Hard Things

Sometimes we have to do hard things. 

Ewan had a very deep cavity that was filled in May. Yesterday, he told me his tooth had been bothering him. I looked at it and it looked like his gum above the tooth was growing a rhinoceros horn. Houston, we have an abscess. 

Here we are today at the oral surgeon's office. He needs to have the tooth pulled. (The choice was a root canal or have it pulled. He's nine and it's a baby tooth. Decision made.)

Having had to hunt for him throughout the house and having to physically put him in the car gave me the clue that he was extremely nervous. We had a long talk on the drive here about how it's normal to be scared in situations like these. We CAN do hard things! 

J.M. Barrie understood the concept of rising above difficult circumstances when he wrote Peter Pan. In order to fly, they had to have faith, trust, pixie dust, and to think 'happy thoughts'. When we have faith and trust that God will take over, we can use those positive thoughts to put ourselves in a place in order to rise above and overcome whatever we are going through. 

"My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment;

And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes."

Ewan is my brave, strong boy. He is my 'noble youth'. He CAN do hard things. 

Daddy comes home...

With Andy's job change to Chase, we are lucky enough to have him work from home occasionally.  He has a little office (i.e. table and chair) set up in our unfinished basement.  The boys are always willing to help him seal envelopes!

Look-a-likes

Isla and Ewan: my little look-a-likes who, ironically enough, both have phonetically challenging names

Ewan's Love Letter

'I love you Ava-G you are so speshool cus you are speshool. So much. From Ewan.'

Since practically the first day of Kindergarten, Ewan has come home from school with stories about Ava G.  (Not to be confused with Ava P., another Ava in his class.)

We have even had her over for a play date.  Apparently she talks about Ewan all the time to her family.  

Soccer Season Begins

Aaahhhh…. the new soccer season has begun!  Andy is coaching Ewan's team and Uncle Michael is coaching Harrison and Zane.  Alexandra and Isabel are also on the older boys' team, so it is like a mini family reunion every Saturday!

Mornings

Morning play time. Isla always sleeps the last half of the night with us. The little boys love to come up and play with her when she wakes up.

Cold Season, Part III

And the bug rolls on...  Poor Ewan!  He got hit with the sick bug this morning.  He came down with a raging fever while I was at JoAnn's looking for some fabric to finish some projects.  Luckily I had some Tylenol in my purse.  I knew it wasn't go to be enough when he started moaning in the shopping cart.  Time to double up on the Ibuprofen, too.  He has the same thing that Zane had last week.
We have been sick off and on the entire month of January, cycling through two different colds.  It's been…….fun.
I've washed bedding, duvet covers, doorknobs, remotes, iPods, LeapPads, light switches.  You name it and it has been sanitized.  Today I am grateful for a day of mild 50 degree weather.  I've opened all the windows to air out our house.  Here's to fresh air to make the sickness be carried away with the wind.

Sick Bug

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"And the sick bug has hit the next victim. Poor Ewan. Today I am grateful for mild weather so I can open the windows and get this bug out!"

Soccer Season

Soccer season is upon us again.  Harrison and Zane are on the same team, coached by their uncle Michael.  Their cousins, Alexandra and Isabel, are also on the team.  Its a great Saturday/Family Reunion!
Harrison in action

Zane in action.  He hasn't played since he was 4, but decided to try again since he could be on the same team as his brother and cousins.  He is thriving under Uncle Michael's coaching skills and is having a great time.

Ewan in action.  He is coached by his dad this year, along with the rest of his U-6 team. They won their very first game today!

Only in Pennsylvania can you look over to the neighboring elementary school and see little Amish boys sliding on a roof made slick after a night's rainfall.  They were entertaining themselves while their dads did some finishing work inside the school.

Candid Camera

I was driving along in the van.  

I let Ewan have my iPod touch to play some games.

He figured out how to use the camera.

And wasn't very shy. . .

. . . about taking lots and lots of pictures. . .

. . . of himself.

Man, I love that kid!

First Day of School

Can you feel the love?

Can you feel the excitement?

Zane going into 2nd grade.

Harrison going into 4th grade - and too cool to smile, apparently.

Ewan, my big boy/little kindergartener.  

Poor Ewan had an excruciating wait for his turn to get on the bus today.  He was the first one up and dressed at 6:45AM.  At breakfast, I finally broke the news to him that he wouldn't be catching the bus until after lunch.  That is what it meant to have 'afternoon kindergarten.'  His reply, an incredulous, "WHAT?!?!"
He spent the morning riding his bike, playing with Abric, eating lots of snacks, out of sheer boredom.  We were 'this close' to going to the park, but then I decided against it.  I didn't want him to be overly tired for his first big day.  Later I found him playing in the dirt hill in the empty lot next door ~ in his new school clothes, no less.  It was 10:45AM, so I helped him clean up and had him help me make lunch.

Daddy was able to come home for lunch.  (Yay!) We ate, brushed teeth and hair, and then headed up the road to Ewan's bus stop.  Then we waited. . . and waited. . . and waited.  I finally called the transportation company and the buses were running 45 minutes late.  Good grief!  First day of school wrinkles, I guess.

Finally!  The bus came.  There goes my big/little kindergarten boy -- off to his first official day of school.

Poison Ivy

We went camping last weekend and let the boys play in the woods.  We found out that Ewan is extremely allergic to poison ivy.

  None of the other boys really got it.  First, it looked like mosquito bites.  Then it looked like mosquito bites on steroids.  Which is exactly what the doctor put him on to speed up the healing process.  

Abric just wanted to join in the photo shoot with his cheeser-cheeser.

Ewan's BIG 5!

Happy Happy Birthday to my one and only Ewan!  I can't believe it has been 5 years since you were born.  You were my tiniest baby, but have always been personality plus.  Except you have been a little camera shy this past year.  I guess you just weren't in the mood this morning at breakfast.

You asked for a Tyrannosaurus Rex birthday cake.  

(I used cupcakes to simplify it.)

We had family over for cake and ice cream.  It was a nice family get-together and you had a blast!

Since I haven't been feeling very good, Daddy took you to Toys R' Us to go pick out your toy with your birthday money.  You chose a shiny, red remote-controlled sports car.  We also ate dinner at Texas Roadhouse.  You ate your new favorite food:  ribs!  You rolled your eyes and were so embarrassed when the servers gave your their Texas birthday "Yee Haw!"  

Evidence of a fun day at the pool

The Dentist

I love our new dentist. Seriously, Harrison and Zane cheered when I told them that I had to take them to the dentist this morning. TV's on the wall and fun gifts probably play a huge role in their excitement, but that is OK. I grew up terrified of the dentist, still have the fear, but it is getting better. Dr. Arndt let me come in the room while Ewan got his exam. They even let me bring Abric with me and then gave him a tour of the rooms so he would know what to expect when he turns four. I love it.

Check-up results:

Ewan had 0 cavities.

Zane had 0 cavities.

Harrison had 7 cavities.

No type-o there. 7 cavities. Six of them are in his baby teeth, but still. 7 cavities.

How do we make sure he brushes his teeth at least twice a day? I called Andy, my mom, and told Cindy and Anya at the store the number of cavities he had. (Embarrassment, in some circumstances, can be a useful tool.)

We all know boys go through that 'lack of hygiene' phase and Harrison's has just begun. He's not yet to the point where he has to shower in the mornings instead of at night, but it will be coming. And when we get there, life will be so. much. fun.

Quote of the day

While eating stir-fry for dinner tonight, Ewan exclaimed:

Wow, Mom, this is some great chicken!

I just didn't have the heart to tell him that it was tofu.

Ewan Rides

Ewan got a bike for Christmas. He has been able to ride it in the basement over the winter and occasionally outside. We've had a nice spell of weather, so Andy took him outside to teach him how to really ride a bike : without training wheels.

Abric found something else to occupy his time.

We did have a crash or two.

But by the next day, this kid was free-flying! I am so proud of him! He can turn around in the road and he can start his bike all by himself.

Harrison and Zane were both 6 before they even wanted to try taking their training wheels off. Ewan is only 4. He has always been my independent 'big' boy. He potty-trained himself at age 2 1/2. He just woke up from a nap one day saying that he needed to go potty, and that was that. He is an amazing kid!

A Night out with Ewan

We took Ewan out for a 'date' with us to go see our local high school's production of Into the Woods. He loved it! He loved clapping after every song. He loved watching the live performance. Being a lover of musicals myself, I was so happy that at least one of my children likes them. I even rented the DVD and we watched it a few days later. He sat through the whole thing and loved it.

Phonetics

While driving in the car, we were talking about our family names and what letters they start with.

• Ewan: My name is spelled E-W-A-N.
• Me: That's right!
• Ewan: Is there a U in my name?
• Me: No. E and W make the 'YOU' sound, and A and N make the 'AN' sound.
• Ewan: Huh. . . (looking out the window) I always thought there was a U in my name….

Ewan, little buddy, when we named you, we never thought of the phonetic repercussions while you were learning your ABCs.

Winter Series- D-town 10K

We decided to register for the York Road Runner's Club Winter Series: 8 races, varying from 5K to 15K for $20 total. You just have to bring your same bib to each race. There was a max $50 registration for family, so for $10 extra dollars, I enrolled Harrison, Zane, and Ewan. Each race had a 1-mile fun run before the actual event. This Saturday, we ran our first race as a family. I ran the 1-mile with the stroller while Ewan, Zane, and Harrison ran on their own.

Here we are getting ready to start the race!

And we're off! Can you see how tiny Ewan is?

Harrison is near the front of the pack by now.

Here is Harrison coming in for the finish. He ran a 7:29 mile. He finished 7th place overall. Overall- that includes kids and adults. Seriously, where does this kid come from? Andy and I were never that fast at age 9!

Here comes Ewan in for the finish. He ran the entire way. I was so proud of him!

Here comes Zane! He was starting to get sick and wasn't feeling very well, but he still ran and finished.
Harrison took this picture of me. I thought he did a great job…. he was pretty camera-happy, though.

My little Ewan. He was so excited to have run in a real race.

Here comes Andy, finishing his hilly 10K run.

The boys ran with him to the finish.

Ang, please don't kill me for posting this, but you did awesome!

My friend, Ang, ran her very first 10K today!