a busy weekend

My parents (newly moved to Texas) came down to visit on Halloween weekend.  We started the weekend off by holding a garage sale on Saturday.  The day began very early (5:30ish) and didn't stop until 4:30ish.  But not only did we make some money, but our garage was certainly significantly emptier!  (filled up the next weekend with M's dream car- a replacement for the flooded out car that we lost in April)

My parents attended a wedding reception that evening while we went to a new venue for costume fun.  The Vintage was hosting a character meet and candy doled out.  We took the kids but I was pretty wiped out.  We showed up late and only had the chance to take pictures with a few of the characters around the shopping center.  The ones we met couldn't have been sweeter.  We capped off the evening with dessert from Coco's, a favorite creperie.  David meanwhile kept looking worse and worse.  His forehead was burning up by the time we got home and we soon discovered he had a high fever.  Advil took it down and we all crashed in bed.

Sunday morning the kids sang in church.  I came home and crashed.  When I woke up my parents went to visit a friend.  Dinner time and back to bed.

Monday morning we spent some time outside on the driveway showing off David's new bike skills to my parents.  The weather was lovely.

My parents left at lunchtime.  That evening we took advantage of "kids eat free in costume" at Gringo's again.  After dinner, we spent about an hour trick or treating.  I was amazed by how many homes were still not finished from flood repairs.  Several people had just moved back home and downstairs.  Wow!  Long road for so many...makes our 2+ months seem like it flew by!

That busy weekend began a long week of the flu (sore muscles, high fever, chills, and 2 kids vomiting once).  David recovered in about 24 hours.  The girls got it midweek and they took a bit longer to recover.  I prayed a lot and God was gracious to keep my healthy.

Graceful Bizbeth

Elizabeth started ballet this fall.  This is something she has been begging to do for years.  We are very fortunate to live near a dance studio that is quite good and run/owned by a Christian.  E takes ballet on Mondays from Ms Amy.  It is sweet to watch the 6-7 little girls trying to imitate the older more experienced ballerina.  I have been impressed with how much dancing actually goes on.  Aside from the first 10 minutes of warming up, it is all ballet.  E is not sure about the exercise for 45 minutes, but she still enjoys the class.  She is one of the youngest ones in there (some are 2 years older) and many of the other girls attend several classes a week and have been doing it for years.  For all that, E is not that far behind.  I can already see improvement over the two months we have been doing this class.  Dance, sweet ballerina!

All things teeth

David lost his first tooth in July and only because it was being pushed out by an adult tooth.  At the time, the second tooth (also top center) was also loose.  We were just biding time for it to come out.  As time went by, the tooth did not loosen significantly.  But meanwhile, the adult tooth under it was coming in too.  The tooth was halfway in and no sign of the baby tooth leaving.  It had just filled the gap between his front two (thanks to the curse of the missing lateral incisors).  We knew we had a dentist appointment and so had a grave talk with the dentist that day about whether the tooth had to be pulled. She declared it would and David's appointment went from just a tooth cleaning to the more ominous tooth extraction.  Meanwhile, I was having my teeth cleaned so M was sitting with David.  When I came in, Michael looked like he was about to pass out.  :)  David was extremely brave and took the rather longer-than-expected procedure without any complaining or wincing.  Let's just say the tooth fairy paid him lavishly with a rare $2 bill.

After D's appointment, E had her cleaning.  She wasn't quite as brave during the minutes they put sealants on her teeth.  Hah!  But as in many areas, she is not too far behind David.  She went to the dentist with her first loose tooth (bottom).  While driving through the HEB parking lot on Monday, she started squealing in the back seat.  Apparently, her tooth had come out then and there.  She had not swallowed it but Mommy somehow misplaced it (or accidentally threw it out) when we got home.  I told her we would write a note to the tooth fairy to put under her pillow.  I knew the tooth fairy would be understanding.  I am sure she would have been had she found the note.  Unfortunately, the tooth fairy fell down on the job and forgot entirely to check under the pillow.  It was with such a sad expression that E came downstairs the next morning.  I almost wanted to cry with her.  Fortunately, the tooth fairy patched everything up while E's back was turned and when I encouraged her to go back upstairs and look more carefully under her pillow, she found a $1 bill.  And she immediately chirped up!

And not to be left out, Abigail went to her first dentist appointment this week.  She hates having her teeth brushed but did exceptionally well without wincing during her first cleaning.  She kicked off her shoes and laid back.  She also had a smile on her face the whole time!