what is going on?

Ok, what am I doing wrong? I am referring to the post below me. when I was typing the post, I most of the pictures side by side and their captions underneath them. Why are they spaced out vertically with the captions all run together under the 2nd picture? Does anyone know? Maybe in a year I will have this figured out? hahaha Ok, i know it will take longer than that.

Beautiful Summer Day

OK, I am going to try to put pictures in here and post and hopefully it won't be a mess again.

Mason's, Maddox's, and my footprints.

On Friday, the weather was just beautiful. So we crusied through school and headed outdoors. First we went to a park that Mason has wanted to go to all summer. While we were there I decided we would head over to Canal Park. The weather was too beautiful for us not to be at the beach and near water. Mason, Maddox, and I had a wonderful time. It was a perfect day. About 80 degrees, sunshine, the lake....This is one of the perks of homeschooling. We were able to relate some things we have learned about the sun and moon while out at Canal Park.

Mason had fun skipping rocks and even did a "triple". (He says Craig can do a "fipple"--that's five skips mom, you know like "triple" is three?) Maddox had a blast playing in the wet sand. He was covered in it. He would have crawled into the water too. He doesn't seem to have too much fear about anything (except the vacuum, and the sound of loud waves). Then we walked down to the lighthouse. Mason had fun trying to lift all the anchors along the way--and was amazed that he couldn't. All in all, it was just a picture perfect day for all of us.

Skipping Rocks Playing in the Wet sand--look at those little toes

So Strong Our gifts

Studying space has been incredible. We watched a Nova program about Black Holes and it is all so amazing to me. Everything out there in the universe is all lined up so perfectly. I feel so small and insignificant when I really think about it. So often I go through the day dwelling on what I "deserve" and my "rights" to this or that. And really, I am just a tiny part of this whole expanse we live in. It's amazing how God put all that in order. I mean, Jupiter has 62 moons. And they don't crash into each other. We have a black hole in our universe with the potential to eat our galaxy, but everything is spaced out so perfectly, it doesn't. God seems so much bigger to me now. And then I am amazed at how much he cares about little ol' me and my challenges and struggles. At times it is overwhelming.

Yesterday a friend called and let us know about a free event at the Duluth Art Institute, so the boys and I headed out the door. It was a wonderful event. They had art stations set up for the children to try different art activities. Mason wove a bracelet, made a mobile, did some metal tooling and made a bowl out of clay. He loved it. And he was very serious about it. There isn't much talking going on when he is a workin'. I didn't get too many pictures

because my battery was almost toast. I'll get a picture of him with his projects though and put it on his blog.

Listening to instructions Getting started

Today Craig and Mason are at Boulder Lake for "Boulderlakearama". There is fishing, pontoon rides, bonfires, a BBQ and I think a hay ride as well as hiking. They should be home soon.

Maddox is doing well, but he just cannot have bananas. He is so uncomfortable if he has them and has horrid nights. Peaches don't seem to be sitting with him too well. Sometimes I delude myself into thinking everything is fine, and all we need to avoid is coconut, peanuts, dairy, soy, goat milk, white potato, green beans, peppers and eggs. Feeding him is going to be a challenge and I need to take it slow with him and just really pay attention. And pray. And pray some more :)

He is still just a happy little guy with laughs and smiles for everyone. He will give Mason "luvs" if you ask him to (not so much for me though), gives fives, waves "bye-bye" and loves to scoot through things and under things. He often gets stuck, but his basic style is :"I am going this way no matter what and you had better get out of my way". Not crawling yet, but man, he is fast with the scoots, and is stealth-like. He is pulling himself to his knees and has pulled to standing a few times. He may walk before he crawls. Junal was like that. Sleep at night has been getting better, only because Craig is helping out. He will take Maddox downstairs in the middle of the night and just hold him while he cries.(it usually doesn't last long...20 minutes if that) But...the other night he actually went over 7 hours without needing to eat and woke up happy and content...but hungry. I hope this becomes a trend.

Kitchen Fun

I just figured out how to move the pictures around. Hopefully my posts will make more sense soon.

Our Knight

Making Music

Mason and Maddox were having fun in the kitchen the other night. They made a band and Mason was our "knight" in shining armor.

Wanting to go in with Mason

Just hanging out

Fell asleep in the morning on the floor after his long night at the ER

The Sculptors

Playdoh shirt
playdoh eyes

Mason's creation
Gianni's creation

Mason and Gianni had fun with the playdoh last night. Vinnie, Nic and Gianni spent the night. It was fun having them over. Both Mason and Maddox loved it. Nic really loves hanging out with Maddox and is so good with him. All three of them are good with Maddox and they are all sweet boys. Maddox loves all the excitement. Especially this morning. I think he would have been really crabby with all the lack of sleep, but he was too distracted. That was a nice treat.

ER visit

Well, this little fella had his first trip to the ER last night. He woke up at 9:00pm just screaming and pulling on his ears and clawing at them. After 30 minutes of that, I brought him to the ER, convinced he had a double ear infection. Thankfully his ears were clear. They thought maybe he had "eustachian tube dysfunction" or that it was the precursor to an ear infection. We got home by 11:45 pm and the little guy decided to stay awake until 1:00am. Then was up at 4:30am and then at 7:00am and now he will-not-nap. It looks like an eye tooth is trying to come through, so this may be the problem.

Last night he was also scratching his head...and I had given him bananas, so I am thinking we need to stay away from them, even though the bloodwork said he wasn't allergic. sigh. I really wish he didn't have all these allergies and sensitivities. I do realize it could be so much worse and none of this is life threatening and for that I am grateful. I just want to be able to eat food and feed my baby. Being very tired doesn't help though either :) Other than that, Maddox is doing great and is very happy and a delight to be around. Always smiling and laughing.

To The Moon...

This is our "moon" and craters.
Mason's footprints in the house after our "moon" experiment.
Ugh. These pictures will not move.


We have been studying the moon this week.

Yesterday we made a "moon" by filling a pie tin with cornstarch. Then we sprinkled tempra paint on it and dropped rocks and balls from different heights to see what the craters would look like. Mason loved it. It was fun to see the cornstarch fly .

Houston, We have a Tooth!!!

Yes! Maddox has his first tooth!! It is the left bottom one. After 2 agonizing months, it finally broke through a few days ago! We had 2 days of relief, but then today the other one started bothering him. Poor guy. He'll just push his face into the floor and try to bite it while crying. Then he'll lay down on the floor and push all the toys away from him and whimper and cry. Or he will chew on our chairs. It is a sad thing to see.

I brought him in yesterday for lab work to see if he was allergic to bananas, apples, carrots, peaches or broccoli and they all came back negative!!! Hooray!! But I don't know what was causing the crust on his head or the yucky diapers....although the diapers could have been from the teething...hmmm...

The lab work did confirm his coconut allergy though. I was hoping it was just a contact allergy so I could eat macaroons this winter and have meals made with coconut milk. sigh. We'll see how much longer I can keep up the nursing. I may have to stop when he is a year old. This restricted diet is getting to be a bit much.

I have a cookbook being sent to me from interlibrary loan for food allergies. I can't wait to get it. I have tried one recipe out of the book (it was posted online), and it was EASY and GOOD. 2 big requirements!!

I'll post more later (tonight or tomorrow) about Mason and homeschool and such.

1st post

I am starting this blog to journal/chronicle my adventures as a wife (to a wonderful husband), mother of 2 wonderful boys, and teacher as I homeschool our oldest son, and as I attempt to do these with grace, mercy and humility (none of which come easy for me). I must warn any readers that I do not know what I am doing (evident by the extremely enormous title picture) and am not eloquent. If you are looking for some witty, charming, intelligent writing, you may want to stop reading now. If, however you just want to keep up with this family and see what's going on...you're in the right place!!