Wordless Wednesday: Cross-Dressing Kids

Okay, so you have 3 pictures of my daughter Eva dressing in her brothers' clothes. She also has Sam dressed up and she called them the Krowt Brothers.

This one is older .... Sam dressing in some princess costume or another. This is what happens when little boys and little girls live in the same house together. Go figure. It's cute. Maybe they'll all be on Project Runway someday or something.

Dove Intensive Therapy Conditioner

Fans of Tackle-It Tuesday, I'm sorry, but I did not ONCE AGAIN get to the spackling. 

I hung out a lot of Labor Day weekend and swam and read to my kids and read to myself and it rocked. We'll do that post another time. 

Instead, let's discuss the fascinating topic of my hair, shall we?

I was excited to get this tube of Dove Intensive Therapy Conditioner in the mail because I love all things beauty product-related. I'm not huge on makeup, but I certainly do love my hair products and face creams and body lotions. 

I also love summer, but all the swimming I do with my kids and being out in the heat KILLS my hair and makes it all frizzy and then it turns plain greasy.

A Day at the (Kansas) Beach

Yeah, I'm taking a break from Moshi Monster Mondays for a bit ... too many great giveaways going on and other cool happenings in our lives. I'd be happy to accept a guest post on Moshi Monsters stuff, though ... hint hint at those who love all things Moshi!

Happy Labor Day, by the way!

Today I'm showing some pictures of a recent day off Aron had and how we went to Melvern Lake in Kansas, about an hour plus from our home in Overland Park.

So you know how my laptop, Toshiba Laptop McLoughlin, is my 6th child? Well, these are my husband's 6th and 7th children. He saved up a long time for his modest fishing boat and rarely gets to take it out. Then it was time to get a new vehicle when his old truck crapped out. He needed something big enough to hold a big family and haul a boat. It guzzles gas and cost too dang much, but it does a good job and he loves it. Why shouldn't he have these things he works so hard for?

Just the boys went in the boat and met us over at the beach part. Don't freak out, haters, because YES, Joel put on his lifejacket immediately after this.

A ladybug for luck!

The kids had fun giving me a mud skin treatment. It was very relaxing to soak up some rays and get my skin all treated with ... uh, well, nasty lake mud.

Callie REALLY got into it and made sure to be thorough on my legs :-)

Me with all my kiddles at the beach. What an amazing day I will remember forever. And so great to spend time with Aron, as well, since he had been gone for so long.

Later Aron took just the older boys fishing and I went to a park in the area with the other 3 kids. This is an old-school slide for sure. The Slide of Death.

This picture will always make me want to cry a little bit. It is so beautiful. The end to a wonderful day! It was August 17 and we were honoring Great Aunt Eva's memory since she liked to fish with her husband Max.

A Dentist Visit = A Walk in the Park

So what do you think about going to the dentist? I never minded much, until I was 13 and had like EIGHT cavities somehow. I have these "soft teeth" ... whether you believe in that or not, my grandmother also has them. We are always having issues no matter how much we brush or floss. The older I get the more it hurts to go to the dentist. My last 2 fillings took weeks to recover from and a full bottle of Advil, friends.

Anyway ... going to the dentist with my kids is no problem. Years ago Joel and Callie had some cavity issues and Michael never has. The kiddie dentist (not the one pictured here; we have a stable of them) and his assistants like to castigate me about night nursing and how that is what caused their cavities.

Right, sugar had no effect; it was ALL that horrible night nursing I abused them with!

Here are the 5 other kids I brought to the dentist while Joel was in the chair getting his exam. My dentist has no Starbuck's machine and no video games, but my kids are happy just coloring and playing, and I love how at the "kid-friendly" dentists they are (1) always running late and (2) snotty about lots of children. This never made sense to me, so I stopped going to Doc Hollywood in Overland Park and now truck my butt to the Kansas City, Kansas ghetto because they are NICE there. And I've seen this dentist since I was a teeny one.

The hygienist rocks and doesn't mind that the other kids peek in on the kid being examined. 

I freaking HEART Sherry ... she is so great with the kids. Joel has no cavities but got a recommendation to the orthodontist. Ah, crap.

Dr. Stephen Brotherson is amazing! He puts my kids at ease like nobody's business. Here's Eva getting checked out.

Eva has a large array of princess toothbrushes to choose from!

How do your kids like the dentist? If they have sensory issues (Autism, Asperger's, other stuff), how does the dentist work out? How do you prepare your kid? What if they need serious work done ... how does that go down?

Michael is Famous!

It's still exciting for me when I get published in a magazine, even though I've been in over 100 of them. Every now and then a magazine will ask for a picture to go with an article, and over the years most of my kids have been in them. Michael has never been in one, though.

So I perused the online issue of San Diego Family today for my article on Lego Afterschool Enrichment Programs and there was Michael! I was so excited. He doesn't really care, but I think it's cool! Check it out ... page 50!