It Begins

In some ways it seems like a million years ago, but in others it seems like just yesterday that I was at my orthodontist's office pitching a fit because he wouldn't take my braces off when I wanted him to do it.

Now my child is there, in that same orthodontist's office, getting her own set of braces.  Or at least, her own set of dental torture devices.  We haven't quite gotten to the braces yet -- those come in two weeks.  We started off this Monday getting two teeth pulled... 

(I say "we."  I mean Tyler.  I would have been a big, fat baby about this whole ordeal, but Tyler handled it like a champ.  I am really proud of how well she did!)

Poor girl bled all afternoon after getting those teeth out.  She had to walk around with this gauze in her mouth, and I couldn't understand a word she said.  Little did I know that that was just practice for later on in the week...

On Wednesday Ty got to skip the entire day of school because she had to go get her torture devices put in.  The first one is a palatal expander.  I escaped ever having to have one, but both my sister and brother had them, and I remember the horrors my mom went through turning the key in that thing every night.  Now I'm doing it.  It's not fun.

Tyler also has this contraption in the bottom of her mouth that is supposed to pull the bottom of her jaw forward.  It has this big, plastic part that covers all of her bottom teeth, and so she sounds like she is talking with something in her mouth at all times.  That and she drooled all over the place for the first two days.

This is what her mouth looks like now:

Or it is what her mouth looks like until we go get the braces on her top permanent teeth in two weeks.

And to think, this is only child 1, phase 1...we get to do this at least 3 more times!

Snaps from the New House

In some ways I feel like we have settled right in to life in the new house.  In other ways I feel like we have a long way to go.  Here's a brief tour...

I need something to hang over this chest in the entrance and a new lampshade, but my Easter bunnies are out!

The living room is coming along...

There are these little messes still leftover in a couple of places, the dining room and kids' den to name a couple:

Normal life (never-ending laundry!) goes on in the kitchen:

My closet is one place that's pretty well organized...at least there's one place, right?!?!

We'll get there...eventually.

Mmmmm...Muffins!

My sister, Hunter, and her twins came to stay with us Friday night while her husband was away turkey hunting, so Saturday morning I made a couple of batches of muffins using this recipe from Skinnytaste -- one batch with blueberries and one without because my weirdo sister doesn't like blueberries*.  They were absolutely delish and low fat until I added the topping from this recipe!  By the way my kids gobbled up three or so muffins in one sitting, I would say they loved them.  I have made another couple of batches without the topping since then, and we are steadily working our way through those.

Mornings are more fun with company!  We loved having some cousin time while Taylor and Harper were here.  It is definitely a treat to have a house big enough to hold guests, so now we just have to do it more often!

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* My changes to the recipe/notes:

-- With blueberries: I used sweetened almond milk because that's what I had on hand, so I added a little less honey.  I also added in some lemon zest.

-- Without blueberries: Same as above except I added extra lemon zest and a little bit of lemon juice to give the muffins some sort of flavor besides just oatmeal.  

-- Even with the cooking spray, the muffins stuck really badly to the liners.  

Songwriter

Ty can add songwriter to the list of things she wants to be when she grows up (fashion designer and makeup artist if you're keeping track...).  She sang a song for us that she had written the other night, but I couldn't really understand what she was saying because she got embarrassed and quiet and giggly.

But then she wrote the words down.  The song could be finished -- it is short and seems to just stop -- but what she has is really good.  She gave this sheet to a man in the praise band at our church, and he is going to put music to it if I can get a recording of Tyler singing it.

In case you can't read the words, they are:

God puts a fire in your heart,
He takes the power away.
He can here (hear) every song you sing
and every word you say.
Tell Him your sins so He can forgive them,
forgive them.
Every time you pray He rejoices...

(I added the punctuation)

Recent Reading List

I have been doing a good bit of reading lately, and I thought I would share some of my recent reads with you.

I have to start with The Hunger Games series.  I have seriously had my nose in a book for a week now as I devoured all three of the books as fast as I could while doing everything else that I need to do during the day -- work, take care of the kids -- you know the drill.  I am not sure why it took me so long to read these books, but I am glad that all three were out when I decided to pick up the first one so I didn't have to wait between books.  And the movie comes out Friday!!!

Dreams of Joy: This is the sequel to Shanghai Girls and is one of our Reading Club books this year.  One thing I love about Reading Club is that I pick up books that I probably would not have otherwise read, and this is one of those.  

Cutting for Stone: This is another Reading Club book, and one of the complaints among the ladies has been that there is too much medical jargon in the book.  While it is true that there is a lot, I didn't mind it at all and thought for the most part it added to the story -- some of it probably could have been left out, though.  

I've Got Your Number: I love Sophie Kinsella for quick, light reads (most of the time), and this book did not disappoint.  I read it in a day or so.  Very cute.

The Invisible Wall: Pretty good but way too long and dragged out. 

The Paris Wife: WHY did she put up with Ernest Hemingway?  This book makes marriage look so depressing...

A Bride in the Bargain: Deeanne Gist is another author whose books I will read for a light, fun read.  She is a Christian author, and I happened on one of her books in K-Mart, of all places, when I was looking through the paperbacks a couple of years ago.  Since then I have read several of her books, and they have all been good. 

Any good books I am missing out on?

We're All Hitched!

This past weekend I went to Charlotte for the wedding of my last close girlfriend at Clemson.  I always love getting together with these girls, and we try to do it as often as possible, though that is hard to do now that we all have jobs, husbands, and kids.

Friday night most of us met up and ate dinner at this tapas place where we could order the entire menu for something like $230, so we took that challenge.  And then we proceeded to feel like gluttons because the waitstaff brought us plate after plate after plate of food.  It was like speed eating.  We were stuffed before they even brought everything out, but everything was really good -- or at least everything that I tasted.  

They had a photo booth at the reception, and I love a photo booth.  They just allow for all sorts of craziness.  You're just never so cool as you are in a photo booth with a sombrero and a fake mustache.

I did manage to trip and fall in the middle of the reception again.  This time it wasn't down stairs, thankfully, but it was in front of many more people.  So embarrassing.  And I managed to scrape up my knees and elbows, but I didn't hurt myself as badly was when I fell down the stairs at my last sorority sister's wedding.  I'm like a total wedding klutz...

Now we just need to find our next excuse to get together!

I Needed a Little Happy...

This past weekend was one of those really long, dreary ones.  It rained all. day. long. Saturday, and the day just seemed to drag on and on and on, especially because Brad was in Tampa at a trade show and wasn't around to help me entertain bored children.

So, when the kids finally went to bed Saturday night, I added a little color to my life by watching Breaking Dawn (soooo good) and doing a little retail therapy...(totally not what I needed to do, but totally worth it...)

The dresses above are actually the same dress and are from Anthropologie.  I got the one on the right, in cream, and I thought it would be really cute for Easter with some colorful necklaces.  I also think it could look cute with this blazer.  If I like it, though, I may have to go back and order the one on the left, which the website says is red but all of the reviews say is orange. 

                                     

I have also been wanting to try the colored denim trend, so I got the purple pair above.  I am really not sure how I will feel about wearing color on the bottom half of my body like that, but I am going to give it a try -- that will definitely be injecting some color into my wardrobe!

All photos via Anthropologie.

My Handsome GranGran

I can't believe that on Sunday it will be 9 months since my Granddaddy died.  It doesn't seem like he could have been gone that long, but it is amazing how quickly time passes.  

My cousin, Ross, put these pictures up on Facebook the other day, and I just had to share them.  These were taken for something for the resort where Ross worked (I know that is a lot of information, right?) -- an ad or something.  I love these pictures because they are so real -- it looks like GranGran could start speaking at any minute... This is just how I remember him -- a big, strong man -- until he just wasn't.