Everyday Rae Rae: CHA CHING.....!

Three out of Four with Braces

Today was a great day! Every month we make at least one trip to Redding which is a 2 hour drive away for the kids ortho appt. Today however our 3rd out of four kids got their braces on. Thankfully Joshua is the only one who doesn't need braces. I cant image 4 in braces lol. Its expensive but I really feel that teeth are VERY important! If we were super poor I would work hard to get them braces because when others look at you talk.....they are looking into your eyes or at your mouth. So its very important to me. A little discomfort for a beautiful smile later is so worth it.

Jackson has been in braces for oh I don't know...what seems like forever. He has been wearing them since 8th grade and now is in 11th grade. I think most of that has to do with the fact that he is a teen and never wants to wear his rubber bands. He thankfully is almost done with them though.

Cassie has been in them for almost a year and a half but has a ways to go. Her mouth is looking pretty good but she had to get her palate expanded which was not the easiest thing to do and four teeth pulled. She has a small mouth like me (even though we both talk a lot ha) so she didn't have room for the normal amount of teeth. She also had a open bite where her back teeth didn't even touch each other.

Joshua....free and clear from having braces. He is lucky!

Then Jason got his on today and he is so happy because they said he only needs them on the top. Only for 6 months also. So he is pretty excited. He has a bit of a bite problem so this will fix it and also give him that great smile:) Not that they all don't already have a great smile.

Usually we have all their appts on a Saturday because Ryan is working and we don't want to take them out of school for their teeth. This month however to get them all in at the same time it has to be on a Thursday. We took them out two hours early and went on our two hour drive to Redding. Talking all the way we made our plan of what we needed to do since its not often we go there besides getting their teeth done. All four kids were with us because Josh had to get new basketball shoes and needed to try them on since he has grown out of his I swear in the last month. That's what you get when you have a 6'1'' fourteen year old I guess.

So Cassie and Jackson were in and out pretty fast which was a small miracle in itself. Ryan took Josh to go shopping for shoes while I waited with Jason. After X-rays and imprints of teeth etc. we were ready to get the choppers in line. Here are a couple pictures of the imprints and then the getting the braces on. Ryan and Josh were back by then so Ryan could be there also.

getting ready for brackets

Ryan and Jason Saying Cheese

After the Braces were on we had already accomplished a lot. Josh had his new shoes that he thinks will help him jump higher and run faster. He thinks they are the coolest basketball shoes in the history of life so that is good since they were on sale! We have four kids and every season all of them are in a sport which means new shoes and equipment for all four every season. They had all gotten a new pair of shoes for basketball in November but Josh already grew out of them. I refuse to pay more than 100 for basketball shoes and even then I think that is a lot. He found these for 80 dollars. Whew! We do have kids at our school that pay 300plus for shoes. I think that is crazy especially because everyone's feet is still growing but I am sure there are ppl who think we spend way to much too. These are Josh's shoes. I am rolling my eyes because they look like solar system shoes or something but what do I know I am just the mom. He loves them though and that's what counts.

Josh Bball shoes ....again lol

After everything was said and done we went out to eat before everyone's mouths felt sore. Chinese it was. Buffet....okay that's fine because everyone can just get what they wanted. It really was a fun dinner. I know that sounds odd but we were all laughing, smiling and having a good time. We talked about the Cruise we are going to go on, about colleges and what each of the kids want to do. Jackson teases with us about how he is going to make us tons of money by being in the Coast Guard. We asked how he thought he was going to do that since we do know that his dream is to go into the Coast Guard. He said well when I die they have a large life insurance policy. He started to tell each of his siblings how they would get 10,000 each and we would get 35,000. Then promptly told us that we all should be really nice to him. HA!The kids all decided that we were germaphobes because I told Cassie that I would freak out if someone used the bottom of a spoon where your hand goes to eat something. I have decided we have the weirdest discussions.

After Dinner we ran to Walmart real quick to pick up some odds and ends stuff. I think we lost track of time because soon its 8pm and we needed to go because it would be past the kids bedtime when we got home because of the two hour drive. The kids were too funny they were ready to leave until they saw Marvel cups and wanted to have one or two or three lol. We grabbed our stuff and a couple CDs to play in the truck and were out the door. Thats another thing.....I swear no one buys CDs anymore everything is on ITunes but sometimes I just want a good ol fashion CD. We listened to music....rocked out....and finally almost all the kids fell asleep. They have long days with Josh getting up at 445 and the rest at 600am.

It was a good day. I love the days were we all go somewhere and have time in the car to talk. I have always felt its important to take the time you can get as a family especially now a days where life is so hectic and GO GO GO. We always sit down for dinner together. No Tv on....no phones allowed. Just us, some good food and a whole lot of conversation. The time in the car is a good time to do that too. Putting your phone away (of course driver never on phone) and looking at the scenery. Looking up and ahead. One on one time in the car with your kids is great too. You never know what you will learn.:) All in all this was a great day.....