He loses another one (with a little help)!

Jacob lost his second tooth today and he has his Aunty Melissa to thank for it! Just like with his first tooth, he was very excited and spent most of the day wiggling and wondering if it would fall out today or tomorrow. I was betting that it would (naturally) fall out tomorrow....and then Aunty Melissa showed up with the "tie a string to it and slam the door" idea. I was skeptical that he would go for it....but he was all about getting that tooth out and wanted me to immediately find him a piece of string. When he asked if it was going to hurt, we told him that it might...but he still was focused on it coming out today...so he went for it.

It was so cute...the whole time he just blindly trusted my sister and anxiously awaited as she got him ready to go. The pictures tell the whole story, but it was absolutely hilarious and so much fun. Aunty Melissa made him promise not to be mad at her regardless of the outcome and insisted that he himself slam the door....which he did! Feeling a little anxious about the door slamming part, I tried to casually step into the laundry room right beforehand, but Jacob was kind enough to wait for my return. So, Jacob slammed the door and out popped his tooth! I think we were all a little surprised that it actually worked! In honor of his bravery, Melissa rewarded Jacob with $5. (Nice, the tooth fairy now has to top that tonight...thanks, Lis). Like the first tooth that he lost, he's planning to ask the tooth fairy if he can keep this one, too. He's looking forward to sharing the news with his teacher and friends at school tomorrow. So, here's how it happened...

First, Aunty Melissa tied a string to Jacob's tooth....

...and then to the door.....

..all set...ready to go....he slams the door....and then...

...out popped Jacob's tooth! Thank you, Aunty Melissa!

Look out...Nicholas is THREE!

Our little monkey turned three earlier this month! He had a great time celebrating his big day with friends and family and thoroughly enjoyed both of his birthday cakes. He chose a train cake for his kid party, but then got to pick out another one to celebrate with family over his birthday weekend. This one was a construction site cake and as you can see it was the highlight of his birthday. He insisted on eating his entire piece of cake AND ice cream with the toy excavator that decorated the top. We all were ready to move on to presents, but no...Nicholas was still digging and eating. It took quite some time and was funny to watch.

It's hard to believe that three years have gone by already. He's such a great kid...full of spunk and lots of energy. But he's really keeping us on our toes these days always exploring the world around him and finding something (bad) to get into. He doesn't like to stay with "the herd" when we're out and about and is totally content to venture off on his own...or migrate into a new herd...which is a bit stressful. I recently enrolled him in storytime at the library and he's managed to get himself kicked out twice already. What..you're not allowed to hit the other kids over the head with the cushions they're sitting on? I was horrified. He definately doesn't follow "the rules" and lately has been getting a real rise out of his siblings....just because he can. He's three...and he knows it!! I love that kid.

Nicholas loves his new scooter! He's been using Jacob's old one and was excited to have a new one of his own.
Happy Birthday, Nicholas!!

Meet Ian....

....the cute little boy that has his arms wrapped around Jenna in this picture. Given all the "Ian talk" that goes on around here, we were pretty sure that they were an item, and it was confirmed by Ms. Hollenbeck (Jenna's teacher) at her parent/teacher conference this week. Jenna has been requesting for quite some time that Ian come over for a sleepover...yes, a sleepover was the request. As you can imagine, Tom was beside himself. After calmly explaining to her that a sleepover would never on God's green earth occur, we settled on an afternoon playdate.

Happy Halloween!

The kids had a fabulous Halloween! The weather was absolutely perfect so we stayed out trick-or-treating until they were all tuckered out. They had a blast running around the neighborhood collecting their treats. Jacob dressed up as a frog, Jenna was a horse (no, NOT a cowgirl!), Nicholas was Thomas the Train, and Marissa went as Pebbles from the Flintstones. I was surprised that she kept the bone in her hair all night! Afterwards we had our annual Halloween cupcake party back here at our house. Needless to say, we have forty-seven pounds of candy and we're still coming down from the sugar high, but this was our best Halloween yet!