BINGO, Pancake Guy, Track, Recital, Oral Immunotherapy, Easter, Beanboozled

I have been running behind on the blog these past two weeks because my computer plug died and so did the computer.  I couldn't do anything until the new power cord came in so that is why I am so late in the update this time.  Last time my phone died so it took a bit to get the new phone in to transfer the pictures--ugh.  Oh well life goes on.  Here's the update:

We spent an afternoon at Lagoon two Saturdays ago.  Every Saturday that is where Matthew wants to go.  He can be pretty persistent, too!  As soon as we get up we hear, "Can we go to Lagoon today?"  all day long until we finally give up and go.  The squeaky wheel gets the grease, right?!  Anyway, we don't mind most of the time.   We did get Noah on the Re-Entry ride which is a free fall ride.  I think that will be the ONLY time we will get Noah on it.  It terrified him--poor guy!  In his defense I HATE that ride, too, but have to go along with what the kids want to do--to a point anyway.

Here Sarah and Noah are riding some air gliding ride I forgot the name of:

Saturday morning we did go to two Easter egg hunts.  We let Matthew go to them last year because he was still a bit short, but now he really looks older we had to tell him he was too big for the hunt this year.  He was pretty upset and I really did feel bad for him.  Too bad they don't have an Easter egg hunt for kids older than 12.  Sarah, Daniel and Noah had fun getting some eggs.

Saturday evening we dyed Easter Eggs.  It was nice to be able to do it outside.  It was a bit chilly, but when they spilled anything it wasn't a big deal.  Most of the kids went to church the next day with dyed fingers because the egg dye kit does not have very good egg dunkers so fingers worked better--haha!

 Sarah has been patiently waiting to use her coupon to Cold Stone she got at school.  Aaron decided to 'take one for the team' and take her out to Cold Stone.  What a sacrifice he made--haha!!  He had fun taking Sarah out on a date.

 Sarah has him wrapped around her little finger if you can't tell.  She really does get away with murder at our house, but that's a topic for another post--haha!

 The next morning the Easter Bunny visited our house and hid all the kids' Easter baskets.  They had a fun time looking for them.  Josh and Daniel's were superbly hidden and took a while to find--haha!

 Success:

 In their baskets they got a small bag of Beanboozled any flavored jelly beans.  It really does have any flavor, too, as you can see:

Aaron decided to challenge Josh to a Beanboozled challenge.  They both picked out an orange colored jelly bean which meant they had a 50/50 chance of it either being peach or barf flavored.  Mark, set, go:

 Aaron did not come out a winner of that challenge as you can see from the video:

We all had a good laugh at his expense.  That was the first and last Beanboozled challenge Aaron entered with the kids--haha!  He couldn't get the barf taste out of his mouth for a while after even with drinking a Coke.

 Here's the kids before we left for church on Sunday.  I had to catch them before we left for church because afterward it is a race to see who can get out of their church clothes and into comfy clothes the fastest.  Sarah did have cute Easter egg hair that amazingly stayed in through most of church--wahoo!

 The day before they had had a new BBQ place open up by us which meant that Aaron HAD to go see the grand opening.  They had a few samples so Aaron took notes of the different flavors and pictures of the products.

He came home and tried out a pork butt roast for Sunday dinner using his new found knowledge from that grand opening.  It was pretty good, too.  Aaron's getting to be a pretty good cook!  Here's the pork roast:

Daniel finally got to start the Oral Immunotherapy program to try and get him over his cashew and pistachio allergy.  It is where they give you small amounts of the allergen daily throughout 7-8 months.  To begin it took two days of sitting in the updose room for 4-5 hours while he got an increased dose of cashew flour mixed with apple juice every 15 minutes to see if he would react.  He did great the first day.  I had to work that first day so Aaron took him, but said everything went well.  He was excited and nervous to start the program since he ended up getting an epinephrine shot the first day when he started the milk OIT program 3 years ago.  Bottoms up:

I got to take him for back to back day #2.  He did great the first four hours, however, when we got home he started saying his throat was itchy, he was sneezing and had a runny nose and his face was a titch puffy.  DOH!!  Luckily, they sent us home with instructions of what to do at home in case of a mild reaction.  I gave him Allegra and Zantac and watched.  I couldn't watch at home for very long because I had to work an afternoon shift down in Bountiful.  Unfortunately, I had to take Daniel along with me to work because I couldn't leave him home alone and Aaron is next to impossible to get a hold of while at work.  It worked out ok because Josh had a track meet right by the center I was at so Daniel only had to stay with me for about an hour before Aaron could come pick him up.  Luckily, the Allegra and Zantac did the trick because he stopped having any symptoms.  Now he just gets a daily dose until the next week when he updoses to the next higher amount.  Luckily, the updose appointments are only 90 minutes every week instead of the 4-5 hours of the first two days.  Here's Daniel on day 2:

 While updosing and waiting for any type of reaction we all sit in a common room with other OIT patients.  It must be a pretty amazing program because there is a family who has moved here from Australia and Mexico to live here for 7-8 months just to get their kid over their food allergen.  There is also another family that drives down from Boise, Idaho for the updose appointments every week which is crazy.  It makes me thankful that we live only 20 minutes away from this program and that our insurance covers everything except the office copays and in the initial start up fee.  We are truly counting our blessings!!  Cashews are my most favorite nut so I am really counting down until we can have them in the house without killing my son!!

Noah just melts my heart.  He can be a crazy, out of control kid at times, but then he will turn around and draw me a picture or write me a sweet note and all things are then forgiven.  How can you stay mad at such a cute face and note?!  I love my Bubbas!

 There was an assembly at the high school this past week.  Some how Matthew won a Scheel's gift card during the assembly where it was awarded in front of the whole student body.  Matthew was SO excited!  As soon as they got back to class he made his teacher take a picture of him and send it to me.  Wahoo Matthew!

 Josh, Sarah and Matthew had a piano recital this past week.  They did great.  Josh had a small case of nerves during his piece, but did good. He played a Dumbledore's Army piece from Harry Potter.

 An interesting thing about Josh is when he is really concentrating he will stick his tongue out.  The interesting thing about this is Aaron does the exact same thing when he is really concentrating, too.  No paternity test needed with this kid--haha!

 Sarah played her piece one time through and then the teacher accompanied Sarah and it sounded cool.  It was the Imperial March from Star Wars.

 Matthew did a duet with the piano teacher's daughter, Emma.  He was so excited to play with Emma.  There was a whole lot of hand flapping and yells when it was their turn.  Luckily, he was able to play the whole piece really well and it sounded pretty good.

 Here's all the performers from our recital session (there were three different sessions):

 After the recital I stayed behind with Noah to say thank you to Emma for working with Matthew so well.  While I was talking to Emma I subconsciously was trying to direct Noah to stay with me as I was walking toward the door.  Noah was not coming along with me so I 'guided' his shoulders a little harder to walk along with me.  It was then I looked down and saw that my hands weren't actually on Noah, but the piano teacher's son.  He was looking at me like I was crazy and told me that he didn't belong to me.  Whoops!  I was pretty embarrassed.  Hopefully he really knows I wasn't trying to kidnap him--haha!  Right after I grabbed the real Noah and left, but not after double and triple checking I had the right kid!

Noah will fall asleep at the weirdest times.  This afternoon he snuggled right up with Aaron and they both nodded off.  I hope Aaron isn't upset at me for posting this picture, but I thought it was sweet.  Again no paternity test needed here--haha!

 Again Noah can fall asleep anytime, anywhere.  He was being a stinker and got sent to his room.  He didn't make it that far.  He made it just out of my eyesight before he laid down and fell asleep on the hard floor in the middle of the hallway.  What a crazy kid!!  Too bad he got a long hour nap before we realized he was still in his room (usually the kids start yelling at us to let them out about 15 minutes of being in their rooms so we really don't pay attention to times because they don't let us forget they are in there).  If we don't get any "CAN I COME OUT NOW?" yells then we actually do forget he was supposed to be in his room.  It came back to bite me that evening when it really was bedtime and he wasn't tired at all.  Good thing I love him!!  He ended up watching TV with me and Aaron until it was time for us to go to bed.

Saturday we had our annual family BINGO party.  It originally started out by celebrating my Grandpa T's birthday which is on New Years Day with all my Dad's extended family.  It has been going on since 1964.  My Grandpa passed away a few years ago, but we still continue with the fun tradition.  We don't meet up with my Dad's extended family anymore because there were just too many of us so we just do it with my parents and siblings families.  All of us bring a bunch of wrapped white elephant gifts for the BINGO prizes.  We had pot luck and played some BINGO.  When all the presents were claimed and opened we then started a movie for the kids and the adults played some games, too.  It was a fun night and a fun tradition that the kids look forward to every year.

 Josh is in a class called Exploring Tech 1 which is basically a fancy name for wood shop.  He has made a few cool things like a wooden car that they raced with the other students.  Josh's car came in 4th out of the class--wahoo!  He has also made a name tag which is lost in his locker somewhere.  His latest project was this penny board he brought home yesterday.  It is a fun game.  You play penny hockey (kind of like Foosball only the pegs don't move).  I found out I am a penny hockey natural.  Too bad it isn't a real sport, though.  It has been fun to play with the kids especially Josh.  It is fun to see the stuff he has made at school.

Josh has been doing track for over a month.  He had his first track meet two weeks ago. I felt incredibly guilty that I couldn't attend since I was working, but Aaron was able to make it.  Josh has been working harder at running this year.  One of his old Young Men leaders is actually a part time track coach who has gone out running with Josh a few times to give him a few pointers which have really helped this year.  That first track meet he got his personal best time in the mile.  He also is running the 800 meter (1/2 mile), too.  Wahoo Josh!

 He had another track meet this past week which I had to miss again because of work.  I was glad Aaron made it.  He did pretty good again. I am glad Aaron took the pictures and texted them to me at work so I could see Josh run.

I have been working a lot this round.  I am averaging anywhere from 24-32 hours a week.  It will be nice to have the extra money, but it has been hard on everyone especially Aaron who has to pick up the slack while I am gone.  However, I think he is gaining an appreciation for all the stuff I do at home when I am there.  I know he appreciated it before, but not as much as when he has to fill in the gaps.  Anyway, I will be glad to be done with the craziness in a few more weeks. The 4:30 am wake ups are really kicking my butt!!  I do enjoy my job, though.  It is fun to teach kids [CNA (certified nursing assistant) students] who really want to learn at the different clinical facilities.  Since I have been working other things have been pushed aside--like having a clean house.  I have realized that Aaron and I have really differing opinions on what a clean house should look like.  Oh well, what can you do?!  

Josh continues to be the Lumberjack spokesman for the school.  Every other week he gets to make the live announcement for what flavor of pancakes they will be having that week.  He gets his creative juices flowing for these announcements.  I have never seen the announcements so he got a friend to record this last announcement so he could show me.  They were having peanut butter banana pancakes this week.  Good job pancake guy!

Oral Immunotherapy, Spring Break, Birthday Week, Aquarium, Baby Animal Days, Work, Red Carpet, Single Mom

 I have been slacking off.  A lot has happened in the last 11 days so here's the update...

Last week was Spring Break.  I wanted to go somewhere, but things just didn't work out that way.  We ended up doing a staycation instead.  Monday we visited the Loveland Living Planet Aquarium down in Draper.  It was busy, but we still were able to see everything we wanted.  We started off in the South American part of the aquarium.  Here's the kids checking things out:

 We even got to see an Electric Eel.  They had some buttons you could touch to feel what a shock from this eel would feel like.  I was surprised--the shock was stronger than I thought it would have been.

 There were some BIG fish.  Don't ask me what their names were, though because I don't remember--haha!

 All the kids had to try the rope bridge, of course!

 The penguins were fun to watch.  The kids thought it was most exciting when they saw them poop in the water.  Oh the life of a family of mostly boys--sigh.

 Daniel was super excited to see the rare endangered Japanese Spider Crabs.  He made me take a few pictures.

 We got to see the penguins swim from below as well.  The poop was still pretty funny from that angle, too if you were wondering...

 The jellyfish were my favorite.  I could sit and watch them swim for hours.  They were pretty relaxing.

 The otters were another kid favorite.

 The kids had fun posing in the Megalodon jaw fossil:

 The touch pool with the sting rays was pretty cool.

 Josh had the advantage of the long arms so he could really reach out and touch them:

 I was surprised that Matthew really wanted to touch them, too:

 The underwater shark tunnel was pretty cool:

 They had another touch pool with starfish you could feel:

 Long arms are really advantageous at these places--just ask Josh:

 Noah kept asking of a picture with him on the turtle sculpture so I finally did just to appease him:

 They got to pet a snake as well:

 It was a fun night.  We had all been to the aquarium before except for Aaron.  He was glad to finally see it for the first time that night.

The next day was Noah's birthday.  Instead of celebratory balloons he requested donuts.  The kids all woke up before me that morning and chowed down.  This was all that was left of the two dozen donuts by the time I woke up:

 For lunch we went to Pizza Pie Cafe.  Noah got his most favorite thing to eat--cherry tomatoes with ranch.

 He was excited to get his Cookie Monster from Pizza Pie since it was his birthday:

 Since he requested an ice cream cake we obviously couldn't bring that to Pizza Pie so we brought a donut with 7 candles.  I did use trick candles, though.  If you can't tease your kids who can you tease?!  Noah wasn't a fan--haha!

We were glad G&G T were able to join us for lunch.  Noah made sure to give them lubs:

 After lunch I schlepped the kids up to Baby Animal Days in Wellsville (up by Logan).  Aaron had to go back to work, so he couldn't come with us unfortunately.  When we got there We first got in line to see the baby bears up close:

 We weren't able to touch them, but we had fun watching them play.  There were about 8 cubs in the enclosure:

 Next we visited the baby turtles.  They were tiny!

 Surprisingly they were pretty fast, too:

 Matthew loved them:

 We next got to cuddle the baby bunnies.  They were so soft!

 I even got to hold one.

 We got to touch a snake, too:

 Next we visited and pet the calves:

 Then we went into the petting ring with mules, goats and a mini horse:

 Next we moved on to the baby ducks:

 Matthew kept trying to give his duck squeezes, kisses, and snuggles:

 Good thing ducks are pretty hardy--haha!

 Next we got to hold the baby chicks.  In Josh fashion he made the joke of saying those were the easiest chicks to pick up...

 We got to visit a root cellar which was pretty dark and musty:

 We HAD to ride the train, too:

 Matthew and Josh sat in the regular seat.  Sarah, Daniel and Noah decided to ride in the red jail caboose:

 It was pretty squishy in the caboose so when the ride was over the kids were more than happy to get out of jail:

 They had another area with calves that we stopped by as well:

 They had a couple of stands where you could spin the wheel of prizes.  The kids insisted on stopping and were reward with a few pieces of candy from their spins:

 Next we went on the wagon ride.  Interestingly enough the guide and the horses that pulled the wagon were the same ones that ran the sleigh up at Hardware Ranch back in January.  The snowy mountains were so pretty in the background!

 Of course I look down to see Noah's front pocket FULL of rocks he had collected during our visit.  What a crazy kid!

 Yep it's the same guide that we had up at Hardware Ranch back in January:

 Last the kids got to ride the horses.  Here they are waiting for their turn:

 Noah:

 Sarah:

 Daniel:

 Matthew was beside himself with excitement.  He LOVES horseback riding!

 Josh even took a turn:

 After that the kids tried their hand at roping with lassos.  They weren't very good, but that's ok:

 When we got home we had G&G T back over for ice cream cake.  Noah got to blow more candles out:

 At the end of the night Noah curled up in my lap and promptly fell asleep.  It was a good day!

 The next morning bright and early Grandpa T took the three middle kids fishing.

 They caught a bunch and cleaned them when they got back to our house.

 Aaron smoked them for dinner and they were actually pretty good.

The next day our Smiths Marketplace was having a fashion show and requested volunteer models.  I signed Sarah up and she was pretty excited.  Here's the clothes and sandals they picked out for her to wear:

 Here she is rocking the red carpet:

 I am a bit biased, but she is a gorgeous model!!

 The next day was Josh's birthday.  Of course you can't get by the annual ear flips by Dad.  Noah even got in on the action, too:

 We went to Pizza Pie Cafe for lunch where Josh LOVED his cookie monster:

 Opening presents:

 He is so tall:

 I know I always say how tall he is, but it is crazy.  He has fully passed Aaron by as you can see:

 After lunch we went to Lagoon for the first time this year.  The kids were so excited.  All the kids are tall enough that they can go on everything.  It's pretty awesome.  Here we are waiting to go on Cannibal:

 We got to sit on the first and second rows:

 Noah also got to drive his own bumper car which he was pretty excited about:

 Since it was Josh's birthday we decided to let him and Daniel try out the SkyCoaster.  Here they are getting suited up:

 Getting ready to get lifted up to the top of the swing:

 They lifted them up so high you could barely see them.  They are the tiny black dot at the top of the tower:

 Here they go:

 Two thumbs up so it must have been good, right?!

 When we got home from Lagoon we had some birthday cake.  Josh had helped me make the cake.  It was home made lemon cake with home made lemon curd filling and home made lemon cream cheese frosting.  It was pretty good.  Josh is turning out to be quite the cook!

 Sunday Josh got interviewed and sustained to be ordained a Teacher.  He was ordained by Aaron after church.  Here's the brand new Teacher:

 It will be crazy--by September we will have a Deacon, Teacher and a Priest in the family.  Crazy!!

While G&G T were with us Sunday for Josh's ordination, Grandpa T happened to mention that he was trying to gather all the state quarters for his collection.  He had gotten all of them except Maine.  He told the boys if they could find a Maine quarter he would give them $2 for it.  Daniel's ears perked right up.  The next day at school Daniel mention he was looking for a Maine quarter.  Tuesday one of his friends brought a Maine quarter to school for Daniel.  Daniel just had to trade one thing from his lunch for it.  He was so excited.  When Daniel got home from school he had me take a picture and text it to Grandpa T to show him he had found a Maine quarter for him.  It was pretty funny.

 I started work this week and it is keeping me pretty busy.  For the next 6 weeks I will be working as a Clinical Instructor for the high school CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant) students.  I really like this job.  However, Aaron had to go on a business trip this week to Fort Worth, Texas which wasn't the best timing, but we made it work.  There were a few days the kids got to school without hair being combed, but what can you do?!  Tuesday after my morning shift was over I got to visit Noah's classroom to celebrate his birthday.  Since his birthday happened over Spring Break it wasn't really his birthday, but that didn't stop Noah from wanting to  celebrate.  He got to be the leader for the day.  He also got to wear his birthday crown, too:

 When I got to his classroom I was able to tell the kids about Noah his likes, dislikes, about his family, etc.  I then got to read one of his favorite books which was Gus and the Baby Ghost which is the same book I read when I was his age--haha!  He then got to pass out his birthday treats which were Ho-Hos.  I was glad I was able to go to the classroom for his birthday that day!!

The next day Daniel and Josh both had appointments with the Allergy doctor.  Luckily, I didn't work that day so I checked them out a bit early so we could have lunch together.  They were pretty fun lunch dates.

 We got word a few weeks ago that Daniel's name came up on the waiting list for the Oral Immunotherapy for Cashews and Pistachios.  Wahoo!!  We have been waiting 14 months to start this program so we were pretty excited.  When we got to the doctor's office they did a pulmonary function test since Daniel has asthma.

He passed with flying colors.  We then got everything in order to start the OIT program next week.  Wahoo!! Hopefully in the next 7-8 months Daniel will be able to eat cashews and pistachios without dying or coming close to dying which is always a good thing.  To prepare I just picked up a whole slew of emergency medications to have on hand at home just in case something goes wrong during this whole OIT thing.  I am just glad we have been through it before with the milk so we do know what to expect--phew!

Josh is doing great with his shots so we will be continuing them.  His was just a 6 month check up to see how things were going which they are going great.

 It has been a crazy 11 days.  I was never so glad to see Aaron home as when I was when I got home from work last night.  We really are a team and it is hard when one of us is out of play even for a few days!  What was even worse is my cell phone died while he was gone.  Ugh!!  I tried to fix it myself, but I couldn't.  Aaron tried when he got home, but it had really died.  Too bad I REALLY needed it for work that night. Oh well what can you do?!  Luckily, it was still under warranty so hopefully I will be getting my replacement phone tomorrow which will be great since my next shift is early Monday morning.

Sophie is a crazy dog.  She LOVES to snuggle with you.  During the day she will follow me around until I sit down and then crawl up next to me.  She got so comfy the other day she actually fell asleep with her toy in her mouth.  What a crazy dog!!