Happy newYear!!

Hope everyone has/had a good evening and wishing you many blessings for the new year!!

We are letting the girls stay up a little late, til 9 anyway... Enjoyed our Scooby Doo sundaes .... Interesting... and playing games. They're having a ball!

Been a busy day, but still trying to figure out what we did since there was nothing accomplished but a trip to the lab and Costco. We almost had another trip to urgent care (had one last night too) but they weren't accepting any more patients for the night and recommended going to the ER. Yeah... No more trips to the ER please!! Miss D has an ear infection. Took her yesterday, but the dr said her ear was fine... Today it's draining like crazy and plugged. :-(. As much as I hate those tubes, right now Im thankful for them because if it wasn't for them, she's be in a lot of pain from the pressure. So we will go to urgent care first thing in the morning. I noticed all 3 kids sounded congested at the beginning of the weekend after all our Christmas celebrations were over but thought nothing of it since it didn't get worse than a little bit of congestion and we were all exhausted. Apparently Miss D was worse than I thought... Poor baby :-(. She's being a good sport and trying not to complain much.

On a good thought though, Miss D informed me she wants to be a chef when she grows up and open a restaurant for kids with food allergies.... If she follows through with that, how cool would that be? Shes always loved to make pretend food... my favorite to date is sparkly chicken. :) That kid always surprises me when she prefers to watch cooking shows or some of those cake shows instead of cartoons or other kid movies. Maybe someday she really will be a chef :-). She loves food!

Busy busy busy...

Though not right now. :-) I have a little boy in my arms that is having some separation anxiety issues lately and wants to be held or cuddled during sleep times. Though I have a mountain of laundry to finish and my own bedroom to clean/organize, I'm enjoying the quiet time.

We had little man's 1yr checkup a few weeks ago... Can you believe he is 26 lbs already!! Littlest Miss only weighs 28!

Otherwise... we've been quite busy. I very much enjoyed the holidays this year with my 3 little monkeys. We didn't get to do everything planned, but maybe next year when they're a bit older and can help more. We had 3 Thanksgiving dinners, 3 Christmas celebrations, 3 birthday parties, the kids got to help others in need and they were so thrilled to do so, many art projects and shopping trips and got to watch mommy attempt new recipes... A few got trashed, some were ok, others great success and will be made again. Miss D was quite thrilled with some of them... To most of you who have had goodies cooked or baked with the "standard" ingredients, they may not be that great, but for someone who doesn't know the difference... The compliments coming from her could not have made me any more happy than they did... That means mommy did good! And I think they turned out pretty darn good myself! I told Daddy that my plan is to try recipes throughout the year so I'm not trying to pull things together at the last minute and try unknown recipes.

I just took Miss D down to the lab for some allergy tests that were requested by her allergist in the winter when things are not in bloom. She's still not so good with needles, but getting better. It only took 3 of us to hold her down this time :-P. should be able to pick those up Thursday.
I have yet to do the GI test requested by the naturopath to check on her leaky gut though.. Unfortunately that one is paid for up front (out of pocket) so I've put that one off a little bit, no harm in waiting.. More healing time. I have noticed a huge difference with her asthma since eliminating corn, gluten and soy and a few other foods from her diet. Instead of using her inhaler 1-6 times a day depending on activities and such, she's using it 2-3 times a week now, if that, unless she comes in contact with animals... Then its not quite as bad as it was! Hallelujah! I'm sure the pharmacy will be calling me with a reminder to pick up her new inhaler soon and we aren't even close to opening the box from the last one we got. That's amazing seeing as how a few months ago I was begging the pharmacist to fill her RX early because her medicine was almost gone. Another thing we've noticed is no tummy aches lately. Yah! We may continue with this restricted diet even after its lifted because even I noticed a difference with a limited intake of wheat/gluten. I've had too much the past few weeks and have noticed an upset digestive system for me.

Daddy goes back to work on the 2nd, I'm sure he's enjoyed a little break. Though who knows how much longer that project will last, could be 2 weeks, could roll to the next phase... Will see what happens. I plan to start back with school/business as usual on the 2nd also. We've all had a little break.. Time to get back to reality. I'm hoping we'll be done with school for summer break, but looks as though we will be working through the summer. We've had a couple long breaks and started late. I'm not feeling too bad about it though, Miss D is reading awesome right now and is figuring out math quickly! I love my little sponges!!!

Happy Birthday to my baby!

My oldest baby is officially out of the preschool years. She turns 6 tomorrow!! She's growing so fast! Has a style all get own and a Heart of gold. If it wasn't for this little girl, I wouldn't have learned, and still learning, to cook as I have.

Please remember that we are delaying her birthday party, her choice, so if you've bought a gift, just hold on to it. And please no sneaking extra gifts in under different names or purposes...remember that she is the one that wanted to do this.

It's like the old experiment... You can have 1 marshmallow now or wait and get 2 later... She wants to get 2 later :-).

Added foods

We have successfully added a couple of foods back Into sis' diet. Coconut, rice and turkey seem to be ok with her tummy. Oranges are a no, they cause welts and sores on her tongue. So that makes it a bit easier on me and gluten-free baking is getting easier... Our next test is potatoes. That will not only allow for potatoes, but potato starch is a biggie for baking too :-)

Here's a treat we look forward to all year long... We found it at Yokes yesterday :-). We are also looking forward to seeing the pumpkin spice flavor, haven't tried that one yet.

Quite a scare...

We have had quite a week around here. We have skipped school this week because mommy has not been feeling well... Finally realized that is seasonal allergies, not a cold or flu... At least I hope I never gets that far. Allergies can turn into a bacterial or viral infection because they wear your system down.

And Wednesday this week Miss A had a very severe allergic reaction to a supplement that was intended to strengthen her immune system. I will spare you the details. She ended up having to ride in an ambulance to the ER, but was unconscious for that and stayed a night in the hospital. She's doing great now, like nothing ever happened! I love how kids bounce back! Mommy and daddy haven't bounced back as quickly, but we'll be ok. :-). I have contacted the company that manufactures the supplement, we'll see how that goes...

Pictures

Here's a preview of our family pictures taken a month ago. I will get them printed for family when funds allow me to do so.

Tough decision

I've decided to put MOPS and a few other kid and mom activities on hold until the kids are older.... Don't worry, we're still doing dance. Today will be my last meeting. With other activities it just adds to things that interfere with school and I never seem to be able to finish our school week within the time period I need to or should. It also interferes with little mister's nap time and then I have super-cranky baby to deal with. He's so good when everyone else is around, but when it's just mommy and/or daddy, he lets loose and can be a real stinker. So, as much as I enjoy going, I'm done for now. In the past month, I think there have been 3 days that we didn't have to go anywhere...oy! To much go go go and the kids and I need a break from it.

What am I supposed to do with this, Mom?

We headed out to Bill's Berry Farm Friday. but forgot sis had dance class... Oops!! So we missed the pumpkin patch... So we ended up going with my Team31/mops group this morning. We had two tough weather days in both... Friday was wet, muddy and cold, today is extremely windy and muddy. We tried to make the best of it though. I would definitely recommend Bill's berry Farm for pumpkin patch over country mercantile... So fun and the family is super nice. I know where the 5 of us will be going next year! Ok.. Enough playtime... Baby boy is finally napping... Gotta get lunch going and attempt to get school done before dance class in a few hours.

Nothing new..

Just plugging along with school, taking tomorrow off for the pumpkin patch with daddy, but finishing up our week Saturday instead. Trying to find some variety in our allowable foods.. I have at least 3 recipes that are keepers even without such a strict diet

You can tell baby boy is learning to get around now with all the bruises on his poor little face. He's getting it though, can stand without assistance for 10-15 seconds as of tonight. :-)

http://youtu.be/_r9snKgnGlU

If my house wasn't baby-proofed before, it will be now! I see a walker in the near future!

Another Halloween idea..

A loves raisins! Just make sure the ingredients are raisins/grapes only!

Score!!!

check out http://www.indiecandy.com/Lollipops-s/47.htm

All the hard candy lollipops on this page are safe for our current diet, except for the "sugar-free" lollipops, which have lemon in them.  The chocolate ones should be fine too, but she's not a huge chocolate fan.  And don't worry about the "ascorbic acid" it is fruit based, not from corn. 

Yah!!!

I found 2 treats that are safe during sis' restricted diet....and I already know that they are a hit with both girls... Miss A actually squealed when I showed her, she was so thrilled!! Both are found in the health food section at Fred Meyer. These flavors and brands only!!

Coming along...

Tell you what... Beans and red meat get old!! But the sacrifice is worth it. I have so far lost 2lbs following (not strictly) Miss A's diet. But we are eating very healthy. I'm really going to need to be organized with a meal plan because quick meals will only happen if things are already prepared. Eating beans out if a can is ok once in a while, but the stuff they line the cans with is not good for you. I have a half dozen bags of different types of dried beans in the pantry and 2 large containers of soaked, not cooked beans waiting in the fridge. We made a roast several days ago and that worked well for many different dishes... Tacos, stir fry, etc... But it's gone now. I'm still hunting for safe gluten-free flour combinations so we can enjoy muffins or biscuits once in a while, but cutting potatoes and rice out makes that difficult since those seem to be key ingredients. Refusing to give up yet! I don't want Miss A to miss out on too much stuff, especially since this takes us through the holidays and Halloween. Worst time to diet! :-)

For anybody that occasionally makes food for her, I will send out a list of things I know she can have and we'll continue to add to that as we see other stuff. There is nothing processed that I have found to be 100% safe. Even store bought applesauce Is out of the question because it contains ascorbic acid. Did you know that is usually made from corn? We are a very corn-dependent society!

A delay of birthday (party)

Just an FYI!! The idea was brought up today and Miss A likes the idea, so we are going to delay Miss A's birthday party this year until her dietary restrictions have been (hopefully) lifted because 3 months will take her until after the start of the new year. This way she can have her supergirl birthday cake and EAT it too! But this means gifts are delayed too and hope everyone will respect her decision to delay the party and everything that comes with it, that means no sneaking in extra gifts! She wants to wait. That doesn't mean you wouldnt be able to wish her happy birthday. She is aware what it means and is ok with it and it will be an extra special after waiting for it for a month.... I promise!!

Mobility

I've had a crawler for just over a week. He's tired and hungry here, so he's quite whiny, but still cute. :-)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bimY96XLUKo

Planning for Halloween.

So I am looking at the different names of corn, sugar, rice, etc. Unless you can find fruit bars/fruit leather that are nothing but fruit (no fruit juice, no ascorbic acid, nothing but fruit....and good luck finding one that Is not homemade) then let's plan a food/candy-free Halloween this year. It amazes me how many things corn, rice, potato and soy are found in and the different names they go by.

Results are in...

So Miss A does have leaky gut syndrome with some yeast and icky bacteria in her gut and an array of foods that showed up as problematic for her insides. So on top of our avoidance list of dairy, egg, peanut, tree nut, sesame, fish and shellfish, have more to add.... Wheat, oat, rye, barley, gluten, rice, corn, peppers, turkey, pork, lamb, chicken, potatoes, lemons, oranges, soy, cranberry, coconut and I'm sure I'm forgetting several. We also have to really severely limit all types of sugars (which includes some fruits (watermelon/cantaloupe/etc), juice, pop, frozen yogurt, sorbet, popsicles, candy and more) and anything artificial (colors, flavors, etc). She also has a group of supplements to take on top of the vitamins I already have her on that assist in healing, detoxing and creating a good environment for her gut.

She will be on this diet for 3 months to start with and will be retested. And other things could pop up during the detox and healing process so we have to be on top of it and keep track of how she's feeling and reacting to everything. I will be keeping a food journal for her, so if she's with any of you when I am not around, I will need to know what she ate and if she had any symptoms after she ate it... Please!! :-) please run anything by me first though... This is going to be quite a process for our little one and something could be fine one day and not the next.


Edit... By the way... Corn includes cornstarch, corn syrup, pop corn... No cornstarch or wheat as a thickener... I'm on the hunt now! Girls and I skipped school today to go hunting :-). We will make it up Saturday... I think this is a justifiable excuse for skipping school today... My baby has to eat!

Figuring it all out

Finally settling into a routine... I think. We pretty much do school from 9-3 with LOTS of breaks. Then Monday and Friday we head to dance class and Thursday is our half day since we have MOPS every other week and the other weeks we do dr apts and other apts then school after lunch til 3. I didn't realize how many appointments we go to until I got everything planned out. I'm thankful for MOPS, I get a time out with other moms my age to chat and even get breakfast while the kids get 2 hours of bible study and play with other kids their age, though I tend to keep Mr M with me instead of with the other babies in the nursery. The kids LOVE it!! And I like the fact that they are so careful and on top of things with the allergies. Miss A even has another BFF. :-)

Late Tomorrow is our follow up apt with the naturopathic dr for Miss A... I've been impatiently waiting for the results for 2.5 weeks. I'm actually hoping she has a leaky gut, maybe we can help calm down some of her allergies and asthma. :-). If that's the case, along with the already avoided foods in her diet (dairy, eggs, peanuts, treenuts, sesame, fish and shellfish) we'll have to avoid all forms of sugar (sugar, honey, agave possibly most fruits), anything artificial, yeast, gluten, grains, potatoes and other nightshade vegetables, possibly tomatoes and a few other inflammatory foods. (I've done a little research already to prepare) Then whatever comes back as problematic on the delayed food allergy/food sensitivity test where they tested 96 common foods will also be on the avoidance list. We will be eating on this diet with her, though I won't be as strict with the other kids on it. 3I have no intention of making separate meals for all of us, only do that on rare occasions, like pizza delivery night, but that's extremely rare. :-)

Baby M had his well baby checkup today...Weighed in at 24 lbs and measures 28.5 inches tall. Believe it or not, he isn't off the growth charts... Weight is high and height is average, but I think his numbers are lower than Miss A's were until she started walking.

No worries...

Let me reassure those of you that are concerned about us homeschooling and meeting the minimum core requirements set by the state/nation for school.... Don't worry!!! After digging into this curriculum and watching other children go through kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grade in public school, I can tell you that we will exceed those requirements!! It is not basket weaving, its real stuff that I'm fairly certain most kids do not learn in kindergarten :-).

School!

School starts tomorrow! Yah!! In some ways I'm ready, some ways I'm not... But I'm ready enough to start and ill continue to pull stuff together as we need. Should be a challenge and an adventure!

Nothing new to report...

Everybody surviving the smoke in the air?  We're full of sniffles and coughs around here... I'm praying none of them turn into the sickies...  Daddy is sick, but his immune system took a big hit a few days ago after a trip to the ER due to Anaphylaxis.  He accidentaly ate walnuts and had a very severe reaction.  He is still recovering, but I'm soooo thankful he's ok and it wasn't any worse than it really was!!!  I will also be glad when the fires are all gone. I miss being able to open the doors and windows now that the weather is cooling down a bit.

We have yet to recieve the test results back for Miss A yet.  It's been 9 days now and I was told about a week and a half.  If I dont hear anything on Monday, I'll check in on Tuesday to see if they've heard anything.  I'm very anxious for the results.

We also have yet to hear from the contractors on bids for the remodel on the house.  Not sure if there's going to be a remodel.  It's been about 4 weeks now and not a word.  They're not winning any brownie points with me right now, that's for sure!!!

Happy Birthday!!

Happy Birthday Daddy! Here is the cake I made for him and one of my sister's kiddos.

Time to hurry up and wait....

So some of you are aware we had an appointment for miss A with a naturopath this morning. She suggested the possibility of leaky gut syndrome with an overgrowth of yeast in her system. Everything she said about It and everything I've ever read about it does make sense to me, but we'll see what the lab tests say. They should be back in 1 1/2 to 2 weeks, then we'll discuss possible treatment and dietary changes.... If it is leaky gut we will probly be on a no-dairy(no problem), no-gluten, no/low sugar and no refined starch diet. Hmmm... Eating the way we probly should anyway :-)

Mr Grump!

Oh boy! Mr. Grump made his appearance in my house. M is finally cutting his next two teeth one has just barely popped through the other one is visible under his gums. Poor baby would not let me put him down last night or even allow me to lay him down beside me so I could rest too, I had to be sitting up. Thankfully teething is only temporary!!!

Homemade Magic shell

You know that chocolate stuff you put on icecream and it instantly becomes hard? I found a homemade recipe for it!! 1 1/4 cups chocolate chips and 1/2 cup extra virgin coconut oil, melt it together in the microwave in 30 second increments and mix until all melted together. Then drizzle over icecream. It's a bit runnier than magic shell, but tastes yummy and hardens just as well. Just remember to store the rest in a closed, microwave safe container in the fridge. We have A-safe chocolate chips... Wonder if I could find butterscotch and white chocolate that don't have milk/nuts..... Hmmm...What else? We'd never need to buy icecream topping again!

New friend

M met a new friend this morning... They had a bit of fun, check out the video :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCUozdRyIQE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Goodbye and hello

Unfortunately Twinkle did not make it. We did what we could, but he would not eat and had to be forced to drink water. He died in Mommy's hands with a broken heart.

The same day we found two little friends that needed a new home. They're names are Pip and Squeak. Both are female parakeets. They are allowed to be out of their cage as long as they stay on top, unless we are playing with them and their wings are clipped, so they can't go far anyway. There seem to be no allergy issues with them so far...... Hard to tell with the blooming weeds and smoke and already existent runny noses and coughs right now.

Twinkle

Meet Twinkle! He/she is the newest member of our family, at least temporarily... Depends on Sis' asthma and a few other things. Mommy found Twinkle on our front walk, appears as though the neighbor cat had something to do with it as he bolted as soon as I opened the door to take out the trash. Poor little guy was sitting there shaking and no parents to be found. We got him a little shelter, food and water and guess We'll see what happens.

Impeccable Timing!!

All the local kids have returned to school this week.. we won't start for a few weeks as I have a lot of work left to do to prepare and don't have all our books yet...  but we woke up to 2 girls with icky coughs this morning and the baby ran a fever of up to 102 for about 24 hours from Sunday to Monday.  Really?  I always enjoy back to school week because it's so much quieter around our neighborhood and the mornings are cool enough to open all the doors and windows so the only noise I enjoy, other than the cars from the main road are from my own kids.

Project day!

We've had a busy two days. The girls decorated their dance bags. They are quite pretty don't you think? Both girls are very excited as dance class for Miss I starts next week and Miss A is the following week.  Littlest Miss will also have an encore performance from last season for an upcoming carnival... she's excited, though Miss A is a little bummed that she doesn't get to perform too.  I'll have performance details after we start classes, so make sure you ask about it if you're interested... otherwise with all I have going on, plus school starting soon and adding a few extra rehearsals in September, Mommy (overload) brain may kick in.

 

I also found Miss A a new bike (bigger) for $10, added a few little bells and whistles (new basket, bell and streamers) and some TLC and she loves it. Now is time for her to learn without training wheels, since one training wheel was broken, I decided not to fix it but to teach her how to ride.

Spiders... spiders... everywhere!

As we get ready for a hopefully upcoming remodel, I have been in constant spring cleaning mode.  Unfortunately it is slow, but I am quite pleased with the progress I made today with everything else going on.  I have a nice load to meet up with the Goodwill truck tomorrow, a full tote of clothes for the upcoming consignment sale and a large bag of stuff that just didn't make the cut and will meet it's doom in the trash can first thing tomorrow.  Among all the little things I find tucked in the corners are an amazing amount of spiders!!  Most of them are brown and HUGE!!  Thankfully most of them are contained to the basement, but  few have managed to find their way upstairs.  I honestly must say I am looking forward to the cold weather and the lack of spiders!

I have spent most of my nights studying and preparing to teach the girls preschool and kindergarten starting next month.  I never imagined it would take so much time for me to learn how to teach them, but the online courses I am following are teaching to un-learn how I learned in school and I am encountering a paradigm shift in how to educate as I dig into the fundamentals of the program. Though I must admit I am very impressed so far. 

A & I had their first camp-out of the year with daddy in the backyard tonight.  They were so excited!  Daddy set up the tent, we got the sleeping bags out and roasted marshmallows in the fire-pit.  It is the perfect night for a camp-out, though hopefully it won't be too cold.  As summer comes to a close, the evenings are getting cooler and is supposed to be down to 50 degrees tonight.  I'm have to admit that I love having my window open at night for the cool air and so thankful that A is not having respiratory problems because of it, as she has in the past.

I made a appointment for A with a local naturopath.  I have been doing what I can and we have been seeing the holistic practitioner less and less for several different reasons,  it appears as though A is getting better, especially with her asthma, but I honestly don't know what I'm doing, most of it is a stab in the dark.  I have heard amazing things about the gal we have an appointment with from those in the allergy community and am looking forward to someone pointing us in the right directly instead of, well... let's try this...  or how about we try this and see if it works.  I'm fed up with trying stuff that might work or that we have to keep doing over and over.

Again... really?

After having some good playtime with her brother this morning, I noticed A had hives and welts all over her face and one side of her lips were swelling up.  I asked what happened to her face and she had no idea, but then she mentioned that brother drooled all over her.  So guess what, now mommy is back on the A-diet.. been a while, but at least it's not as restrictive as it was when she was tiny.. though getting rid of wheat probably wouldn't hurt me either. 

I knew that whatever I eat can cause allergic reactions in a baby when I'm nursing, but I guess it dawn on me that those proteins would be strong enough in his saliva to cause her to react like that.  Silly me, I should have known that!!  The proteins can stay in a person's saliva for as long as the proteins or whatever are traveling through your system, which can be a couple days...  by 6-8 hours the amounts in your saliva would hopefully be small enough that it wouldn't affect someone as sensitive as Dree is.  But I make it a self-imposed rule that if I have dairy, eggs or nuts within 12 hours, I will not share utensils with her or kiss her on her face.  Guess my dietary restrictions should make it easy to remember......And I was craving a blizzard!! :( 

If you have an awesome vegan recipes that don't have soy/tofu/etc, message me!  I need more variety!!

Changes.... Changes....

The kids are constantly changing... Life is constantly changing and now the house is about to start changing. My wonderful brother finished up the plans for a new addition to our home that adds almost 600 sq ft.... Yes, thats huge!!! and now it's our turn. The bank is aware the stuff will be on its way soon and daddy has already been in contact with a couple of possible contractors to do the job. He will be making calls during his breaks today to set up appointments with them to get bids on the work since we won't be doing much of it ourselves.

Oh boy!!!!

Let's try it again!!

Alright, let's give this another go....


It's been a while since I posted and I did find this an easier way to update everyone as the Moments going on in our home... especially since it's about it get busier around here!!  How to do it all... guess we'll find out.....

I am currently in the process of getting myself organized to officially start teaching homeschool this fall.  I made an attempt last fall, but I was just not ready to dive head-first into what it really took to teach school kindergarten and preschool and be very pregnant.  We did some stuff, but we were so unorganized, so we never had much success.  I don't feel too bad though, A was not officially supposed to start kindergarten until this year, so we are not behind in any way, in fact, she does pretty well with ready and math for the little bit of time we did spend on school. We have most of the cirriculum that daddy and I are, at the moment, very happy with and I have been studying in the evenings and getting things organized.  Hoping to start by mid-September!!  Of course that is where the busier comes in...  I have cut the sample schedule way back for us to start, but the schedule I've come up with will take most of the morning and go a couple hours into the afternoon.  No, we're not doing school for 8 hours!!  We will start at 8:30 and go until 2:30, but there are lots of 1/2 hour breaks and a 1 hour break for lunch and "recess".  We'll probably have a total of 3 hours of actual teaching time, but who can expect a 3 and 6 year old to sit still for 3 hours when there's so much to play with? :-)  It will get better as they get older and have a longer attention span and then we'll probably be done way before lunch time, but for now we're starting out slow.  And people wonder why so many kids are mis-diagnosed with ADD or ADHD... do you really think most young children can focus on one thing for very long?

I have such creative children.  I & A are currently putting on a concert of "5 little monkeys" for their little brother.  It's pretty cute.  He's happily chewing on his toys and watching the performance.  He absolutely loves his older sisters and they love him dearly.  I love how they are excited to see each other every morning!  I hope it continues!

Baby brother is just over 8 months now.  He is jabbering up a storm.. bub bub bub and when daddy shows up, he starts barking.  LOL!  If you know anything about daddy and his animal noises, you'll know what I mean.  Little man just changed his nap schedule on me, just when I had things figured out... yeah, right!  He went from one long 3-4 hour nap mid afternoon, to a very short nap in the morning and a little longer one in the late afternoon.  I loved the longer naps, it made a trip to the grocery store a little easier to do and plan, but we'll manage.  We did when the girls were both little.

The girls will be starting up dance class again in 2 weeks.  They are so excited!  Both will both be advancing into the next class... I is going into the 4-6 year old class even though she won't be 4 for another 6 months.  I asked about it and was informed that for some of the "babies" in her class that listenend well were moved them up to the next level.  I'm so proud of her!  And A will be going into the 5-7yr old advanced beginning class.  And mommy is thankful their classes are not on the same nights anymore.  The only thing that would make it better is if their classes were at the exact same time, but hopefully I'll never have to do another back-to-back night with activities... made for LONG nights and very late dinners.

Ok, bathtime for baby boy..  we tried some beans tonight and his face is a little crispy. :-)