Go Romney!

Romney and Ryan were suppose to be in Richmond for a rally today.  Unfortunately, Romney was not able to make it and the time of the rally was not nailed down, so we decided to not drag the whole family out - but Mike was able to make it.  He enjoyed it!  He came home with several buttons - his favorite was "Vote for the Mormon, not the Moron".  That made me laugh.

That's Paul Ryan on the left and Eric Cantor, one of Virginia's congressmen and the House majority leader, on the right.

Crossbite

All of my kids have a cross bite.  Anna Elise has other crowding issues as well, so she is actually scheduled to see an orthodontist.  She is excited, me, not so much.  Madeline has one as well, but she is young enough that her mouth is still growing and she still has all her baby teeth.  So she needs to wait.  Calvin is at the perfect age to have his crossbite fixed.  His mouth is still soft and growing but will be set in the next year or so.  Enough of his permanent teeth have come in that it's possible to tell that this problem isn't going away.  So today he got an appliance in his upper teeth to stretch his upper jaw out so that it fits outside of his lower jaw.  We get to turn his appliance every night to stretch it a little bit for 2-3 weeks.  Once it's where it needs to be, he gets to continue to wear it for another 6 months until it 'sets' that way.  This will definitely help with problems in the future, but there is no guarantee that he won't also need braces later. 

He talks funny and has a hard time swallowing so he makes a lot of slurping noises, but he should get used to it soon.

Lego Mania

Calvin loves Legos.  He plays with them every day.  He makes lots of fun things and is very creative.  He decided he wanted to make something 'big' and have me take his picture so he could submit it to the Lego magazine.  Here's what he came up with.  It's a pirate boat.  There is a lot to it - you'll have to ask him about it the next time you see him!

Bouncy Balls

We made monster bouncy balls today.  It was a lot of fun!

The finished product, packets to make more, and the mold in a glass of water as we make another.

Celeste was on the clean up crew

Lilah picked out pink

 Anna Elise bouncing her blue ball, you can see it about half way down in the second picture

Madeline's orange monster bouncy ball

More Swimming

I have a couple more pictures and videos from swim lessons.  The kids are doing so well and they absolutely love it!  I'm surprised at how quickly they are learning and how comfortable they are in the water.  It's been so much fun and they will miss it when it's over.  I don't mind bringing them, but it can be a bit rough on Celeste - she really wants to get in!

Here is Celeste entertaining herself with a granola bar and the nice lady next to us

Calvin is in the very back at the top of the pool, swimming the whole length of the pool!

 

Videos of Lilah and Madeline 'swimming'

Messy Girl

Celeste has become quite the messy eater.  She enjoys squishing her food in her fingers, smearing it
everywhere on her and the table, and rubbing her head.  These picture were taken before she got to her hair...

Rocks

We have the foundation of an old shed in our backyard.  Years ago, long before we purchased the house, it burned down and the only thing left is a cement slab with cinder blocks around it.  We built a much smaller shed on top of it and use the other half of the slab for the kids.  The open cinder blocks are the perfect place for black widows.  We've found many of the them (and their webs and egg sacks and babies) in our yard and most of them are in these cinder blocks.  We've thrown away all the loose blocks and bricks in our yard and today we filled in the open cinder blocks with rock to see if that help keep the black widows away. 

4th and Final Trip

We took our fourth and final trip to Busch Gardens today.  Our passes expire in a couple of weeks so we squeezed in one more trip!  We had a blast and just did all of our favorites.  Celeste went on a few rides - she had a really hard time waiting for them to start after we sat down.  She is not patient!

 

The kids are already planning out our visits next summer and trying to guess how tall they will be and which rides will be options next year.  I may have to get fun passes again, we'll see what next year brings!

Sleep Mask

Anna Elise got a new night shirt and it came with a sleep mask.  All the girls had to try it on! 

 Anna Elise with her nightshirt on

 Madeline

Lilah

Swimming Lessons

Today we started swim lessons.  This is the first time we've ever been.  I signed up everyone except Celeste.  Even Calvin's friend, J, that I've been watching signed up!  Celeste and Lilah have their 30 minute lesson first and then Calvin and Anna Elise have their lessons.  That is a long time for Celeste to sit and watch and not jump in! 

 Lilah has always been afraid of the water and didn't like it until this summer.  She has been having fun playing in our pool and I was so relieved when she jumped right in during her lesson without any fear.   Most of the teachers are young, but she got a 'grandpa' teacher.  He was so good with the kids!

 That's Madeline in the back of the picture, floating on her back.  She did really well too!


Anna and Calvin don't really have classes, they have levels and everyone goes at their own pace.  When they are ready - they pass off their level and go on to the next one.  They have different teachers everytime.  There are 10 levels in this program and I'm hoping they can make it half way through!   I don't have any pictures of them - it was too hard to take pictures and make sure the Celeste didn't jump in the pool.

Canning

I tried canning for the first time today.  It was just a water bath, I don't have a pressure canner.  I tried three pints of tomatoes.  I didn't want to waste a lot of tomatoes if it didn't work.  Luckily all three of them sealed!  I'm excited to do more.  I really want to borrow a pressure canner and try it - if I like it, then maybe that would be a good Christmas present...

My three little pints

 My lovely assistant with her canning lid bracelets

Happy Birthday Daddy!

 Mike turned a year older today.  He always reminds me that he isn't as old as I am!  It was a pretty low key birthday this year - we are still recovering from our trip!  I made him apple pie for his 'cake'.  He opened his presents after work and tonight he went and saw The Dark Knight Rises by himself.  We couldn't find a sitter because it was FHE.   We love our Daddy!  Here he is with the little girls after work.