Before Braces

     I decided to look a bit more for the photos I mentioned yesterday and I found them with the help of Lindsay. She said they were on fact on this computer. They were just "hidden" in a folder that was mis-dated. Happy Dance for me!

 First, I wanted to share something that came in the mail yesterday. A cute postcard with smiles all around.

It was from Lindsay! Her orthodontist office has post cards for patients to fill out and send to their families after their treatment is complete. I wasn't aware of this and it was such a sweet surprise to get. It's the little things in life like this that brighten your day.

     On to BEFORE braces! These photos are from 2006, Lindsay was almost 9 years old. I haven't looked at these pictures in a while, it was so sweet to look at those "baby" faces again! As you will see below, I decided to add both Sarah and Courtney as their teeth have undergone big changes as well and how could I resist not posting their precious faces.

 As you can see, Lindsay had some gaps to close on that sweet smile of hers. She also had a pretty significant overbite that was corrected with round 1 of her braces. These were the photos Lindsay saw and declared how thankful she was for us getting her braces ;)

 I just wanted to add this one, because it looks the most like she does now.

 Here is our Sarah at age 13. She had already had round 1 done in California by this time, but Sarah had quite the plan with her orthodontics, poor baby. She just didn't have enough room in her mouth for all of her teeth, something we knew from the beginning. Before she started round 2, about 6 months after this photo, Sarah had to have 4 of her adult teeth extracted to make some room for proper alignment.

 Here is our baby girl, Courtney at age 7. As you can see she was sporting a large, toothless grin then. Courtney is the only one of the girls that has not had any braces to date. We plan on getting her an evaluation in the next few months. 

My three little princesses

To three little ladies

New Smile- Complete!

     Lindsay's forever smile is now complete! It took about 9 months instead of the anticipated 7, but a great smile is worth the extra time. Lindsay was only in the lower braces for this 2nd round. If you'd like to see where she started this time go here. What I really need to do is track down a few photos of where Lindsay originally started before any braces. All of the pictures I have aren't on this computer and it was before my blogging days, so I'll need to hunt around a bit to find them. That is where you can tell what a difference braces have made for Lindsay. A few weeks ago, she found a photo of her from her pre-braces day and Lindsay said, "Mom, Dad, thank you so much for spending all this money on my braces because my teeth were sure messed up!" It was nice to hear her appreciation and we are happy that we can do it Linds.

 Here is Lindsay before heading to her appointment.

 Obliging her mother's request for a photo of her braces. I LOVE her expression here!

 After her braces were removed, Lindsay emerged from the back carrying a balloon bouquet and a little goody bag. I love how the office does this as it's a huge celebration for each patient to be braces free and a nice touch for us parents recognizing a bit of the $ we have spent getting to this place. 

 After shot of Lindsay's beautiful straight teeth.

 Lindsay also got an internal retainer that stays in place all the time. This will help ensure that her teeth won't shift like they did last time(we used a different ortho for the first round, so it wasn't a "trick" by our current ortho to get Lindsay back in braces again FYI)

This is what was in Lindsay goody bag- all of the things that are off limits when you have braces on. Such a fun treat for her and she has already enjoyed a few of these already.

Congrats Lindsay on your new smile and as I said to her already, "Make sure to wear your retainers because if you need another set of braces, the next round is on you." ;)

Apple Trees

     With the Fall season in full swing, it's time to start breaking out the fall crafts for the kiddos. Loving finding things to do and create with JT and my little friends! Our first art project was to make Apple Trees.

 We started out by making the trunk and branches by tracing their hands and a bit of their arm.

 I had already prepared puffy green tree tops and glued everything on a piece of paper. Our trees were now ready for some apples!

 JT and Finn eager to start but they sweetly paused for a photo.

 To keep things simple, as well as a minimal mess, I placed the paint cap between the boys and they dipped their fingers in the cap and then made their apples.

 JT was a frequent dipper and had several large apples.

 Finn preferred to get the most out of his paint and dabbed until his finger was dry. Lots of smaller apples as result for this tree.

 Mason was very excited to start this art project, but when it came time to use the paint he was a bit uncertain as you can see. It's like he's thinking, "Victoria, you want me to do what with this wet stuff?"

 Mason came around and got more comfortable with the paint and did a great job making his apple tree!

 JT's tree

 Finn's tree

Mason's tree

New PJ's

     Last week, we happily welcomed my favorite time of year- FALL!!! We also were lucky in getting some fall weather last week as well. With temps dipping into the 40's, I knew that JT's summer PJ's- which were almost always just boxer briefs since the kid gets so hot combined with the fact he LOVES to cuddle up with lots of blankets, a true testament that he is both John and my child- weren't going to keep him warm enough.

     So I pulled out his clothes from last year hoping and praying there would be some keepers for this year. While it wasn't a total bust, we ended up with some needs in the wardrobe department for my growing boy. I ended up going to Wal-Mart for something and decided to browse their PJ's for JT. I ended up finding a few super cute jammies for JT and at a GREAT price! Each set was around $5, a cotton set that fit like long johns, perfect for chilly nights. JT was sweet to model his new PJ's for me each night- check these out:

 Night one- would you expect anything else but Monster Trucks?

 Night 2- Thomas the Train!

 Night 3- starting to mix up his poses, Motorcycles!

 Night 4- Looking adorable in Mickey Mouse. Sorry for the darkness of this photo, between my flash and the lighting this was the best overall shot.

Here is what happened in all the photos I used my flash- a child that looks demonic. I didn't like the evil looking eyes, so I settled on darker photo above.

     Hope you are all starting to get a taste of fall weather in your part of the world. Enjoy these beautiful sunny warm days and chilly fall nights!

My little Songbird

     A few days ago while we were driving, JT broke out in song. It happened to be a sunny day and the sun was getting in his eyes. I loved how JT sang a song about the sun. Courtney was so sweet to capture a bit of JT singing while I was driving.

Mr. Sun

     Since JT was being so adorable with his singing, I thought I'd try to record some more songs that he likes to sing. Yeah, not so much. Visions, planning, and what really happens with toddlers/preschool age kids rarely turn out the way you imagine- LOL! I managed to get 2 more short videos to share. I guess I'll have to be ready to record on demand when the spirit strikes JT.

It's Raining, It's Pouring

     Here is where you get to see distractions and hamming it up for the camera in full force. I found it quite comical, so I wanted to share. JT managed to sing a bit during this though.

A rushed and distracted Row, Row, Row Your Boat

E Cards

     Taking a turn for some humor today. I need to organize my photos, edit some, so this blog will help fill the space while I'm getting the logistics worked out :)

     In recent months, I, along with many other of my friends have discovered a hilarious site for ecards- someecards. Check them out here. I give you fair warning that many of their cards are not PC or for young eyes, so use discretion when and where you are viewing them.

     Here are a few that I have personally found hilarious recently. Hope you get a laugh or two from these.

Lots of funny parenting cards of course!

It's all about the silence- LOL!

Dress Up Fun!

     On a recent trip to Dollar Tree, John and I found lots of Halloween dress up items. We both thought the same thing- these would be great for JT! Since they were only each $1, we gathered up several items. This past week, I brought them out for JT and his friends to play with. They had a blast dressing up!

 JT declared, "I'm like Captain Hook!"

 Cowboy Mason

 Finn's turn at being a pirate.

 JT's brief stint as a cowboy.

 I love this cheesy photo of JT and Finn.

 This is by far JT's favorite- the knight. This weekend, we found some matching hand/arm guards that look great. We decided to skip any swords/axes and the like for the protection of women and children in the house :)

 Mason was having fun playing with Finn.

 Ella dressed up briefly, but wasn't a fan this time. Adorable nonetheless.

Captain Mason!