April Flashbacks

Happy Birthday, Tate! With the new Star Wars Legos :)

A trip to the Butterfly Pavillion with Grandma and Auntie Amy

Papa taking Avarie for a ride around the park in the wagon

Avarie's Easter Egg Hunt

I'm struggling with Monday being June 1st already, and can't believe how fast the past two months have gone. So, here's a quick update to get me back to posting in the present or at least near past.

Tate turned 5 on March 27 and we celebrated with pizza and cupcakes with friends at school. He really wanted to have ALL of his preschool friends to celebrate and I knew I wasn't up for a big party by myself this year. It worked great and Tate was happy to finally turn 5...although he now thinks kindergarten starts any day now. Derek narrowly avoided several major accidents and drove all over the front range trying to get to Richmond in time for Tate's birthday. He escaped the day after a big snowstorm and arrived in time to have a late dinner with us on Tate's actual birthday. Tate was happy, especially since Daddy brought Star Wars Legos from the Lego store in Colorado.

That was all she wrote for the big 5th birthday since Derek was here to help me get the final touches on the house and get it on the market. We worked our tails off...Derek in the garage packing and making trips to the dump and me inside organizing and touching up paint, etc. Derek left Sunday afternoon and I was scheduled to leave Monday morning with the kids to go to Colorado for 2 weeks. We got the house done and with a sign in the yard in time for me to leave Monday. Whew!

So, the kids and I headed to Colorado for some much needed family time and fun and a break from the HOUSE! We spent a week with Davin and Kelly and Derek's family in the Denver area. I was able to take a few days looking for houses, visit some possible schools for Tate, visit friends and family, and take a few days to just breathe and relax. We celebrated Tate's birthday again at the legendary Casa Bonita which was lots of fun at the time, but I think we are all just now getting our digestive tracks back in order. Oy vey!

We spent the second week at my Dad and Kay's in Ridgway. The kids had a blast in the "park" in front of my dad's house, hiking, swimming in the hot springs, and enjoying the fresh mountain air. I enjoyed not having to lift a finger - no cooking, cleaning, etc - thanks to Kay! Derek came down on Friday night to spend Easter weekend with us. We woke up Easter Sunday to several inches of snow, but the kids were thrilled that Mr. E.B. had hidden the eggs inside. This is the first year that we have dyed real Easter eggs since Tate outgrew his egg allergy. He even ate one of the eggs after the hunt was over. I don't know that I will ever get used to him eating eggs. Since it was snowing, we thought it would be best to head back to Denver. Tate and I went to church with Nana and Papa while Derek and Avarie packed the car. After a great week in the mountains, I got my first reminder of what spring snow storm can mean for dirving. It took us quite a while to get through the tunnel and down into Denver, but Derek did a great job taking it slow and getting us back safely. It was a great visit to Colorado, difficult to say goodbye and come back to Virginia for a while, but comforting knowing we will all be in Colorado together soon!

Once back in Virginia, it was back to our daily routine of preschool, keeping the house clean and tidy and anxiously awaiting spring. We got back just in time to see the early spring flowers including the wisteria and dogwoods, neither of which we will see in Colorado. I am trying to take in all the things that are unique to living in Virginia until we leave. The flowers and amazingly long growing season are just one of those things.

I put most of April's pictures on our Shutterfly share site http://familymattila.shutterfly.com/ You will need the password - mattila

Toothless Wonder

Well, here we go. As if I didn't feel like Tate was growing up way too fast already, he lost his first tooth on March 10. Yes, that is 17 days before his 5th birthday. He quit sucking his thumb in February and I have found myself to be very observant of his smile and how his teeth are slowly moving back into position after almost 5 years of the thumb. One day I noticed his bottom teeth were looking a bit bonky and asked if I could touch them. One was already noticeably wiggly! I asked if he had been wiggling them and he said no, like he was going to be in trouble or something. Well, about two weeks later the right one was barely hanging on. I tried to get it out but couldn't bear to pull the first one so I left him to work on it. Sure enough, laying in bed he pulled it right out!
Having taught kindergarten and first grade, most of my students were losing many teeth in those years so I thought Tate would probably lose his around the same time. Never did I dream it would be so early. I have friends whose kids are already in kindergarten and first grade and haven't lost a tooth yet. So, I had to ask around. The dentist told me that kids who get their teeth early as an infant often lose them early. Hmmmm....Tate got his first tooth at about 4 1/2 months and had a mouthful, including 2 year molars by about 17 months. He now already has his 6 year molars too.
So, the tooth fairy visited and left him a dollar and now we wait for the next one to wiggle some more.