Easter and Diaz Farms

Because we wanted to visit Rosie Atkins in Independence (east Kansas City) on the way to St. Louis, we decided to spend the night at Tony and Charly Diaz's house so we could get a 4 hour drive rather than 5.5 hours. The way it all worked out, we celebrated Easter on Saturday so we could leave our house at 9 am to go to church on Sunday and go straight to Charly's house from there. Shad and I surprised the kids with their Easter a day early. We celebrated with baskets, egg hunts, chocolate, songs and scripture stories.

I wanted different Easter baskets than the ones we have because they're imbalanced and spill eggs and frustrate the kids. Shad suggested we use movie theater popcorn buckets because we have 40+ of those. Sweet! Note Dancy's finger. She's been really creative with her posing, as you'll see throughout this whole series of St. Louis posts. 

{Dancy, Thora, Tommy, Katie}

Chocolate bunnies!

{Dancy and Thora}

Yup.

{Thora}

Tony took us out to see the farm and we all rode in his truck. Dancy didn't want anything to do with the farm and stayed in the truck the whole time. We saw the duck pond first. Tommy loves bodies of water and would love to just sit and relax at them all the time. Thora observed the waves and exclaimed, "Mom, look! The water's coming closer and closer!" When we left, she said, "Bye, ducks! Have fun with the water!" Then we went to see the cows. I persuaded Dancy to at least sit in the bed of the truck for this one. Samson and Thora loved seeing the cows and mooing (or woofing, in Sam's case) at them.

{Samson, Megan, Katie, Tommy, Thora, Tony Diaz}

When we got back to the house, we saw the chickens, then Shad and I took the kids inside while Thora stayed out to help Tony put the chickens to bed.

Tony is a nursery leader, and Thora and Samson adore him

{Tony and Thora}

After getting ready for bed, Thora told us all about her day on the farm and being Tony's helper.

And then we had a bunch of goofballs.

Dancy posing

Samson walking

We ended the night by keeping Tommy, Katie and Dancy up late watching Page Master. The plan worked as expected: it had kids exhausted for our roadtrip the following morning.

{Katie}

This little guy was so much happier with this roadtrip, being forward facing now.

{Samson}

Rosie Atkins

So there I was planning a trip to St. Louis and reminiscing about how I had joked about kidnapping Emily Atkins and taking her on a roadtrip to see her sister Rosie in Independence, Missouri. Then I realized that Independence is on the way to St. Louis and that I could go see Rosie myself! Genius. We made plans to take her out to lunch on Monday. She was excited and said her birthday is on Wednesday and it's perfect timing for a lunch treat.

Then people at church heard I was going to see Sister Atkins Junior and said I have to prank her because that's what Emily wanted to do. So with 24 hours' notice and already being on the road from my house, this is what we came up with.  We bought 2 packs of gum, Sour Patch and mint, and swapped the sticks. Then I got a bottle of sour spray candy and peeled the label off. Shad said to rub hand sanitizer on it to remove the sticky residue. Perfect. We told Rosie it was breath spray. I bought a few other things to complete a fun birthday gift basket--bubbles, sidewalk chalk, nail polish, glow sticks--and put the sour spray and gum in with everything. Oh, and I bought a window paint marker and stashed it in my glove compartment.

We met Rosie and her companion at the LDS visitors' center, then drove to The Happy Greek for lunch. After ordering, I made an excuse to go out to the van to find something for Samson to eat, but grabbed the window marker and decorated their car.



I returned, saying I had a hard time finding his food buried under other things in our packed car, and no one suspected anything.

We said goodbye after eating, snapped a few pictures, then I casually started a video on my phone and followed Rosie to her car.

Now a week later, I haven't heard anything about the gum or breath spray. I sent her a text today asking if she's had the chance to enjoy them yet. I'll update when I hear back!

Samson's Allergies

My milk supply dried up early with Dancy and Thora, so I wasn't surprised when it did the same with Samson. I started supplementing with formula in July, and quit breastfeeding in August. Since then, I've struggled to keep up with his eczema. It started on his legs, then spread to his lower back, face, arms, hands, upper back, belly and chest. In that order of progression. 

I've been through every can of formula on the shelf...Similac advance, infant, gentle, sensitive, soy; cow's milk, soymilk, almond milk, coconut milk. Our doctor recognized that it was an allergy, but kept telling me to just keep trying different things and use a steroid cream. Okay, well I didn't use the cream because I didn't want to just hide the problem, I wanted to find the problem and eliminate it. I finally demanded a referral to an allergist.

This was Samson on Saturday. I had worked so hard, reading labels of everything, going to the grocery store just to read labels to find things that were soy and milk free (which means no crackers or bread. Homemade, all the time). His chest and arms were clear, his legs were almost clear, his face still a mess due to teething drool.

And then he broke out from the soap. Dang it.

We went to the allergist in Hays yesterday and I had a babysitter lined up for the other 4 kids. Samson and I enjoyed our date (1.5 hrs of driving one way). He did not enjoy the stethoscope or the blood draw (back at the Norton clinic because Hays won't draw on kids younger than 2). After the blood draw, he was given a bright orange little bear. He promptly stopped crying and waved the bear at the phlebotomists, growling, and then woofing. Anyway, I think I have a little love-hate relationship with the allergist. She was great at helping, but seems to be the kind of doctor who doesn't like anything outside of mainstream Western medicine and pharmacies. She didn't like my use of homemade coconut oil lotion, or essential oils. *pursed lips* One day I'll have a witch doctor holistic doctor.

ANYWAY, we got the blood draw done and should have results in a week. In the meantime and until further notice, I am supposed to:

*give Samson half a vitamin and half a probiotic daily

*give him 2 prescription medications that I don't know what they do

*give Samson Alimentum, a $25-40 12 oz can of formula that tastes bitter nasty

*feed Samson only fruits, veggies (no tomato), rice, oats, chicken and turkey. Salt is allowed, seasonings are not

*use only Cetaphil soap and Aveeno lotion

*try not to go completely insane

Gingerbread Houses

I'm still not at the point of baking gingerbread to make houses, but this was more than I've been able to do for my kids yet. I made the frosting, Shad foiled cardboard and opened a box of graham crackers, and we dug out year-old candy from our cupboard. Ha!

Katie trying really hard not to blink, and Tom being a goof.

Katie and her gingerbread house.

Thora and I worked together...as in she sort of put candy on, but mostly ate while I created.

Ta da! Dancy Pie's house.

Tommy even built a garage for his.

The piano display.

Gingerbread Cookies and Then Some

Tom and Katie look forward to baking gingerbread cookies every year, so that's always a priority cookie for us. It just requires a minimum of two adults for all these kids to participate.

Normally, I just press sprinkles on after cutting the cookies, but Shad figured out that the sprinkles don't fall off if you roll them into the dough first!

Katie's crazy eyes...

One night I felt like hiding in the kitchen. But Thora ate dinner really well and deserved a treat. So we hid together.

Singing songs at bed time and Sam's "I love you face" while looking at Shad.

It's nice when they're all friends together and share a bag of dill chips.

Dancy and Katie with Momma

Jimmy came to visit for the evening on Christmas, so the kids put on a play.

Always a pouter somewhere, right? That's a rule with kids? Tommy, Jimmy, Thora, Katie and Dancy

Once Upon a December

Hmm. I drafted all of my December posts back in January. Guess I should get to them now, eh?

Back on December 3, I had the kind of day is summed up in one simple picture:

Here's what I wrote on Facebook about it:

It's been that kind of crappy day. The kind where Samson screams at me for everything and continues to refuse bottles and milk, and complains about the other food I offer him. All while Thora cries about every little thing, and Dancy yells at anyone who looks at her. And a bath for 2 kids takes 2 hours. And the diaper trash cans are overflowing because Tom and Katie have forgotten their chores for several days. And Samson will only take half hour naps. And Thora loses a 4 oz bottle of milk somewhere in the house. And she steals the insert for Dancy's toilet in order to better cook her Cabbage Patch doll in her kitchen. It's a good thing I didn't have any illusions of getting anything done today!

Samson figured out that he could crawl under chair and over rungs.

He thought it was pretty great!

Katie art. This is a jungle with a tiger. It's raining, the sun is setting, and there are coconuts on the ground.

The Little Mermaid, topless, and Flouder.

A double rainbow with people. She named different people this time than she did when she showed me the first time.

Santa at the library, but we tell our kids the truth. Actually, this year we're going to give them secret missions to be santas for someone they think needs it.

The girls found a (dead) ladybug in the hall one morning and made a house for it. Katie cared for it all day, despite Tom and I telling her it was not moving.

Tommy lost his first tooth...okay, second tooth, but this one was natural instead of faceplanting on a slide!

It was still pretty traumatic, with all those memories of the first lost tooth. It took a lot of persuasion and bribery for him to wiggle it, then I had to pull it out for him. In the end, he decided it was so bad, but that didn't stop him from dragging things out with the other 2 loose teeth until they got knocked out while wrestling with Mom and Katie!

Christmas stocking treats!

Cheers to Spontaneity

I used to be spontaneous all the time. Shad and I used to be spontaneous all the time. We even maintained that for a while with kids, but then had too many to keep it up.

This afternoon I got a package of earrings. I wanted to try stainless steel now that I've finally found a metal I'm not allergic to. Dancy sighed at me and said, "Mom, can I get my ears pierced now?" This is something she's been discussing for a month since I have been with Katie. But this time she wasn't just asking me if she could do it, or "someday when my ears are pierced," this was in my face for half an hour begging me to take her now.

\

Then she tried giving me her 'mad face.' 

No one is going to take her seriously in life if she keeps this up as her mad face. Hufflepuff.

I waited until Shad got home, then turned Dancy to pester him. She and I convinced him it was okay and ran off to the jewelry store, minutes before closing time.

Dancy was stoic for the first ear, but then the anticipation of the second led to tears upon piercing. She got over it when she was given a purple Mardi Gras necklace and a candy cane. She left skipping to the van!

The Dancy pose. Pretty much her Blue Steel.

I love this face!