A Reason to Grin. . .

Justin has been waiting ages to loose his first tooth. Most of his friends lost them in kindergarten. The rest lost them in first grade. According to him, he was the only 2nd grader in the school (and quite possibly the planet) that hadn't lost a tooth yet. He's had a wiggly one for weeks, and today it finally fell out. Hooray!

Another Perk of Being a Little Sister. . .

Piggy back rides whenever you want them. :)

On to the tournament

Spencer's city league basketball team was undefeated this season. This is a totally new concept for us; it has never happened before with any of our boys. We're much more familiar with the feeling of being on the other end of the spectrum. His accelerated team only won a couple of games, so don't worry,  he's also learning to be a good sport. ;)

One of his teammates had a brother that coached, and he did a really great job. When we started the season I never would have guessed that they would end up winning every game, but I guess you just never know. Spencer has had a lot of fun. And I'll be the first to admit that it is more fun to watch my boys win then it is to watch them loose. The last game was so intense! I did feel really bad for the other team. They had some great players and played an amazing game. We were behind the whole game, but came back at the end.

Spencer ended up shooting free throws from a technical foul with less then 4 seconds left. He made both shots, and we won the game.

His team:

Our little raptor

Have you seen Jurassic Park? Remember that part where the velociraptors keep jumping at the electric fence? The guide says it's because they are checking for weaknesses in the fence so they can find a way through.

Well we have our very own velociraptor. We put a gate at the bottom of our stairs because Rachel could get through all barriers. No joke. The problem was that it's only a tight fit at the bottom, because the newel posts are rounded at the top. She learned that if she pushed on it hard enough she could get it to lean far enough in that she could make a gap small enough to squeeze through. Clever girl.
So Wes pulled out the bungee cords to attach it more securely.

Just minutes after he re-enforced it, this is what I found:

Thankfully there is no way that little noggin will fit through those posts! 

What will she think of next?

I am surrounded. . .

by crazy people. Just in case you were wondering.

Rachel's favorite part of the day

Rachel gets SO excited when her brothers come home from school. If the weather is warm enough, I can open up the front door so she can watch for them out the screen. When she sees them coming she starts squealing and bouncing up and down.

They of course are always happy to see her too.Who wouldn't want to be greeted by this cute face?

Tyler is 11!

Yesterday was Tyler's birthday. Number 11. Now he is officially a Boy Scout and can go on overnight campouts. So crazy. Just like with Brandon, we had a quiet night at home. I made his favorite dinner (he requested meatloaf), then we had cake. Which was actually Symphony Pie, also per his request.

And last but not least, he opened presents.

Which turned out to be a little less than stellar because we somehow LOST his most important present. No joke. I've turned the house inside out and I can't find it anywhere. Total mom fail. :(

Tyler, we hope that we know that we love the heck out of you, even if we did somehow manage to misplace your birthday present. It has nothing to do with you. Promise.