Fall Camp Out

This past weekend was Caleb's scout pack's fall campout.  Jes had to go out of town and I wasn't going to let him miss, so I took on the job of taking the both of the kids camping.  We only stayed Friday night and got home as fast as we could after all the activities on Saturday, but we did have some fun!

Our campsite was right on a lake.  A beautiful sight for sunsets and sunrises!

My little scout!  This is his last year in Cub Scouts, so who know what will come next!

The boys had fun making marshmallow shooters...

And they let the siblings get in on the fun too!

Dewberry Farms

This past Wednesday, I took the kids on a field trip with some folks from our homeschool group to a place called Dewberry Farms.  This is a real working farm, just outside the city limits that puts on a fun fall activity set and the kids had a blast!  We will for sure be adding this to our to-do list for the future!

Halloween

This past Sunday, our church had their annual Trunk or Treat, the event we put on for our community for Halloween.  The kids had a great time dressing up as a Jedi and Elsa (like every other girl in the country), playing games and getting candy.  We will go trick or treating in our neighborhood on Halloween itself, but this even is always one we look forward to the most!

Piper's Art Class

Right before our school year started, Caleb had a taekwon do demonstration at a homeschool group open house at our church.  This was a homeschool group I knew of, had friends in and considered joining and did that night.  One of the folks who were at this open house was an art teacher named Sandy.  She holds art classes for all ages of homeschooled kids at a local Hobby Lobby.
Of course, my ears perked up because, as we all know, an artist I am not.
And my girl is.
So, you see my problem here, right?
The more Sandy talked and the more I looked at the brochure, the more I thought I needed to make it work for my Piper, so we signed her up for a class.  Let's just say, she loves it!  This hits all the areas of art that I never could provide for my girl.  I'm so thankful for this class for my girl!

A Second Diagnosis

About four months ago, Caleb started complaining of some very low belly pain.  At first, I thought it might just be normal tummy trouble for him, but it got increasingly worse and was so bad that it would just stop him in his tracks, which is not normal for my tough boy.  So, I took him into the pediatrician to discuss possible issues.  There were some blood tests run and we were counseled to make an appointment with a local GI doctor.  I knew the name of the very best, but he's about 45 minutes to an hour away and had a long wait, so I just went ahead and called and scheduled the first free Tuesday or Thursday they had.

One of the blood tests run was a Celiac panel and our pediatrician felt it was negative, although there were some other revelations that provided some insight and baffled us, all at the same time but the major fear, appendicitis, was ruled out, so we waited.

About a month later, our appointment came up for us to see the GI doctor.  For whatever reason, this doctor was not able to read the lab results or look over Caleb's history prior to our visit, so we went on with a regular exam, complete with x-rays and consult and were sent home with a follow up scheduled.

As I was getting off the freeway to turn down the street that leads to our neighborhood, I received a phone call from the GI doctor, on his personal cell phone.  He asked me if I had knowledge of Caleb's blood work, of course I did, and he told me flat out that he believes Caleb has Celiac disease as well.  We would go ahead with our treatment we were sent home with and return for the follow up a couple of months later.

Today was that follow up appointment where we analyzed the blood work together and we both agreed that all the puzzle pieces fit together and that he has a 99% possibility of having Celiac.  If you couple that with his sister's history, it's a sure thing.  So, we treat for Celiac with a total gluten free diet for him.  I fear it will probably be harder since he's much more adventurous, food wise, than his sister is or will ever be, but we will work through it!  So glad to have an answer for my boy's distress and am ready to get him on track!

Dance Year 2014-2015

It's no secret that Piper did not want to take tap again, but she wanted to continue in dance.  I try to make sure that the kids have at least one activity that is athletic in nature, and for her dance is it!

I had a hard time trying to find a school that offered a single subject ballet class at her age, since most kids are just starting dance and don't really know what they want to concentrate in.  This will be Piper's 5th year of dance and her interests and abilities have been fully explored, so ballet it is.

We started at a school called Christian Dance Center near us in Cypress.  She will have a Christmas program and a recital, but we won't have to worry about anything being too risque or a revealing costume as this school is very much about modesty and honoring God while dancing.  She's so excited and loves it so far!  The bonus is that she has a couple of little friends in her class, too, so it's doubly fun for her!

Labor Day Weekend Trip to the Children's Museum

Yesterday was Labor Day, so Jes had the day off.  We were looking for something fun to do that was indoors (hello Houston heat!) but wouldn't cost an arm and a leg, so we settled on the Houston Children's Museum. 

Let me start by saying that I grew up going to museums in Dallas and we had a membership to one of the best science museums in the country, so I was slightly underwhelmed by this one.  The hoards of screaming, pushy children didn't help either, but that's neither here nor there!

On to what everyone is here for, the pictures!

Jes and Piper were trying to figure out this maze thing.  It was surprisingly difficult!

Building chemicals out of models!

I think she was playing with a magnet and iron filings here.  So fun!

This museum was divided into chunks and this section was a cultural section honoring South American peoples.  The kids had a great time here.

And of course had to hop on the closest thing to a motorcycle that they could find.

This picture cracks me up, because about the time I snapped this, he was asking me why that phone couldn't text.  It had never occurred to me that he had never used a pay phone and I really think he's never seen one either.  He got a little education on this one!

A little periscope viewing...

In the basement, the museum had a miniature city built with all the businesses and services you would find in a major city.  Of course, P wanted to hang in the ambulance and hospital

and the vet clinic.  When she saw the sign for this, she was thrilled and I had to basically drag her out!

She decided that she needed to fix this poor little kitty.  Not sure what the scissors were doing, but she was hard at work!

My future veterinarian!

There was also a little grocery store where the kids could shop for ingredients, check out and purchase them with museum money.  Both kids had a blast doing this, so we spent some time just hanging out there, not unlike our normal lives!

All in all, it was a great time.  The next time we go, however, it will be during the week when all the other kids are still in school!

First Day of School

Yesterday, we started our 2014-2015 school year which finds me with a 4th and 1st grader.  I'm not sure how we got here so, so quickly.  People tell you it goes fast.  Yeah, it sure does.

Here are my babies yesterday morning, ready to begin the day.

Fourth grade has seen a dramatic uptick in the amount of work that is required of Caleb.  He has officially entered a grade where there is identifiable topics that every child in the state of Texas is taught.  Fourth grade is where there is a dramatic shift away from general history topics to a very concentrated effort to teach state history.  Our curriculum is not written in Texas, therefore it does not cover Texas history this year, so I am making an effort to make sure that he is on par with his peers this year, while still covering the history that is written into our curriculum.  This adds quite a bit of work on my part, but it's totally worth it for him!

Last year, Piper was quite bored, working on kindergarten or so she says.  I don't think that it was because the material was too easy, even though it was quite simple, but rather that the idea of school was a challenge and quite different from her flighty, come what may lifestyle she had before school.  All summer, I've been talking up first grade and how fun it would be and showing her all the fun things we would be doing.  This year, she's more responsible for more work (she will enjoy having actual expectations and responsibilities) and will have lots of fun projects, which she loves.

This year, both kids are doing history, Bible and science together.  Even thought Caleb's grade level requires Texas history, Piper is participating too.  Science consists of two curricula: Astronomy and the study of creation, both of which are easy for both kids to complete together.

We haven't quite yet started all the extra curriculars that the kids are involved in, but those start gearing back up next week.  Caleb has been in TaeKwon-Do all summer, but each semester (12 weeks) ends with a break, so this week has been our break and he'll go back on Monday.  Scouts will gear up for him soon as well and we will jump right into weekly den meetings and monthly pack meetings, like normal.  Piper starts dance next week at a new dance school that is a Christian ballet school.  She is also going to start in a weekly art class on the 10th at a local art store.  This Friday, we are going to go to an open house for a group at our church called God's Little Girls, something akin to Girl Scouts, which she won't have the opportunity to participate in this year.

All in all, we are so glad that our normal schedule is starting back up, as summer is a very difficult time for us.  None of us enjoy the random, non-scheduled time that the summer provides, so we are looking forward to a fun year!

Skeeters Game

This past Saturday, Jes, the kids and I drove about 40 minutes to Sugarland for a minor league baseball game.  We had a minor league team near where we lived before and always enjoyed going to the games when we were there.  So, we were invited to go to a game this weekend and jumped at the chance!

Caleb was super excited to go to the game, but P had a great time too!

We brought the kids in their swimsuits because I had heard, and later saw on the website, that there was a splash pad and water play area for the kids.  I was so glad that we didn't end up having to change them and they could play and then it in the sun to dry out and not be too hot!

We had lawn seats, which happened to be situated right behind the bull pen, so that kids loved watching the pitchers warm up and having a bird's eye view of the field.

Piper did a fair amount of dancing while we were there, of course!

This boy loves baseball.  He would really love to play, but it's such a huge commitment and he's never been really interested spending so much time on one activity.  He loves to watch the game, though!

Caleb did a little booty shaking during the evening too.

This was probably my favorite moment of the night.  I would like to believe that Caleb was sharing the finer points of the game with his sister, but they were probably plotting something instead.  Love my babies!