I hate the Dentist!

So it happens every six months, our family dental appointment. All seven of us converge on one office where two dentists (a husband and wife) work on all our teeth for two hours. we have been going there for four years, so they know all of us and it is a very friendly environment. They talk to the kids and tell them how big they are getting and how sweet they were when I first started bringing them, they talk to me about the move and the house and Dale about work, seeing them is very pleasant, like seeing old friends, Yet I always leave that appointment not ever wanting to go back!!! Why do we all feel that way about dentists?? here is how the end of the visit went...."Tammy everyone checked out fine, with a few exceptions...." ( here it comes)........."Alex has two more cavities, so he and Shawn will need their teeth sealed" (ok, easy enough! .. I start to walk away thinking that this was a great visit!) "just wondering Tammy, I see that Shawn has been to the orthodontist, have you taken Alex, Melissa and David yet? the x-rays show that they all have some real issues with their permanant teeth that are coming in, they need to go very soon"...(No Dr. *****, I haven't taken them all in, I am starting with the two older boys first and then when they are done I will get to the younger ones)...."Tammy, Melissa and David really need to go, let me show you the problem...." ..(.ok, thanks Dr. *****, as she proceeds to explain the problem further I am hardly listening because I am busy adding up the thousands of dollars that orthodontics will cost me, that I didn't exactly budget for and how If I had a job for one year I could pay for it all, but I haven't had a real job in 12 years, could I go back to working for a doctor, or waiting tables? I was always good at waitressing, I wonder if waitresses make more money now? braces are how much?, times four maybe five children? Maybe I could just work for a few years to pay for the orthodontics, and then the kids would start leaving for missions and college, which they do have savings accounts for, but with the rising costs of college will their savings accounts be enough? If it's not enough I could just keep working a little bit more to help cover the remaining costs of missions and college, oh and weddings, I forgot about weddings, I only have one girl, so that means only one wedding to pay for, right? Actually, Dale's mom paid for the bulk of our wedding, so if my boys marry girls like me then I would need to pay for my son's weddings also, so at least one, maybe 5 weddings, huh, thats a lot more than one year of working, maybe I should consider going back to college to get my degree, then I could command a higher salary, what was my major in again? and who would take the kids to all their doctor and dentist appointments if I were working? actually, no more doctor and dentist appointments? that would save us a bundle!! I don't need to go back to work after all!!Phew!) as I come out of my daze she sounds about done, (ok, thanks Dr. *****) , "oh and Tammy, I noticed you didn't have the extensive (translated= Expensive) work done to your mouth that you need, you realize that you are going to have problems if you don't get that taken care of quickly?" ... the sweet receptionist hands me a card, "Mrs. Kelley, fill this out so we can send you a reminder to come six months from now" (every six months? I hate going to the dentist!)

Weekend

Weekends always go way to fast! We spent friday night at Shawn's baseball game, the game started at 6:30 and ended after 9:00...his team played well, but did not win. Shawn is a smart player and knows exactly where to be and the correct plays to be made, but sometimes I think he is just waiting for the game to be over so he can get back to reading! He finished the last Harry Potter book this weekend, so I am hoping to see more of him! David woke up with fever on friday night, and had a lot of ear pain. He has Hockey on Saturday, so I was assuming he wouldn't make it...I was wrong, david isn't going to let a silly thing like being sick stop him from Hockey...we gave him motrin and he went at it...after Hockey he went with Dale to Alex's baseball game, I went to Shawn's with Melissa and Greg. By the time Alex's game was over, David was in a tremendous amount of pain and crying and just wanted to be with his mommy and go home...I left Shawn's game to take him home, and I missed their big win! David slept right up until I left for my girls night out.

Saturday night was girls night out... Chick Flick...check!, Dinner of soup, salads and water (or diet caffeine free pepsi) ...check! gabbing about nothing and everything...check! chocolate(hot chocolate)....check! I Love girls night out! It went by way to fast! Denise is moving to michigan in may, so I think we are going to have to have girls weekends out from now on, yeah!!

Sunday morning I went to church with Shawn and Alex and left the rest of the sick people at home...Sunday afternoon was full of lounging and sleeping ...it was a great way to end another weekend!

Shawn's first temple trip

Shawn turned 12 on April 9th. He had decided to get his long hair cut before he was to pass the sacrament for the first time. His Grandma Kelley came to see him pass it. Once he turned twelve he joined the Young Men's program at church, and last night he went to the Temple for the first time with the youth. I really enjoyed watching him around all the other teenagers and reflected on his life. He is growing up so fast! I am always amazed by how responsible and mature he is. (We aren't sure where he gets that from!) Here is the picture I snapped of him right before we left...

New York Trip

Shawn and I went on a field trip to New York Yesterday. It was truly bittersweet. We arrived safely, after a very stressful 4 hour ride with a very questionable driver and bus. The first clue we had that he wasn't right was when he hit a toll booth in Baltimore on the way to New York. The various cars honking at him for swerving in and out of lanes was another clue. He could not see his mirrors, so when changing lanes he would either ask someone to look if the next lane was clear, or he wouldn't ask and he would just change lanes. He floated between two lanes and we finally asked him to pull off and check his bus' steering. He did, said that he fixed it and we went on. Things got progressively worse and we had to alert him just in time to the 18 wheeler he almost slammed into. We were all praying and when we made it to the ferry, we explained that we would not be getting back on that bus and would either need a new bus, or this one had to be fixed for the trip home. The first thing we did was take the ferry to Ellis Island. The National Park service has done an amazing job restoring Ellis Island and we learned so much about early immigration into the U.S. One of the things the kids were most anxious to do was see if they had relatives who entered the U.S. through Ellis Island. I did not prepare anything to research this, but I am very curious now myself. (I will be checking with Karena, who is an amazing family history researcher) The museum was so full of neat information that in three hours we only got through about 25% of it. I would love to go back and spend a lot more time there. We also saw Liberty Island. I am always filled with gratitude when I see Lady Liberty, but after visiting Ellis Island, and having been reminded of the early immigrant struggles to come to America, seeing the Statue of Liberty was especially meaningful. I love US History and am so thankful that we value our history enough to preserve important places, including Ellis Island. After getting off the Ferry from Lady Liberty, we were to re board the buses. After being told that our driver did not have a mechanic look at our bus, I became very nervous and distrustful of the driver and I asked how he thought we would all be safe riding with him on this bus, the driver's response was that we all had God on our side and God will protect us. I have Faith in God, and my faith tells me that God's grace will come into play after I have worked hard and made good choices, so me, and everyone else, opted to get on a different bus, sharing seats and squishing together. After a squishy, but safe, two hour ride, We stopped in Delaware, where the bus company sent us another, brand new bus. We were all relaxed and about to began our journey when our same, very unskilled driver, got on and continued to drive us. Since this was a new bus, we thought we would be ok. We began to feel the sudden jerks and swerving of the bus that we had felt earlier in the day and we were once again paralyzed with fear of not making it home safely. It became apparent to us that the driver was sleeping so one of the parents woke him by yelling and made him pull over...defiantly, he did so, on a bridge, on 95. At this point, we had had enough and we were left with one alternative...we had to make him start the bus again to get off the bridge, and we had to make him pull over at the next exit. We were nervous that if he started driving again he might defiantly keep going, putting us all in danger again. One dad stated to the driver that he was concerned for this bus full of kids..the driver retorted by saying that he wasn't concerned about the kids, he was concerned with himself. This dad made it clear to the driver that the driver was going to get to the next exit and pull over, the driver,with the help of this very big dad standing beside him, finally seemed willing to acknowledge that he was indeed putting everyone at risk and he did pull off at the next exit and we all got off the bus and waited until another driver was sent. We arrived back at the school about an hour and a half late, but in one piece.

UPDATE: the bus company sent out a very nice "we are sorry" letter to the community, they took full responsibility, and will personally screen and handpick any drivers who will be taking our school kids on field trips...I think we all feel a lot better!

Paintball

Dale took Shawn and his friends paintballing on Saturday. Dale's "little" brothers and his friend Patrick joined them. I watched two of the paintball games that were played on an open field, I wish I had my video camera, it was very entertaining! The little boys hung back and fired while the men were running for cover, shooting each other. When they came home they were all comparing wounds and battle stories. They all had such a great time!

Shawn's birthday party

we have 5 kids, so we only do big birthday parties every 4 years, when they turn 4, 8, 12 and 16...tonight is Shawn's big 12 year old party...We are having a sleepover with about 10 kids...it is midnight and thats why I started the blog...I really have been wanting to do this for a long time, and it gives me something to do while I am waiting to go to bed..most of the boys are exhausted and begging for sleep, but there are a few who just won't settle down, so I am waiting for them...most of them are in the same room, but a few are in the hallway

David's Hockey

David loves sports. As of yesterday, he ranked his favorites, #1 boxing, #2 hockey #3 basketball #4 baseball #5 soccer...I think that order will change as he realizes that there is a whole world full of sports out there that he hasn't even discovered. Here are some pictures from hockey. He just started roller blading about 2 months ago...he plays in our basement regularly with his brothers. He loves to get out there with the other kids and play. Since boxing is his favorite sport, he is ready to pick fights with the other hockey players, we have had to remind him that fighting is only allowed in the NHL...