Doodle's Update

Before I take the time to write about our weekend in Branson, I think I'll post about Doodle's trip to the dentist yesterday. On the positive side, he was wonderful with her and is very concerned about making it all a good experience so that she is not scared to go to the dentist (like her mother...) in the future. That's huge, as far as I'm concerned. On the negative side, however, she's going to have lots of practice going to the dentist because she has two root canals/crowns to do along with a few minor cavities to fill and some seals to put on her permanent teeth. She's got a couple thousand dollars worth of dental work to be done. That was a shock, to say the least. I'm just sorry the poor girl ended up with my teeth! Our first appointment to get started on things is set for September 9, but we're on the list to be called if a cancellation should arise. I'm not sure whether to hope for that or not! :)

Bad, Bad News...

So we took the girls to the dentist today. I knew Doodle had a cavity, so I was relatively prepared for the bad news. Well, it's worse than I thought. She is being referred to a pediatric dentist to have the equivalent of a root canal and crown. We have an appointment Monday at 2:00. We hadn't planned to come home from Branson until Monday, but those plans have obviously been changed. I am a nervous wreck - but only on the inside where she can't see it - and am thankful we have a fun weekend planned to keep both our minds off of everything. She's such a nervous kiddo anyway, this isn't going to help that. I've already told her there will be a trip to Toys 'R Us involved. That'll take care of her, but what do I get to convince me that everything is going to be fine? Again, thank goodness for the weekend plans. I'll be taking my Bible with me (I almost always do anyway) to keep me grounded. I have a feeling I'm going to need it.

Hanny also has a cavity but will have it filled Thursday at our dentist's office. She handles things much more calmly, and with it only being a small cavity we thought it would be easier for her to have it done there. Add to that that Gary & I have appointments Wednesday for our dental check-ups, and we'll be spending lots of time (and money) at the dentist. Have I mentioned how much I despise going to the dentist? He's a great guy, but I'd rather see him at Wal-Mart or something. It's just a major hang-up of mine. That doesn't help when it comes to having to take the kiddos to have things done. Do you know how much energy it takes to look calm and collected on the outside while being a ball of nerves ready to throw up on the inside?

There it is. That's the news of the day. We've decided to leave a little earlier than we had planned to go to Branson tomorrow due to the change of plans. We're going to eat lunch down there and do some shopping (Doodle wants a bikini to wear) before we get to the condo. Works for me.

Baldness in the Family...

I really wasn't sure what to title this one. It's another of last weekend's highlights, and one I had to put in writing.

Last Friday afternoon/evening the girls spent the majority of their free time playing with the season's crop of barn cats. During her shower that evening, Hanny asked Meme if they had to wash hair. Here's a recap of the conversation. Hanny's words are in blue, Meme's are in red.

"Yes, we have to wash it. You've been playing with the cats and I don't want you to catch something from them."
"You mean like worms?"
"Well, sometimes you can catch something from them called ringworms that make a circular crusty spot on your skin. If you get them in your hair it can leave a bald spot there."
"You mean like Papa?" (If you don't know Papa, he's totally bald...)
"No, not quite like that..."
"Like Dad?" (If you don't know Dad, he's got a bald spot in the back - not totally bald, just significantly balding there...)
"Well, maybe, but I don't think he had a ringworm."
"Oh."

These little minds are always working and making connections between the things they know and the things they don't quite understand. It's always something! :)

Weekend Update - Episode 1

As for the title, it'll be "Episode 1" if I actually get around to writing another post about the weekend. It'll probably happen, but it won't happen tonight. This will be considered a highlight of the weekend post and one that I've wanted to write since Friday night but couldn't because I couldn't, for the life of me, remember my password. Figures...

We went south Thursday for the weekend. We went to visit Peter to see his new house Friday (we also included a trip to the Mall Deli - YUM!) and got home early that afternoon. But the real story didn't occur until I finally convinced the twinks to at least crawl into the bed Friday night. For lack of anything else to watch, and because I consider it my favorite movie ever, I turned on "Dumb & Dumber." I knew that I would get a chuckle out of it, but I had no idea that the three of us would enjoy it to the extent that we did. I'm relatively certain that we didn't stop laughing to some degree for the hour we were watching it. I have seen it many, many times, but never have I enjoyed it like I did Friday night. For those of you who share my sense of humor (and therefore know exactly what happens throughout this movie), we began watching just before they began singing "Mockingbird." It was a good time to draw the girls in. They loved watching Harry sing and, incidentally, made me find that scene on YouTube Saturday morning. They were full of belly laughs during the scene where they ate the peppers and then put some on the unsuspecting ulcer-sufferer's hamburger. Doodle's favorite line during that part was, "How's your burger?" Who knew those three words could be so funny?! Probably their favorite scene in the hour that we watched, though, was after Lloyd had driven the wrong direction for 5 hours. Harry sat down in the middle of an empty field with a plumber's pants problem, if you know what I mean... I had honestly never really noticed (or had totally forgotten) it before. I'll never forget it now. It was so much fun to spend an hour laughing with those two little goofballs! It was a memory-making evening for all of us. There's just nothing better.

Wrestling Match

One of my favorite childhood memories was my wrestling (pronounced "rassling" at the time - and maybe still) matches with Dad every day when he came home from Bush Hog for lunch. It always ended up with me saying one of two things, either "I can't breathe" or "I give, I give." It was always fun, and I'll never forget that. I now have the next generation of wrestlers. Hanny has always LOVED to wrestle with Papa (primarily because he will still do it) and can take him on pretty well at this point. There are some evenings when I get into a match with her, and it always ends with her saying, "I can't breathe!" It doesn't matter what position she's in. I have reminded her more than once that she doesn't breathe through her rump, so my sitting (not really sitting, more squatting) on it shouldn't have any effect on her inhalations. We haven't encouraged her to wrestle with her sisters though, because they are, after all, just over half her size. Now, they do sometimes work together to take her on, but rarely does that turn out with positive results for anyone. Tonight, however, it was a twin-on-twin match. For the record, they are only about a pound different in weight, and Boo makes up for her smaller size with an incredible amount of spunk. It all began with them both jumping/climbing on me, but eventually turned into an absolutely hilarious display of little girl muscle. At one point Doodle was on top of Boo saying, "Now, don't do that again, Ma'am!" (There's a lot of "ma'am's" with Doodle right now...) They were attempting to spank each other. It was the funniest thing I have seen in a LONG time! Things like that make all the worries I carry just melt away, if only for a little while. They finally wore out after about 30 minutes of fun, thank goodness. None of the fun started until they were supposed to be brushing their teeth to go to bed, so it was a slightly late bedtime for them tonight. It was so worth it. Hopefully they have good wrestling memories just like me! :)

Book to Read

I've been reading a series of books that is absolutely phenomenal and want to recommend them to everyone I know! Here is Book 1:

There are seven books in the series. I'm currently reading book 6 and have the 7th one on hold. They are really that good! :) According to my pastor, the audio versions are fantastic as well. I'm not even going to give you a re-cap because once I start talking about the stories I just can't stop. That, and after reading 5+ of the books I'm not exactly sure what happens in which book. If you have already read them or read them after reading this, let me know what you think! ;)

Honest Words

I realize this makes three posts today, but I had to get these down somewhere before I forget them (which I will...). Here goes.

Today after fixing the twins their dinner (Hanny was at Meme's), I began searching for what my noon meal was going to be. I settled on tuna, told the girls what I was having and got the most honest, bar-nothing response from Doodle. She told me, "You're going to need a Tic-Tac after that!" Oh, I know. I was shocked. I was also a little envious, though, that she was able to say that without holding back. I could use a little of that...

The second little tidbit of humor of the day came on our way home from the library. We were discussing how hot it was outside as well as how the clouds were moving in. Doodle informed Boo that the temperature was 92 at the time to which Boo responded, "I prefer 100." She "prefers" 100?! That, of course, led to a conversation about our ideal temperature for various activities. I was still shocked by her usage of the word "prefers" after the conversation had ceased. I love it! :)