First Loose Tooth

Greetings friends and family,

Another holiday weekend is behind us and the work/school week is under way.  I made good use of the time off by hanging out with the twins as much as possible.  Most of the time they just want to stay at home and play, but unfortunately i can't do that all the time.  I invite them along for errands and occasionally they volunteer to come along.  Both of them joined me so i stopped by the local frozen yogurt place for a few small cups of delight.

Freedom of choice is a powerful thing.  The only area I applied guidance for in the yogurt store was the amount.  They chose from 15 flavors of yogurt and 30 different toppings.  The quicker they learn to choose for themselves WITH consequences (good and bad) the better I'll sleep when they get out of high school.  As I've always said, "we are free to choose, but not free to choose the consequences of the choice."  Too many parents allow their kids to choose, but then shield them from the consequences of their choice.  That's not love.  that's destructive to the maturing process.  It's much better to allow kids to make simple choices and fail when the stakes are low.  In this case, Layla chose to add coconut shavings and then decided she doesn't like it.  I had two choices:

1. say, "that's ok, i'll get you a new one." and buy another yogurt
2. say, "sorry you don't like coconut, but now you know!  eat it if you like or you can throw it away, but you can't get another one."

I choose #2 almost every time.  I am the biggest fan ever of showing mercy (not getting bad consequences they deserve) but it is an act of mercy at my discretion, not an entitlement for them to avoid consequences.  The most troubling part is that I know adult children who have a mommy or daddy who fix situations by keeping them from bad consequences that should result from bad choices.   Luckily, i'm not responsible for other people's parenting philosophy...  Just my two.  

Layla is looking and acting more like a young lady than I anticipated.

Easton's looks are not what surprises me about him.  It's his humor and interests that cause me to think, "wow, i didn't see THAT coming."

We did a kid-swap with our friends for a sleep-over.  Their boy came to our house and our girl went to their house.  Our plans included 24 hours of kid-swap time and then both of our families would hang out at our house for labor day.  Since I knew the boys would be spending the full day at our house I did some research for how to spend the day out having fun at a cheap price.  The local aquatic center provide a starting point with 2 hours worth of diving and water slides for $4.25.  The last time i took the twins here they were too short to go down the water slide.  This time Easton was well over the height limit.

Both of them jumped from the high dive, which took some courage.

We drove straight from the sun and heat to A/C cooled darkness at the $2 theater.  We enjoyed the movie "How to Train Your Dragon 2".  

Summer time in Arizona is the best time to catch movies because when the temperatures drop next month it'll be time to spin up the outdoor activities again.  After the movie we stopped by a sandwich shop and finished off our day out on the town.  They were worn out by bed time.  I stood, awake, victoriously after snoring was heard coming from their room.  Go me!

I thought we'd reached a magical parenting moment when kids can get up and take care of their own breakfast so that we can sleep in.  Kendra put out two bowls of cereal for the kids with a note to tell the boys what to do.  We woke up to sounds of the boys playing star wars.  We walked into the kitchen to find two undisturbed bowls of cereal.  like this.

apparently, they needed instructions prior to bed time so they knew what to do when they woke up.  Hopefully a quick fix for this coming Saturday so we can sleep in.

Easton's tooth is confirmed as loose and on its way out!  Layla lost two teeth at the dentist so this is the first naturally occurring loose tooth in the Webb house.

I convinced him to let me tie a string to a model rocket and yank his tooth out during blast off.  I'm serious.  this is not a joke.  I told him he could have his battery powered titanic ship if he let me do it.  he agreed!  now we just need to make sure the timing of the loose tooth coincides with a time when we can launch the rocket.

Kendra is full speed ahead in ministry mode.  She's spending many hours per week on the phone, sending emails, and meeting directly with people who need help.  An evening appointment to work with a lady led to Easton joining me for the weekly trip to the ice skating rink for Layla's lesson.  She told all the girls "I don't ever want to stop ice skating again like we did in the summer when the rink was closed for remodeling".  Princess Anna of Arendelle (Frozen) has nothing on my ice princess, Layla.

Easton and I wore our matching Minion hats.  We got several compliments from the hockey mom's and instructors as we cheered for Layla.

She's learning some advanced balance moves and doing very well compared with her peers.  Some of them have been skating since they were 2.  She's catching up quickly.  The way she comes alive on the ice is something difficult to capture in a picture or description, but this is the best i could do.

And in the interest of full disclosure, not everything at the Webb house is rainbows and unicorn mist.  My car was broken.  I've owned it for 10 years and never had it in the shop for anything other than the normal consumable parts replacement.  It's been a great car and I thought this time it might be something expensive.     I dropped the car off at the auto repair place and jogged home.  the 100 degree temperature at 7:00 pm made for a sweaty few miles of a jog home, but I needed to get a little exercise anyway.  Turned out to be just the battery and Costco pro-rated the battery by giving me 60% of the cost back!  I am thankful for the cheap solution and happy to keep driving my paid-off car.  

Time to get ready for the weekend and prepare the rocket for tooth extraction!

See you soon.