Shopping List: more steri-strips

Makayla lost her first tooth this week. Mindy made sure that it was plenty loose on Sunday, and I didn't think it would last through a meal, but Kayla protected it and the tooth stayed in until Tuesday evening. We had just finished finished a chili dinner which we had prepared for the missionaries. They were sharing a scripture with us in the family room when Makayla jumped off the couch yelling, "my tooth! my tooth! I lost my first tooth!"






This is the picture that Maddy had taken for her drama resume. She tried out for the next play, Pinnochio. I wasn't too excited about this play, but Maddy really wants to continue to be involved in drama. She is going to be one of the puppetiers (I'm glad - I was a little afraid that they would cast girls in boy roles).

Mindy and Mackensy are having fun learning how to ski. Maddy is learning snowboarding this year and really likes it. It amazes me how quickly children pick up on sports. I have the opportunity this year to learn to ski while the girls are in their lessons (sure beats sitting in the freezing cold lodge for 3 hrs). Tomorrow will be our fourth lesson. I've stayed on the bunny hill, improving little by little. My instructor want to take me up "the real hill" tomorrow. I'm nervous and excited.         

Do not continue reading if blood makes you quezy. We ran out of steri-strips this week. Three of the children had cuts bad enough to need them. The first was Ben on Monday. He already had a black eye from falling on the floor (didn't trip on anything, just fell for no reason). Then, while jumping on Mindy's bed his head hit the window sill. Barry was home and I watched as he took care of the one inch gash, thinking, "I need to learn how to do this". The opportunity came for me to use my new skill Friday afternoon. Mindy was chasing Maddy into Maddy's bedroom. Maddy closed her door on Mindy's pinky, and it popped like a grape, leaving a 1 1/2 inch gash. Barry was in Spokane all day, so I used steri-strips to close the wound, then she iced it as it was getting swollen. Then on Saturday Mackensey was helping Barry in the kitchen. Barry tossed a container at her telling her to "catch". She caught it in between the eyes, a 3/4 inch gash across her nose. "Don't worry, I got this" and I took her to the bathroom where I used the last two steri-strips. Now we need to buy more steri-strips because it has become a staple in our household.  

Have a great week! Love, Avery

Maddy's first driving lesson

These are some pictures that Barry took from our balcony.



 We had church cancelled last Sunday due to freezing rain, and youth group cancelled on Wednesday night due to a snow storm dumping 4 inches Tuesday night and another 4 inches on Wednesday. We had plans to go to Spokane onWednesday, but were able to wait until Thursday. Barry's mom was at his sister's house and we went there to visit her. On the drive home Makayla asked me a question from the back seat of our minivan.

"Mom, where to babies come from?" It was late and I was tired and she wasn't speaking very clearly, so I had to ask Mindy to help translate. "Did Makayla just ask me where babies come from?" "Yes." Pause, "Kayla, babies come from a very special place, and I would like to talk with you about it, but can we wait until we get home to discuss this?" Mindy said, "She just wants to know if you eat something, then a baby grows in your stomach."  "Oh, no, baby's don't come to your belly because of what you eat. Babies are in mommies bellies, but not in their stomach." Then Ben started asking questions about male/female anatomy. My babies are not babies anymore.



Maddy drives the tractor

In preparations for our New Year's Eve party Friday night, I was busy cleaning inside the house while Barry, Maddy, and Ben were busy outside working sanding the driveway. I went outside at noon to tell them that lunch was ready and saw that Barry had taught Maddy how to drive the tractor so that he and Ben could shovel that sand from the bucket onto the ground. I just laughed, "You're going to teach her how to drive a tractor before she learns how to drive a car?" "Sure, why not?"

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