Allergies

We learned - not too long after we moved here - that Caleb was also allergic to either rabbits or hamsters...... He played at a friends house and petted their animals. Not long after he started to get really swollen eyes and later, hives. It happened again not long after that. He can pet them if he washes his hands right after but he tends to just avoid them instead. Interestingly enough this allergy doesn't seem to have any affect on his asthma. Eye drops make a huge difference but he hates them so I have to make deals with him..... usually it involves me playing video games with him. 

His asthma is well controlled right now. We will see how he makes it through all the colds and such over winter.

Art

These are some of the examples of artwork Maggie did during our few months of homeschooling last year. She was very proud of them and showed them off as her talent when she tranferred into the elementary school here so I thought I would let them live forever in digital land. She doesn't have a dedicated art class in the school so she really misses it. I loved the variety and lessons that were taught through the homeschooling program....... it would be nice if more elementary schools could cater to the interests of the kids a little more. There is so much focus on academics that the individual interests tend to get lost. Someday I will find the perfect answer to education - 

Webelos

When Jackson turned 10 in March he moved on to Webelos in the Cub Scouting program. Since it's now October..... we are over halfway through this year of scouts. It has been my favorite year :) He has had excellent scout leaders that do a great job entertaining and teaching the boys - that takes a lot of responsibility off of me!! He's growing up to be a pretty awesome young man.

Easter 2014

We had a lot of fun decorating eggs. It always involves a lot of mess and an intense hour for me as I try to help everyone at once but they love it. We went to the Easter egg hunt that the city puts on. They really liked that too. It's funny how events like that showcase their personalities. Caleb is pretty happy to listen and obey when things make sense :) He went to the farther eggs and picked up his allotment and was good to go. Maggie is the same way. Jackson and Hailey on the other hand....... Hailey would pick up one or two and run to a different area, pick up one or two and run around again (Jackson was exactly the same at the same age), Jackson now just ran up, picked up his amount and came running back to us, bag flapping, eggs bouncing out everywhere...... It's so much fun to try to guess what they will be like as teenagers, as adults... I'm a little scared, a little sad, and very excited.

Park play April 2014

I love that all 4 will still play and have fun together at a playground. Sometimes it's hard to watch them grow up when I love who they are right now...... but I also love every new stage that comes. I miss 5 year old Jackson but I definitely love 10 year old Jackson :) I guess that's why pictures, videos and journals are so important. Every once in awhile you can take a step back in time and visit the kiddos at different ages

They are also very good sports when it comes to picture taking! I need to keep taking advantage of it.

Jackson was a little annoyed that he couldn't do a trick on the zipline thing that the younger ones could so he thought he would try to build more muscle right then and there. Hailey thought it was a great idea too. It didn't Jackson long to learn that it was more about technique than strength :)