I'm Back, 2008!

So, um...it's been a long time. I warned y'all that it might be a while before I got back to blogging, right? I didn't know it would be THIS long, but here I am again. I was so busy in November and December! Juggling the kids, the house, a project, Christmas shopping, getting ready for company, and hosting Christmas at our house pushed blogging way off the to-do list. :-) Starting on Dec. 20th and ending Jan. 4th we hosted 2 sets of parents, 3 grandparents, 2 siblings, and 1 niece -- our place was bursting at the seams! (Their stays didn't all overlap, just FYI.) We had a blast, took about 1100 pictures (literally), everyone got along great, we managed to find places for everyone to rest their weary heads at night, and the kids opened presents for what seemed like three days straight. If you're not on my picture list (and you want to see 200 pictures of the Hesse/Wallace Christmas in Tennessee, email me at hessefamily (at) gmail (dot) com. I'll add you to the list if I know you! :-)

So I have a funny story to break back into blogging. I decided over Christmas to back Kaden off of whole milk and start buying 2%. He has always loved milk and would drink it 24/7 if I let him. He's a thirsty little dude, and sometimes I think all those liquid calories are filling him up and then he's not hungry for real food. Anyway, 2% milk doesn't have that many fewer calories, but I thought it might help a bit. So the other morning, on Sunday before church, Kaden was thirsty and wanted to have a second cup of milk before we left. I told him that he had already had a big cup of milk with breakfast and that he could have juice (80% water, 20% juice) instead. I said something like, "Buddy, milk has calories in it that fill you up, and if you drink a bunch of milk you won't be hungry for real food." He didn't question me any more after that, and I didn't think the whole "calorie" thing even registered.

So off we went to church, and several hours later on the way home, Kaden was drinking some milk in the backseat. All of the sudden he sat forward in his carseat, held his cup up to look through it, and he said, "Mom, I don't see any cavities in there. How'd you get them in there -- I don't see them!"

It took me a few seconds to figure out what he was talking about, but Josh and I had a good laugh when I finally translated and explained what Kaden was talking about -- calories! Josh was like, "I can't believe you told him he couldn't have something because it had too many calories!" It may sound weird (I certainly am not trying to freak him out about gaining weight or something like that)...I was just trying to tell him that the milk will fill him up, whereas my very watered down juice will not.

Calories or not, thankfully there are no cavities in either whole or 2% milk! Kids. Aren't the hilarious?!