Now, THAT'S Quality Parenting - Loose Tooth Saga's.

So, apparently we're in the business of torturing our children. 

Brielle has had her second loose tooth just barely dangling on for a long time now.  You could just about turn it 180 degrees...really it was ready to be out.

She has fought us and whined night after night while we've tried to convince her to let us pull it out, which usually resulted in lots of tears - she was pretty upset as well.

We've tried every bribe/pleading/threat in the book:

"If you let us pull it, you can choose what we have for dinner!" 

"If you let us pull it, you can go get an ice cream cone!"

"If you let us pull it, the tooth fairy can come!"

"I think the tooth fairy stopped by last night and was dissapointed you hadn't gotten that tooth out."

"If you don't let us pull it, we'll have to bring out the pliers."

"If you don't let us pull it, we'll have to go to the dentist and pay lots of money and then you won't get any birthday presents or any food or clothes because we'll be too poor."

Okay, maybe we didn't go that far...but there were moments that our bargaining got a little ridiculous.

Finally tonight we convinced her to try the old doorknob yanking - even though the video seems to prove otherwise.  Yes, she's crying, and yes you may feel bad.  But she was crying because we had been trying to pull it out and she was scared.  

And she's her mother's child and cries about everything.

(Just ask my family.)

And just FYI, she wanted me to record it so she could see...in case you think I'm heartless for recording this while she's crying.

Did the doorknob yanking work, or do we have even MORE trouble (and apparently torture) on our hands?

(P.S. Please ignore the mess behind her.  She wanted to use the playroom door for some reason, and the kitchen is totally my fault...but hey, I had torturing to do, much more important than cleaning.)

What, you think if you skip the video I'll give you the answer?  

Pshh.....as if.

Okay, yes it worked...and she is VERY happy and excited for the tooth fairy to come tonight.  And because we actually do have hearts and feel bad about the torture, I think the tooth fairy may be a little more generous this time around.

Musical Nostalgia

*This is a very nostalgic post, mostly for my own personal reflection.  Feel free to disregard and skip this one.*

Today my sister sent me a text message asking if I had any way of recording me playing the piano and sending it to her so she could use it during her labor...she's a planner and isn't due for a few months, but that's not the point here.  

I was really touched that she would want ME playing the piano while she is having her baby.  I mean technically she could get piano music really easily from a WIDE array of pianists and artists, but she said it would help her have a lot of happy memories to think about.  So hopefully I can figure out a way to make that happen.  I do have an electric piano that claims to have hookups for a computer...I think I will put Marty in charge of figuring out the technical stuff.

After her text it got me thinking about what an AWESOME role music - particularly the piano - has played in my life.  So I got a little nostalgic thinking of all the times the girls in my family would gather around the piano and belt out Sandi Patti, or prepare for one of the millions of musical numbers we were constantly doing.  Or how my friends would come over and we would practice choir music and end up singing and playing for hours.  

I remember grumbling every time my mom would say "oh, we were asked to do a musical number for _________" and wonder WHY does she always say yes? 

But now that we live in Washington and nobody has any idea I play the piano, I miss using it!  It kind of defined who I was for so long, and it feels kind of weird and like it's a secret.  Not because I want it to be, but just because I haven't had an opportunity to use it and I'm not one to jump up in a room and say "I can play the piano!  Pick me!"   

The thing that is so awesome about the piano, is that even though I may not have "accomplished" as much as other people have done, playing the piano has afforded me some AMAZING opportunities that I will never forget.  Things like:

- Accompanying the Madrigals during graduation at Abravanel Hall, I mean really...how many average Jo's or Jane's like myself can say they got to play the piano in the symphony hall??  I am NO concert pianist, so don't take me reminiscing about this the wrong way, it was just such an AWESOME experience.

- Spending  a week in New York to "perform" for other schools...but mostly we got to just sight see.  Although singing on stage at Radio City Music Hall with the choir (during a tour...not a concert), and singing The Star Spangled Banner at Ground Zero (we went just 8 months after 9/11) are what I remember most about that trip.

- Playing keyboard in the "orchestra pit" for the musical Hello Dolly


- Having an elderly gentleman come up to me after a musical number at an assisted living home to thank me and tell me the origin of the hymn I had played.  It is now my very favorite hymn arrangement to play.

It's funny what memories stick with you the most.

There's nothing more rewarding than sharing what you love the most with people around you, but for some reason I haven't used the piano at all for quite a while.  And that makes me sad.

I'm not posting this to "brag" or say "look at what I did", but mostly because I was sitting here and realized that this portion of my life is lacking and I need to get it back!  

The piano is the very best therapist out there.  

And I think it's about time I paid a visit.

Addison - Trouble - Davis

Being home with three little kids brings a lot of noise and chaos.  

And as much as I wish I could revel in the rare quiet moments, we all know what quiet in a house really means.

Trouble.

 I think we made a terrible mistake in giving Addison the middle name of Belle...I'm pretty sure Trouble would have been a much better fit.  Mischief would be a close second.

Now before you worry that the quiet was because the older girls had put Addison in the kennel, this was all her own doing.  She crawled in, shut the door behind her and took up home on Lizzy's bed...all the while sucking on markers.

My questions are, how did she: 

1. Get Lizzy to stay in there with her.  

2. Get the door shut.

3. Get ahold of markers.

4. Do all this without anyone noticing.

I have no idea.  

She's crafty that one.

You know what else I LOVE (emphasis on being sarcastic) about Addison?  

Bath time.

Every bath night me and Marty start the bargaining.  "If you bathe Addison, I'll bathe the other two girls and put all THREE of the kids to bed!" or "If you bathe Addison, I'll do all the dishes, clean up the family room, take out the trash, bathe the other two girls, put all the kids to bed, give you a foot rub, and go to Dairy Queen to get you a blizzard."

Yes, bathing her is that bad.  Not because she hates her bath, but because she loves it so much and believes she is an Olympic gold medalist in diving/water polo. 

She LITERALLY floods the bathroom floor from all her jumping and splashing no matter how hard we try to contain her or put very little water in the tub.

So last night, we decided to try a little bubble bath.

In a more contained environment.

And it worked GREAT...until the bubbles didn't keep her attention and she realized there was water under the bubbles to splash in.

Life with Addison is most definitely NEVER dull.

Dreaming of Spring

I am SOOOOOOO (that's a lot of O's) ready for spring!

Do you know what I see when I look outside?

WINTER!

Blah...go away winter.  I am ready to be able to spend some more time outside!  And for the weather to be warm enough for my kids to want to be outside for longer than 20 minutes before coming in from frostbite. 

So I've been dreaming about some of these wooden swing sets wishing for warmer weather.  Plus, they have free shipping...which is awesome!  I wonder if I can convince my husband that we must have one of these?!

It's for my own good...I mean, the kids.  

It's for the kids!