Jingle All the Way

 

I just got back from the Jingle Jam, the kids' Christmas concert at the school. I tell you, that school is way crowded! We got there earlier than usual, meaning they were still setting up the chairs, and we were still 2/3 of the way back in the gym. Everyone did a great job. It was cute and I was proud. But I also could not for the life of me find Alex in the crowd of 2nd graders! I tried to get out of him where he'd be standing before hand, but all I finally got was that he was closer to the food part of the cafeteria. But I literally looked and looked and could not find him! I was starting to imagine that in the time that we'd dropped him off 30 minutes before and the time of his performance, he had slipped on the wet floor hitting his head and fracturing his skull, and the only reason I didn't know about it was because I gave them my home phone number instead of my cell phone (yes, we still have a home phone, get over it), but the show had to go on. Or he was throwing up, a more likely scenario. But either way, he was not there. Jared and I finally saw him as he was walking away. He was in the very front pretty much off the stage near the cafeteria, being blocked by about 200 heads. Good grief!

Erin was in almost the exact spot, but she's a bit taller than him and I saw her walk in, so I was able to see about 1/2 of her head for most of the time. Marissa was also in the very front. Apparently, my kids are all the shortest (or close to the shortest) in their classes. They are also among the youngest (or in Alex's case, the youngest) in their classes. Translation:  they will always be on the front row in every performance from here on out, meaning I should have gotten there an hour early to be able to see them.

I've been lugging kids around with me for the past couple of weeks to run all sorts of errands and to go shopping. It is not my idea of fun, not would it be Connor's if you asked him. But we've gotten through. I am still not quite ready for Christmas, but I'm a lot closer than before. Last year I did way more online shopping, but for some reason a lot of the shopping this year has been in stores. Just a few more things to get and some stocking stuffers, then I'm done!

One of the places I had to go was to the orthodontist with Erin and Alex. Erin is getting her braces off (first phase) in February and Alex will get his on a couple of weeks after that. Alex's teeth are kind of a mess. There is no space in his mouth and he has an ectopic molar. Right now he has three permanent teeth in the space of four on the bottom. He will need to get three teeth pulled, get an appliance on the bottom to keep the space (until he's about 11?), get an expander on the top and then get braces on the four front teeth for his first phase. And he's only 7, just barely. I could not even understand everything the orthodontist was telling his assistant about the case, but it was extensive. He says it's not the worst case he's ever seen, but it's a pretty bad one. So here we go...

We managed to take some pictures of the kids in their new Christmas outfits. Erin was not happy about it. She did not want to wear it to church last week. But I got her to at least put it on for pictures.