Braces for Reed.....

I will miss this little boyish "overbite" grin of his!!!!!

Today was a big day for Reed!! After 2 years of discussing it with the dentist, his braces were finally put on!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

It is kind of hard to tell here, but he chose black and orange bands for halloween and is already talking about how his next appointment he will have red and green ones put on for Christmas.
He is not too thrilled about wearing braces, but he is handling it like a trooper! Especially with all of his favorite foods being on the "absolute not" list!!! Braces are a lot to cope with when your 12!



I have been fighting a head cold since we got back from our trip Friday night. We had a great time and I will post photos as soon as I get them downloaded.

My Little Individual.......

On Saturday Faith was invited to a friends birthday party that had a "princess theme." Most of the little girls were planning on dressing like one of the Disney princesses. For those of you that know Faith by now, this really is not her "cup of tea." :) She would much rather be a "super hero" than a princess.
We talked about ideas on what she could wear and we even looked at princess costumes at the Disney store. She said she wouldn't mind dressing up as Ariel because she is a mermaid, but it wasn't long before she became distracted when she spotted the Captain Hook costume! lol The big feathered pirate hat and hook was just much more exciting!
After deciding I wasn't going to pay a fortune on a mermaid costume she probably would never wear again, we came up with the idea of wearing a tulle skirt and tights with one of her shirts. Faith liked this idea. As. Long. As she could wear her "president not princess" shirt with it!! I agreed that would be a great idea!!!!

Off to the party!!!!!!


Faith was so cute because she was concerned on whether her shirt was ok to wear to the party. She asked me if I thought her friend would be upset if she wore it. I told her I didn't think she would mind at all.
I just love Faith's thoughtfulness, spirit, and individuality!!!



(The kids are off of school this week on their Fall break. This is something new this year so I'm not use to a break so soon into the school year. I was SO ready for it though! Between the 3 different schools this year and preparing for our move I was in need of a little get away!!! Dale is taking the next few days off and we are taking a little trip to the central CA coast. Will catch up when we get back:)

i heart faces..BLUE!!

This weeks challenge at "i heart faces" is the color blue!! I decided on this photo that I took of Faith last Fall on our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. They have pumpkin painting and Faith decided to paint hers blue! With this week being the beginning of Fall I thought this would be a fun entry for this week!
I always look forward to these challenges at "i heart faces." I have been learning so much from so many talented photographers. You can check them out here:

Friday Flash Back and many changes ahead for us......

I can't believe it has been a couple weeks since I have been on here!! We have had so much going on lately. I also can't believe it is already Fall!!!!! It does not seem like Fall much around here with temperatures reaching near 100 this week! We are suppose to have another HOT week-end and then should start cooling off next week. Sooo looking forward to the cooler Fall days. I have not picked up my camera in 2 weeks so I am posting a "Fall flashback" of Faith when she was 3 years old with her pumpkin to get in the Fall mood. I have always loved this photo.

Dale and I celebrated our "19th wedding Anniversary" on Sept. 22nd the first day of Fall!!! We have been so richly blessed with our wonderful life together! I am one that can NEVER make up my mind about anything! Seriously! It is a real problem! Dale always jokes that he does not know how in the world I ever made up my mind about whether or not to marry him! lol That was one time I knew exactly what I wanted!!! :D
We celebrated the day by taking full advantage of the kids being in school. We went out for a nice lunch together and signed papers to accept an offer on a house!!! Yes. We are moving. AGAIN! This will be our 10th home in 19 years! We have decided to stay in California at least for the next few years. Although Dale's company was willing to let him relocate to Texas and work out of the home he feels with the economy down the best thing is for him to stay put and be in the office for now. Just a little too risky to be so far from the company with the economy being so bad. With Dean in high school now we feel better about the decision as Dean is going to a very academic charter college prep school and he will be able to finish his 4 years there. It was a tough decision though as it means giving up being around family. We are hopeful that this is the best decision for our family right now.

I am really nervous about buying a home here in CA again. We have been looking at them all summer and although prices have dropped considerably they are still high in comparison to what we could get in Texas. I have really had to change my mind set on what our "perfect home" will be. ;) I had certain things I have always wanted in a home and well, it is just not going to happen...at least here in CA! We found 2 homes that Dale and I both actually agreed on. One was a brand new home in a neighborhood that is just getting started. The other is 13 years old and the neighborhood is not in our favorite area. It is a nice area just a little further away from everything. We are use to having everything right around the corner right now. We have decided on the older home. It is a 5 bedroom/ 3 bath. Needs some updating to make it our own, but it has the right amount of space for us and it also has a beautiful backyard pool. The front yard is tiny which is one draw back. I have always loved big front yards as we love spending time in the front, but just one of those things we have to compromise on. Maybe with having the pool we won't seem to mind the front being small.

We are not considering this our forever home, but one that will suit us for now. We feel pressured into buying as we found out our home we are renting is in the process of being foreclosed. With needing to move we would rather take advantage of home prices being lower and not waste money renting anymore. If everything goes smoothly with the home inspections and appraisal we should close in about a month!!!! I have so much to do to prepare for this!!!

Amongst all the excitement of house hunting, Faith came down with the flu 2 weeks ago. Two Sundays ago she started running fever and began coughing. I am not one to run to the Dr. right away, but I decided to get her in on Monday and they did a nose swab which tested positive right away for flu. I was told most likely it was the H1N1 virus and she was put on tamiflu. She had a couple pretty rough days with high fever, but for the most part she did amazingly well. She had to miss the whole week of school which she was not very happy about. She was so excited about going back to school on Monday! This week FLEW by with me trying to get caught up on things after being home with Faith the previous week. Today Dean was not feeling too well after school and he is running a fever now so looks like we will be taking it easy this week-end!

Have a great one!!!!!!

"i heart faces"......contemplative

"Contemplative" is this weeks theme at "i heart faces." As I was going through photos for one to enter I came to this one and I thought it was perfect! Faith puts a lot of thought into everything she does....even eating! Especially when it is ice cream! I love the expression on her face and the way her hair strands are blowing in her face mixed with the ice cream on her lips. I just love my girl so much!!

You can see more contemplative faces here:

A little catching up........(update)

A little update about Faith's teeth. We went to the dentist today and they are going to have to pull 4 of my baby girls teeth! They took x-rays and the 2 baby teeth on the bottom are not even close to coming out. In the mean time the grown up teeth behind them are coming in side ways. The x-ray also shows that she has a cavity on one of her baby upper teeth that grew in fused together with another tooth. It is tough to put a filling on a fused tooth so they recommend for those 2 baby teeth to be pulled out as well. Oh boy! The tough part is that they will most likely need to sedate her to pull them out. We go next Tuesday for the consultation with the oral surgeon. I know this is minor and she will be just fine, but I still get emotional just thinking about the sedation part. I always thought her first baby tooth would just get loose and fall out. Now she will loose 4 of them at one time! The "tooth fairy" better come prepared for 4 teeth! :)
On another note I had to pull Faith out of school early to go to the dentist and she was not happy about that one bit!! I felt so bad. When they called her out of her room to come to the office she was nearly in tears when she came to me. She said she was going to miss all of her work and didn't want to leave school. Now if only she keeps this attitude about school years from now, we'll be good!!! I took her out to lunch after the dentist to her favorite Applebees so all was good then!

I was actually able to capture some photos of Faith last week-end. This is getting tougher to do the older she gets. I was really happy with how these turned out. On the photo above you can see that Faith has her 2 big bottom teeth coming in behind her baby teeth. Well, her 2 baby teeth are not anywhere close to coming out. I have taken her to the dentist we have been going to for the past 4 years and he keeps telling me to just leave them alone and let it happen naturally. Well, I have finally made her an appointment with another dentist for next week to look at her teeth. I am thinking they really need to pull those baby teeth! These will be her first teeth that she looses.

She is adjusting super to 1st grade!!! I am so proud of her!! The first couple weeks were tough getting use to that morning routine. Faith is not a get up and go kind of person.....she likes to take her time getting up, so mornings are a little hectic. I was really worried that the long days were going to be just too much for her, but she is handling them like a champ. Her teacher has a behaviour system in the class where all students start the day with a green card. Yellow card is a warning, orange card is a time out, and red card is a call home to parents. Well, she did come home with a couple orange cards the first couple of weeks. Faith has a tough time with wanting to speak out and voice her opinion!:) If something is on her mind she will just say it! We are really trying to work on this. (Yellow is pretty much her standard day which we do not mind:)She has been doing really good this week and I am happy to say this past week she has had all green cards with the exception of one yellow. It is so cute because she gets so excited to run and tell me she had a "green day!!"

I have been holding off signing up Faith for any after school activities until she gets adjusted to school. She has been asking to do karate, so next week we are going to try out her first class to see if she likes it. We are taking a break from dance this year as I do not want her to feel too overwhelmed. She also wants to take piano lessons so I will wait a couple months and let her get started in karate before adding anything more to her schedule. With 3 kids, no more than 2 activities at a time! Our days are hectic enough!

I love the above photo of my girl!! Her eyes are just sparkling!! She is such a happy girl and I just cannot get over how grown up she is getting! She is making many new friends at school and she gets along so well with everyone. She just enjoys life and she is really enjoying 1st grade!!!

I am sooo looking forward to a nice long week-end with my family!!! The boys are getting out of school early today and then I will be going up to Faith's class to help out again. I am enjoying volunteering in her class as it gives me a chance to get to know all of the kids that she spends her days with.

It's funny with all 3 in school I thought I would have so much time on my hands!! I had so many plans to get projects done I have been putting off forever. Well, I feel like I have been busier now than ever!! My house has never been so messy! :) Between feeling like a taxi driver and 3 different schools to volunteer at and their different schedules, it makes those days being home with them when they were little a breeze!! lol This is a whole different era for me and I am adjusting too with them all being in school. I do miss those simple days of them being little and having them home with me, but I know I need to embrace these days just as much. In a blink they will be out of the house!

I seem to be on facebook much more these days then on my blog, so if you have given in to FB too let me know!! lol

Hope everyone has a wonderful Labor Day week-end!!!!!

As Good As it Gets!!!!

Well, this is it!! The best "back to school" photo I could get! Notice Dean is having his breakfast on the go as he is holding a glass of carnation breakfast in his hand. (hey, at least it has essential vitamins, right??) Reed is still buttoning up his shirt, and that is a fruit roll up Faith is holding in her hand. She told me she was still hungry after eating her bowl of Captain Crunch so I told her to grab a piece of fruit to eat in the car. Apparently "fruit" roll-ups count as fruit.

It is 2 weeks tomorrow that Dean and Faith have been back in school and 1 week for Reed. These past couple of weeks have been hectic, Hectic, HECTIC!!! Having one in High School, one in Middle School, and one in 1st grade, yep, 3 different schools, has been a challenge!!! We have to wake up and leave the house 30 minutes earlier than we did last year to get everyone to school on time. We are all still trying to get into the routine. Boy do I wish we had school bus service here! I am very fortunate that the boys are great about waking up early and taking care of themselves. But poor Faith!! Waking up early has been so tough on her. She got so use to being in afternoon Kindergarten last year. On her first day of school she did not want to get up at all. Here are the only back to school photos of Faith that I have on her first day of 1st grade......

"Let me sleep just a little longer."

She was also 10 minutes late to school on her first day!!! I felt terrible as I did not rely on enough time for getting Dean to High School first. The HS is a lot further than the other 2 schools. After a few days of waking up early for school Faith said to me, " I think I just want to go to afternoon school." :)

I did manage to get a photo of Dean on his first day of High School!
He is adjusting to High School really well and he seems to be enjoying his classes. He is taking a Jazz Band class which I am hoping will be good for him. He plays the saxophone and his instructor ( who played for Santana at one time) has told the class he will be teaching them to play from the heart. No reading music, which Dean is use to doing, so it should be a challenge.

As soon as we are into our routine a little better and not racing around to get out of the house on time I will try for some more back to school photos! Hopefully by Christmas. At least that is my goal.

Now I need to get off here so I can have lunches packed for in the morning. I am volunteering in Faith's class for the first time tomorrow, which means I need to leave the house looking some what decent so better rely on a little more time for that!