Ethan Buddy Boy Turns 2!

This is long overdue!  Since Chatbooks came about I've post more on Instagram than on the blog.  It's faster and easier!  I still like the blog though to go into more detail about the bigger events of our family life!

Our cute and sweet Ethan turned TWO last month!  He is getting so big and starting to talk more and understand more.  He is a huge Mama's boy.  HUGE.  It can get overwhelming and exhausting, but most of the time I love it.  He loves trains, Paw Patrol, reading books, cars, eating, his binky and blanket, and his siblings.

For Ethan's birthday we invited our families over for cake.  A few people were able to come, but it happened to be at the same time as another family event, so not as many people were able to come because of that.  We had fun talking and playing, and had some yummy Paw Patrol themed cake.

He was eating his cupcake with the cupcake topper!

Ethan's favorite birthday present was this car track I got him.  He would seriously play with it for a good 20-30 minutes straight.  The only problem was it play this super annoying, loud, 10 second song on repeat and there was no way to turn the song off or even the volume down.  So it's back in it's box for a while and up in the closet.  I needed a break from it.  If you're looking for a fun, but annoying toy, here's the link.

We love Ethan and are so very happy that he is a part of our family!  

How could we not be with that cute face?

All I Want For Christmas is my Two Front Teeth

The week after Thanksgiving Avery got to have her two front teeth pulled!  A few weeks before Thanksgiving Avery fell down in gym and hit her teeth.  She came home and told me what happened and that her teeth were hurting, but after that didn't say anything about it.  The week before Thanksgiving I noticed that Avery's front teeth were discolored.  So the lucky little girl that she is, she got to go to the dentist on her birthday!  I knew that she would possibly have to have her teeth pulled and prepped her for that, trying to stay as positive as I could.  She was excited that she would get to see her Uncle Matt, (the dentist) and how cute she'd look without her front teeth, and that she would be able to stick her tongue between her missing teeth.
We headed down to Roy after school and she started the afternoon off with getting her teeth cleaned and having some x-rays done.  It was determined that she did indeed need to have her teeth pulled.  When they are infected that can start to infect the permanent teeth.  So she got set up in a chair with a nose piece for some happy gas.  In the end they were not able to pull her teeth that afternoon.  The smallest nose piece they had was still too big for her so the happy gas wasn't working very well and they were having a hard time getting her numb with the shot.  She was so incredibly brave with everything though!
The next week I took her to a pediatric dentist here in Logan and with the smaller nose piece the happy gas worked!  With the help of the happy gas they were able to get her all numbed up with a shot.  Avery got to watch Frozen the whole time and while they were pulling her teeth she started singing along to Let it Go!  I was cracking up!  I'm pretty sure that was the works of the happy gas!  Just as we suspected, Avery does look super cute without her two front teeth.

Thanksgiving

Louis worked the morning of Thanksgiving day this year so we decided to stay home as a family.  

It was my first year of making the whole Thanksgiving meal!  Well I did have a little help.

Mary scrubbed all of the potatoes for me, it was so sweet that she wanted to help out!  She did a great job.  I had fun setting our table and getting it ready for dinner that night.  I put paper over our table and drew place setting for everyone.  

This is what they looked like:

For dinner I made turkey breast (I didn't want to make a whole turkey when really only Louis and I would be eating it), 

stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls, and cranberry sauce.  For dessert I decided to make snicker doodle cookies and these little pretzel bites.  It's two square pretzels with a rolo in the middle.

It ended up being really nice staying home as a family this year.  

We enjoyed our meal with our sweet kids and talking about what gratitude is and what we are thankful for.  

Avery's Six Year Old Interview

6 Year Old Avery

This Avery girl just keeps getting better and better!  We love her and all that she is so much!  

For Avery's sixth birthday she wanted an Elsa party, she had been planning it pretty much the whole year leading up to her birthday.  Her birthday really snuck up on me this year and before I knew it her birthday was a week and a half away!  I figured I had better start preparing stuff and sending out invitations for a party the weekend before her birthday.  

She was able to invite 6 friends for her party, she picked 3 friends and 3 cousins.  All but one person was able to come and she was so excited!  We played lots of fun games!  We decorated Elsa crowns, pinned the nose on Olaf, played Do You Wanna Build a Snowman, freeze dancing, freeze tag, and took some pictures with some photo props.  

Everyone had fun, especially our birthday girl.

On her actual birthday Avery went to school then we got to head to Roy to see the dentist, who also happens to be my brother.  Avery had fallen down in gym a few weeks before and hit her two front teeth.  A couple days before her party I noticed they were getting discolored which was concerning!  Not the best way to spend your birthday, but I tried to spin it for her and make it positive.  I told her how exciting it was going to be to get to see her Uncle Matt on her birthday, how cute she will look if she has to get her teeth pulled and how fun it will be to stick her tongue in the space her front teeth were.  It worked!  She was excited and did so wonderfully at the dentist!  She was so cooperative for everything.  Even when it was determined that her teeth did need to be pulled she was so brave while trying to get her numbed!  Unluckily, she never did go totally numb and wasn't able to get her teeth pulled.  From what I understand, when the teeth are infected it makes it harder to get numb around the area.  It didn't help that the nose piece for the happy gas was too big and wasn't really doing anything.  So we left the dentist with all her teeth still in that day.  

The next week we were able to get in with a pediatric dentist up here in Logan.  They had a nose piece that fit for the happy gas and I think that made all of the difference!  Between the gas and a shot they were able to get her completely numb!  She was also distracted by Frozen being played on the ceiling.  She actually started singing along to Let it Go while her teeth were being pulled!  It was hilarious!  

She came out looking adorable and loves that she can now stick her tongue through her teeth and she can whistle.  

Avery is a wonderful girl.  She makes friends easily and is a good friend.  She loves to have fun, loves to play games, dance, and sing.  She always wants to do what is right.  She is a great helper and a great big sister.  She has the best personality and we love having her in our home.