What happens to your teeth after they come out of your mouth and the tooth faerie takes them?

The tooth faerie grabs them and replaces them with a gold coin for me.  That's worth one dollar.  But Lilli's tooth faerie gives her a dollar instead of a gold coin.  Me and Britt shares the same tooth faerie.  I wonder what Julia's tooth faerie leaves, a golden coin or a dollar.  Ahna said when she was little her tooth faerie left normal coins instead of a dollar.  Momma got all of her teeth back after she losed them all, they are in her drawer.

I think she puts them in the bag, a looks which one is prettier.  She keeps them in a locker.  the tooth faerie has one big locker for everyone in the world.  She has one for me, and another one for Britt, and one day Rebecca will get to use her's too.  They are in a locker so that they are safe and don't rot.  They probably give them back at the end, so that they can use that locker for someone else.

What do you like to do on rainy days?

We haven't had a rainy day in a while, but they can be fun.  I like to play Wii, Nintendo, and any video game.  I also like to sometimes do puzzles and watch movies.  I also like to make blanket forts.  Sometimes when it rains, Momma lets me put on my rain poncho and boots.  Then I go outside and pretend to be a Jedi.  I like to also pretend to that Tatoine is being flooded.  That the towns are made out of mud bricks and they are falling, and that bad guys are throwing more water on the roofs to make them collapse.  Especially ones with tanning booths, so that they ruin the tanning booths just for fun.  Until the Jedis came.  Then I like to pretend that I fight them, and Darth fighter and his son run off in an X-wing.  I never catch them before they get to a base to use hyper speed and escape.  I also sometimes like to pretend that T-Rex's are chasing me through the rain forest.  Then there was the time that me and Momma and Ruth and Rebecca were just walking and I had on my Indiana Jones stuff.

Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?  And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost. - Luke 15:8-9

I have no idea how many times I have read or heard preached the parable of the lost coin.  In the last year, I can recall a sermon at a meeting, contrasting the lost sheep (wandered away), the lost coin (lost through no action on it's part), and the prodigal son (willfully left).  It was a great sermon about the links that God goes to for his children.  Recently though I read some thoughts that gave me a little bit different point of view.

I have before read that the coin a drachma, which isn't worth all that much.  I have the argument that she must have been a poor woman, she had 10 of these coins, and so even though it wasn't worth much it was 1/10 of what she had (in contrast to 1/100 sheep or 1/2 sons).  Even so, I've wondered about it.  After all, even if it was a vast sum of money in her life, money can be earned again.  I've wondered if this coin has more significance than just a coin.

2-24, 9 months old!

Katherine,

1-27, Making Tuna Fish with Momma.

One of your two bottom teeth seems to be all the way in, the other is in a bit, but not really all the way.  You don't seem to be working on any other teeth, but you are constantly chewing.  I say it all the time, but you are the mouthiest kid we have every had.  You literally are always chewing on something, and rarely the somethings that are approved baby toys.  You have a strong liking for power cords and paper.  In fact, you had rather eat paper than Cheerios.  I know because I put both on your high chair tray yesterday, and you promptly shoved the entire post it note in your mouth and I had to fish it out.  As you might expect from someone who finds paper so very tasty, there are still no foods that you have refused.  We are doing more and more table food, we just gave you ground hamburger from tacos and lasagna in the last week and a half.  You are nursing less and less.  You probably take a bottle of formula about half the time now.  I'm trying to keep you nursing, and hate giving you a bottle, because that just makes it less likely to be able to keep up my supply.  You still want to nurse, ESPECIALLY when you are sleepy.  In fact it's about the only way to get you to sleep.  But, you don't seem to be getting all that much milk that way these days.

1-29, Eating Cheerios while everyone else does school.

Your sleeping has improved some in the last few weeks.  There are still nights where you cry in your bed for close to 2 hours, but they are fewer than before.  And you have only woke up during the night 3 times in the last 2.5 weeks.  That's a relief.  Your Momma is a serious grouch on no sleep.  You have also gone back to napping around lunch for about 20 minutes, but occasionally as long as an hour and 20 minutes in the last few weeks.  You don't nap every day, but when we are at home you do.  And if we are out and about, driving for 20 minutes or so, you almost always fall asleep in the carseat.

1-31, Trying to help me feed you supper.

You definitely have a clear preference for me these days.  You are still happy to go to anyone, and to let anyone hold you, but you prefer me.  Last Saturday I went out in the yard with Daddy a minute to talk about which trees were our priorities on our tree trimming budget.  While I was out there, you were in the floor with the older kids, playing.  You decided though that you needed me.  So off you set crawling to our bedroom crying, but I wasn't there.  So back up you came, and headed to the front porch.  You have learned if I'm not in the main part of the house, if you can't find me, I'm usually in one of those two places.  Britt trailed behind you, and when we walked around the house, to the front, he said, "Kate's been looking for you."  You immediately smiled when you saw me, and quit crying when I picked you up.  You just wanted me.

2-15, Playing on the front porch.

Another day that week, after ball practice I went to get a shower.  Daddy was cooking supper, and you again were in the living room with everyone else.  When you decided you needed me, you started crying, when I didn't immediately appear you started down the hallway to our room.  When I got out of the shower you were standing at the side of my bed, holding on to it and crying, and apparently you had been doing that nearly 20 minutes.  You were convinced I was sitting on the bed, and you just weren't tall enough to see over the top.  You looked shocked when I came walking out of the bathroom, and dropped to all fours and made a beeline for me to pick you up.

2-1, Getting ready to go for a walk.

Little Love, we adore you so much.  Everyone remarks just how happy and content you are.  You bring such joy to everyone in this family.

I love you,
Love,
Momma

2-24, Pick me up already, Momma!

Rebecca,

Five years old, what a big girl you are.  You are such a firecracker - independent, opinionated, stubborn when you don't want to do something, fierce when you do.  You are boisterous and wild, either passionate and enthusiastic, or heels dug in and obstinate.  There is no middle ground with you.  You love things or hate them.  You have already told me today, with much shriekiness, that this is "ABSOLUTELY THE BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!!!" And you have also told me that it's the "WORST BIRTHDAY, REALLY WORST BIRTHDAY that ANYone EVER HAD!"


You are entertaining.  Our class clown, always making us laugh.  You are so silly.  You have the ability like Grumps to laugh at yourself and find humor in the most unlikely places.  It never seems to bother you when others laugh at you.  I admire that you don't seem to take yourself too seriously.


You're unbelievably bright with school.  This year you were so insistent that you needed your own school books too.  I didn't intend to start you early.  I was in no rush, and I assumed that like last year, you'd last a few weeks, and then be "done."  But you have shocked me.  You have been busy, and left me often scrambling to assemble something for you.  I had lots of partially finished, assorted workbooks, from dollar stores, free curriculum tables, and friends.  You have nearly finished them all.  You've played lots of ABC mouse and other learning games, and have been begging me to teach you to read, so we started last week.  You have been so excited to start the Alpha Phonics book that the other two have been doing all year, and to sit in with them as they do All About Spelling.  You are the child who I punish by taking away school if you don't do your chores.  You just love learning, and love school.  I hope you keep that love of learning, even now I would go back to college and write papers, if only I didn't have to pay a fortune to do it.  I too love learning.


You remain a total wimp when it comes to housework.  Not so unlike me in that either.  I hate housework, particularly washing dishes.  You are more than happy when given the choice to let someone else have your money and them do your chores.  Again, not so much like your momma.  I'd love to pay someone to come clean house for me.  Unfortunately we are going to keep at it, because as I frequently point out, one day I'm going to kick you out of my house, and you are going to have to be able to keep your own.


You have been a great big sister, to Kate.  While you often complain in the car about having to help her hold her bottle, its mostly because it keeps you from holding the video player and watching your movie. You are quick to sing to her and play with her in the floor.  You often feel the need to tell her not to do stuff, and you seem to like to be in charge of watching her.  Another little power diva in the making.  You can't seem to wait till she can talk back to you.  Ruth can't wait till you and Kate can share a room, and you seem just as thrilled with the idea.


Starshine, you have so much life and energy.  Such possibility and potential.  I really believe that you can do or accomplish anything that you set your mind too.  I believe that you only have the limits that you set yourself.  Of all our children, you seem the most likely to challenge and overcome obstacles, and with your many interest - I can really imagine you doing almost anything with your life.

I love you, wild child of mine, I hope you always have your adventuresome spirit and zest for life.
Love,
Momma

Hello Ruth,

Happy Valentine's Day.  You are starting to get so much older and more mature now.  But you still believe in Santa Claus, the Tooth Faerie, and the Elf on the Shelf.  You still have the whimsical belief in things like faeries and magic.

Well, we have gone through most of another school year.  You and Britt are sharing 3rd grade, I think, maybe.  As you can tell the older you get, the more involved and difficult the school work becomes.  You know have more difficult words reading, you are learning to spell, and that you are doing a higher level of math.  We also have started some speech classes to help you pronounce words better.  The only problem is that Momma has to take you to the local elementary school every Wednesday, right before they let out school.  Momma always feels a bit rushed trying to get in and out.  At first you didn't want to do the speech class.  I tried to encourage you to let you know, that they make speech class real interesting and fun, one on one, or with a few others.  Britt and you seem to have really enjoyed listening to the Harry Potter series as well.  In fact, you are on the very last audiobook of the series.

You are now starting your first year of actual softball, and a co-worker of mine is your coach.  You went on at length yesterday afternoon after your first practice about how he is the best coach.  Hopefully this will give you the opportunity to meet girls your age and make friends other than just your homeschool friends that we spend lots of time with.  Also, I hope this gives you a chance to grow more athletic.  Where you can enjoy doing fun things outside like riding your bike, climbing trees, and playing softball.  These are all good types of fun exercise, that help you to grow stronger each day.  You've really improved riding your bike this year.

We've added some other extracurricular activities as well this year.  We have 4-H:  where you have a sewing club and pig co.  We are looking at the possibility of you showing a pig at the county fair here next year.  You've also joined GEMS club, which gives you the opportunity to do arts and crafts and meet other girls your age.  One bright spot has been with our homeschool families in this area.  You have found a good friend in Tilly.  You seem to get along and enjoy each other, spending time playing the same games, and having the same likes.

You seem to enjoy helping Momma with Kate, and helping take on a few more responsibilities around the house.  You help alot by feeding Kate her baby food.  You've even helped change a diaper or two.  I want to encourage you to continue to be more helpful and resourceful around the house.  Especially with Momma teaching three children, it helps her to have less stress about the house.

Ruth, what I want you to grow in, is to be more studious with your school work, with your other activities like softball and 4-H.  I want you to really invest more time and effort into learning.  I believe that not only are you capable of doing these things, but of really thriving and enjoying the fruits of your labor.  But just like life, not all things are fair, but being studious and pushing yourself you can really grow.  One thing about being studious, is that you never stop learning, and in some ways it's like an investment.  The time and hard work that you put in now, will really pay off tomorrow and in many years to come.

Love you, Ruth,
Daddy

PS - Can I get rid of the cat now?

Dear Rebecca,

You are now almost 5 years old.  You are now really good at your tricycle.  You seem to be excited and ready to move on to the next step of a bicycle.  You are also now starting your second year of t-ball, which I have the misfortune to coach again.  Hopefully this year you can listen to your coach better, I doubt it though, even after just the 2nd practice I have trouble keeping you on point.


Now that you are almost 5 years old, we have you doing quite a bit more around the house.  You are now washing dishes on a daily basis, folding towels, and putting up your clothes after Momma washes and folds them.  You are very proud of the fact that you have learned to fold socks together.


Also, this has been your first true year of starting school.  So far, out of three children, you are the only one excited about it.  Or maybe you are just too naive to know how much work it is.  You've really taken off with your math skills.  Before you really couldn't count to ten, and now you can count, add and subtract small numbers.  You seem to really enjoy learning to write your alphabet, and your computer learning games like ABC Mouse.  Momma says you've already asked her about starting to learn to read.  When we had you take a speech test at school, they were very impressed with how large of a vocabulary you already have.


Now that we've had Kate here since the end of May.  You've been eager and willing to help take care of her or playing with her.  Although we have gotten on to you for picking up Kate, and putting her on the couch.  But you do seem to want to entertain her and keep her from getting over fussy.  This is new for you, being the older sister.  You'll learn that there are more responsibilities now being an older sister.  Also with Kate getting more independent and she is starting to learn new things, your responsibilities for her will change as you get older.

Rebecca, things I want you to work on this year is being polite, and use manners.  Being polite is something you try to do every day, it's based off the golden rule: that you treat others better, that you treat others the way you want to be treated.  This of course is easier said than done, meaning it takes lots of patience and mental fortitude to be polite and kind to one another.  Scripture says, "A soft word turneth away wrath."  This simple proverb illustrates that being polite with someone can go a long way in avoiding conflict.  Since you are a middle child, you have a tendency to cause "Trouble"; but by being polite and using the manners we try to teach you, you can be a better person.  The reason why Daddy says "No Sir" and "Yes Sir" and open doors for people is not to just be nice.  It's a little deeper than that, I want to show my appreciation for others.  So hopefully, this year we can have a more peaceful year with your brother and sisters, by being more polite with one another.

We love you,
Stop causing so much trouble,
Daddy

Dear Kate,

As I think about the movie, Zootopia, where the sloth is writing down the information, and Momma is the bunny driving everyone else nuts.  I start your first true post.

I'm happy to say that you finally have two very small, barely showing teeth.  That Momma has been prophesying since you were three months old.  But thankfully, they are barely popping up out of the skin, so it doesn't ruin your toothless grin.  I'm sad to say, that Momma has not given you a haircut.  And that you at 8 months old have a beautiful rattail curl in the back.  (I am not typing that. - Momma)  Even though my wife doesn't remember the 80s, that is where it came from.

Obviously you have changed considerably since the last post.  You are able to pick yourself up and cruise around furniture.  Plus not only that, you can crawl all the way around the house.  This weekend for the first time, you crawled up steps for the first time.  Right during the Florida Fellowship Meeting, you watched Henry Mizell a minute, and then as if you were a pro followed suit, copying him.

You also are enjoying lots of different types of food, from fun things like bananas and applesauce to green peas and squash.  You are also capable of picking up small items and eating them.  You do this on the floor and at your tray.  We are happy to say that you at least enjoy everything we have fed you so far.  Which is really helpful, since your other siblings hate, hate green peas.  Hopefully you'll continue to learn to eat more solid foods, because squash is cheaper than lots of cans of formula.

Kate, you mostly seem to be a happy baby.  That when I come in from work, your eyes light up and you smile really big.  And when I lead singing, you always swing around to look for me and smile. You seem to have a good time playing with your brother and two sisters.  And they also like getting attention from you.

We can't complain, except when it comes to sleeping.  Lately you have been disruptive when it comes to my quality of sleep.  You seem to want to eat late at night, and then also, multiple times during the night - at 2 and 4 am.  It makes it very difficult to get some good sleep, hearing you cry.

To wrap things up, is sleep a character quality?  (No! -Momma) Kate, you are in a family with lots of different crazy people.  You have the OCD.  You have the Ninja fighting, nerf shooting, kill all the aliens type.  You have the bossy mother hen.  You have the talking know it all.  Kate, I feel for you, as I am the only normal one in two families, you as being the only normal one are going to need lots of patience.  Patience is something you have to continually grow and improve.  Cause you can be patient with nothing else is going on.  The key is being patient when there is multiple things going on at the same time, and things are not how you want it to be.  But by being patient and understanding you can overcome problems and struggles in life.  Life in general is not easy.  You typically go from one valley to the next.  When one shoe falls, the other one comes right behind it.  Kate, I hope you are patient with your siblings.  They can be a great support and help in time, but you have to realize that you have three of them that are very strong willed, hard headed, with lots of their own ideas.

Kate, we love you very much, and sometime are saddened by how quickly you are growing up.  But we are thankful for your smiles and your affectionate nature.

Love you, Katydid.
Love, Daddy.