Discovery Night

Rhett has been working hard on his project for Discovery Night. They had 3 weeks to make an animal of their choosing. He chose to make a paper-mache crocodile. We started it at the beginning of the month. And even though we tease my Dad about his hoarding, he had a ton of toilet paper rolls (he just happened to be saving) that he willingly donated to help make Rhett's crocodile.
J and Rhett got started right away by taping the rolls together to the form of a crocodile...head, arms, legs, tail, and even the claws. It looked awesome, and I'm mad at myself for not taking pictures at each stage. Then we found a super easy and very cheap recipe for the "glue". 1 part of flour to 5 parts of water, mix together, and boil on the stove for 3 minutes. It turned out so well, who knew. They did this process of newspaper and glue 3 times, letting it dry after each layer. When it was finally ready, they did the last layer with regular white paper. When it dried, Rhett painted it brown. Then we had some green river rocks we used for eyes, pipe cleaner we cut up for the claws, cut up white foamies for the teeth, and hot glue spots for the scales. It looked amazing, and he was so proud of himself.
After making the animal, he had to do the next part of his project, which was research of his animal. I helped Rhett get on the Internet and we found a good article from Wikipedia which had a lot of good info. He read the article, wrote down the facts he wanted for his report, and turned it into his teacher the next day.
Well tonight was Discovery Night, and they had all the kid's animals on display. He was so excited to show off his hard work. He just kept saying, "I really hope I win a blue ribbon. I worked so hard." My mom even came out to support him. He was beaming.


When we got to his school, we went to his classroom and sure enough all the animals had blue ribbons. Luckily his school gives them out to everyone but Rhett just noticed that his had one. He was ecstatic.




Then we went to the cafeteria for free dinner...sloppy joes, chips, cookies, and a soda. It was a pretty good dinner. Then we stopped by another classroom where they gave every kid a free book. Then we headed to the book fair where every book was 50% off, what a steal. So K, Ry, and Rhett picked out a book to buy.


We ended up staying much later than we had planned, but it was such a fun night. We are just so proud of Rhett and all he had accomplished. And more the fact that he was proud of himself and willing to show off his work. Also thanks to my Mom for coming out to support him. It means the world!

Sweet Moments

Lately Ry has been obsessed with Jesus. She's always drawing pictures of Him and her together. Always asking when she can see Jesus again, (sometimes that scares me when she says she wants to see Him again right now) She loves to say her prayers because she's always wanting to "talk" to Him. I tell her that's why we pray so we can talk to Him. Then she gets frustrated because He doesn't "talk" loud back... Oh the innocence.
Ry had to give a talk on Sunday about how good it is we have agency and can choose for ourselves. We decided to use this picture of Jesus to go along with her talk. While we were waiting for her turn to get up and talk, she was just studying this pic. I asked her if she liked it? Of course she said Yes! .
As she looked at the picture, she noticed all the angels around Him. She asked, "Are those angels?" I replied, "Yes." So she asked, "Will I be an angel too when I go back to Heaven?" I again replied, "Yes." Then she asked, "Well, then I need to get some angel clothes. Will Jesus have my angel clothes?" I chuckled, "Yes." Then she asked, "Will I get those sandals too like the angels? I will need them to walk on the clouds." I just smiled and said, "Yes, I hope so!" Finally right before she walks up, she says, "I hope Jesus doesn't forget about my horn. I need one of those too!"
This little girl sure knows how to tug my heart strings. I've never seen a girl be so attached to Jesus and cry when she starts to miss Him. It makes me super happy that she loves Him that much and I hope she'll always keep that spirit. I know it was a big eye-opener for me to get back to being that close also.
Thank heavens for little kids to help us along the way!

So Far...

So far this new year hasn't exactly started out the very best, though we have had a few bright spots. We celebrated my birthday (I feel old now at 31) by going to church, then headed to my mom's for dinner (she made one of my faves, chicken pockets,) and then just hung around with my my parents and Amos and her family.
The next day we traveled to St. George. J's first vacay he's been able to take in 7 months and we decided to visit family. It started out ok, but the week didn't go exactly as planned. The 2nd day we were there, Kenna tripped over some toys and headed mouth first into J's parents fireplace...sending her 2 front teeth up and back into the roof of her mouth. Of course I was emotional and crying. I hate when my kiddos get hurt, especially when they are my baby and I couldn't do anything for her. I called Mandee the dental expert and she was able to calm me down. We took her to see the dentist the next day. He said exactly what my sister said, the teeth will fall back down eventually...phew! Still, poor PBC's mouth was so swollen she couldn't even smile. It was super sad.


That night, my wily nephew was chasing Kenna around outside against me telling him to leave her alone. But sure enough, he ran into her and tripped her. And of course she just had to break her fall with her mouth...again. Her poor tooth had been knocked loosed, sending blood all down the front of her, again! I was so distraught. I cleaned her up and took her back into our bed and just laid there crying with her. I just HATE that look in her eye...."why me Mom?" Yep I asked myself the same question. However, she perked back up in a few hours and was her sweet and happy self.
The next day we took her back to the dentist. He said she'll probably have damage to her roots later on and possibly have to extract the tooth that was now hanging down past her lower teeth, the icky snaggletooth. Poor kid. I know her injuries could have been so much worse, just as Mandee had said. Nevertheless, we decided we had enough of this disastrous and emotional trip and headed home the next morning...4 days early.
The good news about leaving early was not dealing with anymore family drama and being able to celebrate our belated Christmas dinner with my family since my parents were back east during Christmas. We had a very drama-free and relaxing night eating, opening presents, talking with family, enjoying the best Christmas treats, and playing games....and most of all, NO injuries!!!!




I just have to thank Mandee, my mom, J, my kiddos, and Kathleen for helping through that week. As much as it seems like it wouldn't be tragic, I was a basket case. I cried and vented most of the week and I just have the best supporters to comfort and make me feel very validated. Especially my kiddos...they gave me the best reassurance and hugs.
Being home has been so enjoyable and relaxing after such an emotional trip. Though, with Kenna's snaggletooth she has knocked it and snagged it on a lot of normal everyday things...her cup, clothes, blankets, and just yesterday on the stool she climbs at least 10 times a day. Of course her gums are still so inflamed and bruised because they just haven't had a chance to heal, that blood came out all over again. I didn't see her tooth hanging down anymore so I thought she had completely lost it, which would not have been one of the worst things. So back to the dentist we went. She now hates them and is very traumatized by them. But by the end of the consultation, she did let the dentist look at her teeth. Good news: She knocked the tooth back up almost where it was before, so it looks much better. Hopefully this will mean it can heal without being bumped into everything. Bad news: The dentist thinks with all the trauma caused to the tooth, nerves/bones, and gums, he thinks it will eventually die. He thinks she may have to lose it all together or go to a periodontist and get a splint put on her front teeth. Oh man, this poor girl. Even through all this, she still just lets me love her and loves to be happy and smiling, which she can do now!
Other news is I have finished the book portion of school and have moved onto the dreaded, and endless it seems, practice reports. I know I can do it, but wow they sure throw alot into them. I know its for good practice and learning to expect anything that comes my way. But I do get frustrated often. Good thing my kiddos are a welcome distraction most days.
So yes some good and bad things have happened so far this year. But we are still blessed with so much, I can't complain too much.