The Dawning of the Tooth Fairy Era

J.D. came home from school last Wednesday and told me he had a loose tooth (his first ever). I looked in his mouth and wiggled it and it was loose, but he wouldn't really let me work on it. Every day since then, I have checked with him to see if it was still loose. Tonight, after his shower, he came in and told me that he lost his tooth, but he couldn't find it. I was afraid it went down the drain, but it fell out after he got out of the shower and I found it on the floor. Then he said, "Isn't it wierd that the first tooth that fell out wasn't even the one that was loose." I said, "WHAT???" Then I looked in his mouth and sure enough, he still had that same loose tooth hanging on by a thread. I told him to let me wiggle it to see if it would come out. At first he didn't want me to because he thought it would hurt, but I wiggled it just a little and it did come out. So, not only did J.D. lose his first tooth, he lost his first TWO teeth!

He was really excited to get his teeth ready for the tooth fairy. I suggested that he tape them to a paper so they didn't get lost (that is what I used to do as a kid). He wanted to draw a picture and write a note on the paper. He also wrote a note from Jake that says, "I will lose a tooth too."

Now he just has to see what the tooth fairy will bring him.

Janalynn's Half Birthday

Well, we really didn't do much to celebrate Janalynn's half birthday (six months old) yesterday, but here are a few recent pictures of her. (These were taken with my cell phone, so they aren't the best quality ever.)

My friend Sara made this really cute outfit for her. Doesn't she look like she is doing a ballet pose?

She often has a really big smile on her face and is a pretty happy baby. I can't believe she has already been part of our family for six months!

Soccer!!!

J.D. and Jake are about halfway through their soccer season. It is J.D.'s third season after taking a year off. He is back with a few of the same teammates and they are still the Ninja Turtles.


One of J.D.'s favorite part of the game is sitting on the bench eating snacks.


Here's some video of the kids running around (and the parents yelling) for the grandparents:



This is Jake's first year. He is on a team with 3 friends from church, 1 friend from school, and a new friend. They are the Blue Jaguars. He is the smallest one on the team, but when he tries he can get in there and kick the ball.

I was actually able to get some footage of him kicking the ball.

Meanwhile, Joey was finding an ant hill to dig in and then ran toward me covered in ants saying, "Bees, bees." Luckily they weren't fire ants and he just got a few small bites. It did take me a while to get all of the ants off of him. He also refused to take this hat off for the entire weekend--he even wore it to church.

Birthday Boogie

Here is some blackmail footage for the boys when they get older. After my little birthday "party" the boys told Jim they wanted him to film them doing the "birthday boogie." It is in their extremely messy room, so here you go:

Enunciation

Some toddlers have a hard time enunciating their words so you can understand them. They usually leave off consonants at the end of words. For example, "toast" is "toes" or "eat" is "eee." Joey has the opposite issue. He likes to add consonants to the end of words where they are not needed. He usually adds a "t" or a "d" sound or both. For example, "water" is "waterdt" and "coal" is "coalt." There are many examples. However, it is funniest when he adds these letters to the end of names. There is a character on Thomas named "Trevor" that is a tractor and Joey has always called him "Trevort." Yesterday we had some friends over who have a son named Trevor. Trevor did something that Joey didn't like and Joey was running around saying "Don't do that Trevort!" It was pretty hilarious. So next time your toddler says, "coa" instead of "coat"--just think, he could be calling you "Mommyt."


P.S. I had to look up the spelling of the word "enunciation" because I thought is was spelled "annunication." Turns out the definition of "annunciation" is "to announce." I now remember that all of those paintings I studied in college called the "Annunciation" were of the Angel Gabriel announcing Jesus' birth. However, I think I may have been misspelling "enunciation" for years. You learn something new every day!

A Day Out With Thomas

Earlier this summer when they boys had just started getting into "Thomas the Tank Engine," J.D. saw an ad online and/or saw an episode of Jon and Kate plus Eight where they went to ride Thomas and was asking if we could ever go do something like that. I looked it up and found out that Thomas would be coming to our area in October, so I got tickets. A couple of weeks ago, the day finally arrived and we went to ride Thomas. Since Joey is the one who most loves Thomas, J.D. made the observation that Joey would probably be so exicted when he saw Thomas that he "would try to go give Thomas a hug."


It was about an hour drive to get to the "station" where we could hop aboard Thomas' coaches. We were running a little late (as happens when you have four kids ages six and under), but we did get there in time to see Thomas pull into the station before we had to go stand in line to get on the train. I wish we would have had the video camera running when Joey first saw Thomas because he squealed with delight and was so happy. We did turn it on shortly after and this is what we got:




Here is Thomas pulling into the station:

Here is Jake sitting on the train:

J.D. had to sit by himself in the row in front of us with some other people, but he had fun:

I had to hold Joey down most of the time because he wanted to run up and down the isles. Even though we were technically riding Thomas, Joey could not see Thomas so he didn't know that we were riding him. He kept asking where Thomas was and wanted to get off.

Jim and Janalynn enjoying the ride:

After the 25 minute ride (which was basically just backing up for 12 minutes, then going forward again for 12 minutes and seeing the same scenery), Jim and I decided that next time we wouldn't pay to ride the train, but would just show up and look at Thomas and do the other activities. They had a bunch of trains set up and the boys enjoyed playing with them. Here's Joey:

We didn't stand in line to get our picture taken with Sir Topham Hatt because Janalynn was done by then, but we did take a look at him. J.D. wanted to know how Sir Topham Hatt was moving around by himself and I had to explain that there was a guy inside the costume.

The boys had to get their picture taken with the poster of Emily. (Joey knows all the Thomas trains by name if you show him a picture of them.)

We also didn't stand in line to get an up close picture with Thomas because, honestly, I'm not a crowd person and do not enjoy standing in line with kids. I thought this was good enough.--Jim and the boys are in it and Thomas is in it.

After blowing a lot of money at the gift shop (mostly books, though), we were ready to go home. We had a fun time and it was worth the money and the trip to see Joey be so excited (and the other boys too). Janalynn was pretty good despite the unseasonably cold weather and being drug around. We were glad Thomas could make the trip from the Island of Sodor to Texas!

Birthday Fun

I celebrated my birthday last week. We tried to get a picture with me and the kids before my "party" with them at home, but they didn't cooperate very well. Here's the best we could do:

Jim got a yummy ice cream cake at Baskin Robbins for me.

I got some great gifts including gift cards, a GPS for the van, a speaker for my iPhone, and some kitchen stuff. (J.D. took some video including him and Jake doing the "birthday boogie." I'll try to edit it and post it soon.)

Katrina watched the kids for us so we could go out to dinner at The Melting Pot. It was so yummy!!! Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes. I think this is the first birthday I have really felt "old." Maybe it is because I am now in the last half of my thirties.

Janalynn is Five Months Old!

Janalynn turned five months old a couple of weeks ago. We celebrated by trying to feed her some baby food (pears). She has been looking at us eating like she wants to join in, but I've been holding off because it just makes more work for me. She didn't really seem to enjoy them--spit most of them back out. Gotta love the looks on her face, though.


We've tried again with some rice cereal too, but she doesn't seem to want to eat much solid food, just spit it out. Oh well, she will be eating more stuff in no time.

She is also enjoying the Jumpster, just like the boys. (We had to put in the pantry doorway since that is one of the few places downstairs with molding around the doorway.)

Service for Estela

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine (Estela) who has been the same ward as us for a couple of years, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly from an infection. She leaves a husband and three children (12, 9, and 5). When I first heard the news, I was very shocked and sad. I have only lost a few friends close to my age in my life and never a friend who was also a mother. In the days before her funeral, I was thinking about whether I should send flowers or make a donation in her honor or what I could do to honor her and let her family know of our support and love for them. As I was thinking about it, I realized that Estela would want me to find a way to serve others rather than spend money on her. Then, at her funeral, her husband asked that those in attendance not only help her family, but others also because that is the legacy that Estela left her family--to serve others.

So, for the past couple of weeks, I have been thinking about doing a food drive in her honor for our local food bank. Finally, I am putting it together. If you are local and would like to donate food, the following items are needed:

Canned vegetables (corn, peas)
Canned soup
Canned beans (green, black, ranch, refried, pork 'n beans, baked)
Canned tuna, meat, stews
Breakfast cereal
Pasta (spaghetti, macaroni, lasagna)
Peanut butter
Baby food and formula
Toilet paper
Toiletry items such as shampoo and soap

I will put a box on my front porch for anyone to leave items. I will be collecting items until October 14.

If you are local and want to donate items, but don't know where I live, e-mail me at jodyjimc[at]gmail[dot]com. If you aren't local and would still like to participate with a monetary donation, you can also e-mail me.

A blog has been set up to give people ideas of service to do in Estela's honor and to chronicle that service for her family and friends. To see the blog, go here.

Joey's First Day of Preschool

Joey started going to preschool a couple of mornings a week at the house of one of my friends. His class has four little boys in it. He is the youngest one, but he has the longest attention span for painting. He loves to "cudder" (color). Here he is on his first day with his Thomas backpack.

On the first couple of days he had a hard time when I left, but he is now into the routine. I knew he was doing well when I went to pick him up and he said, "See you later, Dane (Shane)" to one of his friends.

BYU Wins!

Jim and a couple of his friends drove up to Dallas for the BYU v. Oklahoma football game on September 5. They had a great time and especially enjoyed BYU winning the game 14-13, even though it was a late night with the drive home.

Jim and Jared in the stands

Jim, Jared, and John with the BCS trophy before the game.

Jim trying out the football toss before the game.

John, Jim, and Jared in the stadium.

P.S. I copied some of these pictures off of Jared's Facebook page -- Thanks Jared!

Janalynn watching the game on TV while I gave the boys a bath. She is really into it!!!

We'll Miss You, Katrina!!!

Katrina was our nanny for two years (which is the longest we have had any nanny). She has just one semester of college left to obtain her teaching degree and she has to do her student teaching, so she just left us this semester to do that. While we are happy for her, we will miss her a lot. Joey doesn't remember any other nanny and when we have had other babysitters from time to time, he always wonders where "Trina" is. She came up with some fun projects to keep J.D. and Jake occupied this summer and here are some of them:

Egg carton spiders and caterpillars

Shaving Cream writing

Paper mache globes. (This project didn't turn out perfectly, but it was fun.)


Painting and coloring are always a big hit with both boys.

She has also taken the boys to the library quite a few times and also to the pool. She even set up some water fun in the backyard for the kids.

Just before leaving us, Katrina got to spend four whole days taking care of the boys and even taking them to church while Janalynn, Jim, and I were in Canada. On her last day, Katrina brought the boys some books and M&Ms (she knows them well).

We'll Miss You Trina!!!

Seema & de Winter's Wedding

Just three days after the whole family got home from our trip to Utah, Jim, Janalynn, and I got on a plane and left to go to my friend Seema's wedding in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. (Saskatchewan is the province between Alberta and Manitoba if you don't know where it is--see map below.)


Seema and I met and became friends about nine years ago when we both started working at the same firm in Phoenix. It was my first job at a firm after graduating from law school and her first job in the states. We became good friends quickly and have remained friends despite both moving to other places. I was so excited to share in her special celebration.

While we were gone, our nanny, Katrina, stayed with the boys.

We had to leave pretty early in the morning on a Friday and we arrived in Saskatoon in the early afternoon. We got our car and checked into our hotel and changed to head off to the first of Seema and de Winter's three ceremonies. Because of closed streets, it took us a while to get to the park where the first ceremony was (the "legal" one), so we missed it and we didn't take any pictures, but we did get there in time to mix and mingle with the other friends and family. Then we went back to the hotel and crashed. (It is amazing how much more sleep one can get on a vacation with just one child as opposed to four!)

The next morning we headed out to the Sikh ceremony at the Gurdwara (temple). When we got there, we had some breakfast, then we got ready to enter the Gurdwara. We had to cover our heads. Here are Jim and Janalynn getting ready to go in.

The ceremony was really nice and it was great to learn about and participate in the customs. Here we are with Seema and de Winter after the ceremony (and some other friends and family). Seema was wearing a whole bunch of plastic bracelets on her arms and the tradition is that she was not supposed to work until they all fell off. (She had to take them off the next day for her civil ceremony, but I can imagine it would have taken a while for them to all break off). Janalynn is checking out her beautiful outfit in this picture.

After the ceremony, we had lunch at an Indian restaurant, then went back to the hotel to rest and relax. I was able to take a walk around downtown Saskatoon and check out Seema's sister's boutique in a nearby mall. We also had yummy ice cream from a double decker bus turned ice cream stand in the park. Luckily they took my U.S. money since we didn't change any money. Saturday evening we went out to dinner with all of Seema and de Winter's friends and family. We had a fun time, it was just a late night for Janalynn and she was ready to get back and get to sleep.

Sunday morning, we found a ward in Saskatoon and went to church. After church we had lunch at the hotel and let Janalynn take a nap. Then we went up to the top floor of the hotel to the ballroom for the civil ceremony. Here is Seema with her dad walking her in to give her away.

Here are Seema and de Winter after the ceremony at dinner, thanking the guests.

Here we are at dinner. Janalynn was interested in something else, not the picture.

I love this picture of Janalynn. It shows her cute personality.

Here are Seema and I after she changed into her dancing dress.

Janalynn had to leave the party early because she was tired, but she was pretty good for most of the time.

Monday morning, we had some time before our flight left, so we got up and went on a walk along the Saskatoon River. Being from the southwestern U.S., we enjoyed this sign to "Beware of Falling Ice." Not something we have to worry about in Texas.

There were also some really cool bridges across the river. Here is one that was lit up with colored lights at night, but was still neat looking in the day.

We had breakfast at our hotel. While we were at breakfast we got a call that our flight from Saskatoon to Minneapolis were delayed. That started the roller coaster of traveling that we had for the rest of the day. At the airport we were first told that our flight would be on-time, then that it would be delayed, then that it would be delayed, but not as long, etc. When we got on the plane we didn't know if we would make our connecting flight from Minneapolis to Austin--mostly because we needed time in Minneapolis to go through customs. When we got on the plane, we were scheduled to land in Minneapolis about one hour before our flight to Austin. However, we were delayed on the ground for about 20 minutes while the pilot rebooted one of the plane's computers. We ended up arriving at the gate about 40-45 minutes before our plane to Austin was supposed to depart. (We did have a hotel voucher and flight for the next day if we didn't make it, but we really wanted to get home.) We had that short amount of time to take a long walk from the gate to customs, talk to the customs agent and have our passports inspected, get our bags and recheck them, then go through security, and finally run the couple of miles through the huge airport to get to our gate. All this with a four month old baby and all of her gear. Luckily, we made it just in time. HUGE RELIEF!!!

Here is Janalynn, the seasoned traveler (her sixth flight in just four months of life):

Despite our crazy trip home, we had a great time and it was a fun vacation (with just one child--almost like none). Thanks, Seema and de Winter, for inviting us.

Four Months Old

Janalynn is Four Months Old! Right after we got back from Utah, we got the saucer down and cleaned it so she could try it out. She really loves to stand in it and play with the toys.





Joey also enjoys climbing in the saucer and playing in it. (And so would J.D. and Jake if I let them.)

Janalynn just had her 4-month check-up and she weighs almost 12 lbs and is 24 1/2 inches tall. She is tall and skinny like her brothers! She also has a much longer attention span and will sit and play for quite a while. Unfortunately, sometimes her brothers want to give her too much love and she gets scared. But, they are learning.