Ladies Man

Brendan just came in from the garage to tell me:

Bren: Mom! I just saw a girl! And she said HI to me!
Me: Wow... what a nice girl.
Bren: Yeah. And girls love me.

TA DA!!!

Dani got her braces off today! She was very concerned about the process, but made it through with out any major mishaps -- though i did hear a little girl in the back literally screaming "Ow! NO! Don't do it again!" I didn't recognize it as Dani's voice though so I didn't worry. I did think Dani would be a little happer about the removal, but when she came up to me, she said in way that those who know her can envision, head down, voice quavering, "They put a retainer in my mouth and I have to wear it for the rest of my life!!!!!!!!!!!!" I assured her that it probably wouldn't be for the whole rest of her life -- Aunt Rach is 28 and when her permanant retainer broke, they just removed it! So we're probably only looking at 20 years...

Here are the amazing before and afters!

Looks like it worked! Supposedly we'll face another round of braces in a few years, but in the meantime.... Emily has an appointment next week!

My Funny Kids

Dani was in rare form yesterday. We were in the car, driving to visit some friends, and she was jabbering away in the back, as usual. This time though, instead of repeatedly repeating herself over and over and over again. She was actually conversing.

First, on the topic of having her braces removed -- she gets her braces off next week and she, for some reason, is nervous about it.

Dani: So what will they do when they take them off? Will they make my lips fall asleep?
Me: No, they don't need to numb you, they just pull them off.
Dani: And then what do they do?
Me: You lick your teeth!
Dani: WITH THEIR TONGUES??????

Ok, admittedly, this was a weird way for me to put it, but for anyone who has ever had braces removed, you will remember the divine smooth feeling your teeth have for the first few days and how IMPOSSIBLE it is to keep your tongue off of them! But oh the horror in her voice! If only I could recapture it! She misunderstood and thought I was saying that the dental assistant would lick her teeth. I kept laughing over that one for the rest of the night. Even now, I can't stop!

A couple of minutes after that, we passed a fire station...

Dani: What if the Bolingbrook fire station caught on fire?
Me: I guess they'd have to put the fire out!
Dani: No, they'd have to call the Aurora fire department to come put it out!
Me: I think they have everything they would need to put it out themselves!
Dani: But they'd be too busy getting out of the building in a single file line!

Guess she's learned a thing or two from the fire drills at school!

And one more.... this one from Evan. I took the kids to get a few spring clothes (stupid idea, since it SNOWED the next day, but it will eventually get warm again, right???). They were really excited to go and had been great sports about helping me clean up before we left, even though I kept adding just one more job and just do this one more thing and just give me one more minute. I thanked them for helping without complaining and told them I'd buy them a treat while we were at the store. Evan shared this logic:

"Well, it can't be any candy becuase we already have lots at home. And it can't be clothes becuase you're already buying clothes for us, so the ONLY choice is a toy! Right, Mom? Its the only choice there is!"

Dani's Big Day

Dani turned 8 this month! She has been eagerly anticipating this day for at least 2 months now, since so much family came into town for her baptism! We had Uncle Chris, Aunt Lauree, Baby Tanner, Uncle Ryan, Aunt Adrienne, Cael, Grandma and Grandpa Rush, Rhees, Aunt Lani, and Grandma and Grandpa Knapp here for the event and she was so happy to have everyone here for her! We had all the Rush cousins together except for our newest cousin, Parker, who, at 2 weeks old, was too little to make the trip, but we are glad Aunt Rach let Rhees come with Grandma and Grandpa!

Other events surrounding Dani's birthday were:

A trip to Chicago for Giordano's Pizza and to see the Chicago River dyed green in honor of St. Patricks day. Sadly, by the time we got to the river, it was too dark to tell how green it was, but the pizza was good, and we hit the Lego store while we were in the area.

While everyone was here for the baptism, all the aunts, Grandma Rush, Emily, Dani and I went to the mall to let Dani get her ears pierced. I could hardly believe she actually wanted something as girly as pierced ears, so I figured I'd better run with it and make as big a deal out of it as I could. She thought she was pretty special when ALL the women-folk came with us to have it done. She was very brave! This was the extent of her reaction:

And the finished result!

I, personally think they are super-cute! Of course that could be becuase I am highly gratified to see her WILLINGLY engage in an act of girliness, even if I suspect its only because she wants to be like Emily. I'll take what I can get!

A New Era

I think I can safely say, though with a LITTLE hesitation, that we have a fully potty-trained 3 year old. NO MORE DIAPERS! What an amazing stage to be at! For the most part, Brendan gets himself to the potty and surprisingly, cleans up his own messes when he has an accident. Every once in a while, he comes downstairs wearing a new outfit, and we can figure out what has happened. Jason was completely bewildered though, when Brendan came down the other day in this:

In case you are as confused as Jason was by this fashion-forward creation, Brendan is wearing a sweatshirt with his waist through the neck hole, one leg through an arm hole and the other leg through the body of the shirt. He was SO proud of himself! He told Jason, "See, this side is a shirt and this side is some pants!"

Above we have Brendan illustrating his new invention -- the ballerina hug. Note the gracefully raised leg and the large happy smile on his face. Yesterday, the boy wrapped his little arms around my neck, balanced that leg up in the air and told me, "This is a ballerina hug, Mom. Its a happy hug."

A certain brother of mine will appreciate the the fact that that my boy shares his childhood appreciation of ballerinas... and I appreciate the fact that that said brother grew up to be a normal guy.

Cast offs

Yesterday was a very full day and I was trying to hurry and get put together so I could take the girls to school and head out to get to work on my to-do list for the day. Evan showed up in my bathroom as I was drying my hair and the following took place:

Evan: My tummy really hurts.
Me: (knowing that he's been trying to fake sick for the last several days to get out of school) Have you had breakfast yet?
Evan: No
Me: Well, that's probably why you're stomach hurts. Go get some cereal and your belly will feel better. If you don't like what's down there, I'll come down in a minute and make you something.
Evan leaves and returns.
Evan: Mom, I looked and there's only a kind of cereal that NO ONE WOULD EVER EAT!

It was Rice Krispies. I made him cocoa and toast instead :)