The Tooth Fairy and other such things....

Leah's first experience with the tooth fairy came this summer when her cousin Katherine was staying at our house and lost one of her teeth. Of course this prompted all sorts of excitement when they discovered that the tooth fairy didn't put the money where they expected it, and the great hunt was on! They finally found it on the toilet, and figured that the tooth fairy must have had to use the bathroom and just left the money there. Wise cousin Katherine (who, at age 6, is already on to such things) looked at me skeptically, but she just gathered up her money and moved on. Leah and her cousin Aaron were beyond excited and couldn't stop talking about that silly tooth fairy who left the money in the bathroom. (It was later discovered, by the way, that Uncle Tooth Fairy had already place money under the pillow, but we didn't find it the first time around. So Aunt Tooth Fairy had to think quick...)

At any rate, Leah has been very excited for her first tooth fairy visit. We told her that usually teeth don't start falling out until you are in kindergarten, so she would have to wait a little while.

This morning, we hear this question yelled from the bathroom, "Mom, how do teeth know when you are in kindergarten??"

FALL IS IN THE AIR...

I was kindly reminded (thanks, Cass!) that an update was long overdue (once again)...I can't believe that summer is over and we are looking ahead to fall activities already. One of the fall changes in our home was that Leah started pre-school last week! We chose a little pre-school at a Baptist church about a block from our house, so it's a quick and easy walk down there in the morning. She goes three mornings a week, and after two days she is so excited to go back in the morning. It's a lovely little place, where you just feel happy when you walk in the door, so I know that she'll have a wonderful year there.

The first morning of school she was told by Daddy that Mommy would make her a special breakfast. Well, she interpreted that to be a "Special, super secret surprise breakfast"! (She has a flair for the dramatic). So this picture shows her eating her homemade waffles cut into hearts and flowers. I hope cereal is good enough on the other mornings!



On Wednesday morning as I was walking her to school, she held my hand and said, "I will miss you a little bit, Mommy". "Oh, Leah," I said, "I will miss you too. But I know that God is going to be there with you at school, and you will meet lots of new friends and have a really nice teacher. You are going to have so much fun." Her response was the one that made me throw my sunglasses on to hide the tears. "Mommy, God will be with you too while I am gone." Such blessings from a four year old. I understand what it meant in the Bible that Mary took all of these things and pondered them in her heart. A small statement like this is tucked away and brought out to remind me how much I can receive from my daughter.


(Leah has trouble just smiling for a picture. This was the best we could get! Her red bucket is what they bring instead of backpacks.)





In other things, we had a busy neighborhood weekend with a wine tasting on Friday night. Italian wines was the theme, as our hosts had recently returned from a 3 week trip to Italy. I would have rather gone to Italy, but we had a wonderful time once again with these people who are becoming our friends. Saturday we spent the afternoon and evening at our annual neighborhood picnic....lots of games and food...and rain!! But we, along with about 25 other people stuck it out for the fireworks which still went off in the pouring rain. I was only there because we had promised Leah we would stay, and it did make for an experience to remember! My hot shower felt very good last night.


(Leah and her neighbor friend after the candy hunt at the picnic)



So that's a little of what we've been up to! Change of seasons brings changes around our home too....Happy Fall, ya'll!