Amber Waves of Grain

Yesterday I went to Chicago with my dear friends Jennifer, Lisa, Mel, and Mindy. We enjoyed a girls-day-out and also celebrated Mel's birthday (Happy Birthday, Mel!!). We went to Taste of Chicago and pigged out. We also took a boat ride down the Chicago River which gave us an architectural tour. Here are some pictures if I can figure out how to post them..... This first picture is of me & Mindy as we finally entered Taste of Chicago. We were both starving and could not wait to get some food! This is me, Lisa, Mindy, and Mel. We were hot, sweaty, and tired of walking at this point.... and it was only early afternoon! We took this picture because we always joke about needing TUMS when we're together (we have a group of good eaters, ha!).... and they had a TUMS sample booth at the fair. It was totally us. This is Mel. We celebrated her birthday in Chicago too. Our group has an official "birthday hat" which must be worn while we sing the birthday song. I can't sa...

Hello! A lot of you have asked me for updates on Keegan's eating issues, so I thought I'd put out this mass update here. Like I warned, I never promised that my blogs would be exciting! For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about...... Keegan was diagnosed with "failure to thrive" last year. Basically, it means he doesn't consume enough calories to grow like he should be and that's for 2 reasons: 1) He never started eating table foods 2) He eats very little in quantity when he does eat. He has major texture issues (sensory issues) and cannot stand the touch of most foods, even to the hands. He often 'freaks out' at even the sight of new foods on his plate. If this gives you an idea, he has never even eaten a Cheerio before. With that being said, for he longest time he lived only on crackers, pretzels, and milk. Oh, my! :) We finally got into a therapy program for him and an occupational therapist now comes to our home weekly to spend t...

This week is Vacation Bible School at our church. Nathan & I are teaching (with another couple) the 4-5 year olds. We are there 4 hours/night so we are pretty tired, but it's been a lot of fun. We have 19 kids in our class and only 4-5 of them attend our church, so we have a lot of visitors which is great. I have definitely gained an appreciation for school teachers because I don't know how they possibly teach a class of students by themselves. We could not do it without at least 4 adults! (Thank you, Mrs. Lester, my kindergarten teacher!). You can tell within the first 5 minutes which group the kids will fall into. Our class seems to have these groups, each of which is precious in their own way: 1. The Criers. These children are homesick and the crying begins about 30 minutes into class. We comfort, we hug.... but nothing can stop the crying until mom or dad arrive. 2. The We-Will-Do-Anything-For-A-Prize kids. These are the kids who raise their hands for everything , even ...

In creating this blog, I was reminded of the show Doogie Howser. Oh, how all of us awkward pre-teen girls loved Doogie and secretly wanted to marry him! At the end of each episode, he got on his computer (remember, this was a 1989 style machine so I use the term "computer" loosely!) and wrote an entry in his 'computer diary'. I always thought that was so cool and longed to have one of those computers to write a diary in! I suppose this is my chance now. Therefore, this is my tribute to Doogie Howser, who I will credit with the creation of the first 'blog'.

Hello! Welcome to my first blog. First of all, I have no idea why someone would want to read about my life. I do not have much to write about unless you are interested in which coupons I got doubled, how many diapers I changed, or which toilet cleaner I used today. That's about as exciting as this will get. I suppose I am starting this blog more as a way for me to express myself and to give myself a creative outlet which is OK too. Anyway, welcome to my new blog!! So, this is a test post. Let's see if this gets posted...........!