How to lose a tooth in the Starr Family

One night shortly after Christmas, we were talking at dinner and somehow came up with this crazy idea to build a contraption to pull out Barrett’s wiggly tooth.  Then, we said we’d make a video and send it into that video show and then the boys started talking about how they were going to spend the money they would win…you know how it is when you buy a lottery ticket and spend the next hour planning exactly what you’d do (cuz your odds are so good, how could you NOT win?).

Well, yesterday was the day.  The tooth was ready to come out.  I am a little embarassed about how long it took Cody and I to figure out how to set this thing up so it would work.  This is the kind of thing I would have loved as a kid, so I knew we HAD to make it happen.

Here’s our video: (tell your ears I am sorry…I can’t stand the sound of my voice on this video…ugh!) Cody and I think the best part is the “roar” sound you hear from me during the slo-mo part!

Of course I had to get some pics of the toothless wonder brothers. (Kyle knocked his tooth out a couple months ago in a furniture jumping accident…the poor tooth never saw it coming) The tooth fairy left Barrett 2 one dollar bills folded into a shirt and pants origami style.

Seizing the Day

We woke up this morning to find fresh snow blanketing the ground.  Surprise!  I guess I missed the weather report last night because usually if there's the slightest chance of snow around here the weather people get all excited and the news stations send out reporters wearing heavy winter coats to the streets to show us bridges that are not-yet-but-have-the-potential-to-freeze.  I didn't see any of that but I remember muting the news last night so I could concentrate on the book I am reading.  

Anyway,  it was a nice surprise.  The boys spent about five minutes throwing snowballs at each other before school. Good thing because the snow was melted by the time they got home.  I had a lot of work to do today and I had planned on cleaning, but I decided I needed to procrastinate seize the day instead.    I took Annabelle (and Minnie) out for a few photos in the snow.  I think this was more important/urgent than cleaning.  

A year in review

For me, looking back on the previous year is good for my heart.  I look at the pictures and I don't see any pictures of myself nagging the kids to clean up and go to bed.  There's no pictures of sibling rivalry or name calling...just warm memories.  After a while, I tend to only remember what I have pictures of and I hope my kids are the same way.  I hope they remember going to the pumpkin patch and boogie boarding at the beach and forget about me getting frustrated for having to wait for someone to get his shoes on because we're running late...again.  I hope they remember the time I poured a million Legos all over the floor so they could experience making snow angels in their favorite toys.

I had the boys do some looking back on the past year and write down some goals as a part of a New Year's Eve activity. Here's what they wrote:

Kyle in 2012
favorite color: purple
favorite movie: Star Wars
Favorite food: Pasta
Favorite activity: homework
Fave book: The Big Book of How
Fave song: Gangnam Style

Greatest lesson learned in 2012: Not to jump on furniture (that's how I knocked out my tooth)
Favorite Memory of 2012: When Mom gave me my tricycle (??)

Looking forward to 2013, I want to learn: How to load games on the iPad
I want to get better at: Basketball
My biggest goal for 2013 is: to get better at playing Skylanders.

(not the kind of goal I had hoped for...)

Barrett in 2012:
favorite color: blue
favorite movie: Three Musketeers
Favorite food: Pasta
Favorite activity: tooting
Fave book: Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Fave song: Gangnam Style

Greatest lesson learned in 2012: I am good at math
Favorite Memory of 2012: When I got Skylanders for Christmas

Looking forward to 2013, I want to learn: How to do multiplication
I want to get better at: math
My biggest goal for 2013 is: to get The Malevolence (from Star Wars) Lego set

(ugh. are all kids this materialistic? I wish he had said "save up for the Malevolence" at least...)

Anyway, here's a little graphic year in review!