Callie's week of FIRST's

Callie had a big week. First dental check-up and first hair-cut.
Not sure if I can technically call this her "first dental visit" but I am. It's her first "NON-traumatic" "Non-emergency" dental visit in my office. I was really nervous about this appointment. She's had some not-so-great dental experiences this year and any time I mention the dentist she immediately protests. I've learned with Callie not let her know in advance were we are going or about any appointments. She just handles the appointment much better if she hasn't had time to agonize and stress over how it will go. I'm not sure how long this will work but for now it seems to help minimize the "tantrums". She was really cute at my office walking around saying hi to all my coworkers and looking at my equipment. The second she realized she was the patient she wasn't too happy.

All dressed up. She came straight from a tea party at Grandma Faler's house.

 

  

With some coaxing (and bribery-I let her play with my phone) I was able to polish/clean her teeth. She even let Dr. Wruble do an exam. (so bummed I didn't get a pic of Dr. Wruble with her) Later that night we were talking about the appointment and she said "I just LOVE Dr. Wruble". A few weeks ago we went to Amanda's home (Dr. Wruble's) to swim in her amazing pool. I think that really helped to have a familiar face as the dentist looking in her mouth. No CAVITIES! She even let me take an x-ray of her front tooth (the expensive traumatized tooth) It looks really good in the x-ray! I just pray that the tooth survives a couple years.

First Hair cut!

Before:

Her hair cut appointment was a success because of 2 important facts. A huge root-beer sucker and the hair dresser allowed Callie to sit on my lap for the appointment. Sadly I didn't get any pictures because she was on my lap. I really like the "A-line" hair cut and I think it fits her sassy personality perfectly.

I'm mostly proud that I'm able to round brush her hair myself. I've always been grateful that Callie doesn't have much hair. I figured it gave me more time to figure out how to do a girls hair! I'm not very girlie or even creative in that way. I hate going to the hair dresser because it seems like I can never do my own hair the same as the stylist. But I'm slowly figuring it out! I'm very happy with this hair style and cut.

Callie's hair-due in church today:

Weekend Getaway

Thanks to an amazing sister of mine Ron and I got to enjoy a weekend to ourselves. We went to the Montelucia resort in Paradise Valley. It was a perfect weekend filled with eating out, exercising together, sleeping in, lounging by the pool and did I mention SLEEPING IN or even SLEEPING at all? Callie is not the best sleeper right now and constantly comes into our room through out the night to try and sneak in bed with us. It's really hard to say no to her sweet little face especially at 2am when you are tired.

It's funny how big of an ordeal it is to leave my kids behind (we don't do it all that often) and how exciting is it to spend time one on one with Ron. But most of the time we caught ourselves saying "Callie would really like this... or Noah would be hanging out over there by the fountain... or Mason would be splashing those people over there." We did miss them lots even though it we were gone less than 48 hrs.

  The bathroom by far was the most amazing! Nice walk in-shower and HUGE tub!

 

A perfect weekend except...

At 4am I woke up to Ron calmly saying "Shelly, turn the light on. Something just stung me" I don't think I've jumped out of bed so fast! Ron went to the bathroom and I procedure to look for the culprit. As I went through each layer of bedding I found a small scorpion crawling among the sheets. I grabbed my empty water bottle on the night stand and proceeded to trap it in. (A little tricky because unlike our dumb crickets at home for our lizard, scorpions don't just crawl into a tube placed right by them. LOL) My one regret (besides the fact that Ron got stung at all) is I didn't get a good picture of the scorpion before he was in my water bottle.

Ron was stung on the face under his left eye. We called the poison helpline and read as much info online about scorpions as we could. I'm pretty confident it wasn't a bark scorpion (a really nasty ones). Ron said it didn't hurt too bad and when the hotel offered to switch rooms we declined. I was thinking "I caught the intruder. Who knows whats in another room?!" Ron said it didn't hurt too bad and so we decided to go back to sleep. Ron has an extremely high pain tolerance so I'm sure it bothered him more than he led on. Poor guy proceeded to have "phantom crawling sensations" on his face the remainder of the night. As for me, I just dreamed I kept accidentally drinking out of the water bottle I caught the scorpion in. Ewwwwww

All in all Ron said he would take another scorpion sting again because the resort ended up comping our fee for that night. Sweet! Our vacation cost half as much!!! I think we would go back to this resort in the future all other experiences were pleasant. I'm incredibly grateful to my sister Maryann who OFFERED and insisted on doing this. She is 37 weeks pregnant and handles life like a super woman! She is going to be one rock-star mom, I just know it! (Let's face it. If she can handle my 3 little monsters! She can handle ANYTHING!)

Back to School!

I can't believe school has started again! First day of school was August 6th! CRAZY! My summer is gone and I'm really sad. But both boys are really excited for the new school year! I still can't believe I have a Kindergartner and a 2nd grader!

Noah was so excited for his first day of school. He is in the afternoon Kindergarten class with Mrs. Stradling so Callie and I get to enjoy him all morning long before the bus comes and picks him up. Yep that's right I'm spoiled and the bus comes and picks him up at our house. I wish it would do that on the way home... but he goes to the bus stop after school. 

The highlight of his day is riding the bus. He LOVES it!

Doesn't ever look back! I love this kid!

Callie has a few days of adjusting to the boys back at school. Because I have been helping out at the school she has had a few play dates. So now almost every hour she asks "Well, who am I going to play with?..." She misses her brothers but since her nap is in the afternoon really doesn't have too long of a mourning period. Mostly she misses Noah. He will sit and play dolls with her (even if his idea of playing with dolls is launching them off the top of her doll house. such a boy!)

I got to help in the school cafeteria a few days. It was fun to see Mason at lunch plus Noah and Callie thought they were pretty cool with their packed lunches!

 We even got to sit with our cousin Amber! Callie LOVED that!

  

12 years!

12 years ago today I made the BEST decision of my life and married this wonderful man. My heart is overwhelmed with joy and gratitude. I thank my Father in Heaven every day for such a hard-working, dedicated father, loving husband and most of my best friend. In my opinion we make one heck of a team. I love you Babe!

 Thanks to Pinterest I found this cute idea of creating a collage of pictures shaped in a heart. There were 12 balloons (for 12 years) each balloon had a picture attached with a note of appreciation written on the back. Kinda of cheesy but I had a lot of fun going down memory lane and putting it all together. The kids even wanted to help.

As I thought about the things I wanted to list on the pictures on each balloon I had to laugh at some of the things I was listing. When you are with someone a long time it's funny how some things that you couldn't stand about your spouse quickly turn into things you are grateful for. For example since very early in our marriage Ron made an effort to take care of his vehicles and be neat and clean. The impatient person that I am sometimes just wants to let things be and clean a little later. I have come to deeply appreciate his "cleanliness" (even if it is a little time consuming sometimes.) Bottom line I am one lucky woman and I know it!

I also found this cute "dry erase" board idea. My goal is to fill it out everyday. (Should be easy to do. Lots of reasons why I love Ron)

Our actual anniversary was overshadowed by a baptism and a sick kiddo. Not much actually done but we still had a nice day. 

12 years

4,383 days

105,192 hours

3 children

100’s of Fights and Make-ups

3 degrees - 4 cars – 2 homes

1 dog • 1 turtle • 1 lizard

Infinity – The number of anniversaries I still want to spend with you

I LOVE YOU!