First Trip to the Dentist

It never fails that something crazy happens when you least expect it.  The kids were playing around last night with Ben standing on a small chair by the island.  He took a step and unfortunately fell and hit his chin on the island on the way down.  There was the most horrible crunch sound and then screams!  So not good.  We finally got him calmed down enough to look in his mouth to see what he’d done.  There was enough blood that we couldn’t see much, but once he rinsed his mouth out it was very clear that he’d broken his back right molar.  A large chunk was missing and it was quite sharp.  I did the crazy mom thing and called our dentist at his house!  He wasn’t there, but he did call me later in the evening.  He said that most likely the piece that broke off exposed the dentin which will cause sensitivity when eating or drinking.  He told me to call in to the office in the morning see when they could get him in.

They managed to fit him in at 11:00, so I left Emma with Shannon at Stay & Play and took Ben.  He thought it was great when the first thing he saw was a TV with Caillou playing!  Our regular dentist looked at him and said that he could fix it, but that he wanted to use laughing gas with him because of his age.  The problem was that it was already being used with another patient at the time.  It was then suggested that the other dentist in the office may have time later in the day, so he came in and looked at Ben’s tooth and said that he could fix it right then!  He decided that he could do it without the laughing gas and use the laser.

Ben had some decay in that tooth as well, so he was able to clean it all out and put a filling in without any problems at all.  Ben didn’t hardly even flinch.  I was so impressed!  I’m so thankful that his first visit wasn’t as traumatic as I was picturing it in my head. 

Emma was so disappointed that she didn’t get to go that I booked a check up for her on Monday!  She’s is so excited!  I’m booked in that day too… but I’m not quite as excited!

Funny Girl

This smile melts my heart.  Emma was getting her pajamas on tonight and came out of her bedroom with the shirt stuck on her head.  I just had to laugh.  We love you, Emma!

Getting Crafty

This has been a long week.  Since Family Day was Monday, school is out for the whole week… which means that Stay and Play doesn’t run when school isn’t running.  Without those two mornings with planned activities, I’ve been struggling to find things for us to do.  It’s been way too windy and cold to be outside and there aren’t that many things to do in Cardston…

I asked the kids if they wanted to make cookies and they were excited to do that, until Emma announced that they needed aprons to make cookies!  Well, the light bulb went off – why not make aprons!  (That will take up time!)  We went downstairs and they picked out the material they wanted and we got going on them.  I didn’t have a pattern, so I just held the material up to them to figure out a width and length and went for it.  They are pretty basic, but the kids love them! 

The funniest part of the day was that once the aprons were done, we started cleaning up the family room.  It was such a big job that we never did end up making cookies, but at least the house is clean!

           

Happy 40th Anniversary!

My parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary today.  We invited them over for dinner, but before we fed them, I made them come with me to the temple to get some pictures!  It was freezing cold and they were good sports… especially when we took a bunch of pictures, got back to the house and I discovered that I didn’t love most of them and made them go out AGAIN to take more!  Thanks for humoring me.  I hope that these pictures will make up for it all!

These pictures make me laugh every time I see them.  Mom was getting a ‘foot-popping’ kiss, so dad decided to get in on the fun too!  I love seeing them laugh together.

  

Thanks for sticking together through all the ups and downs that come with marriage.  I couldn’t ask for better parents and friends.  Love you!

Talking to Grandpa

Can you tell that talking with Grandpa Nichols is an event in our home?!  Every time the phone rings, or Skype sounds off on the computer, they race to see if it’s Grandpa Nichols!  We love you Papa!  Wish you were closer!

Happy Valentine’s Day

My cute kids make me smile.  I’d bought these kits in Lethbridge yesterday at the Dollar Store and the kids were VERY excited to get to make them today.  I love finding kits that already have everything you need included.  Ben makes a cute fox and Emma loved her elephant!  Kisses for Valentine’s Day!

          

       

We didn’t do much for Valentine’s, but we did go to Lethbridge and get a new door and blinds for my craft room!  Can’t wait to actually have a working door on that room!  We had Wendy’s for dinner… at least I didn’t have to cook, right?!  Love you, Lennard!

Tired Boy

Just had to laugh when I came downstairs to check on Ben only to discover him fast asleep!  Who falls asleep sprawled across two pieces of furniture?!  Doesn’t look that comfortable to me, but he must have really been tired!

He will NOT take a nap, but lately I will find him sleeping around 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon.  Definitely not the ideal time for him to be sleeping.  He doesn’t like being woken up either and it usually takes him about an hour to fully wake up and be happy again.  Love you to pieces, Benny!

Puzzles

Emma got a bunch of different puzzles at Christmas time.  Initially she needed quite a bit of help doing the little 20 piece puzzles, but since then she has become quite the puzzle girl.  She can do all the puzzles she got at Christmas without help and does them multiple times a day.  When we were in Calgary on Monday, we stopped at a hobby shop.  I ended up buying a 60 piece puzzle that is a ‘spot the difference’ puzzle.  She has been loving it!  She needs some help, but she does pretty good at it.  She can’t just look at the picture on the box as there are differences from the box to the puzzle, but it’s good practice to look at the puzzle and look for patterns, colors, etc.  I love seeing her learn and grow (though she could slow down and I wouldn’t complain!  She is growing up too fast!)

Brrrr…

We decided to go for a drive this afternoon to Waterton.  The closer we got to the park, the more wind and blowing snow we found!  By the time we got down to the lake… we couldn’t see the lake!  It was all blowing snow!  I braved the weather for a couple shots, but then I took refuge in the truck and just rolled down the window for the rest of the pictures! 

     

    

Both kids fell asleep while we were driving out and didn’t wake up until we were ready to leave the park.  Emma wanted to go throw rocks in the lake and wasn’t impressed to find that it was frozen!

   

Happy Anniversary

We took the opportunity to go out to dinner tonight to celebrate my parents 40th wedding anniversary.  It’s not until the 16th, but Shauna’s family is leaving on Friday to head to Disneyland and she wanted to be able to be here.  We went to Luigi’s in Lethbridge.  It was probably one of the best nights I’ve had in a long time.  We laughed so much that I was a little worried that the other people in the restaurant would complain! 

I managed to get pictures of everyone except us (never fails).  Wish the rest of the family could have been there.  We missed Mike & Melissa, Cub & Rachel and Roger & Trisha.

         Matt & Shauna                                                                 Dan & Mindy

                      Dad & Mom                                                             Dave & Nysha

Mom and Dad got a free dessert with a sparkler in it.  Pretty good after 40 years (wink… wink…)  Dad wished it was pumpkin pie!

Mom & Dad have never had a wedding picture displayed, so I found a small one and enlarged it for them.  It’s not the greatest quality, but it’s fun to have it anyways.  I am so thankful for such wonderful parents and for their example of 40 years of marriage through all the ups and downs.  Not only are they amazing parents but they are my friends.  Thanks for all you do for us, mom & dad.  May there be many, many, MANY more years to celebrate!

Such a Good Daddy

Came in to the family room to find this scene.  Both kids crashed in Lennard’s arms.  Sigh… love this!

Trains… Continued

Yesterday we went to Lethbridge.  Lennard wanted to go to the gun show, which we did… and it was crazy!  There were so many people that it was difficult to negotiate around to see anything.  The guns that Lennard would have loved to buy were just a bit out of our budget.  By the time we managed to get around the entire building, the kids were done.  Too many people and they couldn’t touch anything either!

It just so happened that there was a vehicle show going on next door to the gun show, so we wandered through and looked at a bunch of trucks (while Lennard tried to keep the drool off of them!).  And… then the RV show happened to be on too!  The kids were more than happy to go climb through RVs and finally be able to ‘touch’ things!

After a quick lunch, Lennard said we needed to make a quick stop at the Hobby shop.  (So dangerous!)  I never realized how involved you can get with model trains!  WOW!  Some of the locomotives were locked behind glass.   A quick stop ended up with a new locomotive ($$) and a new train car ($), some new tracks and connectors.  We could have spend WAY more there and Lennard has big plans for the future!

We finally got around to getting the things done that were on my list.  A Costco trip was a big stop and after a very full cart went through the check out we ended up with them giving us money instead!  Gotta love the American Express rebate cheque!  A quick stop at WalMart and then we were on our way home. 

I wasn’t quite done putting everything away when Lennard headed down to the hardware store to get a piece of plywood!  The second he was home, Ben jumped up and was vibrating with excitement to pull out his new train!  They got a basic track set up and were quite impressed with the new cars we got today.  The locomotive lights up and runs nice and smooth. 

Ben has got right in to it and runs the controls like a pro (almost).  He played with the trains most of the afternoon/evening and was sad when the trains needed a rest (so he could go to bed!)

Not the best picture, but it sort of shows the two new cars we got.  Emma pick out the box car because it had doors on it!

When we went to bed last night, Lennard leaned over to me and asked if I thought Ben would go for his trains in the morning before he asks for juice (He ALWAYS asks for juice).  I didn’t think he would, but we just laughed and said we would find out.

Sure enough, first thing this morning, Ben was in our room and what did he ask for?  Yup, Lennard won!  The first words out of his mouth were, “I go play with my trains now?!”  When I said that he needed to wait for daddy he quickly ran to the other side of the bed and proceeded to beg, “I be careful!  Just one turn?  You come now dad?!”  It was so funny to see how excited he was!

Being the good dad that he is, Lennard went out and played trains with him.  This could get interesting…