Camo Kid

For quite some time now I've been meaning to get all of Silly's clothes washed at once so I can spread out all his various camouflage articles and take a picture of the assortment. The boy loves camo. He loves all things military, he's starting to be curious about hunting. He makes a distinction between "army camouflage" and "hunting camouflage." Don't ask me how he knows the difference but he does. For years now whenever we go to the library he wants to find "army books." Today I realized we've never found any hunting books at the library. Guess we'll have to fix that.

The assortment - not shown, his hunting camouflage jacket that's being repaired

For Christmas the one thing he consistently asked for was camouflage socks, which were rather hard to find, since socks don't really need to be camouflage. Santa delivered though.

At the time, he claimed that was the only article of clothing he did not have in camouflage. He also has a camouflage watch, toothbrush, flashlight, and Nerf gun bullets. Now he realizes he doesn't have camouflage sweatshirt either. Next quest, I guess.

He also told me over Christmas, after seeing all our hunting relatives come and go, "Mom I decided I don't want to be an army guy any more. I want to be a hunter, because then I don't have to get a job." I had to explain that it doesn't really work that way. He thinks that's all my brother does (because he sees him coming or going from hunting or fishing everytime we're visiting). I had to explain that he's in college right now and he can only hunt when school is out, then when he's done with school he'll have to get a real job and he can only hunt when he's not working. I don't think I convinced him. Scott was already feeling a little guilty that he has no interest in hunting, so maybe Silly would be missing out on something. If it's something he really wants to do someday, he has plenty of relatives who'd be willing to take him along.

In other news, Scott bought me this cooler backpack for Christmas. I wanted something I could use for day trips with the kids without bringing more than one bag. I used it for the first time today and it is great! It looks small, but it is actually pretty roomy. I had two big icepacks and twelve juiceboxes in the cooler; it didn't feel any heavier than anything else I carry around. There's plenty of room in the top for whatever our adventures will require - hats, jackets, sunscreen, bugspray, etc. Bubba is still in diapers, but I don't need to carry around a whole lotta gear for him anymore, just a couple diapers and some wipes. There are two little pockets for phone, wallet and camera (if you know me well, you know I like bags with lots of pockets). It's perfect!


Next post will be 100 so something really cool needs to happen soon...

The Long and the Short

The Short

The kids and I went down to North Carolina to spend New Year's with our favorite people. We weren't even out of Chesapeake yet when Cakes suddenly yelled that Silly's tooth fell out!

...while he was eating an apple.

...and he swallowed it!

I didn't even know that tooth was loose, and I don't think he did either. He'd certainly never wiggled it. I was a little afraid that he'd never eat a whole apple again, but he went right back to it.

Kinda disappointing for a first lost tooth, since there isn't anything to put under his pillow, but I told him we could write a note of explanation to the tooth fairy (I've got a few notes to the tooth fairy myself, my mom saved them and gave them back to me recently). He doesn't seem all that broken up about it.

We had a great time with our friends - as much fun as you can have with 7 children. They also happened to be dog-sitting for a neighbor. Their two year old was completely in love with that dog, in true mauling, loving it to death, two year old fashion. We don't think the dog was too upset about going back home this morning.

This was our third New Year's Eve together. The kids decorate, which involves lots of tape...



My decorators

 we have dinner, cake and ice cream...

Waiting for cake

play a fun game or two and then celebrate on the hour, any hour, and send the kids to bed.

 

We're both surprised that the older girls haven't yet realized they're getting jipped by not staying up anywhere close to midnight.

They also had some fireworks going off somewhere in the neighborhood, so most of the kids were out on the back porch, yelling on the count of three, "Please set off another firework! We're your neighbors!" They were sure it was working, because the fireworks kept coming.

 

And best of all, the kids went to sleep without much fuss after that, certainly not the case for years 1 and 2.

 

Sunday we went to church together, saw the temple next door, and ran into my former Young Women president, who is now my friend's visiting teacher. I just love those little connections.

 

And now...

 

The Long

 

Cakes has had a loose tooth for somewhere around a year - and a half. No exaggeration. The kids have dentist appointments this month, and I know I mentioned it at their last checkup, saying it had already been loose a year. Inspired by Silly's sudden loss, and a little positive pressure from her two friends (which entailed nearly an hour in the bathroom this morning, using lots of tissues and lots of offers of "do you want me to do it for you?) she finally, finally got rid of that tooth! Thank goodness! I was tired of looking at that snaggly little thing. Have you ever heard of someone having a loose tooth for that long? Craziness. I never would have let a tooth stick around that long myself.

 

The tooth fairy will be busy at our house tonight.

 

This morning we were on the road heading for home, and it's back to real life tomorrow; school, laundry, things to sort and organize to start the new year off right, stuff to make the kids get rid of to make room for their new stuff, and all the other regular life stuff I do around here.