Thanksgiving

Earlier in the week, Alissa came home with a flyer that stated she would be having a Thanksgiving Feast at school the next day and she was invited to wear something fancy for the day. So, without much time to prepare, mommy "googled" how to make a pilgrim costume and then made one out of paper the morning before school. Alissa was so excited about her costume, that mommy decided to make another one for her cousin, Rose. Here is a picture of Alissa and Rose in their pilgrim costumes:

 Here are some pictures of mommy's side of the family enjoying Thanksgiving dinner

 Here are some pictures of daddy's side of the family who gathered for pie in the evening 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Loose Tooth

A few months ago, Alissa told mommy and daddy that she had a loose tooth. When we checked to make sure, we discovered she was correct. As a result, mommy started immediately preparing to plan for the big day when Alissa would lose her tooth. First of all, I had to purchase a tooth necklace for Alissa to store her tooth in. If you don't know what a tooth necklace is, then I suggest you read one of Alissa's favorite books called, "Fancy Nancy and the Too Loose Tooth", see below picture.

Within this wonderful book, Nancy's friend, Lionel, loses a tooth at school and receives a tooth necklace to store his tooth in. Soon after that happens, Nancy discovers that she has a loose tooth and she does everything to ensure that she will lost the tooth "at school" so she can obtain a tooth necklace too. So, of course, Alissa informed me that she would need a tooth necklace to store her tooth in. So, I began the quest to search for a tooth necklace. What I discovered was that you cannot purchase just one necklace. Instead, they come in sets of 100 or more for around $20. Therefore, I purchased a set of them and immediate donated more than half of them to Alissa's Kindergarten class and the school. Of course I kept some for Alissa, her close friends, and her cousins. Here is a picture of them. 

Next, I had to make sure that Alissa's first Tooth Fairy experience was a wonderful one so I purchased the Worlds Smallest Letter, at http://www.leafcutterdesigns.com/order/orders/letter, for the Tooth Fairy to give to Alissa along with the shiny coins, when she takes the lost tooth. 

Once I had everything in place, we waited and waited and waited and waited. Several months went by, and Alissa still had her loose tooth. As time went by, Alissa forgot about the tooth fairy and her tooth necklaces and all the excitement of having a loose tooth. UNTIL, the magic day came and she lost her tooth after school, but while at daycare. Alissa lost her tooth on November 24, 2014. Since she was NOT at school when she lost the tooth, she did not receive one of the necklaces we had donated to the school. Unfortunately, she had forgotton to wear one of her own tooth necklaces so one of the daycare providers put the tooth in a baggie for her and helped her store it safely in her back pack.

When we picked up Alissa from daycare, she was ecstatic. She told us of her lost tooth and immediately ran in the house to grab a tooth necklace to store it in. After dinner and homework, Alissa prepared for bed and promptly placed the tooth under her pillow and went to sleep. Falling asleep was a difficult task, though, since Alissa had to check under the pillow many times to make sure the tooth and necklace were still there, but she eventually fell asleep. 

The next morning, Alissa woke up and the tooth necklace holding her tooth was gone. In it's place, Alissa immediately found $2 worth of $1 brass coins and the Worlds Smallest Letter. Here are some pictures of Alissa with her new treasure. 

The letter came with a magnifying glass so that we could read the letter. 

Here is a picture of Alissa reading the envelope. 

 Here is a picture of Alissa holding the envelope and the letter.

Alissa was very excited to hear what the tooth fairy had to say to her so Mommy read the letter out loud. The letter said,

"You lost a tooth, Alissa,

You have been such a good girl that I just had to leave something special for you last night.

I did have to cover you back up so you did not get cold. You must have kicked the covers off last night.

I was very careful and quiet so that I did not wake you while you were sleeping.

Keep up the good work brushing your teeth and I will be sure to visit the next time you loose a tooth.

Also, don't forget to eat all of your vegetables so your permanent teeth can last forever. Love you,

Tinkerbell"

Alissa thought it was funny that her tooth fairy shares the same name as Tinkerbell, the tinker fairy. It's not uncommon for many people to share the same name. For example, Alissa has a cousin with the same name as her, but she spells it with a "y" instead of an "i".

Alissa told me that today was one of the best days of her life. I'm happy that she was so excited about the gifts she received from the tooth fairy. Now my goal is to keep reminding her how important it is to eat vegetables. She HATES them and throws a fit every time we ask her to eat them. I suppose all we can do is keep trying and remind her what the tooth fairy said.