Currently...

Well some of you already know that I had an allergic reaction this weekend to mosquito bites of all things. It landed me in the ER for a few hours.  I am finally starting to feel back to normal after living on Steroids and Benadryl around the clock for the past few days.  Thank you for all your prayers and kind words.  I guess I'll be living in a bubble from now on.  Not really sure how to avoid mosquitos in Texas...  

I've got a lot of pictures to get caught up on including Brooke's Birthday and Kindergarten Graduation. Her Birthday was Monday and her Graduation was today.  I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I now have a 1st grader.

Yesterday morning it dawned on me that I was packing Brooke's last Kindergarten lunch.  Brian walked into the kitchen, took one look at me and said "Are you crying?"  

So what if I was?!

Currently... we attended a going away party for Brooke's friend Alexis.

And my friends (Alexis' parents) Kim and Brian.

At the end of the party Alexis announced that she had made friendship bracelets for all of her friends who attended the party.  I thought that was so sweet and the kids all loved them.

Brian and Kim are moving to Kentucky with our other friends David and Colleen to start OneLife Community Church.  I am so excited for them as they embark on this journey.  Praying for you all!  God's got big things planned in Kentucky.

Currently... Ava had her first set of professional dance pictures taken.  I even got her dolled up with a little makeup.  She has been waiting for this day for a long time.

Ava and her classmates are going to be Bears in this years dance recital.

"Grrrrr."

After dance pictures Brooke and I headed out to attend her end of the year Soccer party.  Thank you Coach Sophia,

 and Coach Chris for all your hard work and dedication this season.

Currently... Parker finished up his first year at preschool.  To say he loved it would be an understatement.  It's been really fun to watch him grow this year.  He's such a character and is talking more and more everyday.  He's becoming quite the little chatterbox.

Currently... Brooke took her dance pictures too.  She has two costumes but I only got a picture of her in this one.  Can't wait to see the professional ones.

Currently... I'm in Heaven.  Look what I found at the store last week.  If I close my eyes when I sip it, Summer is already here.  Minus the 100+ temps.

Rewards and Awkward Moments

So a few weeks ago we got a package from my Mom.  She always wants to buy presents for the kids so she came up with this great idea.

The "Treasure Box."

Every time the kids do something good or have a great day they get a bead in their jar.

When the jar is full they get to pick a prize from the treasure box.  

I would like to point out one thing here.  

And now I know this is going to be a shocker but... Ava doesn't get a bead every day...

Some days it's harder for her to, let's say... Stay on track...

It's the age.

And her being Ava.

It's what makes her great.

Any who, even though she doesn't get a bead EVERYDAY she does have the most bead mass per square inch in her jar.

She has learned (thanks to a tip from Daddy on the first day) that she doesn't have to get a bead every time, as long as every time she gets a bead, she gets a big one.  Now whenever she gets a bead she digs through that jar like she's looking for gold.  Big bead gold.  She analyzes each one to make sure it's one of the big ones.

That girl is gonna do all right in life.  

In other news, last week Parker kept coming up to me saying "I wanna shake it for me!"  

I just kept looking at him like "Why?  Why are you saying that son?  Who? What? Awkward..."

Well I finally figured out what he wanted.  Despicable me!

Shake it for me - Despicable Me = Same difference.

Renaissance Fair

So a few weeks go we finally used the tickets Brian had purchased for the Renaissance Fair.

Aside from choking on Patchouli this was the highlight of my day at the fair.  Brace yourselves...

Funnel Cake Fries.  

Yes you read that right.  

Funnel Cake Fries.

My thighs will never be the same.

When I saw Brian walking over with them I said "Oh, they have sweet potato fries here?" 

He just grinned an evil grin.

I pretty much felt like this after I ate them.

That was Brooke's face after trying to lift up some chain mail clothing.

When Parker saw her struggling he ran over and yelled "It's heaby!  I help you!"

The girls loved the petting zoo.

We saw this guy making some goblets.  It was really cool to see him make something out of a lump of clay in a matter of minutes.  Parker said "Oh no Mama.  He's making lotta messes.  Dat's messy, messy, messy.  We got to clean it up."  

Poor boy.  He's got issues already.

We also spent some time watching this funny clown show.  

And this funny clown.

During the show we spotted Rapunzel walk by.  Ava was so excited when we saw her but when we actually got up to her she froze.  Rapunzel talked to her and tried to get her to take a picture for probably at least 5 minutes but Ava was so star struck she could hardly talk.

It was funny because when we first walked into the place Ava said "Oh my!  This place is like Disneyland.  Look at all the buildings!"  Then when we actually saw Rapunzel she said "It is Disneyland Mom!"  

We spent most of the afternoon hunting down this frozen orange thing.  Ava was not leaving that place until we found one.

At the end of the day we told the kids they could each pick one special thing to buy or do.

Ava chose to get a ballerina tattoo.

Parker chose a butterfly...

At least she made it a blue one.  But did she have to add the glitter?

Brooke chose to get her hair braided.  She always wants me to braid her hair and I'm horrible at it.  

We had such a great day.

Brooke already started making a list of things she wants to do, in what order next year.  

Hum, wonder who she gets that from...

His shirt says "King of the road." With his glittery butterfly tattoo.

My Life In A Cartoon

Saw this on Pintrest and it couldn't be more fitting.  I swear someone has been watching us and turned it into a cartoon.  My kids have said/done each one of these things:

Currently...

Things have been busy around here lately but we're having a blast.  I had to steal a minute to get on here and share a few of my favorite pictures from the last week or so.

Currently... Ava finished up her first season of soccer.  She really enjoyed it.  We really enjoyed watching her too.  She was so cute in her little uniform!

Currently... We got the honor of dedicating 13 babies at our church on Mother's day.  It warms my heart to see so many loving families vowing to lead their children in God's example. I know He has great things planned for each of these little Lovies.  I pray God's power of protection and guidance over each of these precious families.  

After spending time with all those little babies I went home to my little babies on Mother's day.  My sick little babies.  The girls had fevers and Brooke actually threw up.  Brian had bought tickets to a Renaissance Fair and we had planned to go celebrate Mother's Day there but since the kids were sick we decided to stay home.  Daddy saved the day with a Red Box rental .   

Currently...  I found this picture on my computer on Monday.  Brooke stayed home from school so we could go to the Doctor.  Ava tested positive for Strep and the verdict for Brooke is that she had a viral infection.  Not that you could tell that they were feeling under the weather at all by this picture.  Goofballs!

Currently... Brooke partook in her first Field Day.  It was a blast.  We were all pooped by the end of the day.

Currently... This, well whatever kind of bush/tree it is, is blooming in my front yard.  Isn't it pretty?

Currently...  Brooke's dance studio did a little mini recital at Barnes and Noble.  They were so cute.  I can't wait to see them all dressed up in their costumes! 

Currently... During the recital Ava decided Kristine was going to be her new Mommy.  She called her "Momma Kristine" for the rest of the night.

When we left the mall that night after dinner with friends, Brian pointed out Venus in the sky to Parker.  Right away he started yelling at the top of his lungs "There's Venus!"  Only it didn't sound like Venus...  

The funniest part of the whole thing was the girls laughing hysterically.  When I asked them what they were laughing about they said "He's saying 'There's Peanuts!"  

Love them!

Currently... The Fireflies had their last game.  They had a pretty good season all and all.  They have come a long way.  By the end of the season they weren't even scoring on themselves anymore!  You could really see them improving every week.

Currently... We finally made it to the Renaissance Fair.  I've got a ton more pictures to share later but let's just say it was quite the experience.

Alright well I feel so much better that I was able to get caught up on here a little.  I hate getting behind because I forget things to easily.  Time is flying by too fast and I don't want to miss a thing. {enter Aerosmith sound track here}

Now I am going to hobble my way into bed.  Can someone please call and check on me in the morning.  I slightly ODed on Funnel Cake fries (yes you read that right) yesterday so today I hit it hard at the gym today.  I'm pretty sure I'll be feeling it in the a.m.

Are You Missing It?

Last week some time someone posted a link to a recent blog post that really resonated with me.  For a few months now I have really been taking inventory of my life and trying to be more productive and proactive with my time.  -Especially when it comes to my time with my kids and husband.


 The post was titled "How to Miss a Childhood" on a blog called Hands Free Mama.  If you haven't read it yet you should go there right now!  


{How to Miss A Childhood}  


As I read through that list, I'm not gonna lie, a few of those really convicted me to the core.  Even after I've already been making a conscience effort to be less technology distracted.  It was a real eye opener.  


A year or so ago I was in a group that did a study called "The Virtuous Woman: Shattering the Superwoman Myth."  It spoke on Proverbs 31 and how to apply it to modern day life.  I remember one of the quotes I took away from my time in that group with all of those sweet ladies is, "If the Devil can't make you bad, he will make you busy."


I don't want to ever be too busy.  Especially not too busy with things that don't matter.  Every night when my head hits the pillow I pray that I have glorified God, and had some kind of positive impact on those around me.  Particularly my children and husband.  I pray that one day my children will rise up and call me blessed. (Proverbs 31:28)


That is why when I stopped into a local boutique here in my town one day and saw that bracelet, I knew I had to have it.


Anyways, I just had to share that article because I thought it was a great reminder for all of us in this technology driven day and age.

Testing, Testing, 1-2-3!

Last Monday Brooke had some more allergy testing done.  Thank you all of you who sent up prayers for her.  

She puts on a brave face but she had a great deal of anxiety leading up to this point.  I was so proud, she never fussed or cried.  In fact she never has, even when she was a baby and doing all of this.  

When she was about 2 1/2 she saw a picture of her back during a skin test and she said "I look like a Lady Bug."  

So here's the results.  Those small dots all down her back are airborne allergies such as grass and pollens.  As you can see nothing there is swollen which means that she will likely not react to any of those things.  Her Doctor is really puzzled because she keeps showing up negative to all the airborne stuff (even in her blood tests) even though she displays all kinds of nasal and bronchial symptoms thought the year.  He said he highly suspects within the next year she will "grow into" her allergies and they will start to present themselves during testing.  

This would be a good thing in someways because then we would know what her major triggers are and what we could have an action plan on what to avoid rather than just treating symptomatically as I am having to do now.  

That big red spot right at the bottom of her neck between her shoulders is where they put the peanut mixture.  Unfortunately as you can see, she had a pretty big reaction to that.  We were hoping for different results, at least that she was growing out of the peanut allergy but it looks like that's not the case.  

In fact by the time we got done talking to the doctor and got to the car the welt was still growing.  It's kid of hard to see in this picture but before she got in her car seat I snapped this picture.  It was welted all the way across her back between her two shoulder blades.  By this point she said it was itching pretty bad (but she was good and didn't scratch) and her poor little eye started watering and her left arm started to welt up too.  I got her home and got some Benadryl in her and she was fine.  

So that's where we are for now.  Still highly allergic to peanuts.  The Doctor said at this point there is a 1 in 5 chance that she will outgrow it on her own so we're still hopeful.  

We also went ahead and had her Doctor put her name down in the system for a trial that has been going on for the last 5 years or so.  This doesn't mean that she will be a part of the trial it just means that they can contact us and give us more information if we are interested down the line.  From what I understand and have learned about it is that they give the peanut allergic person a very small amount of peanut protein and slowly train their immune system to build up a tolerance for it.  

 Her Doctor said his friend's child is doing it and she is now up to eating 13 peanut M&Ms a day.  It's crazy and very terrifying to think about handing your child something you know could possibly kill them but we thought it would be worth talking to someone and learning a little more about it if down the line if could save her life.  

We did joke though that she might outgrow (or build up a buffer to) peanuts but she'll end up with Diabetes because of eating all those peanut M&Ms everyday.