February 2012

We started off February with a trip to the dentist. Sterling's front teeth are damaged from a fall he had during a seizure 2 years ago. He fell directly onto the fireplace hearth while wearing his cranial helmet. Go figure, he landed on the one place not protected by his helmet, his mouth! At that point he was having such frequent seizures, it was impossible to protect him. We've kept a close eye on his damaged teeth, but I noticed when brushing that he had a white bump come up on his gums above the teeth. I had been warned to watch for this bump, as it would mean infection which could lead to the extraction of his teeth. I dreaded this dentist visit. Luckily, we have the most awesome, laid back dentist in the world. Her little girl is actually one of my students at the day school. Love this lady! Anyhow, after taking some x-rays, she felt that there was very little point in removing the teeth, unless the infection worsened or began to cause him pain. Hooray, no tooth fairy visits for us yet! On that note, oh-em-gee, look at that x-ray! My kid has some seriously big teeth coming in! While I think kids are so stinking cute when they loose their teeth, when their adult teeth start growing in their teeny tiny mouths, they look like donkeys. Feel free to disagree with me on this, but I am not looking forward to those awkward days. Oh well, I guess compared to what we were facing 2 years ago, some big donkey teeth pale in comparison. 

Our MOPS group hosted a Parents Night Out prior to Valentine's. Since I had no spouse to enjoy a night on the town with, I volunteered to work the event. During set up and clean up, I allowed Sterling to ride around the church on this little big wheel. Bad idea! Up and down the halls he "zoomed". By the end of the night he was saying, "Can I ride the bike in the church again in April?" (at the next PNO). Oh boy, I'm afraid I have opened a very bad can of worms. Oh, and yes, they wear their pajamas to PNO's since they last till 10pm!

Ellabella. Ugh, when will the fakey "cheese" smile end?

The children all decorated sugar cookies to look like themselves. Like Sterling's cookie?

Ella continues to enjoy cheering with her Upward team. Isn't her team picture cute? Her coach is a really sweet woman, with loads of patients, especially with my girl. Ella tends to spend a lot of time being a space cadet and having no idea what is going on with the game. Apple? Tree? 

We attended a birthday party for one of our besties at Chuck E. Cheese. The kids were so excited in the days leading up to the party. It was all they could talk about. This is Ella's favorite "game". It's not even a game, it's a ride, I guess. Anyway, you sit on this little car while it rocks back and forth, and sometime during the ride, it takes your picture with Chuck E. Ella loves this silly thing and will sit there feeding token after token into it, collecting these slightly larger than wallet sized black and white pictures. 

These are the silly little pictures Ella covets so much. This is just a small sample of the pictures she came home with from the party. 

 And this is Sterling's favorite ride...."big truck!"

 Mid way through the party, Ella and Sterling got the very best surprise of all. Daddy came home! Michael made it home from Texas for a week visit, but the kids had no idea he was coming. Seeing their faces light up in recognition when he walked in was priceless.

 Once daddy arrived, Chuck E. went down in coolness a few notches. The kids couldn't care less about a singing mouse with daddy on the scene.

 The birthday boy, Ollie.

 The three amigos.

I loved watching Sterling and Maddox play games together. They are truly two peas in a pod. They would stand there cheering each other on, while the other had no idea what they were doing, then jump around like mad men over earning a single ticket. It's nice to have someone to join in celebrating even small accomplishments, isn't it?

Giddy up, cowboy!

 On Shrove Tuesday (Fat Tuesday), we hosted a pancake dinner at our church. I was in charge of coordinating this event, so it was all hands on deck, and all cooks in the kitchen, including this little chef and his daddy.

Ella enjoying her pancake dinner.

 On Ash Wednesday, the kids sat in the service with Michael and me, while we all received holy communion  and our ashes. It was so special to me to have the children participate in this ritual this year. And can I just brag and say they were awesome during the service? Seriously, they didn't make a peep. Well, let me take that back, at one point during a prayer, someone made a noise that sounded like breaking wind, and Sterling lost his mind. He was laughing so hard he couldn't help himself. Luckily, we were able to quiet him relatively quickly, but aside from that little outburst, they were angels.

Caught Ella admiring her ashes before bath time. 

We attended a birthday party for one of Sterling's classmates (and Ella's friend from church) at the Children's Museum. In typical "man" behavior, Sterling had to carry in the largest package all by himself...grunting and moaning the whole time! Clearly that trait appears early in the Y-chromosome.

And the princess...with one small, sensible package. 

Digging for dinosaur fossils.

The birthday girl (or the right) invited her guests to dress up. I loved watching all the little princesses build a house, dig for dino bones and whatnot in their princess dresses. Truly awesome.

The coachman. 

Oh yes, the percussion room. My least favorite exhibit at our Children's Museum. Sterling always goes crazy banging on the drums in there.

In honor of Dr. Seuss week at Sterling's school, they had Wacky Wednesday. I had a really hard time figuring out how to make a boy look "wacky" but with a few suggestions I found some mismatched clothes, a tie and rain boots. At Ella's suggestion we added some pigtails, and voila, we had a wacky boy! Is it horrible that the rest of the week he asked to wear his blue shirt and tie again? Clearly, he digs "wacky".

Wacky boy, pig tails and all!