One year ago today. Here are some never-before-seen (some graphic) photos.
Before & After
Then & Now
A couple of weeks later. The white on top is not teeth, of course, it is just his gums healing. 
…And today. I asked him to show me his teeth. He heard ‘cheeks’. 
Fred was sitting on the second stair trying to lift something when he lost his balance and fell flat on his face on the hardwood floor. He got a bloody nose and a fat lip. He had been eating string cheese and I kept finding left-overs that looked like chips of teeth. But I did a thorough check of his 3 front teeth and they all felt sturdy. I think there is an unseen and unconquerable force that causes kids to hurt their faces when photo sessions have been planned. 
He kept touching and licking his fat lip.
I’m not exactly sure how this happened but it involved closing her eyes, leaning back in her swing and colliding with Fred’s swing. With the bridge of her nose. She looks like a Neanderthal. Both of her eyes turned black.
When I hear Fred singing, “nee nah, nee nah” (“clean up, clean up”), I can expect to find something like this:
Panda Puffs and mangos. (I put the cereal that was spilled on the counter back in the box because it is organic and expensive and tasty.)
Finally, it is warm. I had to pick up all the hats and boots and coats and gloves that were scattered around the yard before I turned on the water.
Stella, Annie, Chloe, Fred, Kate.
Fred helps himself to anything on the counter. This happens so much you think I would learn my lesson.
Licking the ice cream lid.
Eating ice cream with his hands. “Where’s your nose?” “Where’s your belly?” “Say cheese!”
I love City of Rocks, ID. It is a great place to camp with kids—plenty of rocks for them to scramble around and on. (I’m just realizing this year might be difficult with Fred.)
And lots of good climbing. Easy, hard, trad, sport, right-off-the-road, or hike-in-approaches. 
Last time we went we had a babysitter come along but this year the Gunns are coming so Danika can tend the kids. JUST KIDDING, DANIKA!! We will never leave you alone with the kids. I might try to get a babysitter again.
Anyway, we are going again May 8th & 9th. We would love to have more people come along. So, will you come?
I’ve been a bad blogger. I’m going to do a little catching up on this family record of ours. Prepare yourselves.
We started coloring eggs after putting Fred down for a nap & waking Stella up from hers (she was sick). Fred didn’t stay asleep.
I gave him a sucker to keep him busy. It didn’t work.
Trying to get an acceptable picture of Stella. Failed.
The egg hunt. As soon as Fred discovered the candy inside he changed his focus from hunting to consuming.
Chloe had a soccer game right after the hunt so she was wearing her cleats. Very effective. Hand-me-down slip-on Vans—not so effective. 
Afterwards, we went to the Reichner’s for some more egg coloring, egg hunting and scavenger hunt.
Stella is really good at throwing up. She never cries. It doesn’t bother her at all. It never has. She’ll just come down to our room in the middle of the night and say, “Mom, I threw up.” She doesn’t even need a drink afterwards. She’d make a great bulimic. You know, if it wasn’t a deadly disease. She threw up five times yesterday: bed, bowl, toilet, carpet, carseat.
Chloe had to take a snack to school and our cupboards were bare. So I HAD to go to the grocery store. When we pulled into the parking lot Stella told me she thought she might throw up in the store. I had no choice. We risked it and I considered it a success that we made it out without an accident. It wasn't long before I realized that throwing up in the store would have been a good thing. I could have left it up to them to take care of the mess.
She’s only frowning because I’m taking her picture. She sat like that for ten minutes on the way home. I guess she doesn’t chew her noodles. Those little suckers slithered their way into the depths of the carseat. I had to take it apart to clean it.
Want to hear more about throw up? Ok. This is what Fred slept in:
I heard him crying last night at 12:30. I let him cry for a few minutes to see if he would go back to sleep. Then I got up and got some milk but then he was quiet so I put the milk back in the fridge and went to bed. The worst part is that he had eaten a chili cheese dog for dinner. Dan bought these sausages that are chili-cheese flavored. We were out of groceries so I fed one to Fred. I don’t know how he was able to sleep with that stench.
They are fine. They haven’t acted sick at all. I, on the other hand, am very sick of cleaning up throw up.
I finally cut Fred’s hair. The back was getting too long. I liked to think of it as the euro mullet since that seems to be hipper than the rat tail. In my defense, his hair curled and didn’t look so long. I actually liked it long and would not have cut so much off but I wanted to keep a ponytail’s worth for… a keepsake? I guess. Chloe was fully against me cutting it and was certain it would look dumb short. I don’t trust myself so I just snipped the ponytail and then let my mom finish the rest.
He’s my big boy now.
Over a month ago Chloe had her first piano festival. I didn’t post about it because I didn’t have any pictures or video and nothing clever to say. But I filmed her today! So now it doesn’t matter what I write. But I guess I should explain. A festival is where you perform in front of judges. In a room. By yourself (that is the reason for no pictures). They judge you, write down some comments and send them to your piano teacher. Chloe practiced really hard and received a ‘superior’ rating (that’s the highest). I’m very proud of her.
Here she is playing ‘Cookies’ and ‘Alpine Melody’. She’s a bit rusty since it was a long time ago.
And here is a song she is composing. It doesn’t have a name but it has some lyrics. “I love you. I love two. I love three.”
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