The Great Tooth Debacle of 2011

This post is not to be confused with the Great Tooth Debacle of 2010, which I realize I didn't blog about. So, a little history. Before we moved Jack had gone to the dentist and had 2 cavities. He had them filled and he didn't have laughing gas. The experience was unmemorable. We move here and 6 months later he complains of a toothache. We didn't have dental insurance, so I just took him to a dentist I found on the web. They X-Ray and evaluate and tell me that he was 9 cavities!!! 9?! They kindly give me a quote for $1,400. *cough cough* I come home and panic a little. I then went online and signed us up for dental insurance. It was kind of lame insurance and we had very limited choices for dentists that took it. I called the closest one (which wasn't close at all) and made an appointment. Thus beginning the 2010 debacle. We went and Jack seemed ok at first. The dentist was very obese and old school. I had Hudson with me and there wasn't really anywhere for me to sit near Jack so I just had to keep checking on him and waiting in the waiting room.
Suddenly, Jack's not ok anymore. He's panicking. He's crying and screaming and hyperventilating, etc. The dentist had drilled out 4 of the teeth. I calm Jack down and the dentist puts this ring around the first tooth to fill it. In Jack's continuing panic, he somehow sucks the ring off the tooth and inhales it. Now he's choking. He can't breath. I was near his feet and he's clawing to sit up and staring at me like... "Mom!!! Help me!"
The dentist does nothing. No moves.
I jump up and pull him up and start to move behind to do the Heimlich when he coughs up the ring. So here's the problem. He can't leave because he has these big holes in his teeth from the drill. He has to lie back down and let the dentist finish. We left and vowed never to go back.
He still had 5 cavities to fill. I found a different dentist. Jack had a panic attack again at the new dentist, but no choking. We used laughing gas the next time and it was a MILLION times better.
This brings us to two weeks ago. Thursday night Jack tells me he has a pain in his mouth. I was busy and didn't really pay that much attention. After dinner was cleaned up I looked in his mouth and was shocked. He has this big pus pocket on his gums.
So, our regular, new, nice dentist doesn't work on Fridays. We had to go to another new guy. He tells me that the tooth has to be pulled. I try and discreetly tell him that Jack has high dental anxiety. Apparently, I was too discreet and should have shouted it out. We should have given him gas. He screamed, choked, sobbed and carried on. It was grueling. Don't worry, I had Hudson there and he peed through his pants and had to go around with no pants on. I made him a balloon out of a latex glove which he played with until it popped. THEN he put the popped glove on his hand and he kept running back into the room saying, "I fix Jackie's teeth." He would then try and get his hand into the action. I was sweating, the dentist was sweating. ugh.
If you've never seen a tooth pulled... it's ugly. The dentist kept stopping and coming to ask me if I wanted him to carry on, since Jack was so upset. What? We've come this far... press on. Finally it was over.

How to blow up a Barbie with bottle rockets

For Tyler:

The boys tried several different ways to blow up Barbie. First, they gave her a mullet hair cut. I'm not sure why, but they were REALLY excited about it. Then they tried taping her to the rocket and it didn't really work out. Bottle rockets are not as powerful as you'd think. So, they took off her head and taped it to the rocket. It didn't work. Maybe their tape was faulty. They finally put Barbie's head ON the rocket, lit it... and it went. Very successful.

They also taped 2 rockets to a toy car to try and get the car to shoot forward. The car was kind of too big and it only moved a few feet. Hardly the shoot off they were hoping for.

For all these experiments they decided they needed more powerful explosives. We didn't agree.

Challis- Lots of pictures!

We just got back from an 8 day trip to Challis, Idaho. For those of you who haven't been there, we took pictures this time.

Coleman riding around Brian's Mom's house.
Jack riding around the houseThe boys getting ready for their rides. Brian is supervising... starting bikes, etc.Tristan getting ready for a ride.

There is a skatepark in town. It's really nice. The boys forgot their scooters, skateboards and bikes, but Grandma Plummer has a collection of bikes that she bought at the thrift store in town, The Hub. They're mostly pink and sparkly, but the boys didn't have many options. They rode them anyway. They also didn't bring bike helmets, so they wore their motorcycle helmets.









Wait, who's this handsome guy?? You really should click and make it bigger. He was such a cute kid. I also dig the fro in 11th grade and the SWEET mullett in 12th.

The kids always get a kick out of the town. Challis is a small town with about 900 people. There aren't any stoplights. There is a Main street and a highway. The Main street is full of historic buildings, some of them dating from the mining days.

This is the county court house.
The boys like that there's a gas station called, "Stinker"
Here is the famous bowling alley. The only drive-up food in town. You can get a delicious shake or any number of fried foods. The first time I ate a finger steak was here. Yes, a finger steak... deep fried pieces of steak. Yes, it was delicious. We ate many shakes and bowled here at least once.

This is Brian's mom's insurance business. She owns the company and the building. It's nice because she's just down the block from Brian's brother's gas station. It makes visiting both of them easy.


The art gallery in town.
The Custer Saloon. It is still in business. See... They're now serving food... in addition to alcohol.
The most favorite Challis destination: The Hub. You can go here and buy a toy for $.25. We bought a barbie to blow up with bottle rockets and Hudson got a tool workbench. The kids ALWAYS find some treasure to get here.
The bottom of Main Street. The boys just wanted pictures of all of it.

Random abandoned building. Clearly original.
We had a great time. We bought fireworks at the Indian Reservation on our way up and the boys spent Saturday night lighting them off. Some of them were VERY big. We drove home Sunday and I took the kids to watch fireworks at a park by myself. Brian had to work.

Random pictures of Tristan 2010-2011

Third Place at Pinewood Derby.

Donuts for Dad's.

Before the Christmas Concert.
Halloween.
Brian talking to the third grade. Tristan is on the front row in the middle of the picture wearing a blue shirt with white sleeves.