One night not too long ago, Mike and Anna Kate went to pick up some sushi.  Anna Kate came home with a red lollipop the lady gave her at the restaurant.  As Mike and I were getting dinner ready, we heard the girls having this long conversation at the table about cavities.  I walked over to check out what they were doing… this is what I saw.  When I asked Noelle to explain it to me, she said, “I’m teaching Anna Kate about cavities.  This is Anna Kate.  She has a red lollipop.  If she eats it, then her teeth will get yucky, like they are in the picture.  Then, she will have to go to the dentist and get her teeth fixed, and it will hurt!”  Honest to goodness, Anna Kate brought us the lollipop and told us she didn’t want it.  That was easy!  I wish it were that simple for their Mommy!

(Noelle just recently changed the color she uses to color Anna Kate’s hair in pictures.  She used to color her hair brown, and now yellow, because Anna Kate’s hair has gotten so light.  She used to color Rose’s hair black, and now colors hers brown because it has lightened up too.  I wonder if Rose’s hair will stay brown?)

The Skittles had their award presentation/end of season party last week!

Carson, Anna Kate and Ava had so much fun hanging out together this fall!

The Skittles were so excited to get their patches and trophies and celebrate the end to an awesome season!!!

Have a fun weekend!

My girls love for me to paint their toes!  I love spending time with them no matter what we are doing…

If the best case scenario for the day is an emergency root canal, you know it’s going to be a pretty bad day.  Welcome to my world.  I NEVER “go there” on the blog, because for the most part this has always been a scrapbook.  Simple as that.  Not a journal whatsoever.  We’ll see about changing it up a bit.  It’ll just take some experimenting and throwing things out there and seeing how it feels.  I may do more, I may do less.

So for today, here’s a little peak into my reality.  I have fibromyalgia.  I have TMJ.  I’ve had two reconstructive jaw surgeries.  Overall, I’m not a very healthy person.  Some days I can’t even get out of bed because of the muscle pain.  Other days I am fine.  I live on medication to have a quality of life.  I always word it like this, “I’d rather be sick and have a lot to live for than be healthy and have a messed up life!”  And that’s the truth.  I work very hard at never complaining or even talking about it.  That’s why in 5 years there has never been a mention on my blog, until now. 

We’re not perfect.  I’m not trying to portray my life as perfect on here.  But focusing on the good things helps me stay positive and distracted from the pain.  So I do it for all of us.  For the girls to look back and enjoy the fun things, and for me to escape how I feel and count my blessings.

On to today.  My teeth don’t touch anywhere when I bite down.  My jaw is always shifting and changing.  A lot of this has to do with my surgeries and how they negatively affected my bite.  So one by one, my teeth are abscessing from the trauma.  I had a fractured tooth today.  The endodontist didn’t know if a root canal would even work.  I am still up against an extraction and not out of the woods yet.  It is very concerning, but I’m not worried.  I know who holds tomorrow, and He was here with me all day in BIG ways.  Maybe I’ll build up some courage to tell you about that someday.  For now, I’ll hold it in my heart as a comfort that God is…

The Pond girls love their spaghetti, that’s for sure!

Brylee, Noelle, and Anna Kate hanging out!

Tonight at dinner Tanna and I had 5 girls to the 2 of us… and they rocked it out!  We even got to have an adult conversation!  Thanks for sending these pics over Tanna… they are SO cute!

This is Emme making a wish and blowing out her candles!

Ty did an amazing job coordinating Emme’s princess tea party!

Let’s start at the beginning.  When the girls arrived, they got all dressed up as princesses.  Ty had a group of ladies come in to do the make-overs.

I just love these precious pictures… the excitement is building!

And here comes the princess!

After lots of fun games, the girls sat down for their royal tea party!

Ty and Emme did a special Daddy/daughter dance that pretty much brought everyone to tears because it was just so precious!

Love you, Landon boy! 

We had an amazing day celebrating Emme!!!

Noelle is so special!  We are so honored to call her ours. 

The Skittles had so much fun this fall playing soccer together!

This is one of Noelle’s sweet friends, Autumn! 

The girls were trying to pull off a win, and Coach Gretchen was working hard trying to keep them in the game!

Cuddle buddies!

Goofy girl!

Go girl!

Whoops!

Devon came to watch Noelle finish strong today! 

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Goofy girl X2!

One more try…

Oh yeah!  Thata girl!

Unfortunately we lost our last game, but the girls were great sports about it!  “That’s the way soccer go!”

The Skittles has the neatest group of parents you will find… they are troopers!

Awesome season Skittles!

Rose would rather be sitting here in our toy drawer in the kitchen than anywhere else in the whole wide world!

These are the new sketches for fall by Noelle Pond!