Brea's First Tooth

Look at the excitement in that face!  She lost her first tooth at 5 1/2.  It was really loose all weekend.  We kept thinking it would come out when she ate, or if her tongue pushed it, but it held on.  On Monday she had a Dentist appointment to get her teeth cleaned and check her gums (they were enlarged back by her molars, but it was all good, she just has teeth coming in pushing on them).  The Dentist told her he could easily get her tooth out, but she said "No".  She was very nervous of him, or Dad, or anyone doing just that.  The Dentist was very nice and did not even touch it, he did however give her a cute tooth shaped box to put it in. He told her he thought it would be out by that night and the tooth fairy could come.  She kept playing with it all day and into the evening.  It came time to brush her teeth.  Her and Jackie were in the bathroom brushing and Jackie told her to just grab it and pull it out (which Mom & Dad had been telling her all week, but it must have been more excited to hear from her big sister).  She did just that, and Jackie grabbed a washcloth to put on the bleeding, and she ran out with a tooth in hand and a washcloth in the mouth.  Even with her mouth covered we knew she was smiling.  She was so happy.  She said that all the other kids in her Kindergarten class have already lost a tooth (I think that may be a bid of an exaggeration).  Now she could put her tongue in the whole in her mouth like everyone else.
She wanted to keep the tooth, and have the tooth fairy come give her money.  Smart Dallin told her to put the tooth on her dresser and then write a note to the tooth fairy and put it under her pillow.  He said that his cousin Conner told him that and Conner was able to keep his tooth, so Dallin tried it and he was able to keep his tooth too.  Of course Brea had to write a letter.  With the help of Dad she wrote the following:

Dear Tooth Fairy,
I have a very shiny tooth and I believe in you, and I have been a good girl today.  I love you Tooth Fairy.
Bye!       Brea

So sweet, I can honestly say that the Tooth Fairy loves Brea too!  I love that she said how shiny her tooth was, because she had just gotten them cleaned that day at the Dentist.  She kept looking in the mirror to see how shiny white they were.  She was proud to give the Tooth Fairy a shiny tooth.
But the story doesn't end there, the best part is yet to come....so she had the note all written and was sure she could keep the tooth if she put the note under her pillow.  She grabbed her tooth box, with the tooth in it and for some reason decided to shake it (I guess to make sure the tooth was still there).  Well, the tooth was still there, but the lid was not on tight and the lid and the tooth both flew off.  Her tooth was TINY and it fell somewhere between the kitchen and living room, we weren't exactly sure where.  Unfortunately, we had not yet swept the floor from dinner, so we found lots of little white things that were not the tooth.  We had been looking, all of us, for about ten minutes when Brea said, "We NEED to say a Prayer".  Why is it that my kids always think of that before me, their faith is so strong.  We immediately stopped and Brea said one of the most sincere prayers I have ever heard.  She told Heavenly Father how important this tooth was to her and how badly she wanted to find it.  After the prayer she told us all to LISTEN to the Holy Ghost tell us where to look.  We all looked and listened for another ten minutes.  By this time Jeff and I both were beginning to encourage Brea to write on the note that she did loose a tooth and now she really LOST it.  We tried to convince her that the Tooth Fairy would know.  Brea said, "I am not giving up, we need to keep looking and be quiet so we can listen - FAITH & PERSISTENCE!  Not too long after Jeff decided to pull the fridge out and began looking through the many debris that had collected underneath.  After a few minutes he called Brea over and asked her to look in a certain area.  Within seconds she found her tooth and jumped up screaming with it!  It was like a needle in a haystack, that fact that Jeff moved the fridge and we found it in all that debris was a tender mercy for our dear Brea.  She was so happy to have that little tooth.  We all fell to our knees and Brea again gave a very sweet prayer of thankfulness, right from her heart.  She placed the tooth on the dresser, the note under the pillow and then tried to fall asleep.  She told me she was too excited, that it was like Christmas...but eventually sleep overtook her and she woke happily to find that the Tooth Fairy had visited, left money, and left the beloved TOOTH! 

Ellys surprise visit

 We had a great surprise after Christmas.  Aunt Elly showed up one night!  It was so fun to see the reaction of our kids.  Alyssa came with me to the airport to pick her up.  I didn't tell her what we were doing there.  Ellys plane was a little late so we just walked around.  There was a restaurant there, and Alyssa said "eat".  I told her, "No, we are just going to watch the people that are coming out.".  Eventually one of those people happened to be Elly.  Once Alyssa saw her, she ran over and gave her a great big hug, knocking heads in the process!  She kept staring at Elly, like she was making sure she was real.  Then she reached up and touch her face. It was hilarious.  We took Elly home to surprise the other kids.  We were having the missionaries over for dinner and Jeff and they had already arrived.  I told Elly to walk in first with Alyssa, that way the kids would just think it was me and would be shocked.  She walked in and Jackie was in the middle of playing a song on her violin to the missionaries.  When she looked up she just stared but didn't say anything.  Elly said "Hi, Jackie" and then Jackie ran to her and gave her a hug.  I was right behind and saw the missionaries look of confusion.  We then explained to them, about the surprise.  The missionaries got into too and said how honored they were to be in Ellys presence.  It was a fun surprise!

 Elly is such a fun Aunt.  She played tickle monster with the kids that first night she came.  Up to the point when Brea got a bloody nose (don't worry I spared you the pictures).  We got the nose all under control and Brea was sitting on the couch while Elly wiped off her clothes.  All of the sudden, her nose stared dripping again, and the drops landed right on Ellys hands.  It looked quite gruesome.  Elly was a good sport and we all got a good laugh out of it.  That is the best part about having Elly around, we laugh a lot!

 I can only get down a groovy with my Sister.  We had a lot of fun doing Zumba together and dancing around with the kids.  This was us on New Years Eve, grooving it up in our jamas!

Also, on New Years Eve we scrapbooked with Jackie and Brea.  The time went so fast and before we knew it we were shouting "Happy New Year".  We let the kids stay up until midnight, except Alyssa we put her down at 10pm.  Dallin barely made it, his head was bobbing as the ball dropped.  2012 was a great year.  We fill so blessed and happy.  We are looking forward to 2013.  It was great to have Elly with us to celebrate it.

Christmas 2012

The kids got a lot of "pretend school" related toys this year.  Chalkboard/Dry Erase board, magna doodles, and papers.  It was fun to see them play together and play school.

Alyssa got a tent that is just her size.  She went in and out of that tent, and would bring her baby in with her.  One time Mom even came in with her (it was pretty squishy with Mom in there).

Some more "school" play.  Brea is writing her letters and Jackie & Dallin our teaching Alyssa.

Our traditional finger-food on Christmas Eve!  It is a fun tradition and everyone helps out in making the food.

This year we had: little smokies, hot dogs in crescent rolls, shrimp, chips, crackers & cheese, Pop, candy cane sugar cookies, relish tray, fruit, and candy.

We all got fuzzy PJ's on Christmas Eve.  This is not usually one of our traditions, but it was a much needed gift for everyone this year.

Grandma Ricks gave Jackie and Brea these cute poodle dresses for their dolls.  They both put them on their dolls that day, they looked super cute.

Alyssa got a baby with a bottle and pacy.  She was such a good Mommy letting the baby have her pacy every 5 minutes because she was "crying".  She loves babies and daily is totting one around or pushing one in  a stroller.  Her favorite is still "Wyatt".

 Dallin got a baseball mitt from Dad.  He has gotten into baseball a little this year, but he didn't have a mitt that fit him.  Now he can play with Dad and actually catch the ball.

Dallin also got some roller blades.  The kids have enjoyed learning how to skate this year.  Dallin tried out his new skates at the church, and did great.  Brea got her skates for her birthday and Dallin was always trying to put them on and skate with them.  Now they can both skate together.

Zeus

 I realized during the break that I haven't taken any picture of our newest addition -Zeus.  We got him during the summer, he was a one year old yellow lab.  Everyone was super excited to finally have a dog.  He is a lot of fun to play fetch with, he is amazing and has endless energy.  Brea was a bit nervous, because he was so big, but now she was warmed right up to him.  Alyssa was never worried, she just stood there and let him come bounding up to her.  We had to watch out of he would topple her right over, simply because he was so excited.  He is a great addition to our family.

 The kids played hard with him on Christmas Eve, he was well worn out and got a good night sleep that night.

Fun Christmas Break

Here are some random pictures from our Christmas Break.  We had a fun time together.

 Alyssa came in the house looking like this!  There was NO snow outside.  She had been playing in our playhouse which has insulation made out of Styrofoam   She must have scratched it off, and rubbed and rubbed it all over her.  The static electricity in it made it almost impossible to get off.  I finally stripped her down and ran water from her head down, but then it was all over ME!  She was so cute though, and looked so happy covered in Styrofoam.

 Dallin learned this trick at school to transform someone into Santa Clause.  It is awesome because it doesn't hurt to take the cotton balls off.  All you use is vaseline and cotton balls, the balls stick and stay, but come off easy. Genius!  He made a cute HO HO HO Santa.

 Dallins class made these cute wreaths.  They were really easy and cute too.

 Alyssa got new clothes from Grandma and wanted to put them on right away, CUTE!

This picture turned out blurry, but we did a Christmas Pinata.  Jeff taught the kids how to make their own pinata.  During Christmas break Dallin decided we needed one, so he made one, we filled it with candy, and then invited friends over to break it and enjoy the spillings with. It was so cold, but not one child complained.

SLIME!

 Another fun activity was making SLIME, we did it two times it was so much fun.

 The funnest part is that the kids get to stick their hands in water and pull out gooo.  Not my idea of fun, but to kids it was AWESOME!

 I made each childs a different color.  Wyatt got Red.

 Alyssa even joined in on the fun and didn't make too big of a mess.  She got Blue.

 Dallin wanted green, can you tell he likes that color?

 Brea had pink of course, and yes she was all in pink, she is all girl, and pink is her favorite color.

 See how fun getting it out is, such a ooeey gooey mess.  It is not very often they get to get their hands gooey.

 "Look Mom, my fingers...."

Jackie, the oldest was left with yellow, she had to patiently wait for everyone else to get theirs first.

Surprise Polar Express Night

 "Polar Express" Night.  We had a surprise - meet in the car in your PJs with a blanket and pillow night.  We had popcorn and hot cocoa ready for them.  We spent the evening driving around a looking at lights.  It was so fun, we need to do surprises more often.  We also did it another time and parked at the library parking lot and watch "The Polar Express" on our vans DVD player.  We took all of the seats out the 2nd time and cuddled together (all six of us) in the back.  It was really fun.  The sound was pretty cool, from both speakers in the back!  A fun tradition we plan on kepping, thanks Grandma for the idea!

Christmas Baking

 We did a lot of baking this season.  Dallin really got into it.  He has a  1st Grade cookbook that he got last year, and he kept wanting to make things out of it.  Alyssa of course, just ate, and ate, while we baked, and baked.

 I am so happy that my kids enjoy baking, it is fun and educational, and YUMMY!

 It is actually easier now to have "helpers" while I am baking.  It wasn't always the case, but I did always welcome those "helpers".

 "Alyssa did you eat all the Oreos?"

 A women with a mixer, she is a great cook and can make things all by herself.

It seems that we would have more than one baking project going at once, which actually worked out fine, but left a big mess.  The kids were not as excited to clean up as they were to mix.  It is good that most things take time to bake.  The baking time was a good incentive to get things clean up.

 Santa Clause!  It is interesting now to have children of different ages visiting Santa Clause.  Brea is super excited, and totally believes in Santa, and that this was the REAL Santa.  Alyssa is still a bit nervous, but is starting to understand, she basically just stares.  Jackie and Dallin don't think this is the REAL Santa, but they will tell them what they want in hopes that the message will get to the REAL Santa.  I loved the set up here, it was so Cheery, and the Mrs. Clause made the picture perfect!

 They had a 2nd opportunity to sit on Santas lap at our ward Christmas party.   The kids each got an individual chat with Santa.