Breakfast with Santa

Mt. Harmony also had Breakfast with Santa last saturday. Our neighbors go to that church and is the Children's Pastor so even though Chris couldn't go, I was able to sit with them and Alison was able to help me with the kids.  They had my kids favorite breakfast, cereal and doughnuts, fruit cup or a danish.

 

 

I was really impressed with Garner, he didn't cry at all. He didn't smile either but at least he didn't cry :)  Kagan asked Santa for an Xbox and Adaline asked him for a Barbie.  Kagan is going to be highly disappointed. We have told him and told him he isn't going to get an Xbox but he said he would ask Santa for it. Good Luck buddy. Christmas Day should be fun!!!

 

Our neighbors: Tyler, Justin, and Katelyn

Adaline's Christmas Play

Every year Mt. Harmony Preschool does a little 15 min Christmas Play. Kagan was in it when he went there and this year was Adaline's turn. Chris had to work the night before so he didn't get to go, so it was just me and Garn. I came barring candy, snacks, Ipod, and Leapster just to make he stayed quiet.  I tried to take pictures and video at the same time all while he wallowed over me. Needless to say I didn't get very good pictures or video, but here are some pictures I did get.



the little boy standing up is Landon





Wisdom

About a month ago, we got a letter home from Kagan's teacher telling us he will be presented with a Moral Focus Award for Wisdom.  Each month or quarter or something like that, the school focuses on a specific Moral. The first one being Wisdom.  In Kagan's class, they are to give each other a thumbs up which means "you need to check yourself" to see if they are doing something they would get in trouble for, before the teacher has to intervene.  According to Kagan, he "checks" people, trying to help out his friends so they don't get in trouble. He says this is why he got this award.  I'm not sure if this is the exact reason why he got this award but we are proud of him either way.

His school has assembly a couple times a week and in the assembly was when he was going to presented his award. So, Chris and I along with the littles went to assembly. This was the first time Chris and I had been to assembly so we weren't sure what to expect. Wow, to say the least!  We were impressed.   First, the principal walked up to the front and she said something like "Good morning students" and they in harmony (now this is K-8th grade in this assembly) would say "Good Morning Mrs. Morrin", followed by the Pledge of Allegiance, the school's creed, and singing My Country Tis of Thee and one other song which has slipped my mind. Then they presented the awards calling each child up by name.

 



Principal Mrs. Morrin



Kagan's 6th bday

I just realized I haven't posted about Kagan's bday......

We went to Kate's Skating Center with several of his friends- Austin, Caleb, and Tyler. Our neighbor's came with us to go skating then after skating we went back to the house for cake, ice cream and presents. Then for a sleepover. Unfortunately Chris was in bed due to having Pneumonia so he didn't get to join in for the festivites.

 

 

 

 

Time for cake, ice cream and presents

 

 

 

After cake, ice cream and presents the boys played until time for bed. I let them watch movies on the Wii (mostly Avengers cartoons or Caillou is what they chose) until midnight then it was time to go to sleep. They were all well behaved and I think they had a great time. I thought it was a successful bday!

1st day of Preschool

Adaline went to her first day of preschool today at Mt. Harmony Baptist Church Preschool. Today was a short day, 9-11:30am, but starting Monday she will go M/W/F from 9-12:30pm Her teacher's name is Miss Shelley and she knows several kids in her class already b/c they go to our church. She had Miss Shelley at Summer Camp so she was extremely excited when she learned she would have her as her teacher again.  Apparently Miss Shelley requested to have Adaline in her class so this made me happy.  Chris let me sleep in this morning, so he took all the kids to school. He took these pictures of Adaline this morning.



 



1st day of Kindergarten

So I totally forgot to blog about Kagan's first day of Kindergarten. For those who do not know, he is going to Queen's Grant Community School. It is a charter school where the kids are chosen by lottery. Once one child gets in, the siblings are in as well. They teach morals, principles, respect and other values. It is a parent involved school so we are very excited about this new venture for Kagan. 

He has to be at school no later than 8:15am so we have to leave the house around 7:30, which means he has to get up at 6:30am. Adaline's preschool is near Kagan's school so once we leave at 7:30, everyone (except Garner) has to be ready to go. Once we drop Kagan off then we go to Adaline's school and sit in the parking lot and wait for her to be dropped off at 9am.  We have now started a nightly routine: dinner at 5:30pm, baths, reading, and ready for bed from 6-7pm, lights out at 7pm. Normally Adaline is asleep by 7:15 and Kagan 7:30 give or take. Missy no longer takes naps in the afternoon so this helps her fall asleep faster and she stays in bed!!! Huge success in our house.

Kagan has his own alarm clock which we have set for 6:30am. Once his alarm goes off he gets up, get's himself dressed and goes downstairs. He didn't disappoint on his first day. He was so excited!!  He got up, got dressed and was ready to go. Momma was here so we all went to school and dropped him off. Chris walked him in and said Kagan was all smiles. He found his seat, sat down and started coloring.

We are so proud of him. He is going to have a great year and is loving it thus far.

Celiac Disease

Got a call from Dr. Shah, Kagan's allergist, yesterday and his blood test came back negative for Celiac Disease, which is problems with Gluten. So yay, we do not have to go Gluten free. So she wants him to continue to use the nose spray for a month to see if that reduces the inflammation in his nose so he can get stuff out of his nose.  She thinks he is having alot of sinus drainage that is sitting in his stomach and making his stomach hurt. If this doesn't help then we will go see a Gastro doctor. Sounds weird to me but hope it works.

Alleriges.... what?

Yesterday was Kagan's appt with the allergist Dr. Shah.  Very nice lady. She feels since he has not had any physical reactions to food, then he is not allergic to any of the food that the blood test said he was, such as corn and walnuts.  She said he "reacted to alot of food" like peanuts, eggs, and so forth.  She is considering those "false positives".  Sometimes if food is a plant based food you can get a false positive reaction.  Not sure why you would do a blood test for allergies if you can get so many false positives, sounds foolish to me, why put the child (and parent) thru that blood test. Any hoo... they did skin test on him, which he did really good. It was a "stamp" of 8 needles, I wouldn't even call them needles b/c they didn't feel like needles. They did a stamp on each arm and two on his back and he had to sit still for 15 minutes to see if they reacted. Some did, some didn't.  He is allergic to tree, grass and weed pollen. Basically all things outdoors. During "pollen" season March - Sept, whenever he plays outside, he needs a hat on and sunglasses to help keep the pollen out of his hair and eyes.  Once he comes in from playing outside, he needs to change his clothes and before bed he HAS to wash his hair and take a bath.  This should help his symptoms but wont take them away. Now, how does this relate to his stomach aches???  Dr. Shah looked inside his nose and his airways are extremely inflamed. She feels since his airways are inflamed not much can come out so everything is going down to his stomach which can cause stomach aches. She is not saying this IS the cause of his stomach aches but she is trying to rule out things.  So he has nose spray he is suppose to use one a day for a month to see if it helps. Then we go back in a month to see her again. She has not mentioned anything about shots or other course of action. Taking one step at a time.

She did however want to test him for celiac disease aka gluten issues.  I thought Dr. Cleveland tested him for that but apparently not, so he had to have more blood taken. The lab was conveniently right next door at the Levine Children's hospital. Once we got there, he realized what was going on and he took off AGAIN!  Chris chased him down the hallway of the hospital and brought him back. This kid apparently wants to get us in shape. We will know the results in about a week.

Till then he can eat whatever he wants!!

Allergies

I took Kagan to the doctor to get tested for Gluten. Now that was an adventure. Once the nurses came in with the tray, Kagan took off. I mean he ran out of the room, out of the lobby, and out of the building. I finally caught him halfway across the parking lot. He was screaming and crying the whole time, scared to death.  After catching him and trying to catch my breath (big momma don't run), I tried to explain to him that they have to take blood to see why his belly is hurting. So after him throwing some punches, I finally got him back into the room and laid on top of him for the nurses to get 3 viles of blood.

I got a call back the other day telling me they tested him for many things but the two highest things he was allergic to is corn and walnuts. They told me to take him off of those two things to see if that helps his stomach.  So do I just keep him off of corn or does that include corn syrup and anything with corn in it?  She never specified and I didn't think to ask, so we are trying to take him off of all things corn. Do you know how hard that is????? Corn syrup is in sooooo much stuff. So it begins.....

We have set up an appt with an allergist on Wed, Aug. 8th at 10:15am.  Chris should be able to go so I hope they do everything they need done with shots and stuff while he is available.

"I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength", that's what I keep telling myself :)

The Latest News..... Garner

 Garner is now 15 mths old. He is very sweet but is a screamer and hitter. He especially screams when Adaline comes around.She aggravates him.  If she gets in my (christa) lap or I pick her up, he immediately runs to me and starts screaming. If he doesn't get his way he will hit anyone in his path or throw anything he can get his hands on. Temper, temper.

He has had many ear infections and seems to get them when we go to Florida.  So we decided to take him to see Dr. Weaver. Actually Garner is the reason we started seeing her in the first place. This was our last resort before tubes. She has been amazing. Since he has seen her, he has not had ear infections or colds. Saweet!

He does have separation issues from me esp at church. Which is crazy b/c he has gone there all his life and knows the workers.  I trust them and know they will come get me or text me if he doesn't calm down. He even cries when I leave the room in our own house or walk outside to throw something away. It's crazy, but I know it's a phase. This too shall pass.

Garner LOVES balls and anything to do with them. He has a little bat, which looks like a turkey leg, that he uses to hit a ball out of my hand. I am his personal tee.  No matter where we are at, if he sees a ball he will let you know he sees it, he is so loud. I just told Chris the other day, I think he is our loudest kid.