This Week at Our House # 27 Oral Surgery and Blah 4th of July

We did not celebrate the 4th of July this year because Joseph had two teeth pulled 2 days before and Kate had all of her wisdom teeth removed the day before. With two kids out of commission, we just could not go out and do things that we might have done. We had our steak and watermelon dinner last Sunday so Kate and Joseph would not have to miss out. So on the 4th of July we read Joseph Smith's  9 page document on government and the Constitution. It was an incredible document, but some of the kids felt bummed on the whole. Rachel said it was the worst 4th of July ever. That's okay, though. We had two very good reasons for keeping the holiday quiet and uneventful, and there is always every other year.

1. John is about to get his second game up. He has been good about the diet I have him on and is finally starting to lose weight.
2. I took kids to appointments and grocery shopped and took care of the family a little bit more with Kate out of commission for nearly the whole week. Our garden is growing very well and that makes me happy. The watermelon and butternut squash have covered every part of ground and protected it from weeds, so that turned out differently than I anticipated, but not in a bad way.
3. Every now and then I have an email exchange with Ruth about getting married once she is off her mission. She is not too keen on the idea just yet, but I know that the right guy will change that in a millisecond. 
4. Kate had her wisdom teeth removed. She was most worried about the anesthetic because Joseph had a bad reaction to it. Kate did well with the anesthetic, but she has had a lot of jaw pain and a swollen mouth and has been anxious every 8 hours to get her next dose of ibuprofin. She won't take any other pain killer because she feels like enduring pain is better than the medication. I tend to agree with that sentiment.
5. Johnny seemed happy all week. He keeps working on his games and he has been very interested in learning Japanese. He decided that it was time to start telling Joshua scriptures stories at night before he goes to bed. Johnny is a dedicated scriptorian. He has almost finished the Old Testament for a second time. When he has finished it, he will have completed the standard works twice before the age of 18. If there is a scripture that I need to be reminded about, I can usually ask Johnny and he knows it off his head.
6. Adam really took over for Kate this week. He did everything I asked him to do cheerfully and well. Sometimes Adam can be a bit discontent about things, but when it comes down to it, Adam is a very good boy and a good hard worker and an easy going teen. 
7. Rachel had one filling on Monday. Afterwards, she came with me alone to do a little grocery shopping. I had a delightful time with her. She had lots to talk about. I have her on a strict dairy free diet because she has been having stomach aches, headaches, and small frequent rashes and a dairy free diet has cured her of all of those symptoms. But that has been unfortunate for her because ice cream is her favorite food. The dentist gives coupons for a free ice cream and Rachel could not have it. But we were blessed and found a favorite Japanese soda at the grocery store that made up for it. 
8. Anya has really enjoyed the garden. She and Rachel like to go and "explore the garden". My mom gave me a nice basket. They take that and search out ripe vegetables. They've brought in fresh vegetables three days this week. They're also continually counting how many watermelon we have, Their latest count is at 12. The one before was 7, so I think we are having more grow in. 
9. Joseph had a bad reaction to the anesthetic they used when they pulled his two teeth. He was very woozy, could not walk, and threw up twice on the way home. He was sick enough that he could not keep the gauze in and ended up swallowing a lot of blood which made him more sick. He could not eat until the next afternoon. I will probably not allow a dentist to use general anesthetic on one of the kids again. In 2014, Rachel and Adam both needed a tooth pulled. The dentist used Novocaine and nitric oxcide and the kids did a lot better and healed a lot faster. Lesson learned for me. Poor little Joseph. Though, the Lord blessed him in that he never took any pain medication and he never had any pain in his mouth.
10. Joshua has been reading a little more on his own initiative, which is something I always look for. I am going to start school this week, so we use our very hot weather indoor time wisely and then can take a bit of a break when it cools down in the fall. I was thinking of starting sooner, but I needed time to get ready for a new school year. I have done that this week, so now I am ready.
11. Arwen  has been drawing some really good pictures. She draws very detailed pictures of people. I am not sure any of our kids, most of which are good artists, were this accurate with their drawings at such a young age. Oh, and Arwen wrote Susan's name Soozan just from sounding it out. I love that she can do that now.
12. After watching Joseph and Kate come home from the dentist and having a lot of blood to spit out, Susan very solemnly said, 'Dentists are bad guys."
13. Sam had the opposite reaction to Joseph and Kate bleeding and feeling sick after the dentist. He got as close as he could to Kate while she spat out a bunch of blood in a bucket and then growled and rather excitedly said, "Blood."

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