
Her:I just wanted to say that the 2 of you must be Phenomenal parents.
Me:(giggle, giggle thinking "who is she talking to?!")Well, thank you mam but trust me, we are no where close to phenomenal!
Her:You have Beautiful kids and they have been so well behaved the entire time you have been here. Normally, when we go out, the restaurants are filled with kids from you know where and you don't see kids behave this well. You guys must be doing something right so I say that you are phenomenal parents.
Me:Well thank you so much! (blush! blush! because I know myself and I am NOT a phenomenal ANYTHING and especially not a phenomenal parent in the least!!)
So, just when I start to wonder if we are getting anywhere and if the extra work and headaches are really worth it, God says "your on the right track!" I know that homeschooling does not automatically produce well behaved children but it most definitely does produce closer family relationships which in turn affects the behavior of all involved. Homeschooling is a lifestyle change that we have made as a family as we do our best to honor and obey God. Without that one act of obedience to the Lord, I know the other parts of our lives would be out of line. So come Monday morning(not too early!) I will be happy to start a new week of school. I CAN put last week behind us and I KNOW that it is all worth it. Yes we ARE getting somewhere. No where close to phenomenal but somewhere none the less!

First trip to Shriner Hospital

Kalysa and I made our first trip to Shreveport for an appointment at the Shriner hospital. We left Okc about 8 in the morning on Wednesday in a Shriner van. About an hour away we stopped and picked up two more patients that also had appointments. The shriners let Kalysa check out a portable DVD player and a movie.

She spent most of the ride watching "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang." It took us about 7 hours so we are all VERY thankful that the DVD player had head phones:) ! We stopped for lunch at a Mcdonalds and then the driver also stopped at a Russel Stovers store and bought all three kids a big bag of jelly beans. After we got to town, we checked into the motel that the Shriners had set up for us. After settling in a little, we all went to supper at CiCi's pizza. The entire community seems to have embraced the Shriners and the children they help. We got supper for free and there are a few other restaurants that apparently do the same thing for the Shriner patients. After supper, we had a free evening at the motel.

Kalysa wanted to go to the pool but I did not bring any suits so I told her she could just play on the steps. I was not planning on getting wet myself until Kalysa stepped off the bottom step and could not touch bottom so I ended up jumping in with my clothes on to grab her. After that she was done with swimming. We headed back to the room for baths and a little relaxing.

Keslee had called me 3 times and was really missing her mama. She wanted to know EVERYTHING about the trip and our room..."Are there 2 beds or one? Is there a tv? Is it a big screen? Do they give you soap? What color is the soap? It is white, I thought it would be blue. Do you have a sink? Is there a bathroom? You have a Dr. Pepper, where did you get it? How do you get ice? Is there any chairs by the pool?...." Kalysa and I went around and took pictures of everything from the toilet to the pop machines to the tv to the pool to the ice machine so that Keslee could see it all when we got home.

Here is Kalysa standing beside the van that we rode down on.

And here is the Shriner that drove the van.

The next morning we had to be up at 6 am. We had breakfast at the motel and then checked out and headed to the hospital by 7am. We all checked in and waited for our appointments. The hospital is completely geared toward the children so the entire lobby is full of fun things for the kids to do. Normally the kids are expected to sit in the waiting room and be quiet but here they had toys and rocking horses and tricycles and games. Kalysa instantly met up with another little boy about 3 years old and they raced all around on the bikes. When it was finally her turn, we went into the gait lab and she had to walk back and forth on a little path while being video taped. Next they did lots of measurements and stretches to verify and note her range of movement and her strength. Then she was taped up with little silver balls at each of her joints and electrodes taped to her muscles and she had to walk the path again. There were special cameras mounted all around the room that picked up the little balls and made a digital image of her on the computer. We got to watch her little digital robot walking on the screen. It was kinda like watching a "the making of..." for a digital cartoon movie.

The balls were not actually lit up but the flash from the camera reflected off of them resulting in "Kalysa the Christmas tree". She TOTALLY did not want to wear the little bikini top and kept trying to cover up but it was necessary for all the electrodes to be seen by the cameras. The 2 lab techs that were doing the tests were ladies and they assured her they would not let any boys in while she had it on. The tests took about 2 hours to complete. The doctor will now go over all the information collected (I was told it will take him about 4 hours to process it all) and customize a plan for her surgery specific to her needs. After we finished, we found our party, both other boys were finished with their appointments, and headed home. We stopped at a little buffet for lunch and everyone got to eat for $2.50 each. One of the cooks came out and gave our driver a wad of cash to give the Shriners to help with travel expenses. We got home about 6:30 pm. The trip was pleasant and it was really great to see the support of the community for the Shriner kids. I feel much more at ease now that I have been to the hospital and seen the environment. Kalysa took it all in as one big adventure and she did great. It is now about a month until our next trip for surgery. I am praying that the Shriners will allow Monty and I both to ride the van then. I was told it is possible if the van is not full with other patients and because she will be staying for surgery. My mom will be on vacation that week and will keep Kenyon and Keslee. She is planning on making the trip down when Kalysa has surgery and we are praying for her to have the finances to do so. If you would pray with us on these things, it would be greatly appreciated-and of course for the doctors and Kalysa's safety during surgery.

Children's Festival

Several churches in town put on a children's festival last weekend on Friday evening and all day Saturday. It was all free and there were games and rides and face painting and clowns and Bible stories and even free hamburgers, hot dogs, popcorn and snow cones. Well any mother knows how much a night of not having to cook is really worth so we were there. The kids had a TOTAL blast with 2 days of good clean fun and play. Ok, so maybe it wasn't all clean-they also had a section set up with water guns, a slip and slide, a blow up water slide, and a huge tarp covered in dish soap and sprayed with a water hose to slide around on. I convinced the kids to save the water play until just before we were ready to leave each day so they were not running around in dripping wet clothes while they enjoyed the other activities. Here are some pictures from our fun.

Keslee waiting for her balloon lady bug.

Kalysa got a balloon flower. For some reason we did not get a picture of it until after we got home and they had already changed out of their wet clothes.

Kenyon went for the hat and he also had a balloon sword to go with it. One of the clowns did some magic tricks and demonstrated to the kids how Jesus was not in the tomb with a disappearing dice in a box. It was a pretty cool trick.

They had tons of carnival type games. Here is Keslee trying to toss a ring around a sucker.

Kenyon was pretty good at this and played it several times.

Kalysa's rings kinda went every which way but on a sucker but she still had fun. They also did things like skee ball, a bull's eye toss, bean bag toss and lots of other games.


Every third or forth booth was a Bible story booth. Here is a picture of Keslee throwing ping pong balls at Goliath to see if she would be able to hit him right in the forehead on the first try like David did.

Here is Kalysa jumping in the bouncy thingy. I never have really know what the technical name for those are but I am betting yall all know what a bouncy thingy is. Notice the remains of as many as you want free snow cones down the front of her shirt:)

One of the big highlights of the day for the girls was the huge blow up slide. They must have gone down this thing a thousand times. It looks like so much fun. Why didn't they have these things when we were kids?!?

They also had a blow up obstacle course for two kids to race. It was so much fun to watch them running, and diving over obstacles. Poor Kalysa is just a little to short and had a few problems trying to get over them. She always ended up landing head first.

Keslee probably could have beat Kalysa if she wasn't stopping to make sure Kalysa got over everything. She is such a good big sister and didn't want to leave Kalysa behind. After they top this wall, there was another big slide to go down to finish the race.

Besides just the games they also had a petting zoo. Kalysa was pretty intimidated by the animals even though they were all small but she did soften up to the baby donkey. When the mama donkey came over, she started crying because "she was gettin too close!"

Kenyon spent so much time with this llama that the owner finally gave him the food and he spent a long time feeding him.

Keslee could have spent hours in here with these little donkeys. She also loved the baby goat and the calf and is now ready for us to move to the country and start getting some farm animals. I am all for that as well but I don't really see it in the near future. Keslee has started praying for this so ya never know what God may do.

Next to the petting zoo was a pony ride. My kids LOVE to ride horses but haven't had the opportunity much lately.

Here is Keslee looking oh so happy atop that horse.

It is really a good thing that this is not a large horse because when I was helping Kalysa on, the horse stepped on the leaders foot. When the guy pushed the horse to get him off his foot, the horse jumped back and to the side and stepped on my foot. I said "OWWWWW" which scared the horse and he did a little hop off of my foot but with Kalysa already sitting on his back so she was just a little nervous about the rest of the ride. She did just fine and so did the horse!

They even had something for the parents.....FREE SCHOOL SUPPLIES!

Each kid got a sack so we got 3 boxes of colors and 3 scissors, lots of pencils, erasers, some paint, some markers, several folders and spiral notebooks and plenty of glue sticks. They also had drawings for prizes and Keslee won the Pixos and Kenyon won a toy rocket.

We also got several free boxes of Kleenex and bottles of hand sanitizer. You got one for each child you signed up for a drawing. Monty came for awhile on Saturday and didn't know I had already signed the kids up so he did it as well. I can ALWAYS use Kleenex around here:)

Each game, ride or Bible story the kids participated in awarded them tickets that they were able to redeem for prizes. They each got color books, hacky sacks. frisbees, parachute men, bracelets little animals, suckers, and the girls got little batons. The kids had so much fun and look forward to the children's festival each year.

Load off my shoulders-GOD IS SOO GOOD!

Kalysa's surgery is getting closer and closer everyday and the stress of it all has started settling in on me. I am so thankful that the Lord worked it out and we are able to utilize the Shriner hospital. When Kalysa was just 2 1/2 years old, she was referred to a specialist. Many children with her condition are referred just to an orthopedic doctor often specializing in sports medicine who would normally do surgery. The only problem with that is that they do basically the same surgery for all muscle tightening problems and it often does not work or has to be repeated several times. Kalysa's therapist at the time had heard great things about Dr. Wright, the only pediatric physiatrist(specialist in children's reabilitation) in the state of Oklahoma, and we were able to ask her pediatrician to specifically refer her to him. Dr. Wright has worked with her for the last 4 years with botox injections to relax the muscles, physical therapy, casting to stretch the muscles and splints to keep them from tightening back up-everything he could to avoid surgery. His efforts were fruitful and the muscles in her right leg have responded well-she no longer walks on her toes on the right foot and her muscles now have a normal range of motion. The left leg has continued to give her problems. Little did we know 4 1/2 years ago that Dr. Wright personally knew and had been working with and learning from Dr. Gates, the children's orthopedic specialist with the Shriner hospital. Dr. Gates specializes in orthopedic surgery on children and will customize the surgery to exactly what each patient needs based on the results of a full gait analysis that will show him exactly what each muscle is or is not doing. Without Dr. Wright setting up a personal appointment in OKC with Dr. Gates for Kalysa, we would never have had this opportunity. God has been working all these years behind the scenes. As of today it is 1 month until our first scheduled visit to a hospital that is 400 miles away. The stress of this impending trip and the costs associated with it really started weighing on me this past weekend. The hospital provides a place for the parents to stay but not the siblings. Kalysa has to check in early in the morning so it would be necessary for us to be there the night before requiring us to need a motel room for all of us. The costs have been adding up and adding up in my head. Today I contacted our local Shriner organization to see what may be available in the way of transportation assistance. Would you believe that they already have Kalysa on the list with her appointment dates and times and have already scheduled to drive her and I down in their van the night before her gait analysis, they have a motel room booked and paid for for us and have scheduled to bring us back home after all her tests are finished. The only thing I will need to pay for is food and they have a cafeteria at the hospital. The man assured me that their food is unusually good for hospital food and very reasonably priced-about $1.50 for breakfast. They also have her transportation there and back scheduled for the surgery. We are hoping that we can all be there as a family when she has surgery and the van can only take the patient and one parent but my mom and a friend from church are going to be driving down so it may still be possible for Monty and the kids to share a ride and not have to spend a lot of money. Also the kids may be able to ride home with grandma before we leave so we will not have to have a motel room for them the whole time. I have been starting to really stress about these 2 trips and the details were already worked out without my help or my knowledge. Oh Wow! GOD IS GOOD-ALL THE TIME-ALL THE TIME-GOD IS GOOD!!! I want to thank everyone who has been praying with us. God and God alone is faithful in hearing and answering our prayers and I am so thankful for His promises. I am just in awe of how wonderful He is to us even though we deserve nothing. The Lord Jesus Christ already gave His life on the cross to save me and that is more than enough for anyone but He is so faithful and loves us so much that He continues to care for us and provide for us. I fail Him so often yet He has never and will never fail me. I stand amazed!!

Be careful in the morning

As I started to get out of bed this morning my foot touched a familiar soft fuzziness. Luckily the feeling was so very familiar and, even in my half sleep half awake state, I immediately recognized it to be the fuzziness of Kalysa's ever present Raggedy Ann blankie.

She must have gotten up to go the the bathroom in the wee morning hours and decided to come lay down by mom. When Keslee decides to come into our room in the night she will squeeze her way into the bed either between Monty and I or right on the edge beside me and go back to sleep to then begin pushing, kicking and elbowing her way to more room. Kalysa has always just come in and lay on the the floor beside the bed never disturbing anyone else and gone back to sleep. She has with her a couch pillow so she must have been up and contemplating where to lay back down. Isn't she a sweet picture of innocence?! It always makes me smile to wake up and see her tucked in contentedly next to mama's bed.

Curly Curly Curls!

Don't know if you have noticed or not but Keslee has curly hair. These are not just your everyday curls folks, I mean C-U-R-L-Y curls! Ya know, maybe I shouldn't even call them curls-they are more like very tight springs. I LOVE her springy curls. When I was younger I got spiral perm after spiral perm trying to get my hair to look like hers but it never got as curly as I wanted. Well anyone with curls at all knows that tangles and frizz go hand in hand with curly hair. When Kes was younger I always kept her hair in braids-lots of braids because her hair is also super thick. I have had so much fun trying different designs and patterns for her braids. I think she looks so cute with little braids all over but she is growing up now and she wants to do her own hair and she wants to wear it down. I know that letting her wear her hair down means that the next day would result in lots of tears for her and at least an hour of work for me as we try to brush out the frizzy tangles that come with a running, jumping, cart wheeling, windy day of play. I have tried every combination of gels, mouse, hair lotion, and leave in conditioner that I could find. Well thanks to Titus 2 women those days are over!! :) I found this link on her blog and now Keslee's flowing springy curls are FREE from the braids. Here is what we are doing now....shampoo hair-get out of bath and get dressed-THEN add conditioner. I have always used conditioner in the shower and then add a leave in conditioner afterwards. Now we add the regular conditioner after the shower and let it dry in her hair. This keeps the curls together and eliminates the frizz. The next day we can use wet fingers or use a spray bottle of water to re-wet her hair just a little to style it for the day and it is perfect! No more buying extra gels or mouse, just maybe an extra bottle of the conditioner we use anyway because I use ALOT to be sure all her curls are coated. It actually worked so great for Kes that I now do the same thing for Kalysa and myself. Our curls are not as curly as Keslee's but I tell ya-Kalysa's loose wavy curls look AWESOME now!



Here are some pictures of the first night we used this technique.

BEFORE CHURCH



Then we went to church. Not just any church service-I mean a Wednesday night church service. At our church what that means is that as soon as church is over all the kids run outside and have a prayer meeting amongst their selves asking the Lord to keep all of the adults inside and talking and catching up with everyone and sharing homeschool tips and recipes and to let there be something that we all have to do like maybe move some tables and chairs or decorate a room or something to keep us all occupied so they can enjoy some playtime together. Actually I can't say that is exactly what happens since I am not invited to this outdoors revival meeting of kids but I assume that is what happens since all the kids head outside immediately and us adults DO end up inside often for an hour or more after church leaving the kids to have a great time playing basketball or tag or just ride around on the 2 or 3 scooters that kids bring on Wednesday night in anticipation of their free time together. It must be a God thing. But anyway, what I am trying to say is after several hours and lots of running and playing this is what her hair looked like when we finally got home...



Not much different huh!?! No frizz!! Still just beautiful springy bouncy spiral curls. When she headed to bed we used 2 scrunchies and made 2 loose buns on each side for her to sleep. When she woke up the next morning it only took a couple of minutes to fix her hair for the day. I LOVE IT! I am so thankful that we have found what works now and she will not have to go through her whole life fussing and fighting with her beautiful curls. We wash her hair every 3 or 4 days and since it has had conditioner in it the whole time washing her hair is also easier. My baby girl is growing up and now I can let her have her "grown up" hair style without all the "I'm still just a little girl" fussing when it comes time to brush it.

Happy fathers day Monty!!!

We love you!!!

Babies Babies everywhere!!

watching a little tv

My home contains 2 little mamas and umpteen babies. The girls started playing house several years ago and have never stopped. Keslee ALWAYS has at least one child with her at all times. Whether we are going to the store, the library or church, she has to bring a baby and a purse full of baby doll essentials. In the car the baby is seated in the seat(preferably the booster seat since we have 2 in the van and the girls don't always use them) with a seatbelt on. At church a blanket is laid out on the pew and the baby is set up on the blanket so she will not miss any of the preachin. My girlses families have been growing by leaps and bounds and now Keslee has 9 kids and Kalysa has 3. Keslee's babies range in age from 4 years old to 1 month (could you imagine having 9 kids under 5!?!) Two of Kalysa's babies were born yesterday but believe it or not they are not twins. Today I was given specific intructions for when I babysit-3 of the babies have ear problems so there is a tool(little toy gun) I have to put in their ears to squirt the medicine each night, the tiny babies are all on shots for I don't know what, and one of the babies has had botox shots and is in a cast. Here are a few photos from the day.

taking a nap on the floor

getting the newborn into the stroller(complete with folded blanket for protecting his head)

the make shift baby bed

To kiss a boy...

What happens when you try to get two little sisters to kiss one big brother on each cheek? Especially when you are in public?! Oh yea, and you also want to get a picture of it?!!!?



NOPE!!! NOT GONNA HAPPEN!!! AND JUST FOR EVEN MENTIONING IT, DON'T THINK YOUR GONNA GET ANOTHER SMILE OUT OF HIM!

Good thing this was the last picture we took in our family picture session and I have to say it is my absolute favorite! It so captures the feelings of an 11 year old boy surrounded by 2 sweet and loving sisters that were(and always are) more than happy to plant a big smooch on their brother for the camera.

My girls are just NOT normal!!!

Besides some serious hockey players, do you know anyone that has knocked out any of their teeth? I grew up with a sister and 2 brothers and we had our crazy childhood moments with bicycle wrecks, wrestling matches, jumping off various things(porches, backs of trucks, fences, hay stacks, homemade bike ramps etc.). We all played backyard football and baseball, you know the kind with NO RULES. We even played baseball using a metal bat and a flat basketball a few times-ok, that one did result in 7 stitches above my right eye-boy those bats really ricochet fast off basketballs, trust me!! My point it that we were typical rowdy, rough and tumble kids that took too many risks and sometimes felt invincible but not one of us ever had a tooth knocked out. I had stitches twice-once during the baseball game and once at girl scout camp when I was helping move a large sheet of tin so the younger girls did not get hurt on it-go figure. I broke my ankle my sophomore year of college on some ice and my brother broke his ankle during a high school football game but never did we knock out teeth. My little brother Chris even got hit by a car once but he kept all his teeth. I remember one girl I went to school with getting a tooth knocked out. We had an all night lock-in at the skating rink with girl scouts or church one and there was a collision between a couple of girls and a tooth came out then. I have always thought of knocking out teeth as an exception and not the rule of a normal childhood. Well apparently my girls are not normal!

Not too long ago, I told you about our trip to the ER when Kalysa knocked out her front tooth in a skateboard incident. I alluded to the fact that Keslee had only lost one tooth to date and it was also knocked out. Hers happened when she was about 2 years old. Jacinta (my sister) was playing with the cutest little 2 year old and was having her jump off the cedar chest/coffee table into her arms. Keslee was having a grand ole time until Jacinta missed or dropped or something and Keslee hit her mouth right on the wooden handle to the recliner. Her tooth (bottom left side) was knocked out and hanging by a string. I rushed home (I had been at work, Monty called me) and then rushed her to the dentist where they put the tooth back in hoping that it would tighten up and come out again a few years later. Well that did not happen-she was TWO-it ended up falling back out that night and so she has had a hole there for 5 years still waiting on the permanent tooth. Luckily it is on the side and not the front so most people never notice and it has never bothered her. She now has her first official loose tooth now-and it is loose naturally:).
Well, a few days ago, Keslee and Kalysa were playing cowgirls and riding stick horses all around the house. Since we do not officially have any stick horses, they made their own with golf clubs tied to a belt for the reins. We have a few golf clubs that the kids are allowed to play with and then we have daddy's clubs. They know which ones they can play with-although I don't have a clue-so I assumed they had "their" clubs. Apparently I was wrong and when daddy saw what was transpiring he told them to put his clubs up instantly. Knowing that they were in trouble, they were both quick to obey. Kalysa had ahold of the reins and as she tried to hurriedly dismount her stead, the head of that horse/club swung up and popped her in the mouth effectively knocking out her bottom front tooth. I have mentioned before that we are not a family of early tooth losers. I did not loose my first tooth until I was seven and Kenyon was the same way. Keslee just turned 7 in April and now has her first loose tooth. Kalysa has never mentioned a tooth feeling loose or hurting when she eats an apple of anything so I never considered checking hers. When I first looked in her mouth to check out the damage, I thought that she had knocked her tooth back because there was a tooth there but upon closer inspection I noticed that the tooth was quiet a bit larger than any of her baby teeth-By George-her permanent tooth was already taking it's place. That baby tooth was ready to come out anyway and a new tooth was well on it way into that space! It was a relief to know that she was not gonna be toothless (at least in one hole) for a year or more waiting on the arrival of a tooth that was not prepared to appear yet but I really would like her to try the normal way from now on. You know...discover a loose tooth...feel so grown up because your baby teeth are ready to come out...spend days wiggling it with your fingers...finally it is loose enough that you constantly wiggle it with your tongue... finally it is just hanging on by a string but still be terrified to just pull it....daddy threaten to yank it the rest of the way out...scream and cry with dread...have dad come at ya with the pliers...not open her mouth around dad at all for fear he will grab...to finally feel something floating around in your mouth and discover that the last tiny string finally broke and freed you tooth. Yeah! Why can't my girls do something like that like us normal people?

Are they old enough to stay home alone?

As I mentioned before, we had a fun library day last week. We had made plans to hit the library and then run to wal-mart to pick up a few things and then head back home. Well, we had some unexpected fun at the library (you can read about that here) so it took us an extra long time. Since we have completed our curriculum and school is out for the summer-YEA! that is if school is ever really out which I don't believe it really is when you homeschool. you just may not do curriculum type work everyday but the learning never stops:) -we checked out some extra movies(our library has several feature films for families and if you have never seen Summer of the Monkeys we ALL recommend it). So anyway, as we are leaving the library and the kids are discussing which movie we are gonna watch first, Kalysa says "Mom, I really don't feel like going to wal-mart now. Can you just drop me off at the house on your way?" My six year old asks me to drop her off at the house-which is empty, mind you, since we are all together and daddy is still at work- and she says it like it is an everyday thing. Like she just totally expected me to say "sure honey" and drop her off. Could someone please tell me when my baby grew up and where was I exactly when it happened?!

Being the mother of a boy

Being the mother of a boy is a unique and puzzling experience. If you are lucky enough to have at least one boy and one girl, it takes about 2 minutes tops to realize that they are made to think and act completely different. I have been the mother of a boy for 11 years now and I am really no closer to understanding the way he thinks than I was the day he was born. I believe God gave me 1 boy for a couple of reasons...1.to really challenge my own way of thinking on just about every aspect of life and 2.because he knew one was all I could deal with! I stand in awe of mother's of numerous boys and especially mothers of all boys. I really don't know how you ladies do it (yes Angela and Deborah-I mean you!)! There are so many times when I really just have no idea where he comes from. They other day, I jumped in the shower after Kenyon had gotten out. He takes really quick showers and could not have been in the bathroom any longer than 10 minutes total. As I am washing my hair, I lean my head back and happen to see this...

YES!-that is my ceiling and YES! it is covered with bubbles!?!? After I finished my shower, I got my camera and took this photo and showed the picture to the girls. Both of them were completely puzzled and could not figure out what I had taken a photo of. I showed the photo to my dear son and he giggled and said "oh yeah, I was playing." and just went on like that is perfectly normal. What!?! How does "playing" all of a sudden equal bubbles covering the ceiling of the bathroom? How is that any fun and why did he not assume I would ever question this? I guess I really just don't understand boys.