Life on our corner

I am cautiously announcing a dairy victory!  (Cautiously, because I have declared victory before only to have to have to recant my declaration!)  I have been cooking with low reacting dairy products and have not noticed any effects on Reuben or Elise!  :)  I have been letting them have one meal with baked in dairy each day.  (We have skipped a day or two because so many of the recipes in my rotation are d-free now that I had to make an effort to put it in!)  I have been able to use butter, buttermilk and in a few recipes I used half dairy milk half non dairy.  Why is this so exciting?  First, we went to a picnic the other day and I didn't read labels.  I didn't have to be "that mom."  Second, I will be able to save some money!  D-free chocolate chips can be expensive, and real food butter substitutes are expensive.  Third, I don't have to experiment with nasty d-free cookie recipes any more!  If it never gets better ...

I took Reuben in for his 4 year today.  Last year...36 lbs 36 inches.  This year 39 lbs 39 inches.  73% for weight and 22% for height.    The nurse said "Buddy, you are a square!"  We knew that already. He got referred to an allergy Dr.  On the one hand he is too young to start allergy meds (unless he starts not being able to sleep-then he'd be looking at shots.) but knowing what he is allergic to could help us make better decisions for him (watch pollen counts, tell Jonah there is no dog in his future, etc.)  Looks like it is time to start figuring our how to get him to take apple cider vinegar!  (Sigh...)

We just finished a home study this morning with Children and Families of Iowa.  (My house is pretty well picked up so I can sit down and type out a quick update!)  We are excited as a family to be in the process of getting approval for the Kidsave  Summer Miracles program and looking forward to hosting a child from Colombia for a month this summer!  It is a step of faith, but God has been making it clear in various ways that this is the direction He desires our family to go. This week has been busy for me in particular filling out paper and running from place to getting the necessary documentation and forms completed.  (In someways it is similar to fostering a child for a month so we are going through about 1/2 of what it would take to become foster parents.)  At one point I looked at Jordan and said, "Doing good is really hard work!"  As I thought about this more I realized that we are trying to overcome evil.  Having a battle mentality gi...

This morning when the kids woke up I told them to put on short sleeves because we had a surprise field trip. We met Gramma B and Gramma Great at the Botanical Center and got to pretend it was spring!   By the orchids   Lovely Lady (She has been waiting for short sleeve weather so that she can wear this sweater!)     Grandmas and the kids   Look at the fish!   Me and my babes!     What is this?      This inside of the fig   He looks as disturbed as I was to find out that they throw out the plants in the two themed beds every 6 weeks!  (We kind of wanted to take them home!)   Not sure if this is the wall's intended purpose!     What a great brother!   Group shot!

I had heard that age 8 was when a mom feels like a child can really help out around the house.  I must have an exceptional child because Jonah has become very helpful at 7 1/2!  :)    I kept asking him to load the washing machine, and then one day I heard it running!  He took it upon himself to start the machine as well.  A couple of quick lessons and he was good to go.  We are working on load size.  At first two shirts constituted a load.  Then after explaining water waste he tried washing every piece of cloth in the house at once.  It was amazing to me how helpful the extra pair of hands has been the last couple weeks.  I am loving that this is still an exciting new chore that he is eager to help with!     I taught him how to make scrambled eggs, and Jonah now thinks he is the scrambled egg master. He would making them twice a day if I would let him.  Egg consumption in our home was high, a...

We had a great December.  The highlight for all was spending time with extended family.  We got plenty of snow this month so we have gone sledding a few times.  And we had a great Christmas just the 6 of us, hanging out as a family.   Coloring under the tree!   Annual Gingerbread house assembly.  Benjamin and Violet were here to help us!   My sweet niece Violet   Allison came back from the American Girl Hospital   Elise was just as excited to see her "niece"   Army men!   Melt my heart   Christmas sketching break     These two guys were the best of buddies   Teamwork     Showing off his fireman muscles   Elise is the best 2 year old snow bunny on the hill!   Reuben having a blast with cousins Brandon and Will   My sister-in-laws and I modeling the scarves Jordan's mom crocheted for ...