Brace Yourself

My husband and I are at that point in life where we get to start panicking about tween/teen expenses and how in the world we are ever going to afford all that our kiddos are going to need (demand) from here on out. 
Zak will be completing his Drivers Ed this week and will eventually deem it necessary to drive.  In order for that to happen, we need to have a car (that we aren't especially fond of~if you catch my drift) and he will need to be covered on our insurance.  The discussion with State Farm is a phone call I have procrastinated as I've heard from far to many people that covering a teenager is beyond expensive and I just don't think I can face that number at this moment.

Meanwhile, Ryson had the fine opportunity of getting braces last week.

Bella decided to go with us to see what was involved because her dentist recently told her that she has an overbite and will also require braces. 

Hopefully she can hold off for 12-18 months so that we don't have the expense of two metal mouths in the family.

 


Ryson did pretty well during the whole procedure considering how long he had to have his mouth stretched to capacity and dry as a bone. 

They kept telling him what a model patient he was.  It took just over an hour to get everything where it needed to be.





Dr. Roloff ~the Orthodontist that will be vacationing on our hard earned money for the next year.

These puppies aren't cheap.  He will need them for 12-18 months and they told him if he takes care of them, he may get them off sooner.  This was probably the worst thing they could have told him.  The kid wants them off so bad, he hardly eats and is constantly worried about how much food he has in his brackets so he brushes, flosses, brushes some more.  We have to keep telling him to RELAX and just do what is normal and he'll be fine.

He didn't have the wires and bands on in this picture but I never did get a picture of the end result.  He opted for alternating hot pink and purple bands to finish off the look.  I failed to mention that he had to have a tooth pulled the day before so that his other tooth would have a spot to fit.  Wasn't the best weekend for a 12 year old kid.
I don't think Bella is as excited about the idea of getting braces after watching Rys go through the process but she has such a bad overbite that I'm pretty sure braces are inevitable.

So as we brace ourselves for the future with our 5, ever evolving kids, we have our fingers crossed that we will be able to provide for them all that they need and want in order to have the best future possible.

Yes, we are alive and no, nothing worth reporting...

Kentwood

Things have changed at our house this week.  Changed for the better if you ask me.  Zak has decided that he wants to attend/graduate from Kentwood High School.  He moved in with us on Friday.  Brought a bunch of clothes and some of his favorite things from his Moms and set up camp.  I think he did about 12 loads of laundry his first night here and got his room all put together.  He had all of his clothes hung up, posters hung, pictures/drawers rearranged, etc. 
He was supposed to start school on Monday.  You can't believe the hoops we've had to jump through in order to get this to happen.  Come Monday, he and Josh arrived at the school just to be told that the counselor was busy that day and wouldn't have time to show him around or give him his schedule and to come back on Tuesday.  What a disappointment.  He was so excited.  Needless to say, Monday was pretty boring.
But Tuesday!!  He was nervous, excited, scared, all at the same time but he made it through his first day back to the Kent School District and was all smiles about it.  He's been doing great so far this week.  Getting his homework done, reasonable hours hanging with friends, getting to bed on time.  All those fun responsible things that were part of the deal.  We've also spent every night this week at Wal-Mart buying school supplies and misc things that he needs around the house but it's been tons of fun having him around.  Here's to two promising years ahead!!  Go Conks!!!

Happy New Year!!

The year 2012 has certainly started off with a bang!  For the 6 years that I've lived in Seattle, we have yet to have "normal" weather.  People tell me every season that "this isn't what it's really like in Seattle".  So far, the winters have been the most unpredictable.  It rarely snows here, but when it does, it shuts the entire place down.  I have driven to work in HORRIBLE snow storms one day and then two days later it looks like Spring.  This year was no exception. 

The first snow storm of the season was a DOOZY!  The first few days were very pretty.  Lots of new snow, pretty, fresh, fun for the kids to play in.  We took the kids to Nana and Papa's (since all of the other fun sledding hills were PACKED with people).  We pulled the sleds behind the gator, built a snowman, built a sled ramp, all kinds of fun stuff.

Then the rain started and the real fun began.  There was ice all over everything.  I don't have any pictures of all of the broken trees but I would say about 70% of the trees in Seattle broke because of the heavy ice.

 Because the ice was so bad and all of the trees were falling, the power conveniently went out.  It went out for a few hours.  Came back on for about 45 minutes and then went out again for 2 days!

We had friends over the first night the power was out and hung out around the fire and had some dinner.  The next day we went to Josh's parents (they had power) did a puzzle and took showers.  While we were trying to decide what we were going to do that night, we got news that the power was back on at our house so things were back to normal.  Or were they?

Just as things started thawing out and people could once again brave the roads and get back into the swing of things, we had a major wind storm.  Although we managed through the snow and the ice, we weren't quite so lucky when it came to the wind...   Yep.  This is our back fence exactly two days after Josh and his Dad built it.  The wind picked it up and destroyed it AND the 3ft brick wall that it was on top of.  They spent an entire day this week rebuilding the brick wall and resetting the posts, now we just have to put the fence back where it goes and hope there isn't anymore wind in the forecast..

Our Schnei-Mazing Christmas!!

Christmas this year was SO MUCH FUN!!  I don't know if the kids enjoyed themselves as much as I did, but I sure hope so.  If you read my previous blog, you know that we have decided not to do gifts on our 'off' years with the kids.  Instead, we do memories.  This year will be hard to top. 
Disclaimer:  I am HORRIBLE at taking pictures so what you are about to see doesn't do justice for the great time we had.  I didn't even get pictures at some of the events so you'll just have to believe me when I say the kids smiled the WHOLE time.
The kids came to stay with us on Wednesday the 28th.  We don't usually celebrate our Christmas until New Year's Eve but we had a lot to do this year so we started early.
The morning of the 29th, the kids woke up and all of the stockings were missing.  Nobody really thought much of it and just went about their morning eating breakfast and blaming Zak for hiding the stockings somewhere (since he was the only one not out of bed). 
Then the doorbell rang.  Like 5 times.  The kids (and the dog) all raced to the door to see who it could be.  Only a Christmas bin.  They brought it inside and opened it.  To their surprise, there were the stockings full of all kinds of stuff.  Along with the stockings was a letter from Santa explaining that he was anxious to get home and be done with Christmas so he dropped theirs off a little early.  He told them to pack a bag with specific items and to be ready to go by 2pm.
The kids raced around the house getting chores done, taking showers and packing bags and watching the clock closely.  At 2 they were all whining wanting to pack the car and get going but we had to wait for the first surprise that showed up a few minutes late.  The kids couldn't figure out what we were waiting for.  Then Santa's sleigh arrived.  A black stretched limo had come to pick them up and take them to their destination.  Their faces were priceless and burned into my memory but I don't have any pics to prove it.

We arrived at the Westin in Bellevue.  We checked in and went to our rooms.  All I remember the kids saying was "we don't deserve to stay at a place this nice." 

We had gotten a room for the kids and a room for us.  The rooms joined of course, but the kids thought it was great that they got their own room. 

After looking around for a minute, Mom and Dad opened the envelope that Santa had left for them.  Inside were 5 envelopes (one for each child).  We handed them out and watched the kids light up again.

Spending money for the mall across the street.  Since we didn't buy gifts, we thought it would be fun to give each kid their own money to go spend.  They were THRILLED!!  So we hi-tailed it off to the mall.  They all made out pretty well with new shoes, shirts, jackets, iPods, etc.  After walking the mall for what seemed like hours, we decided to go to dinner at ZTejas.  Dinner was on Grandma Wescott who also helped with the expense of the hotel rooms.

After dinner we headed back to the hotel and went swimming.  We didn't last long, everyone seemed a little worn out from the days events so back to the room we went where the kids found another gift for each one of them lying on their beds.  New pajamas for them to wear to bed.  They also had all kinds of chips and goodies sitting on the dresser in their room so we ordered a movie for them and let them eat junk food to their hearts content.

Since they all had money left from the mall, they decided they wanted to order milkshakes from room service and thought that was "awesome".

The next day, Uncle Evan picked us up at the hotel and we went home for a few hours.  Everyone was happy to be home but then Josh's parents had planned a surprise for the kids for 3pm that day.  We drove to Nana's office and she told the kids where they were going.

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures here, but we did get a DVD of all of us flying.  You'll have to come over and watch the DVD if you want to see how much fun we all had.  We all had two 1 minute sessions each and had a BLAST!!  I would HIGHLY recommend it to any who are thinking about going.  After our flying lessons, we wrapped up our Christmas at Spaghetti Factory and headed home!  Nothing more fun than spending time with the ones you love more than anything on the planet!  Something we'll NEVER forget!!



Christmas Eve

Every Christmas Eve we go to Josh's parents house for their big family party.  Great food, tons of people and the annual visit from Santa.  Some of the kids are getting older and find it funny to try and guess who Santa is each year.  So once in a while we like to throw in someone random just to keep them guessing.  Wanna know who made the kids' night this year?

None other than Mr. Adam Turley.  He did a great job being jolly and the kids had a blast mauling him and sitting on his lap to receive their gifts.  The best part was that nobody had a clue who he was (Ryson was the only one of our kids there so none of the others knew Adam). 

Thanks Adam (Santa) for being such a good sport!!







1st Time For Everything

Every year since Josh and I have been married we have debated whether or not to put lights on the house.  The few years we were in an apartment, the decision was obviously easy.  Since we have been in our new house however, we have really wanted to have house lights but haven't wanted the expense or the work that came with them.
This year we bit the bullet and bought lights for our house.  Josh spent hours putting them up just the way I like them and he did a GREAT job if I do say so myself  (Even if it did take him a week to talk himself into getting on the highest pitch of the roof and sliding his way to the edge of the house just so the corner would look right)!!  Love you Babe!!