Olivia and her Front Teeth!

Yesterday when I picked Olivia up from school she showed up with a big smile and an even bigger gap in her mouth! Her other top tooth was gone! She had it in a little "tooth chest" that her teacher gave her. She said she wanted to wiggle her tooth while packing up her backpack before heading off to P.E. and realized that she wiggled it the wrong way and it was gone! She saw it on the ground and picked it up! Thankfully, her teacher Mrs. Edelmon had a "tooth treasure chest" that she could put her tooth in for safe keeping. Olivia said her tooth was "bleeding like crazy" so she had to use a kleenex to stop the bleeding, which she said happened pretty quickly. It was pretty shocking to see her at pick up with her huge gap in her mouth!

She was so proud of losing her other tooth! She couldn't stop smiling! So cute! Now that both of her top front teeth are missing, she actually had a hard time pronouncing certain words! She tried to say "Aunt Shirley" and literally couldn't say "Shirley"! She has a little bit of a lisp without her teeth too! She lost her first top front tooth in early July, and I'm surprised that the permanent tooth has already come in, but it looks like it might be soon, so her huge gap may not be there for long! I'll have to take as many pictures as I can while she has her adorable little missing teeth.

This morning, she woke up to the tooth fairy's goodies! Alicia, Olivia's tooth fairy, brought Olivia a hand-written note, a new unicorn stuffed animal, and $5 with fairy dust on it! Alicia's note read "Olivia, Wow! You lost your other front tooth! How exciting! I hope you enjoy your smile until your teeth come in! Have a great day! XOXO Alicia" We woke Olivia up by telling her that the tooth fairy had come, but she was so tired she barely stirred. She finally woke and and explored her goodies from Alicia. She could barely read Alicia's note, she was so tired! But she did and loved her unicorn, card and money. She finally got ready for school and headed off to school with her new cute smile!

A few days before her tooth came out! The last photo of her tooth!

The new smile! Wow!!

The tooth!

The smile and the tooth!

The "new" smile!!

The tooth fairy came! A note from Alicia, Olivia's tooth fairy, a new unicorn stuffed animal, and $5 with fairy dust on it!

Opening her letter from her tooth fairy, Alicia. She was so tired!

Alicia's note!

Saying Goodbye to Great Grandma

This weekend we flew to Florida to say goodbye to CK's Grandma, who was 96 years old. It's been hard to watch her decline over the years I've known her, and I know it has been really hard for CK. She was always so happy to see us, even as her mind declined and she maybe didn't always recognize us. She was always a great storyteller and would spend our visits telling us stories of growing up or even of the volunteer at the nursing home library (who didn't really exist). She could weave an amazing story. CK always loved to share stories of visiting her and spending weeks with her over his summers at house in Ft. Myers when he was growing up. He would reminisce with her every time we visited and it was hard for him to watch those memories slip away from her. She led a long life and it's been such a pleasure to know her and to get a chance to say goodbye.

We flew out on Friday and decided to fly commercial since we knew we couldn't let any potential weather get in the way of our travels. Airfare was really expensive so we ended up flying with Spirit, which the girls called the "Banana Planes" since they are all bright yellow. We kept joking that we might end up in Puerto Rico or somewhere instead of Florida! But, we made it and drove up to the farm.

The service for Ellen VanDevender was on Saturday morning at the Countryside Funeral Home in Anthony, Fl, and it was a really great turnout of Friends and celebration of her life and the hope we have in Jesus. After there was a buffet of food and CK loved visiting with family and friends he hadn't seen in years. Sofia and Olivia loved hanging out with their cousins and some other distant cousins they met that day.

After, we returned to the house with the leftovers and Connie's family came over to go through Grandma's photos and some other things. It was great to see CK's Aunts and Uncles who we don't get a chance to see often and the girls really love hanging out with all the cousins! CK took everyone on a hayride around the farm and we visited and ate more of the leftovers.

The burial was on Sunday down in Ft. Myers, which was a four hour drive, so we left at 9am. It was very hot at the cemetery and the service was very quick. Connie wanted to leave before her mom's casket was actually lowered into the ground, so we quickly got into our cars and headed out. We ended up driving back to a hotel CK rented for us to stay the night before our flight the next morning. We went to Charlie's Steakhouse for dinner, which is one of the oldest and best steak houses in Tampa? It was delicious! We gave goodbye hugs and kisses to Grandma and Grandpa and watched them drive back toward the farm. We checked into our room and the girls and CK swam in the hot tub and pool (just the girls). I joined them later. It was a nice service for a lovely lady, who will be missed.

The VanDevender family in the 1950s. Love this picture!

The cousins at the funeral.

Sofia and her shadow, Jackson. Jackson adores Sofia and follows her everywhere. He had to sit next to her at every meal!

The hayride!

Ellen's Grandchildren and spouses.

Ellen's Great Grandchildren!

All of her descendants! Pretty impressive!

These two cuties!

Cousins.

Girl cousins.

Grandma and Grandpa and all their little ones.

Our crew.

Cynthia and her family.

All of us!