We're back!

Thanks for all the info about the HSA. No, it's definitely not something we're looking forward to and I found out a few days ago that yes, only 20 therapies are covered- but it is we've for EACH therapy, not for all the therapies combined (so she has 20 PT and 20 ST and 20 OT covered). On the other hand, this could mean we have over $10,000 in therapy expenses if we were to continue just our current therapies... Not exactly likely. The kids' eye doctor appointments are not covered either- one every 2 years which leaves another 3 not covered in that time period. No coverage for glasses. $2500 for orthotics which I have no idea what the orthotics actually cost, but I'm praying it's much less than that. It'll be a learning curve, that's for sure, and we'll just have to budget our money differently in order to be prepared for the expenses that are going to happen. Fortunately, doctor's visits and prescription copays are considered part of the deductible and once we hit the deductible (which is rather high, but fortunately Mike's employer is paying a portion of it) then there are no other copays for either.

Since Tuesday I've been pretty out of pocket because Tuesday night Mike and I got a much needed 12 hours OFF! Yes, seriously, no children or responsibilities whatsoever and it was great. His parents own a timeshare that they'd reserved and were unable to use over in Orlando so he and I took them up on their offer to stay the first night and my sister flew in Wednesday. She and I and the kids stayed over there Wednesday night until today! We had a nice time visiting, shopping, and hanging out together and I enjoyed the visit. Elizabeth's here until the Sunday after Christmas so she still will be around this weekend and all next week and weekend. Mike's parents were able to go over this afternoon and are enjoying the last night of the time share :).

Now today I'm spending the day picking up around the house and getting ready for our church small group Christmas party which will be here tomorrow night. I need to shop for paper and plastic goods still and finish getting everything ready. We always enjoy these gatherings, though, and we're glad that our group wanted to meet here because it means we can visit so much longer after the kids are in bed instead of having to visit quick and head home to get everyone in bed.

Also, a little update on Kristopher. I called the school on Monday and took him out for the rest of the week and he joined Elizabeth and I in Orlando. Though he had about a 30 minute stint of being ornery, otherwise we've had a great week and he's behaved really well. He's done some "school work" for me and has been happy to do it. All of it has been done well and those that weren't right he corrected for me. He did a writing paper which was a letter to Santa and I was very impressed by how good his writing is (slowly) getting. At the beginning of the year it was pretty illegible.

I stopped by town yesterday because my teacher gifts (which were supposed to be delivered on Friday and the mail office postponed) came in on Wednesday and so we drove back over and delivered those. The teachers all seemed to like their gift (a sponsorship to the angels on the Reece's Rainbow Angel Tree which includes an ornament with the child that was sponsored on their behalf's photo on it). When we stopped in we also picked up Kristopher's school things from the week and the party goodies from their Jesus' birthday party on Wednesday. Kristopher didn't seem to mind that he's missed school or the party, so I guess that is good. He knows that he's out of school for the week but that he's not in trouble. He also knows that I talked to his teacher so he seems to know that all is well there. I'm glad he wasn't heartbroken when he walked in to the church building on Tuesday to drop off Micah and Brianna and knew he wasn't staying for school.

Instead of school, Kristopher and Emma helped me deliver packages to the post office (K took the postage sticker out of the machine and placed it on each package) and then we came back to the house, he did his school work, then we went back to the church and played on the playground for a few minutes. After lunch with Daddy we picked up M and B and came home for naps/ rest time. He was great and seemed to have a good time. Yesterday he reminded me at bedtime that he didn't do any school that day. I reminded him that we were in Orlando on vacation and that it was ok. We'll do a little over the weekend and the next two weeks on and off since he is enjoying doing it at home. I like his enthusiasm and he even asked for MORE school work on Wednesday!