Happy New Year

Happiest of New Years, Internets! With all my heart, I wish you a 2008 filled with health and happiness. Blessings for a wonderful new beginning!

Christmas Fun

Post Christmas Update

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We certainly did here.
I took some time off of blogging to spend time with the family and just enjoy the moment.
Christmas Eve we went to church at 4 pm and came home and had dinner. Then the boys sprinkled the "magic reindeer food" on the front lawn and put out the cookies and soy milk for Santa. It took them forever to fall asleep and we couldn't help Santa with the presents until they did. The Little Man was terrified that Santa was going to come into his room, so we had to reassure him that Santa stays down stairs. After they finally fell asleep (around 11 pm) we put together the two large presents each boy got. One went together fairly easily, but one was missing a part. Something always has to be difficult.
Christmas morning was wonderful. The boys got everything they wanted and then some. Pictures to be posted soon I promise. The day was spent with family, eating way too much food and opening way too many presents. A good day was had by all. My house looks like a toy store exploded in here. The mess is driving me insane, but I'm trying not to be overly type A about it (It's hard. I want all the toys put away NOW!).
December 26 I took the Older Boy roller skating for the first time. What a site that was. He was like a spaz on skates. The poor kid was mad. He went into the endeavor with the attitude that "this is going to be easy" only to find out that it's almost impossible your first time out. He was mad every time he fell and clearly didn't enjoy the fact that he could do it. He wanted to quit and I was proud of him that he didn't though. I promised him that I'd get him some beginner skates and he could practice in the basement this winter.
And finally "Rest in Peace" my 1992 hair style (not that it was a hair style anymore. Just sort of hair that I didn't want to cut off). Yesterday I cut all my hair off and went with a short look. Since it fell out, it just didn't look "right" long anymore. It started looking like the hair of an aging rocker that was still trying to "rock" the long hair but should have let it go a long time ago. So I let it go. I've had long hair since 1987. It was time for a change. I'm now sporting the "Beckham".

I went from this:



To this (Clearly this is Victoria and not me. No hair style can do that kind of stunning make over. My hair is also not that blond):


I wanted a short cut, but not a mom cut. Yes I'm a mom. But I don't have to look like one. Hopefully I can make this hair cut look like it's supposed to. It's supposed to be easy. I just hope I don't "momify" it. I'll post a picture of the "new" me when I get a good one (no I'm not vain, really).
Well, that's the updates for now. I have a ton of pictures stuck in my camera. Hopefully I'll have time to download them later.

Merry Christmas

Luke 2:1-20

[1] And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.
[2] (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
[3] And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
[4] And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
[5] To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
[6] And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
[7] And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
[8] And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
[9] And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
[10] And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
[11] For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
[12] And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
[13] And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
[14] Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
[15] And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
[16] And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
[17] And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
[18] And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
[19] But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
[20] And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

You'll Shoot Your Eye Out Kid....

These lovely Nerf guns are an early Christmas present from Older Boys Godfather. He works for Toys R Us and had them sent over. Thank You so much Jack (sarcastic tone inserted here). The boys LOVE these guns. Mom, well, not so much. But they are having a blast with them and they love shooting my walls and watching the "bullets" stick. Luckily the bullets don't hurt if they hit a person. Trust me, I should know.

Gingerbread Cookie Heaven

The boys wanted gingerbread cookies. I know I made them last year, but I think I used a mix from Gluten Free Pantry. I didn't have that today so I had to go fishing for a recipe that I could "allergenize". I found one that looked promising at Allrecipes. The original recipe is from Colonial Williamsburg. What attracted me to it is that it didn't have any eggs in it, so that was one less ingredient that I would have to replace. The cookies turned out beautifully! They held their shape perfectly and taste very yummy! They are a very old fashion cookie.

Recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients
1. 1 cup of white sugar
2. 2 tsp. of ground ginger
3. 1 tsp. ground nutmeg
4. 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
5. 1/2 tsp. salt
6. 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
7. 1 tsp. xanthan gum
8. 1 cup dairy free margarine, melted
9. 1/2 cup coconut milk
10. 1 cup unsulfured black strap molasses
11. 3/4 tsp. gluten free vanilla
12. 4 cups gluten free flour blend (1 cup Bette Hagman's Gourmet Light Flour Blend, 1 cup Sorghum flour, 1 cup Tapioca flour, 1/2 white rice flour, 1/2 cup arrowroot starch)

extra white rice flour for mixing and potato starch for rolling

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, stir together the sugar, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, baking soda and xanthan gum. Mix in the melted margarine, coconut milk, molasses, and vanilla. Stir in the flour, 1 cup at a time, mixing after each addition. The dough should be stiff enough to handle without sticking to the fingers. If necessary, add additional white rice flour to prevent sticking.
3. When dough is smooth, roll between 2 sheets of wax paper or pat (I found patting easier)to 1/4 inch thick. Sprinkle with potato starch to prevent sticking. Cut into shapes and transfer to cookie sheets.
4. Bake for 10-12 minutes in preheated oven. The cookies are done when the top springs back when touched. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks. Decorate as desired.

Photo Scavenger Hunt

This weeks theme is "light" so I'm going with a Christmas theme:


Our new snowman is a light:





The lights on the Christmas Tree:





Visit www.tnchick.com to play along!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I've Been Blessed

I'll update on the "chaos" later (so far so good, but check with me after Older Boys Christmas party that I'm in charge of this afternoon - OY!), but I took a few minutes today to check my e-mails and I found out that Aimee
blessed me with the nicest tag ever! And I can definitely use this today.
It all started with Debbie and it's making it's way around the blogosphere.

Here's the skinny:

The idea… it’s a game of tag with a difference, rather than looking
inwardly, we look outside ourselves and bless, praise and pray for one blog
friend. By participating in this endeavour we not only make the recipient of the
blessing feel valued and appreciated, but we are having some fun too. We’re
going to see how far the bloggin’ blessings can travel around the world and how
many people can be blessed! Recipients of a bloggin’ blessing may upload the
above image to their sidebar if they choose to. If you receive a bloggin’
blessing please leave a comment on this
thread so that we can rejoice in just how many blessings have been sent
around the world!


So now I need to choose 3 people to bless. It's hard just picking 3, but I choose Barbara, Michelle and Annie

I've picked these three because of the wonderful, encouraging comments that they leave me and because of the wonderful, encouraging way they live their lives. They bless me every day I read their blogs, so I thought I'd try to return the favor.

The prayer for these ladies is : May the blessing of Almighty God, of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, come down upon you and remain with you forever. Amen.

Now here's what these 3 ladies need to do:

bless three blog buddies each

include the "God Bless You" image in their post

Explain briefly why they are blessing the people they are blessing

pray/include in the post the prayer for the recipients of the blessing

the recipient/sender of the blessing should type in the com box of This post that a blessing has been sent - so that we can keep track of all those blessings flying around out there.

That's it! OK y'all, go forth and Bless and be Blessed!

The Chaos Needs To Stop

Things have just gone from busy to "I have no idea who the h_ll I am" at our house. This morning I took Older Boy to school and when we got there he said "Oh No, where's my back pack"? Crap. He left it in the garage when he was putting on his boots. So I said "Forget it. I'll go home and get it and put it on the 'forgotten items' table by the front door". I should have known by his vacant look that he either didn't register what I said or didn't understand "forgotten items table". Because I drove all the home, got the back pack, drove back to school, ran it in to the table (no shower, no make up, lovely old sweats with white socks and boots), and drove all the way home. When I picked him up I said " Where's your back pack"? Again he looked at me like I had three heads and said "Um, at home". He never picked it up off the table. He never got his lunch ticket, his snacks, his shoes, etc. And I drove to the school TWICE for nothing. UGH!!

I also managed to drive right in front of one of the school buses. I mean I totally cut it off. It slammed on it's brakes and honked at me. Right in front of the whole "Pick Up" parking lot. I'm sure I'm the talk of the school.

I did manage to take the kids to see Santa today. Finally we made it there. The picture came out pretty good (I'll post it soon). On our way out the boys wanted to ride the escalator and although I hated to waste the time, I said OK. So we went to the top floor of Dillards. Know what they have on the top floor of Dillards? B*ras! And boy do I need b*ras. So I drug them over and picked my size. They were fighting with each other and knocking all the b*ras off the racks so I got flustered and guess what? I didn't get my size. I got one size too big. Darn. Now I still don't have b*ras and I have to go back and return them. I can't win.

Tomorrow is the Little Mans school Christmas pageant and I have to take both boys to my crabby eye doctor with me. Stay tuned for more mayhem. You just know it isn't going to turn out well.

Christmas Tour Of Homes

Welcome to our home! This is just one stop along Boomama's
Christmas Tour Of Homes. Please come on in and make yourself at home~


First stop is the dining room:

Various decorations on the buffet. The Santa is new and different from anything else that we have.






I bought this tea light holder last year and it's one of my favorite decorations. I love the colors on it.



The Tree:



The manger was a gift from my husband the Christmas before we were married. It plays my favorite Christmas song "Oh, Holy Night":


The kids favorite decorations (sorry for the bad photo):


The snowman family:


Photos of Christmas' past:


Our newest addition. His name is Stanley and it's a gourd that is made into a snowman. The boys love him:




There are no stockings on the mantle yet. I was afraid that the boys would pull them down and knock themselves out with the heavy stocking holders. We'll hang the stockings on Christmas Eve.


Thanks for coming! I hope you enjoyed the tour. Have a very Merry Christmas!!


Please help yourself to some Buckeyes on your way out:

A Quick Update

1. The Little Man is feeling better. He's almost back to normal although he's still coughing due to a virus. At least the asthma is under control. I can't wait until he's the steroids though. His behavior is REALLY BAD! Thanks for your well wishes and prayers for the Little Man. They were heard (by me and by the Man Upstairs).

2. I made Christmas cookies today. I made Holly cookies (kind of like rice crispy treats but with gluten free corn flakes). Recipe and pictures to follow. And I made chocolate chip cookies. I need to get the dough for the vanilla wafers mixed so it can chill in the fridge over night (the Little Man calls these Crabby Patties and they were his special request).

3. It's snowing like crazy here. If you watched the Cleveland Browns game today you know what I mean.

4. I hope school is cancelled tomorrow. Then I can bake all day. Yes, I know that makes me a bad mommy but it's 9 days till Christmas so I'm in a time crunch.

5. Other than that we're all here and staying warm inside.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Wrap Some Caution Tape Around Our House And

add a sign that says "Don't open until Christmas". Or at the very least smack a big neon sign out front that says "Beware of the Plague". At least it feels like the plague. The Little Man, Hubby and I slept for a total of one hour last night. The poor Little Man was up coughing his lungs out all night. Of course the evening started off with him crying (no tears, high pitched screaming only) from 8:15 pm-10:00 pm. At 10 pm he proceeded to throw up all over the hallway. Then more crying and gnashing of teeth. He did fall asleep from 11:15 pm - 11:30 pm but woke of coughing and started crying again. We did more neb treatments (we did them about every 2 hours) and then I made the executive decision to give him his Orapred early (he got it at 3 am vs. 10 am). Between the albuterol and the Orapred he had a lovely case of the jittery roid rage going on and add no sleep on top of it and things were totally ugly at our house. He did manage to fall asleep on me in the family room from 6:15 am - 8:00 am. So I guess that's something. His coughing seems better, but he's still totally miserable, so I'm taking him back to the Doctor today. If I take him, he'll be fine and she'll tell me to keep on giving him the meds he's on. If I don't take him (And I know this, because this is how it ALWAYS HAPPENS), we'll end up in the ER tonight around 10 pm because things got worse and I didn't take him in today like I should have.
I've been coughed on, spit on, thrown up on, and worse (he's on Augmentin too). I feel like I've been hit by a truck. It's only a matter of time before I start coughing my brains out.
Maybe on the way home from the Pediatrician I should pick up more caution tape and another sign that says "Do Not Open Until New Years".

Thursday Update

1. Christmas Cards - Done. Can you believe it? All 62 of them. That leaves me about 18 extra cards for random gifts and cards that I may need to send to people I accidentally forgot. Thanks to last nights/toady's ice storm the sound of ice balls hitting my house woke me up at 4:30 am prompting me to get up and get a head start on the cards. Now all I need is stamps. I actually go by the post office when I pick the Older Boy up from school and if I don't just slide right by it on the ice covered street, maybe I can stop in and mail the cards too.

2. The Little Man is pretty sick today so I called him off of school. I took him to the Pediatrician yesterday and he has a sinus infection and the start of an ear infection. Unfortunately for him this type of thing triggers his asthma and he's been a coughing mess today. He's on Singulair and we started the Flovent puffer and the Albuterol nebulizer back up again, but it's not helping. I have a prescription for Orapred that we never used from September, so I'll start that too and hopefully his lungs will settle down soon. I feel so bad for him. He's just miserable.

3. Working at Older Boys School - well this was obviously cut short today due to the Little Man's illness. His ear infection isn't contagious, but after about an hour of everyone listening to his cough, I think they thought he had TB, so no one cared when I bailed early. Or at least they didn't seem to, to my face. What goes on behind my back doesn't hurt me :)

4. Hopefully this afternoon I can get the laundry in some sort of order. Since the Little Man is sick and everything around us is covered in ice, there isn't much else to do but stay home and stay warm.

5. I have a plan for the Older Boys Christmas play costume. I can't guarantee it's a good plan, but it's a plan nonetheless. Wish me luck on this one. There's no way to get another one in time for next Friday if I mess this up.

6. Tonight: Wrapping? Cookies? Going to be early since I only got 4 hours of sleep?

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things That Are Seriously Stressing Me Out:

1. I have 80 Christmas Cards sitting upstairs and not one of them has been addressed.
2. Even if I address them, I'm out of stamps.
3. I have to work at my sons school tomorrow (AGAIN). This has got to stop. What do I pay these people for? I swear I live there.
4. My sons costume for the Christmas play STILL needs to be altered. He's a size 5/6 . It only came in a size 11. What am I supposed to do with that?
5. Nothing has been wrapped yet.
6. I only have 1 type of Christmas cookie made.
7. It's 9:24 pm and my kids are still upstairs awake. Please let them fall asleep soon.
8. Laundry. Crap loads. Some folded. Some in the dryer. Some in the washer. None of it where it ultimately should be.
9. Hello, Private Practice is a repeat? This writers strike needs to end. Give them what they want and let's move on people.
10. This Sunday in PSR The Little Man's class will be gluing pasta onto construction paper Christmas trees. The "teachers" didn't tell me this. I overheard them talking. When I mentioned his wheat allergy (for the 1,000Th) time and said I'd bring him safe pasta to work with, the response I got was "Well, it's not like he's going to eat it (insert eye roll here)". Um, OK. Clearly you don't get allergies and you don't care to get it. Nothing I can do/have done is going to change this. It's not that they don't get it, it's the "screw you" attitude that I have to put up with from two 17 year old girls that really bothers me. I'm praying for strength.
11. Have I mentioned that my hair falling out is still an issue?
12. Is Christmas really a week away?
13. I haven't been able to get the boys to see Santa yet. And Christmas is just over a week away. And the Little Man is sick. OY!

OK, now that I've written it all down I feel better. It's sort of cathartic. I'm off to eat massive amount of junk food and watch crappy reruns on TV.

Visit The Thursday Thirteen Hub to participate.

I know I sound very negative this week, but it's really just the "Christmas Crunch" :) - Taking a deep breath and letting it all go. (Except for the whole PSR thing. That really frosts me).

The Christmas Train

A good time was had by all!

A Little Of This, A Little Of That

Christmas seems to be coming closer and closer and I feel like there is still so much to be done. Friday after I picked the Older Boy up from school, I took both boys for hair cuts. They needed them so badly. The hair cut place was a mad house. I think everyone had the same idea that I did. Luckily, a lot of people got frustrated with the long wait and left, so we ended up getting in sooner than I expected. After hair cuts I took them shopping for their Christmas outfits and their special Christmas morning PJ's. Since we'll take hundreds of pictures that morning, I figured that they could at least look nice (and be coordinated too).
Yesterday we took the boys on a Christmas train ride. Since the Little Man is obsessed with trains this was especially exciting for him. The ride itself is really nice, but they also play Christmas music and Rudolph and the Elves come to visit and finally toward the end, Santa and Mrs. Claus drop by to say hi. The boys had a blast! I think Mom and Dad (not to mention Grandma and Grandpa) had a nice time too.
Then I came home and slept the rest of the day. I was EXHAUSTED! I still feel really tired. Almost like I took sleeping pills. I could crawl in bed right now, but I still have some things to do, not to mention dinner to make.
I did manage to make this today:




Buckeyes - safe for peanut, tree nut, gluten, egg, and dairy allergies

Ingredients
1 jar of Sunbutter
3 cups of safe powdered sugar
1/2 cup dairy free margarine
1 bag of Enjoy Life chocolate chips
2 Tbs. shortening

Directions:
In a medium bowl mix the entire jar of Sunbutter, the margarine, and the powdered sugar together. Line baking sheets with wax paper. Roll Sunbutter/sugar mixture into 1/2 - 1 inch balls and place on wax paper lined sheet. Place in refrigerator. Put Enjoy Life chocolate chips and shortening in a bowl and put in the microwave for 30 second intervals and mix in between each interval. Only go until chocolate chips are completely melted (approx. 4 - 30 second intervals).
Dip Sunbutter balls into melted chocolate and stick a toothpick in the middle of the ball to remove. Place back on cookie sheet. When finished place chocolate coated balls back in refrigerator until chocolate is set.
Enjoy!

Hopefully I'll get the pictures of that train ride posted soon. It really was cute.

I Have A Confession To Make

I've been sort of quiet lately. I've been posting generic articles about food allergies, or little blurbs about contests or meme's, but heart felt posts have been few and far between. Yes, I've been busy, but that has never stopped me before.
When I post I usually post about what is going on in our daily lives or about the Little Man's food allergies. And it's usually from my point of view or my vantage point. Well my vantage point has been a little "off" lately.
Several weeks ago, I noticed something, but I thought "I'm just imagining it" or "I'm just over reacting". Well, I wasn't. And even though in the scheme of things it's not the end of the world and most people probably don't even notice, I notice and it bothers me. Greatly.

See, my hair is falling out. Not just a little bit, but a lot. I noticed it in October, but I didn't think it was any big deal. Then at the beginning of November I went to the hair dresser and as I sat in her chair she said "Oh my god, what happened to your hair? It's like it all fell out". At that point I knew it wasn't my imagination, or it wasn't just a little thinning. I mentioned it to my mom later that day and she said that she had noticed. I mentioned it to my husband that evening and he said that he had noticed. So I called the doctor, but I had to wait 3-4 weeks to get in for a physical. Luckily, the shedding seems to have slowed down right now (or I'd probably be totally bald). But it's thinned all over and I do have some hairless patches.
If I look back through my posts, I'm sure I'd find other clues that something was "off".

Here I mention being crabby and tight pants.

Here I mention being tired and crabby at the end of the day.

Here I mention buying Drano because my bathroom sink is plugged up (hair falling out, anyone?).

I'm sure I could find more. Our bodies give us clues. We just have to listen to them.
Anyway, the Doctor thinks it's hormonal, and possibly Thyroid too. We've done blood work and should be getting things back on track very soon. Maybe this explains why I work out 3-5 days a week for 30 minutes at a clip and am gaining weight. Jeez, you don't need to hit me over the head with a brick, just take away my hair to get me to notice that something isn't right.


Hair in May (not the best picture, I know, but I take the pictures I'm not usually in them)


Hair now. Not too noticeable, but a bit flatter and thinner.


OOPS! Where's the hair?

A Memorable Birthday

It started off like any other birthday celebration:

Dinner and gifts:




Then on to birthday songs and allergy friendly cupcakes.

And then it happened:


Looks like the Tooth Fairy will be stopping by our house tonight along with Saint Nicholas (hope they don't bump into each other).

Seems that when mom and dad were relaxing in the kitchen the boys decided to wrestle in the living room and it led to the Little Man falling on Older Boy knocking out his tooth.


The tooth must have been loose, but we didn't know it and the Little Man helped it along. The Older Boy was none to happy with the situation. I think it scared him. I heard "Mom, Mom, the Little Man did something really bad" and he came running in the kitchen with his tooth in his hand.


We explained to him that this was totally normal (He knows this. We've discussed it and he's not the first in his class to lose a tooth). After a few minutes he started to calm down.


Now he's just excited he'll get extra money tonight.

Good bye sweet baby tooth. We'll miss you. My baby is growing up too fast (sniff....).