Elyse

 We knew this day would come soon after Elyse lost her first couple of baby teeth.  She has a tiny, tiny mouth and her new teeth were coming in stacked three deep.  The last baby tooth was pulled, along with four permenant teeth and then the braces went on last week.  They put her completely under for the tooth extraction.  She came out of it moaning to herself and staring at her arms like she didn't know what they were. I put her favorite Taylor Swift CD on while we drove home, hoping it would soothe her because she was making so much noise.  I realized during the second song that she was moaning along to the music.  It was so sad and funny at the same time.  She moaned for 45 minutes.  It was not fun to watch.  She was pretty perky in this picture because they'd just barely put the braces on.  She came home from school later that day and buried herself under a blanket moaning once again.  The first three days she was pretty sore and now she's talking with a sort of lisp as she gets used to having these things in her mouth.  She's in good company, though; a few kids at school and church have them, too.  She is seriously lamenting the fact she can't have gum or pop for two years.  If you know Elyse, you know she's a gum freak.  Maybe this will break the habit.

The fifth graders did a report on  famous american and then put on a wax museum for school and parents.  She had to research Elizabeth Blackwell, the first female doctor in the U.S., write a speech, memorize it and come up with a costume.  She said she recited her speech 96 times for the wax museum.

Skiing

While the painting was going on we thought it would be best to get the kids out of the way while scaffolding was up in the living room and entryway.  Matt had a medical conference at Boyne Mt.  We spent a couple days at the water park--Avalanche Bay--and the two oldest got to spend an afternoon skiing with dad.  It was Paul's first time skiing ever and his only new year's goal from 2011.  He thought it would help him get over his fear of heights.  Turns out he loved it, even riding the ski lift.  He passed off the first two levels at ski school and earned a cub scout belt loop to boot!

Apple Butterscotch Squares

My friend Connie recommended a cookbook to try and I just got my copy from the library.  I've made three recipes out of it so far with another four planned for this week and I love them.  Here's a recipe I took to an in-law dinner as an alternative to the other junk that is brought (I brought my own salad, too, which was good since dinner choices were full fat chicken salad, egg salad, or cheesy potatoes and not a fruit in sight):

Apple Butterscotch Squares

2 large Golden Delicious apples
1 c all purpose flour
3/4 C whole wheat flour
3/4 C granulated sugar
1/4 C ground flaxseed or wheat germ
1 t baking powder
1 t pumpkin pie spice or ground cinnamon
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
3 large eggs, beaten
1/2 C unsweetened applesauce
1/2 C canola oil
1/3 C butterscotch chips

Preheat oven to 350.  Spray a 9x14 pan with nonstick cooking spray.  Add dry ingredients in one bowl and mix.  Mix wet ingredients in another bowl.  Quarter and grate both apples with skins on and add to wet ingredients.  Pour wet over dry ingredients and stir till just combined.  Add chips and stir to combine.  Pour into pan and bake 35 minutes.

20 servings.  Per serving:  170 cal, 8g fat, 120 mg sodium, 23g carbs, 2 g fiber, 3g protein
From "No Whine With Dinner"

Pictures Halfway done with project

 These pictures were taken after painting was done, but before carpet was laid.  Here we took out a three foot section of carpet and added wood floor to connect with the wood floor in the front entryway.  This is the high traffic area of the house and the carpet always had a worn dirt track down the the center, so we just took it out.  The wood guy said after he laid down the stain that we had to absolutely stay off of it.  We kept walking around the house and going through a window to get through the basement.  We also took the kids to the church gym and Mcdonalds a lot.  Jarom still managed to run out on it once, but no baby footprints have appeared yet.

 This is how Jarom's room looked for the majority of three weeks.  There's a small pathway you can't see that goes to his bed.

 This is a bad picture.  But here's my new accent wall in my bedroom--it's a bayberry greenish color.

 The new tan, not peachy pink, walls in the majority of the house.  I didn't get pics of the kids rooms, but they are sky blue and green moss.

 My pumpkin gold music room and Matt's green study in the back.

My kitchen during all the carpet rip out (we had scouts come help us) and carpet installattion.