Crazy Days...

That's what the past few days have been! We love it.

We decided last week to put both kids in one bedroom and make Mags's room into a playroom. They've been doing GREAT for a while sleeping in the same room, so we wanted to make it officially "theirs" by doing a little repainting/reorganizing. I will post a pic later, but for now, here's an angle of the playroom.


In related news, Maggie and Miller made some artwork this morning with a ballpoint pen on the freshly painted playroom wall. Mags drew her name and a pretty picture of a little stick girl with a dress and a bow on, and Miller drew LOTS of circles. And both kids will be watching NO TV this week as a result. And if any of you knew just how much "Wow Wow Wubbzy" means to Maggie's life, you'd know what a harsh punishment this is--for all of us! :-) I should've taken a picture before cleaning it, but I was too busy, what with the wordless shrieking and all...(This will be funny to me one day, right?).

The kids both had a dentist appointment yesterday and had a "sugarbug" in the same place...Go, Mom! Miller did do great at his first dentist appt., though, and Maggie handled the news well considering her crippling fear of dental problems!


After the dentist visit, we went to the zoo. Mags was all about the snakes. She took a creepy picture with one, asked me to kill one (the rattlesnake), and got to hold another one! Yuck! We are catching the other half of the zoo on Friday (after Maggie's filling), and we are NOT revisiting the reptiles!



The kids had fun pretending to be lions. Are these not the cutest little growlers?



Maggie has her first soccer practice tonight, so I'll be sure to take lots of pictures. It is sure to be entertaining! More to come later...

Dental Advice from the Four-Year-Old…and a Prayer Request

I have a fear of going to the dentist. This is really strange considering I never missed a dental checkup for the first 22 years of my life and wore some kind of tooth/jaw-straightening device from age five to fifteen. I think my fear developed when I had to have a root canal (coincidentally, at age 22). I have been not-so-good about my dental checkups since then and have had an off-and-on toothache since last summer. Last week, it got really unbearable, so I went to the dentist. Apparently, the problem had spread all over one of my nerves and nearly to one of my sinus cavities (umm, gross much?). Ouch. I had to have another root canal on Monday, and let me tell ya…NOT fun. The worst part was the numbing shot, during which I realized tears were silently streaming down my face.

In any case, Maggie has taken a big interest this week in my dental hygiene, making sure that I not only brush and floss when I’m supposed to (I can assure you that I do--for the most part--regardless of the evidence otherwise), but also that I eat and drink only things that are good for my teeth (which generally doesn’t happen). She told me the other day that if I ate the Samoa that was on its way to my mouth, my teeth would fall out and I’d have to get gold ones. Tonight on the way home from church, I took the kids through the Dunkin’ Donuts drive-through and ordered myself a Pepsi; Mags said, “You know that Pepsi is NOT good for your teeth.” I’ll tell you, when I held that sweet child as an infant, I never pictured her telling me to step away from the Samoa or put down the Pepsi!

In other news, I need your prayers for my sister Candace. Her new baby, Wilson, was born nearly two weeks ago. He is precious and doing well, but Candace was admitted to the hospital at the beginning of this week for a kidney infection. Her fever has been high, and she has not been responding well to antibiotics. She has to be fever-free for 48 hours before going home, so pray that she will heal quickly so she can go home and be with her family.

Hope everyone is having a great week and enjoying this sunny, warm weather. We’ve been outside from morning until dinner two days this week so far, and we plan to do the same for the next few days! Pictures to come soon…

This Week in Review

What a week! Here's a review of the past few days around our house...

It snowed! Maggie had a good time playing in the snow before school. Miller doesn't like the snow, so he watched from inside. Here's a picture of Maggie making a snow angel. She thought this was a good idea, but it wasn't as fun once she felt the cold snow all over her back! The kids convinced Jeff to buy them some window and bath tub crayons. Miller made the quite the work of art during bath time Thursday night, and Maggie drew a portrait of Mama on the back door. What artists! The kids had their first taste of Samoas! Jeff started bringing home the girl scout cookies this week--Samoas on Thursday and Tagalongs on Friday. Oh, brother! (Miller was too busy enjoying the cookie to look at the camera--I'm telling you, these kids ATE UP those cookies--with a little help from Mama.) And finally...We had date night tonight! Westwood Baptist Church, where Mags attends preschool two days a week, offered a babysitting night. The kids had a blast, and Jeff and I went to Joe's Italian with buddies Scott and Margaret and had a fun time with lots of laughs and some yummy strawberry cake. Much needed after finding out today that I have to have a root canal next week. Uggggh...
Hope everyone has a great weekend!

My Kind of Girl...

We found Mags like this during naptime today. Aaaah...nothing like being sound asleep with a bag of Doritos beside you. :-)

Baby Wilson!

My sister Candace and her husband Tyson welcomed their brand new baby boy, Wilson Truett Driggs, into the world last night! He was born at 11:40 and weighed 7 pounds, 1 ounce (their first baby to hit the 7 pound mark!). From what I hear, he has a little bit of black hair, two big dimples, and looks like his brother Chip. I wish I could meet Wilson today and hug my sister's neck (They live in Arizona)! I'll post pictures as soon as I get them. Congratulations, Candace and Tyson (and Wes, Gordy, Hudson, Chip, and John Ross)! Baby Wilson is a blessed little boy to be welcomed into your family.

--Updated to include picture!
Sweet Baby Wilson!

Star Mom

I realized when we got home from church last night that I'd forgotten to get Maggie valentines to take to school today. (I'd seen it on her school calendar earlier in the week but had completely forgotten.) I debated whether or not to go out at 9 last night or wait and get them this morning. At some point I decided just to take Miller and get them while Mags was at school and drop them off this afternoon when I picked her up. (I figured they were just prepping Valentines' bags for the kids' party next week and that it wouldn't be a big deal to just take them later in the day.)

Well, when I was packing Maggie's backpack this morning I noticed she had put two heart-shaped dinner plates in there. You see, Maggie doesn't really yet understand the concept of a valentine. She thought it was just something she could take for show-and-tell. I told her I had forgotten her valentines and asked what she wanted to do--be late to school or let me bring them this afternoon. She said, "I can just talk about my heart plates."

I realized immediately that I could not send that baby to school without her valentines this morning. We rushed to Wal-Mart on the way to school, bought the valentines she picked out (gel-cling ones--you're welcome, other moms!), sat down inside the store, and wrote everyone's names on them. We got to school ten minutes late and a little flustered, but Maggie got to take her valentines.

Sad to say, I do NOT win the Star Mom award today. Anyone else ever have those moments??

Our Big Boy!

I can't believe how fast time flies. It seems like just yesterday that Miller was born, and now he is two-and-a-half and is starting to potty train! Isn't he supposed to be our baby?? He decided all of a sudden a couple of weeks ago that he is interested in going to the potty, and he has been doing really well for the past few days. He's wearing pull-ups most of the time, but he occasionally gets to wear a pair of big boy underwear (Those of you who know me well know what a big step this is for me with my cleaning up accidents/germ issues; hey, I've gotten A LOT better since potty training Child #1!).

In other news, Miller Man has learned how to climb out of his crib! Aaaah! He climbed out a couple of months ago on a fluke and hasn't done it since, but last night, he did it again. Jeff put him in time-out in his crib for hitting his buddy Colby (I know, I know, it's terrible, but it's the most effective way we've found to do time-out with him). A few seconds later, he came waltzing into the living room like nothing had happened. I was in the kitchen, but Jeff and our neighbors all just sat there shocked. He hasn't done it again, so we'll see what happens. Maggie was in a "big girl bed" long before Miller's age, but I am NOT ready to put him in his big bed yet. I guess I'm just not ready to admit that he IS a big boy. :-) Here's a picture of Mills in his "Ming-Ming panties" (as Maggie calls them). Ha!