All I want for Christmas...but actually...

On Friday, Faith finally lost her other front tooth, just in time to show off her new smile to her friends at school before being let out for Christmas break.  Her tooth had been hanging crooked in her mouth for weeks, begging to come out!!  At her school Christmas party on Friday, her teacher pulled me aside and said that during their sharing time earlier that morning, she raised to her to share something.  When Mrs. Haan called on her, she jumped up in front of the class and started belting out the Chipmunks classic, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth, my two front teeth, my two front teeth..."  She said, immediately the other kids joined in.

Later that day, when we asked her about it, she sang the song for us, too.  However, the song was quickly followed by a bit of clarification (and to avoid any confusion). She explained that even though she enjoyed singing the song, she really would like some other things from Christmas, too.  :)

Halloween!

Heading to the "trunk or treat" kid's carnival and then off to trick-or-treat with cousins, Colton (the ninja) and Cody (the skeleton).  They say parents should dress their kids in bright, light-colored costumes...apparently, we forgot about that!

Trick-or-treating. 

This year, pumpkin carving meant we all got excited while looking through a carving book we checked out at the library.  After deciding on the perfect carvings, we traced templates on paper and the kids cut them out and helped trace them onto the pumpkins.  Then Dave and I cut open the tops and we all started the "gutting" process.  After about 3 minutes, the kids disappeared upstairs.  After about 10 minutes, Dave disappeared into the living room.  After about 60 minutes, the pumpkins were finished!

One year later...

We ditched the "flesh-colored" paint, decided on a roof that didn't leak, invested in a riding lawn tractor, and got busy with some serious elbow grease!  This year went by really fast...

Then

Now

Then

Now

It IS Fair. (and it's about time!)

In our house if someone says, "It's not fair!"  Someone else is bound to respond with, "The fair is in August!"  Here are a few pictures from said fair: 

Jaron on a big green tractor.

Faith on a big pink tractor.

Jaron said, "Look Mom, a cow-horse!"

Milking a "cow."

Rides...

Rides...

and more rides!! 

Oh, I guess they do love each other!

Faith on stage with Break Shop, showing her break-dancing moves.  (The dancer in the first picture was telling the audience her name.  He said, "Her name's Faith...Get it right!" (all serious)

A cute bunny from the 4-H building.

This first-time gardener is too easily impressed.

Our family planted our first garden this spring and although it started out cold and wet and nothing seemed to want to grow, after just a few days of summer sunshine everything burst into life!

Faith's sugar pie pumpkin plant.  Yep, that's just one plant!

Almost knee-high by the 13th of July?  Hmmm...

Yellow summer squash.

Eggplant!

Faith's carrots!

Kids eat more vegetables when they grow them and Faith says her favorite chore is weeding!

The jury is still out on the Topsy Turvy tomato planter.  My poor plant spends all his energy trying to be upright!

 I planted this tomato plant at the same time as the Topsy Turvy.  He seems a lot happier, don't you think?

Baby fennel is so cute!  I have no idea what I will do with it when it grows up!

Did you know chives deter aphids?  Plus they are really good on baked potatoes and come back year after year!

Faith turned 7!

Likes:  Tea parties (for her 7th birthday...and any other day), jumping on the trampoline (with daddy), swimming (or getting wet in any way, shape or form), reading (when it is not a chore and especially bible stories), ice cream (but it has to be vanilla bean), stuffed animals (she has over 100!), and her friends (she loves everyone).

Dislikes:  Being alone (unless by choice) & feeling left out, scary things (and the dark)...that's all I can come up with (she mostly likes everything/everyone!). 

They may be terrible, but there's no need to curse! (continuing the Suprak major league ball park tour)

Dave had to go to Baltimore, MD for a work conference.  We decided it would be a great opportunity to continue our Major League Ball Park Tour (we are going to see how many fields we can visit before the kiddos are grown...or don't want to be seen with us in public anymore!).  Plus, it was a great excuse to see the East Coast and visit a town we probably wouldn't visit otherwise. 

Our hotel was on the inner harbor with a lot of fun places to go and things to see.  We bought tickets to see the Orioles play the Red Sox last Friday night.  That morning we took off for the Children's Museum a few blocks away, sporting our new orange Orioles t-shirts.  In the 6 block journey to the museum, two cars yelled at us...THEY YELLED STUFF I CANNOT WRITE ON THIS BLOG AND CERTAINLY DIDN'T WANT MY KIDS TO HEAR!!  Dave and I quickly realized that even though we were in Baltimore, Oriole fans are a minority.

So what if the team is on a 16 game losing streak, just fired their manager, and ended up losing to the Red Sox by 11 runs.  And, so what if the stands were filled with red and 70% of the crowd was cheering for Boston!  It was still a terrific trip and we had a wicked-awesome time!

The kid is 4!

Jaron likes: cat-shaped birthday cakes (for his 4th birthday), dirt (but not getting dirty), sweets (more than "real" food), his sister (when he wants to), reading (especially if he gets to be the one to "read"), going really fast on his bike (to scare his mom), jumping on the trampoline (the higher the better), being tickled (or just laughing) and cars, cars, cars (every kind...all the time!)

Jaron dislikes:  Having to finish his dinner (when he thinks he is done), being told what to do (especially by his sister), the dark (and being alone), having to come in from being outside (or having to go outside from being inside), having to get into the bath tub (or having to get out of the bath tub), having to go to bed (or being told it is time to get up)...you see the pattern.

Happy 4th birthday, sweet & unique child of God!  Love you!!

What could be better than a cheap, aluminum swingset?

Any other swingset.

but, don't tell my kids that!