"Hello? Is anybody out there?"

Sorry, guys. I am alive. A couple weeks ago we started preparing for Andy and Yannick's arrival from The Swiss Land and then they got here and then we were busy being together and things of that sort all the while our internet on our destop went hay wire and is not yet fixed. I feel alienated form the world, in a sense, and don't even know the weather forecast! (I don't really gather my weather info from the tv anymore...) I can't google, I can't blog, I can't email. You know, all that sort of thing.

Well, how 'bout we use this valuable time for something useful. I would like some input.

I am in charge of a women's retreat next year and the theme is "Survivor". These are women of many ages so keep that in mind with your crazy ideas. I thought of hidden "immunity items" that win you a prize. I thought of asking everyone to bring a "luxury item" to share with the group. I thought of only trying to incorporate food items that they would encounter or have provided for them. Tiki torches outside, a definite must! What else?

"MAX!"

Sometimes I'm not very patient. Do you know who the perfect example of patience is? "Jesus", you may think. He is a good example, don't get me wrong but, honestly, did he ever have children? Can you really test patience accurately? I'm not so sure. The greatest example of patience for me is Ruby. You know, on Max and Ruby? Granted, she's not the mom but, seriously, if my kids even had her patience this would be the most pleasant house in the world. She is so freaking patient, it's amazing. Max does things over and over and over again and she softly teaches him and explains what she would like his actions to be and rarely, if ever, gets frustrated. A-maz-ing! I know I could have put something from You-tube on here but I 'm not set up yet and I don't have time. So check 'em out.

The Dentist

It's days like today that make children afraid of the dentist for the rest of their lives!

Emma had had quite a bit of pain which resulted in an emergency room visit this weekend. She has had jaw pain a lot and grinds her teeth at night and we were having a difficult time getting the pain to subside at all. We also knew she had a tooth decaying but she didn't think it was coming from her tooth. The doctor prescribed penicillin just in case it was the tooth and we made a dentist appointment for this morning.

She has been extremely comfortable with the dentist until now. She's had fillings and been numbed and swore to me that she never got a shot... She even hoped she would get numbed today. Well, her cheek was swollen for the last day, proving infection in the tooth, and because of that infection she experienced extra pain today. She was in pain through all the numbing and kept feeling pain, so they'd give her more Novocain. Then they start wiggling it and getting it loose and she's in pain and saying, "Ow,ow,ow,ow." and THEN they start the pulling and she's yelling, "Ow,ow,OW,OW,OW!" and I'm sitting there with Izzy on my lap feeling completely horrible and Emma's crying and ... then she's still crying. Then we see the huge tooth and she's still crying and we wait and she's still crying. Then we're finally back home and she's still delicate and moaning and crying. SAD!

She's better and optimistic now. She's excited about all her special foods to eat and activities and movies. And we're pretty sure the tooth fairy pays big for bravery and pain!