Fairies and Teeth

We left Charlotte NC at 5:20am on Sunday after Christmas. At 7am Allyson complained that her tooth hurt. By 10am she was wiggling it back and forth with her tongue. At some point she said her mouth tasted like blood, but we couldn't convince her to leave her tooth alone. She was determined to get it out all in one day. Which had us scrambling as unprepared parents. We had never discussed the tooth fairy. We didn't have a special pillow to store the tooth in while it waits for the fairy. And much like the going rate for a babysitter, we had no idea what the tooth fairy currently pays for the initial baby-tooth. Is it something children discuss? Will they know if the tooth fairy left one kid five dollars, and another kid just 25 cents? We decided to ask little-miss-nosey, because she seems to know everything about everything. She reported that she wasn't sure what the tooth fairy would leave, but it would probably be money. "Maybe twenty-five cents or something". (We already knew that one of her friends earned $5 for her first tooth, but as long as Allyson didn't, we were safe)

The tooth managed to hang on for two days. I had eye surgery scheduled for Tuesday. Daddy took the kids to lunch while they waited for me to be done. Allyson lost her tooth during daddy's watch. I really mean "lost". It was gone. Dropped, Eaten, Magically disappeared, regardless we had no tooth to sacrifice to the magical fairy. She wrote an adorable note explaining that she had no tooth to leave, but still hoped that the fairy would leave her a special treat. Allyson also wanted to know what happens to all the teeth the fairy collects. She included a piece of paper for the fairy to take with her. Allyson is expecting the paper back with a full explanation of what happens to all the little teeth.

We have another tooth only hours (perhaps a day) from coming out. We still have no storage pillow, but as always we've learned that it's not how much the fairy leaves, it's the magic of the visit itself. We look forward to the next lost tooth, and the next visit from the fairy. Hopefully we'll have a tooth to leave this time!

Christmas & New Years

For Christmas this year, it was our turn to drive to Charlotte. We decided to drive 4 hours then spend the night at the Hyatt in Savannah. We told the kids that it was a "business trip" due to the constant pleas to go on a business trip with daddy. It was definitely chilly but the kids enjoyed the Riverwalk and the heated pool. Allysone especially enjoyed the trip to Savannah's Candy Kitchen. Each child picked a candy (Allyson chose Fun Dip; Aiden chose candy bugs; Daddy chose pecan pralines). After the "business trip" we continued on the journey to Charlotte. The kids loved seeing their cousins, playing outside, visiting a bird zoo (it has an official name, but I'm not so in to birds, so it's slipped my mind), and they also rode the light rail into Uptown Charlotte. Santa left a variety of gifts including Allyson's requested 100 pieces of candy. Thankfully she shared her chocolate treats with everyone. She also got a friend for Julie (her AG doll from her 5th birthday - apparently Julie has been lonely without a friend). This Christmas we added "Maddy", an 18" Disney World doll that comes with a pin-trading lanyard and a set of Mickey Ears (thankfully priced less than the AG dolls).

I had Lasik eye surgery scheduled so we cut the trip short, and headed back home after Christmas. To extend the vacation fun a little longer though we met some friends to celebrate the New Year at the Gaylord Palms in Orlando. The kids had an absolute blast! The weather was nice enough for playing in the pool and eating burgers and fries outside. Allyson was awake long enough to ring in the new year with a very noisy horn. She loved it all.

Going back to school this week has been a challenge for her. She has very little patience for sitting still and paying attention. She's already planning her birthday party. We are hoping she isn't planning a business trip to the Gaylord, but we'll see what she comes up with!

My camera has been on the fritz lately. It doesn't seem to hold a charge, so we have very few pictures to share from the Holidays. Hopefully I'll be receiving some from Pop Pop.

Christmas is coming

Allyson wants to know if Santa is a thief. She'd like to know if he buys stuff in the stores when everyone is sleeping, and if so, how does he pay for the stuff if the cashiers are sleeping. I think she is beyond believing that little elves make the same stuff they sell at Walmart, and last year I made the mistake of saying that Santa can't afford to buy every little girl an American Girl Doll. We've also purchased gifts to children whose parents can't afford gifts this Christmas. The lies begin now, and now I need to remember which lies I've told. Why can't Santa afford AG dolls for all little girls? Why doesn't Santa bring the same number of gifts to the underprivileged as he does to the over-privileged? Is Santa violating Trade Mark rights and patent infringements by allowing his elves to copy the toys we see at Target? And do the elves have non-compete clauses? Are they allowed to work in factories during the off-season, or sell their goods to China if they've already met the "wish-list" demand?

I've decided that my best bet is to go with naivety. "I don't know. I've never met Santa so I'm not sure". We'll see if that will get me through the next couple of years.

Bike Riding

We started working with Allyson on riding a two-wheel bike back in March. She lost interest by May and then she decided that she'd rather swim than ride a bike (which was fine with us because it was too hot for bike riding). Now that school has started and the swimming season is coming to an end, we've made a push for her to try again. We think she'll be riding by herself in no time. We were able to jog (or RUN) along side of her several times, but we didn't tell her she was riding alone. She became suspicious and kept turning around to see if we were still holding on, thus turning the wheel and almost crashing into various curbs! Tonight's training was a big step for Allyson - and a huge work out for me! We look forward to being able to ride to school with all the big kids!

KINDERGARTEN!!!

Elementary School. WOW.

I'm not sure how to summarize the past five years. But we made it. She's made it through the first two weeks with no real problems. Allyson started school with a cold so she was a little hesitant on her first day, but she got over it once she got to school.

Summer 2009

Summer break is over. The time seemed to go by quickly. Kind of like the past five years. This summer Allyson enjoyed being Allyson. We spent time swimming, playing and visiting family. She enjoyed our trip to Ohio and North Carolina and also having the Myers' cousins visist us in Florida.

The cousins came down to Florida to kick-off the summer break

Then we went to Ohio to celebrate the 4th of July with some friends. The kids enjoyed the plane ride up, while Daddy enjoyed a quiet car trip over the holiday weekend. Keith returned to work while we vacationed in Ohio for two weeks. Then returned to make the trip back to Florida with a stop in NC to celebrate Brett's birthday - and a party for a horse

August dissappeared quickly as we started gearing up for "back-to-school" or rather "start-of-school" for us. Allyson and I went shopping for a few new outfits and a backpack. She wanted a Hannah Montana or iCarly backpack. I said "no". We agreed on a Hello Kitty backpack. In a blink of an eye we went from Dora and Princesses to HM and iCarly! What happen to my little girl? The summer flew by, much like the last 5 years.

Pre-K Graduation

Preschool is officially over! She's now headed to Kindergarten (if we can make it through the summer!)