taking it in

I finally got around to downloading some photos I took weeks ago, and had forgotten all about an excursion into the city.  We tell the boys all the time how lucky we are to live where we live, and how people travel from all over the world to visit Washington DC.  They are really enjoying history and museums more than ever.  In fact, over the summer we're thinking about a long weekend to Gettysburg, which isn't too far from here either.  There is so much history near us, and so much to see and do.  I love it!

A few weekends ago, we had some mild weather and ventured into the city to the American History Museum.  The boys really loved the transportation exhibit, and I really enjoyed the black history March on Washington/Emancipation Proclamation exhibit.  Super interesting!

 

 

This exhibit about food is super interesting too, and included Julia Child's kitchen.

 

 

 

 

 

Mt. Vernon

A couple weekends ago we had some mild weather for Januaray.  We decided to take advantage of it and journey to Mt. Vernon for a nice little day trip. It was a little rainy and I guess for once not many people had the same idea because it was more or less deserted.  No lines and we got to walk right into the houses and the museum. Excellent! The boys really enjoyed it.  Dylan is learning all about Virginia history this year and knows so much about the French and Indian War, George Washington and Native American history. So this was right up his alley!  He gets to go again this spring for the 4th grade field trip so he'll be a pro.

Fourth Christmas

The Saturday after Christmas, we headed to Clifton for the annual family Christmas party which includes my Stepdad's Mom, his siblings and their families.  Its a huge group of us, and we have a blast.  Its full of kids, food, gifts, and fun, and one last opportunity to celebrate the holiday.

 

Christmas Day/Minute to Win It!

After a lovely, relaxing Christmas morning and bellies full of french toast, we headed to my Mom and Robby's for our afternoon of gifts and dinner.   This year we added a fun twist on the day - Minute To Win It party games.  Hilarious! A new holiday tradition was born.  We laughed so hard!

It was really great to take the focus off of gift opening and spend time laughing and enjoying each others' company.

So lucky to have a family who loves to have fun!

My Mom's tree, always beautiful.

The gift frenzy...

 

 



Minute to Win It - Pantyhose Head, it was the favorite game!

 



Cotton Ball Nose Game

 



 

Marshmallow Bucket Head

Perfect Banana Bread

Perfect Banana Bread

I buy bananas at least once a week.  Sometimes we eat them, sometimes we just don't get to them until they starting turning spotty.  I'm terribly picky about my banana texture, and once they start growing spots, they're just too mushy for me.  When that happens, I put them aside and when I have an 'extra' hour, whip up this super easy, always perfect banana bread recipe.  Its always moist, always delicious.   Its Dylan's very favorite breakfast with a spin thru the toaster oven and schmear of cream cheese.

This morning, I also had another motive for making this bread.   We roasted salmon and broccoli in the oven for dinner last night, and the house needed a better smell!

What you need:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter (1 stick) melted
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, beaten
3 or so mashed overripe bananas

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray one 9 x 5 loaf pan with nonstick spray, or use two smaller foil loaf pans (eat one now, freeze the other for later!).

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In mixer, add bananas and whip until goopy.  Next, add the melted butter, eggs and brown sugar. Add flour mixture slowly and mix until mixed well.  Pour batter into sprayed loaf pan(s).

Bake in preheated oven for 45 to 55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean.    Enjoy, so delicious!

founding fathers artwork

A little belated Presidents Day artwork from Logan.  So cute.

where is Dr. House when you need him?

Logan had a follow-up with the pediatric sleep doctor this past Monday to re-check his iron levels.  As I've written about so many times, we're still trying to solve the puzzle of Logan's sleep (or lack thereof).  Its been three months since his last iron level check, and back then his levels had only gone up a couple of points.  We switched him to an iron pill (instead of a liquid) in early January, to be sure he gets his full daily dose. We've also made some dietary changes for him, trying to get more and more iron into his body.  We thought for sure his levels would be up by the end of February.

Turns out they were not.  In fact, his ferritin level was back down to 19, which is where we began last August, over 7 months ago.  Very frustrating, to say the least. I was pretty amazed it hadn't gone up one iota.  Since its our understanding his PLMD won't improve, and therefore his sleep quality won't improve, until his ferritin is in the 80 - 100 range, we have to keep at this little medical mystery until we've solved it.

Sigh. 

What causes iron mal-absorption?  Well, we're not exactly sure.  The first thing we're trying is to treat him for reflux.  If he's had on-going reflux (which we see no signs of, but we're told it can exist in  kids with no real obvious signs), that can cause iron to not be absorbed.   He's now on an over-the-counter reflux medication and will have more blood drawn at the end of May for another iron level check.  If it has not gone up then, we need to look into some other reasons.  One reason could be Celiac Disease.  I'm learning more and more, but again, there are no obvious outward signs he has this condition.   

Just in case though, I contacted a good friend who works with an allergist at the end of last week and she is doing another allergy patch test on his back this weekend to see if anything flares up.  The test isn't absolutely accurate, so it may or may not indicate a problem. We're testing for a reaction to milk, wheat, oats and corn in larger areas this time.  The patches will come off tomorrow afternoon, and we'll see if anything looks obvious.  Even if it doesn't, a next step might be to do just start a 4 - 6 week restricted diet for him, and we'll  have to decide if we're going to remove all milk, or all gluten first.   If we take one of those things out of his diet and see behavioral improvements and also see his iron levels going up by May, we'll know we're on the right track.  I suspect there may be something going on with milk, because he's always had what seems to be an addiction to dairy.  Removing dairy wouldn't be easy, as we've tried other types of milk (almond, soy, etc.) and he doesn't like them.

Gluten free might be more simple.  Fortunately, we have a lot of friends who are gluten-free and there are lots of well stocked stores nearby with tons of options.  I'll just have to educate myself on what to buy and what to substitute in for him to meet his little picky taste buds.  I'm sure it will be quite an undertaking at first, if we go down this path, since some of his main staples are cereal, macaroni & cheese, oatmeal, yogurt, pizza, PB&J.  But we'll figure it out.

Its just a never-ending science experiment for the poor guy, and I just sometimes wonder if we'll ever put all the puzzle pieces together to solve the behavior/iron mal-absorption/sleep disorder puzzle.  We started on this road over four years ago and have come to a lot of dead ends, a lot of appointments, a lot of questions, answers and research.   A lot of learning we have to be the ones to advocate for our son and stay on the doctors to give us answers.   And what we've been through with Logan doesn't even slightly compare to what parents go through with children who are truly ill with more chronic conditions. That, I can't even imagine.

We'll return to the sleep doctor at the end of May, and see how things look.  Chances are, she will schedule another sleep study for over the summer, just to see if his apnea is gone.

And we'll keep at this until we have some answers.

The Animal Fair (clap clap)

The entire third grade team has been working on the annual spring third grade program, the lovely and entertaining Animal Fair. The kids memorized an incredible amount of oh-so-cute songs and I wish I had videoed them all since they're were so catchy (especially a rendition of Ice Ice Baby about the Artic)!  Grandma Lynn came out to enjoy the program with us, and we're happy to report there was no puke-a-rama, unlike the unforgettable Patriotic program in first grade.

Each third grade class has been studying specific eco-systems and Dylan's class focused on the ocean.  His particular animal was the Parrot Fish, and he completely a multi-media presentation about it.  Some of the kids also incorporated QR Codes into their presentation, so parents could scan with smartphones and instantly see their childs' presentation on You Tube.  Pretty cool, when you consider all of my school reports were comprised of what I could find in World Book encyclopedias and microfiche.

Dylan's class wore blue shirts, of course.  Sadly, the video upload of Dylan's class song/dance routine is giving me problems, the file might  just be too large.  I'll keep trying, but here are the photos and his multi-media presentation at least.

Here is Dylan's multi-media presentation on the Parrot Fish

Third grade has been Dylan's best school year yet, for lots of reasons.  Great teacher, really structured classroom, and the kids in his class are very kind to each other.  He brings home top scores on almost of of his work, and he just looks forward to school every single day.  Its been so great to watch him really enjoy himself more than ever, and just thrive at school.  I can hardly believe he only has two more years until 6th grade middle school.  Where does the time go?

Gold Belt!

I haven't posted about Logan and taekwondo in quite a while, but he's continued to attend class two nights a week, and progress towards his next belt. This week all the kids earned tips towards graduating to the next belt level.  In Logan's case, this is a gold belt.  He is the only 5 year old in his class, and I just can't believe how focused and coordinating he is, and keeps right up with kids in there who are 3 or 4 years older than him.  He thrives on the motivation to improve and learn, and we simply adore his martial arts school.  The staff is phenomenal and I really can't say enough about their level of customer service and commitment to every child there.  We love what they teach - self discipline, respect, physical fitness, and focus.  And we love that Logan is passionate about exceling at this.

Tonight, the graduation ceremony was more a demonstration of what the kids have learned this past semester. They had all passed their tests already.   Here is a demonstration of Logan and his friend Will, kicking.  Logan is 6 months younger than Will, and all the other kids in class are anywhere from 1 to 3 years older.

savoring the magic

Mother Nature is giving us an early preview of spring today, with some simply gorgeous, warm, sunny weather.  After breakfast, Logan and I headed to the park to soak up some much needed Vitamin D. 

It was last minute so we didn't invite any friends to meet up, but it didn't matter since Logan ended up instantly befriending a few boys to play pirates with him.  He also brought his Mario note pad and drew pictures for everyone at the playground and  passed them out.  We've had some challenging days lately with him, and it was so nice to spend a morning together watching him laugh and be a five year old little active boy.  With a brand new fresh haircut!

Sometimes its so easy to get caught up in the every day routines of who needs to be where, when.  Its nice when you can take a couple of hours to just live in the moment with your kids and savor the magic of their childhood.



cousin lunch

I know, I'm totally slacking on the blogging lately.  Due to my new addiction to Pinterest, all my time online seems to be perusing home decorating ideas, dreaming of swimming pool designs, trying to find the perfect recipe, and drooling over things I can't afford.

So anyway, let me attempt to catch up, at least in photos. 

Monday was of course Presidents Day, no school for the kids.  We spent the day at Grandma Lynn's, meeting up with Jessica and cousins Josh and Maya for pizza, Just Dance 3, and s'mores.  Fun stuff!