Dentists and tooth fairies

Ever since Ellie's friends started losing their teeth, she has been anxious to join the club.  Unfortunately, when her two bottom teeth started growing in, they were far enough behind her baby teeth that the baby teeth did not become loose enough to pull.  Since she had an appointment already scheduled, I decided this was a job for the dentist (aka Uncle Mark).  Mark didn't realize how deep her roots were (normally they dissolve when new teeth come in), so he only gave her a little numbing gel instead of a shot.  And then he yanked.  But the tooth stayed firm. So he had to yank harder and harder.  He said she didn't even flinch.  She now has two deep holes where her teeth previously were and her smile has changed to show off the new real estate in her mouth.

I am proud of Ellie for being so tough and I am even MORE proud of the tooth fairy for remembering to put money under the pillow. 

In which we show a little too much skin

We are in the throes of potty training around here.  I have found that if Jack is completely naked, he is 100% potty-trained.  However, throw a pair of pull-ups or even underwear on the kid and all bets are off.  I am pretty sure taking him out in public completely nude would be frowned upon so we seem to be at an impasse.

Speaking of improper attire, I had to pump gas in my swimsuit the other day.  I was on my way out to my brother's house to do laps in his olympic-sized pool when my gas light went on.  I hadn't bothered with a cover-up because I was just planning on going straight to his house and back, which is why I ended up at the biggest gas station around (Buccees) pumping gas in my swimsuit.  Horrifying.

In which we force Ellie into organized sports

Ellie attended her first soccer camp this week.  She has done gymnastics for quite some time, but Tom was convinced we were failing her as parents because we hadn't enrolled her in organized sports.  Seriously.  So, I rolled my eyes and enrolled her in a week of soccer to see if she liked it.  I think she was more excited about her new soccer gear than actually playing.

I think Ellie enjoyed it. A few of her cousins and friends from church were enrolled as well so that always makes things more fun.  But it was long and hot and Ellie was more into socializing than playing.  Tom went to watch her the last day and was really bothered by her lack of competitiveness.  I am predicting that it might be a little difficult for Ellie to have a coach as a father in the near future. Or she may just turn out to be an amazing athlete. Who knows.

Ellie isn't too sure she wants to continue with soccer, but I am putting her in another camp in July.  I am determined to not fail her as a parent (and also to get my money's worth out of that soccer gear).

In which I didn't lose Ellie once!

We just got back from two days at SeaWorld and we didn't lose Ellie once!  This is something Ellie kept bringing up periodically, like hey, I haven't gotten lost yet!  To her credit, she did stick to me like glue.  But on the way home she asked me what she got for not getting lost and I was all, you get to live with us instead of tied up in some stranger's basement.  I'm kidding. I didn't say that.  Besides, no one in Texas has basements.

I have quit taking my camera places because I want to be more present instead of behind a lens.  Which basically means I resort to taking crappy cell phone pictures of really important things like the tattoo on this guy's arm who sat in front of us at the dolphin show.  No pictures of the dolphins or the kids watching dolphins, but I do have this guy's tattoo for the vacation album.

I also took this picture of the kids on the riverboat. 

This is deceptive because it looks like they were really enjoying the ride.  That was captured in the 5 seconds that Jack remained seated before trying to climb all over everybody.  He also chose this time to create the stinkiest diaper known to man.  The lady next to us kept complaining about him in Spanish to her friend.  I guess she just assumed we didn't understand the language.  Whatever, her friend ended up getting sick and in her haste to lean over the side of the boat, she vomited all over another random passenger.  So, I felt like they couldn't be too angry about my son's dirty diaper when they caused the boat to smell like vomit.  Good times.

This next picture is also deceptive because it makes it look like Tom and Jack aren't enjoying the sea lion show when in fact they were both riveted.  I love my two grumpy-faced boys!

And, of course, no trip to San Antonio is complete without a trip to the Alamo.  I moved to Texas in 8th grade, thus missing Texas History and so when I first visited the Alamo, I was very dismayed to learn we lost.  Talk about depressing.  So, I left it up to Tom to explain to Ellie the meaning behind the Alamo.  He actually took Texas History.

All in all, it was a fun trip, but as I remarked to Tom on the way home when Jack kept hitting Ellie to keep her awake, it wasn't as fun as our trip to New Orleans sans kids.