Daughters of Republic of Texas

The girls and I are eligible to participate in the Daughters of the Republic of Texas so we made sure to stop by their booth at the Living History Day. The girls had so much fun writing with beet and berry juices.

Living History Day

On Friday, we spent the morning at the local university for the living history day.  PawPaw always teaches the local children about mountain men including trapping, hunting, knife throwing and fire starting.  LE was very interested this year, but Bella and Emmie hung out in the stroller (notice Emmie's hiding place in the stroller). 

A is for Antlers

This past week we learned about the letter A. It is amazing all of the things that start with A! On Thursday, Mimi and Aunt Rissa took the girls to the Tivy Homecoming and my brother, Ryan and I went to watch Jacob play freshman football. He even scored! Way to go, Jake! The girls joined us at half time and they watched the rest of the game.

Second class

I just found out I picked up my 2nd class.  I am now teaching Silver Splash on Monday mornings (and Muscular Strength on Thursdays). This class is exactly what I need right now being 30+ weeks pregnant.  The water feels awesome!  It is also a really small class so I have already bonded with the ladies who are there, as I have been subbing for the past 3 weeks.

Sea World pt 2

Sea World part 1

The plan was to take the girls to Sea World for LE's birthday, but with the heat and a preggo mom we decided to wait to the temps dropped to take them.  About a week after her birthday, I got an e-mail from fellow homeschooler, Charlsie informing Sea World had a homeschool day.  Only certain exhibits would be open, the rides, gift shops, and food vendors were closed, all for $8 per person.  Ben is still sick, so he did not get to join us, but Mimi, Paw-Paw, Gigi and Emmie did and the girls learned so much about the ocean animals.
LE's favorite was feeding the dolphins and the Shamu show.  Bella liked the penguin exhibit and Shamu too.  I loved that we were able to experience the best of Sea World without all of the extras and only 2000 people in the entire park.  We are so bummed Daddy did not get to join us, but now we know about the educational days, we will make it a yearly trip until the girls are older to enjoy the rides and such.  Thanks Charlsie for all of the info!

a few of my favorite things

I follow several blogs and I find it interesting how many things I have in common with my friends, guess that's why we are friends.   I have found several new recipes that have quickly become favorites, new things that I would have never purchased, & decorating ideas.  I wanted to share a couple of my favorites. 
My new favorite recipe is from Erica at Haphazard Happenstances.  (This is a link to the recipe.)  It is for her shredded pork.  I have had this amazing craving for BBQ this pregnancy and this satisifes it.  I put Head Country BBQ sauce over it and serve it on Hawaiaan style Bread Buns. 
My favorite pregnancy soother is from my cousin, Anna at Your Little Birdie.  These are the most comfortable flipflops ever!  I know flipflop season is wrapping up, but these do not come off my feet when I am in the kitchen.  I got the yoga mat style in hot pink.  They were a birthday present from my mom.    

the whole story

Well, you can call it the most expensive homeschool lesson, and you can call us inexperienced homeschoolers. 

Last week, our theme for the week was leaves - letter L, I will live and grow in Christ.  On Monday night, we had school at the local park and did a hike and bike trail to gather leaves for our various projects during the week.   All week long, projects got put off for one reason or another.  It was just one of those weeks.  Then, Wednesday Ben had his poison ivy outbreak and we tossed all of our leaves.  We realized as we were driving home from the urgent care center how God had protected the girls and I all week from that bag of leaves sitting on the kitchen counter. 

This weekend we had to make 2 more trips to the emergency room b/c Ben's reaction kept getting worse.   On Saturday morning, they advised us if he began to have difficulty breathing to call 9-1-1 and if his condition worsened to return to the ER.  On Sunday afternoon, his eyes were still swollen shut, and his rash had spread to his chest and even down to his legs.  He had been on steroids for 4 days and his body was not responding.   On Sunday afternoon, they gave him a stronger dose of steroids and another antihistamine.  I called our church and finally posted on FB for prayers.  Within hours his eyes were opened and you could see Ben again.  He is still having problems with itching, but we are believing he is coming out of it. 

upate on Ben

We spent the morning in the emergency room again.  The poison ivy has continued to spread and his eyes were completely swollen shut when he woke up this morning.  Two epinephrine shots and an IV drip later, he was released with additional meds.  He finally got a little nap in this afternoon, and seems that we may be on the upside of it now.  Would appreciate your prayers still.  Doctor said we cannot touch him until he is completely over it.  So, far girls and I have avoided it, but the doctors gave us some instruction in case I contract it and that the baby would be ok if I did get it. 

Daddy's birthday

One of Ben's favorite things for us to do is to sit down and have breakfast together.  On his birthday morning, the girls and I got up and made him a big breakfast.  He had to work, so we did not get to spend the day together and I had to work that night.  That morning, Ben called me and told me he was breaking out in hives.  Me, being the smart person that I am knew it what it was right away, stress.
We thought we would make Daddy a special birthday lunch - shrimp, steamed artichokes and his favorite cookies - oatmeal raisins.  Did not think much else of his stress until we saw him for lunch.  His face was bright red.   He looked like he was hurting bad.  He said it itched and was going to take Benadryl in case it was an allergic reaction to something. 
I had to work at 4, so did not see him again until I got home that evening.  He actually called me and asked me to come home early.  When I got home, we loaded up the car and headed to the urgent care clinic.  His neck was swelling up and it had spread to other parts of his body.  Correct Diagnosis - poison ivy.  He is still suffering from it this morning, so hoping to celebrate his birthday the right way very soon! 
Hapy - created by LE
Birthday - created by Bella