Amber, Not a Baby Anymore!

Amber has no more baby teeth. On Thursday, she had her last 4 baby teeth pulled by the dentist. They pulled her 2nd molars. That's the teeth with 4 roots each. She was definitely in pain, but she was a real trooper.

The dentist told Amber that the Tooth Fairy should pay $10 for her teeth. The Tooth Fairy ended up giving her $6. She asked me the next morning, " Where's my other $4?" I told her, "The dentist got it."

Good News...and other little tidbits.

I have good news. I have passed my boards. I am officially a Licensed Practical Nurse. I am in the process of searching for a job. Finding a job is the easy part, finding the right job is the hard part.

Both of my girls went to Middle School Summer Camp this year. This was Alyssa's first time to go away and not be around me, her dad, grandparents, or an aunt/uncle. She did a great job. This was also Amber's last year at Middle School Camp. She will be going to high school camp next summer. Scott (my boyfriend) told the girls that on Alyssa's first year to High School Camp that all four of us (Scott, me, Amber, & Alyssa) will go. He was unable to attend High School Camp this year, but has attended the last 4 summers. I liked camp as a teenager and look forward to going as a chaperone.

Amber will be having 4 more baby teeth pulled on 8/7. This is the same day that Grandma will be having knee surgery. We will have 2 whiney-babies that will be commiserating together. I guess I can practice my nursing skills on them.

Alyssa will be going to the orthodontist in September to see if she is ready for braces.

It has been a long time....

Amber has completed 7th grade. She will be in 8th grade next year. She has also made the Cheerleading squad for the school basketball team.

Alyssa has completed 5th grade. She will be in 6th grade next year. Alyssa plans to follow in her sister's footsteps and be in the chorus also.

I have completed school. I graduated from college with a 3.6 gpa in practical nursing which is a diploma program. I will also be receiving my A.A.S. (Associates in Applied Science) in Health Studies in September 2008 with a 3.6 gpa also.

Both of the girls will be attending Middle School Summer Camp this year. Amber is not too thrilled, but Alyssa seems excited. They will be going to Horn's Creek in Tennessee again this year. Amber is excited that next summer she will get to go to High School Summer Camp with Christopher.

I have been dating a really wonderful guy named Scott for the past 6 months. He calls us his "Sweet Angels". We attend church together. Scott has an identical twin brother. The girls really seem to like Scott.



I am also now a blonde.

Amber has been promoted!

Tomorrow will be Amber's first official day in 7th grade. Amber is being promoted from 6th grade.

As most of you know, Amber was held back in 1st grade for reading issues. She was held back at her parents request. Amber has been wanting to get back with her age group for a while now. This summer when I dropped of some papers, I asked the Asst. Principal about this. The Asst Principal told me we would discuss the issue the 2nd week of school.

After meeting with Amber's teachers and the Assistant Principal it was decided that Amber would take the 8th grade ITBS test to determine her grade placement for Language Arts and Math. Amber did take the Language Arts test, but she didn't take the Math test. Her Math teacher stated that Amber was the first person in a long time to have a 99 average in Advanced Math. (Amber scored 8.6 [6th month of 8th grade] on the 5th grade ITBS last year).

I am very proud of Amber's achievement. Very few people can say they passed a grade level after 5 weeks of school.

Amber has crossed the tracks...

Pardon the pun, but Amber helped with the title to this post.

Amber has her braces. She wanted to share some pictures of her beautiful new metal mouth. Amber got her top braces on June 26, 2007 and her bottom braces on August 8, 2007.

Amber with her new top braces.

************************************

The following pictures are of Amber on September 10, 2007 showing off her full mouth of metal. Amber is feeling a little BLUE (she has baby blue & dark blue bands on her wires).

Is someone else shaving???

Yes!!! Alyssa is now shaving.

Alyssa shaves her legs for the 1st time on June 5, 2007!!!

Notice the concentration!

An assist from her big sister, Amber!

Everyone is growing up so fast!!

Easter Pictures

Here are some of our Easter pictures...

Alyssa

Alyssa sporting her special jewelry

Amber

Amber and her mature jewelry

All of us.

(Just between us - I don't think that yellow is my color, but Amber picked the dress.)

We had lots of candy from the Easter Bunny (this year we were visited by Mama Cottontail).

Update on school grades for the girls...

The girls have been doing a really great job this year in school (as usual).

Amber has maintained all A's & B's so far this year.

Alyssa has maintained straight A's so far this year.

The girls have 20 more days of school (if I counted right). CRCT (end of grade testing) has been completed. Amber is the only one this year that MUST pass. Alyssa took them this year, but they really don't count against you or for you.

Amber is...

• 12 years old
• growing up
• becoming a woman
• trying to have big feet like her mom and dad
• trying to be as tall (even though I am short) as me

She had a birthday - this is her last year before she is a TEEN!

Amber earned her BLACK BELT!!!

Congratulations are in order!!!!

Today Amber earned her brown and black belts in recorder karate at school. (Recorder - That little clarinet looking plastic instrument that has holes on it.) She has completed the recorder karate program. Amber now has to practice her recorder club pieces at music class. She is the 1st person in her class to finish. I believe the next closest person still needs 3-4 belts.

I am very proud of her musical talent!!

Congratulations

Amber and Alyssa have 3 new siblings, well step-siblings.

We would like to congratulate Brian and Alex on their marriage.

Amber and Alyssa now have a step-sister, Brittany, and 2 step-brothers, Chris and Anthony.

Amber's Living Christmas Tree performance

Amber and the student (youth) choir did a great job on the living Christmas Tree on December 10th. Amber was on the 6th row up from the bottom and a little left of center. Her cousin, Chris, was also in the performance. He was on the 2nd row from the bottom and to the right of the tree. Here are some pictures from the performance.

Amber

Chris

Amber singing

Amber in lights

There to see this amazing performance were: Me (of course) and...

Alyssa

Papaw

Nana

Brian, Alex, & Brittany,

Grandma, Grandpa and (of course) Uncle Ken and

Aunt Donna
(What's up with that? No one really knows!!!!)

We Have A NEW PUPPY!!!!!!!

WOW. What EXCITEMENT!!! A PUPPY!!!!!

Amber went out this afternoon to bring in Salsa when out of the blue she hears tiny yelps. She searches for the culprit and finds Missy in the igloo (doghouse) with a tiny puppy. Amber was so excited. Alyssa is excited because this will be her puppy.

In honor of the fact that it is Christmas...the puppy (a girl) has been named:

Merry Felize

(It is either Merry or Mary).

Here is a picture of Merry Felize with her mother, Missy.

PS: The puppy was born on Grandma's birthday.

So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!!!!!!!

Health Update!!!!

Amber has lost 4 more teeth...with the help of the dentist. Yesterday she had her oral surgery. She states "I have a very religious mouth because it is so holy! It is Baptist too!" One of the teeth removed had almost no roots on it, but the others had some roots. The cuspids had some extremely long roots.

I have my cast on. I broke my wrist in 2 places. I broke the center wrist bone and another bone near the thumb. My cast is boring white! I have promised the girls that they can color all over it 4 days before it comes off. That way it will still look professional for clinicals. I am supposed to get it off the Monday after Thanksgiving.

Braces??????

We went to the orthodontist on September 25th. The orthodontist states that Alyssa needs to return in 1 year to be re-evaluated. Amber, on the other hand, needs to come back in 6 months to be re-evaluated. The orthodontist also told us he feels it is important and necessary to remove 4 of Amber's baby teeth now so the adult teeth have a bigger space to come in. So Amber will be having a cuspid and a molar removed from both sides of her upper jaw on October 17th. She seems excited about the procedure right now, except she doesn't want a needle in her mouth while she is awake. I told her that they will probably use a needle while she is awake, but that they numb the entry point with some ointment. She isn't to sure about this.

Our Little Bunnies

We found some baby bunnies after the yard was mowed.

One bunny died...leaving us with two.

Sadly, in the end we lost the other two bunnies. This was a wonderful experience for the girls. We hope that we have learned when to let go if we have another opportunity to help some baby bunnies.

Our visit to the GA Aquarium

We went to the Georgia Aquarium with Ken, Donna, and Chris the day before the girls went to school. A special "THANKS" to Uncle Ken and Aunt Donna for letting us come with them. We enjoyed ourselves at the aquarium. And THANKS to Chris too.

I hope you enjoy the pictures!!!

After a long day of fun...