Pen at the Den

So Penny had go to the dentist.  The backstory is this.  Since day one, she has latched on to my upper lip for sucking.. sort of a surrogate nipple.  I found it endearing, intoxicating and sublime.  I got to smell her skin and her sweet breath all the more, and to top it off, she was calmed.  I found no harm in it.  I was mistaken.  Due to a cavity in my own mouth, some bacteria from the decay was inoculated into her mouth.  Gasp.  Nighttime nursing further worsened the decay in her two front teeth.  Even though she has been a devoted brusher, the cavity continued to grow.  So, they were able to put a floride releasing temporary sealant on her front teeth, after scraping some decay away, to buy us some time until she gets old enough for more invasive treatment.  The procedure took maybe ten minutes. I held her on my chest, laying down, watching the chipmunk movie on a flat screen tv on the ceiling.  The dentist and assistants were soothing, motherly females.  Penny was all about it until everybody's hands started making their way into her little mouth.  She screamed the whole time, fighting me to sit up.  After it all, she popped up, DRIPPING in sweat (as was I, from holding her still), not a single tear (I assumed she would be covered in them).  As several dental gals melted over Penny's vulnerable state, she started to lay on the charm even thicker.  She proceeded to answer many of their questions with her typical "Yetch! (yes)", and "Yi-ah-uh!", as they asked if she was ok and if she wanted a toy. She cleaned that toy cabinet out and brought a few tears out of the ladies. 

Wheel Barrow Rides During "Project Bark"

Not much of a story here...Just adorableness.  Between loads of bark that I was laying out in the front and back yard, the kids were hopping in the wheel barrow for rides. Penny and Bahboo were loving on eachother, as usual.

Kaleb's First Day of 3's Preschool

Kaleb could hardly wait to go back to school at First Presbyterian Christian Preschool, and reconnect with Sim, Guy and Ms. Lisa.  He was happy to sport his new Buzz Lightyear shoes and his old tried-and-true Cars backpack, on his first day.  He longed for his old "bachelor pad" classroom, as we walked past it, to his new classroom.  He gave Lisa, his previous teacher, a big hug and dazzled her with his new vocabulary.  He greeted his new teacher, Mrs. Chavez with a friendly, but distracted greeting as he took in his new surroundings.  His new class has 13 kids in it...that is ten more than last year.  He cried a bit when I left, but did just fine, and had a lot of fun.  By week two, he was even peeing in the toilet at school.  He tells me what he had for snack and he talks about his friends and his teachers; what a difference from last year!

The Summer Garden of 2010

Well, it wasn't all I had hoped for, but I learned a little bit.  It wasn't nearly hot enough this summer for a huge yield of tomatoes.  Therefore, the ones that I planted came very late, in September!  My squash got too wilted in the beginning, and then I proceeded to prune it WAY too much, and basically forced it into a second fruiting.  So I didn't get a lot of squash; only 2 or 3 crooknecks and a few pattycakes.  They were pretty and delicious though.  We seemed to have gotten some Oxhearts , Copias, and some little cherry and grape heirlooms, in the tomato department.  It is a bit hard to tell what is what because the chickens went through the freshly sowed seeds and scattered them and ate them. Then, they proceeded to poop them out in their coop.  After I transfered the thriving tomato plants, I was never certain what was what.  We had planted eggplants and melons, but nothing sprouted.  We had our fair share of invaders this year as well.  Mushrooms popped up in the beds on the side yard, and buggies ate a lot of the tomatoes at night and in the early morning.  I am looking forward to more success with the winter garden.  I should be more successful, thanks to Uncle Ts transplants!  One good thing that came from this garden, is Penny's love for tomatoes!

A Typical Weekend in Sept. 2010

After school on Friday, the girls came home and flopped.  Kaleb took a nap because he had school and he played at Sim's house. He was beyond unreasonable.  Gammy tried to get home early to take the girls to the local indoor pool.  They were so excited, as usual; waiting by the door in their colorful suits, with their goggles already on, and their monogrammed beach bags on their arms.  When Gammy arrived, I was scooping a pile of gravel into the wheel barrow in the front yard.  The big girls, whom had been at eachother for hours, proceeded to throw rocks OUT of the wheel barrow and into the street.  So they spent the next 20 minutes picking up little rocks out of the court, in their bathing suits, under Gammy's order.  They took off for the pool, only to come right back, eyes filled with tears, because it was closed for the night.  So, they packed up Kaleb and headed for Gammy's house for their friday night sleepover.  They were back ten minutes later, because Kaia couldn't go without her DS game (which she only gets  to play on the weekends).  They finally got there, just in time for the "Uncle T Burgers", which this week were not quite as popular, due to the unacceptable mayonase and the onion flecks on the buns.  

Kaleb played Cars legos with Uncle T and Gampy on the floor, while Kaia played DS until she passed out on the couch, with her pillow pet.  Gabby got groggy and needed a story in bed.  I did housework and tidied up for our anticipated guest that was to come on the following night (Ashley Lautzenhizer).  Gene spent the evening with Mike Gaumond and Zach from PSS, at an Irish Pub in Roseville.  

The morning came early, as I gathered up the neccessary items for the soccer games of the morning.  I loaded the car up with soccer bags, icy water bottles, snacks, thick picnic blankets and backpacks filled with toys for the little ones.  I helped get the kids ready at Gammy's as they sat on the couch, munching their chocolate chip pancakes, bacon, and eggs, watching spongebob in their nightgowns.  Uniforms slipped on, shingaurds velcroed tight, socks pulled up, soccer kleats laced up, hair smoothed and tied up, chocolate faces licked clean( by yours truly-I'm part feline), and we were out the door.  I drove Kaia to her game with Gampy boy and Kaleb, to Eureka elementary school.  Kaia was all pumped up to cheer for the Panda Bears, because they were playing the Butterflies...and "Panda Bears EAT Butterflies!", so they were sure to win!  She was excited to put some new techniques into action, that I had suggested to her.  One was separating herself from the clump of kicking girls and calling  out to her teamates, "I'm Open!", in hopes of facilitating a pass.  The other was dribbling like a "snake", as opposed to running in a straight line.  I had witnessed her explaining these tactical concepts to her oblivious teamates, out on the field.  She is such an eager learner.  When they didn't seem to give her instant success, in the game, she called out to me on the sidelines, "It's not WORKING!!".  The Panda Bears scored a goal at that game!  I left early to get my hair done, by Julie, downtown.  Dad stayed with Kaia's team and Kaleb, who played with his pal Brody.

Gammy took Gabby and Penny to Gabby's game, just down the road.  Gabby got to play the Goalie position, which thrilled her entirely.  She did great, and was pleased with herself.  Penny cheered for her the whole time.  Gammy brought Penny to me, at the salon, because she had her appointment right after me.  I went back with Penny to pick of the girls at Gam's house, and bring them home, to finish cleaning the house for Ashley's visit.  Kaleb stayed with Gampy and Uncle T to work in the "Shop" (the garage got cleaned up and had all of the tools brilliantly displayed).  We prepared some great food for dinner (cheese plate, wine, pomogranate martinis, homemade pizzas with Trev's tomatoes, Yonemoto's patty cake squash, goat cheese, roasted corn, and pesto, garden salad, carrot cake from the Nugget), everyone enjoyed catching up with Ashley.  She brought some thoughtful gifts for the kids and even played a few rounds of Lincoln Logs with them.  Gammy cleaned up the kitchen and Gampy bathed "Pigpen" (Kaleb), while we laughed about Arrested Development and Halloween Costumes.  

The following morning, we all got to church (Bridgeway) on time.  We dropped kids off at their designated classrooms, and enjoyed the service with Mark Issackson.  Gene stayed in Kaia's classroom, because they needed another parent. He enjoyed participating and witnessing how the classroom was run.  He got some classic video footage of Kaia dancing during the singing portion of class.....

After church, we got a couple of 5 dollar Little Caeser's pizzas and some orange soda and went home. The kids relaxed and ate pizza.  Gene watched some netflix, and I worked on Gabby's "Cleopatra" halloween costume.  Gammy came over around 2:30 to attempt the pool again.  This time, they made it and the girls were quite grateful. They LOVE to swim!!  Gammy brought over a rotisserie chicken and helped me with the costume.  We had chicken tacos and, mashed pinto beans, and white rice for dinner.  Afterwards, we went for a walk to the park, with Sam.  Gabby rode her bike (still with training wheels), Kaia leisurely walked in her pjs, Kaleb started riding his "tractor" (a gocart with pedals, from Jake's garage), then parked it and pushed Penny in the stroller, and Penny actually walked most of the way.  They played on the bars at the park, Sam played some fetch, and then lounged out in the cool grass, and we all played a wild game of "Truth or Dare". Some highlights were Kaia kissing Sam on the wet nose, Gabby screaming "I love Elmo", and mommy kissing Gabby's boogery-finger.  We did a bath to get the chlorine out of the girls hair and the beans out of the little one's hair.  Kaia and Gabby read the "Indian in the Cupboard" with daddy and then climbed into bed after teeth and potty. Penny went "Nigh-nigh-Doo" (" Doo" Yummies..brush teeth...hug and kiss...into the crib..some light crying as I walk out the door...then boom...out like a light.)  Kaleb didn't go down so easy.  He brushed his teeth and got into bed with bimby, only to emerge 30 minutes later, with a silly grin.  He ate a whole can of green beans and laid with me on the couch, after I finished the kitchen, and watched Dear John, a Nicholas Sparks tear-jerker, and passed out, a soft mop of brown tossled curls on my chest.  

 

Evening walks in the Early Fall

We like to pack up  some waters, a ball or two, maybe a kite, and do the loop to the school park, duckpond, then home.  This particular night, the kids rode the powerwheels jeep as well.  We played on the jungle gym, kicked the soccer balls around, played fetch with Sam, played a wild game of Truth or Dare (I had to scream out "I love Barney!" three times!).  Sam was so hot and exhausted, that he found a lovely shady spot (which is hard to find and this park), that had sprinklers going on it! He parked himself in that secluded spot for atleast 20 minutes; He looked like a happy camper!  One other night, we got there around dusk and the park was totally empty. We took some pointers on having fun, from Kaleb. We ran as fast as we could through the empty cool field and finished with an army roll.  Kaleb knows what he is doing...that is really fun!  It is nice to get out of the house in the evening; it sort of revives everyone.  It is pretty tiring, but the exercise is great for everyone!

Swimming at Nina Jess' House

Several times this summer, we were invited to go swimming over at Nina Jess' pool with Her and Haven.  The pool was nice and shallow, and very warm.  Jess always had nice snacks for us to eat. Kaleb loved playing with all of Haven's toys as well.