Oh, Tooth Fairy!!!!

I just got a call from the school nurse. Rehm lost his first tooth when he bit into his peanut butter and Jelly bagel at lunch!

It has been loose for a few weeks but got really wiggly yesterday. He couldn't go to sleep last night because he was so excited about the impending tooth loss.

He has decided he would like to keep his teeth when he loses them and is going to write a letter to the tooth fairy asking her to leave it. I've assured him she will be fine with that as she let me keep my teeth when I was little. I've been asked to find mine so Rehm can see all of them. Now where did I put them? Are they in the closet or the dresser?

Here is Rehm's letter to the tooth fairy. He did it completely by himself, which I think will be evident. Don't worry I'll translate.


Dear Tooth Fairy,

Can I keep my teeth? I will put them under my pillow. Keep my teeth under my pillow. Love, Rehm.


Rehm has asked lots of questions about the Tooth Fairy today. How does she know when you lose a tooth? When does she come? Is she big or really little? Where does she live? Is she really going to let me keep my tooth? Where will she leave my money? My answer to all of these has been "I don't know."

I hope the tooth fairy has some cash on hand! Thanks to our friends the Weatherbys she needs to find $5.
Jenn

PS Rehm woke me at 2:30 am to let me know the Tooth Fairy brought him "FIVE dollars!"

Editor's Note: Rehm lost his tooth Tuesday, April 24, 2007. I was not allowed to post this until his dad returned from Singapore as he wanted to surprise him with the lost tooth.

Ten Months! Already?

Yep! Another month birthday! Has it really been a month? I guess it has.

Ruby and Eliza Claire continue to be the funniest, sweetest girls. It still seems a bit surreal that there are really two babies in our house! I'm still just not sure how that happened but I'm so glad it did. I love my girls and they are such a joy!

So what are they up to?


Ruby is crawling all over the place and in to everything. She is still army crawling. She can pull up but doesn't often. She can climb up on step or over a stool. And I've found her stuck on the bottom shelf of the end table. She is constantly smiling. She is very animated and seems to only stop moving when she is sleeping. She squeals and laughs and babbles all the time. She has decided she really doesn't have time for a bottle and has cut out one to two of her four bottles.



Eliza Claire is crawling backwards. She gets stuck and then gets mad. She also only army crawls. She hasn't pulled up yet but loves to stand when put in standing position. She has a hard time getting from sitting to laying down without bonking her head. She is ready to move more but so far her body isn't cooperating. She is a very smiley, happy, babbley baby. She is more an observer than her sitter and likes to sit back and take it all in. She is also cutting out a bottle or two. She has decided she likes whole milk in a sippy instead.

Oy, only two months to figure out the birthday celebration. Ideas anyone?
Jenn

PS Click here for more pictures from today's photo shoot.

My Typical Night

I usually go to bed around 11:00 pm. Then around 12:40 am the dog starts scratching the carpet. After a few minutes of telling her to stop she settles back down. At 2:30 am Charlotte needs something. It may be to tell me that I didn't come check on her, or that she needs Baby Caroline, or that she has had a bad dream. Then around 5:00 am one of the babies starts talking. After about fifteen minutes she settles back down. Then at 5:30 am the cat jumps on my back. At 6:00 am the alarm goes off. And now that I'm so well rested it is time to hop out of bed and start a new day. Of course, being so well rested I'm am a very pleasant Mommy all day long!

This has been the pattern every night for at least the last week. And the funny thing is the times do not vary, ever!

Off to find some caffeine,
Jenn

Parent Day at Dance Class

Last week was Parent Day at dance. Charlotte was, well Charlotte. She had fun but was not always cooperative. The class showed us their recital pieces and other things they have learned.

Charlotte introducing herself

Not paying a lot of attention

Showing off some ballet steps

Doing her ballet recital number

Rehm has his own blog

Rehm has decided that he needs a web site to educate people about the ocean. We worked this weekend to create his very own blog. He was very upset yesterday that we didn't have time to post. He is determined to post everyday.

I am helping him with the actual typing, links and pictures. The content is all up to him.

Please visit Oceans Around the World.

Jenn

The One Face of Ruby

Yes, she is always smiling. And if she sees the camera she immediately starts laughing.

The Many Faces of Eliza Claire

Miss Jenni and the Play

My kids love Miss Jenni. She is their favorite person to come over to play with them. She was here watching the kids on Sunday night and then again on Monday afternoon.

They decided to put on a play for me. First they had to design the stage (they made fish to decorate the fireplace). In the process they used a bunch of glitter! I still have not gotten all the glitter up. Charlotte got a bunch in her hair and it is still stuck to her scalp. I can not get it off. I have scrubbed and scrubbed but to no avail.

Here's the play to the best of my memory.

The characters in the play were

the Sea King

and the Mermaid.

Mermaid: Oh Great Sea King we need your help!

Sea King: You must bow to the Sea King before I can hear your request.

Mermaid (bowing to the Sea King): There is a shark outside of our cave.

Sea King: Give him one of these (pieces of popcorn) every day and he will not bother you.

Mermaid: Oh thank you great Sea King!

I tried to video this with the new digital camera but some how I only got an added on extra bit at the end, not the whole thing. Will have to play with the camera some more.

Luckily Miss Jenni is coming again next week and I'll get to see another play.
Jenn

Swifter Revisited

Last night I used the Swifter Wet jet to clean the floors. Today Ruby was crawling around on said floors. She must have gotten in some water during her crawling. When I picked her up this is what I found.


So maybe the Swifter doesn't work as well as I thought or maybe my floors are just really dirty! Or maybe I should just put a wet onsie on Ruby and let her clean the floors! Now there's an idea.

I guess I'm off to clean.
Jenn

PS if you are wondering, yes I changed her clothes as soon as I took the picture. Didn't want anyone thinking I left her like that!

I'm an Empyt Nester!

As of this morning all of the baby birds have left the nest. I'm kind of lonely. I miss hearing their little chirps and seeing Mommy bird and Daddy bird flying around outside the window.

When I checked on my little birdies last night there was only one remaining in the nest. It came out and was standing on the opening to the house. When I came back it was gone. I missed seeing it take flight by mere minutes.

This morning really saddened me as I found the body of one of my baby birds in the neighbors yard. Poor little guy. I knew they wouldn't all make it but was crossing my fingers that I wouldn't have to be smacked in the face with the reality of it. I guess I should just be happy I haven't seen either of the dogs walking around with feathers hanging out of their mouths and that so far neither of the big kids have discovered a dead birdie. I really don't want to deal with that today.

Ah, maybe we will get more birds in our cool little house sometime. I really enjoyed watching them grow. Now to figure out how to get the old nest out so some bird can make a new one...

Off to work,
Jenn

Product Reviews: Swifters and Snapfish

Picture Cici took of Charlotte that I downloaded from Snapfish

I found two things this week that I really liked so I wanted to share them. Most of you are probably way ahead of me and already know about both. But if you don't read on.

Snapfish
Cici (my Mom) emailed me links this week to pictures she had taken with their 35 mm camera the last time they visited. There were several I really wanted a copy of, but I didn't want prints, I wanted digital images. Ordering a CD of images from snapfish isn't cheap (I think $10 minimum, or at least that's what it was the last time I looked into it). But I noticed there was an option to download high resolution images. I checked it out. It was $0.25 for the first image and $0.05 for each additional one. So for under $3.00 I downloaded all the images I wanted and it only took a couple minutes. Now I have them for what ever I need the for! Go snapfish!

Now I do have to say that I ordered our baby announcements from snapfish and it was a disaster. It took two months to get them because of a problem on their end! The order wouldn't go through and even their customer service couldn't get it to go through. When they finally came something was misspelled. Again their fault. Ugh! So they had to resend them which took another several days! I do have to say they upgraded my shipping and only charged my half price. But I would have much rather had the correct announcements seven weeks earlier.

I swore after that experience that I would not use them again. But after the ease of downloading pictures I may reconsider them for my bigger projects again. Maybe...I definitely recommend them for smaller jobs though.

Swifters
I finally broke down and bought a Swifter Wet Jet. I've only used it once but thought it did a good job. I like the scrubbing pad they have added to one side. It really did a great job getting up missed stuff under the girls' high chairs! My floor was definitely much cleaner after using it. It seemed much easier than getting the mop out, but of course it is much more expensive. And the battery compartment fell off once while I was mopping. I think I'll use it more than my regular mop which means my floors will definitely be cleaner. That alone will make it worth the money.

Apparently it is a good thing I got the Swifter. The lady who cleans my house called for the second week in a row to say she can't come due to illness in the family. I hope everyone is well soon. Looks like the Swifter will be getting extra use until that happens.

Happy Shopping,
Jenn

Lying

Here is part of an interesting conversation I had with Rehm last night about lying.

Rehm: Mom have you ever lied as a grown up.

Me: Yeah, Rehm I have. (what else was I going to say? Was I really going to lie to him during this conversation?)

Rehm: Why?

Me: I don't know Rehm. It is never a good idea to lie.

Rehm: Have you ever been to jail?

Me: No hun, I haven't. (OK, now I'm wondering what all of this is about. This is a strange conversation.)

Rehm: My teacher says that if you lie as a grown up they send you to jail. Why didn't they take you to jail?

Me: Are you sure she said that about lying? She might have said that about stealing because you can go to jail for stealing as a grown up. But you should never lie. It makes God very sad when you do. Did you lie to your teacher about something? Is that why she told you this?

Rehm: No she was telling the whole class.

I emailed the teacher and apparently they had a classmate get sent to the office for stealing and lying about it. So the teacher had a talk with the class about why neither was a good idea and stealing could lead to going to jail as a grown up. She had a good laugh at the above conversation.

Happy Day,
Jenn

Interesting Start to the Day

This morning Charlotte, Ruby, Eliza Claire and I walked Rehm to school. It started misting when we got to the field behind the school so I told Rehm we wouldn't walk him all the way in this morning. I left the stroller at the edge of the field and walked up just far enough to be able to see Rehm walk in the door of the school. (OK I realize I'm a little paranoid here but it makes me feel better to know he got in the building! And he is only in kindergarten after all!)

I noticed that Charlotte was trying to push the jog stroller but didn't stop her. A minute later I heard crying and turned around to see the stroller turned over and Charlotte under it! She had pulled it back and it had fallen backwards on top of her! Yikes!

I ran over and sat the stroller upright. Charlotte and Eliza Claire were both crying, Ruby thought it was pretty funny. I picked Charlotte up and found out she had hit her head when she fell but was OK. Eliza was fine she was just scared.

Luckily the stroller has five point harnesses and the girls were securely buckled and didn't get dumped out on their head! Everyone is fine, but it was definitely and exciting start to the day.

Needless to say, Charlotte and I had a talk on the way home about who could push the stroller and why.

Happy Strolling,
Jenn

PS. No I don't have pictures because I didn't have the camera with me. If I would have had the camera, I would probably have been a really bad mom and taken a picture before righting everyone. Yes I know it is bad but a picture is just so much better than a description.

Day of Firsts

Ruby pulled up to standing for the first time today. I had to laugh because she pulled up on the same toy that Rehm did.

Ruby sitting down after pulling up - yes I was a little slow getting the camera out

Rehm the first day he pulled up

For the first time Ruby got hit in the head with a toy thrown by her sister. She cried and cried.

You can almost see the bruise in this picture on her forehead to the right of center, it is purplish

Today I was going to let Rehm walk most of the way home from school by himself for the first time. The girls were sound asleep and I didn't want to wake them. So I called a friend that lives by the school and asked her to tell Rehm to walk home. Then I grabbed the monitor and went out to stand at the corner of our street so that by the time he was out of her sight he would be in mine. Surprisingly the monitor still had reception that far away! Of course I waited about 10 mintues with no Rehm and got worried. Do I walk down the street to see where he is? Do I stay where I am? I don't like my choices. Finally I decide to go see where he is. I find out that he and another boy in his class had a collision at the end of the day and had to go to the nurse. This of course made him late leaving school. He has a nice knot on his cheek bone under one eye. We hurried home and of course the girls were still sound asleep. We may have to practice this a few more times before we get it down. But the good news is I can see the house and Rehm from the end of the street.

Hopefully there won't be so many firsts tomorrow
Jenn

PS I counted baby birds again today and we are up to SIX! Yikes!

Why Is it?

Why is it when you think you have ten minutes to relax before the next round of craziness that your son decides to turn on the water hose without permission and you find that your daughter has used a half of a roll of toilet paper to wipe her bottom?! Then they don't understand what your upset about. And then you ask said daughter to help clean up the mess and her response is "Mommy I don't want to get my hands dirty!" Well hun, neither do I but someone has to get the toilet paper out before that toilet is flushed!

Ah the joys of parenting. Now I hear another scheme in the works. I better go squash it quick!

Oops, not quick enough. They were trying to barricade Rehm's room using all of their pillows and pjs (they even emptied the drawer) and such! When told they needed to clean up, their collective response was "Why?" Well lets see, we can't get in and out of your room, all of your pjs are in the floor, the cat will pee on all of this before we get home! Do I really need to explain why? Apparently for a six and three year old I do.

Is it bedtime yet?
Jenn

Baby Bird Update

Window Bird House

I realized Monday that we actually have five baby birds! I feel sorry for the mommy bird. She sure does have her hands full and it appears she doesn't have any help from the daddy bird. I'm glad I'm not a bird! I don't think I could take care of five babies all by myself!

Four of the Five Baby Birds (the orange things are the mouths)

The bird family appears to be doing well and our family is really enjoying watching them. I feel a little sorry for the mommy bird as we seem to freak her out any time we open the veiwing window. She seems to think we are trying to get her babies. She has a whole little ritual she does. She flies out of the house. Flies above and below the house, to both sides of the house and then goes to sit on the fence. From the fence she makes a lot of noise and generally tells me off. If I don't go away, she repeats this process. And of course anytime we open our viewing window the babies all think they are going to get fed and start chirping and opening their mouths.

Mommy Bird

Yeah, I know I said wasn't going to take pictures, but I changed my mind. Have I mentioned how much I like the new camera? I thought my old one took good pictures! I just can't believe how sharp the images are! I LOVE this camera. Now to just have the time to read the manual and figure out all the bells and whistles.

Happy Bird Watching,
Jenn

PS If anyone has any ideas on what type of bird this is I would love to hear them. I'm bird illiterate and just know it is a small bird.

Is it Chistmas?

Last Tuesday, sometime between grocery shopping and Rehm's T-ball game my digital camera broke. OK so the zoom stopped working, but in my world that makes the camera pretty useless. I spent Wednesday on the search for the perfect camera to replace my faithful six year old Canon Power Shot Digital Elph S100.

After searching many web sites, reading many reviews, and visiting Best Buy, I ordered a Canon Power Shot Digital Elph SD900 Titanium from Amazon. It finally arrived in the mail yesterday. Of course then I had to wait for the battery to charge. And of course it didn't get done before we had to leave to meet Michael to shop for cell phones (more on that in a moment). After cell phone shopping and dinner I had to go lead support group. So it was 9:00 pm before I got to play with my new camera! Man was that hard to wait seven hours after it arrived to get to see how it performs! Why can't they send them with the batteries already charged? Wasn't the wait for it to arrive enough? I wanted to play when I opened the box!

So the camera is really great. The few pictures I've taken so far are good and it has so many features, I'll never use them all. The coolest one I've found so far it lets you pick one color in your picture to show and shoots the picture in black, white and that one color. It has settings from full auto to kids and pets, to aquarium, to fireworks to full manual and lots of others too! I'm really excited about tonight's t-ball game to see what kind of pictures I can get. Did I mention the casing is titanium? So it should hold up well and it has 10 megapixels - more than I'm sure I'll ever need and five times more than I'm used to!

So I got a new camera yesterday AND we got new cell phones. Is it Christmas and someone didn't tell us?

Actually we got new phones because ours were both really beat up and as of yesterday we had had them long enough to get a good deal on new ones. So Michael researched phones online at Cingular and then we went to the Cingular store to make our purchase. We were very disappointed. The customer service was mediocre at best, the prices were significantly higher than online and the wait was way too long. So we left the store without phones. We came home and ordered them online.

My Current Phone

Michael had decided he wanted the Motorazr V3 xx. I really wanted a chartreuse colored phone but never found one that came in that color and otherwise I was ambivalent. So we decided to both get the Motorazr V3xx. We have found that having the same phone eliminates the phone envy and also helps when we need to use each other's phone. By ordering online we saved at least $100! We almost didn't order phones since both of ours were still working. But then I reminded Michael if we waited until one was dead we would have to buy from the retail store (so as not to wait a week for the phone) and after our experience tonight and the price differences we did not want to do that.

So now I'm anxiously awaiting the Fed Ex truck again! Our new phones should arrive sometime late this week or early next week. I'm sure there will be a review to follow.

Jenn

Happy Easter!

OK so it didn't really start out as a very Happy Easter at our house (for the adults at least). The adults were sleepy and not ready to get moving this morning. The kids on the other hand were raring to go!

The kids were thrilled to wake up this morning to see what the Easter Bunny left for them. Charlotte was thrilled to learn that the Easter Bunny shops at HEB! He brought both Rehm and Charlotte glue sticks that were the HEBuddy brand! She was really impressed! The Easter Bunny brought books, craft supplies and few pieces of candy for each child - OK the twins didn't get any candy or craft supplies, but they did get books and bibs.

Ice on the slide in the backyard

Church was an adventure as it was in the 30s when we left the house this morning. There was no wearing their cute summery Easter outfits so everyone was in winter clothes. It seemed more like Christmas than Easter and might have actually been colder than many of the Christmases we've had here. So what is all this talk about global warming? I'm just not seeing it.


We got to church in time for the 9:45 service. And amazingly didn't have to park in shuttle parking! After church we came back to our house for our traditional Easter lunch of Fajitas. Yes our family has some strange traditions. What can I say we like being a little different.


Blessedly I was able to get a nice nap this afternoon which made me a much better mommy and wife. And we were able to shoot our HEB commercial this evening. Now if Michael can figure out how to get the video uploaded to the HEB site everyone might be able to view it. Watch for updates.

Happy Easter to all! I hope you were nicer to your spouses today than I was!
Jenn

PS check out all the easter pictures here.

We have Babies!

Birds that is! Rehm got the coolest bird house for Christmas (thanks Aunt Sherri). The bird house sticks to the window and the side that is against the window is made out of plexiglass. That way you can see inside the bird house from inside your house! We put it at the kitchen window.

We were very excited when a little over a month ago a bird made a nest! The bird has been spending a lot of time in the nest but the way it is built you can't see what is inside. In fact, most of the time all you can see is the bird's beak sticking up above the twigs.

Well today I checked on the bird and saw two little tiny bird mouths open up! We have two cute little baby birds! Now cross your fingers that we don't accidentally scare the babies and make them fall out of their nest.

Proud Mom!
Jenn

PS I don't have pictures as I don't want to scare them!

Marriage

Lael and Rehm Easter 2002

Rehm and Lael Dancing together at Mo Ranch

While helping Michael get all the kids ready to go to Grandma and Grandpa's today Rehm started asking questions about marriage.

Rehm: Can you marry a sister?

Me: No hun, you can't?

Rehm: Why not?

Me: Because you need to marry someone that is not already part of our family.

Rehm: What if you get a divorce then can you marry a sister?

Me: No hun, you can never marry a sister. you have to marry someone from outside our family.

Rehm: Like Lael?

Me: Yes, like Lael. She is not part of our family. (Technically Lael is not family but she should be as she and Rehm act more like brother and sister than friends. But that is because our families spend quite a bit of time together and have since Lael and Rehm were born. )

Rehm: Charlotte, you will need to marry some boy that is not in our family.

Michael: Yes Charlotte, some boy that is very nice to you.

Rehm: Charlotte you will need to go a couple of dates with him first to make sure he is nice.

Michael: You'll need to have some dates first too Rehm.

Rehm: Not with Lael. I already know her well enough!

Now I'm not really sure what Rehm knows about divorce, dates or marriage but hopefully in the next 20 years or so we will get this all ironed out.

Jenn

We've Graduated!

Today was grocery day. Which of course means I must write about how much I love my HEB yet again. Do I sound like a commercial? I should! I still need to make mine to submit for the sweepstakes, but I seem to never find the time. I still haven't decided what visual aids would make the commercial the most memorable so I keep not filming it. Ah, I digress.

Today was grocery day. When Eliza Claire and Ruby woke up from their naps (in the van - they fell asleep on the way to take Charlotte to school, so after dropping her off I let them sleep and hung out in the van) I decided to try the big cart today instead of pushing the stroller and pulling the cart. I figured why not? The worst that would happen is they wouldn't like it and I would not try again for a month or so. Overall the girls did great.

Brenda spotted us coming across the parking lot and came over to help me get the girls in the cart. I'm sure I was a sight walking across the lot carrying both babies with a huge backpack to boot. The fun part was trying to get my keys out of my pocket while holding them both to lock the van doors. Anyway, Brenda helped get everyone strapped in the cart. Getting to the cart and getting everyone strapped in was the hardest part of the excursion. And I'm sure the funniest for any observers.

The girls seemed to like the cart but did manage to swipe each other's sippy cup a few times and get fussy a few times. Ruby was quickly mollified when I let her hold a bag of shredded cheese. I think she liked the sound the bag made.

Brenda of course helped me unload the cart and Billy was thrilled to get to help us out! Everyone is so nice to the girls and so happy to help it always makes me leave feeling good. And wow, I know the employees by name! And they know what day I come in and look for me! Brenda stopped me last week to make sure everyone was OK because she hadn't seen me in a few weeks and had been looking for me! How great is that!

I did notice that we seemed to get stopped less today with the girls in the cart. I guess we are a little less conspicuous this way.

Happy Grocery Day
Jenn

Eliza Claire and Ruby's Official Nine Month Stats

I know you are all just dying to know this information.

Eliza Claire and Ruby had their nine month well check today. Both were pronounced healthy!

Eliza Claire is 22 pounds, 5 ounces (95%), 29 inches (90%)

Ruby is 20 pounds, 10 ounces (85%), 29 1/4 inches (93%)

The funny thing, Eliza should be drinking more formula!

Way to grow girls!

A Love and Logic Day

If I've said "Oh, bummer!" once today I've said it 100 times. I've tried really hard today to be a love and logic parent instead of a frustrated, yelling parent. And you know what? For the most part is has worked.

I could only help Charlotte if she would be a big girl and use big girl words.

Charlotte could only have her sprite in the car if she left the lid on. Oh, Bummer! I had to throw it away when I was getting gas.

Charlotte could only stay for dance class if she could be a good listener and change her clothes when I ask.

Oh, Bummer! Rehm. You must have room time for screaming in the hallway about not getting to watch Cyber Chase and waking your baby sister. When I told Rehm he could come out of room time he informed me there was one condition to him coming out. He would only come out if he could watch Cyber Chase. I told him that was fine, I hoped he liked being in his room because Cyber Chase was not a choice. After about 2 minutes Rehm decided being out of room time was more important than watching his show.

Oh, bummer! Kids who play in the hose without permission must come in the house now! By the way, they opened the back door dripping wet, both immediately said "Sorry!" When I asked where they got the water, Rehm said "I turned the hose on. I know I wasn't supposed to but it was just too much fun!"

Bath time is over for kids who are screaming (loud enough I can hear you on the other end of the house) in the bath or shower. Oh, Bummer! You didn't get to finish washing or have time to play with toys.

Oh, bummer! Rehm. Boys who fast-forward the show their sister is watching (because you are still mad you don't get to watch Cyber Chase) must have room time until Mommy gets everyone else in bed.

Rehm doesn't know this, but if he would have quit begging to watch Cyber Chase and whining about the fact, I had every intention of letting him watch it while I bathed the twins. Oh, bummer!

It is amazing when I don't yell and when I take the privilege away the first time something happens how much better my kids listen and how much less stress I have. And when there are natural consequences it is even better!

Hopefully tomorrow will have a few less "Oh, bummers!"
Jenn