First Grade, Facials and Bunny Frenzy!

It's amazing how much can change in a mere nine months. In the short time since Emily started kindergarten in August, she's learned how to read, to add and subtract, she has lost four teeth, and she is now tall enough to ride the Mamba at Worlds of Fun when we go next month. She won't do it because she would totally freak out, but she could if she wanted to!

Yesterday, my "baby" girl official became a first grader! First grade summer school starts in a little over a week, so there isn't much time off until then. While I'd love for her to have a full summer to just hang out and enjoy life, it's a little bit cheaper to send her to summer school for a month instead of a babysitter. Lucky for us all, she really enjoys school and is looking forward it.

With Emily getting an early release from school on her last day, I took half the day off with the intention of doing something fun. Unfortunately, a few weeks ago, during a trip to the dentist, they discovered her first cavity, so we scheduled her filling for after school. Emily loves going to the dentist and actually handled it great! They started with the nitric oxide, and while I was hoping to get a video I could post on YouTube, I was informed that those videos were a bit exaggerated.  Darn it! When it came time to doing all the actual work (the numbing, the shot and the actual procedure) I was a bit worried, knowing her low tolerance for pain, but she was a real trooper!

After her dentist appointment, I surprised her with an at-home facial using avocado, banana and yogurt! (She actually said it tasted good and requested that I save the rest for her to eat. It's in the fridge, but will probably be trashed soon.)

Once applied, we completed the experience with cucumber slices -- because what real face spa treatment would be complete without cucumbers? 

To complete the experience, I turned the radio to some smooth jazz and we settled in for 20 minutes of relaxation!  Shortly after saying "I don't like to really relax," someone (I won't name names, but she's a new first grader) fell asleep!

After our facials, we moved on to a mani/pedi for Emily, complete with a soothing foot rub, glittery bubble gum scented polish (or so said the label, but I disagree) and Hello Kitty nail stickers!  Just as we were finishing our mini spa day, the door opened and in came the boys!

Dinner was soon served (waffles for Brendan, quesadillas for us girls) and following dinner, I decided to water the desert that is our front "lawn" (which is really just crab grass, weeds and dirt). When Emily figured out what I was doing, she opted to abandon her Barbie movie and popcorn in order to join me outside. It was a BEAUTIFUL night, and soon the whole family was enjoying the warm breeze and the setting sun.  Emily was thrilled when our neighbor came outside, and it wasn't long before she shot across the street to play hula hoop and run (in full clothes) through the sprinkler.  

Brendan stayed with us, playing with his bubbles.

But that wasn't the end of the excitement!

The neighbors two houses down have two cats that they apparently don't want in the house. They are constantly terrorizing the birds in and around our yard and are quite annoying. Tonight, one of them found a baby bunny and chased it across the street into our yard. Thankfully for the baby bunny, Kevin took off after the cat to scare it away, and it worked. Unfortunately for us, the bunny decided to take refuge in our garage.

The upside to the whole situation is that Kevin had to move everything to try to find the bunny, which led to the discovery of a box of extra kitchen tiles! This is THRILLING for me because we have a couple of tiles that are tore up and need replaced, and I was about to go buy some non-matching pieces just to get it done. Now I don't have to! But I do need to find the time and figure out how replace them!

All in all, it was another great day. Nothing extraordinary. Nothing worthy of great fanfare. Just one more day to be thankful for all that we have, including replacement tiles, bunny-less (and now a cleaner) garage, and yet another day to remember to love the little things!