snow and christmas time

the first snow of the season came and my boys raced outside as fast as they could. they had fun. calder thought it was pretty cool.  it's so funny to see little kids in their snow gear.  when they fall down they can't get back up again. 

 

we didn't have boots for sam yet, so he wore his spider man galoshes.  pretty styling.

 calder was not too happy about being put on santa's lap.  look how sweet his brothers are.  you can tell they're concerned by the way they are looking at him. i love this sibling love.

we went to the fairgrounds for a christmas celebration.  along with meeting santa they had free dinner, a wagon ride, and animals to see in the barn.  sam's face sums up how we felt about the food.

 they had a cow, sheep, lamas, a donkey, bunnies, and then surrounding the fence was a bunch of themed trees, kind of like festival of trees.  it was neat.  my favorites were  the alice in wonderland tree and the lama tree.  so creative.

merry christmas to you all.  i feel like a kid again this year.  i can't wait for christmas to finally be here!!!

thanksgiving weekend recap

We took a trip to Nauvoo Illinios over Thanksgiving break to meet up with Jeffrey's parents.  We were lucky to have time to stop in Chicago and hang out with our friends on our way.  We met up at the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry.  It was incredible! I love this picture of Sam and me.  We're trying on some of the glasses they had in the gift shop.

 Baby Ian and baby Calder.  They were such good sports being trucked around the museum.  :)

 Olivia and Elliot in the tractor tire...sweet!

There were so many amazing things to look at, not the mention the submarine that the museum has in their basement.  They had to put it in while they were building the museum and lower it down into the basement.  We didn't get to go inside the sub, but I heard that it is a worthwhile experience.

 The next day we arrived in Nauvoo.  It was so nice to see Jeffrey's parents.  We found a Thanksgiving day buffet, had dinner (thanks mom and dad!), and then headed to see the temple.

 Jeffrey and I had a opportunity to come to this temple before we got married.  This was the first temple I went through.  It was a beautiful experience.  My thoughts turned to my Grandma Richards since she was there with me in the temple along with my mom.  I sure miss her sometimes.

 I love how swinging seems to make everyone happy.  What is it about swinging that we all love?  Calder had a big grin on his face. It was so cute.  By the way, just have to mention how good looking my husband is.  I love this pose.

 This is the spot along the Mississippi River that I, and a bunch of my friends from when I lived here in Nauvoo, jumped in the river in December.  It was so freezing but fun.  We used to have picnics on the dock down here too, but the dock is pretty much busted now.  It was sad to see.

 We had a good time going around the flats and learning how the pioneers lived and all the work they had to do just for basic needs. They made their own bricks for their homes, made all their food from scratch, made their own candles from animal fat, made their own rope, tin, horseshoes, rugs, barrels, guns, everything!  They worked from sun up to sun down.  It's incredible to think of all they accomplished.  What faith they must have had to move and rebuild each time the saints had to leave a location and move on.  I love church history.  It always makes me so grateful for all the comforts I have.  It also helps inspire me to have faith myself as I go through my own trials, even though my trials are quite different than theirs.  My boys had a pretty good time.  Their favorite part by far was being with grandma and grandpa and getting to ride with them in their rental car. 

 Here is a shot of Sam making rope.

 Grandpa, Calder, and Piggy.

 Elliot is standing in front of the sword that belonged to his Great, Great, Great, Great, Great Grandpa Willard Richards.  Willard Richards was in the jail with Joseph Smith, Hyram Smith, and John Taylor when Joseph and Hyram were killed.  It was a neat experience for Elliot and Sam to go to Carthage Jail where there were killed and to know that their ancestor had been there and tried to save his friends.  He did save John Taylor's life who later became the 3rd prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  It is great to have such an amazing example of courage and faith.

This was the only group shot we got, but it's a cute one.  You can see on the boys' faces that they had a blast.  Thanks again to Grandma and Grandpa Allen for coming all the way out to Nauvoo to hang out with us!!

the boy of many faces...

yep

i will be carrying an epipen around with me from now on. 

we found out yesterday that elliot is indeed allergic to cashews ... and almonds and walnuts too.  finding out he is allergic to almonds was a surprise because he's had almonds and been fine.  the dr said it's probably a very minor allergy but that it is still a good idea to steer clear of them from now on. 
the nice thing is he is not allergic to peanuts.  so he can still have peanut butter and other things made with peanuts.  oh and when you get an epipen they also give you a practice epipen without any needle or medication in it.  i practiced it on myself and now i have a nice bruise on my thigh. :)

we're all hoping that the epipen stays in my purse and we will never need to use it, but it's nice knowing we have it just in case. 

cashew allergy

last night we gave elliot a cashew on dr.'s orders to see if he was really allergic to cashews or if the funny reaction he had as a 3 yr old was just an eye irritation.  elliot ate a little less than half a cashew.  right after he complained that his throat hurt and his tummy ached.  i thought maybe he was just making this up or imagining it because he kind of expected something to happen.  i told him he was ok because he wasn't reacting the way he did years before, which was itchy eyes and sneezing.  well, sure enough, half an hour later he came to me and said he was itching and he had developed hives!  poor kid.  we stuck him in a soothing bath and the dr said to give him benadryl.  it helped after a while and luckily although he did start sneezing and have itchy eyes and stuffy nose, his breathing was not affected.  so we are headed to the allergist next week.  i'm really curious to see how severe his allergy is and if he is allergic to anything else.  he's eaten a gazillion peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, so luckily peanuts do not affect him.  it was a sad situation last night, but i'm sure glad he is ok.  how strange to be allergic to just cashews, but i guess it actually isn't that uncommon.  so if you are around elliot, please keep the cashews at a distance.  thanks :)

haircut...

elliot had a decent amount of hair when he was a baby and toddler.  sam was pretty much bald until he was two.  

calder has had the most hair.  i've loved it, but it was getting a little bit too long to keep it from looking crazy all the time, so we decided to cut it.

    here are a few shots to give you a good idea of how it looks now.

he sure is handsome, but i miss those baby curls already.  kind of regretting cutting it so soon, but it's done and really it does look nice.  i love this boy.  we had a lot of fun giggling and running around the house this morning while i took a bunch of pictures of him.  it's been a good day :)

new look

i have given my blog a new look and want to know....what do you think?

pure joy