Summer -- Week 6

Ahhhh, Mexico.  It was so good to see you again!  We enjoyed some beach time, some pool time, some craft time, and some relaxing time.   My parents joined us for a few days, too, which was great!
We experienced a few milestones on the trip.  My Dad got in the ocean for the first time.  Ryleigh got her first manicure.  My Mom got her first pedicure.  I got another massage--okay, that's not a milestone, but still... it was great!

So, now I'll just let the pictures tell the rest of the story.

Until next time, cheers!

Summer -- Week 5

The day I had been dreading since I first saw the x-ray over 2 years ago arrived on Tuesday.  It was time to remove RJ's extra tooth.  The newest x-rays showed it wasn't budging on its own and it was preventing the adult tooth from coming in.  So, Tuesday morning, RJ and I went to the oral surgeon with a kid-sized dose of Valium in hand.  The dental tech crushed it and mixed it with some yogurt.  Thirty minutes later we decided he needed a bit more.  We ended up getting a late start to the procedure, but it really allowed the Valium to do its job.  A half hour after he went back, they came up to get me.  I thought RJ needed his Mom.  Nope.  They were done.  They said he was a dream patient because he was so relaxed.  RJ kept asking when they were going to pull out his teeth when they were already done.  I'd call that a success.  They ended up taking out two teeth--the extra one and a baby tooth.  The baby tooth was easy, but they wanted to hurry it along so both of the adult teeth would come in at the same time.  The extra tooth had to be removed through the roof of his mouth.

Now for the gross part.  The baby tooth is on the left and the extra tooth is on the right.  Check out that root!!

In other news, we spent the rest of our week relaxing, recovering, and then packing.

The reward for that packing:

Ahhhh, Mexico!  So good to see you again.

More vacation pics next week.  Until next time, cheers!

Summer -- Week 4

The first session of swimming lessons wrapped up this week.  The kiddos had a fun last day, with lots of time jumping into the pool.

The kids enjoyed their classes, so they were fine with me enrolling them for another session in August.  Yay!

Thursday was so incredibly hot.  I had originally told the kids we could go to the base pool, but when the heat warning came out Wednesday, I convinced them we would be miserable at the pool.  Instead, we opted for the air conditioned library.  This was the feels-like temp when we went to the library.

Then, when I took the trash out around 9:30 that night, it wasn't much better.

On Sunday, RJ was back to Ninja Zone.  We then spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out in the cool a/c.  RJ continued to build the Lego sets he received for his birthday.  Then, the three of us made window clings out of glue, gel food coloring, and a few drops of dish soap.  You mix up the ingredients then paint the mixture onto sheet protectors.  After a few hours of drying, peel them off, and push onto a window.  They turned out pretty cool!

They are supposed to be good for a couple months.  We'll see.  It was a fun project, so I can definitely see us doing some fall or holiday themed ones in the near future.

It turns out Jip's ship didn't leave on time and their whole schedule may or may not shift to the right and delay their return.  So, now we are waiting to see if he'll be back in time to join us when we depart for our vacation in Mexico.  If not, I'll do my best to rebook his flight for when it will work.  I'm starting to psych myself up for traveling with the kiddos by myself.  Hopefully the excitement and anticipation of getting there won't make them too crazy!

But, before we go, we have RJ's little oral surgery to remove the extra tooth this week.  We're also going to register RJ for school and hopefully have a playdate with a classmate from his old school.  As always, pics to come.  Until next time, cheers!

Happy Birthday, RJ!

We celebrated RJ's 7th birthday on Saturday.  We were so very lucky to get Jip home for it.  We picked him up Friday night at 8 pm and came straight home to put the kids to bed.  

RJ woke up at 5:40 am.  Needless to say, he was excited for his day to begin.  Finally, at 6:30, Jip let RJ wake me up, and we headed downstairs to open gifts.

Then it was straight into playing and constructing.

We finally dragged RJ away from his gifts around 8:30 and headed to a new-to-us donut shop.  They "dip and stick."  They have two base donut flavors each day--vanilla and a specialty.  Then, they dip them in various glazes and top them with a variety of toppings.  So, we did a variety, including a s'mores (vanilla donut, chocolate frosting, marshmallow fluff, and graham cracker crumbs), peanut butter cup (vanilla with chocolate glaze and Reese's peanut butter cups), and red velvet cake (the special red velvet donut, cream cheese frosting, chocolate drizzle, raspberry drizzle).  They were delicious for 3 of the 4 of us.  Ryleigh didn't think too much of them and was wishing for a raised glazed donut.  At least she liked watching the donuts being made and assembled.

RJ really wanted to go out for his birthday meal.  He wanted someplace where he could have cake but where they wouldn't sing.  I suggested he put a candle in a pancake.  He loved that idea.  So, off to IHOP we went.  I brought a blue Lego candle.  The family sang.  Two waitresses hovered and smiled.  It was perfect.

It was more playing and constructing in the afternoon for the birthday boy.  The kids and Jip also played in the water outside for a bit.  They cleaned up, we ate dinner from Mom's Diner (the kids tell Mom what they want and she makes it), and Jip put them to bed.  Then, Jip hopped into his car and went back to the ship to get ready to go back to sea.

We are so lucky that Jip's 24 hours home happened to fall on RJ's birthday!  RJ had a great birthday celebration.  Thank you to everyone who helped him celebrate!