Pach's homework

Pach started Kindergarten a little over a month ago. He brings home an amazing amount of stuff everyday in his backpack. I don't keep most of it. There is just too much. I do, however, go through everything and pull out things I think are cute or that would be fun to have later. I've kept some things he's written his name on. I want to see how much his handwriting changes over the year. I also kept the packet the cute pictures down below came from.

I think the pictures are so adorable and I wanted to share! I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Tim is the top left one. I am the one next to him.
Pickle is the one in the black pants.
Pach is the big blue one on the side.
Bacon is the little blue one, sideways, on the bottom.

More Allergies

Back in February Pickle had a pretty bad reaction to the Stuffed Peppers I made for dinner. I had decided it was something in the actual Campbell's V8 juice since that was the only thing different I used. Normally I use the cheap store brand stuff and he has no problems with it. In fact, I made stuffed peppers last week with the  cheap store brand stuff and he had no problems.

In late March I finally got in touch with Campbell's about it. I asked if I could have the list of "natural ingredients" used in the making of the V8 juice. The answer was of course NO! However, I was told if his allergist called, Campbell's would release that information to her for testing purposes. So began the obnoxious and long battle of actually getting the ingredients! Campbell's was not willing to even give up that information to Pickle's allergist! Even though I had been told by 3 different people it would be no problem, the lady from Campbell's kept telling the allergist, "Just test him for everything and if something comes back positive, call us and we'll confirm whether or not it's in the V8 juice."

Well, I had finally had enough. I called the number I had and spoke to a very nice woman. I felt bad for speaking so firmly and harshly but I had to do something to get Pickle help. She read from the file that "we are helping with the situation." I cut her off and explained they weren't. Campbell's kept saying they would help but wouldn't. I told her I didn't want to get lawyers involved but I would if I had to. This was for the welfare of my child. Later that day Pickle's allergist had the list.

So yesterday, August 24th, Pickle was tested for a few of the ingredients we knew he hadn't had. While the allergist and I thought he would test allergic to one spice, it was actually watercress he is allergic to! Watercress is one of the 8 main veggies found in V8 juice. That explained why the reaction was so severe. I had seriously thought about shooting him with an epi-pen and heading to the hospital once again. Instead I just gave him Benadryl and monitored him for over an hour.

I have found allergies to be interesting things. For example, watercress is part of the mustard family. So Pickle will most likely be allergic to any type of mustard green. However, he is not allergic to yellow mustard at all. And those are in the same family. It all has to do with where the proteins are found and how things are made. We don't plan on using watercress for anything and it's not something hugely common, so I think it will all be OK.

KELLY CLARKSON AND THE FRAY!!!

Tim has gone to a few concerts over the years since we've been in AZ. During the last concert he was at I started thinking, "Why does he get to have all the fun at concerts?" So I looked up some of my favorite artists and found a couple concerts I wanted to go to. The first one was Kelly Clarkson and The Fray (co-headlining). My dear friend Charlotte went with me and we had a great time. We had dinner together at Burger King. I had sweet potato fries for the first time and decided they are soooo much better than regular fries. I had gotten reserved parking right across from the arena. It was so easy to get in and out. We even splurged and got lemonade while we were at the concert. You may laugh but a small bottle of water was $5.00. We felt like we got a better deal paying $6 for our lemonade that was 2 times the size of the water.

The actual concert itself was totally awesome!! We were hoping Kelly would close the show since it was a co-headlining thing but she opened it instead. No matter, it was great! She sang all of her greatest hits and some that weren't. We enjoyed all the songs (mostly) and screamed and sang our hearts out! We even danced a little bit too! The seats were awesome. They were on the second row of the stadium seats, so about 3 ft. off the ground. High enough to see over all the people on the floor and a straight on shot to the stage. At one point Kelly came out to a platform about 20 ft. away and sang a few songs. I got some great pictures! I didn't realize she had such a twang. I don't pick up on it when she sings but when she talks you can definitely tell she's from Texas!

After she finished, The Fray came out. I will admit I had no idea who they were and had only listened to one of their songs on youtube when I bought the tickets. Charlotte had heard a few of the songs, so she was more excited to see them than I was. It was fun though. The lead singer walk around the crowd, passed right in front of us, so about 3 ft. away before he went back on stage. Later, he sang on a platform to our left about 20 ft. He ran right in front of us a 2nd time. It was exciting. One of their songs is pretty well known. The TV show "Gray's Anatomy" uses The Fray's song "I Could Save a Life" as their theme song. All in all it was a great night. We got home around 1 am. The next day I had a sore throat from the screaming, hooting, hollering and singing. I also had a cold, which I was getting before the concert but the 2 am bedtime (Jake got up at 1:20) was too much for my body to overcome.

I'm really excited to see Carrie Underwood in Oct. with my sister! Enjoy the photos!

Charlotte and me. I took the picture myself,
so if it looks funny, that's why.

The opening lights!

Kelly in outfit number one.

Cool lights.

Outfit number 2 and about 20 ft. away from us.

I REALLY like her strappy shoes.

More lights. The blue lighting was cool but
the camera didn't like it. 

More fun lighting.

This was perhaps my favorite lighting.
I really like red.

The green light! Those often blinded us.

Pretty blue lights towards the end of the concert.
Kelly in outfit number 3.

The Fray. The lead singer plays the piano.

More of the group.

The lead singer about 30 ft. away.  My favorite was the
3 people on the left of him. The two ladies were so
excited and the man looked bored out of his mind!

Not a great picture but the lead singer running past us.
Seriously, I leaned over and my fingers were 3 inches from touching him.

Pach is 5 years old!!

Pachman had 2 birthday parties this year! He celebrated the first one with his Aunt Kim while Tim's side of the family was in Oklahoma City. He shared his cake with Aunt Kim and got lots of fun presents. His second one was here at home. He had a bunch of friends over and opted for a Train birthday. Tim made an amazing cake. He got more fun presents and had a great time. I can't believe he's 5 and in kindergarten!

Aunt Kim and Pach.

Opening presents from Grandma and Grandpa.

His Leap Frog Tag reader. He LOVES it.

CARS 2 lunchbox from mom and dad. 

His "Happy Birthday" train banner I made.

Train cake Tim made 

Close-up of some of the train cars on the cake.

Pin the Train on the Tracks game the kids played.

Pickle's First Day of Joy School

Pickle has been waiting SO LONG to go to Joy School. Probably since Pach started 2 years ago. As we dropped Pach off at school, the first thing Pickle said was, "I'm going to Joy School now?" Nope. We had to wait a whole week! It was an exhausting week with no Joy School! Everyday was, "I'm going to Joy School now?" about 100 times!!! Thankfully the day arrived with everyone still alive and sane! He had a fabulous time. He was especially excited about HIS CARS 2 backpack! He was a little disappointed he didn't get a lunch bag too but..... He came home very happy and excited. SUCCESS!!! I knew he would love it, he just had to be patient, which is extremely difficult for a 3 year old. Here are his first day of Joy School pictures. We had to take A LOT since he seems to have a hard time just standing and smiling for the camera.....

His CARS 2 backpack. He LOVES it!

What most of his pictures looked like.

Pach's 1st day of Kindergarten

Today is Pach's first day of Kindergarten!! I officially have a child in school. I can hardly believe it! This morning went mostly smoothly. I didn't know how the traffic would be, so tomorrow I will alter the routine to accommodate the 15 mph from our house to the school and the line of traffic that would make a traffic jam on the freeway seem like nothing. OK, so not quite that bad but it took over 10 minutes to get Pach to school. We can normally get there in less than 5. I'm just glad I was turning right at the light and not left!

Here is his picture for the first day of school! I hope he has fun!

His lunchbox and backpack.

All ready for school. He is so excited.
I hope he stays that way!

Oklahoma City

Tim and the boys took off for Oklahoma City on July 3rd, in the afternoon. We had all been planning on going but then I got my kidney stone and didn't feel up to doing anything until right before they left. Bacon and I hung alone for the week they were gone.

The reason for the trip was to see the first niece and cousin on Tim's side of the family. His sister, Sarah, had a little girl on Father's Day, Claudia. Or as the Pach and Pickle call her "Baby Jessie". When we found out Sarah was pregnant, we were watching Toy Story 2. The boys said, "If she has a girl we can call her Jessie. If it's a boy we can call him Buzz." Luckily the baby was a girl but the boys have been calling her baby Jessie since Sarah was 5 months pregnant.

Anyway, they headed out there and had a great time. At least the boys did. I forgot to pack Tim's running shoes in the car, so all he had were his work shoes. He found that out Tuesday night after they checked into the hotel. He wasn't too happy about that and I felt really bad. Luckily he got some shoes on Wednesday and all was good again. Then he was a little under the weather for most of the trip but the amazing man he is, he just toughed it out with the boys.

Below are some of the things they did. The boys really did have a lot of fun. And Tim got to see his whole family.

First up was the Dinosaur Museum. They LOVED that place, especially Dino. He went in as well and got to see his ancestors. He even got some toys too!

Pach, Dino and dino bones.

Pickle and some bones. He's so funny!

They liked this one! They said "That dinosaur
is helping the other one."

Two boys in dinosaur heaven!

Pickle and Grandpa being stepped on by a Wholly Mammoth.

They also went to the Botanical Garden: 

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A skyscraper. Tim says "It's probably
the highest point in Oklahoma." 

Pach and Grandpa having fun.

Pickle enjoying the water!