Thanksgiving part II

Just to remember.

Christmas Tree part I

It is wet, dreary, and a little bit chilly. So what better time than to get a tree???? We piled in the Honda, and drove to the nearest tree place, probably about a mile away. I think some members of our family would have preferred to have gone further afield, but this is what happened this time.

I was lobbying hard for a spruce, but we ended up getting a Douglas Fir, which is totally acceptable. Nobody else thought the prickly spruce was a good idea. I thought it was a good idea because the branches are sturdy, even though it essentially turns into a Christmas cactus by New Year's Day (which was somewhat of a disincentive). Apparently spruce are trees that cat owners like to get in order to discourage the kitties from climbing the trees and knocking all the ornaments off.  Not having a cat, I suppose we don't neeeeeeeed the spruce.

So Douglas Fir it is! They nicely tied it to the top of the car, as well.

Tree is now up, unadorned, in our living room, just waiting for lights and decorations. Ok, no, it is waiting to dry off, first. But I wanted to bring it in and have it up and ready to go. I just need to make sure we water it every couple of hours ....

Thanksgiving

We headed south for Thanksgiving, and went across the late to celebrate with (almost all of) the extended family. Such a beautiful day, wonderful people, fantastic food.

Family portrait.

And Q9, C11, and I took a short ride on a speed boat. Here we are before our hair got messed up!

One other photo I have is  C11 eating beignets:

TRUTH

You hear this over and over again from parenting experts. And apparently from some very self aware kids.

Q9 said to me yesterday, "I like when you tell me what I can and can't do; I like to know I can't do everything."

That girl is very much in touch with what she needs to succeed. With the exception of the amount of sleep she needs. She sets limits on her alone time, her time spent with friends, her time doing organized activities, because she knows what is too much. If I exceed those limits ... she lets me know.

XO to Q. And for the rest of you, here is a photo of her making lemon mousse on Monday or Tuesdsay. Turned out delicious.

Piano recital

C11's fall piano recital was Sunday, November 8. She was amazing. Best recital ever, for her. She was focused, made few or no mistakes. I credit TCR for sitting with her when she practices, because when I do that ... uhm, it goes differently. Less smoothly. More animosity on both sides.

But TCR helped her, made her do what her piano teacher asked her to do, and all without C11 killing me.

Here is her first piece (out of focus, but it is the music not the picture you want to hear). Called All through the night.

And here is the second (stand up, y'all!)

Dr. Teeth

Since C11 started getting her adult teeth in we knew with a high degree of certainty that she'd need braces. So for the last few years she's had a little checkup in the fall with the orthodontist, where he'd spend 5 minutes looking at her mouth and teeth and would say "not yet!" and tell us to schedule an appointment for next year, because we were waiting for all of her adult teeth to come in.

Until this year. By the end of 2014 all of C's baby teeth had fallen out and been replaced with adult teeth. Molars not all in yet, but that's normal. So this fall,  September something, we went, met the NEW orthodontist, and found out IT WAS TIME. We set up payment and appointments for the first steps to be taken that very day.

Poor C11. First things first. Palatal expander was the first item up. I remember having one, and having to turn the thing every morning or night or both and the pain. Ouchie.

So. After some dental spacers, molds, and a fitting ... the palatal expander went in on October 21. I had to do one turn every night (two turns of the key made the thing go around one time).

After a couple of days of giving C11 tylenol before doing the turns, TCR told C11 about the analgesic properties of dried pears. So, we gave it a try, and lo! it worked well enough! :) We phased that out earlier this week, too, so while it still hurt to get the turns every night, she was used to it by then.

And! Magic happened. She has a space between her front teeth. We measured it with household items every night ... paper, necklace, purse strap, spoon, small book ...

Until this morning, at our two week follow up visit with the orthodontist ... and he said she'd actually gone a little TOO far! (WOW!) and we got to stop.

Look at her smile! Look at that gap between her teeth! Palate expanded indeed.