December happenings

Last week, I took Mikayla to the dentist. Awhile back, I noticed that she had chips out of the front of her teeth (up by the gum-line). I thought they were from when she fell and hit her mouth. I didn't take her to the dentist then, because we didn't have the money, and I didn't think it was that big of a deal because they are baby teeth anyway. Mikayla did wonderful, she was such a big girl. She let the dentist and assistant look at her teeth, take an x-ray, etc... We went to a new dentist - Dr. Vierthaler - and he was great! He seemed super nice and knowledgeable. Unfortunately, he said that the places on Mikayla's front two teeth are actually big cavities. It's weird - I don't think they really look like cavities and I kind of feel like a bad mom for not knowing. But she didn't complain about them bothering her until the day before her appointment. The dentist referred us to a pediatric dentist in Kansas City on December 20th. She will need to have those places filled in, and he said the guy in KC is awesome. They can have her breathe in some gas there so she won't really know what's going on, so that will be good. After the dentist was done with her, he gave her a "prescription" for a free ice cream cone at McDonalds and a box of sugarfree gum. It was so cute, she put them in her little purse that she brought with us. When we got outside, she was all excited and said, "Mommy, they gave me a pink box full of sugar!!" When I explained that it was gum that had NO sugar in it, she decided that Dakota could just have it, lol...

Speaking of Dakota, he has another tooth coming in, but it's pushing against another permanent tooth and it's bothering him. He goes to the orthodontist in St. Joe in January and will probably have braces. The good news is that this is the tooth that they thought might be stuck up in the bone. They were thinking they might have to do oral surgery and attach a chain to the tooth, and attach the chain to braces to help pull it down. That is a big relief, but still... what's up with my kids and their dental problems??? And we don't even have dental insurance

Anyway, we got a big check from John's retirement that he had at Heartland. John is a big fan of some famous financial expert (and millionaire) named Dave Ramsey. Dave says that you need to pay off your current debts, then plan for your future. So, that's what we are doing. We have paid our van off and our 1 credit card!!! That feels really good! With the money that's leftover, and the money we get back from our taxes, we are going to pay off John's car. Then, the plan is to keep our current vehicles until they die. We have never not had a car payment, and I can't wait! This money also came at the right time, with the kids' dental expenses and Christmas. We will be able to give our kids a nice Christmas this year. We adopted a couple of kids off the tree at Walmart and bought a bunch of things for them. We have been helped so much in the past, and it just feels good to help someone else who needs it. On Friday, we took an overnight trip to Kansas City to go Christmas shopping. And yes, we took our kids with us because I couldn't stand to be away from them for a night. We just have to be creative when buying for them. It was weird, for the past week we were planning on going to Omaha. Then, on Thursday I suddenly decided that I wanted to go to Kansas City instead. I'm not sure why. When we were leaving town on Friday, my mom called to tell me that my nephew Conner was at the hospital in Kansas City. I thought that was a strange coincidence. We were planning on seeing him in the hospital, but he is in isolation. I really hope he gets better soon. Ryan, Kayla and Conner have not had very good luck lately.

On Friday evening, we went to the plaza and walked around looking at the plaza lights. It was warm for December, like 50 degrees or something. Then we stayed at a hotel. We weren't very pleased with the hotel room, and we heard the people in the next room having sex. That was...interesting. Saturday, was freeeezing cold. We went to Oak Park Mall in KC. It was packed. I guess that's what we get for waiting til now to do our shopping. I was in the Disney store by myself while John occupied the kids in a play area. I about had a panic attack. There was so many people in there I could hardly move. I kept getting trapped and felt very claustrophobic. Then, I had to wait in line for a million years. By the time I gone done in there, I was sweating and really shaky. Then we went into the Build-a-Bear store, and the kids really wanted to "build" a bear. Since they were being so good, we let them. The cheapest bears were around $12 or so - not that bad... Then Dakota saw a Darth Vader costume that you could buy to dress your bear in. Then, the sales lady showed Dakota a button that you could put in your bear that played the Star Wars theme song. That was just really mean of her... Then we had to let Mikayla pick out an outfit and song for her bear too... I'm just too embarrassed to say what we ended up paying for 2 dang stuffed animals. Never take your child into that store, it's just evil!!! We ended up making it home alive last night. It was snowing and it was so windy - 40 mph wind gusts. It was like driving in a blizzard. I was freaking out the whole way home. John thought I was just paranoid. Men are so much calmer in certain situations... Actually, men just think that they are "professional" drivers...