:: My Precious Family ::

Photos by Nettie Marie Photography

School Christmas Program

The highly anticipated Christmas program for our kids' elementary school was held on Tuesday night.  They were SO very excited about the special night!  They have been working on their songs for months and the thrill only escalated when Emma was chosen as a replacement for one of Santa's reindeers.  She instructed us to just look for the reindeer with the "sharp moves".  Too funny!  We were entertained with classic Christmas songs and carols.  For a public school program to include both secular and religious songs speaks a lot of the unique West Michigan culture.

The program was held at a local church that was overflowing even with the several thousand holding capacity.  The local TV station recorded the performance and will air it over the holidays on TV.  The kids find that oh so very cool! But, for those family members who were unable to attend this video is for you.  All other readers, don't feel obligated to watch.

*This was the smallest size video I could put on the blog, click on the title "Bauer Christmas Program" to view the video in full without the edges getting cut off.

Giving Thanks

O give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for his lovingkindness is everlasting.  I Chronicles 16:34

I love creating family traditions in our home.  This year we have added a new holiday tradition for the month of November.  It is our "Thanksgiving Tree".  Once again Ann Voskamp has provided a lovely Free printable here.  Luca helped me gather some twigs from the backyard, I cut and laminated each leaf with contact paper and then hung the leaves on our tree.  Each leaf has a Bible verse printed on the front in which we read and discuss as a family each night.  Then the kids are writing what they are thankful for on the backside using a dry erase marker (making the leaves reusable for next year!)

Emma's 8th Birthday

The anticipation and excitement was boiling over for one very excited little girl who just could NOT wait to turn 8 years old on November 4th.  Emma Patryce, oh how we love you!  We share in your great joy for another year of life to celebrate.  For indeed it is a marvelous gift from our heavenly Father.  You are all too quickly growing up!

Emma claims that this year was the best birthday ever.  And it rightly may be so as this is only the 2nd birthday in her lifetime that she has celebrated in person with an extension of our family.  Her celebrations began on Saturday with a shopping and lunch date with her great Aunt Mary.  A family dinner with her choice of menu, which included: pulled pork, "smashed" potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green beans, jello, yeast rolls, chocolate cake with a horse theme and peanut butter cup ice cream.  Samuel provided the entertainment with a "stunning" magic show.  I think the family got more of a laugh out of the dejavù feeling, as this was something Jonathan had done at his own 7th birthday party back in the day.  Samuel was clueless about the event in his dad's life, therefore, only further solidifing that the apple does not fall far from the tree.  Luca joined in with his illusion and did a great job too!

Thank you to all who sent cards, emails, called or gave presents.  You made her day!

Great Wolf Lodge

Thank you Munga and Gramma (and Groupon) for a fun overnight getaway to Great Wolf Lodge!

Click here to view this photo book larger

You'll love Shutterfly's award-winning photo books. Try it today.

Metal Mouth

We have officially entered the world of orthodontics for our children.  And believe it or not, it began with the youngest of the bunch.  This summer when Luca lost a baby tooth we immediately saw there was no gum left for the adult tooth to drop in.  Our dentist advised us to get an orthodonist's consult as soon as we could.  So with our extended stay in the States that is what we did.

Poor Luca, he has an upper jaw that is super small and narrow.  Not only that, but his pallet is more narrow than his nasal passage way and his tongue cannot rest on the roof of his mouth.  No wonder he has a lysp!  He functionally just cannot pronounce certain sounds.  And this could all be a major factor in contributing to his eating difficulties and texture extremes as it is hard to retrieve food from the cavernous roof of his mouth or chew well.  The x-rays showed his teeth stacked on top of each other with nowhere to go on top.  It all started to make sense to us when we saw what should be a normal mouth.

For the past 3 weeks we have been trekking to and from the orthodontist to get x-rays, impressions made, spacers replaced multiple times as they broke or got pulled off when he snuck a piece of gum and fitted for expanders.  The doctor said he could expand both the upper and lower jaw at the same time in order to complete the process before we leave for Italy, although, this is not normally practiced for the comfort of the child.  However, we do have one tough kid and he is a fantastic patient--so proud of Luca and for being so brave!

Assisting in making the puddy for his mouth impressions

Yesterday both expanders were placed in his mouth.  We have to crank the upper appliance twice a day and the lower twice a week.  The goal is to expand his upper jaw by 1cm in three weeks for new bone to grow.  Yikes!  Jonathan and I made a deal, that he would do the key turning and I would do the cleaning.  Sounds totally fair to me!

Not quite sure what to think

Pray for Luca that he will soon adjust especially to eating.  He is a bit sore right now and food gets stuck up above his expander when eating.  Being a texture boy, that really bothers him to the point he doesn't want to eat much.  Jell-O and yogurt cannot sustain him over the next few months!  Last night when he was eating bread he kept insisting that we "crank it", as if the cranking would get the food out. He has a super soaker that washes out the food--hopefully I can figure out a way to not drench ourselves everytime with that tool!  Pray also that this process will prevent future orthodontic work, because we have two more kids in line with their own unique issues.  There goes the college fund!

Fall Colors

And this is what we miss most about a Midwest fall when in Italy...we are soaking it all in this year!