thumb sucking update

Best purchase of the year....MAVALA STOP!!!!   Jenna is not sucking her thumb.  The mavala stop really works!  I'm sharing it with a friend and her daughter has stopped sucking her thumb too!  We are still applying it to Jenna's thumb but we can tell she isn't sucking her thumb because it is starting to look "normal"!!!    

tooth fairy...saving money

The tooth fairy visited Meghan last night and left $5 for the tooth. That was more than the tooth fairy left for the other teeth because this was a special tooth...Meghan pulled it out herself!
Meghan has counted her money and only needs, $26 plus shipping charges for the american girl baby doll and outfit!! Jenna has decided she is going to save for an american girl baby doll too....she only has $10, so she will be saving for a while:)
I'm happy to see my girls saving and learning the value of money at a young age. I hope this will help them as they get older. Of course, they are still young...Meghan thought we could use the build-a-bear gift cards whenever we wanted to buy new stuffed animals/clothes!!

Baby Tooth #5 ....out

Meghan lost her 5th tooth today at school!! YAHHH
Rob and I decided this was the tooth she would get out on her own. We were not going to help wiggle it and there was no pressure when she wanted to pull it out. Meghan woke up today and said her tooth felt funny. When I looked in her mouth, the tooth was barely hanging on and there was a little blood. I told Meghan her mouth was a little red and to get a tissue. She started crying...."I'm bleeeeeddddiinng". I told her she was just a little but that was ok (my normal comment when blood is involved). Meghan ate the marshmellows from the Lucky Charm cereal for breakfast and headed off to school....but not before she stated, "I don't want to go to ballet today because my tooth might fall out when I'm dancing". I told her to get through school first and to please try to eat lunch and snack (she will hold off on food, if she thinks it might make the tooth fall out).
Luckily when I picked her up today she had a big smile and was missing the tooth!!! She said she cried a little bit, but it didn't hurt when the tooth fell out. Her wonderful teacher let Meghan pick out a necklace to put the tooth in. The necklace was a film case on a string!!! Meghan was so happy (not as much as I was!!!).
First thing she said to me was.."don't tell Dad, I want to surprise him"...and she had to call Memom and Papa and tell them. She took the tooth to ballet and showed it to all her friends!! Rob helped her write a note to the tooth fairy, Meghan wants the tooth fairy to know this was the first one she pulled on her own...(she is hoping for a little more money in the deal). She wants to save for an American Girl doll..(she is only short by about $75)....but I bet she will keep saving until she gets it.

~ThUmBs Up~

After many years...(ok, so it's only just been 4)...Jenna is giving up thumb sucking!! Ok, so she really isn't doing it on her own. She has talked about quitting for a while, but like most people with a bad habit, she is having a hard time with it. Right before her 4th birthday she told all of us she was going to quit when she turned 4...but that only lasted about an hour. Right after Christmas I ordered Mavala Stop and it finally arrived in the mail yesterday. I talked to Jenna about it and at 1pm we painted her thumbs!! She is doing great and is really trying hard. I put it on my thumb and tried it (Rob too)...and it was nasty...so I can see why she is trying so hard.

I have to say it was easier to "hide" the pacifier from Meghan and at age 2 she was done with it. I loved how cute Jenna looked as a tiny little girl sucking on her thumb holding her blanket. When she first started she would look at her blanket from across the room and suck her thumb just seeing it.

****update****Mavala stop wore off at swim lessons tonight and Jenna was caught sucking her thumb:) This will be a tough habit to break.

week in review...

My book club book for the month of January.

Rob practicing his guitar.

Meghan and Jenna painting/making a mess and then playing in the sink (I mean washing their hands).

What a crazy week we have had......We were all excited last weekend because school was starting back and all the other fun activities were back in full swing. Sunday started the week out not looking too good. Meghan started running a high temp and it jumped up to 104 by the time we caught it. The motrin helped her every time, but I had to make sure I was on top of it every 7 hours...if not the fever would come back...with the top temp of 104.3..... I was not too worried because every time I gave her the motrin and sponge her down it would drop to 100. Meghan missed the first two days of school starting back and swimming lessons but was well and ready to jump back into the swing of things by Wednesday.

I did take Jenna to swim lessons on Tuesday night and she did fantastic!!! I am so proud of how far she has come with her lessons since November 2007! I will try and take a video of an upcoming swim lesson to show how well both the girls are doing!!! Money well spent!!

By the end of the week we were all exhausted and ready for the weekend. Saturday we all slept in and then after lunch went to check out some motorcycle shops. The ride up to Watton and Brandon was nice and chilly, but so beautiful.

Today was Church for me and the girls and a workout day for Rob. After church Meghan and Rob watched movies, Jenna took a nap and I scrapbooked!!!

After dinner tonight we all enjoyed painting, practicing guitar and reading.

We are hoping for a week with no sickness and lots of fun!!!

~Castle Acre Priory~

We are members of English Heritage and love to see all the beautiful sights available as a member. There is so much to see and do within an hours drive of our house. We headed to Castle Acre Priory on Saturday afternoon. Short drive...about 30-40 minutes up the road and the drive was down some back country roads and it was beautiful.

Information about the place~~~taken from the leaflet provided by the ticket desk...

Castle Acre Priory, founded by the powerful Warenne family, earls of Surrey, was inspired by the monastery at Cluny, France. The priory was home to a community of monks until 1537, when Henry VIII disbanded all monastic houses. The priory's ruins span seven centuries and include a beautiful 12th-century church with an elaborately decorated west front, still rising to its full height, a 15th century gatehouse and several rooms of the prior's lodging still fit to live in.

It was a very cold and dreary day, as most winter days in England are...but it was an enjoyable day out for all four of us.

~2008 in review~

This time of year, I always seem to think back over the year and remember all the things we have or have not done during the year. We really had a busy 2008! It was our first full year living in the UK and a busy one at that! We took a few day trips around England visiting....Ely, Bury St. Edmunds, Norwich, Cambridge, the Wash, Castle Rising Castle, Audley End House, Stonehenge....and just hanging out in the local villages around us. We took three big trips..we made it to Edinburgh Scotland, Dublin Ireland and Brugge Belgium. We took the Eurotunnel and drove through France.
Rob went down range for 4 months and the girls and I had a great adventure of taking a military hop from here to the states...with stops in Gander Canada, Brunswick Maine and Virginia Beach Virginia.
While the girls and I were staying with my parents (Memom and Papa) in North Carolina, we saw many family members and friends. We also took a road trip from North Carolina~South Carolina~Georgia~Alabama~Mississippi~Louisiana~final stop Dallas, Texas .
We were not able to visit with any of Rob's family but were able to call and talk to them a few times and we welcomed two new babies to the family...Alyssa born in April and Leo born in November...one for each of Rob's sisters!!
Meghan started Kindergarten this year and lost 4 teeth and counting! Jenna continued preschool this year at Busy Bees.
Rob started guitar lessons and is bikeless for a while. He sold his DRZ and is waiting to buy a new bike in 2009!
We have all been blessed with good health and happiness this year and we look forward to more adventures, trips and fun times in the upcoming year!!
Happy New Year!!!