Half Way To A Driver's License

We realized this scary thought yesterday morning over a birthday breakfast.  We kicked off Kari's #8 with opening presents and cards from grandparents and family.

 Shortly after breakfast we headed over to the Purdue Memorial Union for a bowling party.  Kari invited five of her closest friends from school, many of whom are in Brownies with her, too, and Bryce also invited a friend.

 Bowling was super casual- the bumpers were up and no one was concerned about keeping score.  The kids bowled a little and when the pizza arrived, they took a short break to eat before returning to the lanes.

 We wrapped up with the traditional star cake, thoroughly decorated by Kari.  We once again thank Aunt Laura for keeping Kari supremely stocked in all things cake decorating!

Kari once again chose to forego gifts from friends in lieu of collecting donations for those less fortunate in our community.  The last two years she had selected school supplies but went in a different direction this year and collected blankets and socks.  We'll plan a time in the next week or two to deliver them to Lafayette Urban Ministry.

The remainder of the afternoon included phone calls with grandparents and then settling in for a movie with carmel popcorn served with orange juice and sprite last night.  A very good day, indeed!

And out comes the tooth

It wasn't quite as bad as I anticipated. Bryce, being ever stubborn and steadfast in his own vision of how it would feel, finally relented and allowed me to carefully remove his first tooth. It had become quite wiggly of late and, well, tonight simply felt like the night.

The initial fight was strong, as he was convinced pain would ensue. However, his sister provided some tough love and told him he'd be fine. When the girls went out to work on homework, Bryce and I had a man-to-preschooler talk. I truly put the salesman in me to work and tried all conceivable angles.

"It won't hurt, I promise", "Let me see just how loose it really is...", "Your sister has had EIGHT teeth removed, surely you can do ONE"... Eventually, after talking a matter of 10 minutes, he caved and said he was willing to give it a try.

Sitting on my lap, I tried unsuccessfully with my first attempt. It was pretty slippery in there, and I told him it must not be in the cards tonight. But I tried again, this time with a kleenex as an aid, and with a quick shift back there was a pop.

I wish I had Holly video recording the moment after it came out. NO tears, just a strangely quiet look. He had no idea if it was out fully and he was supposed to cry or whether I still didn't get it out. When I showed it to him he was in disbelief. I called the girls out to show them.

He smiled at Kari and she couldn't believe he said OK to me. Then Holly saw it and was so proud of her little boy. Just a minute later he was crying hysterically at his new situation.

Finally he calmed down after assurance that a bigger tooth would indeed one day grow in its place and he could rest easy. 30 minutes later he was pretty proud and requested Mommy leave the following note for the Tooth Fairy:

"Dear Tooth Fairy - my Dad took out my tooth and I was really strong. Have fun and good night!" - Bryce Keckler"

Seems like a proper way to end the evening.

The Dizzy: Post Christmas Blur

We've done our bit of traveling for the holidays was back in WL for New Years eve.  We shared Bruno's with the Clawsons and Bryce, Kevin and I were in bed by 9:30.  No fanfare here- just a perfect night to go to bed early and sleep in the next day.

Meanwhile, Kari stayed with Grandmo and Grandpo this week after we came home on Sunday.  She has thoroughly enjoyed having them all to herself and was not shy in asking us when we'd be heading home...without her.  She had good reason to get us out of her hair- she had places to go and things to do!  They saw a Broadway quality Mary Poppins production in Aurora on New Years eve.  The other big highlight of the week was finding a time to go swimming at the Y.

Prior to the Chicago visit, we had Christmas at home.  We managed to stave off the kids until about 7:30 AM, so we couldn't complain too much there.  First up, the obligatory picture on the stairs and a double check to see if Santa did indeed make a stop at our house.

And then as many of you know, the rest of the morning was pretty much a blur, as much as we tried to slow down and take our time.  Santa hit a home run for Kari with a new laptop, but it didn't hold a candle to the full rainbow array of Sharpies.  It was definitely a moment of where the box was cooler than contents inside!

Bryce finally upgraded to an off-road boys bike after riding around this summer and fall on Kari's hand-me-down pink princess bike.

Since then, we've been relaxing and catching up on sleep.