You have got to be kidding me

So Tyler has Strep Throat...again!  I am so sick to death of my kids being sick!  I guess that's what you get for choosing to have kids in the first place.  But it's kind of getting on my nerves.  They did pretty good last year, but this past few months has been terrible and I just want to be done with the whole mess.  SO...we want to just have the kids tonsils both taken out.  We have insurance right?  

Do you know how much a tonsilectomy costs?????  The surgeon's time would cost us $89...OK, not too bad...the hospital portion...$&))!  $700!!!!!  That would be OUR portion.  The total is $3500.  I don't understand that really because that's almost twice as much as Tyler's overnight stay.  That can't be right can it?

Oh it gets better.  In addition we have $150 to $300 deductible depending on when we do it. Plus I don't even know how much the anesthesia would be.  So the plan would be to wait until July when we plan for that with Joe's FLEX funds (Cafeteria plan, which I LOVE by the way...except you can't change your election amounts unless someone dies or you have a baby!).  But if we do that the kids could have strep two or three more times by then.  And it's risky with the economy because I'm not sure what SUU is doing with their benefits.  I would bet our deductible will go up or coverage go down in July. 

I just can't believe how much the hospital charges.  I don't know whether I'm madder about that or the fact that we have to pay so much even with supposedly good insurance.  

I'm going on my soapbox here for a minute too...so watch out!  The other thing is if we didn't have insurance we could probably get medicaid and have it paid for 100% or get financial assistance from the hospital and not have to pay anything either.  Not that we would ever do that.  But it just makes me mad.  We both work dang hard.  Joey took a lower paying job in part because of the benefits.  And here we are...looking at nearly two grand by the time it's all said and done for a two hour procedure.  On top of which our insurance will pay much more.  The healthcare system is messed up.  But I don't know what to do about it.  So we'll probably just bite the bullet, and pay through the nose hoping for the kids sake it's worth it.  We didn't want our credit cards paid off anyway.

My Funny Girl

Kelley asked me the other day:  "Remember in the olden days when we would go to Grandma and Grandpa's for Conference and Holidays?"  My parent's live in Fillmore and the last time we were up there was for New Years.  It's funny how kids pick up on phrases like "the olden days" and translate them into 2-3 months ago.  Anyway, Kelley is so excited to go up for Conference because "they have a big table and they fill it full of food and we play Bingo with candy".  This came up because I was watching BYU TV and an old conference report came on.  So since then she keeps asking and making sure we are going up there.  One time I asked her "What if they didn't have any food this time?"  She didn't know what to say.  However I think I can say Mission Accomplished (for now!)  My kids love General Conference because it's FUN!  There's food, good company and a great time.  I love Conference and hope my kids grow up enjoying it too.  It's been a challenge since we had kids to get all four sessions in, but we still try every time.

Also, funny note on Tyler.  Today I hear *sniff, sniff*  Mom: Do you need a tissue? (Boogers also draining down his face) Tyler: No *sniff, sniff*...

You know something has become routine when:

you can literally do it in your sleep.

San Diego Trip

We had so much fun in San Diego.  We left Cedar just after 3 AM on Friday morning and drove straight to SD.  We then parked at Mission Bay for a while to wait for Joe's sister Marijean.  It was funny to discover that quite by accident Kelley and Tyler had coordinating sunglasses and PJ's (Tinkerbell and Cars).  After that is when the adventure began.  I swear we have never had such bad luck getting lost in our lives!  First off we couldn't find a fast food place for anything.  Seriously in a major metropolitan area you would think it would be fairly easy.  Well it took us 45 minutes to finally find a  Wendy's.  Then we discovered it was literally just down the street from Sea World. 

Sea World was great.  Kelley's favorite was the sea stars, sea lions and the cotton candy (it was one of the major reasons she was looking forward to this).  Tyler loved the whales, dolphins and indoor aquariums. 

Of course we missed the turn off to I15 back to our hotel, so major detour there.  Saturday we spent the morning at the beach.  The kids LOVED it.  We sat and ate lunch on the beach while the kids played.  As soon as we got up to go play with them Tyler flattened onto the ground, expecting to be buried.  You can tell we've been to the beach before.  They'll be bugging us all summer to go back to Quail Reservoir I'm sure :)

That afternoon Joe's cousin Jenny and her husband and kids were sealed in the SD Temple.  It was so nice and we were so happy to be there for them.  That temple is so beautiful inside if you ever get a chance to go!


We ended the day (of course) getting lost on the way to the restaurant.  We didn't get lost really...just followed the Google Map, instead of going to where we already knew it was.   Gee Whiz!  Last on the agenda was Thrifty's Ice Cream.  When Joe was a kid growing up in Long Beach his dad would always take the family out for FHE and then they would go for a walk.  Ah memories...

Sunday we took our time coming back.  We found a ward close to the hotel and attended Sacrament meeting there.  We then decided to try and find this great beach we had found in October.  Amazingly enough we drove right to it.  The kids were disappointed we didn't get the swimsuits on...but Kelley still declared it was the best Sunday ever.  The loved the seals on the beach and I got a sample of this really cool sand on Shell Beach.  It's kind of a tradition for us to grab sand from the beaches we visit and I kicked myself last year when I didn't get any. 

After this we drove up to Long Beach and visited Joe's sister's grave (died as a baby before he was born) and past the house and school he grew up in.  Another detour in Hemmit to visit Jenny and family and back home...finally at 2 AM.  Joe was very sweet to drive most of the way so I wouldn't be tired the next day.   Fun times for the DeGraafs.  Now...when can we get back to Disneyland????

I love/hate reading

I have always loved reading.  When I was in elementary school my grandma Cope had rows and rows of books in the shelves in her basement.  Whenever we'd visit her I would sit down there and just read as much as I could.  She had all the "good books": like every book in the Babysitter's Club Series and Sweet Valley High (the ones about the perfect sized 6 blond california twins, thanks for the memory jog Laura).  

It's funny how some things stay with you.  I always liked to read books about World War II as a kid (The Endless Steppe was fascinating to me).  I still love books about WWII.  One of my favorite series was the Lara Ingalls Wilder books (Little House on the Prairie).  When I went to college and would come home to visit I'd read those books to my little sisters...to make sure they wouldn't forget me, but also because I loved the stories so much I wanted to make sure they heard them too.

Anyway, to my present point.  I am not a real patient person and when I start a book, I can't really wait around to finish it.  The last several books I have read I cannot put down.  Every spare minute I get I read.  I almost brought my book to the dinner table tonight, but decided better of that one.  Luckily for me, the current book was completed at 11 PM, instead of 2 AM like the last one.  But I HATE this!  I had all this motivation and drive to clean up tonight, but I picked up the book instead.  And so now I'm done with the book (wahoo!), but my house is a wreck.  

Incidentily I just finished "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society."  I recommend it..."lovely" is the best word I can come up with to describe it.  It does take a minute to get used to the writing style, but it's worth it.  

In my ideal life I imagine sometimes my bedroom has a big oversized chair with a side table and a fireplace where I can cuddle up and read, while my slave force (children) are old enough to keep my house clean instead of mess it up :)  And they love reading too.  And I won't let it get on my nerves when THEY stay up until all hours of the night to see what happens to Narnia or Harry Potter....

What's up with THAT?

I walk the kids to and/or from school almost every day of the week.  I often have several little ones with me (up to 5 or 6) and so we are constantly talking about street safety as we have to cross a fairly large road.  It's not usually really busy, but sometimes we have to wait for cars.  I'm trying to teach the kids that if there is a car coming we need to stop and wait at the corner.  It is therefore really annoying when people stop for us and kindly wave us across the road.  I know they are just trying to be nice....but it's really counterproductive for me.  If it were terribly bad weather or something, I'd probably be grateful.  But as it is, I wish they would just slow down slightly, watch the kids carefully, but drive by!  Most cars aren't going to stop for them so I think they need to know that you wait until they have passed.  Just obey the rules of the road people...please!  There's no cross walk...you have the right of way!

Speaking of counterproductive...We have some very dear friends who we hang out with quite frequently.  They are really great, but the guy does things just to make me mad!  They are pretty relaxed and let their kids jump on the couch and stuff.  Which if fine, I don't care...but I don't let MY kids jump on our furniture and I don't want them to learn that it's OK to jump on anyone's furniture.  They are getting old enough so that they can probably figure out it's OK only at this friend's house, but I'd just rather not go there.  But HE tells them they can do whatever they want at his house and not to worry about what I'm telling them.  He knows it irritates me otherwise he probably wouldn't do it at all.  Urggg...

Finally we were in California this weekend (SO fun...blog about that later) and went out to eat several times.  Not one place we went to sold Root Beer.  What is up with THAT?  Are you kidding me?  I can understand one place that just doesn't, but we went to El Torito's, The FishGrille and Burger King....none of them had it.  What kind of a state doesn't sell rootbeer?

Speaking of sickness

Kelley and Joey were talking about the weeks events tonight and daddy told Kelley "you should have seen mommy's face when daddy threw up, she almost threw up".  Kelley then told Joe "Well, sometimes people throw up when they are not sick because they are amazed."  She is a funny girl.  She must be on her way to feeling better.  I hope...

Not to be a complainer...BUT...

So the sickness of the week for us here is...food poisoning and strep throat!  I love winter, but I am so excited for spring on many levels...one being that I hope we can get a little healthier around here.  Last year around this time actually wasn't too bad, but we have more kids here now and it's just seems like a breeding ground for sickness.  Either that or it's the fact the Kelley's in school now and sharing all THOSE germs too.  I don't really know.  On Saturday night Tyler started to get the slightest hint of croup and Kelley had a tiny fever so I had decided I'd skip church and stay home with them.  Joey has stayed home with them 3 out of the last 4 or 5 weeks, so it was my turn.  Knowing that I stayed up late doing stuff on Saturday night when I should have gone to bed.  But I figured I'd be home all day and get a little R & R.  Well Sunday morning comes and I had an early meeting (7 AM) so I headed out for that.  I came home so excited to spend the rest of the day at home only to find that Joey had food poisoning.  I did end up at home for most of the day, but it was far from relaxing.  Joey was as sick as he's ever been.  Luckily the kids seemed OK until...Monday Kelley woke up just not feeling well.  She kept complaining that her tummy hurt and layed on the couch all day.  Joey was also sick for the rest of that day and the next.  Plus I had a full daycare house as well.  By last night all I wanted to do was go to bed by 7 PM.  I did manage to get in bed by 9, but Kelley continued to complain about her tummy all night long.  She didn't sleep for more than 45 minutes at a time all night long.  That's is the worst night I've had in recent memory.

I finally took her in this morning and she has strep...again.  I shouldn't really be surprised.  She's had it several times in her young life and often complains of a tummy ache when she gets it.  I'm kind of glad that's what it is and not what Joey had because at least we can treat it with antibiotics and get it done with.

Just for those of you who care the list of sickness' we've had around here since January include: strep (several times), pink eye, croup, rotovirus, RSV, food poisoning...did I miss anything?  Just thinking about that makes me want a nap!  Anyway, you don't have to feel too bad for me.  At least it's nothing too serious....but I needed to vent about it somewhere!

And the winner is...

Lindsay Dodds!  You all thought I pulled something out of my hat and won today didn't you?  Well, we ran our mini-triathalon today.  I was SO happy with how I did.  I ran and biked both under 30 minutes a piece.  That's over 3 minutes shaved off on my run and almost 2 minutes on my bike since earlier this week.  I was a bit slower on my swimming than my fastest time, but I was lucky not to drown at that point.  I did all three in one hour and 15 minutes.  Now the funny thing is that my good friend Lindsay Dodds won!  At least we think that's the unofficial decision. Everyone was in different heats, so the results won't come out for sure until next week.  She did it in just over 57 minutes and everyone was in awe at how fast she was.  She didn't even really train that hard...but is just an amazing girl.  I feel inspired to know her :).   I was just happy not to be last!  There were at least four other behind me when I left...so I'm happy.  I think we're going to do another one in April.  If I could figure out how to really swim, I think I could take 10 minutes off that time.  It's really nice to have something to actually work towards instead of just a goal to "loose weight".  Ironically enough, I thought for sure training for this thing I'd loose some...it's kind of ticking me off that I haven't!  I guess it's time to change my diet eh?