Aidan Lost A Top Tooth

Aidan’s top left tooth has been very wiggle for a while now. Last night I noticed it was getting all grey looking and decided it was time to come out! We tied a string around it, yanked and out it came. The tooth fairy left him a bright and shiny new dollar.

Kayli got her braces off


Kayli got her braces off yesterday. This marks the end of “phase 1”. She will have braces put back on again in a few years for “phase 2”. In the meantime, she will have retainers to maintain the current location of her teeth. There are many advantages of having braces in two phases. One advantage is that in most cases you will not have to remove any permanent teeth later, which you often have to do when waiting to start braces when the child is older. Another advantage is that it can correct jaw problems that you can not treat once the child is older.

Gingerbread House


We made our gingerbread house this evening. The kids had a lot of fun. But, the girls said they want to do one by themselves next year because the boys kept eating all the candy.

Crockpot Chili

This is the perfect meal for when the weather turns colder. I made it for tonight and thought I’d add the recipe to my blog.

Ingredients:

2 pounds ground beef
1 large onion, chopped (1 cup)
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can (15 ounces) tomato sauce
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 can (15 ounces) pinto beans, rinsed and drained

Instructions:

Mix diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper in crockpot. Sauté the onions and garlic. I usually sauté them using garlic flavored extra virgin olive oil. Add onions and garlic to the crockpot. Brown beef and drain, add to crockpot. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours. About 15-20 minutes before you plan to eat, add in the beans and cook on high the last 15-20 minutes.

Yet another crown

I went back to the dentist today to get another crown on that tooth. (The one that we’ve been trying to get a new crown that won’t break on since September.) So far so good, but I’m still not convinced that it won’t break too.

Talia and Kayli Got Their Ears Pierced

Talia and Kayli got their ears pierced yesterday. Talia went first and was very brave. She said it only hurt a little bit. Kayli went next and was also brave. She complained for a while about her ears hurting though. By this morning, they both said it no longer hurt. They have to keep these earrings in for six weeks.

Santa Visit


I took the kids to see Santa at the mall today. Falyn loved Santa till she got about 5 feet away from him, then she started screaming. Talia was able to get her to stop crying long enough for me to get this picture.

Can’t belive I won!

A while ago, I submitted a potty training tip to the flatten me blog. My tip was picked as one of the five winners! I get one of their flatten me books for free!!! These books are so gorgeous. You can see them here. I am going to use a picture of Falyn for the book. I’ll probably take one just for this purpose. Not sure which book I am going to get yet, but I am leaning towards “The Tuesday Mushroom King”.

Falyn’s Favorite Christmas Song

Falyn’s favorite Christmas song is “I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas”. She absolutely loves that song. When she hears it she starts dancing around and saying “Hippo!”. When the song ends, she starts crying saying “hippo song” over and over again wanting me to play it again. I downloaded it from iTunes last year, so if we are listening to music from the computer, I am able to play it over and over again for her. (Which I sometimes do, but I do get sick of the song after a while!) When I do finally stop playing it, she will go to the computer and get the mouse and start clicking trying to get the song to play again. When we are in the car and the song comes on the radio, she does the same thing. She does not understand that I can not play the song again on the radio and gets really mad and just keep crying and crying for that song.