Free Idaho Steelheads Tickets

Thanks to my friend's A Thrifty Mom blog I was able to find out about a survey that you can take to receive a pair of free Idaho Steelheads tickets. Deadline is Feb. 9. Here is the link. The survey only takes a minute.

EE

We finally have a diagnosis for Emily. She has Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EE). Basically she has a type of white blood cell in her esophagus that is causing it to swell because it isn't supposed to be there. It is usually caused by food allergens, but so far her food allergy tests have come back negative (we have more that are being run). The doctor said it is probably from airborne allergens in her case. She will have to be on medicine for the rest of her life unless they come up with another way to treat it. The doctor said that it is a fairly new autoimmune disorder that they weren't aware of before about 10 years ago and so they are constantly changing the way to treat it. Right now she is on an asthma inhaler that she has to swallow the medicine instead of inhale and a medicine that is normally for acid reflux. Both are supposed to help her esophagus go back to normal size and reduce the eosonophils that are there. She will have to have endoscopy's done every 2-5 years with our doctor leaning more toward 5 years if things are looking good. They also said that it is hereditary so anyone in our family that has difficutly swallowing solid food might want to get tested as well, especially if they also have heartburn along with it. Both Joe and I have both things so we might get tested in the future. We are so happy that so far we don't have to take anything out of her diet, as that was my biggest worry, and we are happy that it is treatable and hopefully her stomach will stop hurting her. She said we should see results in a couple of weeks with all the symptoms going away after about 12 weeks. YAY!

Yummy!

JJ had his first taste of solids yesterday. We tried Oatmeal and he loved it. My other kids have always pulled a face the first bite but he thought it was great. He let it sit on his tongue for a little bit and then he worked it around and finally swallowed it. He was so cute after that first bite because he would get so excited for it to finally come to his mouth. He is definitely a shaker just like Emily (their whole body shakes especially their arms when they get excited).

Restaurant.com 70% off

I just found out from pinchingyourpennies.com that http://www.restaurant.com/ is having a 70% off sale + free $15 gift card to Dale &Thomas Popcorn. Just enter coupon code SUPER- exp 1/31.
Restaurant.com has cheap gift certificates for different restaurants that participate. Usually a $25 certificate costs about $10 and with the coupon code above it is only $3. We just got 2 different ones for $6 total. The gift certificates do have a minimum purchase (e.g. $35 for a $25 gift card) so you will end up paying a little at the restaurant when you go. Also when I was looking at the Dale & Thomas site for the popcorn it costs $30 for their cheapest order and you have to pay shipping & handling unless your order is over $100. I don't know if we will actually use that gift card, but I couldn't resist the gift certificates for the restaurants.

Mr. Yuck

So our toilet has one of these Mr. Yuck stickers on it that they used to give out in school. I don't know if they still do, but it was on the toilet seat when we moved in. I haven't removed it because I figured the ph# might come in handy some day. Anyway, we were in the bathroom brushing our teeth and Emily said, "That man is sticking his tongue out like this." She made the cutest face so we had her do it again so we could take a picture. Then we made the face and took pictures also just to have fun. I am only posting Joe's though because I looked ridiculous.

Staying Dry!

This cute little girl just stayed dry all day long for the first time (excluding naps and bedtime). She discovered how to climb up on the toilet yesterday all by herself and was up and down for about two hours yesterday. Luckily it wasn't quite so much today, but she did come and tell me every time she had to go. Yay! I hope she keeps this up and we can start putting her in panties.

It's Finished!

I finally finished my first quilt! I started in October with hopes to finish by Christmas so I could give it as a gift to Emily. On Christmas Eve my Mom, Sara, and Ben helped me tie around the edges and we just couldn't get it done in time. On Christmas we finished the tying, and all I had left was binding it. Well, I am a procrastinator and since it was already past the deadline I just couldn't get myself to complete it. Tonight, I decided I had to get it done and I finished it. I am very happy with my results. There are definitely things that I learned that I will do better next time.

This is the middle of the quilt. I was looking at my friend Sally's quilting books and I saw this wall hanging that I just loved so I decided to make it into a full quilt.I added stripes around the edges with checkerboards in the corners. On the checkerboard and stripes we tied it by hand. A big thank you goes to my mom, Ben and Sara for helping me tie these crazy x's that I decided I wanted.

In the middle I machine quilted it free form. I don't know the exact design name, but I had seen it somewhere before so I just went with it. It's hard to see in this picture, but it is the best I could get.

It was so much fun making this. I will definitely make another one some day.

New Website for Kids

So I just saw this on my friend's blog. The Friend Magazine has a new website here. It looks really cute. I haven't had much time to check it out though. I know that Emily's favorite part will be the coloring pages. We can't print enough of them.

Cake Decorating

Tonight I decided to try decorating a cake with some flowers that I learned how to make at our last Food Club Enrichment night. It was a lot of fun. I think I still need more practice, but I am learning. I also did the basket weave and some hearts that were in my cake decorating book. The end result was very yummy.

Exploding Light

Today we had a light explode. Joe had changed it this morning and it worked fine all morning long. Before lunch I went to turn the light on again and there was a loud bang and a spark and one of our floodlights in our kitchen shot out of the socket and shattered all over the floor. The filament stayed in the socket and was smoking. I've never seen anything like it before.

Madison and Cute Dresses

I noticed I really don't post much about Madison. She is such a cutie though. She is definitely my spunky child. She loves to run and play all day. She doesn't like to sit down for silly things like watching TV or eating dinner. (we are constantly reminding her to sit down to eat her food) She has such a big heart. The other day Emily was mad about something and was crying and screaming and Madison kept coming in to make sure she was okay. She gives these little love taps and kept patting Emily's back. She will also do this if JJ is crying. She will come check on him and is often found ramming the Binky in his mouth. She is also my child that likes to get into things. The other day I noticed she was really quiet and I went to find her. She was in my bathroom getting into the toothpaste. She was very upset she was found out though because as soon as I opened the door I just said "Maddie what are you doing?" and she threw the toothpaste and started shaking and screaming. I had to keep myself from laughing. I love her so much and I am so glad that she is a part of our family.

I also wanted to show this cute picture Joe took on Sunday before church. Emily is wearing the adorable dress her Uncle Mathew and Aunt Kierstin got her for Christmas. We love it and got so many comments from people at church. Madison is wearing one of my favorite dresses. I think they both look so cute in their Sunday clothes.

Emily's trip to the Hospital

Emily had her first trip to the hospital today(aside from being born). She has complained of stomach pain for the past year since she discovered what hurt meant. We have seen the doctor and he referred us to a Pediatric GI. Last week we went to her appointment there and they recommended having an endoscopy done. We were able to schedule it quickly and she had her appointment today. We arrived at the hospital at 8 am and checked in. The hospital staff was wonderful. They gave her a little frog in admitting. Then we waited for them to take her back to pre-op. In pre-op they gave her a little stuffed bear that a volunteer had made and she loved it. We were able to go with her to pre-op. They were going to give her a drink to make her a little woozy before she went back to be put under, but she was talking with the nurses and didn't seem to care so they did it without it. After they took her back to do the endoscopy we just waited in the waiting room for about 20 min. for the doctor and then another 20 min before we could go see her. When we went to her room they said that she had done great. They said that she acted how they would love every child to act and that she should teach classes on how to act at the hospital :) She didn't cry or anything. After waiting around for a little over an hour we were able to take her home. They said that everything looked great in the endoscopy and that they would have results from the little biopsies they took in a week. They also drew blood while she was under and are going to do several allergy tests with that. So in a week hopefully we will know what is causing all this stomach pain. She is so ready for it to be over. She keeps asking me when the doctor is going to make her feel better and why her tummy doesn't feel better after we go to the doctor.

Here is the teddy bear that she got.

Here she is showing off her bracelets from the hospital. She was being kind of silly here because apparently the anesthesia makes her really hyper.

JJ is 5 months

JJ is 5 months old today. He is getting so big. He is at that stage where he really loves his Mommy. I love it so much. He loves to give me hugs and kisses. He also cries anytime I leave the room. Of course he loves his Daddy too. He will give him the biggest smile of all. And he will just gaze at his Daddy while he waits for him to look at him and then Joe is rewarded with a huge grin. He is starting to play with his toys a lot more. When I was taking his picture he kept hitting the dinosaur sitting next to him. He also was waving his feet all over trying to figure out the dragons that were on his feet. He loves his older sisters and watches them forever. He also loves to hear his voice and talk. Last week it was kind of raspy because of a little cold he had. I think that he loved how it felt or liked the way he sounded because he talked more than he ever has before.

Candy Necklaces

When I was younger, I used to love candy necklaces. I only ever had a couple of them, but I thought they were so fun. I found a kit at JoAnn fabrics that you can make 8 candy necklaces with and it was pretty cheap so I bought it for the girls. They each made one today and had a lot of fun with it. Emily has been begging to make them ever since she saw the package. When I told her we were doing it today she was so excited. I just gave her her bowl of beads and she went to town. I helped Madison a little. We actually got quite a few beads on the string before she started eating them. Before we were done she spilled all the beads back in the bowl so here is Madison's finished project.Emily actually made it to the final project and put it on before she started eating any beads. Now we still have 6 more necklaces that we can make another day.

Silly Kid

Emily was talking to me today about this last summer when we went to the "beach" (meaning Northside Park swimming pool) with Benny and Sara. She told me that "Ben and Sara were throwing me in the air. They thought I was a ball. That's why they were throwing me in the air" I thought it was so funny that she would say that. Just had to share.

Home Made Gripe Water

JJ has had really bad gas. I mean toxic. He has been in a lot of pain from it and we have tried Mylicon, bicycling his legs, rubbing his belly, rocking, and bouncing. Nothing seems to work. They all get the gas out, but it takes time and he is arching in pain the whole time. He is really strong, much stronger than the girls were and it is hard to hold him while he is arching so much. So my mom and I googled grip water online and found a homemade recipe that just has Dill Seeds and water. You just boil them together for 10 minutes, let them cool and then feed 2 oz to baby. I made some of this yesterday for JJ and it worked awesome. He didn't even take the full 2 oz and he slept through the night again like he used to and didn't wake up at 2 am screaming from the pain. It was so nice. Tonight I gave him some again before bed and he immediately started passing gas and so far he is doing great. Hopefully it will go over as well as last night. I am so glad that we were able to find this recipe.

Emily is a Sunbeam!

Yesterday was Emily's first day in Sunbeams. She was so excited that she got to be a big girl and move out of the Nursery. We prepped her all week by telling her that she would have so much fun, but she wouldn't get a snack and could have one when she came home. Of course the first thing she asked when church got over was "Can we go home and have a snack now?" I just didn't want her to cry the first day like so many of the children in our class did when we taught sunbeams because they didn't get a snack anymore. I asked her what her favorite thing was and she said she liked going to the big room and singing the songs. But when I asked if she sang the songs she said, "No, I don't think so" She said that she just wanted to sit there and listen to everyone else. I just can't believe that she is big enough to be in primary.

Boondocks

On New Years Eve we went to Boondocks in the morning and let the kids play while the adults played cards. They played in the kiddie cove area and had a lot of fun. They were ready to go though after about 45 min. We played a card game called golf that was a lot of fun. After Boondocks we went to Quiznos to eat lunch before Dean & Amanda had to go. We were sad to see them leave as we hardly get to see them. We had a lot of fun while they were here and did a lot of activities that we normally wouldn't go do.

Here is a picture with all the kids together. The only cousin that is missing is Mathew Keegan.

Here is a picture with JJ and Keira. They are about 2 months apart. Aren't they cute!

The Discovery Center

Tuesday we went to the Discovery Center. This was also a first for Emily and Madison. Dean, Amanda, Lucas, Keira, Dad, Jared, Joe Emily, Madison, JJ, and I all went. Emily and Madison had fun looking at all the different things they had. I think their favorite was a little grocery store that they have for the kids to do their own shopping. Emily was kind of bummed that she didn't actually get to take the food home. She grabbed two things of Cottage Cheese and didn't want to put them back. I think the next time we go we will have to wait until after naps though because they got tired really fast and were fussy the rest of the time we were there.

Bowling!

Dean & Amanda came into town on the 27th until the 31st. While they were here we did lots of fun activities together. On Monday we went to Burger King and let Lucas, Emily, and Madison play on the toys while we ate lunch. That evening we took them bowling for the first time. Grandpa, Ben, Sara, Rachel, Jared, Dean, Amanda, Lucas, Joe, Emily, Madison, and I all bowled. We went to the SUB at BSU. They have a little metal contraption that the kids could put there balls on and then just push it and it would roll down and get some momentum going before it went down to hit the pins. Emily and Madison also liked to do it on their own sometimes. Emily actually got a strike once. They both beat my score which was pretty sad since I was in the lane with the bumpers with them. Joe got the highest score overall barely beating Ben. I think it is an activity we will have to do again.

Christmas Day

Christmas Day all the adults were up before the kids. We had to wake Emily & Madison up when it was time for breakfast. After breakfast was over, we all got dressed and ready for the day while the dishes were being cleaned up and then it was time to go see what Santa had brought. My parents went into the living room first and had all of us line up outside the curtain. They called each of us in on our turn. Emily and Madison didn't really know what was going on. They liked the presents Santa left for them though. Emily got a desk that has alphabet letters in it and a magna doodle. Madison got a baby doll and a stroller. JJ got clothes. After everyone had come into the room we all took turns opening presents from youngest to oldest. Emily had a hard time waiting her turn each time and Madison just got upset every time we took away the toy that she had opened before to give her a new present to open. She didn't understand why she couldn't play with them. After presents we just kind of relaxed for the rest of the day and ate dinner with Aunt Debi, Grandpa, Mom and Dad, Ben & Sara, our family, Rachel, & Jared. We also worked on a puzzle and played some games together. Overall it was a very fun day.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve we always go to my parents house and eat appetizers for dinner and have a program. We normally have each family either read a story or do a talent for the program, but this year we did it a little different. Instead my grandpa read a little program that they had done in church the Sunday before. It included the nativity from the scriptures and a lot of Christmas songs that we all sang together as a family. He then read a short story about a family exhibiting the Christmas spirit. During the program Maddie was too tired so she went to bed early. After the program was over Emily got her pajamas on, and then we put out cookies for Santa and put out our stockings. We have a family tradition of putting up a sheet to cover the entrance to the living room so that nobody can see what Santa brought the next morning until everyone goes in together. So after our stockings were out the sheet went up and Emily went to bed. We stayed the night at my parents house as did Ben and Sara.

Snow Fun

It's been forever since I posted, but a week and a half ago we actually got quite a bit of snow that stuck to the ground. Emily has been begging to build a snowman so I told her we would. Just as we were getting ready to go outside Joe got home early from work so I had him come out with us. We tried to build a snowman, but the snow wasn't quite right for it because it wouldn't stick together. Joe and I ended up shoveling the walk instead and Emily had fun throwing the snow at us. Maddie followed us around and eventually found something she really loved. Yes, she is eating the snow. She thought it was delicious.

We told Emily she should try it. She loved it too.
I guess we'll have to build a snowman another time.