Lost Teeth...

…left and right at this house!  At the end of September Isaac had a tooth that was hanging on by a thread. He went to the school's resident "dentist" Miss M. to pull it out, and she proceeded to pull out a different tooth. He was pretty excited because she gave him a little tooth holder, a certificate, and a package of Smarties.

The next morning (October 1) Caleb woke up and his tooth had fallen out during the night; thankfully, he didn't swallow it. 

His note to the tooth fairy says, "Hi, tooth fairy, this is my first tooth. Love, Caleb. I will see you tonight." You can see his letters and the note a little better in the picture below. (Double-click on the picture to make it bigger so you can see it even more clearly.)

Within two weeks Isaac's top tooth that had been really loose originally was also pulled out by Miss M (on October 14). 

We were a little bit creeped out by his weird front top tooth that centered itself in the gap. Fortunately, that one came out within three days--also pulled by the wonderfully talented Miss M.

No top teeth--I lisp now!

To celebrate we went to Coldstone for ice cream.

The second time was a freebie since Isaac won the school's Box Tops monthly drawing and got to choose a gift card to Coldstone.  Gotta love gift cards and the joy of trimming lots of Box Tops! (Thanks to those who contributed Box Tops so we could go out for ice cream. ;-)

Final Days of Summer

We spent a lot of time during August in our classrooms preparing for the new school year. To break up the monotony of the work (for all of us but especially the boys), Paul and I decided to plan a few fun activities as a surprise for the boys before school started.

Their first surprise was an afternoon at the movies. We watched Planes and thoroughly enjoyed it.

We took in one more Padres game before the end of summer.  The game did not end well, but we had a wonderful time.

Through the Jr. Padres program the boys had free tickets. They also got a free bag and got a chance to throw a few balls in the game zone.

The clown noses in the boys' bags

We took the boys for breakfast at Mama Kat's, our favorite breakfast place.

We did a lot of baking and cooking together. The boys got a Star Wars cookbook from the library so we made a few of the recipes from it including Han Burgers, Jedi Juice Bars, Skywalker Smoothies, and our version of Wookie Cookies.

Enjoying Skywalker Smoothies

And on our final Friday of summer we had one last super slumber movie party complete with dinner, chocolate popcorn and a movie in the living room.

It was such a wonderful and relaxed summer. Now that we are two months into the school year, I look back at these pictures with fondness (and a little bit of wistfulness to be back on vacation ;-).  Things are a little busier now which explains why this post sat in my drafts folder since September 3!

School

We went back to school this past week. The boys were pretty excited and even set out their clothes for the first few days in advance.

First days' outfits

Annual picture in front of the fence

Heading into school

Paul's classroom

Sitting on the ring (hopefully the only time this year ;-)

Considering that Caleb has been counting down for the start of kindergarten since his last day of preschool in June, it was an exciting day especially for him!

Isaac is in the second and third grade combo class which will be interesting for him and will call for a lot more independent work. 

Both the boys have wonderful teachers so we are looking forward to a great year.

Here is to another year of school and the routine that goes with it.

Vegas, Baby!

To end our trip we made a stop in Vegas.  Being just a few hours from home after three days on the road was almost more than I could handle even though we had thought this little stop would be a great way to end our trip.  

We stayed off the strip at an Embassy Suites. The boys love the koi fish at our local hotel and were pumped to see that this one not only had koi fish but also two swans named Elvis and Priscilla in its atrium's pool. 

After settling in we decided to head to the strip and see the fountains at the Belaggio. We only had to walk a couple blocks, but it was about 100 degrees. By the time we got into place by the fountains with fifteen minutes to spare, we were all hot and quite sweaty. Both boys kept asking when we could leave and go back to the hotel. We finally saw the fountain show--all four minutes of it--and headed back to the hotel.

We made it back in time to enjoy the hotel's hospitality hour with free snacks and drinks. After that we headed out to the pool.  They had a beautiful outdoor pool complete with waterfall. 

Jumping through the waterfall

The boys enjoyed the pool for about 20 minutes before the wind picked up. And I mean picked up! The wind was strong enough that it blew the lounge chairs into the pool. We were dodging falling palm tree fronds and chairs and were running after our own things that were blowing around. Paul suffered the most since his shoes blew into the pool. :-)  We packed up our things since we were afraid of being knocked out by pool chairs and headed back to our room. Since we were across the street from the UNLV track, we enjoyed watching the wind wreak havoc there as well--blowing the jumping pits which took out a set of bleachers, knocking over a port-a-potty, and disrupting the baseball game. It was quite the show and was the highlight of our day!

Although our first afternoon and evening there did not meet our expectations, the next morning dawned clear and bright (and calm with no winds). After enjoying a sumptuous breakfast, we spent quite a bit of time at the pool (no danger of being taken out by palm fronds or pool chairs) before heading out. We visited M&M World which was fantastic. The boys had a hard time deciding what to buy with their birthday money but settled on a couple buddies.

At the entrance

They loved seeing all the Nascar stuff on this floor

We stopped at Jill and Mark's house to see them and Grandma B and have dinner with them before heading home (unfortunately, no pictures to document this part of the trip). It was a nice way to end our trip.

"On the Road Again" part II

On our drive back home we actually pulled off the road just for the scenic overlook, and it was worth the stop.

A timed picture--thankfully, the camera did not fall off the ledge

At one point I was looking for all the boys (Paul included) and could not find them. They had hidden under this rock so at first glance it looked as if they had gone over the side of the rock ledge where they had been standing a little bit before. The boys loved their little joke on me.

And one more shot of Paul driving while Isaac plays his 3DS.

Photo Dump

February:  

Costume mash-up

Snow near Jill and Mark's house

March: 

Wild Animal Park

Homemade shamrock shakes

First Grader of the Week--holding the class bear named Winston

Swimming--in March

It was a warm day, but the water was a little bit cold

April: 

Treats from the ice cream truck after school

May: 

Zoo tour bus

Zoo Skyfari

Near the polar bears

Skyfari again

June: 

Fathers' Day: burning a crayon in celebration before going to church