Do You Know the Toothfairy?

Last night marked the last of the "little baby boy" years. Nolan lost his very first tooth. It had been loose for weeks now and we noticed it was just barely hanging on, so while in the bathtub I gave Nolan some tissue to put around the tooth and told him to pull it out. Sure enough, that is what he did. He had the most surprised look on his face as he gave the tissue back to me. I really did not know he actually pulled it out until I saw a blank spot in his mouth.

He turned so excited to leave it for the tooth fairy. Then the questions started. "Do you know the tooth fairy Mommy? Is she "magical" (he said that a bit of smartness to his tone, like he knew) like the Easter bunny and Santa? Does she know I lost a tooth? Will I see her? Will she scare me?" The questions just kept on pouring in. You know at times like this it really makes me wander, why do we make our kids believe in such silly things like that? It really is harder on us parents to try to explain it over and over again. Anyhoo, Nolan went to bed with a tooth in a jewelry box, how sad I do not have a tooth pillow for my kids yet. But you better believe I am ordering one today! I had a tooth pillow as a kid and thought that it was the most special thing to be able to put a new lost tooth in it. I want my kids to have one too! Okay, back to the story. Nolan asked me if the tooth fairy will take his tooth and I explained that the fairy will put it in a very safe place. Well that was not good enough, he wanted to keep it. So I started thinking that it really would be a lot easier to just have him keep it, later I will take it, than trying to hide it for YEARS! You see what I mean about not being easy to hide the fact of these silly characters? So we had to write a note to the fairy so she would not take the tooth, BUT to be sure and leave money.

He tucked the note and box under his pillow and went to sleep.

Later that night the tooth fairy dropped by and gently pulled the box out from his pillow with visions going through her head of him waking up screaming "Mommy what are you doing?!" Thankfully, all was successful and Nolan woke up to money and his tooth this morning.

A Day at the Dairy....Shoo Weee

Nolan's class went on a field trip to a dairy farm today. It was really informative and quite stinky, too! Nolan was so excited to go and could not wait to see all of the cows. Once we arrived all the kids got to take turns feeding baby cows that were about 8-10 weeks old. They all loved the enormous, over sized bottles!

Nolan feeding the calf.

Afterwards we were told to stay quiet in the barn so we did not scare the cows. If they got scared they would go to the bathroom. Little did we know that the cows behinds were going to be staring us in the face! Yes, we walked into the milking barn and about 20 cows were lined up to be milked and their butts above our heads. Luckily no kids screamed, so we were safe from urine. However, it was pretty neat to see how much milk came out of one cow. I thought we were going to see a lady down on a stool milking a cow the old fashioned way. Nope. The workers placed an electronic milker on the cows and that got about 6 gallons of milk out of each one! Wow!

I know this is gross to see, but this was our view of the cows!

Afterwards we walked into the stinkiest place on earth, the feeding barn. I bet there were over 300 cows in this barn with their heads in grates to keep them still. Once we reached the center of the barn the man turned on water and flooded the floors the cows were standing on and washed all the pee and poo down to the other end of the barn. Yucky, stinky, shoo wee! Boy those cows stunk! The air got thicker, the walls started getting closer and my head lighter. Whoa. I had to jet outa there!

Check out all of the cows! Stinky!

They topped off the trip with a nice hay ride and an ice cream bar. Yummy. Now that is what I am talking about! After the farm, the class headed to a park for lunch and play. The entire day was exhausting, but Nolan had fun. That is what counts. Shooo Weeeee!

Shop till Ya Drop!

Yep, that is what I did today! Leslie and I went to Hillsboro for a day of shopping and it was so much fun. Leslie is quite a little shopper and I am so thankful for that. The one thing that she insisted on buying was a little fabric doll from The Children's Place. I really had no problem buying it....even if it was African American! That's is okay, we now have a culturally different toy to broaden her playtime. I don't know how but I always catch The Place on huge sales, so I picked up some great deals for clothes for school next year. I am not really a picky person on buying last fall's line, just as long as I like it. I am particularly proud of the deals I found for myself. I ran into the Gap outlet and stocked up on shorts and cute shirts that I can dress up or down. I am proud of this because as most of you know, I ALWAYS buy for my kids and NOTHING for myself. So, there. I did it! I guess, it was a little easier this time since Les has been doing a lot of shopping for HIMSELF. Yes, that is right. Les is a shopper and he has JUST discovered TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and Ross. Mind you, I have been trying for about 10 years now for him to just walk into those stores. I guess being with his brother influenced him to give them a chance. The two of them have been working in Arizona so they go shopping on their free time. I admit, I am happy he finally sees what I have been telling him all along, but he is TOTALLY addicted now and cannot to spending money. He has come home with new shirts and says "Look at this shirt, it was $20 but I got it for $7!" The thing is, he has spent A LOT of money the past few weeks. So I thought what the hey, I will to. Anyway, gotta go for now, I have five kids at my house right now. I am babysitting Matt and Mindy's kids and they are having an absolute ball!

Here is a story of two little girls that became friends. Two years ago a very young girl and her family moved to a small town in Texas. She knew no one, but did not care to know anyone because all she cared about was her mommy, daddy, and big brother. That was her only perfect world. As this little girl grew she began to notice new people. The night she and her family attended their first party in the town she saw someone she wanted to play with. Another little girl with pig tails in her hair stood looking at this young beauty. She was still in her small perfect world as well. The mommies talked and talked that night and found that they too had a lot in common. They touched on the subject of signing the two girls up for a dance class and cheerleading. That was their first of many common threads between the two women. As they talked the girls began to play and run around each other. Before the night had ended, phone numbers were exchanged. Several days later the two families got together for a playdate. It was the first playdate for the new family in town, so they were super excited. Of course the kids played really well together and the girls meshed like peanut butter and jelly. They both liked baby dolls, music and dressing up like princesses. The moms talked, talked and talked. They felt comfortable with each other as well. Dance class was scheduled months later and the girl's friendships grew. Each week they asked their mommies if it was time for dance that they wanted to see their friend. As time flew the relationships grew. They became inseparable. Where you saw one, you saw the other. Until one day.... a boy. A male came into their perfect little world and disrupted all. The boy cared for one of the girls while leaving the other out. The boy happened to be a brother. The boy and girl left in a battery operated car leaving one behind. Heartbreak is the only thing written on the girl's face. Her friend was gone....long gone. She was left alone....all alone. Play with me the girl would say to the other, but she was too interested in the boy. "But you my best friend, and that is my stinky brother! Play with me!" Sadly the girl went on with boy and never looked back. She had the time of her life riding the car with him. The lonely girl cried until she found something to occupy her time alone.

This is the story of Leslie and Madison. Today Madison came to play and stayed until 5:00. So she got to go with us to get Nolan. Well, as you read, Nolan adores Madison and she him. Oh my, I can just see the future now. Poor Leslie. Oh, how I dread the teenage years!

A Suday Shower

I should mention that all the pictures you see from the party are Cheri's "super woman" doing. She managed to wrangle her two kids with the help of Ken of course and take all of the party's pictures.





Sunday was my payback for her. Cheri's Aunt Judy and I hosted a diaper baby shower at my house for the birth of her third child. She will have two kids in diapers, so I thought it would be appropriate and appreciated to have guest bring diapers. And indeed that is what they did. I made a diaper invitation, diaper cake and wreath to hang on the hospital door. They were a lot of fun to make. It was a small but very quaint shower. We all ate until we about popped! If you are wandering where the kids were during all of this, the guys got kid duty. Thanks guys! We are so going to have to do payback for them.

Cheri's pregnancy is going great. She is hoping to have another VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section) but it will depend on the baby's position. Stay posted for she has an appointment tomorrow to find out.
The diaper wreath.

The diaper cake.

I made a watermelon baby carriage.

Woo Hoo!!!

This past weekend was a blast! The weather was perfect and I would not have changed a thing. It was really kind of hot, so hot that Nolan did not even wear his boots or cowboy hat to his own rodeo party. I cannot believe I did not even stress over anything. Woo Hoo! I just went with the flow and enjoyed Nolan's excitement and Cheri's company. Okay, this is how it all started. On Saturday morning we had Nolan's T-Ball pictures at the ball field, so we loaded up and got there in plenty of time. In fact we were early enough for Les to go get Nolan a Gatorade to drink while we waited. Once it was Nolan's turn to strike a pose in front of the background, the photographer mentioned Nolan having a mustache. I paid no attention because I was too worried about his shirt looking good and how he was holding the bat. But once I stepped back to tell him to smile big, I saw it... A BIG RED GATORADE MUSTACHE on his upper lip! I yelled, "Les Davis!" Of all times why did he have to get a RED Gatorade at that moment? So, we will more than likely have a cute baseball picture with a shining red lip! Afterwards we had time to kill, so we met the coach and his family at the pizza place before our game. Cheri and her family showed up and I hardly recognized her! She looks so incredibly cute and pregnant. You know the cute belly and a pretty glow on the face. The kids were so excited as well. After lunch we all loaded up to go back to the ball field for our game. I saw a good improvement from last week's game. However we still got slaughtered. Oh well. Later we had to get ready for the big party. Thanks to one of Nolan's friend's mom we had lots of hay for decoration and sectioning of the stick horse rodeo we had planned. While guests arrived they decorated paper sack vests to wear. That was a great time killer even though no one wore theirs. Oh well. Once it was about 15 minutes into the party time we started the rodeo with a stick horse barrel race. They loved it and it was super-d-duper cute!

Then it was onto the tin can shooting. This is where it got really tricky with water guns. I had pre-filled 12 guns to be prepared, yet there were more than 12 kids that attended. You can imagine how impatient those few kids that did not have a gun were while waiting for me to fill. That was the most stressful part of the day. They did love shooting at the tin cans though. Surprisingly no one shot at another that I am aware of. Woo hoo!

Okay, after the shooting we lined up for calf roping. Each guest got to try to rope a hay bale calf head three times in order to earn a bandanna. I forgot to mention that the kids earned a cowboy hat for the races and got to keep their gun.

Now for the favorite part. I blew up 30 pink balloons, gave each kid a fly swatter, and let the balloons loose. I called this the pig herding. They were to hold onto their stick horse and fly swatter and herd the "pigs" into the allotted area. It was a hoot! Most balloons popped of course, but some actually made it into the area!

Once that was finished the kids loaded up on a hay lined trailer for a hay ride behind Les' tractor. Actually, I think that was the best part. While they rode for about 15 minutes Cheri prepared the hot dogs. Man it was a blast! When the guests came back from the ride they panned for gold in the sandbox. I dumped 50 pennies in it and gave them little drawstring bags to collect in.

Sutton, Nolan's girl friend sat beside him and read the cards.

Then we ate, had cake, and opened presents. You know, the basic stuff. Oh the cake. Let me tell ya, this was the first birthday cake I made for one of my children and it was a challenge. Nolan wanted a boot cake, in which I could not find anywhere. So I decided to search the net for a picture of on and make it. It was a back breaking challenge, but well worth it. I did the very best I could do and the one thing that kept me going was the taste! I knew a "box" would not let me down. Hee hee. Nolan approved it and ended up loving it. Woo hoo!

After that party we were utterly exhausted. However, I loved every minute of it. People kept commenting on how I had the time and effort. I love doing stuff like this, it is what keeps me going. Thanks to my mom, I have learned from the best. She used to throw me the best birthdays and I remember every one of them. I want my kids to be the same way. Thanks Momma for all the wonderful parties and thanks Cheri for all of your help. Oh, while I am thanking people I should thank Les as well. Thanks Les, I could not have done it without you. We did this without one single argument. Woo hoo! Gosh, I feel like I just won an Oscar. And you know I kind of did. It was a great accomplishment.

My Boy is Six Years Old!

In just one hour at 10:30 pm my baby boy was born just six years ago. I am going down memory lane and it seems just like yesterday! We lived in our first house in Leander and my mom was visiting and helping me with some student gifts I was preparing. I was teaching third grade at the time and it was the day after the big assessment test (like TAKS). Les was in Atlanta working. I came home from work and sat on the couch to rest while my mom went out to the patio to smoke. I went to the bathroom as usual, my pregnancy was a dream. While in the bathroom at 4:30 in the afternoon my water broke. I had no idea what had just happened. Needless to say, my very nervous, but calm mother got me in the car in 5:00 traffic to go to the hospital in downtown Austin. It was just not real to me at the time. I had no idea I was about to have a baby, I was not due until the middle of May. Sure enough, I arrived at the hospital where the nurses had been waiting for me, my water had indeed broken and I was going into labor. My cramps in my lower back started getting more and more intense and I still had no idea what was going on! I had spoken to Les on the phone prior to the trip to the hospital and made him believe that it would be a long while until the baby came. At about 6:00 Cheri and Ken came to see how I was doing and I sent them out for a few errands, like getting my hospital bag! Yes I left the house with nothing, I just had no idea! So off they went taking their sweet time since nothing was progressing with me. Meanwhile I spoke with Les on the phone and he was working like mad to try to get home. At about 7:00 my contractions started really hurting in my lower back. I asked for the miracle drug, the epidural, and received it about an hour later. Low and behold, the epidural sped up my labor and all of a sudden the nurses and doctor came in the room to prep me. My mom kept asking if I felt any pain and of course I did not with the miracle drug! I should mention also that my mother ran out of the house with no cigarettes and did not have a smoke but for maybe two minutes on a already half smoked cigarette she had in her purse. Momma you did so incredibly well and stayed so strong! See you can do it....if you just put your mind to it! Anyhoo, the doctor told me to push while she counted to 10. Well.... once she reached about eight on the second set of ten, my sweet baby boy Nolan entered this world. It was 10:30 at night. What a special memory that I just love to share. He did not cry much, and that alarmed the nurses. However, it turned out to be nothing and as a matter of fact hardly cried his entire baby life. Oh, are you wandering about Cheri and Ken? They walked in just as they were cleaning off Nolan. Cheri was going to be my co-coach since number one: she is my best friend and number two: she was my Lamaze partner. You see Les had been gone for weeks and Yes he did miss the birth of our son. He was on the phone the entire time and will never forget hearing Nolan for the first time. He drove all night and arrived at the hospital that next morning. Oh, how time flies by. It is so exciting to see what each new day brings, but depressing that they happen so very fast. Nolan's birth will always bring a smile to my face, just like he does. I tried to include a video I made of Nolan's first year. Sniff sniff. After an hour and a half of trying to upload, I gave up. I have to go to bed now for the party tomorrow. Sorry.
Tomorrow is the BIG day so stay tuned for pics!