May...

May has been an interesting month...
The last 2 weeks included two birthdays, homeschool evaluations, 3 kids to the dentist and a very short trip to Ohio.



My sister and her husband were celebrating their first pregnancy after 6 yrs of marriage. But sadly Baby Theodore did not get to live very long here on earth. We packed up the house in 3 hours and headed to Ohio to be with them. 

It was a very long 7 hour drive. Very.Long. with all 6 kids. We stayed at The Barn Inn one night. we had planned to go to my parents but supper, but it was really humid and they have a dog in the house. So we ended up ordering late night pizza to be delivered to our vacation house for dinner.

J and K had a beautiful service for baby Theodore. My kids think he must be playing with his uncle in Heaven. 

We drove to Ohio Friday morning and returned home Saturday evening, because Bubbie was reacting to something in the vacation house. He was wheezing, coughing and generally irritable and miserable! The drive home was not nearly as torturous as the drive to Ohio. But by Sunday morning, 5 of my kids were sick with fevers, coughs and colds.

We regrouped and recovered. Then we celebrated birthdays. Bubbie turned 2. We made a dairy, egg and protein free chocolate cake that he loved. I made a smiley face with allergen free chocolate chips, he was quite delighted and ate all of the chocolate chips before anyone else got cake!

He loves to look at books and was quite happy with his collection of birthday books. 

We tried some new hairstyles. She and I were both delighted with how these twists turned out!! She is tired of braids and straight hair... so this was a fun new style. 

Then we had another birthday. This time it was gluten free cake with peanutbutter and honey icing. Lee's favorite! 

For his birthday, he wanted to camp. But as we all know our family has really had to adjust to having a highly allergic child, so we decided to camp out back. 

My landlords/next door neighbors have a little cook out area on the corner of the two properties. We got permission to use it for the weekend. 

We put up the tents, made dinner in the charcoal grill. Because Bubbie is allergic to smoke.... We made dinner, pulled down the tents and dashed inside. Just as it started to pour down rain.
My amazing friend Ada had joined us for this birthday camp out. She knows how to make anything fun. She had brought a game and some glow in the dark toys.

We watched a movie and played lots of games. Ada and the kids slept in the living room. Sunday we had breakfast then played games all day long!! Once again life did not go as we had planned but the kids had a total blast and the birthday weekend was saved.



The last big thing we did was homeschool evals. I am so thankful for an evalautor that understands the importance of working with kids, the calling of homeschooling. She was so encouraging as I worried about the progress or lack of that I see with my kids.

We have another 2 weeks of craziness then school should slow down. Three of the kids had dental appointments. Two need extractions and sealants. So we get to make 4 more visits for those two kids, plus the other 4 kids need dental exams. Plus we have a big appointment coming up for Bubbie...