Gabe loses his first TOOTH!!

On Dec 10, we passed another milestone in the history of Gabe. He lost his first baby tooth. It was a bottom tooth. Both bottom teeth and one top tooth have been loose for a while. The bottom two got VERY loose and Gabe wouldn't even wiggle them with his tongue. He was a little concerned about how this whole losing a tooth would work and more importantly, feel.

Needless to say he was pleasantly surprised when it came out and didn't even hurt. (Doug did help it along with some floss, but we didn't want it to fall out during the night.) He didn't want to look in the mirror though...I think he may have seen the tiny bit of blood in the bottom of the tooth.

A couple days later Gabriel told us, "I have a very loose tooth in my mouth." So, we went to the bathroom and Doug got out the floss again. Doug wiggled it free and then Gabe looked like he was going to puke. Here the tooth had landed on his tongue and he didn't like the feel of it. It was so hilarious both Doug and I laughed at him. Once he was able to spit the tooth out into Doug's hand, he laughed also.

Gabe has informed us that he can still whistle even though he is missing two teeth. Now we just wait for the top teeth to go. What a bummer that we won't be able to sing, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth."

By the time we took pictures, the next night, Gabe was OK with looking at it in the mirror and actually holding the tooth. Unfortunately, I keep forgetting to take a picture of both bottom teeth gone.

Happy 6th Birthday Gabriel!

This year for Gabriel's bday, we decided to throw a kid party for him. He has been talking about some boys from his class, so we thought it was time to invite them over. Since most of the parents don't know us, we also invited the parents to stay and get to know us. (Why did they all smile and leave when they found out we had 6 boys in the basement???) All the boys we invited showed up, so that made Gabriel (and us) happy.

Doug had the fun job of keeping them all happy and occupied. I think he liked it just as much as the kids though. At one time all 6 of them were piled on top of Doug and he couldn't get them off. The kids just thought that was great. We also had fun sword fighting with the noodles. Surprisingly, we didn't have anyone get hurt or get into any fights. They all did really great taking turns and sharing. Especially with the train track.

For Gabe's actual bday, it was just us. We had the other half of the cake and he got to open presents. Apparently Doug and I are too practical though. For his birthday this year he got all the "fixins" for a new bedroom centered around a Sports Theme. He was excited about the lamp, and the clock with his name on it. We could tell he was dissappointed that he didn't get any toys though. I guess we have crossed over into that age already! He did get some 3D paints and a puzzle from a couple of my friends so those were named "the fun presents." Oh well, at least he will have some toys at Christmas so he doesn't have to wait that long.

Dance Recital

The Sunday before Thanksgiving Anna performed in her first dance recital. She was just so cute and did a great job. The recital was centered around mothers and grandmothers. Many grandmothers were there and on stage with the girls. Since we don't have any grandmothers nearby, I was going to be up there with Anna. I am not really the "on stage" type, but I was going to just deal with it. Well, Doug was asked to be an emcee, so I saw my ticket off the stage. Anna got to walk in with her Daddy, one of the 3 males involved, and she even got to stand by him between a couple songs.

Anna loved the dress she got to wear during her songs. She did a dance in both her ballet shoes and her tap shoes. (She LOVES her tap shoes. When she first got them, she wanted to wear them around the house constantly. I actually had to put them up high so they would be out of her sight and she would not put them on. Tap shoes get noisy when they are confined to the house.)


Towards the end of the recital, the girls got to relax a bit and put on their jammies. While they all changed into their jammies, the three Pastor emcees had their 5 minutes of fame. They performed their own special version of The 12 Days of Christmas. It was fun to watch them all be silly.

The girls then came back out and danced one song with a favorite stuffed animal. (Susie Lambie Pie made it onstage. For those of you wondering, that was one of my favorite stuffed animals when I was a little girl.) Then they finished with a silly song about getting jammies on.

We did have one "totally Anna" moment. After waiting with Doug backstage for her Rudolph song, she came back onstage. But, she didn't have her tap shoes. As I was giving the tap shoes to the teacher to put on, I notice Anna is starting to undress. Apparently she didn't want the dress on anymore...who knows! Anyway, Linda got her dress back on properly and the tap shoes and she was ready to dance. There were a couple in the audience that were paying attention to Doug and missed the "show" from Anna. What a character!!