Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Cookies!!!!

Today I filled my van with Girl Scout cookies!! I went with our "cookie mom" to help pick up the cookies. Doesn't looking at that just make you hungry??

Later that evening we had an activity for the ladies at church. I was asked to make a few dozen heart-shaped EKG cookies to go along with the "911" theme for the evening. I found some great examples on Pinterest here and here. I tried a few different recipes for the cookies, and decided I liked the one from Martha_Stewart the best. I really don't like the taste of royal icing so I tried a GlacĂ©_Icing. It tasted great and I loved the way it turned out. It also helped keep the cookies moist. 

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

No nuts please

For those of you who have allergies, you know what this is:

For those who don't I will explain. This is a test for allergies. It is called a scratch test. This is Rebekah's arm after the test, about 20 minutes after benedryl cream was rubbed on, and after an oral dose of benedryl was given. The black marks are from a sharpie so the doctor can know where to look for a reaction. That big red reaction was even bigger before all the benedryl was administered. She had a welt just bigger than a pencil eraser and the redness spread out to about the size of a silver or half dollar coin.

That reaction was for peanuts.

I had about 2 weeks where I was doing the happy dance thinking I was all done worrying about allergies. When we were driving back from Florida we spent the night with some friends in NC. They had brownies and ice cream waiting for us. What I didn't realize is that they put peanut butter in the brownies. Not to worry. Rebekah had been tested when she was 2 and it was negative. That night Rebekah threw up.

That isn't really conclusive. We had been traveling all day. We had spent all week at WDW. One of the boys that was with us at WDW had just thrown up the night before. Who was to say she was having an allergic reaction.

The next week I bought myself a little stash of Valentines candy. I bought Butterfinger hearts. Clay found my stash and offered one to Rebekah. She took the tiniest bite and started complaining. She wanted to wipe off her tongue. She drank a full glass of water. She started scratching her neck and crying. Within the hour she threw up.

Now that was enough evidence for me. I called the allergist and made an appointment to get it confirmed. We now have a peanut allergy. I have mixed feelings about it. I am extremely grateful that she is not anaphylactic to it (though that is still a future possibility). I am worried that since this allergy started later, it may stay with her forever. I am also comforted that peanut allergy is the most understood and "respected" or "tolerated" allergy out there. Meaning that most public places for kids do have a NO PEANUT rule. And most parents of kids don't offer anything with peanuts without asking first.

Rebekah is used to checking if things have eggs before she eats anything she is offered. She has been telling everyone that she sees (person behind us in line...) that she is now allergic to peanuts. I really don't doubt that she will continue checking for peanuts. But still, I do have my worries.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Just Dance

Auntie Holly sent us two dance games for the Wii for Christmas. She has been asking for some pictures of the girls playing it. So here is Emma, Rebekah, and their friend Kennedy dancing to "I'm a Gummy Bear", one of their favorites.
Here is a short video. For those of you reading this by email, you have to go to the actual blog in order to view the video.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Self Portrait

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Happy Valentine's Day

I've been playing around on Pinterest lately. One of the cool things I have learned from Pinterest is how to do cute hearts in the girls' hair. Here is Rebekah with her do for V-Day.


Our school district outlawed treats for V-Day at school. So I made some cute heart-shaped crayons for the girls to hand out. Again, got the idea from Pinterest.

And for dinner we made heart-shaped pancakes again :)

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Through the eyes of your children

The girls were getting ready for bed. They were waiting for us to come and read with them. They thought it would be funny to jump into mom & dad's bed and pretend to be us. When we walked into the room they said "Who are we?" Clay and I both started laughing. They nailed us.