Teaching

A couple of weeks ago I lost something pretty big. I kept praying to find it and just kept getting the impression to pray with the kids and have them help me find it. So we did. I explained to them that if we lose something and we say a prayer Heavenly Father will help us find it. We never found it. I think it ended up in the trash. At least that is the feeling I get. I was kind of bummed afterward though because I thought that my kids wouldn't learn this great lesson about prayer.
A couple of days later though, I couldn't find my shoes so we could leave. I had looked everywhere and I remembered seeing JJ walking around with them (he thinks that I need to have them on all the time) Well I was complaining about it and Maddie walked up to me and said, "Why don't we say a prayer Mom, and Heavenly Father will help us find them" I couldn't believe that even though it didn't work the first time she still remembered and wanted to try again. So we sat down and said a prayer and she walked away and walked back a couple of minutes later with my shoes, Saying "It worked, It worked!" I am so glad that such a small thing stuck with her. I know that we won't always find things when we pray for help because sometimes there are bigger lessons to be learned. I just thought the first time that, that is what was going to happen because I kept getting that feeling until after we prayed and I kept getting the feeling it was gone in the trash.

Ice Cream

I have made this yummy blueberry cheesecake ice cream twice now. It is one of my new favorites. Especially for homemade ice cream. The first time I made it as instructed. The second time I pureed the blueberries because I am not a huge fan of frozen berries in my ice cream. I love it so much more. My brother said that it kind of takes away from the cheesecake taste though because it makes it taste more blueberry-y (okay I know that's not a word) It is kind of time intensive, but so worth it. The next ice cream I want to try is the snicker doodle ice cream on the same website.

My newest neice

My brother Mathew and his wife Kierstin added a new little baby girl to their family on June 1st. She is such a cutie and I can't wait to meet her. Hopefully we will get to see their family when we head back east later this summer. I now have 2 neices and 3 nephews. I have another niece on its way in August :)

My parent's visit

My parents came to visit us two weeks ago. We had a lot of fun spending time together. Emily and Madison were so happy that there grandparents were back again. JJ kept following my Dad around saying Grandpa all day long. He would get mad at me at night when I would take him into bed because he just wanted grandpa. While they were here Jared received his endowments. It was such a great experience to be able to be there with him. We really enjoyed the time we spent with my parents and it was fun having room for someone to stay with us and kind of weird that they were staying with us at "their" house. My kids told my parents that they were supposed to sleep in our room and Joe and I were supposed to sleep in the toy room because our room is my parent's old room. We even got to spend one more day with them because they thought they booked their flight for Tuesday, but had actually booked it for Wednesday.

Doctors

Emily has been busy again seeing lots of doctors. We went last month for a follow-up GI appointment and her doctor decided she wasn't doing as well as she would like. Especially since she has started using the restroom several times a day to go No 2. I didn't think anything of it but the doctor always asks so I mentioned it to her. She sent her for blood work and one of her Celiac tests came back positive, but the doctor said that this celiac test can show positive if she just has some inflammation. She said she would like us to do another endoscopy to make sure before we start putting her on such a restrictive diet and she also wanted to see how her eosiniphil levels were. We just got the results back yesterday and she said that the celiac was negative (YAY!) and that her eosiniphil level overall is much better. It was 25 before and is now down to 3 (ulimately they want the number to be 0). The only thing that has changed is that she used to only have it in her upper and lower esophagus and now it is in her stomach and upper intestine as well. Apparently it can move throughout your whole GI tract. If it was still really high numbers in all these areas she would have had to start an all formula diet. Since the numbers are improving she just changed a few meds around and asked us to go 100% dairy free for Emily. At her GI appointment the Dr also noticed that her tonsils were swollen and she said that is common for kids with EE so she is sending us to an ENT to make sure that she doesn't have chronic inflammation with them. If she does she will have to have them removed because the doctor said it can make it harder to keep her EE under control. We will see the ENT at the end of this month. I am hoping that everything will look good and that they were just swollen that day.

JJ also got to visit some doctors within the last couple of months. We took him to an allergist because he had diarrhea for several months and I could tell there were times it was worse than others, but I couldn't pinpoint which food was causing it. It was kind of acting the same way as Emily and Maddie's diarrhea that they get when they eat bananas, but he hadn't had a banana yet. His allergy testing came back fine, but in the course of asking questions the doctor said several of his "weird" things he had going on kind of sounded like Prader Willie Syndrome and asked if he had ever been tested for that. He hadn't so the doctor tested him and luckily his test came back negative. The Dr said that it is a chromosome problem and that the test isn't 100% accurate so he might still have it but his likelihood has gone down. Prader Willie is more recognizable the older they get, so we are just supposed to keep an eye on him and if he continues to show symptoms of it have him tested again in the future.
He is still doing OT and gets to go to gymnastics (Tumble Time) once a week to improve his gross motor skills. He also started speech therapy and is doing that every other week. He is growing so much and has really started to say a lot more so I am sure the speech therapy will be short term.

New Callings

Joe and I have new callings in our ward. I have never received so many calls in such a short time. When we first moved in Joe was the Elder's quorum secretary and I was in the cub scouts working with the Bears. Then I was asked to play the piano for the ward choir. Last month we both received new callings. Joe is the Scoutmaster and I am the Relief Society Secretary. We are both really busy now, but it is lots of fun and I think our callings have helped us get to know everyone better which has been very nice. I still play the piano for the ward choir too.

JJ's Yes

JJ has said Yes for a very long time now. He just doesn't actually say it when he really means yes. He says it when he is pointing at things. A couple of weeks ago he started nodding his head yes if you asked him if he wanted something and he did. Then he added his eyebrows going up and down while he was nodding. Then he added opening and closing his mouth, eyebrows, and head nodding. It was so funny to watch. Well last week I guess he decided that was to much because he started just making his eyebrows go up and down. Occasionally he would add the mouth in too, and sometimes just do the mouth. I guess at least we know what he means.

Maddie's Boots

My sister-in-law Sara gave Maddie some winter boots last week that won't fit Kaidyn for a long time. Maddie is so excited about them that she wears them everywhere. Even though it is 90 degrees outside. It is kind of funny watching her walk everywhere with them.

Emily's Preschool Graduation

Emily graduated from preschool in May. (I am just really behind) She attended the Curious Minds preschool that my friend Cori Strasser teaches, and she loved it! She learned so much this last year and is even starting to read. I think if I was better about having her read everyday she would be reading like a pro now. She is excited to start Kindergarten next year. We will be doing an online school called Connections Academy. She is excited to do school with Mom, but I don't think she understands that means she won't be going to school at all. I think she thinks I will be coming to school with her. :)

Some things that make me Smile

I just wanted to put down a few things that make me smile.

Today Joe was leaving our bedroom and said "come on JJ lets go" JJ put his head down and started marching after his father looking very determined. Then Joe said, "your mom is going to change your pants" to which JJ immediately looked up and with the best whiny look on his face started shaking his head no and whining. I loved it!

Maddie and JJ have started fighting over their great-grandpa. This last Sunday he came for Sunday dinner and as soon as he entered the house and Maddie heard his voice she came running from the back room. She gave him the biggest hug she could. Then JJ came running in and started yelling Mine, Mine, Mine, Mine (of course it sounds more like My with and emphasis on the M sound) and put his arms up. There was no doubt that he was saying grandpa is mine and I want up.

A primary leader at church stopped me to tell me how cute Emily is. She said that they asked her where John the Baptist baptized Jesus and Emily said, "Hmmm...I think Swan Lake?" The teacher said, "no, how about the River..." Emily interrupted, "Jordan"

Maddie recently had a little argument with me about what we drive on. She told me I'm not supposed to drive on the street, I'm supposed to drive on the DIRT.

JJ has added a few words to his list. He says Mama, Ball, Mine, Hello, Amen, Bye, Yes, Apple, and Grandpa. Of course most of these others don't understand at all. He knows quite a few signs though. He is having speech therapy and his therapist said she was very surprised because she would tell him to say a word and give the sign at the same time and he would do the sign right away but not say the word. She said when she presses saying the word instead he looks at her scowls and then turns away. She said most kids if they won't say the words she at least has to help them move their hands for the signs. So their is no doubt that he knows what he is doing he just doesn't want to say the word.