Give a Little

Okay, so I never do this. But I have to give a little shout out to one of the most driven, caring little guys I have ever encountered. His name is Riley, and he is the wonderful offspring of a fellow expat from our Dresden experience (see adorable picture below).  He is collecting donations for St. Baldrick's, a childhood cancer research charity. If he reaches his goal of $2,000 in donations, he'll shave his head. To be honest, I have a tendency to donate to causes that involve a disease of which someone I know has already been afflicted. This time I donated in hopes that this will help one day prevent anyone I know from being afflicted. And we all know who I'm talking about.
That and the fact that I'm a sucker for head shaving fundraisers.
If you have an extra minute and a few dollars to spare, please consider making a donation. It's legit. And it's a dang better way to spend today's Starbuck's money. Over and out.

St. Baldrick's Donation Link

The Cavity of the Situation

Austin had his second official Dentist visit this week. He did had a check up at his Kita in Germany, but all I got from the sheet they sent home and 2 hours on Google Translate was that his teeth were "good". I don't count that one. 

So off we went to a highly recommended Pediatric Dentist who also happens to be 5 miles from our house. Score. Amazingly, Austin was very compliant. It may have had something to do with the toys and attractive women scattered throughout the office. Chris already asked if he could get his teeth cleaned there. The answer was no. 

So there was some good news. His teeth look pretty good... EXCEPT.

Except for those small black dots starting to form on his two top back molars. You know, the ones that you use to chew candy and are located back far enough that you gag every time someone touches them with a toothbrush? Yeah. Those. And those black dots mean that cavities are starting to set up camp.

This is where I felt like a total crap mother. Please don't pity me.  I deserve it.

Because I know exactly how this came about.

German Gummy Bears. The culprit.

The good news is that there will be no drilling, yet. But I do have to brush Austin's teeth twice a day without mercy. AND then a third time at night after the second brushing, with a special gel. Oh, and we need to floss his molars. I think I'm going to need a chart. But I will not slack off on this. This kid is going to have the best dang teeth his genetics will allow and I'm going to be there every brush of the way. Gulp.

See? Awesome toys even in the exam room!

He seriously loves this place. He even asked if he could come back "toomawdow".

He chose the Tom Cruise shades over the children's ones.

He is such a big boy.

 This is where we learned that he has the most sensitive gag reflex of any child on the face of the planet.

It was of course exaggerated due to the circumstances. 

I think the Dental Hygienist was secretly in fear of being spewed on.

After all was said and done, he was escorted by the Dentist (who he loved and is the nicest person ever) to a treasure box. She told him he could get one toy for being so good. At this point I turned my back for two minutes to pay for the tooth gel and make an appointment for 6 months from now to check on the cavity campsites. When I turned back around Austin was smiling quite largely and announced that he was ready to go. He then proceeded to grasp the top of his goodie bag with iron fists and try to hide the fact that it had grown 3 times in size. After inspection I found that not only does my child have the beginnings of cavities, he is also either (A) very poor at counting or (B) a kleptomaniac. I helped him take the 8 extra toys out of his bag and we left with one toy as he was promised. And maybe that one other small toy that was stuck in his coloring sheet and I accidentally missed during the shakedown...

West Virginia Jokes

We've all heard them. The terrible jokes about West Virginia. Even I make them sometimes...

But just so you know, if YOU make one in my presence, I'll slug you in the mouth for bad talking about the Mountain Mama. Cause' I love her. And we're not even related.

Bubble Wreath

I've admitted this before, but I'll do it again. I'm a wanna be Martha Stewart. I lack the skill and patience required to execute most craft projects, but I still give it a go every now and then.
Since Chris has been working a bit less in the last week, I decided to take a little time to myself on Saturday and head over to the local craft store to browse. But we all know that going to a craft store to browse is equivalent to going to the animal shelter to look at dogs. You're going to leave with more than you walked in with. Chris might have been happier if I came home with a dog though.
I had been pondering different wreath ideas for the front door, and had one in mind, but couldn't find the stuff I needed. So I had to improvise. And believe it or not, I kinda love it. It was extremely relaxing to make (except for the three times I burnt myself with the hot glue gun- does that ever stop happening?).
It's not a typical wreath, but it's different. And I like different. Unless my meat tastes different, then that usually ends badly.

I apologize in advance for my poor photo quality.

I was too busy channeling Martha to go get a real camera. So the phone camera had to do.

 1 flat styrofoam white wreath.

1 3 lb. bag of flat shiny marbles.

977 clear glue sticks.

And a partridge in a pear tree.

 The assembly went super fast.

It's a good thing I ran out of the marbles, because I was eyeing another layer on the outer edge.

And this bad boy was getting HEAVY.

 It looks like bubble wrap!!!!

Must. Not. Try. To. Pop.

Ta Da!

I originally bought a gorgeous ribbon to hang it with (a la my last wreath with duct tape debacle).

But it was decided that the ribbon may not hold up such a heavy wreath. And Chris was not a fan of having a huge bubble wrap looking thing crashing through our storm door at 3:00 in the morning. 

2012

For New Year's Eve we ventured a few miles down the road to our friend's house to enjoy a kid friendly party. And by kid friendly, I mean we had champagne and sushi for dinner while our children watched cartoons and ran amuck. Everybody wins!
As I reflected on my last few minutes of 2011, I was interrupted by the laughter of friends, while watching the bodies of our children hurtling through space over the couch, and I realized that we are dang fortunate to be living this life. Here's to another year of working hard and it paying off. And Austin not breaking his arm while jumping off of the host's couch.

Yep. SO thankful for the no broken arm thing.

Sweetest baby.

 What 4 kids under the age of 6 look like at 11:45 pm.

 Last photo of 2011.

 5 attempts with the automatic timer and Chris and I both running full speed around a corner in our socks = our first picture in 2012.

 Home by 1:00 am and Austin needed to watch a Curious George to unwind.

Party animal.

A Very Taylor Christmas

I don't know about you all, but I'm spent after this whole Christmas thing. 

Did I have a blast hosting my parents, my in-laws, and my sister-in- law and her husband?

Did I go out and buy a new bed for our guest bedroom and a new dining room table to seat 8? 

Did I almost loose my marbles when the day before my parents arrived my dishwasher stopped working and my ice machine went on strike?

Did I secretly love every crazy second of hosting my very first big family Christmas?

H- E- double hockey sticks yes I did!

And now a few pictures.

First Christmasy thing to do?

The Victorian Walk in Downtown Saratoga Springs.

It was eh. I was a bit spoiled by the Christmas Markets in Germany last year.

But they did have free cotton candy and balloon animals.

Oh yeah. A Gingerbread Man from Mrs. London's.

It was a bit too fancy for Austin's taste.

He ate the buttons and then moved on.

Next step to Christmas cheer?

Build a Gingerbread Train!

This equals me going all OCD and trying not to freak out while Austin eats the candy pieces I just painstakingly stuck on with the icing.

I finished the train and he was all hopped up on sugar.

Then you drive 30 minutes to the "cool" tree farm where they have Santa and reindeer.

And your son falls asleep 5 minutes before you get there and you sit in the car while your husband picks out a tree by himself and you have to use 4 wheel drive to get out of the parking lot.

Finally. Christmas Eve.

And yes, Austin got a kitchen from Santa. 

He's going to be all Anthony Bourdain when he's older.

The Christmas Goose.

I named him Ebenezer Goose.

And the playing with the toys in pajamas.

But above all else, we were with our families.

Most of them. My two brothers had military obligations and couldn't be with us. But that's when Skype comes into play. You can't smell brother farts that way. And they haven't figured out how to administer wedgies and noogies via video chat. So it's a win win for me.

I'm feeling very thankful at the moment. Thankful for our blessings, thankful for our families, and thankful that my dad got the snow blower working before our first big snow of the year.

Over and out.