Where'd it go?

Chaz earlier last week told me he had a loose tooth. Being the bad mother I am I didn't believe him (in my defense he has told me that several times and the tooth wasn't moving anytime soon!). After I got back from my Seminary Inservice on Thursday night Coby confirmed that it was loose. We told him that it might take a couple of weeks to get loose enough to pull.

Well, we get home from church today and at dinner he kept saying that his tooth hurt when he chewed. Then without warning HE pulled it out! Holy smokes! It is the smallest tooth! He is so excited! His cousin Morgan has already been loosing teeth - she's about a year older - and when he saw her in May he was so jealous!

Congrats Chaz!!!

A Little Behind - as usual!

Ok, so I was cleaning up the guest room (that is always available - COME VISIT!) with my hubby on Saturday. He was great to have for muscles as we were not only cleaning up the space, but cleaning out the space and rearranging some big furniture. Love his BIG muscles!

We were talking about some of the things that had happened and I kept saying "I need to blog about that!", so here is my chance to catch up on some of the "stuff" that has happened in our lives lately.

Aedan's Birthday
Our princess turned 4 in early June and as she has been planning her party since the party the year before we knew that she needed to have one! Talking with her and some ideas of our own sealed the deal.
We invited many friends from church and decorated birthday hats (an Aedan Requirement [A.R.]) and aprons that I made for the party. They weren't anything big, just denim from a cute pattern I found from Joanns.com. I liked them because the string to tie them also helped to fit the apron high enough on the kiddo. The kids decorated their aprons and then we had games. Duck, Duck, Goose (another A.R.) and pass the parcel - a game from best we can tell is Canadian in origin since most Americans don't know what it is (my friend that is Canadian introduced me to it and a father at the party that is Canadian knew what it was, but the Americans were clueless :)).
We then ate mini pizzas (part of the reason I wanted the kids to have aprons) and decorated Pink cupcakes (A.R.). Aedan opened her gifts in record time - with the help from big brother - and before we knew it the party was over! I think that everyone had a good time and Aedan LOVES all her new gifts!

Red Robbin & the Cardinals Game
After Aedan's Birthday we napped the kids and then about 3:30pm headed towards downtown Houston to go to the Cardinals v. Astros game. As dad told Aedan: "It's to celebrate your birthday!" hmmmmmm
On the way we stopped at Red Robbins for Aedan's free birthday burger and birthday dessert!
At the restaurant we discovered Chaz had a fever and had caught the flu that Aedan had earlier in the week. He decided to be a trooper and go to the game. The game was great! Good seats and the kids were great until about the 7th inning. The boys and I went for a walk around the discovered the Reliant Energy Free Photo Booth.


We also went to the kids area - the Minute Maid Squeeze Play - the boys had a blast. Before we knew it the game was over (and considering it was after 9pm the kids did great!). The Cards won! What a fun birthday!

My new PRINTER
I've been complaining about my old printer off and on. It doesn't scan so well, you have to fax off the glass because the scanning lite won't go all the way to the end so the feeder won't work (I actually fax more than I could have imagined when I got my first 4-in-One). Etc, etc...so Costco's wonderful coupons came in the mail for June and there was a screaming deal on the printer I had been eye-balling since Christmas (better than the after Thanxgiving deal that was good). So I took the plunge (with Coby's blessing - he was tired of hearing me whine). I got the HP Photosmart C7250 All-in-One. The color ink cartridges are all seperate - there is a photo screen on the printer and it has the memory slots for a variety of memory cards! It prints crystal clear - even on the 'draft' setting! I LOVE IT! Thanx hon!

A Great Friend - Gone

Codi & Kathleen - May 22, 1998
It's taken me a while to be able to write down my feelings about a wonderful lady who lived well and died too young! While visiting my family in OK in late May I called home to check our answering machine messages (I was anticipating getting some attendance info for seminary class that HAD to be turned in by May 31 - I'm not really that addicted to my answering machine) - and I heard a message from a friend I hadn't talked to in a long time. She told me that my sweet friend Kathleen Briggs had died.

I was driving down the road when I heard this message and I involuntarily cried! I missed my friend! I was so sad that I hadn't seen her in years and planned to visit her this summer when I head out west. Sad I didn't keep in better contact with her and sad that she won't be a part of my life - even if it was just the occasional email and Christmas newsletter.

Kathleen was the Relief Society President in our student ward and bravely called me to be her second counselor. The more I got to know Kathleen the more I loved her - mostly because she loved me - and she was one of the best "people cheerleaders" I know. [definition of people cheerleader: someone who ALWAYS finds the good in someone and lets them know about it, NEVER speaks ill of anyone, and LOVES everyone!]

Colleen - Kathleen's best friend and a great person in her own right - left a long message detailing what Kathleen had put in her PDA as a message to me when she died. I say when because during our adventure in the RS presidency together Kathleen was diagnosed with a very aggressive type of breast cancer. She survived the chemo, etc. only for it to show up in other parts of her body - which eventually killed her. She also survived - with a "can do" attitude - a horrible t-bone collision! She is amazing!

The message that Kathleen requested be passed on to me demonstrates her love for the individual. She was incredibly organized and Colleen said that she left messages on her PDA for all the people Kathleen wanted to be contacted and what she wanted them to know about themselves and how she felt about them.

I sure love Kathleen. April 2, 2008 was the celebration of 10 years surviving cancer - she made it 10+ years!!! She will be missed, but it just gives such hope for the eternal nature of our spirits and the blessing to reunite with friends again!
Kathleen, Codi, Coby, Colleen - May 22, 1998

Here is a copy of the page I sent to her for the surprise 'Survival Celebration Book' Colleen put together (thanx to my sister for help putting it together - I'm totally "cute scrapbook page" illiterate!):

Deep Dish Apple Pie - using dried apples

5 c. dried apple slices
4 c. water
1/2 tsp. salt

Bring to boil in large saucepan. Cover and simmer 5 minutes.

1 1/3 c. sugar
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Add to apple mixture and stir.

1/4 c. cornstarch
1/2 c. water

Put cornstarch into small dish and add water. Stir into a smooth paste. Then stir paste into apple mixture and cook until thickened, stirring constantly.

Cool slightly and pour into a purchased “Deep Dish” pie shell (Marie Calendar is a nice brand & size). Or, you can pour into pastry-lined 9 x 13 baking dish.

Mix together and top with the following:

1 c. flour
1/2 c. butter (low fat or whipped butter will not work.)
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. rolled oats

Cut butter into flour; then add other ingredients. Crumble over pie filling before baking.

Bake at 425 degrees for about 40 minutes. Place foil-lined cookie sheet underneath to catch drips.

Out of the mouth of Babes

Last night we were running errands and decided we would go out for dinner as well. We were asking the kids where they wanted to eat. Here is how the conversation went:

Codi - Where would you guys like to eat?
Chaz - At the restaurant with the pepper.
Coby - You mean Chili's?
Aedan - I don't want to eat there because I am not Chilly...I am Cool.

Gavin's choice was McDonalds, so we ended up eating at Jason's Deli. Great food, great time and everyone got ice cream. Yum!

Radio Flyer - flying down the stairs

Ok, we decided since the kids are getting older that a wagon might be a better choice for outings - like the zoo tonight - I searched out for the best wagon for our family and decided due to price, etc. that a radio flyer plastic with UV canopy would be a great choice. Went to Target early today and bought it. During quiet time I assembled it...the kids were so excited to see the new wagon when they woke up! They watched some TV in the wagon, checked out the UV canopy, flipped the seats up and down, and when I thought they had done all they could with the wagon - they discovered the box! First they crawled in and out - stood it up - dragged it around - and finally...they took it to the stairs! They hauled it to the top - one of them climbed in - and down they go! Makes me wonder if finding just a box would have been a less expensive choice, but then how would be get around the zoo???

Chaz

Gavin

Aedan - love the trash talk at the end!