Friday, June 14, 2013

The Braces Come Off!!!

T has been in braces a LONG time!!  She had one set several years ago for about a year and a half.  And we knew it was a temporary fix.  Then she got her second set...which included some crazy contraptions going on in her mouth!  She had an appliance to move her jaw...we called it her "shock absorbers".  It was...interesting!  I felt true pity for her the day she got that appliance on.  When she was about a year into her 2-year treatment plan, we got the orders to Germany.  Which meant a new (Army) orthodontist.  He removed her "shock absorbers" and put in a "lisp enhancer" as T called it.  It effected her speech, her ability to swallow a pill, even her ability to eat certain foods.  This stayed in the entire time!  After almost 2-years of treatment here in Germany, we had the orthodontist remove her braces, before we return to the States.  After 6 months of promising "maybe next month", we simply decided that he was never going to get them quite right.  And she didn't want to return to the States in braces and move to another orthodontist, and possibly even longer treatment.

So we let her make the decision to remove them, even though they weren't exactly "finished".  She is happy with them, and she says constantly how nice it is to NOT have braces anymore!

Before the final appointment...

After the final appointment...

And the first thing she wanted to eat after getting them off??  PEANUTS!!  We went straight to the commissary after the appointment, and she broke into the bag on the way home.  She was one extremely happy girl!

Soccer & No Pudge Brownies!

What's Little R been up to lately??

Well, he's been playing some soccer...which he loves, except for the cold, rainy weather we have had all season!





And...he got the entire brownie batter bowl to himself...first time ever!!  If you haven't seen or tried No Pudge Brownie mix, I highly recommend it!  You make it with yogurt...and they are delicious!  Little R definitely approved...and for a little guy who doesn't like to get dirty (especially his hands), this is a big deal!




 

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Mother's Day, Pre-K Style!

For Mother's Day, Little R's pre-k class had a "manicure party" for the Mommies.  The kids got to pick out the nail color that they thought their Mommies would like best, and then paint our nails all.by.themselves!!

Little R was very excited about the opportunity to paint my nails.  He picked purple (my favorite, of course)!  He was very focused on getting it just right...and the end results were....well, interesting!

It was a fun time with my little man!

Serious concentration!

He was proud of the end result!

The finished product!  Aren't they lovely?  I wore this nail polish for 3 days before I felt like it was safe to take it off without him getting upset!

The card he made me.  Inside it had the poem about fingerprints everywhere...yes, it brought tears to my eyes!

LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this boy!!


I love watching our little guy interact with his friends.

And we finished off the celebration with some afternoon tea with one of our very best buddies!!

A little post all about A...

A has been noticeably absent from the last few posts, so I decided to devote a short post to her only.  What has A been up to?

Growing her hair out.  T straightened it for her one evening, and we realized just how long it really is!

"Reader's Theater" at school.  She did great!


Science project for school...
And she made High Honor Roll again for the 3rd quarter!!
A definitely adds "spunk" to our family!  If she is gone for a day or night, our family has a noticeably different "feel" to it!  Sometimes the peace and quiet is welcomed...but usually we miss her terribly!

Photographer-in-Training

Little R likes to take pictures.  Like, REALLY, REALLY likes to take pictures!  Usually he takes pictures of his feet...but in this album I found he was broadening his horizons...

Taking a picture of MiMi while we were Skyping...

Taking a picture of Daddy...

And he still loves taking pictures of his feet! : )  But aren't they cute little feet??