Food, Glorious Food

A visit to the allergy doctor today proved the best news I've had in a while. None of the girls have ever been 're-pricked' since their initial allergy tests. For Mary and Whit, it's been 3 years, for Annie, it's been 18 months. Today was the day.

GOOD NEWS!!!!!

Annie is now egg and peanut allergy free (meaning no food allergies). Both skin tests showed no reaction. HALLELUIA!

Whitney still has her peanut allergy (the only one she has), but of the 2 ways they tested the peanut, it only showed up on one and was MILD. There is great hope it will be outgrown and she is closer to kindergarten, we'll test again.

Mary is now SOY ALLERGY FREE!!!!! She is still allergic to egg and peanut and we added a new one of cashews to the list today, but taking soy off the list is HUGE! I literally feel weight off my shoulder.

The car ride taking Mary to school was SO fun:
"Mom, does this mean I can eat regular bread?"
"Yup"
"Does it mean I can have hamburger buns?"
"Yup. You can even eat some treats now that you couldn't before."
"I CAN?!?!?!"
and on, and on and on.

I started crying, for real. I can't even imagine going to the store and buying awesome things like stir fry, and soy sauce, and worchestershire sauce, and condensed soup, and any boullion I want, and all types of chicken nuggets (not just the super expensive ones), and bread, bread, bread, and boxed potatoes, and rice a roni, and pasta roni, and spagettio's and....WOW!

Now I should knock on wood since I sent her straight to school and we haven't experiemented yet, but tonight we're going to McDonald's and she's getting a cheeseburger. I think I'll take a picture.

Baby Bye, Bye, Bye

I think I officially have a toddler...no more baby. It would make sense, she is two.

The high chair is in the attic, replaced by a booster seat.

The diapers are DONE, replaced by all sorts of 'big girl panties.'

Annie is sweet and cute and talks my head off and amazes me by how big she is and acts.
A week and a half ago, our neighbors had a big party and had face painting. Sweet Annie waited 20 minutes to get her face painted...waited paitently, I might add. When she sat down on the big seat, she told the lady exactly what she wanted, closed her eyes and was as still as still could be while her butterfly was drawn. It was the cutest thing I've seen in a while. Wished I had the video camera with me (or even the regular one--the picture was taken after we got home).

Here's all the kiddos with their cute face paintings. No need for a separate post; it was a fun night.

If You're Happy and You Know It, Clap Your Hands

This post is for my mom. The hair got whacked off...finally. She has always liked it short instead of longer so I'm sure she is happy and clapping her hands right now. I think I lost 5 pounds just from the haircut, so I'm clapping too. :)

It might be 7 months or so til I actually see my mom again, so this post will have to do until then.

Thank you photographer Whitney!

Spooky Lou

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

We were actually quite far from 'spooky' this year. But... we had fun at our ward fall festival on Saturday night and our familiy festival on Sunday night. Annie is definitely the most candy obsessed of the kids though I believe the parents in this home are way more candy out of control than any of the kids--we're pathetic.

Check out those happy kiddos--this is even pre-candy happiness!

Our Tiger (or Tigger)


Our Dragon--again. Definitely related to her father in her inability to keep her eyes open for pictures. Or maybe her huge smile is to blame.

Our Pioneer

Our Captain Hook (minus the hair)

Our Hippie (non-minus the hair)

My favorite comment of the night was by an 8 year old who said to me, "So are you from the 80s or something?" The second favorite comment was "Is that your real hair or a wig?"--I heard it multiple times. I thought it was oh so obvious.