g is for greta

THE DENTIST!!!!

I love the office where I worked for the past 7ish years so much that even though I stopped working, our family is still patients. Corinne is used to it there. She visited alot as a child. She knows everyone by name and (more importantly) where the prize drawer is located. Mason, on the other hand, didn’t get to visit me at work often because I only worked parttime when he was a wee lad. I waited until right before his 4th birthday and kept my fingers crossed.

Corinne wanted to have her teeth cleaned on her birthday so her appointment was first. I took Mason along to watch. He wanted to push the water buttons SO bad, but I told him he’d have to wait until his turn. When Miss Perfect was finished, Mason took a ride in the chair to “practice” for his turn the next day. All went well on day one.

The next day was Mason’s turn. He did pretty well. He has an extra baby tooth on the bottom in the front that makes it harder to keep clean and thus causes extra buildup. The poor hygienist had to earn her money getting that stuff off. I had to come up with ways to keep him entertained. I took pictures of him then would show him what it looked like. Here’s an example:

I was proud of him. He came up looking like this:

so I think he isn’t scarred for life. Good thing because the dentist is one of our favorite places to go!

-g.

We are bored. Very bored. I’m ready for the weather to break so that we can get outside more often. Just in case you care, this post will show you what my kids do to occupy themselves.

Corinne got a curling iron for her birthday from her Aunt Stephanie. Now she loves to have her hair curled. She has me do every layer/piece on her head. It takes a good 30 minutes. Then she wants a picture taken. Here’s my favorite:

Mason got tracks for his cars for Christmas. He loves them and plays with them for quite awhile. They all link together and cause the next car to take off. He gets everything all set and places all the cars then watches the chain reaction. He keeps checking the box and reminding me that we don’t have all the pieces yet. Darn advertising on the packaging!

Ethan has adopted Corinne’s baby Cinderella as his own. He takes her for rides in his shopping cart/stroller and even throws her in the back of the car if his destination is too far to walk.

Silly, wonderful kids!

-g.

Sorry for not blogging. I have a new addiction. To Color Junction. It’s also available on your home Google page.

Back to playing.

-g.

I can’t believe my girl is 6! She was so excited to have her birthday. She was due to have her teeth cleaned, and asked that I schedule it the morning of her birthday. A girl after my heart! (We’ll have a whole post on the dentist later.)

Corinne was indecisive this year about what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday. She started out wanting a Princess Peach cake. Then she switched to Princess Daisy. Somewhere in playing with Mason, she started talking about one of the princess marrying Mario. That turned into her wanting a mini wedding cake.

She got a new bike for her birthday. She rode it around the house.

She thought she was hot stuff for getting a package from Utah. She could barely wait to open her card from Roman.

I can’t believe how much she has grown.

Love you, sweetie!

-g.

The kids love their Papa Tom. He’s a great grandpa. His occupation is in the masonry business. One of the main builders he works with in Cleveland has a sister here in town that is building a house. He recruited Papa Tom to do all the masonry work. We were so excited to have him and Abuelita come to stay for an extended trip. The kids LOVED getting dirty on the jobsite. They got to have a ride in the bucket of the digger, spraypaint the gravel, steer the stone slinger, and hammer nails. It was a blast!

You can tell by the pictures that we were there at all times of the day and night. I couldn’t keep the kids away! We kept muddy clothes and bags in the car to put their boots in. I waited until the job was finished before I even attempted to clean the interior of the van or their clothes. I’m hoping the house will have lots of interior finish work that will give Papa Tom another reason to come visit us again!

-g.

Soon after Christmas, we traveled to Hartford, a small town in northeastern Ohio where I grew up. My sister and oldest sibling, Bridget, was coming to town with her family from Utah. We were lucky to get to see them out west over the summer. My kids had their cousins fresh on their brains and couldn’t wait to pick up where they left off.

Corinne was excited to be get some of Carmen’s old Barbies. She LOVES Carmen. There aren’t many female cousins on either side of the family.

Mason loves being outside. They rode the 4-wheelers some, but the favorite activity was trying to shoot Uncle Lance and Cousin Kevin with the paintball guns while they zig zagged around the backyard. The big boys were just as excited as the little boys.

Why is it that when the camera turns on kids make weird faces? Gotta love it!

My mom found a coupon for cheap rollerskating. First, I love Corinne. That goes without saying. However, she gets frustrated when she isn’t good at something immediately. I had major concerns about the evening. She proved me wrong! She fell about every 10 seconds for HOURS and LOVED it! I was so proud of her. My arms got quite a workout trying to keep her on her feet and picking her up. I’m really glad we went.

Thanks for such a good time, Paynes! My kids had so much fun staying up late on New Year’s Eve playing games. It was nice to get to be together.

-g.

First, we decorated the tree (and played Jack-in-the-Christmas tree-box)

I love my kids’ faces in this one. Goobers!

Eventually, Christmas morning rolled around:

Such a mess! The kids had a hard time finding the toys to play with after they were finished opening everything.

Here is Ethan on M & M withdrawl:

We enjoyed hanging out with family and visiting with friends in from out of town.

(WARNING: FLAT HAIR ALERT!! Mine, of course. Faith always looks gorgeous!)

The day after Christmas was like summer! The kids dashed outside to color on the driveway and ride their bikes while they had the chance.

Next up, our trip to Hartford to visit with my sister and her family. Lots of fun!

-g.