as much excitement as we can handle...

In the past 24 hours:

-Micah had two permanent molars pulled in anticipation of getting braces by the end of the year. He did great and doesn't mind the temporary diet of milkshakes, pudding, jello, and banana bread.

This is the note he put under his pillow:
"Dear Tooth Fairy,
I need more money than usual. I had 2 teeth pulled."

He recieved $8 which is 4 times the going rate around here. The final two will be pulled on August 11.

-Josiah emerged from his sister's bedroom covered in green marker. It was all the way up his arms, on his legs, and around his eyes. It seems he came up with the idea and was the artist. We will not encourage tatoo artistry as a future career.

In the next 24 hours:

-We will have a hole cut in our house, on purpose. Workers are coming to put an egress window in the basement. Micah will have his very own, spacious bedroom by week's end! It will be nice to have each child in their own bedroom again, although we acknowledge this is quite a luxury in our world. However, with children spaced the way ours are, we're finding it will be quite helpful. Josiah doesn't sleep well with other people in the room, and Micah and Rachel need to stop sharing at this stage in their lives! I'm so proud of Eric who learned how to use a jackhammer to take out part of the back patio and dug a pretty large hole to help cut the costs in this venture.