Pizza Party !

 Our Primary leaders dropped us off everything needed to make pizzas, aprons and chef's hats included!

Thank you ! 

Music

 Our piano teacher usually starts his lessons a week after they go back to school and ends a week before they finish school. So piano lessons are done for the summer for the boys and done for good for Julia. She doesn't want to continue. She will have endured 8 years of lessons, reaching a level of Grade 4, which, for her, means that she can play the easier hymns after a few months of practice. We are encouraging her to keep practicing a little bit every day, even if it is now only songs of her choice!

 

Kelden started the schoolyear in Grade 4 as the teacher had been trying to keep Julia ahead so as not to discouraged her.  However, this strategy was reaching its limits and Kelden switched to Grade 5 and finished that book in a few months. So he has now been working on the Grade 6 book. For him, it means that he can play all the easy hymns without much practice. The harder ones, though, like the one below, require a few weeks. 

Kelden also started theory this year. Julia was alternating weeks, half hour theory one week, half hour piano the other week and the teacher suggested the same for Kelden (to make it cheaper.) However,  knowing Kelden, we decided to go for an hour every week. So he has finished the first book of theory and even passed the exam with a grade of 89%. Also new this year is the teacher giving him songs to practice during the summer (usually, he just tells them to review songs.) The song below is one of them (so I know it's not "perfect" yet but it's one we know!)

Zack is also progressing. He is in Grade 1. For one of his art projects this year, they had to choose an animal and a music to go with it. He chose the snake and the song below, Snake Charmer. He used that same video for their school talent show.

As you may have noticed, two of the videos were from the Primary songs the children have to learn every month. If I'm not mistaken, there is one more that I haven't posted yet. 

Since we're into music, I am posting the song that we have chosen for the musical number we were asked to perform for a meeting this Sunday. It's a meeting for families so we included everyone, although not everyone wanted to...But others did their very best!

Not sure they'll ask us again...

Happy Father's Day !

 We celebrated the fathers yesterday.

Keld had kept the alarm on so he was up early making himself muffins for breakfast.

Julia had helped Ryan with some crafts.

The stake Primary leaders had sent the children questions about fathers. They made a montage with the answers after. I tried to film Ryan twice, speaking both English and French, but I'm not sure he understood anything. For example, each time I asked what was Keld's favorite food he answered: Zack.

 

We tried to copy a picture we took 3 years ago. 

We went for our traditional visit to the cemeteries.

On our way back, we went to say hi to Grandpa Bruce. We also were able to talk to my dad. We had a great day!

Orthodontics

 A few years ago, the dentist told us that Julia and Kelden would have the same major problem with their teeth and referred us to an orthodontist whom Julia went to see right away. However, this specialist said that it wouldn't be so bad and to come back when she had all her adult teeth. So a few months ago, Julia went back, although she saw someone different as the first one had retired. This new person said that her case was too complicated for him and referred us to someone else, based in Sudbury. As they didn't call us back, we made appointments for both Julia and Kelden with someone in town. She agreed that their cases were bad and even worse for Kelden. The main problem is that their upper teeth don't "cover" their lower teeth. For Julia, although it's hard to see in the picture, her upper and lower teeth are almost aligned.

Her lower teeth have tried compensating by growing inwardly. The orthodontist said she needs a jaw surgery to break the bones, add something to enlarge the jaw and readjust everything. That type of surgery has to be done after the child is completely grown. So for girls it's usually done around 16 years old.  Braces are also used for approximately a year before and a year after the surgery. 

Since boys' growth usually takes longer than girls, the surgery is done around 18 years old for them, which will make it impossible for Kelden to leave on his mission right after high school. Indeed, he too needs the surgery and the treatment with the braces. His teeth don't align exactly the way Julia does (his lower teeth are actually more forward than his upper teeth) but the problem is the same: the top is not wide enough.

He also has more problems and as soon as she saw him, the orthodontist sent him to get 4 teeth removed. Meanwhile, the orthodontist we were referred to at first called us. Since his consultations are free, we decided to go and get a second opinion. He confirmed that they both would need the jaw surgery and that Kelden was a bad case, one of the worst he's seen. "With such a gap between your teeth, how can you eat?" Since this orthodontist is not here and will be retired soon (before the treatments would start) we decided to stay with the other one. She saw Kelden after the teeth removal and said it had started to help except for maybe one tooth that might have merged with the bone, which could be problematic. She also explained how 3 out of 4 of his 6 year-old molars are out but have not grown sufficiently to be useful, hence the big gap and Kelden's inability to chew anything. Since he is now 12, she doubts those teeth are going to grow more and recommends removing them in order to put the wisdom teeth in their places. She is going to contact the surgeon that she is recommending (and who would do the operations in a few years) to see if she thinks she should do it now or later, when preparing all the teeth for the surgery. 

This jaw problem is genetic (the one orthodontist made me take off my mask but said it wasn't from me) so the orthodontist wanted to see Zack too. At first, we just sent her pictures, trying to save money on consultations. Zack didn't like it.

I thought Zack was different, his upper teeth are definitely in front, but unfortunately, on the sides, he does have the same problem. So he went to see the orthodontist who took her own pictures and also made a mold of his teeth. Zack was so uncomfortable during that procedure that he almost threw up on her. She didn't think he would but I had the assistant bring the garbage can as I know my kids! Fortunately for her, he was able to keep it down but definitely had a hard time.

 Since Zack is younger and still growing, the orthodontist thinks he can avoid the jaw surgery using a palatal expander to widen the jaw now. This "machine" is usually held by braces and glue like this:

However, on one of his sides, Zack's gum has not receded yet and is at the same level as the tooth so you can't put a brace on the tooth. As a result, Zack's expander is different. It has more plastic and glue. It covers more teeth as well. Remembering his bad experience, the orthodontist didn't make another mold to get the measurements for the expander but used pictures and Zack was grateful!

In the middle of the expander is a hole and I have a key for it. It activates the expander and Zack feels it right away so we're supposed to do it before going to bed so he sleeps when it hurts. It's hard to decide when to put it as Zack doesn't fall asleep until late but I don't want to forget! Here is the key:

I'm supposed to use it for 2 weeks. Then, we go back to the orthodontist who will tell us if we need to continue to activate the expander or not. Either way, he will keep his expander for another 2 to 3 months. After that, he will have a retainer, which he will use for life. The retainer will not be glued and he will be able take it off when he eats. Right now, with his expander, he can't eat things like popcorn or sticky candy (but Nutella is fine, so we're all good!) He received a little machine to help him clean his mouth after each meal.

And all this is only Phase 1 of his treatment. He will need braces later too and who knows what else...Our visits to the orthodontist's have only just begun. And since Ryan will probably need the same types of treatment, I'm not seeing the end any time soon...

Ryan and Reading

 Ryan has to find quiet activities from 8.30am until 3.05pm while his siblings are studying hard. It's non-stop between the three of them as they each have different breaks. Hopefully, they often finish earlier, especially Julia who then lets Ryan play with her. Ryan also attends a few classes with Zack, like gym, science and arts, and listens to music with Kelden during his homework. Otherwise, to stay quiet, he's been reading a lot.

Annular Solar Eclipse

 In science this week, in Zack's class, we talked about the annular solar eclipse that happened on Thursday. We were able to see a presentation from Science Timmins. Even Ryan attended the classes and participated. It was quite interesting and we decided to go to Gillies Lake on Thursday morning to try and see the eclipse. Unfortunately, we didn't see much...

We were up early as the event started at 5.23. The clouds, however, had beat us there...

We were ready, with the special glasses, and waited for a while...

But all we could see was changes in the sky, light and dark.  No moon. We probably would have needed a telescope...

So we went home. Some were able to fall back asleep. Others rested during Bleu Jeans Bleu's live show for the schoolboard.

I don't know if you know them. The teachers often use their music at school so I knew a couple of songs only. It's a different style...

Pool Time

 This year, Grandpa Bruce was able to open the pool before school ended. 

The kids didn't wait for the water to be too hot before jumping in (it was already much warmer than the lakes.)

Keld, on the other hand, waited a bit.