A Million Dollar Smile

A late bloomer...that is what you could call a Ditto.  Poor Nate has been waiting for NINE YEARS to lose his first tooth.  All my kids come home from kindergarten, first grade, and sometimes second grade feeling crushed that they never get their name on the "I just lost my first tooth" board.

 With twenty-five days left of school, Nate was determined that he was not going to finish third grade without having lost his first tooth.  He bravely pulled that sucker out by himself and triumphantly paraded around the house showing his tooth off.

Alysee, on the other hand, was not so thrilled when we left the dentist office a couple of weeks ago with appointments scheduled to pull out two teeth and a consultation with the orthodontist.  From the panel above you can see that her bottom two canines are flopped over and are not coming straight up under her baby canines.  With fear that the adult canines would dissolve the front adult teeth we were sent into a high speed ortho journey.

First stop was a visit to Uncle Ryan who was able to pull out "R" and "M" to set the stage for the upcoming orthodontist work.  She was very brave, though she would attest it was a bit scarey.

Next stop was the orthodontist office where molds were made and plans were set forth to give Alysee that beautiful MILLION DOLLAR SMILE.  She got her top braces on this week to correct a cross bite; then in about a month the bottom braces will be put on after her cross bite is corrected.  Then toward the end of the summer we will get to visit the oral surgeon's office to slice her bottom gums while she is put to sleep and expose the adult canines where then the oral surgeon will somehow attach a chain to her flopped over canines and attached the chain to the bottom braces.  Over the next fifteen months or so the hope is that the chain will slowly pull up her flopped over teeth and have them align in the right position.  OUCH!!!  She will then need braces again in her late teens after all her adult teeth come in. It's been a painful week of mouth sores but Alysee is brave and is going to come through like a beauty queen.  "Beauty hurts" may be our new motto for a couple of years.  I've always felt that a beautiful smile is a gift I would love to give my kids.  Alysee may have to get a job to pull this one off :)

Super Hero Awesomeness!

This past weekend I was lucky enough to go on a Mother/Son Super Hero date with Nate and Coop that the high school was putting on as a fundraiser.

 We double-dated with our besties, Brooke, Chase, and Colin Cox.  In full costume we dined at Burger King on Kids' Meals and ice cream cones.  We got a few stares but nothing that we Super Heroes couldn't handle.

I've got some pretty fabulous boys.  We spent the night playing Laser Tag, jumping in bounce houses, painting masks, eating ice cream and pop, and dancing with no shame.

It's hard to all be cool at the same time!

By the way, in case you are Super Hero dumb like me...I am the Black Widow from "The Avengers" I've never seen the movie but my friend was kind enough to loan the outfit to me.

I think my boys have some pretty amazing Super Hero qualities:

Smarts - each of my kids are great students; Cooper has an amazing memory and gleans all sorts of good information and asks really hard questions.

Respectable - recently Alex had the opportunity to shine out in baseball when the other teammates wanted to watch a movie.  Alex said that he was not okay with an "R" rated movie being shown on the bus.  Later one of the teammates apologized to Alex for his choice of movie.  I think that shows that Alex is respected by his friends.

Humility -  Nate and Coop are the top runners in the elementary school but I have never once heard them rub it in to others.

Athletic - each of my boys have AMAZING athletic qualities and they push themselves to excel in each sport they participate in.

Special Powers - Tyler and Alex are wonderful priesthood holders and they use their "special powers" to bless others and do their respective duties.

Uses Gadgets - earlier in the year when we were talking to the kids about strangers and child abduction Coop decided that he should keep a bottle of silly string in his backpack to protect Nate and him while they walk to school.  Talk about a pretty awesome gadget!

Determined - lately Tyler has really been wanting to earn money so he can buy an I-touch (I'm still not sure how I feel about it); he heard an announcement at church that their was a man willing to hire anyone to do some yard work.  Tyler called him that night and ended up working every day after school and on Saturday last week.  Determination for sure!

Has a "side kick" - my kids (generally) love being around each other; they always have a "side kick" to play with and love being outside together.

Wears a costume - each of my kids have pretty clear ideas of what their clothing style is; I'm grateful that they care that they are dressed modestly.

Willing to fight - they stick up for what is right even when it is hard to stand alone.

Strong - have you seen my boys' calves?  They are runners, bikers, hikers, basketball players...they are strong.

Courageous - recently a teacher at school was going to show a PG-13 movie in class.  Alex was courageous enough to tell us and then we ended up having a really great dialogue with the teacher that turned out to be a win-win for both of us.

I'm grateful for my Super Heroes!!!

15-3

High school baseball just wrapped up with a strong finish of 15-3.  Alex had a great season and loved every minute playing on the C-team. 

He was so grateful to have had many opportunities to pitch throughout the season.

He was able to use his slider a few times to get the strikeout.

Poor shoulder and elbow!!

The last few games were played under the lights, which I've learned is quite exciting.

Though the whole family coming out to support the last few of Alex's games started to diminish, our own home games still continued to happen on a regular basis.  The boys coordinate their outfits (note Coop and Alex are in matching attire and Tyler and Nate are red shirt twins) and play an intense game of baseball while the girls lounge and cheer on the boys.  Sometimes the games end in tears but most of the time these Ditto Brother Games are anticipated by all.

Alex had many opportunities throughout the season to be a leader to his teammates in the way he conducted himself.  Birch and I continue to be impressed and grateful to Alex's coach for the way he interacted with the team and demanded classy behavior.

Way to go Alex!!!!!!!

The Birthday Girl

A special surprise celebration for Birch's mom was celebrated recently.   It was extra fun to have an ADULT-ONLY night to celebrate our favorite Grannie.  We left our kids for the night with a couple and headed to Spokane. Each sibling had an assignment to make the night extra special and run smoothly.

Birch designed and had an invitation mailed to his momma inviting her for a special evening in her honor.  This was the only information she knew prior to our arrival Saturday night.

 She was happily shocked as we pulled into her neighborhood to pick her up...

 A fifteen passenger limo was at her doorstep filled with some of her favorite people (Tav/Vaughn and Blayre/Ryan would have LOVED to have been there).  Andrew and Jenna even came for the weekend from Rexburg, Idaho!

 We were all giddy with excitement as this was the first time most all of us had been in a limo.  Annie brought bon bons for us to eat while we cruised in style through Spokane.

 We all toasted with sparkling cider to the birthday girl.

 Oh, so romantic!

 Birch had two physical therapy appointments while driving around.  PT on wheels...might be a fun idea!!

 Our first stop was to a fabulous quaint Italian Restaurant that Logan and Julia picked out.  Brent and Deena were in charge of the entertainment for the night at had a great idea of bringing these fun conversation coasters.  We spent a couple of hours at the restaurant laughing and learning about each other.

 Then the limo picked us up and took us to Gonzaga University where we had all bought tickets to the spring student dance concert.  It was the perfect activity to celebrate a love that Debbie has had for years.  After the dance concert our limo driver took us around Spokane to see the night lights before dropping us off at Annie and Kelly's.

Annie is a terrific party planner and made this scrumdilumtous chocolate cake with salted caramel glaze and chocolate ganache frosting. We enjoyed visiting late into the night and celebrating a remarkable woman!!!  We got to bed around 12:30 am and then we were up at 4:30 am so we could head back home in time for church at 9 am.  Though we walked around like zombies for the rest of day it was SO worth it!!!

Happy Birthday to one amazing lady!!!  I'm so blessed to have you in my life and lifted through your wisdom and love!

Kickin' It In The Spring Time

Nate's spring season of soccer just came to a close.  They had a terrific season and obviously had a lot of fun!

 We had some super chilly and windy games but that didn't slow down Nate one bit.

 Intense!

While Nate was running around keeping warm the rest of us were huddled under blankets, eating loads of snacks, cheering on our team, and playing with friends.

Bula Ami and Poppi!

Another chapter in the Sherry family closed this month...Ami and Poppi returned home from their eighteen month mission to Fiji.  They served half their time in Ba on the island of Viti Levu and the other part on the small island Taveuni.  Birch and I are so grateful that we had the opportunity to meet many of the people my parents fell in love with and so first hand be able to envision the living conditions, beauty of the island and people, and hardships they triumphed in Fiji.  The physical separation had a different impact with all the interaction our family was still able to enjoy via google chat and skype throughout their mission.   With both of our blogs and many internet chats we still felt well connected we were just missing the piece of actual physical contact.

 The lucky folks that live in Salt Lake City got to be there for the actual flight arrival onto US soil.  Thanks to my sister Leah who documented everything so we could feel apart of the celebration.

 They had a huge shock as they flew in wearing sandals and skirts (yes, both of them) to a spring snow storm.  They spend the next several weeks in Utah with each grandkid's family and had several opportunities to be all together at a baby blessing and 40th birthday party.  Next stop was Spokane to see Emily and Ryan then down to our house.

 We had a great few days together!  They drove in Saturday morning just in time to catch Nate's last soccer game of the season.  Alex loved having Poppi's expertise as he worked on a project for a class.  My dad was a huge help in assisting Birch in installing new blinds in the basement windows, driving Alex to seminary, re-grouting the kitchen backplash/counter edge, and taking the Alysee and Tyler to school as they seemed to miss the bus each day.

My mom was amazing as usual and cleaned the fridge and the major project was de-icing my outside freezer.  I wish I had a before picture so you could fully appreciate all her chiseling.  There was a good six or seven inches of ice on the top shelf.  After she got it all cleaned out I had the pleasure of sorting through my freezer hording and got rid of some ancient food and then even labeled my bins so we actually all know where to find all the goods.  You can also see in the freezer all the strawberry jam my mom and I made out of all the strawberry puree that I had frozen but never used previously.  

 Our ward's primary was lucky enough to have my parent's do sharing time the Sunday they were visiting.  It was their first of many presentations and it was AWESOME.  Since our primary theme this year is "I am a child of God" I asked them to focus on how the children in Fiji live and how Heavenly Father loves all his children no matter where they live.  They did a terrific job and all the kids (and teachers) loved every minute!

It wasn't all work, though.  My mom and I went to her first ZUMBA class (I just started going a month ago), went out for frozen yogurt, played outside, watched this past year's ABH movie, and enjoyed long talks.  

We were all sad to see them pack up Wednesday morning but honestly if it were me I would have been chomping at the bit to get home after having been gone for almost two years.  We're excited to see Ami and Poppi several times this summer!!

Spring Break in the Palm Springs

This year marked our seventh year supporting the high school sports camps that they put on during Spring Break.   However, this is the first year the weather has been A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.  -- no hail, snow, or rain to speak of.

 Alysee tried tennis for the first time.  She took from a friend that is a senior in high school and just received his mission call. 

 She had a great time and I think would love some additional lessons this summer.

 Tyler competed in his sixth year at the high school sponsored Track Camp.  Here he is in the 40m Hurdles.

 Tyler finished up 8th Place overall.

 Next was the 1000m Dash.  It had been a long time since Tyler had done any competitive running and he said it was tough to gauge his pace.  He finished 7th place overall.

The last event Tyler competed in was the relay.

Nate and Coop both participated in the high school Baseball Camp.  They had both been looking forward to having Alex be one of the high school helpers but Alex spent the first few days of Spring Break in bed with a nasty respiratory bug.  Nate and Coop still had a great time!!

The second half of Spring Break was pretty uneventful.  I caught Alex's bug and felt awful until about yesterday so my fun energy was pretty dampened.  With the weather being so wonderful the kids were quite self entertained by playing outside, drinking out of every clean glass in the house, and eating all good snacks while I curled up in bed watching old Netflix movies.  The kids all loved having some laid back days and are looking forward to summer break!