We eat weird....

Yes, our multiple food allergies have changed our meal plans lately....

Sometimes I feel like a professional chef, 

just without the professional dishwasher following me and cleaning up my mess!

Many dinners now end up having four varieties...

(or five, but I don't think opening a jar of baby food really counts!)

For Lil' Miss Mae.....'just mix up those very few things I can actually eat,

serve it in my pink frying pan and put a smiley face on it....yum!!!'

What's she eating? Green bean goulash...with ground up chicken sausage, sauted mushrooms, onions and kelp topped with smiley face sweet potatoes...and yes, she really did like it!)

For RyDaddy...'Just don't make me eat weird food, and the more gluten the better.....give it a good Southwest kick and slap it on a tortilla with some sour cream. Ole!'

For Sammy, 'just feed me...and let me be messy!'

 For me, 'lots of rice, and just keep the stuff out of it that makes me sick...'

(And then I may still get sick anyway, as hard as I try....last night's dinner that I was so careful with resulted in a canker sore, sores in my nose, a sore throat, upset tummy and itchy eyes for me....sigh.....I'm guessing those less than 2% of natural flavors added to the sausage did it, or maybe that one tiny taste of RyDaddy's mixture.....)

For K-Rae, 'just don't mix it all up, it weirds me out!"

Her buffet....sauted yellow squash, bell peppers and mushrooms, fried ground chicken sausage and kelp noodles raw...and yes, she like most of that too, but not very fond of meat in general.

Well, we all eat, and eat pretty well most of the time actually! 

However, at times, the process can be exhausting....

this meal prep started at 4:30 p.m. and I finished cleaning up at 8:30...

fortunately, there are leftovers!

Cheers to easy dinner tonight!

Uncle Johnny Rocks

Jack-o-lanterns may not be all the rage anymore.....

Ever heard of "Apple-lanterns?"  

Awesome!  

Thanks for this super creative activity Uncle Johnny!

Video Clips

Just sharing a few video clips from the past couple weeks.  

My computer takes SO long to upload videos, 

so I don't get to share them too often...

thus you get a random conglomeration of them when I do!

Man (and Baby's) best friend...

The "Entertainer" has found her audience!

Couldn't decide which one to post, so you get both clips!

Remember "Cat's Whiskers" anyone????

And Kozy was sure there was an imposter in our house when I hung up a new portrait....

And this one is mostly for me.....a bit too long for a blog posting, 

but just Sammy being Sammy, and I want to remember it!

And if you're not smiling yet, this smiley boy should help you have a good week---I know he sure keeps me smiling!

Six Months Portraits

Just wanted to share Sammy's 6 mos. portraits,

taken at the local JCPenney Portrait Studio.

I sure enjoy this little cutie...what a blessing!

I bought the copyrights and would be happy to mail you a portrait, 

if there is a favorite one you want a copy of, just email me. 

How do YOU get to school?

This is K-Rae's favorite way to go to school!

Mommy-Daughter Date Night

Off to the ballet....apparently a serious affair......

and not to be undertaken without a very large hair bow!

 At the theatre and ready to watch the performance.....

 A very professional performance by Ballet Magnificat.....

(if I had taken that photo myself, I would have a career as a professional photographer, 

as opposed to stay at home Mommy and unprofessional blogger!)

The classic part of the ballet, in my opinion, was when K-Rae piped up early on in the first song during a quiet part "Why is there a boy doing ballet?" in a voice loud enough to illicit quite a few chuckles around us...followed later on by a heart melting question just for my ears, as we were sharing our intermission purchase of a box of Butterfingers bites...,

"Mama, do you want the last piece of candy?"  

I love those little moments when they just get it.....

Blog Posting Number One Hundred!

So I had high aspirations of doing something cool for my 100th posting....

sharing 100 highlights from summer....

or maybe saying 100 things I'm grateful for.....

Instead, this sweet (and sweets loving!) little gal---

has given my life just a little bit of a curve recently, 

by being diagnosed 

with over 100 food allergies....

(This is on top of the struggles she has with mobility and speech due to cerebral palsy.)

But it's still 100, right???? 

And we still had a fun packed summer, and I'm still grateful for at least 100 things, 

but those will have to wait to ponder on until later!

I was also diagnosed earlier this summer with food allergies to 60 different things, top items being potatoes, canola oil, baker's yeast, gluten.   

Do you have any idea how many things they sneak potato starch into?  And try buying chips that don't have potatoes or canola oil or the possibility of canola oil in them!  If you find some, let me know!

When Little Miss Mae started displaying some similar symptoms, we decided to get blood work done on her as well.....and boy, oh boy....she doubled my allergies.  It made me quit feeling so sorry for myself quite honestly.  Top ones on her list are wheat, rice, corn, baker's yeast, almost all meats (which she wasn't really sad about, as she has been trying to become a self-proclaimed vegetarian for a few months now, and we've still been insisting she eat meat....seems like maybe she knew something we didn't!)  

So now I spend a lot of time doing this:

.....jotting things down in Little Miss Mae's food journal throughout the day, trying to brainstorm things that might possibly appeal to her to eat that really don't involve much grain or meat, and designing meals that won't overload her body with things that are toxic to her.  K-Rae (in true K-Rae fashion!) is upset that she doesn't have food allergies, and she doesn't think that is fair at all!   She does manage to enjoy helping me try out new recipes though.....some of the recipes work, a lot of them don't!  It's quite a trial and error process to make things with unique flours and unusual ingredients I'm not familiar with. God must be wanting to make sure I don't get bored!

And Sammy doesn't seem to know or care whatsoever that life seems to sort of turned upside down lately....he's just still as happy as anyone could ever be!

So---Happy 100th Blog Posting, and Cheers to managing food allergies!