It's been slow

There's not too much to report with the kids gone. Jason and I have spent a lot of time relaxing together. We've had a few date nights, slept in a lot on the weekends, and cleaned the house a little. Really, we've just enjoyed having time to ourselves, and I've enjoyed having time to do homework and study. I've reached the point where I really miss the kids, but we'll see them in a couple weeks, and while I thought about going to see them this weekend, I couldn't leave Jason home by himself for father's day. So in the meantime, we're spoiling the only child we've got right now, our beagle Charlie. He's decided that he likes sleeping in mom and dad's bed most, there've even been a couple nights we've caught him sneaking in our bed in the middle of the night like the kids. Plus he gets in trouble, so I still have to go searching for someone misbehaving. I figure he's just trying to make sure I don't miss the kids too much.

Cole vs. the dentist

The kids left a couple weeks ago to visit my mom and dad in Southern California. They usually go at the end of June when my mom gets out of school, but my dad is retired, so she figured she would take them early this year and they could just hang with my dad during the day. A day or two before they were to leave, Cole complained to me that his tooth hurt. I didn't think much of it because it's next to a loose tooth, so I figured that when he lost that tooth, the problem would be solved. Meanwhile, I tried to get him in to the dentist, but there wasn't enough time. He didn't complain again, so I figured it was no big deal. Well, last weekend, he was in so much pain that he couldn't eat. So, obviously we knew this was a bigger problem. My dad took him to his dentist's office Monday, and they told me he needs a root canal. My eight year old son! I wasn't convinced that they were completely competent (it's a really long story, but I just don't trust them). They were supposed to send the films to my dentist here for him to review, but they don't save them digitally, so they had to send them through the mail. In the meantime, Cole was too upset to let them do the work anyway, so they gave him a prescription for antibiotics and Tylenol to ease the pain. I thought for sure by the end of the week, my dentist would be able to tell me what he thought, but they didn't get the films. I should say, too, that this kid gets cavities all the time. He just had this tooth worked on six months ago, and it's in between two teeth (anyone guess how well Cole flosses?), but the work was down near the nerve. So the girl in my dentist's office here told me it is possible that he got more decay that got under the filling and worked its way to his nerve, which is what is causing all the pain. But, seeing as I don't trust the dentist there, I'm not going to have them just do the work immediately. So now, we're going to get him an appointment with a pediatric dentist there, and hopefully my dentist will be able to review the films by then. In the meantime, Cole is no longer in any pain--if he was still experiencing that discomfort, there's no way I would let all this time go by without him getting the work done. I'm just glad that we were able to relieve the pain so we could take a step back and figure out the best course of action for him. I feel sorry for the poor kid. It looks like he's inherited the bad teeth, and he's got bad habits. Jason and I need to do more due diligence at this point making sure that he actually goes and brushes when we tell him to, and maybe even brushing and flossing for him. How many people can say that they had their first root canal at 8? I had my first at 18 and I thought I was really young for it. My poor buddy. :(

Kids sports

The kids took some sporting classes at the end of the year, so the last session I went with my camera. Bailey and Lindsay were going to take yoga, but they canceled the class. Bailey instead made her dad proud and took tennis (which she liked but it frustrated her very much). Lindsay and Cole did karate. This was Lindsay's first time taking karate, but Cole's second. And Bailey had taken it with Cole before and seemed to like it, but she didn't want to do it again, so I don't think she liked it that much. I don't think Lindsay will take it again, she didn't seem very into it. Cole, however, loves karate, and we both think the discipline are important for him, so when they get back, we're going to find a karate studio to take him to so he can really get into it. These little classes that they take through the school are great for seeing if your child is going to like whatever sport it is without spending a bunch of money, but when your child does like it, they're not going to go very far. We really like the brothers that run the karate class, and they let me know when and where they hold regular classes, but one of the classes each week is at the same time as cub scouts, so we'll have to find another place. Cole is really anxious to test because he wants to start earning his belts too, so that will be fun.

End of the year teacher gifts

I promised I would post the pictures of the kids teacher gifts this year. I ended up making a set of cards and a box that held them. I wanted to have ten cards for each, but I only had the time for eight. I made eight sets of them because I made four for my friend and I wanted one extra because they turned out so cute.