A Visit From the Toothfairy

Today my first-born babe lost his first tooth. It's been loose & "wigg-i-ly" for several weeks but our dentist told me it would probably be several months before it fell out. And now my baby big boy will be starting kindergarten in less than two weeks and he will have a cute gap-toothed smile. And he's only four! I'm beginning to feel a little old. He will be five soon though, and I'm sure that will make all the difference in how I feel, right?

In the meantime we are woefully unprepared for the process of losing baby teeth and all the toothfairy legends that it involves. He seems to know all about it, but I want to find some cute tooth pillow type vehicle for him to transform that teeny tooth into cold hard cash (but not too much of it). So I turned to my favorite online shop: etsy. Love that place! A quick search revealed 50+ pages of listings, but here are a few of my favorites. What do you think? Remember that I will use this for all three of my boys and zero girls. I like the ones that we can hang on the doorknob because my kids are light sleepers and there's no possibility of the toothfairy sneaking in successfully.

Who Wants a Visit From the Laundry Fairy?

Last month I received a sample of All Small & Mighty 96 Loads laundry detergent, thanks to Mom Select. I also received a fabulous bag/laptop tote from Hayden Harnett which I love very much. I took it on vacation with me, packed with all the magazine issues I needed to catch up on. Needless to say, it was much heavier than a laptop.

I've been using the laundry detergent and loving that with every load, I feel my wallet lightened a tiny bit. All Free Clear has long been my favorite detergent. I used it in place of Dreft for my 2nd baby, and have continued with it ever since. It cleans beautifully without any perfumes or dyes. My free sample was the Stainlifter variety, and it seems to work well too. I go through a lot of Shout stain spray with three little boys, and inevitably still end up with some set-in stains. Take this for what you will - since I've been using All Stainlifter I haven't seen any stains not come out. I don't know if it's the detergent for sure, but I like the results. If you have a sensitive nose though, the Stainlifter formula might not be for you. Being used to a fragrance free, it's been an adjustment for me and I plan to go back to the All Free Clear.


While I can't offer any help on physically washing your clothes, I can help you save a little money in the process. I have 2 coupons for a free bottle of All Small and Mighty 3x Concentrate (4 varieties). To be eligible, please leave a comment by Friday detailing how many loads of laundry you do per week. I've been discussing this with friends lately. I do 5-7, but some people with the same size family as mine purport to running 10-12 loads. We should all keep track for a month. These are important things to know! I'll randomly choose 2 commenters and drop the coupons in the mail.

A Trip To Remember

Despite my best intentions, I didn't run the Lavender 5K. After a two week vacation, we were ready to head home and decided to leave a day early. Although I missed the race, I was so grateful to have an entire non-Sabbath day to put my home and family back in order. Don't worry, I will find a local 5K to run in the fall.


Thanks again to Jane, of Seagull Fountain, for lodging my family for sooooo looong. Our friendship seems to have survived, but I guarantee she believes me now when I talk about how hard my middle son is. Here are a few highlights:


At left: my handsome husband and three equally handsome sons bowling at the Wilkinson Center at BYU. This is a tradition for us, and I know Roley can't wait to join in on the fun. Next trip.


Below: Aaron & I, and Jane & Dick in front of the Salt Lake City temple. We got 2 babysitters and drove up, planning to attend the temple and do lunch. Our plans were sadly changed once we arrived and found the temple closed. That's the 3rd trip to UT that I've tried to go to the SL temple and failed. Next trip.


Thanksgiving Point Dinosaur Museum: me & my three blond boys, and Sally & Spot.
Thanksgiving Point Farm: my favorite guys riding a plastic cow - they also rode horses and petted a lot of goats, and other fabulous farm animals.