Fairy Dust

I'm finally trying to catch up with long overdue posts.  Disregard the order of the following several entries.  Just know they're important for this momma to remember, no matter how long ago they happened!

A month ago tomorrow, Ms. DD Kathleen lost her very first tooth.  It was a long time coming and to tell the truth, she doesn't have another single loose tooth in her little mouth.  So, it was very important that the Tooth-Fairy make a very big deal about this! 

DD chose to put her tooth under her pillow.  When her daddy was a kid he put his tooth in a cup of water and then the Tooth Fairy put his money in the cup.  DD has a cute little box Sierra gave her when she was born to put a tooth in, but Drue has it full of treasures on her dresser. I had a yellow-gingham pillow with a tooth pocket she could have put her tooth in, but she chose the no-fail method and stuck her dinky little tooth right under her pillow in hopes of feeling the Tooth-Fairy come snag it.



Hope the Tooth-Fairy can find that little thing!



We should have known Drue wouldn't be able to sleep in her own bed all night long.  She does well most every night of the year.  There are the occassional nights when she will hop in bed with us, usually about 5 am just as Daddy is getting ready to leave for work. 

However, without fail, Ryan and I can guarantee there will be a little girl in bed with us on THREE NIGHTS each year...

          1.  The night Santa comes,

          2.  The night the Easter Bunny comes, and now...

          3.  The night the Tooth-Fairy comes!

She has mentioned this on the eve of both Christmas and Easter.  When you think about it, it is kind of freaky.  A bearded old man who eats your cookies, a big fluffy bunny hiding eggs and a flying, tooth stealin' fairy coming into your house while you sleep.  I'd be in my mom's bed, too! 

Sis woke up in our bed, ran to her room and was tickled to find $3 and silver FAIRY DUST under her pillow!  We think she must have got extra money because she had to wait so long for the Tooth-Fairy to visit! At least we know she knows where to find us when more Luiken teeth fall out! (Kids' teeth, preferably!)



Look at all that fairy dust!



 Drue even found fairy dust on her little cheeks when she looked in the mirror that morning.  I think the Tooth-Fairy was looking for any other loose teeth...or maybe she was making sure the tooth really belonged to DD?

The next night I fell asleep with DD in her bed and woke up with all sorts of silver fairy dust on my face the next morning. I should have looked in the mirror BEFORE taking kids to school! yikes! 

I'm quite certain the Tooth-Fairy will be visiting our house often over the next few years...

Wonder what color of dust she'll use next???

Guesses Anyone?

Last week, in an attempt to break up a yelling/pinching/chasing/grabbing match between the two youngest humans in our house, I came up with a brilliant idea.

"Hey!  Let's each guess the date of the first snowfall!"

"Whoever predicts closest...gets to pick a restaurant we will eat supper at that week!"

I can't lose.

Told you it was brilliant!

Wordless Wednesday (ok, not really)

Ugh.  I've got another long list of things to blog about.  I have a feeling when it gets cold and snowy, I'll be a better blogger.  What else will I want to do?! I still haven't posted about Dig's birthday, the tooth-fairy, my farming debut, our chickens, soccer, the latest funny sayings/ happenings, the kids' new library in the toyroom, Halloween and now, school conferences.  Yikes. 

Ok, I'm feeling guilty.  Until I muster up the time to post for 'real,' enjoy this picture of the kids before trick-or-treating...and stay tuned for more! ...... eventually.  =)

Dig the Iowa Hawkeye & DD the Vet

(with her baby Sam, who also went trick-or-treating!)

Karate Kid

This summer, Lane took part in a one week Karate Kid Camp sponsored by Rising Sun Karate He loved every minute of it!  The kids learned kicks, punches and blocks and then did some Samurai Sword fighting with foam swords.  Can you imagine how cool that was for our then five year-old!? 

DD wasn't so sure.  "Oh great! Just what I need.  A brother who knows how to fight!" 

Lane worked very hard and toward the end of the week he was officially awarded his white belt.  He was hooked.  We went the very next week and registered him for Karate classes in Ackley and we've been going every Monday since. 



Receiving his white belt





When kicking/punching/blocking or when Sensei asks something of them,
the students have to yell "OUS!" which translates to
 "yes, I understand and will try." 





Lane sword fighting with Sensei


Sensei Fuller is so great with kids.  She is strict, but fun and Lane just can't get enough.  He practices at home and remembers what he has learned during the week which has helped him move from white belt, to white with yellow stripe which also meant moving up to a different class time.  A couple weeks ago Sensei awarded him with a red stripe on his belt because he is always such a good listener and works very hard during class.  It made his day because not everyone, in fact, only one other person received one. 




Outside the dojo.  No socks and remember to bow!


This past Monday night, Lane tested for and was promoted to YELLOW BELT! He's moving right along and is already hoping to some day be a black belt in Karate.  He loves looking at all of Uncle Steve's Tae Kwon Do belts.  Ya' know...because they're so colorful! 




Inside the dojo.  We parents have a great viewing area outside the room.





Practicing blocks with Sempei (senior student/helper) Teresa.






Practicing kicks!

 



Preparing for his favorite kick, so far...





the ROUND-HOUSE!!


Sensei says Lane is very dedicated and works hard during class.  You should hear how hard he smacks the kick bags! Yowza!! We are so proud of him and love that he and his sister each have an activity they enjoy so much. 

I also love that I have a personal body guard!

Waiting...

Well, it's no understatement to say we've been waiting a loooong time for this news at our house!


Drue was the LAST kid in her entire grade to lose a tooth! 

The Kindergarten bulletin board had a special section where when you lost a tooth, you wrote your name on a cut out of a tooth and stapled it up for all to see.  DD never got her name on that board. 

First-grade had a bag for each month and you got to put a cut out of a tooth with your name on it in each bag/month that you lost a tooth.  Some kids lost several.  DD...not a single one.

Finally, today, DD lost her first tooth.  Guess what?  Second-grade does nothing special for munchkins who lose teeth, because, surely they've all lost one by now!  Bummer.  But that won't damper the excitement around here!

Really the tooth had only been noticeably loose for a couple of days.  Drue's been messing with it and today she was just giddy thinking it could be soon that she'd have a gaping whole in her little mouth!  She had just asked me, "when will it start bleeding?"  When she took the Kleenex away and noticed some blood.  Panic took over and she started jumping up and down crying. She was scared.  I grabbed her and rocked her in the chair for a moment and she cried, "I'm not ready Mom, I'm just not ready." 

I couldn't stop laughing, but felt sad for her...and me.  My baby girl is growing up.  We rocked a few minutes and I finally told her to "take that Kleenex out of your mouth, it's going to be stuck to your lip and I'm sure you're tooth has stopped bleeding."  She looked at the Kleenex, I couldn't see the tooth in her mouth, but figured it was just wiggled so I couldn't.  I told her to look at me and I just screamed! NO TOOTH!  She, of course, didn't believe me so she ran to the bathroom to check.  Nope! No tooth!  But where was it?! She found it in the Kleenex, perfectly clean and perfectly hollow.  You should have heard the screaming and shouting! 

She yelled, "Call 'em! Call 'em!!" 

"Call Who?"

"Everybody"

She called her Daddy who was working in the field, Nanny (who DD is telling everyone, "was so excited to get over here, she didn't even say Ubba at the end of the call!") She called MiMi (who DD especially liked to wiggle her tooth in front of because she could give MiMi the hee-bee-gee-bees!) She called Pa and Uncle Shawn and KK and texted all of her other aunts & uncles to share her very exciting...and very long awaited news!!

Guess I should probably call the Tooth-Fairy, too!

Wordless Wednesday

Fall Family Fun

After the week we had...we needed to get out of the house!

The weather was perfect so after church and brunch, we headed to the corn maze.  We hadn't been for a couple of years, it sure was different with older kids!  Ryan and I had to keep reminding them to "slow down!"  We were in the maze for about an hour and didn't even find all 5 check in points! There were also a lot of other fun things to do at the farm. Lane loved the basketball court in the barn and DD loved the horses.  Lane started getting tired so we decided to go to a pumpkin farm nearby to pick out our pumpkins because I knew they had a variety I like to decorate with.

Time for a little flash back...

Same place, 2 years ago.

Notice how short the corn is, this was 2009, the year of the hail storm.

Now notice how short my little people were!  We thought they were so big. 

 Now look at 'em!

Much taller corn...much taller little people!  =)

Fresh air, blue skies, warm sun, pumpkins and a corn maze made for perfect Fall family fun!