Closing the Gap

This Spring Whitney got braces and an expander. Poor her! A few weeks later she had a gap between her two front teeth. "Wow, it is really doing it's job," said her 12 year old orthodontist. Good! Then the gap grew, and grew, and grew. I was worried. Again, I was reassured it was doing it's job. Once the cranking stopped I felt good that it would soon close.

When the gap was at it's peek I told Whit, "Wow, you could drive a truck through that gap." Probably not the words I should have chosen. I tried to redeem myself and I said, "Soon it will be a VW Bug." Ugh, nice try. "Then it will be a bike and then a dead end," says wise ol' Whitney. A couple weeks ago she got what the ortho called a double-power chain put on her two front teeth and guess who texted me from a sleepover with, "It's a dead end!"?

Take a look at the evidence...

This is Whitney's Instagram handy work! Look at the huge difference.

She is closing the gap on becoming a beautiful young woman, as well as becoming a teenager soon than later. But we can wait for that!

Crunchy PB&J

Our family loves the show The Next Food Network Star. It airs in the summer and has become a fun tradition for all of us... even the boys in our family. 2011's winner was Jeff Mauro, known as The Sandwich King. For some reason I decided to record his show last week and I found the craziest recipe... Crunchy Fried PB&J. I realize I neglected to put the word fried in my title, that must have been on purpose... I am terrible at frying and really, it isn't fried.

The title of this episode was "Sweet and Yummy Dessert Sandwiches". He started the show by making a turtle caramel cookie ice cream sandwich, the size of my head. Then he made the PB&J and then... he says "wash it down with a decadent chocolate cake shake, and you'll be ready for a nap." Or cardiac arrest, one or the other.

Whitney and Tennison saw the PB&J being made and voted I make it! It has been 3 days and I'm still stuffed to the rim. Notice I served it with a big ol' fruit salad. It will make you feel more balanced.

It is a little tough to see the layers, but there is crunchy peanut butter, bananas, potato chips with ridges, and raspberry preserves. The coating? Sweet mother! Crushed Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Yes, download it now!! I dare ya!!  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/jeff-mauro/crunchy-fried-pb-and-j-recipe/index.html



Homecoming 2012

Again I am struck with the idea that life is flying on past. My oldest went to homecoming and had a great time!! Here is a peek into the evening she had...

Reagan went outside for a couple pictures before getting completely ready!

 

Let the primping begin!!

Time for everyone to take their places for a ton of photo-taking!

Mykaila, Reagan, Hope and Bree.

 

When the picture taking ended, none too soon for the girls,

they had some pre-dance food to enjoy!

Cheers!

11:15 p.m. ~ they still look so pretty after nearly 3 hours of dancing fun!

Then they fell into bed with smiles on their face I'm sure.

Fall is just around the corner!

I started photo-bloggin' about my tree on Ten's birthday, the first day of Spring. Now here we are September 20th, what I would say is the first day of Fall.The calendar says it's on Saturday, but that works too!

 

 

 

 

With the crisp air, the chance to sleep with the windows open, the leaves starting to change, and football season... yep, I said football... we know Fall is in the air. Enjoy the season, it just doesn't last long enough for me.

And Baby Made Three

Life can throw you a curve ball every so often. In our family's case, they are in the form of brand new babies. We got a call last Thursday from the adoption agency... "How are you guys? So, what are you doing for the next few days?" By Saturday evening I had our third baby girl in my backseat and was praying for safety as I drove her home.

Our little sleepover lasted two nights. Two nights that have left Scott and I extremely tired! I'm flat out WHOOPED!! I'm almost too old for this middle of the night business. Thank goodness it was only 2 nights, she/we were up a ton. Thankfully Scott is just as committed to this that he is a huge help. I think he did more than me last night... shhh, don't tell him I said so.

Good grief, her new parents will love her to pieces... sleepless nights and all. We handed her over this evening to very shocked and thrilled first time parents. Tennison was in love again, Reagan had nicknames, Whitney wanted to keep her, and I want to keep in touch!! We will too, they already said we're family and stuck with them. I love this part of the job, new extended family. It is like we've had 3 of our own, loved on 3 for a time and will have all 6 forever in our lives!!

Babies are a blessing in whatever form and fashion they come into our families. We're so honored to be a part of each of these little girl's lives. Tennison has put in an order for a boy next time.

B2S 6-8 p.m.

That means back to school night for Reagan... written in pink, her color, on our calendar. Specific colors for each of us means we know right away who is where and when!! Just the facts ma'am.

Ok, so being in a high school again makes you feel like you're going to high school again. By third period I could tell what each of these adults must have been like when they were freshmen, juniors, whatever. This one dude came flying by me with his plaid shirt tucked into his jean shorts, cranked to his chin with a belt strapped tight and was seriously on a mission. I thought, nerd! Sorry, but really, it is back to school night you don't have to be on time, there is no grade buddy. Then there was Scott and I. When I stopped to say hi to a friend he's standing there like, Come on Kissel, let's go! I'm thinking, We have time!  I can guarantee you he never ditched a high school class... not a one. Again, I'm pretty sure this was who we were in high school.

I wrote a not about each teacher during the night as we went from class to class. Here is the break down on her teachers without using their names, listed in class order:

1. Rock Star, looks like Pat Benatar. Reagan said she told the kids she used to dress punk rock, "I think she still does because she wears black eyeliner all around her eyes." She told my fellow mom-friend, "Love ya" on the way out of class. Ugh.
2. No Show! She had her own B2S to attend. I know I would have loved her, I loved her room. Art teacher! I asked Reagan if I could volunteer in the class for free art lessons. She'd rather poke her eyes out than have me volunteer. I was only (slightly) kidding!
3. Miss Outdoorsy Lovin' Her Job! I mean really, you get to teach photography all day to kids who actually want to be there!! That is the life. I was so pumped when Reagan said they have a dark room, get to use film cameras, and develop their film. That was such a highlight to my junior high experience. The smell brought me right back!
4. Happy Pappy! She came bustin' in the room like she was ready to sell us some Pampered Chef items. Loved the enthusiasm. She went from being a chemist at a pharmaceutical company to teaching high school biology - God bless her!!
5. Give me an "E", give me an "N"...! I couldn't decide if we were in flight attendant school or in cheer leading practice. SHE LOOKED 12!!! I'm sure she'll teach 'em sum good englush. But my, oh my, how did I get to be this much older than my kids teachers?
6. Hmmm... that is all I can say! The other thing I can say is, Praise God I don't have to take history again... and especially from him. Sadly, his last name practically mirrors ours.
7. Dig the curtains! Mr. French Teacher had some slammin' decor. The homemade curtains with happy fabric made me chuckle. Funnier yet? The dude was a fellow bagel employee with Scott. So glad he didn't do anything illegal while we knew him :) Oh, he's also from France. Could that be even cooler?
8. Miss Perfect, prim and proper ready to go. She may have been 12 and a half, still super young. She is the Advisory teacher. This is a class where they have 25 fellow freshmen they travel with over their 4 years in high school. They'll get to know each other through team building, college prep, and other things I can't remember. But what I do remember is that this is the group she'll sit with at graduation. Too cool.

There you have it. I now have faces with names and humor to go along with it. When I hear about the punk rocker I'll know exactly who she's talking about and secretly wonder if she really does "love ya" when she says it. And when she's in French I'll smile thinking about his accent and his curtains.

Happy B2S night everyone!!!

Week of Change

This week has been full of change for sure. Not only did school start for our kids, Reagan is trying out the bus ("they are all slightly scary with a few exceptions"), Whitney did softball try-outs all week, and Tennison has a lot going on with school and recess and football and friends... and slept in until 7:50 when I woke him up this morning!!

Scott turned 41... happy forty-oneth!!

All said and done, I think I had the most change this week... well, physically at least. I had another basal cell removed last week and asked for this bump on my arm to be taken off too. It was something that started growing in May and my dermatologist had a name for it, but no concern. When I was there last week I said, "It's buggin' me, can you get this too?" He took it off, a big hole was left behind like a bullet wound - it got smaller as it healed. I got a call Monday, "Hi, I have your biopsy results, give me a call." That is never good. Called back and this is the first time I've been told I have a melanoma...

mel·a·no·ma/ˌmeləˈnōmə/

Noun:

A tumor of melanin-forming cells, typically a malignant tumor associated with skin cancer.

After a few tears we made an appointment for Thursday to have it taken out completely. My doctor came in looking baffled at me, they never show up like this did - no color, no mole, no nothin'!! Looked like a zit almost. He said it was my persistence that allowed us to catch it in the superficial stage - meaning not deep. So glad. Brace your self, here is the result of my being persistent...

My view! What I look down at, behind my left arm, on my tricep.

He needed a 1 centimeter border to remove a clean border.

He drew a 2 centimeter circle around my "bullet wound"

to make sure he could then close it up well. Ugh!

Scott's legs made it into this shot...

Talk about a good husband. He watched the whole thing, never got sick, even took pics and videos if you are the kind of wing-nut who wants to see!! He was getting ready to bandage it back up. I was scared to leave it exposed.

Count 'em baby!! 25 ever lovin' stitches!

Persistence got me those!!!

That is my arm straight by my back...

really hoping that spot fills in!!

 

My soapbox just got bigger and I'm warning you now: If you don't wear sunscreen in my presence I will tell you to wear it and proceed to point to all my spots! Then I'll leave you alone and give you my dermatologists name if you need him.

 

So glad the week is over!! I hope you had a wonderful week of change too!!