Cat Mouth

Well, we made it almost 6 years without having to take a child to the emergency room. When Tim first started daycare we thought, "Great - it's right next to the children's hospital so it won't take too long to get him there". At 2 he had never met a chair, pile of dirt, curb, or anything else that he didn't like to jump off so we were sure that it was just a matter of time until he tried to do a superman off the top of the futon at school. We were partially right.

As it turns out, Matt likes to jump even more than Tim and as much as we can piece together, he jumped off the stairs into the basement while holding a foam bat in his hand. When mouth met bat it pushed one of his front teeth up into his gum and turned it 90 degrees. The big kids were great - getting him tissues to stem the flow of blood and coming to get me. Then we all made our first trip to the ER. As it turns out, there is nothing to be done for these situations. We wait and hope the tooth descends again and turns around, which, apparently, there is a good chance it will do. Then we take him to the dentist some time in the next couple of weeks to get x-rays and make sure he didn't damage the jaw.





Before . . . .










and after.
















Matt always had such a beautiful smile and the most perfect teeth of all the kids. When he looked in the mirror after we returned home he pointed at his mouth and said "Cat mouth". I don't know if it looks like a cat, but it's definitely NOT attractive!

And, undeterred by the events of the day, he jumped off the steps into the basement, AGAIN, as soon as we got home. Later in the afternoon he was fooling around on the steps to the second floor, doing headstands on the sofa (!!! - a new trick even for him). To cap off the day, we got a call from the babysitter as we were on our way home from dinner last night - Matt was trying to slide headfirst off the sofa (as he loves to do) and banged his mouth on the floor and it started to bleed! You know, he really is a bright kid, but sometimes he really makes you wonder!

1st Trip to the Beach

Prior to the start of school we took a family vacation to Ocean City, NJ August 15-18.

















This was Hope's and Matt's first trip to the shore. Hope loved it and was quite proud of the fact that after she got used to the waves hitting her legs, she found her balance and could stand all by herself on her flat feet and not fall down.


















Matt loved playing in the "sandpit", but didn't like the water because "the sharks are going to eat me".



















Tim saved his allowance money to buy himself a boogie board (his first purchase with his own money) and had a great time riding it (as did mom).















Getting ready for a surrey ride on the boardwalk. Mom and Dad will be glad when someone else has long enough legs to help pedal!

1st Day of School

August 25 was the first day of school here. Hope started first grade and was happy to have gotten the teacher she was hoping for. She has several friends in her class and was quite proud to tell us that she did not have to use the paper the teacher gave her with her cafeteria pin code on it because she had memorized the new 6 digit code (last year's code was only 4 numbers). Tim had orientation for Kindergarten and was so excited he decided to wear his uniform clothes even though orientation was only for 1 hour. The 26th is the first full day for everybody. Tim has changed his mind 3 times about which color combination of shirt and shorts he's going to wear and is very excited to have gym on his first full day. He's also a bit relieved that his caf pin code is on the back of his nametag that he has to wear for this week.

See how they've grown! I didn't realize until I compared the 2 pictures just how much Tim had grown this year and how much Hope and Matt have matured. (top, 2008; bottom, 2007)

Happy 2nd Family Day, Matt!

2 years ago today we went to court to finalize Matt's adoption. The time has sure gone fast and Matt has sure gotten big!

Matt - June 2008 (wearing Tim's Thomas hat from Kazakhstan)

Matt - July 2006 (wearing the baby Thomas hat we bought in Kazakhstan)

Happy 7th Birthday Hope!

Hope's 7th birthday was December 30. Yes, we're a little late with her blog update. Between parties, sports, scouts, homework, etc, etc, blog updates seem to fall to the bottom of the to-do list lately.


We had a small family "party" Christmas day. As you can see, Hope still like's princesses.






























She enjoys opening gifts with the family.





















"Oooh, I love it!"






On January 5 Hope had her first kids' party. About half her kindergarten class was able to attend. She had such a good time that she must have come up to us a dozen times to tell us how much she liked her party, from her princess castle cake, to running around Bette's Family Fun Center with her friends, to having them sing Happy Birthday to her.









It was great to see her interacting with her classmates. We're so used to seeing the boys with their friends when we pick them up from daycare and with Tim we've really watched them all grow up together and seen their relationships evolve. It's very different with Hope. Very few of her classmates are in aftercare with her so we really don't get to see her interact with her peer group much.

It was amazing to watch her take charge, from playing the gracious host, greeting all her friends and group hugging the girls they way only young girls can, rounding up her best buddies to climb the giant slide or go on her favorite moonbounce of the moment to handing out goody bags and thanking everyone for coming.

And of course, she had a great time opening all her gifts later that night.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!

It was great (although noisy and chaotic) to finally enjoy Christmas at home with the kids. Here are a few pictures from our Christmas activities.

Finally a decent Christmas card photo taken on a frigid night at Dutch Wonderland.

Hope's and Matt's first visit with Santa (Hershey Park).

Matt and Hope decorate a (real) tree for the first time.

Hope puts her first ornament on the tree.

The kids were very proud of their beautiful tree.

Christmas Eve breakfast with Grandmom

Opening presents Christmas Eve with Nana and Pop

Santa came!

Matt is more interested in Tim's pirates than his own gifts.

Oh, this is mine?

Midway through opening gifts, the 2 big kids went around the house to see if baby Jesus was in the manger now. (We have a few - Mike's mom's, my granny's, a few others that baby Jesus doesn't come out of, and a new outdoor set from Nana and Pop.) As Tim explained to Hope when they were setting up the outside nativity, "On Christmas Eve Santa will bring baby Jesus and put him in the manger. Well, I don't know why Santa would bring baby Jesus, but I can't think of any other way for him to get here." So, for now, we are going with Santa puts baby Jesus in all our mangers when he delivers gifts.

The kids in their Christmas outfits with Nana and Pop

Happy 2nd Birthday, Matt!!

Matt's Sponge Bob cake for the family "party" at Thanksgiving.













Hmmm, why is my cake on fire?


















Hey, this cake is pretty good.














What do you mean I don't have to put the card back in the package when I'm done with it?














Sesame Street cake for his school party.

















Apparently, turning 2 is very upsetting to Matt.