Yesterday was a long day for me. I had a day off from watching the kids but instead of doing something fun, I got to spend about 4 hours at 2 different dentists. It was basically torture in my book. :) Ehren took a day off from work and ran a daddy daycare for me. He did really great with all the kids. First, I drove an hour away to the gum specialist who also does implants. He pulled my 2 teeth out and screwed in the implants which pretty much looked like very thin and very long screws. I hate getting my teeth pulled so I was as nervous as can be and this dentist doesn't give patients gas or anything, just a shot of novacane. But he was really nice and we had nice conversations about how I came here and about his family. He was pulling the teeth out really slow and that helped because I've had them pulled quick before and that was awful, like having your jaw ripped out.
After the teeth were out he had to cut my gums all around and find 2 spots for the implants to go. He couldn't put them in the holes where my teeth were because then the fake teeth wouldn't be spaced correctly. So he had to put some tissue and bone inside the holes and then drill new holes. The drilling actually wasn't that bad but it was strange getting the implants in there because it felt just like putting a screw into a piece of wood and he put them way deep into the jaw. He said it's a good thing they were hard to screw in because that means the bone is strong.
So I was done with that dentist, wrote a big fat check and headed out to my local dentist who was going to cut down some more of my side teeth and have the retainer look ok. By the time I got there my mouth was hurting because the anesthetic was wearing off. So he put in a couple more injections and when he was putting it into my stitched up gums it was very painful. He basically made fake looking teeth inside the retainer to fill in the gaps. He may make something temporary for me later so I don't have to wear the retainer but we'll see. We won't get the final teeth done until sometime next year to split the cost into 2 years.
When I woke up this morning I felt pretty shaky and weak. I know it was from barely eating anything all day yesterday so I have to fuel up today. It is just not easy to bite because I have to be careful for where the stitches are. So I have to cut up all my food and put it in the back of my mouth because I can't just bite into food. I'll be glad once those stitches are out.
So that is it for now. It is done and I move on. Here are some pretty gross pictures from before and after but I don't want to scare you with pictures without the retainer. :)
Today was Kade's music informance, not sure why they call it that when it is a performance. They have a different music teacher each quarter and every time they focus on different instruments and things. This time they were mostly singing to us and it was very cute. The kids had a lot of fun with the songs and were really singing not like when they were younger and barely opened their mouths. Kade is always very serious during these performances, mostly because he's really nervous but I could tell he was enjoying it this time. Ehren's mom came with me and helped me with the 4 kids I brought, mainly just Aveah and Kason didn't want to sit still and quiet the whole time. But they did great and once the kids started singing they were all watching quietly.
So here we are, tomorrow is Kade's last day of school. I can't believe he's going to be in 4th grade next Fall. I am bracing myself a little for next week when I start watching all 7 kids every day and 8 kids two days a week. It will be different and a lot more chaotic but I know it will get better as we get used to each other again. Laadyn is going to come every day and even though it is great for Kade to have a playmate, a lot of times they just are at each other, kind of like brothers. It's mostly Kade causing it because he doesn't give Laadyn any space all day and he wants to play or do things with Laadyn every minute of the day. So we'll have to work on that a little and we also have a new neighbor boy who's the same age and comes over to our house a lot. It's not always a good thing though because somehow the 3 of them cannot play nice together and one of them always feels left out. So I hope I am able to be constructive with them, giving them "chores" to do so they don't get into "I'm bored" stage. It is funny how sometimes the older kids can be a lot harder to deal with than the preschoolers, even though they can be a big help too.
But, I am going to do my best to enjoy this summer with the kiddos. Especially our Laadyn because he'll be moving away in September and will not be coming anymore. Kade already cries every time we talk about it because he misses Laadyn being gone already. He is very sensitive to that and to him Laadyn is really more like a brother. So I understand how he feels and it breaks my heart when I see how sad Kade is about losing his best friend. But we do have a long summer ahead of us to enjoy each other and it is nice to be able to remind Kade about enjoying this time he has with Laadyn instead of fighting because soon he won't be here.
Here's Kade and his teacher. To be fair, this is a pretty bad picture of her and it's funny to me because here on the picture she kind of looks like how I feel about her. :) But she does look better when she's not making that face and she told us that she really connected with Kade's class and will miss them a lot, unlike some other classes she taught in her 17 years. So I hope it was a good experience for Kade, just knowing that not all the teachers are all sweet and lovey-dovey.
It is funny how graduation is such a huge deal here in the US. When I first came here as a highschool exchange student I thought it was strange how people made such a huge deal about finishing high school. "Doesn't everyone finish high school?" I thought. And you get rewarded for it with gifts, money, a huge party and who knows what else? Back in my Slovak high school, that was just a tiny stepping stone before college and you wanted to do well in order to get into the college you wanted. But I am slowly becoming more accustomed to these American ways. People do like to push it a bit too far with the graduations though. Now it is no longer just highschool graduation, there is a kindergarten graduation, a 5th grade graduation before going to middle school and there is even a preschool graduation. I think people made that one up just because those little 4-5 year olds are so cute in their hats and gowns. I've been pretty sceptical about what the point of the graduation is but with Emily and Anika both having their preschool graduations I couldn't help but be a part of their excitement for it. They were practicing songs for it and were beyond excited to walk down the isle and "graduate" from preschool. Kason found a new word he didn't know before and was asking me over and over "what is a graduate and what is graduation?" Now seeing his sister graduate when we talk about him going to preschool, he doesn't forget to mention that he gets to graduate too.
So I guess to these little kids it is a big deal. They feel like they're growing up, they're joining the big kids in school. Tonight Anika just had her graduation and I am so glad we were able to be part of it. She was singing her heart out when she got on the stage and was so proud to be there.
I remember like it was just yesterday when Kade graduated from preschool. Being it our first child, I had no idea this was a special deal and didn't take too much notice. I was going to come (even though then it was during the day and I had to bring little Anika and baby Kason) but then Kason got sick and I had to take him in to the doctor. I thought I would still be back in time, but when I got there they were done with everything and there was Kade with his big eyes telling me nobody came to watch him. I felt like the worst mom in the world, seeing all the aunts/uncles/grandparents of other kids leaving the school. One lady that knew me a little probably felt sorry for me so she took pictures of Kade with his teacher and friends. So, with our second child, we knew the graduation was a big deal. And somehow I don't think I would miss it either way because Anika and Emily have been talking about it for weeks.
Here they are together, they are such a cute pair. They get along so well and barely ever fight, even when they're together all day almost every day. I think that is very impressive with any 2 girls. :) They are just the best buddies and Anika always wants to know what Emily's going to wear so she can try to match it. Also, whatever Emily's favorite thing to do is or whatever, Anika picks the same thing for herself. I try and try telling her to pick something that she likes or that she enjoys doing but no, it's always what Emily says. :) It is very cute and I really hope they stay close as they get older because having a good sister/cousin/girlfriend is so important for young girls and women.
Below are pictures from our Wednesday night Awana awards night. Emily, Ani and Kason were all in Cubbies this last year and I helped teach it sometimes. They memorize simple verses, have a story time, a craft time, a game time and snack time. They all enjoy it a lot and they can wear out the adults pretty quick.
Kade was in his 1st year of Truth In Training and he did a great job finishing his book and memorizing a lot of Scriptures.
Kason finally did it today! He is riding without the training wheels. We really only practiced it a couple times this Spring which makes me think I should have tried it more last summer. It is just funny how some things you think kids will have a hard time with and it will take forever to get but then all of a sudden they get it. Just the last time I was going with Kason up and down our driveway, holding onto him and it seemed like there's no way he's ready to learn it and today I just decided to let go off him more and he learned it just like that. He still needs help getting started and with sharp turns but I can't believe how quickly he got it.
I have also been practicing with Anika and Emily, all 3 of them taking turns but the girls are a lot more scared than Kason to try on their own. I know Anika can do it easily because she can balance well on it but every time I let go off her she puts her foot down on the ground and stops the bike. I think she needs to practice some more with daddy next. :)
Anyway, Kason was sooo excited he did it. He kept wanting to go more and more and had a huge smile on his face. I think it helps that he's not afraid of a little fall, he brushes it off and gets up again. He can't wait for dad to come home from work so he can show him. I love this little guy.
Today I said to myself I am going to do it. Ever since I was little I had been terrified of spiders. Especially the big ones or the long legged ones. I would force myself to kill them myself eventually but it had to be with a book or a shoe or something else hard. :) I don't think I have a clinical arachnophobia because I don't freeze or get all weird if there's a spider but I still want someone else to kill it if they're around.
Anyway, today was Kade's class field trip to a Science Center and I was able to go as a chaperon. Audrey watched the 3 little kids for me which was so nice because I really enjoyed the little trip. It's fun to see what Kade's classmates are like, how they interact and I was surprised at how polite they all were. Sure, those boys in the back of the bus (including mine) were having a bit too much fun but they are really nice kids, they just want to have fun.
We were able to look at a lot of different science games/visuals and then they had a bunch of reptiles, fish, birds and stuff. One of which was a tarantula. :) They had 2, supposedly the bigger one is a bit aggressive so they didn't take it out but the smaller one was a nice one (whatever that meant) and a guy was handing her to the kids to hold. At first, as I got a very close look at the tarantula I thought no way I'm doing this and Kade was the same way. So we went off exploring some other things and somehow I kept thinking I need to do this. It's not so bad and I can prove it to myself I did it. Well, in the meantime Kade already held 3 snakes around his neck and he got braver and said he's going to hold the tarantula too. So off we went, we said we'd give it a try. I have to say, when that spider moves its big furry legs around in your hands it is something else. But the guy was very specific to "not drop her no matter what because the fall could kill her." :) And now that I think about it I wonder if he just makes it up so people don't freak out and he'd have to try to catch the scared tarantula. So here's the picture of my bravery. I am so proud of myself that I did it, I just couldn't leave the place without trying it, especially when my son could do it. :)
The picture below is of some of Kade's friends on the bus. It is just a whole different world we live in now. 8 of them, girls and boys all got out their Nintendo DS and they played Mario Brothers against each other. They giggled and laughed the whole time there and back, playing each other at various things. And even the kids that don't own one of those games get pretty good at it because they borrow friends' on the bus. Looking around the bus, there were a lot of tablets, ipads or ipods and as sad as it is, that is their generation and it is very natural for them unless they are sheltered from it all by their parents. I just wonder what are their kids going to do on the long bus rides 20-30 years from now? :)
CREATING GIANT BUBBLES
LIKE THIS ONE
DRAGON LIZZARD
KADE AND TARANTULA - I think he looks a bit more scared than I was
And he's 4. It is hard to believe sometime that our baby is already 4. Where did the time go? It just seems like yesterday when he was born, the big boy of almost 10 pounds. It's like he came with a roar and is still roaring to us. :) Kason can be very loud, especially when he meets his best buddies and sometimes it is a bit embarrassing. But I think he's slowly getting better at listening as he's getting older. It is fun to watch him become his own person and his personality come out more and more. He's just a fun loving child, always wanting to be where the fun is and if he's not he'll just make his own fun. He is still my touchy loving boy, who hugs me and tells me he loves me first in English and then in Slovak, just in case I didn't hear him the first time. :)
One thing that we are trying to get used to these last 6 months or so is our Kason's love for clothes. He never used to care and all of a sudden almost every day we are battling his choice of clothes. And really, most of the times it is not the clothes he picks because I let him pick out his own clothes to a point, it is mostly him wanting to change his shirt 5 times a day because he wants to look at a different one. He'll just go into his closet during the day, dig through his shirts and change because now he wants such and such shirt. So I have been dealing with that a little bit and somehow it doesn't go into his head that whatever he puts on in the morning is what he needs to wear until going to bed. :) He is just so funny about clothes and it is a brand new experience to us because neither Kade or Anika were ever that determined to dress certain way or change their clothes that much. He does have his own style he likes too. He tells me: "mom, I don't like Sunday clothes." :) That is one day I made clear to him right away that I am picking his clothes out and although he didn't like it at first and there were some tears, now he's just fine with it and as soon as we come home from church he is in his closet picking out his outfit. :) He loves any kind of sport shirts or shirts with a picture of an animal/car/cartoon and for pants it has to be either jeans or shorts. I just hope he's not going to turn into a little fashionista when he's in middle school.
Well, we had a busy Birthday weekend for Kason. First we had his friends over on Saturday afternoon for a kids' party. It was mainly boys and all the kids were between 3-8 so it was a bit challenging to get them interested in doing the same things together. I was so thankful we had beautiful weather outside so we were there most of the time. I had some relay games ready for the kids and they had fun but afterwards I realized I didn't even have to plan any of those since they had fun just running around outside and playing sports games. We had some snacks and cake and then we had a scavenger hunt where instead of clues they were finding simple tasks they had to all do as a group (run around the house, or everyone bring 3 dandelions,etc.). Once they completed the task I gave them the next clue until finally they found a bag with their goodie bags. It was a busy afternoon but they all had fun. I was glad 2 of my friends stayed here during the party because we had more adults gathering up the kids. All the kids slept so good that night, it was just a fun day.
Kason has been wanting a Cars cake for his birthday and I thought about a big number 4 right away. It is funny but every time I have an idea for a cake, I google it and I get a ton of pictures of people's cakes that are almost exactly what I wanted to do. So it's nice to see how they did it and what they used for decorations and stuff. So it isn't all my ideas, but that's ok. I always have a rule that the cake has to taste good, not just look good so I usually make our family's favorite chocolate cake recipe. As far as frosting the cake, I am really terrible and any fancy piping or whatever the cake decorators do I would fail at miserably. But I am realizing, to make a cute cake you don't need to be a good decorator, it can be simple and to the point and they love it. So I have gotten myself into this tradition now of making fun cakes for their birthdays and now all our kids are thinking ahead for the theme they want in their next birthday cake, even if it's months away. :)
Yesterday we had Ehren's family over for lunch and a little birthday get together. All the cousins got together except for the 2 that live in NY. They had fun playing together all afternoon and after they left Ehren and I took the kids for a 6 mile bike ride. We could have gone further but it was pretty windy out here in the country. Anika loves the tandem bike attachment we have for Ehren's bike and she just kept giggling and talking nonstop. Kason is still in the bike trailer even though he's almost too big for it. Next year we may need another tandem attachment for him so we can go on long bike rides. So it was a good and a busy weekend and everyone slept like a baby including me. )
Today must be a day when God is speaking to me. :) It's been one of those emotional days for me and just little while ago when the kids left me alone for a bit I sat down and wept, telling God how much I miss my mom and how much I'd like to go home and see her. Most of the time I try to be all tough about it and say I'm doing good, I can handle everything but then once in a while emotions get the best of me and I just let it out and cry. Because like any other girls, I want my mom here, I miss her and want to be able to hop in my car and go sit in her kitchen and visit.
Anyway, I went outside with the kids because it is just gorgeous out. I wasn't even particularly looking at the ground as I was walking through our grass but something stopped me and I looked down and saw it - a tiny violet just standing there all by herself. I took it and just stood there with tears running down my face, trying to see if I can find any other ones. See, these wild violets are not very easy to find around our house and I was amazed I even found one. But why it is so meaningful to me is that every Spring my mom would love going on nature walks in the woods where we would pick violets like these. It is one of the best memories from my childhood of my mom and us as a family going on hikes and look for violets. And that's why it made me cry because somehow I saw one all alone and it was like God saying: "your mom misses you too and she wishes so much she could be here." I know, I'm a sappy sap today. But sometimes it's ok to be. Because that's how God wired us to be.
I had a little or a big answer to prayer today. I've been agonizing over my teeth situation because of finances and I finally decided maybe I need to postpone it until November so that the other half of the cost which are the crowns and their settings could be done in January. Why that's good is that it will be in a new calendar year and so we can put it all in the cafeteria plan at Ehren's work for that year, maybe get more insurance coverage for it, and it gives us time to save up for it.
So I called my local dentist to see what he thought of my bright idea. And he's like: sure we can do my part in January, but you still can get the 2 implants done now, they'll just be healing longer which is only good for them to become part of the bone better. One not so nice thing is that I'll have to wear the retainer for a few months which is not fun and doesn't look that good either, but he thinks he can get something temporary done that will be looking ok. So I calculated my costs for the implants and since they're not going to be finishing them with the top part they will be cheaper and it turned out I will owe them almost exactly how much I've saved up so far, which is a huge blessing because I thought we would be owing them some money for a while until we could pay it all.
So I guess in this nightmarish situation (where from my original cost of about $5,500 it is going to cost more like $9,000+) this is an answer to my prayer and I am thankful to God it turned out this way. I know it is not by accident that I will have to pay exactly the amount I've saved up. It is just a good reminder for me how God is here and He knows all our struggles/pains. He doesn't always answer the way we want Him to, but He is here for us and wants us to cry out to Him. So the appointment is still on for May 24th and I will be missing my 2 front teeth for a while, probably scaring my kids a bit. :)
My back is finally getting back to normal, after many visits to the chiropractor. The last 3 weeks I only went once a week so I am hoping it will completely heal soon. It's been feeling really good lately but I am still scared to do too much too soon. I just went to the chiropractor this morning and I don't know why, but it seems like every time as it gets one or 2 days before I need to come in my back gets more stiff in that spot which really tells me it's not completely better. Last time the chiropractor told me that he wasn't sure if he could make my back better at the beginning there, that the knot was so big he thought maybe I would need a surgery. Well, I'm glad he didn't tell me back then. I would never have thought it was that bad, but it was the most painful it's ever bin.
And so, last week I did it and postponed my half marathon to next year but at this point I don't have too high of hopes that I'll be able to run the distances I need for that even a year from now. We'll see, I have to start very very slow which is a bit frustrating. I always want to run the mileage and the speed I am used to so I have to force myself to stop and walk or slow down. I am going to try to bike more too so I stay active but without putting as much stress on my back. Even though it's hard to stop cold turkey with running, it is actually helping me be more relaxed and worry free. Because when I'm following a training plan for a half marathon, I always get caught up in how many miles I need to do on such and such day and how fast and how early I need to get up. I have to be up around 5:30am if I want to do any running during the week which is not always easy. It used to be a lot easier for me 10 years ago and now the bed just feels way too good in the morning. :) But it does get better as the sun is rising earlier and already it is starting to be a nice daylight around 5:45 so I can't wait to be able to get up early and go for a run outside, versus the treadmill. Soon I'll be able to.
This week I am getting ready for Kason's birthday party that's this Saturday. Kade and Anika didn't have a birthday party until they were 5-6 but because Kason is watching everyone having a party he really wants one too. So we'll have a few of his buddies over for some games. Most of the boys are Anika's age but since Kason loves playing with them that's who I invited, plus I don't know anyone that's exactly Kason's age. They're either a year older or a year younger. We'll see how it all turns out, I hope the weather will be nice so we can play outside. On Sunday we'll have the family over for lunch too so it will be a busy weekend, but that's ok. Kason is very excited, he's growing up too fast.
