First encounter with the Tooth Fairy

11/12/08 Tonight Gracy decided she wanted to loose her first tooth. It was a little bit wiggly, but definately not hanging there by a thread. She didn't care. She asked me if I would put some dental floss around her tooth so she could tie the other end on the door knob. After much effort I convinced her that this probably wasn't the best idea. Her "big girl tooth" was already half-way in, right behind her loose tooth so we knew it could come out anytime. So after a few hours of tugging and yanking and wiggling and bending...

(Attempt #1 - Floss)

(Attempt #2 - Dad yanking and pulling with a napkin)

(Attempt #3 - The Ole' Biting into the Apple Trick)

(And finally... after all that... )

She pulled it out - all by HERSELF!!!

I was amazed that there were no tears, crying, yelling, fighting (let me just say that Alexys was the complete polar opposite in the teeth pulling department).

Gracy left the tooth fairy a note asking her to please leave the tooth so she could take it to show and tell at school (I really hope her teacher didn't mind). She left the tooth and a whopping $5 dollar bill. Which put a big smile on her face, and mine, because when she smiles there is the cutest gap there.

Gracy turned 7

It is really unbelievable to think of Gracy turning 7. She is a lot of things: hilarious, cute, smart, energetic, sweet, strong-minded, outgoing, talented... but one of the things I love the most is that she has always been my BABY girl. Every year on her birthday I think back to when she loved to cuddle up in my arms and sleep or sing to me. Now she thinks she is soooo big (she tries so hard to be just like her big sister). She is growing up so fast. I am so thankful to be her mom. She has a very unique spirit that I love so much.

This year we celebrated her birthday with an amazing Carnival in our backyard. There was a bounce house, a cotton candy machine, popcorn, tons and tons of goodies, prize boothes, and six different carnival game boothes! Oh, and we also had a special performance by an amazing juggler (her dad). She invited all her friends from her primary class, our neighbor friends, and her entire class from school. I'm telling you, it was so much fun!!! I couldn not have done it without the incredible help of Grandma Bonnie, Kendra, Chelsey, Preston, Dan, Brent, and Lexy & Nicole. Thanks so much for all your help.

One comment I heard from a little boy as he ran past me was "Now THiS is a PARtY!!!" It made my day. It truly was. Happy Birthday Gracy.

This is Gracy trying her luck at the fish pond. Lexy & Nicole were in charge of this boothe & they had a blast hooking prizes onto the end of the fishing pole.

Friends: Julia, Gracie, Gracy, Lucy, Savannah, Carson, & Whitney throwing darts to pop the balloons so they could win a stuffed animal.

Super Amazing, and really delicious cupcake cake. Aunt Kendra made them special for Gracy to have a carnival theme. Don't they look just like popcorn. (they are marshmallows!)

The juggling show. The kids really thought this was cool. He's juggling real eggs over Gracy. She really hoped he wouldn't drop them on her.

Metal Mouth, Brace Face...

...Just a few of the "nicknames" Lexy has thought of today. This morning she spent about two hours at the orthodontist. She has an underbite that the dentist thought would be best to start fixing now, so her we go. She was so nervous, and on the way she quietly shed a couple tears. But before she went in she said a prayer, wiped them away, and was so brave. I was so proud of her. And she did such a great job! They only put in two bands on her two back molars, and four brackets on her front top teeth for now. She looks so cute.

BEFORE
DURING

AFTER

Birthday Girl!!!

Lexy had a great birthday. We woke her up by singing her a birthday song and gave her a new outfit for school. At lunch her dad took her to Jalisco's for a special birthday lunch.

For school snack she picked brownies, her favorite, and Capri Suns. Then Grandma Bonnie threw her a "Rainy Day" themed party, thanks to our wonderful Idaho weather, Aunt Kendra made her a dessert shish-ka-bob cake, and she received exactly what she wanted.

A new soccer ball, clothes, Pet Shops, lip gloss, Barbie piano, a book about Dares to do in the summer, and her own ipod with docking station/alarm clock, a cute scarf, and a cute turquoise protector thing for her ipod. I think it was a perfect day. And I still can't believe my little girl is 10!!!

Birthday Girl

My little Lexy is turning 10 today. Ten. I can't believe it! How do they grow up so fast? Ten years ago I was 19, living in Boise with Brent, attending college at BSU, and ready to have a baby. On this exact day 10 years ago Brent took me out to dinner at a little diner in Meridian, where I spent most of the evening in the bathroom having contractions. No, I did not enjoy my dinner, and Yes, Brent did enjoy his. It felt like we were there forever. I just wanted to go home and lay down. So we did. For about 10 minutes. Until I couldn't lay there anymore. By this time my mom is calling every minute timing my contractions, freaking out, and speeding down the highway from Twin Falls hoping to make it there before the baby is born. She convinces me to go to the hospital, NOW!!!, so we do. I still can't figure out why we didn't come to that conclusion ourselves. So we get to the hospital, and just in time. Just kidding! I was there not quite two hours before she was born. She was so perfect. She was born at 11:50 pm, ten minutes before my birthday. I thought she would like it that way. Having her own special day, not having to share with her mom. But I was wrong. To this day she wonders why I couldn't have waited just ten more minutes. Ugh!!! Brent spent a couple hours with us, then had to go do our paper route, we hadn't thought about getting a sub set up to do it for us. You might think what in the world was he doing a paper route for? Well, we did a route together for money. NOT! You don't get paid that much. Actually, I don't know why we were doing a paper route. We were just crazy, young college kids. Did we need a reason? Anyways, back to the baby.... We had thought of a few names we liked but couldn't come to a conclusion. If you know Brent and I very well you know that we are extremely indecisive. Therefore, we wrote down the names we liked, put them in a hat, and drew one. What we drew was Alexys Bay Keim. Such a sweet name for a sweet girl, huh. That's what we thought. But, NO! Lexy recently found out about the whole name thing and wanted to know the other name. We told her. We were wrong again. She likes the other name. Ugh!!! again. Anyways, this is her special day and ten things I love about her are...

1. Her big, sensitive, generous heart.

2. Her crooked little smile. (looks just like the nike swish)

3. She is so smart, just like her Dad.

4. She loves her sister and would do anything for her.

5. Her favorite room to clean is the bathroom, which means I don't have to do it.

6. We love to play soccer together, and she is so fun to watch.

7. Her love of the Savior.

8. She is such a good, honest friend.

9. She and I are garage sale buddies.

10. She is still so innocent for her age. (believes in Santa, Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy... All of it)

Happy Birthday, Sweetie!!! I love you so much.

Leprachauns on the Loose!!!

Gracy learned a thing or two about leprachauns and their tricky ways today at school. It seems that they snuck into their classroom in the night and made a mess of EVERYTHING!!! They left little messages on tables,
Dumped out baskets and baskets of work onto the floors, Tipped over chairs and tables and tied green string throughout the whole classroom,

As you can see by the smile on her cute little face this was a pretty exciting day.
The best part was finding the hidden gold under the fish tank.

Gracy had a fun day trying to catch a leprachaun, until nightime came. As soon as it was dark outside all the tricks didn't seem as fun. She was pretty sure the leprachauns were trying to get her and needed her daddy to lay by her to get to sleep. He is such a sweet dad, and helped her feel safe by laying with her in her bed. Hope you all had a great St. P Day.

Excellent Seats for the Show

For all of you astronomy lovers out there tonight is going to be awesome. Tonight the moon will become completely immersed in Earth's shadow resulting in a total lunar eclipse. These are so beautiful. It is estimated that nearly 3 billion people will be able to see the eclipse tonight and if you miss tonights show you'll have to wait three years to see it again. That is just incredible to me. The shadow will begin to cover the moon around 6:30-6:45 and will totally cover the moon from 7:00 & 8:00 p.m., lasting about 51 minutes. If you look carefully you will also see Saturn above and to the left of the moon and the star Regulus above and to the right. I hope you all take the time to look up tonight and marvel at the beauty of the eclipse.

Be My Valentine!

I woke up to such a wonderful valentine surprise. Lexy got up early with her dad and made me breakfast. She is so adorable, always thoughtful, and loves to make others happy. It has been a tradition the last few years to use red food coloring on all our food on Valentine's Day. So this morning she made pink oatmeal, and heart shaped toast. How cute is that! It is so fun to sleep in then get woken up to breakfast made just for you, especially when it comes from the HEART!

Chinese New Year

Snake River Montessori does such a great job teaching students about other cultures. Monday morning Gracy's class participated in a parade throughout the school to celebrate the Chinese New Year. They made masks to hide their faces and repeated the words "Gung hey fat choy", meaning Happy New Year. She had a super great time.

Fun & Sun

I'm looking out the window to blowing snow. Again. I feel like this routine is getting old. I keep singing "I Wanna Go Where It's Warm..."
in my head. This is one place i'd settle for. JAMAICA, baby! I had to blog this picture because this is where my mom and dad are right now!!! It really isn't fair. They left this winter behind and headed to where they could find some sunshine. As jealous as I am, I am so glad my parents were able to go on this trip. So, have some fun for me (and please bring me some sand!).

Three Busy Months

I don't know how so much time went by but I just realized it has been 3 months since my last blog. THREE MONTHS! I have been so caught up in the day to day but no more!!! If I had been blogging all this time I could tell you what I've been up to for the last 3 months. Let this be a lesson to all of you (mostly to myself, it just feels better if I can put the blame elsewhere) to take the time, it only takes a few minutes, to blog.
Moving on now...
I am going to try to somewhat recap the holidays;
Thanksgiving - As always we get two yummy Thanksgiving dinners. We headed down to Twin Falls to spend Thanksgiving day with my family. Every year my dad wakes up early and goes down to our restaurant to get the turkey and ham in the oven. He is the best cook. He makes the entire dinner himself, including dessert, then brings it home around 1:00pm. We have an early dinner, and spend the rest of the afternoon napping (from all the turkey) and playing games. It is very relaxing and fun to be home with everyone.

December Birthdays - Crystal, my sister-in-law had a birthday Dec. 1. Kena, my sister had a birthday Dec. 5. Krista, my sister-in-law had a birthday Dec. 11. Natalie, my neice, had a birthday Dec. 25. And my hubby Brent had a birthday Dec. 26. December is always full of celebrations! So fun.
Christmas - This year we were so excited to stay home for Christmas. We hung our stocking by the fireplace (our first time ever, yeah!), set our snacks for Santa and his reindeer, and snuggled into bed. In the middle of the night Lexy and Gracy awoke and crept downstairs to see if Santa had come, and much to his surprise they think they caught him in the act! Someone with a Santa hat was hiding in the den and the stockings were not on the fireplace! This is the closest we've ever been to catching Santa. It was all very exciting. So the girls rushed back to bed and hid under the covers until they thought it was safe to come out. Good thing! When they got back up a few hours later Santa had definately come. I wonder what would have happened if they had been brave enough to go into the den...

New Year's - We were pretty exhausted by the time New Year's came. We had stayed in a beautiful cabin overlooking the Tetons in Driggs, spent a wintery, snowy, cold, blustery day at Targhee, and stayed up late playing games with cousins. We stayed up long enough to watch the ball fall New York time then we were in bed. It was a pretty great holiday.