Happy Birthday, Luke!

Luke turned 13 yesterday (2 teenagers in the house now!), but we have actually been celebrating all weekend! Friday night we brought cookies-and-cream cheesecake squares and cookie dough truffles to Bible study (along with blonde brownies, which Caleb made all by himself, for those who don't care for dairy, LOL). The truffles were really good, although I had trouble dipping them, and they didn't look as neat as in the picture. I slightly overcooked the cheesecake bars. lthough they were good, Luke and I both agreed that we like chocolate cheesecake better!

Sunday afternoon, Rivendell took a field trip to Medieval Times. Bob took the oldest 6 kids, and various members of the other 4 Rivendell families (that actually live here!) also went. Bob said he should have told them to announce Luke's birthday in the middle of the show when such things were announced. Luke was very glad he had not thought of that earlier! Everyone was very happy when Rivendell was announced, though. Definitely a fun thing to do with good friends on a birthday weekend!

Luke went ahead and opened his presents Sunday night after they got back, since Bob is TDY this week. Here he and everyone else (note the medieval attire) are poring over this Sports Illustrated For Kids book of football top 10 lists that I found by browsing Amy's Amazon wish list. It has been a huge hit! Luke was also thrilled to get the Tim Tebow autobiography from Grandma and Grandpa. He and Nathan have been taking turns reading it. Dan and Melinda sent him a book called Boyhood and Beyond: Practical Wisdom on Becoming a Man. I've started reading it out loud to everyone at the dinner table because it has some really great lessons in it. Lots of good books!

Here is a puzzle of Neuschwanstein also from my parents that I'm sure we'll be starting as soon as we figure out a good place for us to work on it! "After Latin is over"--that seems to be my answer to just about everything right now! Bob and I went to this castle on our honeymoon, and I can't wait to put this puzzle on our wall downstairs in the basement!

On Luke's actual birthday yesterday we had his birthday dinner. He picked chicken packets. I made 20 of them (they're pretty large--each one is 2 crescent rolls pressed together), but we only had 3 left over, and after lunch today, those 3 are gone as well. And Bob wasn't even there! I can't make enough food for any sort of left-over meal!

So we had a lovely weekend celebrating Luke! We're so glad he's been in our family for 13 years, and we look forward to seeing how the Lord is going to use the gifts and talents He has given Luke as he grows up!

There May Be Business to Discuss . . .

Nathan and Luke went to a birthday party tonight for Christopher, another boy in our Rivendell co-op. The theme was a 20's/30's Mafia one, and we had quite a good time getting costumes and props to go along!
Since we were up in PA last weekend, we checked out a thrift store near Bob's parents' house, figuring (correctly!) that things would be cheaper in PA than in northern VA. We found a suit for Nathan for $6.00! We also found a shirt, black shoes, and a red tie--all (including the suit!) for the grand price of $11.50. You can't beat a deal like that! We couldn't find another suit that remotely fit Luke, but we did get shoes and a tie for him. We then went to one thrift store near here (not a Goodwill or Salvation Army, since those seem to be more expensive), and we were able to find a suit for $10.00 for him, along with a shirt and the 2 red pocket kerchiefs (is there a special name for those?). Bob did some magic "safety pin" tailoring, and voila! A transformation!

We hit upon the idea of wrapping the present in a brown paper bag and carrying it in Bob's old hard-side briefcase. Nathan googled "money clip art", and soon we were printing off stacks of $20 bills on green cardstock! A lot of dough for the boss, LOL.

Nathan and Luke along with Isaac and Caleb--definitely a scary looking mob!

The party was great fun--lots of "bumping people off" and other games, plus pizza and cake! The gang members are heading for bed right now, but I will ask them tomorrow if they have anything else to add . . .

Happy Birthday, Luke!!

Today is Luke's 12th birthday! We started celebrating on Friday, when we brought Air Force dessert to Bible study. I'm still not entirely sure how this delicious dessert got its name, but it is an old favorite from White Sulphur Springs, and it is much yummier (and easier to make!) than a traditional cake! I had to ask Marty Thomas and Carri for help with the recipe--thank you, ladies!!

We also celebrated tonight by finishing up the Air Force dessert. Luke also opened his presents.
He got a Transformer, as well as 2 comic books (Zits and Foxtrot) Nathan and I picked out from Half Price Books while we were in Ohio. Of course, we actually started celebrating Luke's birthday IN Ohio, where he received a Lego Minotaurus game from Aunt Amy, as well as a really challenging flag puzzle from my parents, where the flag is actually made up of a ton of tiny pictures. He has already started working on this puzzle!

Luke is such a tremendous help with the girls, and I definitely appreciate his attention to detail, especially when he is helping me find something that is missing! He still finds a ton of money whenever we are in stores. He is also an amazing basketball player--taking after his cousin, Pilot! He just finished up another undefeated season.


Here is a close-up view of the Air Force dessert. I doubled the recipe to fit in my big pan (it's a roasting pan, but I use it for casseroles and other big things--like desserts!). We only had a little bit left!


Air Force Dessert


16 oz. Oreo cookies, crushed into crumbs
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 gallon ice cream, softened (we used cookies and cream, which is the traditional kind, I believe)
1 jar chocolate fudge topping
1 small cool whip container

Reserve 1/4 cup crushed cookies for topping; mix remaining cookie crumbs with butter, and press into bottom of 9x13 pan. Spread softened ice cream evenly over cookie layer. Drizzle fudge over ice cream, then spread cool whip on top. (We added another layer of chocolate topping here, just for good measure, LOL.) Sprinkle with reserved cookie crumbs. Freeze.

Lemurs and More Varenga

Every 2 years our Tuesday morning co-op does a writing unit. For the 5th and 6th graders, they write a research paper and then do an oral presentation, complete with a display board. Two years ago, Nathan did his report on Madagascar. This year the theme was "animals", and Luke picked lemurs.

Lemurs are native only to Madagascar, which turned out to be handy. For the meal afterward everyone had to bring in a dish related to their animal--either something the animal eats, something made from the animal (so hard to find a good cut of lemur though, LOL), something from the country where the animal lives, or (the cop-out last option!) something in the shape of the animal. Someone made absolutely adorable cupcakes in the shape of koala bears! We brought our old standby of varenga--the boiled, roasted shredded beef dish over rice that we also brought in for Nathan's meal. Never thought I'd use that recipe twice! It's actually pretty good.

Luke did really well on his presentation. He made eye contact and spoke slowly, covering all his points but not relying too much on his notecards. He was able to answer the questions people asked after the presentation. He looked confident up there, a far cry from a few years ago, when he would dissolve in a silent puddle of tears when in front of a group of people!

Here's a closer look at his display board. Lemurs are cute little guys, for the most part (well, not the freaky aye-aye so much). He had an interesting paper and talk! These kind of experiences are why it is nice to be in a co-op. It's so much different giving an oral report in front of 17 other classmates, plus random parents and siblings, as opposed to just one's own siblings and parents!

Insight

Here is Luke's bit of insight into the feminine mystique yesterday:

"When the girls are in bad moods, the way to get them happy again is to tell them how pretty they look, or how pretty something is on their dress, like 'Oooh, look at that pretty flower!' That distracts them."

Definitely a good place to start!

Look at That Smile!

Luke had an orthodontist appointment this morning. The doctor said he didn't have to wear his headgear any more! Luke was really crushed to hear this, but I managed to console him. Then the doctor started talking about phase 2 . . .

I had been quite happy with Luke's smile, especially considering where he was when we started! But it turns out the the $1300 we spent was only on the TOP part of Luke's mouth. His lower jaw is also narrow. And there are 2 teeth fully formed and waiting to emerge--with absolutely no room for them to do so. You can clearly see them on x-rays! If you don't know they are lurking down there, then his bottom teeth look great too--all nice and lined up!

So phase 2 of the operation involves braces to move the bottom teeth out of the way to let these 2 teeth come up in peace. I don't recall mention of another expander, but I could be wrong. Otherwise, the danger is that they will become impacted and require surgery. Without taking any off for insurance, this will cost another $3700. Sooooo . . . now Bob just has to find a job with good dental insurance, LOL. Actually, even if he had stayed active duty, since the military dental insurance also paid $1300 for the first phase (1/2 of it), then they would only have paid $200 for this. Each person only gets $1500 total for orthodontic care under the United Concordia dental plan. No real loss there!

And once again, Nathan's need for an expander and braces because of a crossbite moves down to the bottom of the priority pile. His mouth just doesn't seem too bad! Nice, wide jaw--plenty of room for teeth!

Happy Birthday, Luke!!!

Luke turned 11 years old today! He asked for cheesecake again, and we brought that to Bible study last night, along with a host of other goodies.

I had a little bit of leftover peanut butter cup filling from Christmas in the freezer, plus I had some caramel that I never did use at Christmas, so I spent the afternoon making candies. Since the cake/chocolate supply shop closed (boo-hoo), I just bought some Wilton choclate coating discs from Michaels. I was not very impressed with them. They didn't melt very smoothly, and they just glooped together. I had some paramount crystals (fat, sort of like crisco) so I added that, but it never really smoothed out to my satisfaction. Oh well. I guess I will have to start ordering Merckens chocolate online.

We also brought rice krispie treats for those like Nathan and Amanda, who don't like cheesecake, and for Caleb, who is allergic. I had a little bit of pink frosting left over in the fridge from Faith's birthday, so I frosted the treats with that. I told Luke they were to honor Faith's birthday, since we didn't bring a cake to Bible study for her, so he would not be insulted that we were bringing pink treats to his birthday celebration!

Here is a closer look at the cheesecake, in all its yummy goodness. It has snickers bars chopped up inside it, as well as sprinkled on top, and chocolate syrup drizzled over the top. Very tasty!!

Today we went out to CiCi's Pizza for lunch to celebrate. CiCi's was having an anniversary celebration this month, where everyone ate for $3.99. Since tomorrow was the last day, we thought it was a good time to take advantage of that deal!

For his birthday dinner, Luke requested chicken salad on croissants, and we also had Sunchips and cut-up orange slices. Easy and lighter, after our big meal!

After dinner, Luke opened his presents. He got a new basketball, a Toby Mac CD, a "How to Draw Star Wars Clone Wars" book from Grandpa and Grandma B., and a Scrabble Slam card game and a very challenging 3-d globe puzzle from Grandma and Grandpa G.! He was also very thrilled to get an Amazon gift card from Aunt Amy and Uncle Jason, and some money from Uncle Dan and Aunt Melinda, so he is looking forward to figuring out what exactly he will get with this largesse!

Keeping It Real, Keeping Us Humble

So Nathan and Luke are having, by all accounts, a marvelous time with Grandma and Grandpa. They went to an underground railroad museum, which sounded fascinating, and an Indian village. They went to the local tea party on July 3rd and watched fireworks there. They had an entire large pizza to themselves (ham and pineapple, of course), and they ate the whole thing. They went out to eat at Applebees and got to order whatever they wanted off the menu. Good times indeed.

Meanwhile, we are soldiering on without them back at the ranch. And it turns out we have really come to depend on them! Yesterday after church we went out to eat with another family at Boston Market. Ed and Angela are good friends of the McC's, and they have 5 boys ranging in age from 13 down to about 5. They are such a nice family, and they've only started attending our church within the last month or so. We pulled a bunch of table together, and our kids sat at one end, the 4 adults sat in the middle, and their boys sat at the other end. Oh, and I should mention that our kids were really tired because we stayed at the L's house until 11:00 watching fireworks the night before. Anyhow, we were thoroughly enjoying our conversation when a lady approached our table.

"Excuse me, but the baby is licking the floor, and I thought you'd want to know."

What?!! Why yes, there was Grace, down on the floor licking it. Ack! I think she had dropped an apple, which she ate off the floor, and then she just wanted to finish cleaning up all that good sticky juice. Blech. How mortifying! Obviously we were not paying one tiny bit of attention to her! She was embarrassed by all the commotion, so she cried, but eventually we got her calmed down. Red-faced, we continued our conversation. A little while later, I glance over at Grace again. She is standing between 2 chairs, with one leg on each chair, and as I look over, I see her tumble down to the floor as the chairs slide away. Whoops! She cried long and loudly, and the lady looked over at us again. I'm sure she was wondering why we couldn't keep our children under control, and was glad we didn't have any MORE kids!! LOL!

Now see, this is the sort of thing that really doesn't happen much to us. Our kids usually just sit in their chairs at restaurants, and we don't have any problems. I have realized that Bob and I have gotten lazy though. If Nathan and Luke had been there, then that would have been 2 more pairs of eyes to watch over everyone, and I am sure Luke would have noticed that Grace was on the floor. And when she was standing in her chair, trying to reach something, Nathan would have been right there to get it for her. We have a week left to get ourselves back into the alert state we were back when we just had 5. And then Nathan and Luke will be home, and we'll all be so happy and relieved!

Happy Birthday, Luke!

We celebrated Luke's 10th birthday today! I was very, very happy because Luke did not ask for a regular cake for his birthday--he asked for a chocolate cheesecake!! He is my new favorite child, LOL. Since I didn't have to work all afternoon on a Bionicle cake or some other time-intensive cake, we really went all out for making birthday desserts, which we took to Bible study.

We had the chocolate cheesecake, which had chopped up Snickers bars both in it and sprinkled on top, as well as chocolate syrup drizzled over. It was delicious! We also had chocolate-covered strawberries, with a choice of both light or dark chocolate, and we also had rice krispie treats with blue frosting, just to make them special, for those people like Caleb who are allergic to both cheesecake and chocolate, and also for those like Nathan and Amanda L. who just don't like cheesecake. We came home with a small square of cheesecake, so people pretty much scarfed everything down!

I can't believe Luke is in double digits now! He has really grown up a lot this past year, I think. I was a little worried about how he would handle all the orthodontia, but he has really taken that in stride. He has also become so amazingly athletic. I am still surprised at how good at basketball he turned out to be. Also, he is an amazing big brother to the girls. They really bring out a softer side to him. He can be pretty cynical, but he is so sweet and gentle when he talks to them and helps them. If I am not available, he is the one Grace turns to when she needs comfort, and he will sit and hold Faith for long periods of time on the couch. One night, after kssing Grace goodnight in her crib, he told me that it was the best thing to have little sisters. It was so sweet. I am so thankful we didn't stop having kids after having him, because I think his personality would be different without the younger ones to bring him balance. It has definitely made him more flexible and able to think about others. Now he and Caleb still butt heads all. the. time. but I told him that the Lord knew he had areas that needed to be worked on that Caleb brought out in him, and vice versa, and so that's why God put them both in the same family! Their relationship is definitely an area of prayer for me though.

I know I have shared before on the blog about Luke's meconium issues at birth, and I don't take for granted the fact that he is a healthy, happy 10 year old. We are so thankful for Luke!

Orthodontic Update

Luke had not one, but two orthodontic appointments yesterday. At the first one, he got his braces and his expander taken off. Yay! He kept saying how weird it was to feel his gums and the top of his mouth. I don't think any of us will miss the sucking sound he would make to try to clear out food that got stuck up in the expander, LOL. I still can't believe the difference that 6 months of the expander, plus a few months of braces, made in his mouth. Wow.

While he was there in the morning, he had impressions made to fit him for a retainer that he will mainly wear at home and at night. The orthodontist also came out to talk to me and tell me that he also needs to wear a head thing to help his lower jaw grow forward, since it is really small, and his teeth are not lined up properly. He asked me if I thought Luke would wear it, and I said he would probably wear whatever we told him he had to wear. Luke needs to wear the head gear for 14 hours, most of which will be at night while he's sleeping. This is the good thing about homeschooling--Luke seems totally unaware that there might be any sort of stigma against orthodontic appliances. I was a bit worried that he would be really self-conscious and not want to wear the thing, but last night he didn't really seem to care. He wore it for about an hour and a hlaf, while watching a movie. We have to work up to the 14 hours, and he did say it was uncomfortable after awhile. I hope he can sleep with it! I'm not sure that a picture will be forthcoming, but we'll see.

When we went back for our afternoon appointment, Luke picked up his new retainer. I don't know if he just only needs a small one, or if retainer technology has really come a long way since I was in junior high, but it looks nothing like what I remember people wearing! Those were these huge things with a big pink palate part, and wires everywhere. His is clear plastic with no wires, and it is not noticeable at all. He's just supposed to wear that at home, not out, which should be easy. I'm not sure how long he'll have to wear these things. We go back next week to check on the progress.

Well-Older Child Visit

Today I took Nathan and Luke in for "well-child" check-ups. They haven't been in for one of those since, well, since we lived in Ohio for sure. I would say maybe 2003 or 2004. It seemed like we were always in for another younger child's well-baby appointments, and obviously both Nathan and Luke were well children, so it was certainly never a priority. But with Bob possibly retiring next year sometime, I figured I would take them in one more time and make sure they were current on shots, and that I wasn't missing anything.

As it turns out, they are both healthy. What a surprise! The doctor who saw them was so very nice. I have been nothing but impressed by the pediatrics doctors at Bethesda. She spent a long, non-rushed time with us, and she was very keen on waiting to give booster shots for stuff like chicken pox and also shots for menigitis until they go off to college, where they'll be in more danger, adn the booster will be newer. She recommended I not get any shots for either boy, but I did go ahead and get a tetanus booster for Nathan. She said he would need to come back in about 3 years for one, and I just decided to get it done now. Luke was quite happy to hear he didn't need any shots.

They did vision tests for the boys, and Nathan had some trouble. His eyes were 20/50, although it is possible that they aren't that bad. This clinic uses a chart with shapes on it, instead of letters, and some of the shapes were very non-intuitive (a coffee cup, a sailboat, etc.). It was very difficult to see what in the world it could possibly even be! Anyhow, the doctor recommended that Nathan have his eyes checked by an optometrist, which I think we will go ahead and do. I remember that I got glasses in 5th or 6th grade too, which I only ever used to see things like chalkboards or screens in class, and I pretty much never wear anymore at all. Possibly Nathan would have had more troubles already if he wasn't being homeschooled. Luke's eyes were fine. I guess he inherited Bob's good eyes!

One other thing the doctor did mention about Nathan is this weird white splotchy patch he has on his right side/back. It's been there ever since he was little, and we first noticed it because it never tans. It's just non-pigmented. The doctors at Wright-Pat looked at it and decided it was nothing to be concerned about, and we haven't given it anymore thought since then. I just make sure it gets sunscreen when he swims outside. The doctor today said mentioned vitiligo, although when I looked into that, it doesn't really seem like what Nathan has. His patch has never gotten bigger, and it doesn't look sort of pinkish, like the pictures I see on the internet--his patch is all white. Anyhow, she thought a dermatologist should maybe look at it, and she emailed a friend of hers who is a doctor at the dermatology clinic there to ask about what he thought. The doctor just called and said that dermatology would like to look at it, so the consult is in, and I'll call Monday to make that appointment. It is always good to make sure nothing is wrong, but it has never changed all htese years, so I'm not too concerned. Hopefully we can get the appointment out of the way before the baby comes!

Nathan is in the 20th percentile for both height and weight, and Luke is hanging out in the 10th percentile for both. That is actually up from the 5th percentile, where he used to be, so he is really porking up, LOL. I told the doctor we were the poster family for "anti-childhood obesity". We don't grow them large!

So although not too much happened (and it took a 3 hour chunk out of our day with the drive), I do think it is good to establish a record every so many years that they are healthy, growing, and meeting developmental standards. One can never be too cautious, especially with a new, possibly hostile administration coming into office.

Last Fencing Class

Nathan and Luke had their last fencing class today. The best thing about it was that the 2 really young, out-of-control boys were not there! The instructor brought in the equipment for electric fencing, so they could keep score while they fenced each other. They had so much fun!

Here is Luke is lunging at Caleb McC. They had a sort of tournment, with Luke starting out fencing Daniel McC. Luke won that one, then again against Johnny (not our Jonny), and again against Caleb McC. Finally he lost to Isaac McC. Nathan lost to Isaac too. It was really fun to watch! They've learned so much over the past few weeks.

Here are Nathan and Luke fencing each other. The boys all got turns to fence each other, and the instructor even let the class run longer so there was more time.

This is Caleb, all suited up. He didn't even take the class, but during the regular class times, he, Jonathan, and Joel McC would do the same stuff with foam swords that the instructor also had. This time, the instructor even let them get all dressed up, which was very thrilling for them! Obviously Caleb has been observing, as you can see from his lunge!

Here are Jonathan, Joel, and Anna playing with the foam swords. It was so nice of the man to always let them play too. It definitely helped keep everyone happy and occupied while the older boys were having their class!

We didn't sign up for the next session of classes, because they run up to Christmas. We are planning to be gone for a few weeks around the holiday time, so we didn't want to miss classes. Hopefully they'll be able to take another session in the new year, though. Fencing so is great for coordination and mental accuity! Plus, it's fun to watch!

Luke's Braces

I'm going to try to post a bunch a pictures this afternoon. First, let's talk about Luke's braces. This first picture is from right after he got the braces put on his front teeth. You can see how the front teeth have deparated, due to the expander, and the tooth to the right has dropped down almost in line. The tooth on the left is a lot lower than it was.

Now here is a picture of Luke from today. It's not a mouth close-up, although it is pretty close to his face, so he looks a bit like he's in a fishbowl, LOL. Hopefully you can still tell that the front teeth have moved closer together, giving the left tooth even more room to move down. It's such a difference. I am absolutely amazed whenever I see him smile.

Week of Appointments

We've had either a doctor or a dental appointment every day this week except today. And tonight we had Bible study over here at our house, so it was a day of cleaning!

Two of those appointments were for Luke, at the orthodontist's. Monday we went and they tied off his expander. He has to keep it in for a few more months, but we are done turning the screw and opening it more. It's been amazing to watch the transformation in his mouth. You can really see a difference! He had 2 teeth that had come in so high--way up in his gum--so high you couldn't even see them unless he pulled his lip way up. Well, with the new room from the expander, one tooth has dropped down almost to where it needs to be, and the other tooth has also lowered significantly.

On Thursday we went back for the orthodontist to put braces on these front top teeth--6 brackets in all. This will move the front 2 teeth back together (they have separated as a result of the expander), which will give the one tooth even more room to drop down to where it needs to be. I'm not sure how long he'll need the braces. We go back in a month, and I guess they'll tell us how well it's going at that point.

He really didn't complain at all about the expander, except that it really bugged him to get food stuck up there. He's developed this vacuum sucking noise that he does all the time to try to clear stuff out of it. I won't be sorry to see that thing go, LOL. He has been complaining about his teeth/mouth hurting since he got the braces put on, however. I've been giving him motrin, but I'm glad he doesn't have a whole mouth-full of braces! That must be excruciating!

Toothy Update

We've been in a "gain some, lose some" tooth mode lately. Here's what's happening.

Luke: He is down 2 as of today. He got his lower 2 incisors pulled to help make some room in his bottom jaw. The lady asked me if I wanted the laughing gas for him when she called him back, but I said no. I knew it was extra ($50), and I had already told him to expect to be numbed in the mouth. Plus, I had a zillion baby teeth pulled as a kid, with no laughing gas in sight, and I did fine (plus I walked home 8 miles in the snow uphill . . .). He was a little nervous, but he did just fine. Whew! Now he is dealing with the 2 big holes in his mouth. In a related note, he has adjusted to his expander just fine, although it is a constant battle to get the food out of the top of it. The feeling of having food stuck up there drives him crazy.

Grace: She is up an amazing 5! When we were in Ohio, she was drooling like a faucet, her nose was runny, and she was pooping all the time and had a terrible diaper rash. This is how my kids teeth, so I was expecting a tooth. Specifically, I was expecting the fourth bottom tooth in the front, since she had all 4 up top, and a lop-sided 3 on the bottom. But it never came in and never even looked like it was going to come in. Eventually she stopped being drooly, snotty, and poopy, her rash went away, and I stopped looking for that tooth. Two Fridays ago I was playing around with her on her back. I stuck my finger in her mouth and ran my fingers all around her gums. To my surprise, I found 2 top molars fully in! Obviously this was what she was working so hard on in Ohio! Her bottom molars were about to come through, and have since done so, and today I noticed that--hey!--that one bottom front tooth is through too. So Grace has been a busy girl lately. No wonder she had gone back to taking both a morning and an afternoon nap!

No one else has had any tooth issues, although Anna did have some mysterious virus Sunday. She woke up at 3:00 A.M. running a fever. I gave her some motrin, and she went back to sleep, but when she woke up at 8:30, she was just as hot as ever. I gave her some more motrin, and Bob stayed home from church with her. She was still running a little fever when we got home from church at 1:00, so I gave her some tylenol, and then some more motrin at 3:00. This seemed to do the trick, finally getting the fever down. She took a good afternoon nap and perked up in the evening. She slept fine last night, and she seems fine today, so it was just a 24 hour thing I guess. Hopefully no one else will get it. My parents are here to take Caleb and Jonathan back to Ohio for 10 days on Wednesday, and we don't want any of them to be sick for that!

Luke's new torture device

Here it is: "the expander". Luke got it installed this morning, and I practiced turning it 2 times. I have to put this metal "key", which is on a long stick, into this little hole in the middle of the device. Then I turn it all the way to the back. That's least favorite part, and I can see why, as the stick goes way back in his mouth. SO we get to do that once a day for 25-30 days or so. Then we can stop with the turning, but the device stays on for several more months, until his top jaw has separated enough.

Luke had a hard time eating lunch today. He had chicken noodle soup (they recommended soft foods for the first day), but it really bugged him that food kept getting stuck up there. We have all sorts of little brushes and tools to help keep it clean, but I guess it was just an annoying feeling, so he hardly ate anything at all. Of course, he is one of my skinniest kids, so this is not a good thing! Maybe I need one of those things after the baby comes, LOL.

Poor Luke will also have a rough time next Monday. He is scheduled to have 2 of his bottom baby teeth pulled. That, combined with the expander, should really make his mouth feel pleasant. Lots of ice cream next Monday night! Good thing the Olympics are on to distract him.

Speaking of the Olympics, we've really been enjoying watching them. Of course, the boys miss watching the marquee events in the evening, but frankly, when you're an 11 year old or younger boy, a swimming pre-lim or semi-final is just as exciting as the final! Plus, some of the fun, different sports are shown in the morning, like rowing and water polo. They really got into U.S.'s water polo win this morning! School was done in record time. I'm foreseeing a lot of that these next 2 weeks, LOL. And of course I found a video of the mens 4x100 relay from last night for them to watch. That was just TOO exciting to miss! Go U.S.A.!!

Camp Caleb De-Brief . . . Fairly Brief

Nathan and Luke made it home yesterday afternoon about 4:30. They were dirty and smelly, but we were all so happy to see them! They both agreed Camp Caleb was "really awesome". So there you have it; hopefully you weren't expecting many more details. Just kidding (a little bit)! I found that when Nathan went up there all alone, we got an exhaustive, setailed description of all that went on. With both of them up there, we got snippets and fragments, all of which were filled with inside jokes and bits and pieces of songs. So I still don't have a very clear idea of exactly what they did, but they both had a really great time.

A few things I know:

--Luke was the hero of the "Cature the Flag" game, where he led a daring raid to free everyone in jail. Apparently, "no one believed he could run that fast and get everyone out."

--Luke's favorite thing was the pudding fight they had after "no hands dinner", which was basically, sloppy joes and pudding, and you couldn't use your hands to eat anything. (But evidently you could use them to throw pudding?) Nathan's group also had a pudding fight.

--Luke's group only had 3 boys (including him), and 13 girls. I personally think this helped him feel confident, as he wasn't going head-to-head with too many boys. He did say the other 2 boys were really into movies, which of course he is not, but it sounded like they all got along just fine.

--Nathan knew 3 people from last year, and another one from the year before. He had a wild camper in his little group of boys who "swung naked from the rafters" in their cabin. This made a big (negative) impression on Nathan.

--Both Nathan and Luke did really well at archery, and had tons of fun shooting the gun. Nathan showed me his target from that, and he didn't do too badly! I think that's his favorite.

--On the last night, Nathan's age group hiked somewhere and had an overnight campout. As they prayed before dinner, they prayed that it would not rain. And then it started hailing. They thought that was funny and hunkered down under their tarps to wait it out. It did eventually.

So that's about all I know, folks. I'll have to get more details later.

They're off!

We dropped Nathan and Luke off to Camp Caleb in PA yesterday. It was touch and go, timing-wise, as it always is with us. There is a half-an-hour drop-off window, between 3:30 and 4:00, so I knew we needed to leave about 1:00. No problem!

Well, we had the absolute longest church service ever. It was communion, Mike had a really long sermon, and the guy leading the singing felt the need to introduce every song with some long intro. Ack. To really set me off, Bob had been pressed into service at the last minute (8:30 in the morning) to do children's church, so even if we had wanted to slip out before communion or something, we couldn't. Church usually gets out about 12:15, and yesterday it went until 12:45. We didn't even get home until 1:00!!

The boys changed, loaded their stuff in the van, and we all inhaled sandwiches. I think we left about 2o after, which is an absolutely amazing turn-around for us. But . . . there was construction on I-70, and so we were still cutting it verrrrrry close. We made it there at 3:55. Whew!

Luke was concerned about our potential lateness, but he was still very excited about going. I had wondered if he would get more and more nervous as the time approached, but he didn't. He and Nathan were so cute, packing their bags Saturday morning (yet another stressor for me before the party, as I tried to get socks folded, and so on for them, LOL). He was nervous when we actually dropped him off, and the counselor came to the car to help him carry stuff though. I am really praying that he felt comfortable right away. I was never nervous for Nathan--he's such a happy, go-lucky guy! Nothing really fazes him, not even being laughed at or anything. Luke is not like that, LOL. I just want him to have a really good time. I know this will be a stretching time for him. He and Nathan are in different age groups, so he won't really see Nathan at all. He is very used to having Nathan around, and making friends with Nathan there too. This will be different, as it will just be him. I'm praying he finds a "kindred spirit". We'll see how it goes. We won't know until Friday, when he comes home! Either the other kids and I will go up, or maybe Elizabeth. Zachary is done with support staff at WSS that same day, so whoever goes will also pick him up too. I'm sure the van will be chattery on the way home that day!

New Bibles

A few days ago, I bought new Bibles for Nathan and Luke. Nathan had come to me a few days before that and mentioned that he didn't want to take his Bible to Camp Caleb next month. Nathan got his Bible when he was 4, and it is a Psalty Bible! Yes, one can understand why an 11 year old boy would feel the need to move on up, LOL. It's in a nice red Bible cover, however, so I never thought of it as a Psalty Bible--just as Nathan's Bible.

Luke's Bible is just as bad. It's a kid's devotional Bible, in the "NrIV", which is the NIV for new readers. He was also ready to move up!

We bought 2 new Bibles at the Christian bookstore, using a coupon, so now they are all set for Camp Caleb. The only thing is that these are just pretty generic gift Bibles, although they do have nice covers. But they don't really have a concordance, maps, or any helpful study notes or anything. I really loved my student Bible that I had back in high school and college, but I didn't see anything like that in the bookstore. I might look at CBD sometime to see what they have, and maybe we'll get them another Bible sometime, like at Christmas. It's always nice to have more Bibles around the house.

A brave new world . . .

We entered a new world yesterday . . . the world of orthodontia. We had a consult with the only orthodontist who accepts the Tricare dental plan anywhere near us, and fortunately he and his whole office were very nice. The problem is that Luke has (forgive me if I get too technical) a "very narrow mouth". I guess this goes along with his narrow feet? On the x-ray we could see that his teeth are stacked up 3 deep in places, with the permanent ones struggling to find places to come up. One of his top teeth has erupted WAY up high in his gum, so you can't even see it unless he smiles really big.

So the first order of business is an expander on the top of his mouth. After some preliminary appointments, he'll have the device put in Aug. 11. Then I'll have a key, and I'll twist it every night to expand the thing for several months. That should open up some room up top, and hopefully things will start to right themselves. He'll have to have braces then to bring the high tooth down, and the front 2 teeth up a bit.

On the bottom, he'll need to have a few baby teeth pulled. We'll probably do that in the next few weeks. He will need braces down there as well. All this stuff involving his mouth before all his permanent teeth come in is "phase 1", which does not inspire confidence that our foray into orthodontia will be brief, LOL. Hopefully all this work will allow the rest of his permanent teeth to come in not too crookedly. "Phase 1" will cost us about $1300, which could be worse, that's for sure. Of course, there are probably at least 2 other kids who share Luke's narrow mouth, and I'm not sure that Nathan and the other 2 like him won't need some kind of braces when they get a little older. At least he doesn't need anything right now!