Fun times :)

They both adore Alex's new bike! It's just cute!!

The last few weeks :)

Alex was much more interested in the christmas tree box than he was in actually decorating the tree!!

Cara, on the other hand, had a BLAST decorating it! She did almost all of the decorations by herself :)

We have no idea what Alex was so intently staring at outside. He was like this for five solid minutes!

A couple shots from Cara.....

She loves Alex's new bike. There were a good ten shots of this alone!

Mommy, of course, always gets a picture taken of her....I seem to be a favorite for her!

Daddy let her take a nice shot as well :)

We went to the Armament Museum last weekend. The kids just love this place! Airplanes are just so cool, you know!

So, I haven't updated in awhile :) A lot has happened to us in the last two months. We finally got all of the results in from Alex's allergy blood test. Drumroll..........................oh yes, he is allergic to gluten, dairy, apples, and hazelnuts. Fantastic, right? Of course we got all of the results in a week before Thanksgiving. I was in serious panic mode. How do I do this??? Not only does the boy eat applesauce everyday, he eats bread everyday and milk seems to be in everything. After an entire weekend of "pinging" (my husband likened it to living with someone mentally insane), I finally pushed through to the optomistic side of this craziness. I found some great people who have gone through the same thing and they have helped me out HUGE. I have baked Alex his own bread for his sandwiches at school, and even though I don't think the bread tastes that great, he doesn't care. Thankfully, he is young enough to where it isn't going to be that big of a deal to switch out what he eats. After only a week on this new diet, I can already tell a difference in him. Tonight, I successfully made gluten-dairy free pancakes that actually tasted great! There is a little bit of a wierd after taste that comes along with either the gluten free flour or the almond milk, but with syrup, Blake and I couldn't taste the aftertaste at all :) Woo hoo for that! Thanks Jess for the recipe.

So, in doing my research on gluten-dairy free recipes, I have found out so many interesting things. The allergist said that most skin problems and breathing problems that children have can be linked to a food allergy. He also said that food allergies can affect the brain chemistry. I have been doing research for a paper in school on ADHD, and a lot of kids who are diagnosed with ADHD don't actually have it, but have either food allergies or a learning disability. Also, it seems that a lot of autistic children are put on a gluten-dairy free diet as it helps even out their brain chemistry. It is just all so very interesting. It almost makes me want to be an allergist :) So many things are linked in wierd ways!

Anyway, so this is what's up in our life. The kids are both doing really well in school, as am I. I cannot believe that the semester is almost finished. This was such a scary step to start school, but I am finding I like it. And (surprise, surprise) I am not to shabby at it :)

Tinkerbell and the Pirate!

Okay, so the kids had a BLAST dressing up this year! It was just the cutest thing ever. They came back from trick or treating with a pretty decent amount of candy as well. Alex didn't quite grasp the concept to begin with....the first door they knocked on, the guy opened it and Alex ran straight into his livingroom! By the end of it, though, he was getting it :) Both of the kids loved their costumes. They got to wear them to school that morning, so they were in them almost the whole day. It was a fun day!!!

Cara and Alex and the firetruck!

I am not sure if you will be able to click and zoom in on the pictures. The school sent them to me in a format to where I could just copy and paste them. I hope you can zoom in! The kids had SO much fun with the firefighters today. They got to tour the firetruck and even spray the firehose. They each got a firehat (which both of my kids have not taken off since we got home). It's just adorable!!!

Just a day in the life....

Daddy and Alex playing a video game. Alex loves to sit like this!!!
The three of us :) They love to cuddle and take pictures all together!

Cara had a tea party with all of her "friends". They each had to have their own pillow to sit on...it was a little strange to see!

Fun!

Robert, Cara and Alex watching a movie in 3-D
Alex thought he was pretty cool!

I made homemade pizza with yeastless dough. It turned out pretty fabulous! The first one was ham, olives and cheese and the second was buffalo chicken. Both had a white cream sauce instead of tomato sauce. Yummy!!

She is a cheeseball. This is the only look I can get right now with the camera. Slightly creepy....

Alex in hand-me-down jammies from California :)

So, where do I begin with our saga this week? I think I may have mentioned that we are getting Alex tested for food allergies. He had a blood panel done a few weeks ago and the results have started coming in. So far he isn't allergic to raspberries, strawberries, coconut, tangerines, lentils, sugar cane and gluten. He is, however, highly allergic to the cow protein in milk...so in other words, he has a major dairy allergy :( Today was our first day being completly dairy free. It's insane what kinds of things have milk in them!!! We don't know if he is allergic to soy or almonds yet, so I am thinking we will probably do rice milk until then???? This is just all so new to me! I hope he grows out of it. It will be nice to sit down with the doctor once we have all the results in and talk it over. I will definitly keep you updated on the situation!! More later...

More views from Cara and the beach :)

A self portrait.

Miss Micaela :)

Daddy!

Daddy's motorcycle

our light on the garage :)

The street in front of our house.

We went to the beach the other day and it was fabulous. The base down here is right on the bay, so we can just go on base and go to the ocean :) It's nice and calm, almost like a lake. Perfect for the child (Alex) who actually hates the ocean. The kids had a fabulous time!! The other pictures are from Cara. She really does LOVE the camera. I am thinking she will probably be getting one of those kids camera's for christmas!

The many faces of Alex....

This little boy is so dear to my heart!! He is just the funniest little person ever....when he isn't driving his sister batty (on purpose). Alex has just drown these last few weeks in daycare by leaps and bounds!! He finally has full sentances (woo hoo!), he can count to ten and recognize the numbers 1,2,3,4,5,6,7 and 8, and apparently, he recognizes all the letters in TOSHIBA along with a multitude of other letters, as he is always telling what the letters are on the back of my laptop, he is finally on his way to being fully potty trained and he can draw circles :) I think one of the cutest things he does is sing the alphabet along with Pig on Super Why. I also think it's cute that when the four little characters on the show put their hands together and chant "Super readers to the rescue!!", he and Cara both find me (wherever I am in the house), make me put my hands in the middle, and we all chant together. I love that he loves to count down from 5 and then use every tiny bit of energy he has to jump (using both feet) off the ground. I also love it when he sings "I've Got a Dream" from Tangled. He can already carry a tune better than his big sister. I am afraid she might be a little tone deaf....I am just so proud of my little boy. I try not to treat him like the baby of the family, but it's difficult. He is the baby. He can get Cara to do pretty much anything for him. I am not sure how good of a thing that is :) I just thought I would update you on the little boy in our world. I feel as if I don't really do updates on him (in a positive way) and I really wanted to show his good side!!! He totally has one, even though he is a pill sometimes!

cute smiles :)

Why is it they they are ALWAYS in the bathtub when they make the sweetest smiles?????

Jello Cake!

The kids had jello cake for the first time tonight.....needless to say, it is now their favorite along with mine!! They just couldn't get enough of it :)

Yes, he is licking his plate clean. I don't normally let them do this, but he was so super excited about the cake, I had to just smile, laugh and take a picture!!!