Owen's Officially A Driver With No Braces And He's Employed!

On Saturday, February 25th, Owen passed his driving test!!! He had already taken the test two times last year and not passed. He knew what he was doing, but he unfortunately would let his nerves get the best of him. Our friend Micah offered to take Owen out for a mock drive test. On January 30th, he came over with the kids and then him and Owen headed out. He had Owen drive around all over downtown Kent...which is where the drive test would be. They were gone for an hour and half. He was so complimentary of Owen's driving. I really think having Owen do that with someone that wasn't his parent really did boast his confidence in himself a bit. 

Michael also took him downtown Kent a couple more times and then we scheduled the test. I really was not wanting to push him, but to encourage him that he knew what he was supposed to do and he could do it. He is a great driver. I also really wanted him to get his license before we got to the point where we had to renew his permit. 

We are so proud of Owen and excited for him since this is going to open up so many opportunities for him.  

On Thursday, March 2nd, he drove off on his own for the very first time. He has piano lessons every Thursday so he drove himself to lessons. 

Of course I was that mom that stood at the door taking pictures of him driving away all the while silently praying that God keeps him safe! 

Off he goes!!! 

He's back!!! 

It felt so weird with him being gone. It wasn't like he was out with Daddy or at church or with a friend. He was out on his very own all by himself. Such a crazy huge step! 

He has done amazing driving! He's even stops at the library and picks up books for us. I've had him take Jack to his Orthodontist appt and go up to Fred Meyer's to pick up Ella' Rx. It's so awesome! 

On March 28th, one week after Ella got her braces removed it was Owen's turn. Last picture with braces!!! 

Look at those gorgeous straight teeth! 

Back on March 14th, Owen had his first job interview. He applied to be a Ride Technician at Wild Waves. Michael gave him a practice interview to prepare him. His actual interview was only about 5 minutes long. The very next day he got an email with an offer letter. I'm so proud of him! 

On April 1st, he attended Orientation. 

He got his parking pass and his name badge! Next up for him is Ride School which will be on Saturday, April 22nd. Wild Waves opens on May 27th this year so I'm sure he'll be working a few days prior to that. This is just the beginning of so many changes for him and it's excited and a little scary at the same time. Our summer is going to look different that's for sure...with him working he won't be able to go on every adventure with us, but that's just life. 

This is the reason I wanted to go on that amazing Christmas Trip. I knew this would be the year of great change. Change isn't bad it's just different and it's the unknown that's scary, but it's our job to raise these kids to be fully functioning adults one day and he's well on his way and we couldn't be prouder of our sweet young man!

No More Braces For Ella!

On March 21st, Ella more than 2 year journey with braces came to end! 

Yay...they're coming off! 

Last picture with braces! 

Nice straight teeth! 

Now if you look closely you can see the 2 smaller teeth on either side of Ella's big front teeth. Those are her adult teeth even though they are small. They are called Peg Laterals. They never fully developed. This whole day of getting her braces off was quite an orchestrated masterpiece. We had to be at her Orthodontist office at 9am for debonding....getting the braces removed. Then we went straight from there to my dentist office where she was getting her teeth bonded. My dentist was actually creating teeth for her. 

Look at how nice her teeth look! It really is an art form. Of course her gums were pretty swollen which they said was totally normal after getting your braces removed. 

After getting the bonding done we had to go back to the Orthodontist later in the afternoon to get her teeth scanned for her retainer. After that it was home to quickly change into her Gee for Taekwondo. It was a crazy busy day, but so worth it and it all worked out timing wise which was such a blessing. 

One of the things Ella was so excited about was getting to actually bite into an an apple!

After about a week her retainers came in and crazy enough her front teeth during that week had already shifted a bit so there was a gap. Because her teeth were in the correct place when they scanned for her retainer the retainer moved them right back to where they needed to be. Now she has to wear her retainer for 6 months only taking it out to eat and brush and then after that she only has to wear it at nighttime.

Random December Happenings!

Here are a few things that happened in December that don't necessarily constitute their own blog post! 

I finally saw my hairstylist almost exactly one year since I last saw her. My aunt cut my hair in July, but it was in desperate need of being cut again. The first picture is me on Election Day and the next is me on December 3rd. She cut about 6 inches off. My hair feels so much healthier it's wonderful! 

One night Charlie actually decided to be a cat. He rarely snuggles with us at all and if he does he's never up next to us like this. He prefers to snuggle down by your lets. 

I really hope as he gets older he'll enjoy snuggling more! 

Every Christmas I like to have one small Christmasy thing to do each day to savor the season as much as we can. With so many things cancelled....singing Christmas Tree, Christmas Choir, etc...I was trying to think of creative ways to still have those little Christmasy things present this year. That's when it hit me...Christmas puzzles!!! I used to do puzzles everyday at work with my friends. I really enjoyed it so I knew this would not only be fun for the kids, but maybe even more so for me! :) I knew that we couldn't have the puzzles on the dining room table since we use it everyday for school and of course for eating, we couldn't have it on the coffee table because the top is tile which makes it not totally level and it's not nearly big enough. Also having the puzzle on the floor is not ideal, especially for my back. That's when it dawned on me we still had the drafting table top from my old crafting table. Ella and l cleaned it up, brought it inside and put it on top of the coffee table and it worked perfectly. 

I ended up buying 3 Charles Wysocki Christmas puzzles. I only took pictures of 2 of them. Honestly they were more entertaining for me than the kids, but that was okay. This Christmas break I really wanted to give Michael the gift of relaxation. I'm normally such a busy body I don't like to have days on end with nothing to do. The puzzle helped me feel productive without having to take away from Michael's relaxation.

 

The kids stayed at Ga-Ga & Pa's for two nights. They went to the Fantasy Lights and they went shopping for Michael and I. The first day the kids were gone, Michael and I went shopping, bought the last Christmas present, got takeout at Circo Circo and watched a movie. This is typically the weekend that I wrap all the kids presents. I enjoy watching Hallmark Christmas movies while wrapping. It's one of my favorite days of the month! 

Jackson has gotten back into playing with his Toy Story toys. We used a cardboard box and created a saddle so Woody could ride Ella's Barbie horse. 

This beautiful girl is finally starting on the path to getting her fake teeth that she wants. If you look at the two teeth on either side of Ella's two front teeth. you can see how tiny they are. They are called Peg Laterals. They are her adult teeth, but they are underdeveloped and will never be full side. Ella needed braces to correct her overbite, but also to make room for her to eventually get veneers on those tiny teeth. 

And just like that an hour later she aged 5 years. For right now she only has braces on the top. In about 3 months she'll be getting them on the bottom. It should take about 18 - 24 months before she gets her braces removed. 

Even though we weren't able to have Michael's work Christmas party we still went ahead and made goodies for all the workers. Instead of making 4 different kinds of goodies, I just stuck with what was the easiest.....homemade Turtles. The kids love to help make these! 

We made over 100 Turtles! 

My friend Starr wasn't able to take our family pictures this year so we settled for a picture on the front porch. This was the picture we used for our Christmas card this year. This is definitely going to be the last year where I am taller than all the kids. Owen is going to surpass me any day now! 

Jack's 10 Year Old Pictures!

Jack and I went to JCPenney's to get his 10 year old pictures taken on Sunday, June 3rd. We'd never gone on a Sunday before and we'd never been scheduled for that late in the day. We did have to wait around for a bit because there was a little backlog from previous customers. 

How can this be...double digits!!! 

Such a handsome guy! Jack's face has completely changed since having braces on. He actually might be getting them off prior to starting school in September. 

And just like Zeke he wanted to go camping. Such a fun props!

Jack's 9 Year Old Picture!

 Jack's 9 Year pictures were originally scheduled to be taken on Saturday June 3rd, but we ended up being at the hospital with family saying goodbye to Michael's Mom. I rescheduled his pictures for Saturday June 17th, but then we went to leave for JCPenny's and I-5 was STOPPED!!! I had no idea they were doing construction and bring I-5 down to 2 lanes! Ugh! I ended up calling and rescheduling again. Thankfully the third time was a charm and he got his pictures taken on Saturday June 24th. I really wanted his pictures to be taken prior to him getting his braces on, but it didn't work out that way and I'm so happy it didn't. He looks so cute with his braces on!

 The photographer was the same lady that took Zeke's pictures a few weeks prior. She is awesome. Super laid back and chill. She did such a good job helping Jack relax. She got some great smiles out of him!

They actually got rid of the wooden numbers and letters due to a customer survey. Seriously!!! At least they can still use chalk and write on the floor!

They always encourage the kids to bring along some toy or object that they love or represents something they love doing. Jackson always chooses to bring stuffed animals. I love that about him. He's so tender and sweet and unashamed of what he loves! I believe these are the animals that he finally picked out when we were in Ritzville last summer with Ga-Ga. 

Such a handsome 9 year old!!!

Jack's Braces!

On Thursday June 8th Jack got braces!!! 

He's our first kiddo that has needed braces and we have actually known about this since his very first dentist visit. The kids pediatric dentist noticed right away how small Jack's mouth was and how his teeth had absolutely no gaps between them. We've just been waiting for his 8 front baby teeth to fully grow in as well as his 6 year molars. 

At his consultation the Orthodontist talked about how Jack has numerous issues going on. First off his upper teeth come out too far. They also cover up too much of his lower teeth. Then there's the issue of one of his lower adult teeth coming up behind the other three lower adult teeth. One of the ladies really had me worried that the insurance wasn't going to cover his braces. The total was almost $5000.00!!! We would of course figured out a way to pay for it since this is super important for Jack, but it would have been very difficult. A couple days after his consultation I just prayed that God would go before the paperwork and really soften the hearts of the people that would be looking at his file and that they would see how he really needed this and it wasn't in fact trivial. After I gave it to God I just completely stopped worrying about it. About 5 weeks later I got a call from the Orthodontist office saying that the insurance approved everything 100%!!! Praise the Lord!!!! 

Jack got what's called stage 1 braces. Only the top 4 and bottom 4 are going to have braces. 

In Jack's case he only has 3 teeth with braces on the bottom. Once those three teeth get moved over enough then they will put a brace on that fourth tooth that grew in behind the other three and they'll start pulling it forward. 

Jack chose red for the color of his bands. His next appointment will be in 6 weeks. So far he hasn't complained about his teeth being sore except once when I was flossing his teeth and I accidentally push on them. Speaking of flossing...talk about a pain in the tushie! Just a couple days ago I went on Amazon and bought a really nice water pick on sale for $40...it was normally $120 and had great reviews. That thing is a mess to use...water everywhere...but it's made getting out all the gunk much easier. 

This picture was taken 4 days after Jack got his braces on and look at those two front teeth! There is a gap there! Those two teeth were seriously smushed together....look at the first picture on this post. I can't believe the difference after just a few days. Crazy!!! Plus this kid hasn't been screaming out in pain. He has always had the highest pain tolerance of any of the kids. Just amazes me! 

I'm so excited to see Jack's teeth move more and more into place.