God is Good...just a quick story

We had a normal bedtime ritual tonight, trying to make everything feel right for the first day of school tomorrow.

About 20 minutes after the lights turned out, Ally came down in tears, with a bloody and VERY wiggly tooth. Seriously folks, it was SO ready to come out. However, I am no pro at this tooth-pulling business. In fact, I was becoming quite nauseous at the whole thing. We called Daddy in from his outdoor project and he couldn't get it either. (He even tried the pliers and the dental floss. Oof. I'm still nauseous.)

Ally was so upset. She said it didn't hurt, but it was bothering her.

We know Ally. We know that she is overly emotional and tends to worry. We also knew that she WOULD NOT sleep until this bothersome thing was out of her mouth.

We sent her back to bed, declaring the tooth just wasn't quite ready.

I took my shower, praying all the while that God would calm her spirit and allow her to sleep.

After the shower I could still hear them talking upstairs. This is now about an hour after bedtime on the night before the first day of school. Good grief.

Just moments ago, my sweet brave girl came downstairs sporting a big ol' grin and a tooth in her hand!

And all I could say is, "Thank you Lord!"

It may seem small, but I knew that she would worry about this tooth until she finally gave in to sleep, only to worry away her first day of school. She wouldn't be able to eat, play, or concentrate. (And I would be worried about it all day at home.)

But God took care of it. With a little help from Ally.

You know me, I couldn't resist a late night picture.

(Please forgive the nudity. The child refuses to wear pajamas.)

Almost a First Grader

Our Ally-girl will start first grade in just two days.

For me, it's bittersweet. Heavy on the bitter.

For Ally, it's...well...I found this little note under her bed this morning.


I truly believe she's excited about it, but she is already aware that her two best friends from kindergarten are in a different class, so she is notably apprehensive.

Will you say a quick prayer for our meek-and-mild one? This mama would be so thankful.

Day-Bid

Natalie was playing with Play-Doh yesterday morning and asked for help making this little monster dude.

Cute, right? Or a little strange maybe.

Anyway, I was giggling and saying , "Look at his big nose and long hair!"


Natalie responded, "Look Mommy, it's Day-Bid."

Yep. She said it. It's David. Not some random David from TV...her daddy, David.

Hmmm. I don't see the resemblance.



FYI: Ally has some new pics in the sidebar. Check em' out.

Just curious...

Allyson had been playing quietly with Barbies the other day for at least half an hour when I entered the room and saw this:


What I'd really like to know is, what are they all looking at?

It's a mystery. Ally wouldn't tell me.

It's like she has a mind of her own or something.

"Look-y me!"

Our precocious Natalie has a new mealtime hobby.


She yells, "Mama! Look-y me!"


(How can you NOT look?)


And this is what I see.



I fall for it every time.


Sometimes she mixes it up a bit and just yells a name. "Daddy!" "Ally!" And, once again, we have to look - it's impossible not to.

How can you resist this face?

#1 and #3

#1 and #2 can often get along, but only when #1 is not interested in what #2 has or #2 is not touching anything that belongs (or has ever belonged) to #1.

#2 and #3 are a bit hostile together, really. It's somewhat dangerous to leave them alone in a room. Someone will be pushed down and the other someone will pull the first someone's hair without remorse. Tears will be shed and mommy will be needed.

However, #1 and #3 are really precious together, as evidenced here.

Dryer Update

It's here. The moisture sensor thingy doesn't work, but I've never seen that thing work in any previous dryer, so why would it bother me now?

The new (to us) dryer has been here for two whole days, but I've been so busy laundering clothes that I couldn't stop to tell you about it! (Yeah, I didn't think you'd believe that.)

We've been busy with other summer-y things. Swimming and garage-sale-ing, to be precise.

I found a nearly new gas dryer this morning at a garage sale for $125 LESS than we paid.

Hmmm.

I'm going to try to forget I saw it.

I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that not-dryer-related posts are scheduled for delivery soon!

The latest development...

(I searched far and wide for a picture of our dryer to add an image to my story. So, here ya go, this was taken in January of 2009. This is the source of our household drama. Oh, and our dryer has been a pain, too.)

We were quite successful in our search for our dream clothes dryer last night. Or at least a dryer that actually dries clothes.

We even came in 60 cents under budget!

And we did it all in about ten minutes. With three kids in tow.

That's skill, my friends.

It was really too good to be true.

Really.

Things went a little too smoothly.

Today the deliverymen came and brought a dryer. It was a dryer, all right.

But it wasn't the dryer we picked out.

Not to worry, after a phone call or three, and a trip back down to the store (15 miles away) to identify the correct machine, our new (used) dryer will arrive to our home sometime between noon and three tomorrow.

Not a moment too soon.

Ally told me tonight that her sheets stink. My question, "What do they smell like?" Her answer, "Like Trickery." (The stuffed cat with which she sleeps.) My follow-up question should have been, "And what does that smell like?", but honestly, I didn't care to know.

Never a dull moment.

Seriously?

I feel like I'm always apologizing...a good blogger posts consistently to build readership and loyalty. I'm failing. I think of it so often. Daily, really. "This would be a great story for the blog." "That is blog-worthy!" "I can't wait to show off this picture!" But, in the end, when I actually have the opportunity to sit down and share, I'm not disciplined enough to do so. I'd rather sit back and NOT THINK.

Having said that, I'm popping in to share the latest development on the clothes dryer saga. Because I know that all of you are so interested in our dryer situation.

It's broken. Again. For real this time.

If you need a long-winded reminder about the dryer story that reflects my blonde past, read it here.

Bummer.

To add insult to injury, David looked up our problem online and found the reasons for a heating element to die (like ours appears to have died). The main reason is running the dryer with full lint-traps (which I usually don't do), or running it without proper ventilation, which is...uh...precisely what I did a few weeks ago.

We're going dryer shopping tonight. I just can't fathom how a family with three small children can survive longer than a few days without a dryer. I'm just not green in that area; purple maybe, or red, but not green. We regularly reuse our plastic grocery bags and turn off the water when we're brushing, but you just can't ask me to go without a dryer. That's just not nice.

So, my $40 oops a few weeks back will now cost us an additional $200 (at least) to remedy.

So glad my husband loves me.

He even took two loads of wet laundry to the laundromat yesterday morning before church so they wouldn't get mildewy. I love that guy, I tell you. Oh - and get this - he brought back the laundry FOLDED! Oh my heavens, that boy has a way of making me swoon.

I'll let you know when we get our dryer. Cause I can't just leave you hanging like this, right?