Happy Spring!

I type this blog entry on the second day of spring....as the snow flies outside my window!  Ironic that the crocuses are blooming and the trees are budding but the snow still flies!  It has been forever since I posted last and I wish I had a valid excuse, but truth is.... I don't lol!  

I'm about to get really tech-savy and figure out how to share pictures and post from my phone #fancy! We are leaving for a spring break trip tomorrow around dinner time and we are SOOO excited!  Just the boys and I are going, husband and Mia will be staying home together (wish him luck!!)  My mom and sister are going with also so it should be a down-right chaos-filled crazy time! We headed on a field trip/ vacation but *shhh don't tell the kids!  

First we are headed to Mammoth Cave, Kentucky for a caving adventure.  From there we head to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.  There is a Titanic Museum that we will be visiting then spending a few days flying by the seat of our pants and doing whatever sounds fun at the time.  Our final stop will be Nashville before heading home.  Bottom line I am super excited to spend time with the boys, Mom and Hannah, excited to get away for a bit. So stay tuned for picture posts from the road :)

Until then, I will post some random pics of what we have been up to lately....

Reece just finished playing basketball for the first time.  This was an 'iffy' decision for us due to his asthma.  Any kind strenuous activity generally tends to lead to asthma attacks for him.  We have had great luck with swimming and Tae Kwon Do, so this was the first 'running' type sport he has really played.  While he may not be super skilled in the sport of basketball, asthma-wise he did fine with minimal issues.  As far as the skill side...Tysen likened Reece's playing to "looking like he has a squirrel in his pants" lol!

Anyways, we are so lucky to be part of a GREAT Home schooling community as this was entirely put on by a group of home schooling families and it was wonderful!

Mia keeping herself busy in the stands

Story time~  We quite possibly have THE best Library ever, especially the Children's Department! 

Our story times are always fantastic, the librarians put so much work and time into them and it shows! They do things that I think about doing with my kids but that I don't want to put the effort into doing lol!  Like painting, or taping an entire train track through the library!

Occasionally I remember to pack my camera to capture the fun, this last weeks was all about trains.

 Using 'shakey eggs' to make train sounds :)

Seriously how neat is this?!

Best buds :)

 Choo choo!

Randomness...while doing Pilates the other day I realized that Reece is THIS flexible....while I am not.

Stay tuned for this coolness!  Reece's Mad Science Lab Birthday party!  I have to say I was super impressed with myself lol!  I will post additional pictures later promise!

No Peanut Butter?? No Problem!

So due to Reece's allergies, peanut butter is a definite No-Go at our house.  Reece is so allergic that it is beyond dangerous to have pb in the house or for us to eat it and then be around him.  He can have a reaction by just being around something with pb or peanuts in it.  While we have gotten used to not having it around, there are times we miss it like crazy.  We talk about having peanut butter like you probably talk about a great vacation, "Remember having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with a cold glass of milk....sigh."  We reminisce about all the yummy treats that we would eat if we could, maple nut goodies, nutter butters, Reeses Pieces, honey roasted peanuts, and that's just my list, Jamie and Tys have their own!

We don't discuss our love for pb in front of Reece because obviously we don't want to hurt his feelings. However, he now knows because we have discovered a replacement!  Wow Butter, Google it, try it, LOVE it!  There are many pb replacement products, made with soy beans, or sometimes almonds and we have tried many.  Wow Butter is the best so far!!  

It has brought THIS  back into my life! 

Wow Butter was created because of kiddos like Reece which is super cool. It was created so that allergic kids had an alternative to real pb, and so schools that are nut free have another option to pb.  Better yet, Wow Butter explains the benefits to a nut free school and helps bridge the gap between allergic and non-allergic families.  It educates about nut allergies which is MUCH needed!  And bonus!  It's healthy!  NO preservatives, artificial junk and no GMOs, tree nut free, egg free, dairy free, peanut free and gluten free.  

I have no idea how it tastes so good minus the above ingredients, but it does.

So Reece has always been very nervous and afraid to try these types of products because they look exactly like the real deal and that's hard to get around.  We knew eventually he would be curious about what real peanut butter tasted like so we insisted he try Wow Butter.  And now....Cannot keep enough in the house!  He loves it!  He's having so much fun trying pb toast, pb & jelly sandwiches, apples and pb (which he thought was Genius!).  He feels included, and not so different anymore and that makes my heart happy :)

Yuck, Yuck and More Yuck

We just cannot shake the sickness around here!  And I'm pretty sure I caused it by jinxing us!  Everyone I know has been sick all fall/early winter except us.  I've even kept Mia out of preschool a day or two to avoid contact with other 'sickies'.  Now that the germs have invaded, it seems there is no going back.  Mia has seriously gross, terrible strep throat...so bad she can barely form words her poor tonsils are so swollen.  Reece has two tiny white spots but no fever, and he is on antibiotics on a 'just in case' basis.  Tysen is desperately hoping since he doesn't have tonsils he will be spared.  And I have had so much contact with Mia, sleeping, cuddling, drool, snot etc it will be a straight up miracle if I don't get it, tonsils or not!

Now that I have a moment, I will try to catch everyone up on what has been going on over the last month or so....pre-sickness of course!

Sickness is finally here...

The dreaded Flu has finally made it to our house...not good. I actually thought we may be able to escape it for this season, only not so much.  So far it's just Mia and I down and out 3 days and counting.  Praying that it stops with us because it's UGLY!  School was cancelled yesterday due to the snow so Tysen was here to take care of us, as well as a great friend that dropped off meds/books/gingerale/and dinner.  Today Jamie took the day off of work to care for our sick selves.  For tomorrrow?? Wish us luck, thinking we may need it.

Science Experiments...not my favorite

I dread doing science experiments.  There I said it.  Sadly this is probably my child's first love when it comes to school.  Reece and Jamie have started watching science experiment shows the ipad at night, not to mention his addiction to Mythbusters.  They have been learning about weird things that I have ZERO interest in like why your fingers and toes wrinkle after a long bath, or how dung beetles find their way around according to the light from the stars and the Milky Way....no joke, true story.  Reece ALWAYS talks/dreams/thinks about science and I don't do a very good job of incorporating that into his school.
So my "New Years Resolution" if you will, is to be better about doing science experiments/activities (and to wake up earlier, but I am failing at that one so far to be honest!) in coordination with what we are learning about.
Today's topic....layers of the earth.  I found a super easy activity and he was super excited!  Winning!

Play-doh and some fishing line to cut through the layers....easy peasy!

Tournament Time!

Reece recently participated in his first ever Tae kwon do tournament.  He was so nervous, but he ended up doing FANTASTIC!  They get awards on how well they do their form, and they get awards based on sparring with opponents.  He took first place in BOTH events!  

 Tons of pictures, I know.  But I am so super proud of him!!

It's been a bit....

So I've been MIA for a smidge bit....I'm going to post a bunch here quickly to catch up on life, so basically whatever I find on my camera, is whatcha get ;)  It's been a bit crazy around here as usual, now that Christmas break has come and gone and we are back in the swing of things as far as activities and home schooling.  Then of course my school semester started again, which is partially to blame for no recent blogging...Now we are just trying to navigate through our days, Reece's school work, my school work, housework and trying desperately to get some good ski trips in between!

A typical day in the life.....

 

Multi-tasking, snack & school

This, it takes LOTS of this :)

Mia in her "school" area, doing ipad puzzles.

We made homemade pizzas the other night, YUM!  And fun for the kids, lucky for us they love weird toppings like spinach and goat cheese!

Oh, and then this happened....so that was fun,  

Mia was looking super grown up and sassy the other day with her new boots and stick-on earrings so I just had to grab a few shots...

Oh and these, LOVE these, they are super yummy in coffee with bits of peppermint chunks....love them!

Only they are sold seasonally and this is my last bag,  so there's that...bummer!