It's time for the Fair!

Last night we took Connor to the county fair. We walked up to the booth to get tickets and a guy that had just went through the line came back and handed us all free tickets. It worked out pretty well that we didnt pay for a thing. The only thing Connor was interested in was the Barnyard which was included with the admission anyway. We had a great night seeing all of the animals, growing our vegetables, picking the fruit, feeding the animals, selling our stuff at the farmers market, and finally getting a dollar so we could get a bag of animal crackers at the end. We had a much better time than last year, as this was the time that Connor had (hand foot mouth disease) and we didnt know it. He was so fussy and we didnt yet know why. Connor knew just what to do, since he has had some practice helping Nonna and Grandy in their garden. He was so proud to get his money at the end! We enjoyed seeing all of the animals again and got the watch the frisbee dogs and the BMX bike show. It was great free entertainment for the night!

Make a Smilebox scrap pages

Here are some more pictures that didnt make into the Smilebox.

Connor was in heaven when he saw a long row of antique tractors. Unfortunately we were unable to sit on them. It was hard to look, but not touch.

Getting a scoop of corn to feed the chickens.

Giving them some food.
Harvesting the vegetables.

Milking...

Getting his treat for all of his hard work.

Look Mommy!Mommy's favorite...the goats.

and the baby piglets!

Prayers needed!

Please pray for our family! Brad's Granny was found unresponsive on Tuesday morning in her bed. She has been in a nursing home for a long time and has advanced Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. We quickly headed to Maryville because she was not expected to make it throughout the day. On Wednesday, she started to improve somewhat. It is hard to say the word improvement because she is still not responsive enough to eat or drink and her living will says she does not want a feeding tube or iv fluids. Right now they are making her comfortable and she is getting to spend time with all of her seven children, grand children and great grandchildren. We came back home today. They are not sure how much longer she will be with us. She is such a strong lady and the healthcare professionals are just amazed. Please pray for her that she will go in peace and that she is comfortable. Please pray for the family as this has been a roller coaster since Tuesday. Today Doris told me that she actually talked with them off and on today. She asked for her by name and said a few things to her. This is amazing because she has not been able to do this for some time.

Weekend at the lake

We had a wonderful family cookout last weekend and as an added bonus...we got to enjoy the lake since summer will be coming to an end soon. We rented a pontoon boat in an attempt to try to persuade Granny and Pops to get one....oops, did I just say that?! No really we just wanted to take some boat rides and since we had so many people we thought that a pontoon boat would be the way to go. Connor was the boat captain for the day and besides trimming the motor actually knows how to operate a boat now. Kind of scary! Ok, before you judge me please understand that Connor usually wears a life jacket BUT this time it was WAR between Connor and Mommy trying to get him to put it on. He was NOT having it. I tried to force it on his arms and this is when I realized just how strong a 2 year old really is! We had a huge temper tantrum in the yard, which ended with timeout behind a tree. Everyone was on the boat ready to go and Connor would not put on the life jacket. I was ready to stay behind when someone told him that he could ride without it...I am not naming names. Ha! Lets just say that kids can get away with anything with grandparents.
We got to fish, play in the cabin (which I just realized I took no picture of...sorry), make artwork on the walls of the cabin (very impressive by the way), cook out, eat birthday cake and ice cream, tractor rides, corn hole, and most importantly visit with family. It was a great time!

Connor getting ready to pull away from the dock.

Pete telling him to turn right. Somehow Connor learned his right from his left.Such a serious face.

Fishing off of the boat.

Pretty Paisley!

I loved the colors of her dress, grass and the leaf.

Beautiful Jacalyn...getting so big!

Connor caught a fish!

Kaitlyn was proud of her catch too!

Uncle Brian...I think you are supposed to cook it first!

I love this face!

I wouldnt recommend anyone rent a boat from Caney Creek Marina. On the way to take it back, they passed a broken down boat so they stopped to pull them in. We were fined $30 dollars for being late and when they explained that they were helping a stranded family their response was, "well, you aren't supposed to pull anything anyway." Nice, hugh?

Connor was cleaning Pete's dirty tractor scoop.

Have I mentioned that Connor is totally obsessed with tractors! It is all he talks about. I think we will be having a tractor birthday party in December. He is already talking about his birthday in "two weeks" and the tractor cake I am going to make him. Not sure where he got that idea.

I am still here

...although the time that I have for blogging these days seems to be few and far between. As you all know summers are busy anyways, especially when you have children that want to be outside until dark. I have also lost some of my time here at home, as I have went to working 4 days a week and full time status. I had a great opportunity to step up to be the Executive Assistant to our companies new COO, who was my previous boss. He got promoted last month and asked me to assist him. I am still off on Fridays which I love! It might not be a long term deal, because I am pretty sure that being a stay at home Mom in is my future one of these days, but for now it is great experience and something to put on my resume for future. Other than that we have just been chasing our busy 2 1/2 year old around and laughing our heads off. The things he says these days are just hysterical. Sometimes I wish I could just have a tape recorder on at all times, so I could rewind some of these things and relive them later. Of course there are many times I would not want to ever think about again! Ha!

Connor has finally taken to his big boy bedroom! When we got it ready, he didnt want any part of it so we didnt push and he came around on his own. I still have to accomplish the task of organizing his closet and getting all of his clothes out of the old room, but other than that it is finished. I promise to post some pics of it soon!

We also got some new neighbors and we are enjoying that a lot. Our friends Jon and Beth mentioned this winter that their longtime friends from Memphis were going to move here. I told them about the house next door and who would have guessed that they liked it and it actually worked out for them to buy it! They have a 6 year old little girl and a 4 year old little boy which is perfect for Connor since he is used to playing with kids older than him anyway. Last night we played outside until 9 with them and he DID NOT want to come in. Time definitely got away from me.

My 30th birthday came and went last week and as much as I dreaded the day...I actually dont feel any different. Just wiser..! Ha! I am still a working Mom of a 2 year old driving a minivan and living the typical suburban life...and loving it!

This was Connor's special treat for sleeping in his big boy bed. He calls it his Batman motorcycle, even though it has three wheels.

The first day he slept in his big boy bed. Can you tell I am so proud!

My baby shower cake made Cake Wrecks!

Remember the cake that I ordered for a baby shower at work last year? Well, thanks to Kristy the cake is now made famous courtesy of "Cake Wrecks". Kristy's husband works in the office and showed her the picture of it since she actually makes cakes herself (beautiful cakes!). I would have ordered it from her but always feel bad since she works full time and has three kids of her own all under the age of 6. Kristy- I might just have to get you to make it next time though since you see how much luck I have ordering them elsewhere!

I have to warn you, dont go to this site unless you have a few minutes to spare. It is addicting and you will find yourself looking at all of the horrible cakes! Some of them are just hilarious!

Fourth of July

We cant have a Fourth of July and not be at the lake. We went to Grannie and Pops this weekend (just a quick trip, drove down on Saturday morning and came home that night) and had a great time visiting with family. Connor was so excited to go fishing and see his new cabin that Grannie, Pops, Pete, and An Am have been fixing up for him. It looks fantastic and who would have thought that Connor would already have mail in his mailbox! We got to take a little boat ride with the pontoon paddle boat. Connor really enjoyed it. Although Daddy did pretty much all of the work. Connor and I were just along for the ride. Connor was also very excited to go on a tractor ride with Pete. We had a good visit with Grannie, Pops, Pete, An Am and Brian and Benita joined us later in the day. We split before the fireworks, but got home just in time to see plenty of them. It sounded like WWII in our front yard and Connor was scared silly. They had the whole street blocked off in front of our house. The view from the interstate was quite beautiful though. We got our own fireworks show without the noise!

Ok, Brad and Pete may kill me for putting this on here, but I couldnt resist. They paddled the boat all the way across to the dock from the other side. It only took them 8 minutes...

Some stuff about allergies...

I was going to email some information to my friend Rachel, but I decided that I would post it to my blog as well in case there was anyone else out there who is just starting in the process of finding some allergy friendly foods. It is not much, but just a few things that my dietitian shared with me this week.

Some good websites to check out... (if you have ever searched for allergy info online, SO MANY websites come up and the dietitian pointed these three out as ones she really liked)

www.foodallergyinitiative.org

www.foodallergy.org/allergens/index.html (food allergy network site)

www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/foodallergy.html


Food Selection for Wheat Free Diets

WHEAT may be listed on the label as:

Flour
Wheat Bran
Wheat Germ
Wheat Starch
Gluten (this is interesting since she told me that Connor didnt need to worry about gluten. I will have to do some more research on this.)
Graham Flour
Enriched Flour
Durum Flour
Vegetable Gums
Modified Food Starch
Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protien
Vegetable Starches
Malted Cereal Syrup
Selmolina

Substitutes for Wheat:

Breads and other wheat free baked goods
Wheat free cereals, rice chex, cream of wheat
rice cakes and crackers
rye crackers
cornmeal coating
corn tortillas (this means corn chips are in! Although Connor has a mild allergy to corn, but I think we are ok to keep eating it)
Rice, corn pasta
Meat products without wheat added
Gravies and sauces thickened with cornstarch, potato starch, etc.
Homemade baked goods without wheat
Worcestershire sauce
Salt
Popcorn, corn chips (this is a good thing cause Connor loves popcorn. This will be a good snack.)


Food Selection for Egg Free Diets

Eggs may be listed on the label as:

Albumin
Egg White (these are all no brainers but I thought I might as well list them anyways.)
Egg White Solids
Egg Yolk
Yolks

Substitutions for Egg:

Egg free baked goods or specialty items
Pasta, rice, potatoes, egg free egg substitutes
Prepared meats and imitation seafood without egg products
Soups without egg products
Imitation mayonnaise, sauces, and salad dressing prepared without egg products
Cornstarch and tapioca puddings prepared without egg
Baked goods prepared without eggs
(this list is really not much help as all of these products come with eggs, so it is a given that you could eat them if you find a brand that doesnt contain eggs.)

Foods likely to contain eggs:

Eggnog (ha! this is funny!)
Root Beer
Many baked goods
Pancakes, waffles, and french toast
Egg noodles (really?...)
Egg (no kidding?! LOL)
Most egg substitutes
Many prepared meats (hot dogs, lunch meats, imitation seafood)
Many batter dipped foods
Noodle soups
mayonnaise
Hollandaise sauce
Many salad dressings
tarter sauce
Custards
Puddings
Some ice creams and sherbets
Boiled frostings
Meringues
Macaroons
Marshmallow products
Fondants and other candies

Food Selection for Milk free diets

Milk may be listed on the label as:

Milk solids
Buttermilk solids
Curds
Whey solids (note to Rachel..you really have to watch out for this in baby foods. This is when I caught Connors intolerance to milk at 6 months.)
Whey
Casein
Lactalbumin
Caseinate
Cream
Sodium Caseinate

Substitutes for milk:

Soy milk
Milk free shakes
Soy cheese
Kosher prepared meats
Products labeled at "parve" or "pareve"
Frozen tofu desserts (Yum yum!)
Cornstarch puddings with fruit juice
Jello

I thought that the peanut was pretty easy and self explanatory. This is by far the easiest allergy to avoid. She suggested the Sunbutter or Golden Pea Butter, but said that the Sunbutter was a better option because of taste and consistency. Since Connor has never been introduced to nuts I am not as worried about replacing it, but the Sunbutter would be a good base for wheat free bread, apples, etc.

I am on the look out for a new cookbook. I have one that avoids milk, egg, and nuts but not wheat and I looked at it and almost everything has flour or some kind of wheat product in it. When I find more info I will be glad to share!