Happy Halloween! It feels like things stretched out for almost a week this year. I helped with Mimi’s first Girl Scout Halloween party, we went to the party at N’s office, and I ran the snack station at E’s class party today. And of course we went trick-or-treating tonight 😉
E was a little ambivalent about picking his costume and went with Mimi’s suggestion of Robin from Teen Titans. The kids watch cartoons on Saturdays after their chores are done and Teen Titans is usually on in an endless loop so the choice was apropos.
Mimi loves all things rainbow and unicorns and was excited about this winged unicorn costume we found at H&M. I liked that it was cozy and easy-t0-wear.
We sent E off to his first day of 3rd grade today! He had mixed feelings about going back to school (mostly concerns about how it would impact his computer game time, ha).
But fortunately he came home from school happy about seeing his friends and excited about his class. We’ve had a great summer but to be honest I’m really looking forward to getting into our school year groove. Our schedule feels like an advance level of Tetris and I kind of wish I could skip ahead to the end of September when I have everything fit into place.
The most exciting aspect of this year is that Mimi is starting kindergarten. *gulp* It starts next Monday and both her and I have COMPLICATED FEELINGS.
Compared with the thought of sending Mimi off, today with E was pretty low-key. He’s been at his school since kindergarten and we all love it.
I’m looking forward to a great year with our smart, quirky, funny, enthusiastic third-grader 🙂
We’ve had an exciting weekend–last Thursday E graduated from milk OIT which means he can now freely eat dairy! At graduation E drank 300 ml of whole milk (with strawberry syrup in it, natch) with no problem. It’s truly amazing and our whole family feels so grateful.
We love Dr. Olsen. He always takes time to talk with E about whatever he wants to discuss which is usually computer games 😉
After our appointment we went straight to dinner at The Pie. They make great pizza and before it was the only pizza place we could go as a family because they would put Daiya non-dairy cheese on a pizza for E.
But on Thursday, E had his first piece of real pizza with cow cheese and cheese sticks AND an ice cream sundae for dessert 🙂
And he was fine! Watching him eat all that dairy was AMAZING, almost like I was watching a magic trick and having trouble believing my eyes.
First bite of real cheese pizza!First bite of real ice cream and whipped cream! Mimi was almost as excited as E was.
We’ve been going a little crazy since Thursday crossing off things off of E’s dairy wishlist. He went to Taco Bell for the first time, got the free soft-serve ice cream at Dickies (which both kids have been talking about for months), ate buttered popcorn at the movies, and ate enchiladas with real cheese.
First visit to Taco Bell! He loved the nacho cheese.Free-average-tasting soft serve never tasted so good!
It’s such a trip to see him eat things with dairy. I keep taking pictures.
E’s still allergic to eggs, peanuts, nuts and shrimp but at graduation we got some good news which which I’ll fill you in on later.
If you are interested in Oral Immunotherapy for food allergies I recommend our doctor, Rocky Mountain Allergy Asthma and Immunology without reservation. And this Facebook group, OIT 101, was helpful in answering a lot of my questions. If you have questions about our personal experience I’d love to hear from you in the comments or in email.
Also, let me know if you have any dairy suggestions of things for him to try! I’m going grocery shopping today and am getting real cream cheese for bagels, Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, Cozy Shack pudding, and whatever else dairy catches my eye. I’m giving us a week to go a little nuts and then we’re going to find our new (creamy, dairy-licous) normal.
Saturday was a very sports-themed day. First we took E to his last soccer game of the season and then Mimi had a gymnastics exhibit.
It has been rainy and windy all morning but thankfully it cleared up when the game started. E was on a 2nd grade team through our city rec league and enjoyed it. His best friend from the neighborhood was on his team as well which was fun for him. They had a wonderful (and very patient!) coach.
Watching from the sidelines waiting to get put in the game.Medals and juiceboxes for everyone!
On Wednesday morning after doing his hair for crazy hair day at school, E noticed the small collection of cloth-bound classic novels we have on a shelf in our living room. He asked what type of books they were and I explained that they were novels some of which were written over a hundred a years ago. He thought that was so cool and asked if he could read them.
I steered him toward Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland since it was the most kid-friendly and he read happily until his carpool came.
Since then he hasn’t picked it back up again to read; I think Diary of a Whimpy Kid has lock on his interest at bedtime right now. But since then he has TALKED about reading novels a lot. He thinks they’re cool which warms my former English-major, book-loving heart.
E turned eight at the beginning of the month. We had a friend party for him at the Discovery Space Center which lets you go on a simulated space mission: piloting and navigating your space ship, encountering aliens, communicating with mission control, etc… It’s basically like being on the bridge on Star Trek. The kids really loved it.
Our house is on the smaller side and I wasn’t thrilled about having a pack of 8-year-old boys bouncing around it so the cost seemed very reasonable, especially since I used a $50-off coupon I received on their mailing list.
The following day we went up to N’s parents’ house and had dinner and another cake and opened presents from family. We really like birthdays around here 🙂
After a crazy Friday (getting the kids ready for each of their class parties, going to E’s school to run the snack station and having half of the other moms helping with the party not show up until the party was halfway through (!), watching E’s school costume parade then rushing home to pick up Mimi so my friend who was watching her after preschool could attend HER kids’ costume parade, and then taking taking the kids around N’s office Halloween party) I was beat. It didn’t really seem right that there was STILL MORE HALLOWEEN stuff to do on Saturday.
But we got the kids in their costumes again (E was General Grievous from Star Wars and Mimi was Rainbow Dash from My Little Pony) and trick-or-treated with some of our neighborhood friends.
Mimi was thrilled that she and her friend from down the street were twins.
E with neighbor friends.
E as General Grievous
Mimi as a sassy Rainbow Dash
I hope you had a happy Halloween. Ours was fun but I’m glad its over. Good thing there’s nothing going on for the next few months, right? 😉
I loved growing up in western Washington. My parents still live there and since we don’t get to see them very often I tried to take the kids up every summer to visit. This year my siblings also came so we had a family reunion which was really great.
My parents live on a couple of acres which they’ve planted with fruit trees, berries, grapes, and a big garden. The first morning after we got there the kids ran outside in their pjs to pick some blackberries for breakfast.When they’re older I hope they remember small moments like these.
E and Mimi started school last week. E came home happy from the first day of second grade and excitedly told us how his teacher, Mr. Mac, told the kids that they don’t have to raise their hand to go get a drink of water OR to go to the bathroom. The heady privileges of being a second-grader! 🙂
Sweet Mimi is attending the same wonderful preschool that she went to last year but now she is going 3 days a week instead of 2. This year we are carpooling with her best friend Eva and listening to their conversations in the car is turning out to be a real highlight for me. So adorable!
I’m looking forward to nailing down my schedule and getting into a routine. We came home from spending a few weeks up in WA with family right before school started so I feel a little bit discombobulated (and behind on laundry, as ever). But I took a lot of photos while we were out of town and will try to post them soon!
E has been having some adventures of his own this summer. He got to walk in our town parade!
One of the quirks about living in Utah is how closely involved the Mormon church (which we’re members of) is in civic matters. For our town’s big summer parade different wards (or congregations) get assigned each year to make parade floats. This year our ward made a Dr. Seuss-themed float. E dressed up as Sam I am from Green Eggs and Ham and walked alongside the float.
I thought our ward did a great job on our float. It was fun to see what other wards did. Some of the floats were pretty impressive.
I still miss a lot of things about living in WA, where I grew up. But I have to admit, aspects of UT are growing on me 🙂
Happy Halloween!
E turned eight at the beginning of the month. We had a friend party for him at the 
The following day we went up to N’s parents’ house and had dinner and another cake and opened presents from family. We really like birthdays around here 🙂
I still miss a lot of things about living in WA, where I grew up. But I have to admit, aspects of UT are growing on me 🙂