Friday, December 25 0 comments

Christmas

After coming back home late on Christmas Eve we did our gift opening. Miraculously, Santa delivered gifts to our home while we were with the whole family. I just love how he takes care of us on Christmas Eve.

My granddaughters were excited but a little tired. All that play with their cousins got a bit exhausting. My daughter was very excited to see her girls open the packages containing the gift on her daughters' wish lists.

It was a perfect day and I look forward to our Christmas Day dinner here today as well.



Thursday, December 24 0 comments

Christmas Eve at my Mom's

Christmas Eve at my mother's is a tradition that goes back to my very beginning. It will continue forever as far as I am concerned. So as usual, we head over for dinner followed by gift opening. When we walked in the door, the tree was in a new place and it was pretty. Avery's new bike was right in view and she sure was thrilled when she saw it which made the excitement in the air even greater.

We had a nice dinner with some good wine that BJ brought along. The kids want to get to present opening but the dishes have to be done first. And it's driving them all crazy which is a part of the process...teaching them all patience.

As the kids all lined up in front of the tree, Greg handed them each a package. They all looked the same...as it turned out, they were Kindle Fires. Every kid got one and it was great fun for all the adults to watch them open them up.

After that, it was a whirlwind of frenzy and gift-opening. We all enjoyed more wine and dessert once the excitement settled down and the kids were playing with their new stuff. The really cool thing about this Christmas is that my brother, his wife and his 4 kids were with us. They live in Menomonie which is too far to come without major planning by them. Other than that, pretty much Christmas Eve has gone down this way every year. And I love the consistency of it. It provides great comfort for me and I think it does for my family as well.













Saturday, December 12 0 comments

Breakfast with Santa

Today was Breakfast with Santa at the Legion Post. This is a wonderful event for Legion members' families. The kids all get special attention since there are usually less than fifty kids in attendance. The day starts with the Legion Band playing Christmas music followed by pancakes, a magician, and cookie decorating before the main event. Once Santa shows up, everything else is secondary. Each child gets a gift that is based on their likes, as if Santa really does listen (ha-ha)!




Tuesday, December 1 0 comments

Chloe and the Dentist

A few months back we noticed a brown spot on my granddaughter Chloe's tooth. After searching for the right dentist, my daughter made an appointment for her. Unfortunately for my daughter, Chloe's school scheduled Chloe's speech evaluation result consultation an hour before the dentist visit. Not knowing how long the speech consult would take, I took Chloe to the dentist. Her mother came afterwards, just in time for the end of the dentist visit.

It turned out that Chloe did not have one cavity, she had four. And they were in each of her molars: top right, top left, bottom right and bottom left. This meant 4 visits, one for each quadrant. I think her mother was going to cry. On a good note, the hygienist was so good that she cleaned Chloe's teeth without Chloe even realizing it. She was amazing. Hopefully the dentist would be just as good.

Since Chloe had to have 4 appointments and her mother was adamant that she missed no school, I made the appointments for right after school. My daughter doesn't get off work until 4 but I just wanted my granddaughter to get them over with so I volunteered to take her. Besides, I think her mother would have freaked her out with all that crying.

Chloe was a trooper. She got through the first two appointments with ease. She had fillings in her top molars so now it was on to the bottoms. She was getting pretty used to these visits and she didn't seem to mind even though she did get a little uncomfortable towards the end of the appointments.

The dentist and his assistant was so patient with her. They let her watch You Tube videos on my phone when they were waiting for Novocaine to kick in and it didn't matter that she wanted to wear her hat and gloves or hang on tight to her My Little Pony toys while they drilled away. They were so good.

However, there was a reason they saved the bottom fillings for last. They were not as easy. The shots of Novocaine were tougher for her to take and the drilling was more uncomfortable. At the end of the third visit she asked me not to take her there any more. I told her I was sorry but there's one more visit.

I mentioned to the dentist that I did not understand how this could happen. My family has very strong teeth with a history of very few cavities. And my daughter makes sure she brushes her teeth lots. I blamed her father's side of the family (ha-ha!). The dentist said the reason the enamel on her teeth was so soft was that Chloe has eczema. I even affects the teeth. I had no idea. I still blame her dad's bad genes. I also asked why we can't just wait till they fall out but the baby molars are in there for a few more years so there's no way they can be just left alone. I tried to spare her more pain but this was for the best.

I hope we can get through that last visit without a lot of struggle. I did promise her a trip to "the red circle store". That's what she calls Target, her favorite place to get My Little Ponies. :)
 
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