First Lost Tooth! And the Winner Is...

Ashton! His bottom front left tooth has been loose for a few days, and I have had the wonderfully fun task of trying to figure out what kinds of soft foods he could eat, and teaching him to tear/break his food into little pieces so he could chew with his back teeth. As usual, I sent the boys upstairs to brush their teeth after dinner, then came story and songs before bedtime. I was having them read to me tonight, and I checked on his tooth while he was talking, and it was missing! He hadn't even noticed it had fallen out! So I ran to the bathroom figuring that's where it would be, and luckily I found it in the sink- no sad drain death for Ashton's first lost tooth! Silly kid. :) So we tucked it neatly under his pillow with strict instructions not to touch it, because if he moved it, then the Tooth-fairy wouldn't be able to find it. He was pretty excited to be getting some money by morning... Of course when morning came, it brought tears because he couldn't find his money (a whole paper dollar! Whoo-hoo!) and because he thought the toothfairy was going to wake him up and he didn't get to see her! How precious is that? What a sweetie. :)



We had a pretty lazy day today- we learned how to play their new Scooby Doo game (pretty fun actually, and something they learned well enough to play without me later on, which is nice), and then we put together a big 48-piece dinosaur puzzle in the kitchen.



After which, we feasted on an old-fashioned brandy apple pie! Ta-sty! I was excited to use my new apple peeler/corer/slicer that I received as a Christmas present (thank you Turi!), and Sean and Ashton thought it was the greatest thing on the planet, how it peeled the entire skin off the apples in one big long piece. "Do another one, Mama, do another one!" Good thing I had a deep-dish for the pie...



Now that I think back on it, this has been one eventful week. It started out with a pile of snow that was almost higher than the retaining wall in the backyard, my snow leopard tattoo, a super emotional week, and now a first lost tooth. And school starts for me again on Monday. Storytelling this semester- should be fun! Just a couple more fun snowy pictures to end this blog. First, the snow. I admit, there was a bit of a drift, and the snow all seemed to accumulate in the back corner, but there was a lot to start with!



Then Sean "sledding" down the hill in the backyard to the ramp we built...



...and Ashton "tunneling" like a little worm through the snow. (You might have to click on this picture to really see him going for it head first.)

Snow Leopard Tattoo!

I finally did it! And it was excruciating! For the entire 2 and a half hours. But what's funny is that now what hurts most is my upper thigh on my left leg from laying on my side with my other foot tucked underneath. But that's feeling better too.

So I didn't get what I had originally planned- I wanted a full-bodied snow leopard wrapped on the outside of my left ankle with the tail wrapped around the inside like an anklet. But my ankle was just too small to do that. I had previously decided that if they wouldn't do that, I wouldn't get it done. But after I saw the drawing the tattoo artist had sketched for me, I liked that even better. It is just a head and shoulders shot, and lots of detail. And bright green eyes like I wanted too. :) You wouldn't have been able to see any eye color if it was a full snow leopard wrapped around my ankle. Okay- enough blabbing- here's the photo, but I wouldn't advise blowing it up because you can see how red and bloody and swollen it is in detail. The color will look more natural once the redness goes away and it heals. I promise to post another photo in a couple weeks, and you can look at that one up close. What do you think? Nutcase? Like it?



Thanks Jessica for taking like a hundred photos of my bony ankle to get this one good shot!

Skiing on New Year's Day with the Boys

Before Scott and Sara left to go back to Berkeley, we managed to get up to Mt. Rose for the afternoon. Sara and Kevin snowboarded (Kevin was super happy that my mom's skis were broken and had to lend her his, and he got to use his snowboard he got for Christmas last year. Which also meant he didn't have to ski with the boys and me either- just spend all day on the mountain by himself, and is feeling really comfortable on his snowboard as a result.), while Scott and Sara's dad skied the black runs. Since Kevin couldn't exactly snowboard AND teach the boys to ski, the job fell to my mom to teach with me instead. Which neither of us minded in the least bit. :) We took the boys up skiing for the first time last January, but they really seemed to remember the feel of it, and we barely had to hold on to them. I saw quite a few other little kids learning how to ski with leashes attached to their backs, and the parent following behind, but the method I like to use is to just have them ski right between my own skis- that way I can catch them if they fall, and help keep their tips together. I only really hold on if we went down a steep hill- otherwise I only pull on the back of their jackets so they don't get away from me. I find if I do hold on to them, they tend to lean back and I end up carrying them. I had them hold their arms at right angles with elbows tucked in, and pretend they're steering a car- so that way if they want to turn, they just pretend to turn the wheel, and go that way. I tried to teach them how to do the wedge, or plow, but they had a hard time pushing their heels out. Once, I was skiing with Sean and he accidentally got away from me, and I couldn't catch him. I did my best to keep the nervousness out of my voice (I was REALLY worried he would steer himself down the steep side of the run, but he stayed to the left, and followed the directions I was shouting from behind), and he skied 2/3 of the way down all on his own! Then that's all he wanted to do- ski by himself; and I let him! I followed him just a few feet behind (not 30 like the first time!), and even got a few short video clips. I'll have to figure out how to post that soon...
Every time I let go of Ashton though, he just plowed right into a snowbank. I think they're ready for poles next time! And since we're supposed to get like 10 feet or some ludicrous amount of snow in the mountains this weekend, hopefully we'll get to take them again soon.

Here is Ashton, all ready to go up after a lunch break:



And Sean with a bit of a grimace (he was getting impatient to get back up on the hill I guess):



And my mom and the boys on the lift:



I couldn't resist this picture of the mountain on the way home. Summit of Mount Rose (which I ran my big toe nail off on my right foot this past summer...)

New Year's and Resolutions

This year we spent the evining at our friend Greg's mom's house, along with all of his family and some friends (some of which I haven't seen in years, but was good friends with in high school. I know- reliving high school again- but they were bandies like me! How can I not?)

Here is a picture of me, completely blitzed, with Jessica. Feelin' GOOD!



And one with the kids going nuts with the confetti:



As far as New Year’s Resolutions go, I’ve been racking my brain over this one: Last year, I made several- but, nothing too horrendous. [I found my old blog with last year's resolution, and here is a quote from Dec. 30, 2006: "I do have a New Year's Resolution: to take things as slowly as possible, and to focus on what's important, like spending quality time with all my boys, and friends. Yes, to not procrastinate on homework, but to keep being a good student. (This is mostly why I want to focus on what's important, 'cause with all the homework I have, every second has to count.) Also, I want to write more. Record what's going on in my life, in Sean and Ashton's life, because it is so easy to forget the small things. This is why the BLOG was created, right?"] Well, I didn't want to make the same resolution as last year, and I did keep up with my blog, even if my 3 times a week report dropped down to about once a week by the end of the year, it's still better than the once every 6 months I was writing before. But, here I go again. I think I'll still blog regularly (in the habit now, plus I like to share pictures), so that's not going to be one of them. Instead, something much harder: NOT PROCRASTINATING ON MY HOMEWORK! That's going to be hard. Three semesters (including summer session)- think I can keep it up? I'm not so sure, but I'm going to try my best...