Cinnamon rolls, store-bought yogurt, orange juice.
A red tablecloth, heart plates, heart napkins.
A few treats for later.
It’s a before-school party. With a lot of sugar.
Happy Valentine's Day
Tabitha
Happy Valentine’s Day
Cinnamon rolls, store-bought yogurt, orange juice.
A red tablecloth, heart plates, heart napkins.
A few treats for later.
It’s a before-school party. With a lot of sugar.
Father-Daughter Dance for American Heritage Girls
It was one of those weeks where fitting in ONE.MORE.THING. was going to hurt. But Monday night at club, when the girls suddenly realized it was the week that AHG was having it’s Father-Daughter dance, they each turned and looked at me with hope-filled, beseeching eyes. I had completely forgotten about it coming up.
Out came my cell phone, quick call to Daddy, “Could you, maybe, possibly, squeeze in a night of dancing… this Thursday. Like three days away?”
John’s reply was, “Do my girls want to go dancing?”
I admitted, “Oh. Yes,” sigh, “yes.”
Out came my cell phone, quick call to Daddy, “Could you, maybe, possibly, squeeze in a night of dancing… this Thursday. Like three days away?”
John’s reply was, “Do my girls want to go dancing?”
I admitted, “Oh. Yes,” sigh, “yes.”
Somehow we got a dish-to-pass made. We found dresses. Nan ironed them. I braided one head. John found a plaid shirt. Then picked up a baby with a leaky diaper and got stained. Found another plaid shirt. It needed a button. He sewed on another button while I braided another head. And they stopped long enough for a picture before running out the door with huge smiles. And yes, a little lipstick and blush.
While they didn’t get any pictures of either girl WITH Daddy… they all assured me they got lots of turns dancing with him.
Scenes from a homeschool
The day after the Super Bowl I decided to take my camera around the house to record a little of what it looks like during a “typical” day.
Except the first photos isn’t typical… that is just what it looks like when Daddy let’s you stay up until midnight!!
Shorts in February? Oh yes, that is typical…
A Pepsi before 10 AM. Um, YES!
A Pepsi before 10 AM. Um, YES!
Cushions off the couch to make thrones, beds, horses, or castles? Very typical!
Chairs blocking your sisters from the place where you are working. A little less typical, but not unheard of.
Wearing a hat to do your work. Exceedingly normal.
2-year-old antics. Most definitely!
What will they do?
I had just walked the speech teacher to the door.
The piano teacher had one student left.
Where were the girls to play with Johanna so I could do language with Nigel?
It was so quiet.
Then I heard it.
Giggling.
In the bathroom.
This is okay? Right? Right? Good homeschool fun? I should be glad they are growing up together. Right? They could be stuck in lines waiting to walk to art. But here they can BE art! Right?
She’s “Kitty.” A Danger Ranger.
They slept over at Nan’s
and they MADE a new friend.
Sisters’ Christmas Craft Party
We let the girls host a Christmas Party. We did crafts. Lots of them. These girls worked FAST.
We frosted cookies.
We ate some pretzels, grapes, punch and Rudolph cupcakes.
And they had a lot of fun.
I’m so glad we let them do it. They were overjoyed. 
Tab’s tooth adventure
A few months ago we noticed a lump growing on Tab’s hard palate. X-Ray revealed an extra tooth. This was far better than the lump being a tumor, or even her regular adult tooth growing in so far back.
Wednesday morning she and I went to the oral surgeon for an extraction. Because of its location we were told the procedure would include pulling the two front baby teeth, then slicing open the skin on the roof of her mouth and pulling out the extra permanent tooth. Then she would have a few stitches.
Her analgesia was inadequate. The gas they gave her barely touched her senses and she wriggled in pain through the novocain injections. He gave more and more and she didn’t respond well. He pulled out the first baby tooth. I was shocked that she bucked at all; she has had other teeth pulled without so much as a flinch, as have Stewart and Marie. This oral surgeon’s pain control techniques are not as good as their primary dentist. Thankfully, not only had I not been asked to leave the room, I was encouraged to hold her hands and arms to comfort her. Turns out I even had to lie on her legs a bit. As he was pulling the second tooth, which based on our plan, I thought was her other baby tooth, she responded by arching her back and crying out. I was steeling myself to interject, “If she is having this much trouble with the baby teeth, how in the world will she tolerate the cutting for the extra tooth?” Just then, the tooth he was working on came out – he had gone after the permanent tooth. It was exposed enough it did not require cutting. THANK YOU, LORD.
Since that one was out, I reckoned the worst was over and the second baby tooth would be a breeze. It wasn’t quite a breeze, but it only took a few seconds. He did give her two stitches as her mouth had gaping holes.
After they left the room, I presented her with a new SuperGrover doll that I had bought her at Sesame Place just for this occasion. We soon headed home and dealt with her recovery. It was ugly. She was miserable for a few hours. She watched a movie on the portable DVD player in Daddy’s bed.
She ate about 90 minutes afterward. As John said, “Finally, a meal she didn’t complain about.”
But I, I mean SHE, endured it and was swimming two hours later.
Wanna see the teeth?
This is the first baby tooth.
This is the second baby tooth – the last one pulled.
THAT monster is the one that was in the roof of her mouth!
Crazy.
Angel’s Ouchie
Angel doesn’t get hurt all that often.
Well, compared to her sister anyway.
Well, compared to her sister anyway.
This injury came about while she was using couch cushions to make a house and then a slide. She slid down one and toppled onto her face enduring a rather nasty rug burn along the way.
In a weird way it is kind of cute.
This was Monday. Today it is getting dried out and flaky and browner.
Is browner a word?
Dayspring Disciples 
