HARDWARE

In the last two weeks, both Olivia and Nick have entered the exciting world of orthodontia treatment. Unfortunately for both of them (or us, really) they have their mom's big teeth and their dad's tiny mouth. Olivia has a couple of years worth of work and then she'll be done forever. Little Nicky will have a longer road and wear braces twice. Both will be done by high school though so that's pretty nice. Of course they have been complaining about all of this but I know they are excited. Olivia's first comment to Ben after her expander was put in was, "Hey Ben, lemme show you something cool" as she opened her mouth and threw her head back. Nick couldn't wait to choose the colors of his bands today when his braces were put on. He went with the 49ers colors of red, black and gold. I think it's cute. I remember making retainers out of paper clips and thinking I was the bomb. (Then when it came time to actually start wearing headgear, that bomb exploded....;) Ask me where my retainer is today.... I have no idea.) The fun does wear off and Sissy had some sore days and tears last week but she is doing great. And the beautiful smiles they will have once it is all over will be worth it!

ADDENDUM: It's been seven hours since I wrote the post above....and the fun has officially worn off. Nick spent a good portion of his afternoon curled up in a blanket in his underwear, wailing. Apparently the kids at school made fun of him because he talks funny now and he is certain that, because of the low expander bar now in the roof of his mouth, he is going to starve to death. That worry didn't last long though.....he's already broken a brace off and I came home tonight to his expander in a plastic baggy. Heaven help this child's mother.....

TUTU

Kate wore this skirt for the first time today:

It was a very special day for me, seeing her little body dance around in the living room with it on. I screamed and cried nearly exactly two years ago today, when we first opened the wrapped box that held it. The fluffy pink tutu meant we had a healthy, perfect baby coming to our family. A miracle really. There was a time when I didn't think we would ever get our little angel. This little girl is our tiny, sweet, sassy beautiful girl and I don't know what our family would be like without her. I cried a few silent tears today as she fell asleep in my arms at nap time. Her little bare feet were crossed at the ankles like they always are and her hands were wrapped around the neck of her stuffed pig. Her little lips are perfect and her eyelashes are so ridiculously long. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father. She is His little one and because of His love, now she is mine too.

"CHURCH DAY"

This morning, Nick came down and asked if he had to shower today. I told him yes, it is Wednesday. (FYI, he is contracted to shower on MWF and SUNDAY.) Amost immediately, Ben blurted out, "Well I'm just glad it's not Sunday. I don't like Sundays! I don't like music games. I don't like to be quiet. I don't like to wear church clothes and I DON'T like to listen! I just like the candy....."

EIGHTEEN MONTHS

Little Miss Kitty is officially 1-1/2 years old! She is as sweet as ever, giving away kisses and loves any chance she gets. She is spending a good portion of her days getting into absolutely anything and everything she can find.....bathroom drawers, pantry snacks, dog food bowls, computer desk, you name it! She is screaming a lot, too, not because she is sad or mad but because it's fun! Her favorite place to be is outside wandering around and she has LOVED the hikes we have done as a family the last couple of weeks. Kate can out-walk the big kids! Her diet is completely meat-free, despite all I have done to try to get her to eat it. She'll even snarf down my spinach mushroom eggs before she'll touch a slice of turkey bacon. Today she was eating red pepper hummus and I wasn't sure what to think! She loves oatmeal with applesauce for breakfast, cheesesticks, chips, apples, oranges, bananas, crackers, chocolate milk, blackbeans, rice, Raman noodles, etc. so she is certainly not starving!

Her vocabulary is growing quickly, too. Her words at 18 months:
Dada
Momma
Hiiiii! (Hi. Used to greet everyone, including moving cars and strangers)
All done (either sign language or screaming)
Nana (banana)
Hot!
Pup pup (puppy)
Woof woof
Lo-la (and accompanying song)
Baby
Ewwww!
My! (mine!)

LOVES: Lola pig, dancing, going for walks, babies, hats, sitting in mommy's bathroom sink, wearing bras/undies like dresses, teasing her family whenever she gets a chance

HATES: going down for naps, being brought back inside the house, getting her hair fixed, being taken off the kitchen table or computer bench, anyone trying to feed her, washing her hair in the tub, when Charlie eats her cheese stick right out of her hand

I love this little sweetheart. As busy and sassy and independent as she is right now, I still wouldn't trade her for the world! She is my little buddy and seeing her smile and all those little teeth everyday just make me so happy!!

RUN

Tonight the Relief Society did a 5k walk/run/crawl. I started jogging about six weeks ago and had a goal to complete this baby without having to walk. I was smoked by several marathoners and an Iron Woman, but these legs kept on movin! It was a perfect night for a jog and I was glad I did it. Olivia was my cheerleader and held up a sign at the finish line that read, " YOU MADE IT!"

BREAKFAST

This morning when I came out of my bedroom, Ben said to me, "Mom, I made you your favorite for breakfast! My heart melted when I saw my toast, with banana slices so carefully arranged on the peanut butter. What a sweetheart. That boy knows his momma well. LOVE YOU BENNIE!!

LABOR DAY

This afternoon we met up with some friends from church and did a great hike. It wasn't far from our house and just BEAUTIFUL!! The rain stopped just as we were heading out so the weather was perfect. 

 There were tons of kids and everyone that passed us on the trail looked at us like we were crazy! "Kitty- the-hiker" had to walk her little legs off before she would even THINK about riding in the backpack. She scaled over rocks and tripped over logs but just got right back up and kept at it, happy as could be. It was about 2 mile climb up so eventually she did wear out!

At the very top, we climbed a million stairs to the Devils Head Fire Lookout. The view was gorgeous! There we met this little old man whose job it was to live in a little cabin up there and hand out little cards to everyone who climbed the tower. Chris told the guy he had the best job in the world and went on and on about how he would LOVE to have that job. Seriously, sitting alone on the top of a mountain? I couldn't handle that for a day....

By the time we made our way back down, we were all tired and every one of the kids had an injury of some sort. We  did see some great wildlife on the way out of the park...our car stopped twice to check out a huge herd of Elk and the car in front of us watched a baby black bear scamper up the side of a hill. We met up with the crew at  Chick fil a for dinner and then headed home. It was a wonderful afternoon with our new friends!