New Blog Look

OK, it is blogger template not a fancy designer look, but is works for me at the moment.  I have a hard time not growing bored with what I have, so this might just be the best alternative.  I will not feel that I am wasting money every time I decide I am tired of the look.

I figured out how to add tabs, too.  Not sure about them at this time, but I am working on learning and thinking about what to add to these pages.  I will be adding allergy awareness sites and homeschooling links under their tabs along with things I have discovered and found that works for us.  If I have to, I may just create separate blogs, just not sure how it will work best.

I am checking all links and blogs, that I have linked to my blog, to make sure they are still working.  If I had your blogged linked and it is being updated regularly, I will be adding it back.  If it hasn't been updated in over 6 months, I will keep it under my profile just in case you do post.

I have re-entered the blog world and feel I do have a few experiences to share.  I am ready to write and share our world once more.

Our New Toy

What my kitchen looks like this morning.

Cooking takes up a lot of time lately and making bread has practically take over my kitchen.  We are like mad scientists trying to re-invent our little wheel, due to allergies.  I am grateful for our church that gave our family a bread machine for pastor appreciation.  It has been a lifesaver.  We average making two loaves of bread a day.  That seems like a lot of bread, but we are a family of 7, plus anyone else that happens to drop by during the day.  

This morning I am making cinnamon bread without the bread machine.  It is looking and smelling so good.  I can't wait to sample it with a cup of coffee when it comes out of the oven.  I am sending one of the loaves to Toby's office.  Guess you could call it my good deed for the day.

October 31st

We have never made it a habit to celebrate Halloween, but this year we were invited to a Boo Party and throughly enjoyed ourselves.

We ate, trick-or-treated, made an edible halloween treat, and wrapped it up with our candy and a movie outside.  It reminded me of the carnivals and parties that I attended as a kid.

Kamryn as a Ladybug

The Candy Gang

Off to get our buckets full.

Working on our edible treat.

Kaitlyn joined in making the treats.

 Kaitlyn's treat.

Nicholas' treat started to run.  We laughed at the nose almost falling off.

Kamryn made her rounds trying to get candy out of everyone's bucket.  

They did a good job of helping keep her out of the their candy.

So Kamryn would not feel left out, I had her some organic fruit juice suckers.

She seemed a little more pleased after that.

We had so much fun.  Hope everyone else had a great October 31st.

Just Crazy

LIFE has been just plain crazy for months now. Taking care of my family, school, church, and home keep me so busy I really do not have time to blog anymore.  I have tried and can't seem to keep up.

I have thought about ending my blog, but can't seem to bring myself to do so.  For now, due to time restraints, I will not be able to post often.

If I still have readers, please forgive me.  Maybe one day life will slow down, the baby will sleep all night, I can cook wonderful meals free of all allergens, all events organized weeks in advance, and I will have lots of time to sit, ponder, and blog.  If that happens, it will be to boring to blog.  Oh, well, we are really living the good life.

Learning How to Cook All Over Again

A few month ago I only had to worry about a nut allergy, but now we have added milk and soy to our list of things to watch for. Kamryn can't tolerate soy or lactose, so our choices are really limited.   I was shocked at the amount of things that contain soy, but what really frustrated me was that not all warning labels are accurate.

I know preparing all meals from scratch is the healthiest way to go, but it isn't easy or fast.  Forget running through the local burger joint and grabbing something on the way to the ball field.  Honestly, it is hard when you are NOT used to thinking about the food preparation quite as much.  I am trying my best and learning how to cook in an all new healthier way.


I am proud of myself though.  I made Kamryn's 1st birthday cake from scratch without any soy or lactose in the ingredients.  That is actually tasted great and looked nice was a bonus.  My next thing to try is making my own beef and chicken stock to freeze.

I am learning and we will be the better for the changes.  I just wish someone would invent a allergen free drive through that sells nut, soy, and lactose free burgers and fries for those crazy days that I am running to get places.

Happy Gotcha Day

I can't believe that it has been a year since Kamryn joined our family. Seems like just yesterday, yet she has grown so much.  Honestly, I can't really remember what she was like those first few days.  Thank the Lord for pictures to help you recall those memories.


She turned 1 last Friday, which is very hard to believe, too. I look at her in amazement and wonder, loving to see her grow, yet wanting to hold on to every moment.  Knowing she is the baby of the family is bittersweet.  


Kamryn's Accomplishments include:

• clapping excitedly when you say, "patty cake, patty cake"
• knowing how to turn her daddy's computer off when he is in the middle of typing
• deleting apps off of our iPhones
• calls me "Mommy" and everyone else "MA"
• Can say "Hey", "Bye", "Daddy", "no,no", & "wove you", but only when she wants to say them
• can take a few steps, but crawling is her method for getting anywhere quickly
• screams when things are taken away from her and thinks everything is hers
• loves any kind of remote
• thinks our bed is the best place in the world to sleep
• loves Italian opera and Latino worship music
• can feed the dog her peas and carrots without you realizing until you notice the dog circling her chair

She is FUN, and FUNNY.

Today we celebrate!!!!

Happy 1st Gotcha Day, Kamryn.   

Road Trip 2011~DAYS 7-9

 Columbus, OH


Monday


COSI Science Museum

Columbus has one of the nicest Science Museums I have ever been to.  All the hands on exhibits made this museum a huge hit. It had so many different sections that we did not get to see it all.  

One of the kids favorite sections was Space.

Kensli on the Space potty.

Kamryn really enjoying herself!!

They could go down in this sub.  So cool!

My favorite section was the one called Progress.  It showed the progress the country made during the 40's thru the 60's.

Ricky and Kaitlyn at the 50's dinner.

Old gas station with VW Bug.

Toby as the nightly news anchor.

You could actually read the script and watch as it showed on the screen.

The last section we got to visit was the gadgets sections.  So much to do here that we ran out of time as they were announcing the museum closing time.  Would love to see the rest of this museum one day.

The kids discovering how pulleys work.

Tuesday


Columbus Zoo


The zoo was another huge place that we ran out of time viewing.  We did not get to see everything, but we covered as much as we could.  This is one of the zoos that Jack Hanna is affiliated with, so it is exceptional.  Extremely hands on and many places to see all the animals up close.  I think my favorite animal to see was the polar bears.  I have never seen one except in magazines and on TV.  

Kamryn looking at the horses in the petting zoo.

Part of our crew taking a break inside the petting zoo.

After the zoo we went to a restaurant to eat called Shades.  It is on the Ohio and Erie Canal. 

Wednesday


Amish Country


We have never been to an Amish community before and we decided to visit while we were only a couple of hours away.  It was beautiful!!!!  


On the way we stopped and saw the Longaberger Basket offices and factory. It is shaped in a huge basket.  

When we finally got to Amish country, we saw some of the neatest, most beautiful farms and country side.  

Our first stop was Heini's Cheese factory.  They make their cheese and you can take a tour, but they were not making any at the time.  One of the neatest things is you could taste most of the cheeses.  The kids really loved this part, especially Kensli.

Kensli was not intimidated by other people.  When she saw a cheese she wanted to taste, she would fight her way between adults even.  

This was a very unusual sight....pulling a hay baler with mules.  It seemed to work well, because we watched them bale a roll of hay.

We stopped here for a little bit of desert.  I had the best peach pie I have ever eaten.

A lot of the buildings looked liked they were in Switzerland or Austria.  

I am so glad we drove the two hours to see this beautiful area and its beautiful people.  It is the largest group of Mennonites and Amish in the country.  It consists of 3 communities and many farms in between.  

I said in my last post we were leaving on Tuesday, but it seemed that every time we tried to leave the pastor and his family had a reason for us not to go.  Tomorrow is definite travel day and we head out for Chicago.  Can't wait to visit the Windy City for the first time ever.