Courtney's No-So-Loose Teeth

Courtney is feeling a bit left out of the tooth fairy business. She has only lost 2 teeth and doesn't have any coming out in the near future. She wants to think that her top 2 teeth are loose but they aren't really. Sure, they move about a fraction of an millimeter if you really push on them but they aren't coming out any time soon.

Since she feels left out, Ethan took picture of her would-be loose teeth.

Another tooth gone!!

Ethan pulled another tooth! I went to bed early and Bryan was on the computer when Ethan came out of his room to let Bryan know that he had a loose tooth. Bryan doesn't like dealing with blood so he told Ethan not to pull it until I was awake the next day. Ethan decided he would take care of it himself so he went into the bathroom and pulled it out, used the hand towel to stop the blood and then showed Bryan what he had done. So now he has matching holes in his mouth.

When I got up this morning Ethan told me about it and ended by saying, "I got 50 cents from the tooth fairy which shows that the tooth fairy can function without you being awake." (He know about the tooth fairy stuff, obviously.)

Ethan's twin holes:
Look! The pencil goes right through his mouth! hahaha
The new hole in his mouth:

The Book Chase

Bryan loves to read chapter books to the kids. Ethan loves to read ahead. So Bryan has to hide the book so Ethan won't find it. This has become known as the "book chase." The minute Ethan hears Bryan close the book, he dives for it and Bryan has to be quick. It has become a hilarious game, sometimes involving the boys running outside in the 30 degree weather with no shoes on. We have had to be creative in our hiding places (the bathroom, top shelves, etc.) and Courtney has found it a couple of times, but they love playing the game.

Recently we have decided that the wrestling that accompanies "the chase" is too hard on the books (and we don't want to buy the Library a new book) so we are trying to get a bookmark that Bryan needs to hide.

It's a hilarious game!!

The Pinewood Derby

The Pinewood Derby was a huge success. Ethan's car performed really well. He tied for 5th...with a bunch of other kids. But he did better than last year, which was his goal. So he did it!! And next year he said he wants to take more time and get it to go even faster.

Here is a collage of the pictures I took. I like the photo in the top right corner. The announcer asked if Ethan was praying and I think he probably was.

Finishing Up the Car

Monday night Bryan and Ethan were putting the finishing touches on Ethan's Pinewood Derby car. They had to make some holes in the bottom of the car so the weights could go on there. My dad gave them some bullets to add weight so they had to get holes that would fit the bullets. Ethan drilled the holes while Bryan helped stabilize his arm so they would be straight.

They had a great time making the car!!

Curley Courtney

For some unknown reason, Courtney decided the other day that she wanted to sleep in curlers. O-kay. So we got out the spongie curlers, sprayed her hair and "put up" (as my Grandma used to call it) her hair. She loved it and she had cute curls in the morning. We'll see how long this lasts.

The Tooth

By now you should have figured out that Ethan LOVES to pull teeth, including his own. He came into our bedroom last night (when he should have been sleeping) with a wad of tissue sticking out of his mouth. I couldn't figure out what was going on. He put out his hand and there was a really bloody tooth!!

I took him into the bathroom to try and stop the bleeding and to see if there was any damage done by his extraction procedure. Low and behold, there was a tooth coming up from where the old tooth had been. He was pretty happy with himself.

The tooth fairy did arrive at our house and left Ethan 50 cents for his troubles. He seemed happy with that amount.

Trying to stop the blood:
The new tooth and the old space (this is kind of a gross picture, sorry):

Ethan's Game

Ethan had two games on Saturday at the high school. His team isn't doing too well but Ethan is playing better than he ever has before. In his first game he was fouled and got two free throws. He made both of them!! YEAH!!

Here is the beginning of his first free throw:
Swish:
Ethan is on the left with his arm up wiping off sweat:
The basketball boy:

Silly Courtney

Courtney bites her fingernails and I have tried to get her to stop but nothing has worked. When she quit sucking her thumb she started biting her nails. One of my piano students told me that she used to bite her nails also but then her mom gave her a fingernail file and she hasn't bitten her nails since. So I decided it was worth trying.

At Ethan's basketball game on Saturday Courtney was sitting on the sidelines looking like this:

Ouch!

Playing the piano can sometimes be a dangerous past time. I got a couple of piano books for my birthday and I was playing in one. I turned the page quickly and went to spread the page down when I caught my fingers on a staple in the middle of the page. It HURT!

I washed it off and insisted that Bryan put a bandaid on my owie. He protested because it wasn't bleeding and we always tell Courtney that she can't have a bandaid unless there is blood. It isn't my fault that I clot easily, blame it on "mutant genes." But I did feel better not having to see it.

Painting

Ethan and Bryan have been working on their Pinewood Derby cars. They now have them painted. They spent a lot of time on Saturday getting the axles ready and getting things set to put together. Monday night they are going to finish it all.

Making the Pinewood Derby Car

It's that time of year again....the pinewood derby is in a few weeks!! After Ethan's games, Bryan and Ethan began building their cars. Last week I bought a magazine at Michael's that gives a ton of tips on how to build your car and how to make it a winner. Ethan has been studying that magazine ever since. He made me a list of supplies, Bryan and I bought a kit at the scout store, and I found all the other miscellaneous stuff they needed.

One thing that the magazine suggested was that the dad and the son each build their own side-by-side. So Bryan demonstrates, on his car, what needs to happen and then Ethan does it himself on his car. That way the son is building his own car ALL BY HIMSELF.

After a quick run to HomeDepot to buy the right kind of saw (oops, my bad), they clamped their wood to the work table and began to saw their wood. Ethan loved this part because he said the huge saw made him feel "powerful!" Haha

Ethan had decided he wanted a simple wedge car. After he had the shape cut out, they taped sandpaper to the table and began to smooth it out. You can tell from the picture that Ethan is thrilled to be sanding. ;)
Here's Bryan inspecting Ethan's sanding job.
When Ethan finished sanding, he decided it was time for painting, but it was actually time for the boys to go to basketball practice. So they are taking a break but they will get back to the car and I will update the blog on their progress.

Snow Canyon Basketball

Ethan has his first games with the Snow Canyon Youth League this morning. He had a game at 9 a.m. and a game at 10 a.m. They lost both but Ethan made some baskets and played some good defense! But the best part is that he had a lot of fun.

Here are pictures from his first game.

Ethan is on the right in the green jersey:
These are from his second game.

Here, he is trying to get the ball in-bounds over Brennon (his best friend who was on the other team):

I just noticed that his face looks the same in both pictures of his second game. I guess that's his "game face." Hahahaha

He has 2 games each Saturday in February and on the first Saturday of March, so he'll get a lot of game time in. There are only 7 players on each team.

Basketball

Basketball season has begun again for us! Ethan has games with Ivins City on Tuesdays, Courtney has games with Ivins City on Thursdays and Ethan has games with Snow Canyon Youth Sports League on Saturdays. So it's a bit busy but the kids are loving basketball. Bryan is coaching their Ivins teams and Ethan's is pretty good this year. We have the same kids as last year (with the exception of 2 that moved and one new addition) so they have played together and are all in the neighborhood (with the exception of 2).

Courtney had her first game last night. They scrimmaged for about 20 minutes and then had a practice the rest of the time. She can shoot and dribble but she gets distracted and begins to twirl sometimes. But she loves playing so that's all that matters.

Here are some photos from her game yesterday. I will take my camera next week to Ethan's game so you can see him in action.

The Chore That Shall Not Be Named

You know how, in the Harry Potter series, they refer to Lord Voldemort as"he who shall not be named?" Well, in our house Ethan has a chore that we now call "the chore that shall not be named."

If I tell him in the morning that he needs to practice the piano, he will get so upset. He really doesn't like to practice. And it will make the morning go badly. But if I tell him that he needs to do the chore that shall not be named, he still throws a fit but he does it with a bit of a grin on his face.

New Years Eve!

We had some BYU Men's Basketball ticket vouchers. Bryan and I looked at our calendars and decided that life was about to get REALLY busy and we needed to use the vouchers soon. So we decided to make a quick Provo trip to see the Cougars play. I mailed the vouchers to BYU with a note to call me. When they did, we figured out the best seating and then we paid for one extra ticket. I decided to get 2 seats on one row with 2 seats right behind them. That made it easier to get closer to the court and closer to the center without too much of a problem.

Courtney had a birthday party Saturday morning so we didn't leave until 11:30 a.m. This is how Ethan likes to travel...under a blanket in the backseat.

We got to Provo in time to drive around (there have been a lot of changes since we were there last) and get some ice cream at the Creamery. The line was obnoxiously long so it took forever to get the ice cream but Ethan was thrilled. The girl who scooped his "small scoop" obviously didn't know what a single small scoop was because it was HUGE!!

Here it is after we have been trying to control it for a while and it's still HUGE:
Courtney got a "kids scoop" and was very happy with the size:
As we were eating our ice cream, we drove to the Marriott Center for the game. When we finally got there the kids were still eating their ice cream and so the guard made us stay outside until they had finished just so we could go in the Marriott Center next to the booth selling...wait for it...Creamery Ice Cream!!! Go figure that one. I gripped about that for a while. Urgh!

Our seats were high but it was a great game. The games have been broadcast on BYUTV so we have been able to watch them (we don't have cable). Because of this, we knew the names of all the players and Ethan could point them all out. It was great!

The girls:
The boys:
When the game was over (BYU won!), we bought a Little Caesars pizza to eat in the van and drove home. We arrived home around 10:30 p.m. and Courtney promptly went to bed. Ethan wanted to try and stay up but he fell asleep at about 11:30, face-down on his bed with his glasses still on (they were foggy because he was breathing into his pillow and it was fogging them up).

It was a fun day even if it was a quick trip!!