just chitchat

we're all healthy! hooray!

it took forever but cade & reese are back in school today and elisha is heading back tomorrow. it's been 2 full weeks since she was in her little tues/thurs 3's class at preschool. i'm afraid we're going to have to go through the same separation anxiety that we went through with her in september.

truthfully, i was a little annoyed at the public school schedule. before halloween, my 2 kids missed a total of about 10 days of classroom time because of the flu, and then last week monday and tuesday were teacher workdays/conference days so no school. then on thursday i had to take everyone out of school to go to their dentist appointments i had scheduled 7 months ago. with a little forethought i could have just scheduled them for one of the teacher workdays, but no...i missed that by a few days.

speaking of dentists...my kids totally bombed their appointment. reese had to go through remedial tooth care 101 by the staff, her teeth were pretty funky. i expected this, she's been getting loose teeth and hates to wiggle them and thinks it hurts when she brushes them. i know, she's a wimp. cade did OK, no cavities, and his teeth weren't so bad. elisha, my BABY!, has a cavity. sigh. i blame it on the pushy neighbors that are always giving her treats, we're going t have to have a chat, just mom-to-mom. e will get that filled in january, at a cost of about $60 out of pocket!!

the dentist suggested that we get electric toothbrushes and that would encourage proper brushing. he slipped me some coupons and i went right out and bought a set. what i got was a single charger, 2 rechargable handles, and a total of 4 removable brushes. the brushes have a 2 minute timer to them, and what i like best is that they're really quite small heads on them so maybe they fit a little better inside kids' mouths than your typical toothbrush. i had purchased my own electric toothbrush this past spring and i LOVE it, rob has had his for 7 or 8 years now, so it made sense to try it out on the kids. so far so good, there have been no complaints from the oldest 2 and they have been brushing for the full two minutes.

the best part was the coupons. the package was $90, with a $10 instant coupon from the dentist, then a $15 mail-in rebate. (i have yet to pass up a mail-in rebate, i love those things! you mail them away and forget about it...6-8 weeks later you get a check in the mail! it's like free $$$!) anyway, a total of $65 for two electric brushes that seem to have a very long life (rob uses his twice a day, religiously) sounds like a great deal. cheaper than paying to have those cavities filled i guess.