Birthday Boy!

Tommy was counting down the days until he turned 5. He still likes to repeat, "I am 5." Tommy announced it was his birthday all day and told everyone he could that he was 5. He was extremely proud to be another year older and his excitement was bubbling over. We had a lot of fun celebrating with Tommy. We opened presents before we got dressed, and after Daddy was home from work. Grandpa Francis then came in town and we celebrated with a Batman cake and more presents. (Sammie told me that I did not make the batman cake correctly because he only had one eye, we then had a discussion about side profiles.) Tommy got a scooter from Grandma Alman & Gordy, a Pirate ship from Aunt Sue & Uncle David, a Star Wars jet wing fighter that transforms into a Jedi from Grandpa Francis and more toys. Tom and I liked the Bond and money received for his college fund. Thanks everyone, Tommy loves being 5!

First Day of School

Tommy and Sammie are at their first day of preschool today. On Tuesdays/Fridays they are at preschool from 9 a.m. - 2:20, so they even do lunch at preschool! I am so excited for them. I know what will happen, I will want to hear all about it, everything they did and they won't remember enough to tell me much of anything. So we captured some fun photos and hopefully we get some good stories from their respective teachers. In the mean time Allie is loving having the house, car and her momma all to herself.

One week away

I have been full of excitement for this Labor Day weekend and upcoming week. It is a nice long weekend with Tom home. We get to celebrate Tommy's birthday day after day with lots of cake and presents and Grandpa Seiler visiting. Tommy and Sammie start preschool next week. This coming Friday Tommy and I will travel to WI to meet Lincoln Stanley and stay with our friends that I dearly miss. On Saturday Brooke, Tommy, Clayton and Mr. Mike and I get to bring the kids to the Dozer Days in Sussix. I can't wait to see Clayton's excitement! Then Tommy and I will travel to Chicago to visit my friend Mary. On Sunday I will run 13.1 miles in the Chicago 1/2 marathon with Tommy and Mary cheering on. Then we drive home to see Tom and the girls. I am going to love this week!

Allergy Success!

Tommy and I arrived at the Dr.'s office at 7:45 a.m. this morning to begin his food challenge. We started with a waffle, he ate 1/4 of it and then we waited for 20 minutes to see if his body recognized the milk in those pieces of waffle We continue on to complete the waffle with no reaction. We then waited an hour to be sure that his body was not going to react. Next was the muffin. Tommy will tell you that the muffin tasted much better than the waffle. We broke it down to 4 sections with corresponding 20 minute wait intervals. After no reaction we then waited for another hour to be sure that his body did not have a delayed reaction. Finally at 1:20 p.m. we were discharged with great success. Tommy can now begin to introduce milk in baked goods into his diet. He is still allergic to raw milk and he cannot eat any cheese, sour cream, cream based soups and other products where milk is listed as one of the first 3 ingredients on the label. However this is huge progress and the Dr. believes that if we begin to introduce milk inside a baked good 3 times a day that his body will begin to outgrow the milk allergy! Healing from God, THANK HIM!

IN State Fair

3 kids at the IN state fair and full of wonderful memories. Allie does not like Pigs, Sammie loved riding the pink horse on the Merry Go Round and Tommy rode rides that would of made is mama ill. We got to see the worlds largest Bore, 1,176 lbs, not very pretty and who knew Donkeys were so soft?

Bike Ride

Tommy has learned to ride a bike with out training wheels! I am not skilled enough to video this talent and then upload it so you all will just have to take my word for it. After 4 tries we got a tip from a neighbor that the faster you ride the easier it is to learn to balance. He has been riding solo ever since. Today he even learned to slow down, speed up, turn back and forth and even turn around with out loosing balance. Now he can't get enough of his bike. We will have to invest into a new bike, the chain falls of every few minutes and I am tired of trying to scrub greese off my fingers. I love to see how proud he is, we are all very proud of Tommy!

Raindrops fallin' on our heads

Today we went to the Library; it is a weekly trip for us. It was sprinkling all morning so it was a perfect day to stay inside. We had a great trip, Allie was less than thrilled but all in all we had a good time. Just as we were leaving the sky had turned black. It was not raining and I remember saying to myself, this must be the calm before the storm. We hurried to the minivan, opened the side doors, Sammie jumped in, we tossed the books in, Allie was set into her chair and then the sky let loose. Tommy and I got drenched. Sammie was scared so she had closed the car door before her brother could get in. My remote was jammed because of the rain and so I could not open the door for Tommy. Sammie yelled through tears of fear, "Mommy, get in!" Tommy came around the front of the car in tears and with fear to find me for help. Tommy and I made it in however we were soaked. We talked about how the rain drops are just water and we were wet but we were safe. I really hope I don't see the fear in their eyes too many times; it really broke my heart to see that.