All I want for Christmas is my ONE front tooth!

Lydia's front tooth had been barely loose for a very long time and just wasn't getting anywhere. It was taking so long that her permanent tooth was growing in behind it, and I was NOT going to pay dentist to take out a loose baby tooth. So, I thought, we've got to get this thing out, she can tough it out. We tried and tried, and finally with a quick hard tug, and a scream, it came out, with the WHOLE root still there! I felt so bad, but Lydia was so brave, and she got over it in a minute because she was so excited to show off her new space. And, I bribed her saying that the tooth fairy would bring extra if she was really brave! This is one of my favorite stages when they're missing their front teeth. Soooo cute!

Picture with Santa

Oh, what a wonderful time of the year, making memories and traditions, but sometimes making those memories is quite challenging. We were having just a wonderful time waiting in line to see Santa for only about 45 minutes. During that time I was just enjoying watching my children wildly running about, fighting, tripping, harassing an old lady, putting their hands all over everything they can think of, almost breaking the decorations, taking off shoes, hair in dissaray, and crawling/laying on the floor in the middle of the mall.  We were up next to see Santa after such a joyous wait and his helper was talking to me about getting their pictures taken when Lydia bumped into Adam (possibly on purpose, we don't know who to believe), and Adam decides to let loose and shove her as hard as he dare, almost knocking over a statue and Lydia! Well, Santa's helper handled it with grace and said very nicely, "Oh, we don't treat our sister like that", and I, well, it took every ounce of control not to slap him on the back of the head and drag his sorry butt out to the car. But, I did not stand in line for that long to miss out on getting our traditional Santa picture. Adam's pouting, Lydia's  crying and somehow I gathered every ounce of patience I could, dried their tears and amazingly came home with this wonderful picture.

 

Hazel loves putting on makeup, lipgloss especially. She's not happy unless she has at least three in hand and gobbs them on, sometimes dripping from her chin. Needless to say, all of Joy and Mary's lip glosses are infected with Hazel slobber!