BYE BYE BRACES!!!!

Do you know what July 12th was? It was the BEST DAY EVER! It was the day I got my braces off!! Hooray! Are you ready for picture overload?

I flew out to Florida on the 11th. Did you know that clouds are beautiful?!?! I think I took a million pictures of clouds. I was obsessed!

I arrived at 9:30pm and it felt so good to be “home”. I had been missing Florida like crazy! My bff, Lucy, picked me up and I stayed with her the 2 days I was there. Love her!

  

  

The next morning I went in to get one last, quick adjustment before the next day when I was scheduled to get my braces off. Dan, my student orthodontist decided to go ahead and take them off right there and then! I was so excited…until I remembered the TADS.

Remember this  picture from THIS post?

Well, they couldn’t just leave those little screws in there! Oh yes, they too had to come out and it didn’t feel good.

Definitely not as painful as they were going in but still not fun. Ok, so after all of the trauma of the tads was over I got so look in the mirror, and it was suddenly all worth it.

This was the 1st brace-free picture I took.

Before and afters:

Before and after smile…I love my after!!!

First picture in 2 years that I actually like of myself.

Those involved:

The man with the incredible technique that made it possible for my teeth to be fixed without surgery, Dr. Coro. So grateful for him.

My friend and student orthodontist, Dan.

Dr. James Nguyen was my original orthodontist but he graduated about halfway through the process.

Once my braces were off I was ready for some fun Florida friend time.

Picture courtesy of 6 year old Mikey.

 

 

Girls night with my former neighbors, Sandy and Barbie!

 

It went by way to fast and at the same time not fast enough because I missed my kids so much. The flight home was great except for the creep who kept smiling at me and then asked if he could sit by me on the plane. Once I told him that I was a stay at home mom of 3, he wasn’t so interested. Come to find out he was also married and a father of 2! Such a jerk!

Leaving Florida

I love the view up there:)

Mucking Around

My MTC companion was from Australia. I love her so much! We had so much fun together doing what she called “mucking around” which meant goofing off. Funny that those words are what pop into my head when I see my kids being silly…it’s been 8 years!

The other day they were so in the mood to muck around! It was funny to watch them being so silly and making memories together.  Maya accidentally sprayed Aidan and after 2 seconds of screaming he decided that he quite liked it! That’s where it all started…

In the end, all were soaked.

And still friends:)

Then, Maya decided she wanted Aidan to carry her.

It was so hard!

Maybe a piggyback ride would be easier?

Not so much. Then the soul train started.

To them they were all giving each other a piggyback ride.

They laughed and laughed together. I loved it!

4th of July goodness

Happy 4th of July!

I suppose I should make a post about our 4th of July since it was a really good one. It is one of Rich’s favorite holiday’s so I was sad that he wasn’t here to celebrate with us. I know that the kids would have had a ton of fun with him now that they are a little bit older. He was on my mind the whole day.

It was a fun, BUSY day from the moment we woke up. We went to the Marshfield ward flag ceremony and breakfast. I was proud of myself for making it only 20 minutes late and we were all 4 put together!

We had a delish breakfast and then we were off to the parade. I’m so annoyed with myself that I didn’t take any video of the kids at the parade. They were having so much fun running for the candy and of course crying when they didn’t get to it fast enough. I learned pretty quickly that I would have to set my Nikon aside if I wanted to keep all 3 kids alive. They are not the type to sit and enjoy a parade. Instead, they were ready to dash out in the path of oncoming floats and tractors to get a measly tootsie roll!

They sure are proud of their tractors out in good ol’ Marshfield.

Aidan was a huge supporter of all the different politicians:)

It was so miserably hot!

We all left the parade unscathed except for Maya who had the buzz of a sugar rush coming on which I would later suffer the consequence of. We went home for a nap before everybody came over for the party. Let me clarify…I tried to take a nap, Maya did not allow it.

Around 4:30 the party started.

 

 

Then it was sparkler time!

 

We ended the night with some homemade ice cream and fireworks by the big kids. It was an awesome 4th with lots of loved ones.

By the way…

I’m sooooo totally back-blogged it’s ridiculous! It’s all I think about and yet I just can’t seem to get to it. Maybe tonight?

The New Aidan

Ok, so the new Aidan isn’t much different from the old one but there are a few new little sayings and ATTITUDE that must be documented. Let me just start with this:

Guess who learned to use my iphone camera? I love it! I love finding random pictures that he takes. Such a little stud! I’m thinkin’ he will either be a musician or a photographer because he is always wanting to take pictures. Why a musician? Well, Aidan has always had really great rhythm. My in-laws neighbor bought him a little toy drum when he was a year old because of a drumming encounter they had one night, haha! Aidan ALWAYS hums while he eats. There is never complete silence at our dinner table, not only because of our 3 rowdy kids but also because Aidan will surely be humming a tune while enjoying his food:) Also, lately he is quite the song writer constantly making up songs with the words stinky, poopy, Maya, Arabella…he mostly does it to drive them crazy but his mind always seems to be preoccupied with music in one way or another.

His favorite thing to do when he decides he really likes somebody is to attach a number to how much he likes them. I thought I was the most awesome, special mom in the world the other day when he told me, “Mom, you are my best girl ever! I love you 20!” I really felt like, wow, he loves me 20! That is a big number to him so he must really, really love me! Then he said the same thing about his cousin…….anyway, he will always give a number for how much he likes someone. Where he got the idea? I don’t know but I like it.

He always tells daddy and I that he likes us and loves us. He’s actually been doing this for a while and now both Arabella and Maya do it too. They get upset if we don’t respond to both of these expressions of affection so you can imagine how old it gets telling each kid, “I like you too! I love you too!” Silly kids!

Oh what a sad few days it has been. Aidan has started talking back to me:( So. Not. Fun. It seems like just 3 short weeks ago he was so sweet and respectful and obedient and now suddenly he will tell me, “I am not going to do that!” What happened?!?! I really feel like this is just due to our homeless dysfunction right now, and his behavior will get back to normal once we have more of a routine and stability. We shall see.

Last but not least, he is so full of questions! Constant, random, obvious, unanswerable questions. My mother-in-law has saved my brain and nerves by telling me to do the obvious. Ask him to answer his own question by saying, “What do you think?” or “Why do you think?” Ummm, hello! Duh! Why didn’t I think of that! Sometimes this mom brain is just too much for me.

I LOVE BEING A MOM! As hard as it can be and for all the ups and downs, there is always a reward that surpasses any hardships that come along with the calling of being a mother. They are my daily motivation to be a better, more Christ-like person. There is no other responsibility more precious than my 3 little loves.

4 days in…

I can hardly believe we are JUST 4 days in. I was trying to figure out why it feels like it’s been so much longer and I know why. Because it HAS been! I’m sort of feeling like an emotional mess right now. We left our Florida home, drove 2 days to get here and since that moment Rich has been unavailable. He studied like mad for the NAPLEX (which he passed!!!!!!) for 2 weeks, took the test on Saturday and left the very next day. Now, he’s been gone for 4 days but really he’s been gone for almost 3 weeks. I miss him.

The kids? The reality is that the kids are not behaving the way they normally do. Aidan prays every night that he can go to school tomorrow. He asked me the other day if he was ever going to see his Florida friends again. They miss daddy. They missed daddy when daddy was still here! They are acting out and that is making it hard on me.

Me? I’m pretty much feeling all dysfunctional. I feel like I haven’t really talked to Rich in a long time. His roommate is pretty obnoxious and tries to tell him when he can and can’t talk to me. When he does call me our conversations are a little awkward because his roommate doesn’t give him any privacy and even has the nerve to chime in when Rich is telling me about COT. So much is always left unsaid. Routine is hard to accomplish when every few days we pack up and go to visit the other grandparent.

Ok, that was me putting it all out there and telling it how it is. How whiney and ungrateful I must sound. I’m not. I recognize and am super grateful for our blessings. We’ve been able to spend a lot of time with cousins and get to know them better. We have definitely been making up for lost time. All 3 of my kids have fallen in love with their cousin Kayla. She spent a few days with them and they actually cried when she went home. So cute! Aidan has decided that Ethan is his favorite. All 3 of my kids are OBSESSED with the newest Baker grandbaby. My niece, Daisy, is now 2 weeks old and my kids want her to be theirs. Aidan told Julie (Daisy’s mommy) that Daisy is his baby! If baby is near, they are hovering around to get a chance to hold her.

So, all in all we are enjoying our time here with family. I had to complain a bit because it has been part of the experience. Gotta keep it real:) Family has been great, we will be so excited when Rich comes back and we can be together again without any tests looming over us. Until that day, which is faaaaaar off in the distance, I will suck it up and make the best of our homelessness. After all, it’s not as bad as I make it sound when I’m having a bad day;)

He’s Gone:(

Rich left for Officer Training yesterday and I miss him already. I’m determined to keep myself busy during these next 5 weeks to keep me from missing him too much. Maybe I will finally regain control of my blog and get caught up! I’m excited to work on some sewing projects with my Sis-in-law, Julie, make baby headbands, more bowties for Aidan (I LOVE seeing him in a bowtie!) and just have fun with the kids!

It was so hard to say goodbye. I bawled, of course, which made Maya bawl. She’s so sweet and sensitive. Right before he left I took some pictures of him with each kid. My plan is to print one off for each of them and have it laminated so that whenever they miss him they can just look at their picture. Hopefully that will help because I know they are going to have a hard time.

They got to talk to him before he reported.

I’m gonna miss him so much but I’m so grateful that I have such an awesome family and in-laws to support me while he’s gone.