Is it time . . .

for a haircut???

Parker, the Champion

Today marked a milestone for Parker.

But first, a little background.

Parker is finishing up 3rd grade, having completed almost 4 years in the public education system. He is as sharp as a tack, but hasn't always been able to hold himself in check as much as some teachers require!! He has a great sense of humor, but not all teachers appreciate a great sense of humor!! He doesn't always see things exactly like everyone else sees them, and this presents a challenge for some teachers.

I will say this - every year has gotten better for Parker in the citizenship area. Grades have never been a problem, but his conduct ... well, that's another story.

Parker has gotten into trouble for dancing too much, singing too much, being too "helpful", talking too much, hitting, being mean, and making girls cry!!

But this year ... this year has been a totally different year for Parker. This year, Parker has Mrs. Deaton!! We know Mrs. Deaton because we go to church together and she knows Parker well!! She has said since Parker entered Kindergarten, that when he got to third grade, he had to be in her class. As the years progressed, I thought she might change her mind!! I didn't have a lot of teachers asking me if Parker could be in their classes! But she never changed her mind and Parker landed happily in her class on the first day of school this year!

It was then that the magic began. Parker has never had a negative thing to say about this year. He has loved Mrs. Deaton and Mrs. Roark as teachers and has really blossomed under their direction. And the patience that they have shown Parker is really amazing! They tell me they love his sense of humor and they are impressed with the way he sees things in a different way. When he loses his focus, they understand and patiently help him get back to where he needs to be. They see him as an asset, not a liability and what a difference that kind of attitude makes.

In all four of Parker's years, he has never managed to earn the coveted Character Champion. This is an award given each six weeks to a boy and a girl in each class for demonstrating a character trait that particular six weeks. So, he has six chances a year to earn this, but has never managed to demonstrate the proper trait at the proper time for a long enough time span to get it. (This is an easy-to-attain award for those kids that always do a good job - the A-B students, pleasers, etc. Not so much for Parker) He has been disappointed a few times, but really more disbelief that he has never gotten it!

OK - back to today! Deneise and I went up to the school for the big Power Rally to motivate the kids to do well on the TAKS test tomorrow. Marcy (aka Mrs. Deaton) and Emily, along with pretty much every other teacher, were doing a little American Idol spin-off, and actually had to sing/rap/dance in front of the whole school. But at the beginning of the rally, they announced the Character Champions for last six weeks and guess who got it for the first time in his school career??? None other than PARKER!! He was SO excited, yet remained cool, as though it was no surprise and it happens all the time!! And the trait this six weeks was Caring - something Parker can do well (when he wants to!!)

We were talking about it tonight and I was asking him how he felt about it all. He said, "I'm happy - I'm really happy that Mrs. Deaton chose me!"
Me: Why do you think she chose you?
Him: Well, I'm caring - duh!!

So, there you have it - Parker is caring and Mrs. Deaton is the best teacher to ever come across Parker's path! She is the reason Parker has had such a great year! And she and Mrs. Roark and Ms. Gavin totally rocked their song today - very impressive ladies!!


That's Parker in the bright yellow shirt.

Oh yeah - go to Marcy, Emily, and Deneise's blogs for all the pics! Super fun!!

B-E-A-U-tiful Day!

Today was an absolutely beautiful day!!

If I could picture a perfect day in my mind, today might possibly be it.

After a gluten free lunch, the boys headed outside to work on some bike ramps. Scott had gotten some dirt from a guy doing some clearing at the new house being built on our cul-de-sac, and he had dumped it into two piles on the back part of the yard. All 5 of them worked for at least a couple of hours trying to get them just right!

Alex and I went for little run/walk through the neighborhood and all was good until I looked beside me and he wasn't there! When I looked down, he was stretched out on the ground like a pancake!! He totally tripped over his own two feet!! All he has to show for it is a little spot on his hip. It was pretty funny after the initial shock!!

Now, the boys are outside again - Alex is practicing his pitching, Luke and Landry are playing catch, and Parker is sitting on top of one of the mounds of dirt checking out his latest wound!!

I'm getting ready to begin the marathon that is making pancakes so we can have a yummy supper!!

If all days could be this great!!

(ps - My camera battery is totally dead or I would be documenting this beautiful day with pics!!)

Little competition, anyone??

I came across this site tonight -

You type a bunch of random words and it tells you how many words per minute you type.

Why is it that when something becomes a competition, it immediately becomes something you MUST do - and do again and again until you do the best you possibly can??

Maybe it's just me!

Anyway, go to this place and see how fast you are!

78 words

Speed test

Road Trip - Final Installation

Ok - so much for the live blogging!! Technology can only take you so far into the piney woods of Texas until you have no signal at all!!

After a day of mixed emotions, we are on the last leg of this trip. Mr. Gilbert's funeral was a beautiful tribute to an amazing man. He was very loved by his family and friends. James truly honored his dad with his words and song - a very bittersweet service, indeed.

We are (hopefully) less than an hour away from home and just for the record, we traveled much of our day today on an actual highway!! Yay for highways!!

Just to wrap up the last couple of days, here are a few things we've discussed:

** Jenny and Kristy are good at doing Sudoku puzzles - Emily, not so much, but she promises to practice!!

** A direct quote from an unnamed person in this car - I cannot imagine putting anything else in my body without letting something out!! Eeeewwww!! Wonder who said that??

** Two words we've discussed but don't really know what they are- perimenopause and rumination.

And a final observation - it's always good to have friends - in the good times and the bad!!

Road Trip - Day 2

Surprisingly, we are back on the road again!!

After arriving in Port Arthur at approximately 11:15 last night, we were greeted by Colin's lovely mom as she welcomed us to her home. We all settled in to our respective beds for a short night's sleep. One of the funnier things that I will remember about last night was a small clock that chimed a little chime every 15 minutes throughout the night!! I never heard it (after the 12:00, 12:15, and 12:30 chimes), but Jenny and Emily enjoyed it a little more during the night!! Good times, girls!!

We awoke this morning to a beautiful day and a great breakfast, prepared by Mrs. Errington. Biscuits, bacon, cinnamon rolls, blueberries, and strawberries were on the menu. She was an excellent host and we really appreciated her letting us crash at her house.

We are now on the way to Mr. Gilbert's funeral - an hour-ish drive, we hope. Please pray for Shellee and her family today as we are sure it will be a very difficult day.

Still on the road . . .

We are now somewhere between Conroe and Beaumont.

We have had a little mexican food at the infamous Casa Ole in College Station so all is well!!Here are some of the topics of conversation that have been discussed so far:

** definitions of contentment

** how this is not the best way to go - but we are totally fine with it -- really!!

** variance in bladder sizes of the people in this car

** sleeping arrangements once we make it to our destination

** Sherry

** how some people sing along with music and others don't

I think that's all for now! Hopefully, not too much longer until we arrive!

On the road again ...

Well, I find myself in a car headed south today. I am with 2 of my good buddies, Emily and Jenny, and we are going to be with our other good friend, Shellee. Sadly, we are going to attend the funeral of her sweet dad.

So, while we are spending some serious quality time together, we thought we would make an attempt at live blogging!! All comments, opinions, and dialouge presented here are from the unified group. I'm just doing the posting!!

It has been said that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. This is true, except when you are following a car full of aggies to your destination!!! (We are following our favorite aggies - Shane & Deneise and Kelly, Colin, & Jackson) We are going to the Beaumont area via College Station. Some people might think of heading to Houston and then going east. But, not so much for us!! I'm thinking it's an aggie tradition that if you are headed south in Texas at all, you go through good ole' College Station.

At this point in time, we are somewhere southeast of Waco, in the Mart, TX vacinity. We've got a long road ahead but we're gonna see lots of God's country.

All in a day's weather

The cliches about Texas weather are so old and tired, I'm not even going to go there. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

Here we are at the park after school today. It is partly sunny and a bit windy, but nothing this crew can't handle!!

Here Emma swings like a champ!!

Landry likes to swing at just faster than a stop!!

Abbee, Parker, and Luke look for tadpoles!
Emma had the fabulous idea for her and Landry to pose in front of the fountain!! Great idea, Emma!!

But as soon as we got home from baseball practice, the weather changed dramatically!!

In all my wisdom and years on this earth, I have observed that in every couple, there is usually one person who is typically more calm about storm situations and one person who, I'll just say, isn't so calm! I don't want to name any names, but I'm usually calm!!

My calmness found me in the closet under the stairs with four different levels of scared little boys. Alex was the voice of reason and coolness - very mature and helpful with the younger boys. Parker alternated between panic and being ok. Luke was totally and completely freaked out at all times!! Landry just seemed inconvenienced by the whole thing!!

When I got in the closet, they had taken my whole basket of clothes that needed to be ironed (and there are many!) and had strewn them all across themselves, in an effort to shield them from the upcoming damage from the F7 tornado. It was quite a site!

Alex asked if we could pray so the two older boys and I prayed that God would calm the storm and keep us safe. I mentioned in my prayer about the time in the Bible that it was storming and Jesus said, Peace be still. So, after we all prayed, Alex asked if he could read that story in the Bible. He read it and we talked about Jesus' words that calmed the storm.

Miraculously, Scott came in after we prayed and read and said that the worst of the storm was over!! So, I was able to talk with the boys about the power of prayer and how God had heard their cries for help!

Now, if all prayers were answered like that, wouldn't that be cool??

To keep this really long post going a little longer, here are some pics from during and after the storm!

This is the hail that really looked like snow!!

Here are some of the after effects:

And one of the worst parts of the storm is that this now lays in the ditch in front of our house.

I thought it was so funny when this happened to Emily (see here) but now, it's not so funny!!

The saddest part of the storm was what it did to my daisies!! I was so excited about how they were looking. They struggled all last spring and summer and had about 3 flowers, at the most. But they survived the winter and came back strong. This is what they looked like just a few days ago. There are 3 plants and each one had 15-20 buds!! So excited to see what they would look like in full bloom!!

Here's what they look like now!! Darn storm!!

My car took a pretty good beating so we'll have to see what we're going to do with that. All in all, we survived this storm and I think we all learned a lot in the process!!

Quote of the day

After I had given Landry his bath tonight, I was trying to fix his hair with my fingers instead of trying to find the brush that was supposed to be in his bathroom, but wasn't.

Anyway, his hair was getting kind of big and messy, and Landry holds up both of his hands in the air and says,

"No No - You matin' me twaaazzzeee!!"

Translation - No No - You're making me crazy!!



I know the feeling, little buddy!!

It takes a village . . . to make pancakes

When this Celiac journey began, my Big Pa, wise man that he is, said to me - Kris, it gonna take a village to do this, and the village will respond. (or something to that effect!) He obviously could see into the future because that is exactly what has happened.

First off, my mom has been an invaluable resource to me. She has researched, researched, and researched some more. She has made me books filled with things that are safe for Luke and has spent countless dollars on things that Luke can eat. She has been my support, meeting with dietitians and going to support group. She has experimented with recipes until we have finally found THE chocolate cake recipe that actually tastes like chocolate cake!! yay!! She has answered more questions and discussed more food options than I ever knew existed. Thanks Mom, for all your help! You've been invaluable to me!!

Second, my extended family has been so good to us. Big Pa and Grandma have brought us lots of new foods to try and made Luke some yummy GF cookies. You guys enrich our lives in so many ways! Kudos to Aunt Deb who is making Luke some great sweets almost weekly. She also introduced us to the Sunflower Shop where we will be spending some money on a regular basis!!

Finally, my sweet friends have been, well, very sweet!! Deneise and Shellee got me an amazing "Gluten Busters" shirt!! I'm not exactly sure where I'll where it, but it definitely made me smile!! And my good friend, Jenny made Luke some very yummy Monkey Munch!! Go here to read about her and Brody's adventure in making it! Jenny also brought some GF pancake mix and this was really where this post began.

We finally had the right time to make it tonight and, boy, was it funny!!

I knew that I needed to keep Luke's mix and pancakes separate from everyone else's, but I hadn't thought much past that. When it was all said and done, this is what we had:

2 bowls of batter (1 regular, 1 GF)
1 large griddle (the 2 kinds never touched!)
2 butter containers (1 regular, 1 free of stray bread crumbs)
2 syrup containers (1 regular, 1 GF)
2 spatulas (1 for Luke, 1 for the rest of us)

At times, I felt like I was working the breakfast shift at IHOP where everyone in the restaurant was waiting on pancakes and I couldn't remember which spatula to use!! It really wasn't that bad - but it was kind of comical at times.

All that to say, they were actually pretty good. They were a little heavier, which wasn't a surprise at all, given some of the other heavy things we've eaten. They almost tasted like what a dense, whole wheat muffin would taste like. Luke didn't seem to notice a difference. Strangely though, when I tried to flip the first 3 of them, they all slid off the spatula back onto the griddle, as if to say - you're going to have to work a little harder if you want to flip me!!

To end this long, rambling post, much thanks goes to everyone who has supported little Lukey through all of this craziness. I've met a couple of new friends out there (strangers before) who live with this with their kids and they've assured me that we will survive!! I knew we would, but it's good to hear it from people who really know!! Thanks, everybody!!

Spring has sprung . . .

. . . and it is really nice!!

We spent much of the day at the ball fields and, though a little chilly, it was a really beautiful day.

Alex and I started the day off by running (Alex) / walking (me) a 5K run/walk at his school. It was a nice little run/walk through the neighborhood. We really should do those more often. They're kind of fun! And it's fun to type "run/walk" lots of times in a short paragraph!!

As far as ballgames went, Alex won, Parker lost but hit a home run, and Luke won!! Of course, we're all winners in every game because it doesn't really matter if we win - we just play to have fun!! It's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game!! Winning isn't everything!! Winners never cheat and cheaters never win!!

OK - that's all the winner cliches I can think of!!

Onto more serious things -

Most of my 3 readers know my good friend Shellee and her journey this past week-10 days with her sweet dad. To think that Shellee, who is young like me, has gone from having a pretty healthy dad to realizing only God has the power to heal him in that short a period of time is crazy. Please, please, please pray for Shellee and her dad, and their whole family. They need wisdom, peace, and a huge helping of God's presence to get through these days. You can never have too much prayer, so pray without ceasing for them - please!!

The forgottens

I forgot to list my favorite Landry-ism in yesterday's birthday post!

My all-time fave is --

I wanna give you a hud and a tiss!
Which, of course, translates into "I want to give you a hug and a kiss!!"

It's even funnier when Alex, Parker, or Luke says it to him just like he says it!! Totally cracks me up!

And I also forgot to mention the HUGE blessing that came in the form of a phone call yesterday from the doctor saying that none of the other boys have crazy blood work that would indicate Celiac!! So, that's some great news for sure!!

Happy Birthday, Landry!!

On this day, 3 short years ago, Landry Reese entered our family.

He has brought more joy and laughter than I ever thought possible. His bright blue eyes and his mop-like curly-ish hair are his trademarks. He goes pretty much full force from the moment he wakes up until he crashes for nap or bedtime. His speech cracks me up almost every day. He still substitutes the "t" sound for "c" or "k" and the "d" sound for "g" and possibly a couple others. Here are a few of my favorite things that Landry says:

"I love you all the way to New Yort and bat" - I love you all the way to New York and back (or the moon or the sun, etc etc)

Dit ober it - Get over it!!

This is said when someone is carrying on too long about something - usually crying or whining!!

Where my brudder, Lute-y?? - Where's my brother Lukey??

Can I have ________ so it make me feel better more??

We had a little get together last night to celebrate Landry and here are the pics:

(for some reason, everyone has red eyes!!)

Randomness

Life is moving right along here in this almost gluten free house of ours!! We are learning as we go and sometimes the results are good; other times, not so good. (Is that the correct way to use a semi-colon??)

Tonight was the first night for spaghetti. I made Luke some rice spaghetti noodles and they were surprisingly good and looked almost exactly the same as regular. If you didn't know any better, you couldn't tell them apart. Spaghetti without the yummy bread isn't exactly the same, but we'll manage!!

One of the more interesting parts of our day was that the other three boys had their blood drawn to see if they have Celiac. Though the idea of doing it went over like a lead balloon, they all did well. Even Landry didn't cry but was a little offended at the lady who did it to him!! Hopefully, we'll know by the end of the week if anyone else is affected. My gut is that no one else does, but, as has been proven, my gut isn't usually very accurate!!

Now, onto lighter things!

This sweet little baby has got the cutest smile!!

And this cute little boy loves this sweet little baby with the cutest smile!!

One more - just for fun!!!

Happy Anniversary!!

Last night, we celebrated 60 years of wedded bliss with Big Pa and Grandma!!

All of the grown-ups went to the Gaylord Texan Hotel for dinner and a fun time with the family!! We ate at The Riverwalk Cafe and it was beyond yummy!! I ate some of the biggest shrimp I have ever seen - not like the kind we get to eat at home!!

But most of all, it was so great to be together with two people who have shaped my life in more ways than I can count. Big Pa and Grandma have always had a huge impact on my life. They are a part of some of my earliest memories and still influence and positively affect my life to this day. It is really amazing to look back at how the hand of God moved them to do the things they did and how it all worked out to His glory. They are truly two of the most special people on the planet!! Love you guys!!

Here's the lovely couple --

Here's the whole gang --

Here's the magician that came to our table. In a word - amazing!!

Here's the special cake to remember this special day --

Here's Big Pa holding a special collage of pictures that included a picture of him as a boy, a picture of Grandma as a young girl, a picture of them as a young family with 2 small girls, and a picture of them now. Every family got one of these to keep! Very cool!!

Here's Grandma opening a box filled with cards and letters from friends and family, near and far.

Here's what it looked like inside --

You are loved by many!!

Finally, here's a close-up of the photos.

The best diet ever !!

OK - I'm being totally sarcastic!!

But it is the best diet for Luke, so we're going with it.

My mom and I met with a dietitian on Friday to get a handle on this "very complicated diet," as she put it. Luke will only be able to eat things that either contain no gluten (wheat, barley, rye, etc) or have not been in contact with those things (i.e. manufactured in the same plant). Parts of it seem very simple and parts of it seem very difficult. So far, he is doing really well with it. I think it is still new and different and he's gotten a lot of "special" things to eat that no one else is allowed to eat, so it's still ok.

The biggest challenge right now is keeping him fed and keeping everyone else fed, but not necessarily with the same things. It would be great to have the whole family on this diet, except that some of the foods are very expensive. While we aren't going to eat Little Debbie's in front of him, I can't afford to buy special bread or snack bars for everyone. So, for now, Luke has his shelf in the pantry and his shelf in the fridge and that is his stuff.

Just as a point of reference, we stopped by the Sunflower Shop yesterday just to get some things that are not at Walmart. I spent $18 and this is what I got:

They are (left to right) bread ($5), crackers ($5.50), cereal bars ($4.59), and cookies ($2.99). The bread is a tiny loaf and weighs about 5 pounds!! It is a little dry and very dense. So, I pay more, get less, and it doesn't really taste that good!!

Another hard part is the reading of labels. I am supposed to read every label of anything that I want Luke to eat EVERY time I put it in my basket. Just because something is ok this week doesn't mean that they won't change the recipe next time. That will add some serious time to my grocery shopping. She gave me a three page list of ingredients that should not be in anything he eats.

The easier part is that it should be fairly simple to do while we are at home. He can eat all meats, veggies, fruits, and most dairy products as long as they are not processed with some form of wheat. It gets a little trickier when we are out. Like today, we had Opening Day at the ball fields - parade, bounce houses, free hot dogs!! I packed Luke a lunch and he was happy to eat it. But later, he said he wanted to get something from the concession stand. I tried to explain that I wasn't sure what he could have from there but I would (on another day) try to see if they would let me read the labels of the food they sell so maybe he could have something. He said, "But Mama, I haven't had anything good to eat all day!!" So, I say, "Like, what do you mean 'good'??" He said, "Like a hot dog or something!!!" So, sometimes I think he gets it, other times, he just wants something "good"!!

Finally, a couple of other things I learned from the dietitian -

** Celiac is not an allergy to wheat - it is an autoimmune disease. When gluten enters his body, his body immediately begins to fight against it, thinking it will harm him. While some people are allergic to wheat, this is not that simple.

** Though Luke should never have another speck of anything containing gluten in his life, he doesn't have to have surgery or take any medication for the rest of his life. The GOOD news is that it is strictly treated by his diet. The BAD news is that it is strictly treated by his diet!!

The doctor called . . .

. . . and Luke has Celiac Disease. I had pretty much convinced myself that he didn't have it so it was a bit of a surprise.







He has been feeling so well the last couple of weeks that we were hoping that would mean we would get positive news.




The good new is that this is treatable - not curable, but treatable.

To know Luke is to love him - such a sweet boy!!

Pray that he doesn't miss his wheat products too much!!

:)


Is anyone else totally frustrated by blogger and the fact that what the post looks like while you're writing it looks nothing like that on the actual blog?? It's driving me crazy!!

Easter 2008

Happy Easter - 2008!!

While we couldn't wear our new Easter shorts, the weather turned out to be very accommodating!! And the kids always have fun, no matter the weather!

After a great morning at church, we headed down to Granbury to eat with Nana, Poppy, BigPa, Grandma, George, Edith, Pawpaw & Mawmaw Alexander, and Ryan, Shannon, and the girls.

Here are the highlights:

This is the "church" picture - before the hair was messed up and the clothes were wrinkled!!

Here are Grandma and BigPa with the boys.

Here's the pre-hunt picture! Thanks for the new shirts, Grandma Bagg!!

Here's Landry looking for red eggs!

Luke looks for yellow eggs!!

Parker reaches high with a little help from Dad!

Alex digs deep for blue eggs!!

And here are all the happy hunters!!

Thanks to Nana and Poppy and Grandma and BigPa for all the goodies and a fun day!!

Easter Egg Hunt 2008

Today was a beautiful day for an egg hunt!

The little boys went to the hunt at the church and the weather was SO perfect!! Too bad it isn't going to hang around for Easter!!

Here are some pics of the boys having lots of fun!!

It was kind of hard to get in front of Luke to get a good picture! He was on a mission!

Here's Landry at the beginning of his hunt! He decided that maybe getting all those eggs wasn't such a good idea after all!

But once he realized there was candy to be had, he changed his mind!!

Here they are surveying all the loot!