Derek's 10, Tooth Fairies, and Confessions of an Addict's Mother

Well, my "little" boy turned 10 this week. Where has the time gone? Derek got to invite some of his friends to go to the gym yesterday. They had a lot of fun on the rock wall and then spent some time swimming. I was having serious reservations about taking nine 10-year-old boys anywhere, but they were so well behaved and they seemed to have a lot of fun. Of course, Mark had to deal with keeping track of all of their stuff by himself when they were changing into and out of swim suits. We did lose one belt, but the potential to have lost so much more was so high that I feel we did a good job!

Derek's grandparents and some cousins came over for cake and presents on his actual birthday. He finally got his new bike.

His Aunt LeAnn made Derek the perfect cake.

And his cousins Randee and Christian gave him the real thing. The ketchup companies can thank Derek and Janie for keeping their profits strong during this tough economy.

In other news, Janie has just lost her second tooth. I feel that neither one of us is old enough for this to happen, but I'm dealing with this loss much better emotionally than the loss of the first tooth. At least I can talk about this one!

Finally, I think we have created a monster. This child, the one who couldn't play the Wii for the first few days we had it because she got so frustrated, is now addicted to it. More specifically, she is addicted to Mario Kart. We've never had video games in our home for this very reason. But I've been blind-sided because I never thought the Wii-aholic would be Janie. It's a good thing she goes to school every day or else she would drive me crazy asking me to play it all day, instead of half the day like she does now. I may have to develop my own 12 step program. Let's all just pray for an early end to winter so we can get back outside!!