Soccer updates

I forgot to mention in my last post that Julianne scored a goal at her previous soccer game. She now really likes soccer and becoming more aggressive with the ball and going out there and trying to get the ball more. She has a couple really good players on her team I think she was intimidated by them but now she is learning and getting more into it. She actually got a game ball last week (all the players get one during the season) but she was really excited that she got one and she knew that she was going to get one because she "played really hard." So we are so glad that she likes it and is now really putting herself out there. She has a tendency to stand back and watch and not really paprticipate in things because It hink she thinks she will not do it well or will look silly, but it seems she growing out of that. It is really fun to watch her and of course she has a lot to learn. All the girls are ball hogs and there is not really any passing going on but I have been impressed that second graders can play and understand what they should be doing during this game.

Mallory is doing well. She was a little sick last week with a headache and just a grumpy feeling. She did not have a fever but complained about her head hurting for several days. She has been loving school and is excited about going everyday.

Nathan is doing well. He is crazy, stubborn and determined as 2.5 year old should be. He is slowly not taking his afternoon nap which is tiring for me but it is fun to spend some one on one time with him. This week we are volunteering in Mallory's class. The teacher said I could bring Nathan so that will be nice and hopefully he is a help and not a nuances.

During the past 10 days we went to the pumpkin patch and had a lot of fun looking for pumpkins. However, we had fun but I swear that that pumpkin patch is somewhat haunted. Last year when we went to this same pumpkin patch Julianne lost her coat and we never found it again. This year I put 40 dollars in my pockets and when I went to pay for the pumpkins the money was gone. It must have fallen out but that place brings me bad luck. The kids had fun playing in the corn and Julianne was a mess when we got home. she had straw caked in her hair and it was hard to get out.

My stubborn son trying to pick up the pumpkins.

He is trying to pick it up a different way.

And another...

He finally gave up and let Julianne carry it for him.



Group hug.

The corn box.


Julianne was a mess at the end of that day. It was so hard to get all the hay out of her hair.

We also participated in the Second Annual Walk for Autism. I volunteered to do registration and I was there at 7:00 am. It was really cold that morning and by 10:00 I was frozen trying to register people. But I had fun and quickly warmed up during the opening ceremonies and on the walk.

D not really wanting me to take his picture. Shocking!!!


I took my friends pictures this weekend and they turned out really well. I was actually surprised. The boys were fun and the lighting was great, the evening was warm so the pictures were a success.








Things I am grateful/thankful for:
-great fall weather.
-the sound of leaves falling and crunching when we walk and run on them
-spending time with my kids.

Two less days in the week

I now have two less days in the week to get all of my chores/errands/activities completed since I have been working two days. Granted D stays home on one of those days and helps keep the house clean but it is still more work on me. I switched the kids and my clothes this week to winter clothes since I was a little past due so that was my largest time hog. So with less time means my blog may suffer a little from lack of entries. I will keep trying to post once a week but it may be longer than that.

Our biggest event of the past two weeks was that Julianne was at gymnastics on Monday jumping on the trampoline when she went to her belly and kind of landed on her chin. She started crying and got off the gymnastics floor and I could tell she was in a lot of pain. We iced it and just hung out until Mallory was done. She had to walk very slowly and was still in a lot of pain was we were leaving. She could move her arms and her body but could not move her neck very well. When we got home we took it easy and just gave her some Tylenol and had her ice it. On Monday she was not really feeling any better and her left shoulder was considerably lower than her right. So I decided to call the doctor to make sure she did not dislocate her shoulder or have any other bone issues. Well the doctor said she had a muscle spasm and that it would feel better in 3-4 days. So I was glad that I did not have to get any x-rays and she is now back to normal. She was mad that she could not play soccer on Tuesday but I am happy that she is feeling better.

Mallory's second fish (Bluey) died on Tuesday and she was pretty upset and wanted me to immediately go and buy a new one. I told her we had to grieve her old fish first for a few months before we could purchase a new one. What I was really thinking was that I did not want to buy another one since I always have to take care of it. So I checked her fish off my list of one more chore to take care of. If we get another one she will be in charge of cleaning the fish bowl and taking care of it because that fish and Julianne's stinky/pooping frog drive me up the wall:)

Nathan is doing great. He likes school when he is in the classroom but he always says "I don't want to go to school" or "I don't like it" but he goes in willfully and seems to have fun. Mallory and I have been enjoying our time together. This past Monday we went to the local Goodwill store to look around and to give some old clothes away. There was not a great selection of things so we only bought Nathan a pair of pants and Mallory a stuffed animal.

Things I am grateful/thankful for:
-Fall leaves
-A quiet house
-learning new things at work everyday

The week in review

Well we escaped September without Nathan having an asthma episode but this weekend it was back. It was not too bad of one but it did slow him down a little. He is better today and went to school with a little wheezing and coughing but he is back to his old self. His eczema is alright. He is not itching it as much but that could also be because the weather is colder and he has been wearing pants. I looked back at my blog from last year and in November I said that his eczema was almost gone on his legs so I think I am choosing a bad time to try my wheat/gluten free experiment. I should really try it in the spring/summer when his legs are really bad and irritated. However, at the beginning of the week they were really red and irritated and by the end of the week his skin was softer and not as red. So who knows. I am still plugging along on the diet restriction for about 6 weeks. I thought I would only do it a week or two but a lot of things say to wait until 2 months to wait until all the gluten/wheat is out of the system. So we will see. He is actually doing really well with the food choices. He still asks for his favorite cereal but is easily tempted by the rice and corn cereals. Julianne is actually really jealous that Nathan gets to each Rice Chex cereal and she does not. He also has pretzels which she wants to eat so bad. So it is going alright. Since he does not really eat my dinners that I make it doesn't really matter at dinner time.

Julianne had her first Girl Scouts campout this weekend. She had a lot of fun and did not have any reservations about going. She was really tired and worn out when she got back on Sunday and within half an hour had to turn around and go to her soccer game. That was really unpleasant for her. She threw the largest fit and was really mad that we were making her go to soccer. There was a lot of yelling and crying from her end. In the end she got dressed and pulled through and had an OK soccer game. She has a hard time transitioning to different activities and I know that she was worn out but we still wanted her to participate in the game she committed herself to.

We went to the So You Think You Can Dance concert this past week and we had a lot of fun. We were suppose to go with friends but they could not find a babysitter and the husband was sick so we took the girls. They girls had a lot of fun since they watch parts of the show throughout the season with us. Mallory was so cute because after about 10 minutes of watching it she ran up to me and said mom, "Those are real people." It was the cutest thing ever. She is used to watching it on TV and when her 5 year old brain started thinking she realized that they were real dancers and it was not on TV. So it was cute. Julianne kept saying, "This is my favorite dance." She said that on every dance. So that was cute. We had a great time.

Things I am grateful/thankful for:
-Hearing the High School Band play a concert next door. (my neighbors hosted the band for dinner before a game and the band played a concert in the street.
-Nathan and is ability to express himself with words
-Julianne trying hard at soccer
-Mallory loving kindergarten

Soccer activities

Julianne started soccer two weeks ago. Her very first game ever was last Sunday and she just had her second game today. She did an excellent job trying hard to get the ball and not being so passive this Sunday. She actually went for the ball and was more into the game today than she was last week. It was raining last weekend so I did not take any pictures but I took a bunch today and I got to capture her in action. Her first game she pretty much just ran after the ball and never really wanted to touch it. She was happy to just run and be by the ball but she did not want to steal it from anyone or have it to herself. Today she had about 10 seconds of her dribbling the ball down the field all by herself and I think it really helped her realize what soccer is about. D asked her if she liked it and she said that she did and she wanted to score after that. After those 10 seconds she was in the game. She would run after the ball and try to get more into the game. So we were really proud of her and glad that she is really having fun with soccer.

These are pictures from her practice and from todays game. I had a great time taking pictures of Mallory and Nathan during her practice. Nathan loves balls and he will play with them anywhere he can. Mallory had fun playing on the school equipment and playing hopscotch. She just loves school. She loves her teacher and we see her teacher all the time since her daughter also plays soccer with Julianne so Mallory loves seeing her and watching her take care of her kids.


















Nathan loved playing with his ball in the water.


This week and next week I am putting Nathan on a gluten-free diet. Since the skin is an organ and it is reacting to something going on either outside his body or inside I really want to find out what is disrupting his skin so much that he itches so hard that he makes himself bleed from all his deep scratches. I have been reading some stuff about diets and eczema and I have tried eliminating milk/dairy and that did not work and the only thing I have not tried is wheat/gluten. So that is what we are trying this week and next. So on Friday night I went and spent 65 dollars on gluten free food. Since he does not really eat too much I really just had to buy some cereal, bread, noodles, crackers/pretzels and I bought some small desserts. So we will see. We have been putting his prescription Elidel on his skin twice a day for the past two weeks because I kind of gave up on trying to holistically or minimally treat his eczema. So his legs look pretty good right now but we will stop using the Elidel for right now and see if the elimination diet works. I am a little hopefully since I loved that giving up peanut products got rid of the eczema on his head but I am not confident that this will work. So we will see.



This is Julianne at her second game. I know that she was nervous because she was sticking her fingers in her mouth.



I lover her tongue.

Now she is charging after the ball!!! Go Julianne

Things I am grateful/thankful for:
-Lovely cooler weather today
-seeing Julianne and her inner fighter girl have fun on the soccer field
-easy to read food labels for gluten free food (do you know how many foods have Gluten in them? A lot)

Nathan's first day of preschool

Nathan's first day of preschool was Monday. He was as excited as a two year old would be and he did very well. My friend is one of the teachers in the classroom so that helped him feel more comfortable. He keep talking about "going to school". So he had a great day and he is looking forward to going back tomorrow.





Julianne's friends birthday party was last night. She has three friends over and they decorated tee shirts and had a lot of fun. The shirts were very cute. We ironed on their name and other fun little designs. The girls then further decorated them with paint and markers. They are all planning on wearing them on Monday. So that will be fun for them. The girls stayed up probably until about 1:00 a.m. They were crazy and wild around 10:00 pm. and we had to send them downstairs. D slept on the couch in the TV room and I slept upstairs with Mallory. Mallory and I had our own sleep over in my bed. We went to bed around 10:30 pm. In the morning D fixed his traditional Sunday morning breakfast and they all loved it. One of Julianne's friends said she did not want to eat D's eggs becasue she only eats her dad's eggs. It was kind of funny. Another one of Julianne's friends told D that he could not make them go to sleep. He went down at 12:30 a.m. and told them that they could not be loud anymore that they needed to wisper and go to sleep and that is when she told him that. It was interesting.




This is the next morning. Julianne and her friend were the first to wake up so they came upstairs. We also got our new TV room couch and this is it. It is much larger, wider and more comfortable than our old one. We put the old one in the basement and took the old, old, old basement couch and put it in our garage for someone to pick it up. Our new couch is great because D and I can both snuggle and fit onto the new couch.

Here are the girl sleeping. Julianne is a little spoiled because she really wanted to sleep on the air mattress. Whatever happened to sleeping on the carpet? We all did that. Oh well, it was her birthday.

Things I am grateful/thankful for:
-Running in the early morning.
-Having 3 hours on Mondays with just Mallory, she never gets alone time with me.
-Seeing Julianne interact with her friends.