All three are asleep. :) Happy New Year!

Happy (blurry, cold) New Year!!!

She is making herself a scarf. :)

Here are the finished houses!! :)

I have cooked and cooked so that we lots of treats that are all Henry safe. We have gingerbread houses with lots of safe candy (pictures of those coming later), gingerbread cookies, sugar cookies, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, mint chocolate cookies, sunbutter cookies (which are sooo good), coconut milk carmels, star and tree shaped chocolates, peppermint chocolate candies, a toffee like candy, and truffles. Those are just the sweets. Muffins for tomorrow morning are still on my to-do list tonight. There are lots of savory foods on the menu for tomorrow too. We are having a great and delicious Christmas so far! I hope you are too!!!!!

Merry Christmas Eve!!!!!

I think he is crying because his chocolate is gone. Or maybe because his beard isn't as nice and full as Daddy's?

Let Christmas begin!!! (All three of them are giggling over their story.)

This is why I drive a minivan.

Lucy drew this picture this morning. It is a bunch of elves at the North Pole. The present under the tree is one that an elf is giving to Santa. The elf with the yellow pants is doing a cartwheel because he is happy. I thought this picture was for me but she just changed her mind and got upset. I have to take it down so she can give it to her teacher. At least I got to take a picture of it. :)

Happy 5th birthday Molly Elizabeth!!!!!!!

My friend Jenny took this picture at the playground this morning. It cracks me up!

It's begining to look a lot like Christmas...

Very low quality but very cute picture (if I do say so myself;) ).

We finally have a tree! (Yes we are still in the old house and no I do not want to talk about it.)

This is the letter Lucy asked me to write tonight. She told me to put it in Henry's shoe so Sinterklaas will know what kind of treats to leave for him. Choclate letters are, sadly, not Henry safe so I don't think Sinterklaas will be leaving any of those. I am pretty sure he will come up with a few treats that are safe for Henry though, so no worries. ;)

Lucy finally got to ride Sally on Monday. The boys have colds and were nappig so Dave got her off the bus. While they were waiting for us to come get her they decided to make the most of it. Sally is perfect!

He wrote his name! :) 

New additions!!!!!!! Introducing Sally and Charlie. 

I didn't take any pictures on Thanksgiving. :( So happy belated Thanksgiving! Today there is more painting. The boy's room is done, my bedroom is done and we worked on Lucy's room. Well, mostly Kim worked but Lucy and I helped her. :) 
Stay tuned for something special tomorrow! 

Gus and I are working today. :)

Lucy wrote this for Freddy a few days ago when he was sad. She was going to a friend's birthday party and he was feeling left out so she tried to cheer him up. 

Tonight we bought paint and flooring for upstairs!!!!!

Happy sunny Saturday!

This is what we do while we wait for Lucy's bus. Henry got totally covered in mud a couple of days ago and that made him mad. :) 

A Helpful Article

Here is a helpful link I found today. It takes you to article with advice on how to safely host someone with food allergies. I mostly try not to let this stuff, these worries about food allergies, take over but with the holidays coming and food being everywhere all the time it is hard to not be anxious.
http://blog.harvardvanguard.org/2011/11/hosting-holiday-guests-with-food-allergies/

The number one thing we do here at home is eat (and the kids' drinks) only at the table. Then if we are eating an allergen we wash after we eat. Also I usually make/dish up his food first so I don't accidentally contaminate it.

If there is more information anyone wants, let me know. I know you all care very much about him, and want to learn to keep him safe. Thank you so much, it means a lot!

A happier picture today. :) 
While Henry was napping this mornig Freddy and I tried out the last chocolate chip cookie recipe in the allergy free cookbook. We felt it was our duty to try all of the cookie recipes and taste them to make sure they are delicious. ;) This one is a hit! It tastes the most like regular chocolate chip cookies. Unfortunately we have run out of one of the speciality flours we need so we can make anymore for a bit.
Next up, trialing desserts for Thanksgiving! 

Today at school Freddy made something called ice cream bread. As we were walking out his teacher remebered to tell me that he had not washed his hands after the cooking project (I had arranged with her at the beginning of the year that she would make sure he washed if they ate a dairy snack). The boys had had an enthusiastic hugging greeting when they saw each other. When we got home this is what had happened to Henry. His eye was even swollen. I washed both boys and had Fred change his clothes. After about an half an hour Henry started to clear up. 

It is so scary when that happens because I don't know if he will get better or if it will get worse and I will have to use his epi pen. 

I got my new oven today!!!! The old one finally bit the dust and since I need to bake a lot for Henry we went and got a new one now instead of waiting until we move. I can't wait to try it out, Lucy has requested chocolate chip cookies first. :)
P. s. isn't my service crew the most handsome crew you have ever seen? :)

Go Lucy Go!

This afternoon Lucy brought home an award for School Bus Rider of the Month. It says it is for "showing good character by being a safe bus rider." I am so proud of her and our school for working so hard on character and making healthy choices!!!

Did I mention or school district is ranked 6th in the state?Or how about how the teacher's aide in her class told both Dave and I that they love Lucy and wish they had a whole class full of Lucys? Also, I have heard through the internet grapevine that our bus driver is one of the best ones. :) So far preschool and kindergarten have been awesome for us!

This morning we made cloud dough for everyone to play with. The recipe is 8 cups of flour to one cup of oil. You can use any flour/oil combo you want I think. We used potato starch flour, rice flour and regular vegetable oil so it would be safe for Henry to play with. (Playdough is made with wheat so it is not safe :( ) 

It feels very soft and fluffy but you can mold it. I wish I had not already packed the cookie cutters because they would be great with this stuff! All three kids are loving it!
P. s. it is snowing for the first time today!

Granny made Henry a new hat and he loves it! 

Freddy had Trunk-or-treat at school today. (it was supposed to be on Tuesday but our school got canceled due to the storm) This is him with one of his best friends, Becca. They are sooo cute!! (Becca is the little sister of Lucy's friend Emma.)

Candy with breakfast! Yeah!!

The babies were a little confused about why we were going outside in the cold, after dark. :D

Happy Halloween!!!!

Lucy actually let me take her picture. This giant carrot was funny enough to warrant a photo. 

Second big nap today. :/

Henry says hi! He isnt feeling great this morning, I think he may be coming down with a cold. We will have to see what happens. 

Best Wegmans purchase yet. :)

Here are Lucy and Freddy's pumpkins! Try not to be too scared. Freddy's is the one on the left, he drew it (do you see how many eyes it has!) and Daddy carved it for him. Lucy claims hers is scary but I think it is awfully cute. She drew it and did part of the carving, Daddy helped her with knife safety and the rest of the carving. 

Henry also picked out a huge pumpkin but since he can't do any of this (his skin is too sensitive to even play with the pumpkin guts :( )we waited until he went to bed. I am going to make his into a turkey. :) 

I got to spend the whole day today at Lucy's school! It was so great!!!! 
As a "healthy alternative" to Halloween (don't even get me started on that!) our school has a Fall Festival. The PTA puts it on and there are all kinds of activities for the classes to go and do. Dave and I took Potato for the kids to come out and see. She was a little jumpy around so many kids so I didn't let the kids pet her but I told them all about her and they got to ask questions. They had A LOT of questions, some which were great, some not so great.  Some of the 1st grde boys wanted to know all about how donkeys fight and how they kick. :) 
It was so much fun!! I hope they ask us to do it again next year. (and the year after that... I will have a kid in that building every year for the next five years :D)