Family Reunion IV

(July 2019) 

Today was everyones favorite day...Farm Day.

We stayed home and played outside the entire day.

 

The bounce house was pulled out.

Popcicles were eaten.

The kids were in heaven!

There was corn hole

ax throwing and bad-mitten,

 

 there was archery

volleyball, berry picking...

you name it.

 

As the sun went down we had a good ol' cookout.

hotdogs, veggies, fruit, chips...

 

We even sang Happy Birthday to grandpa when the moon came up

 

The night ended with a tractor ride around the farm and sparklers parading like we were celebrating the fourth of July.

It was such a awesome day!

Family Reunion III

(July 2019) 

Today was the day our family wore our matchy matchy shirts and hit the Freedom Trail in Boston.

My mom gave everyone an assignment for the Freedom Trail. 

Each grandkid was assigned a monument or statue that they had to tell us about it.

Miles had to talk about the Old North Church where he told everyone "this is the church where Paul Revere said "1 lantern by land, 2 lanterns by sea". 

Andie stood in front of this statue and said 'this is a statue of Paul Revere"

She got the loudest applause.

 All the kids did fabulous.

 

We stopped for lunch at the Boston Gardens and had a picnic. 

We had an impromptu 3 legged race and Romney and I still got it.

We won!

(the Link kids)

Lane found the ducklings.

 

 

 back to the trail.....

 

We walked and walked and walked.

We stopped and stopped and stopped.

We went through cemeterys, walked through homes, churches, parks and landmarks.

 We learned about our founding fathers and their families and what took place for our country to get started.

Our feet were so tired!

 But we LOVE BOSTON!

(and our shirts were a hit! everyone looked at us and asked so many questions!)

Family Reunion Part II

(July 2019)

 We were able to go to Plimoth Plantation for the day. This is where America started. It was so beautiful. We loved walking around the village and learning how things were when the Pilgrims settled. We visited with the native Indians and loved seeing all the chickens wander around. It was such a hot day but we all loved it! 

 

Family Reunion part I

 (July 2019)

Link Family Reunion!

 It was so so fun to get together in Massachusetts.  

My sister has the best place to gather!!
Getting everyone together is a lot of work.

Planning all the food is a lot of work.

Coordinating what we are going to do is a lot of work.

 

Pre ordering tickets and collecting everyones money is a lot of work. 

BUT it is worth it.

This week was so fun and so special.

I cant even begin to highlight our favorite things and moments.

 

They have an amazing barn!

It is massive and it caters to everything and everyone.

We ate in the barn, played in the barn and did crafts in the barn. 

 

 My parents brought their umbrella stands and wanted the kids to paint something on it,

and then have everyone sign it.

They turned out so darling!

It's going to be a great week!

Allergy Testing for Lane

 June 4, 2019

Lane had to do some blood work done and to our surprise we learned that Lane is technically allergic to EVERYTHING. Our doctor ordered an Epi pen immediately and referred us to an immunologist.

According to his blood work he is highly allergic to milk, then nuts, then eggs, and it lessened to soy, trees, grass...

The boy eats scrambled eggs all the time, eats peanut butter off a spoon daily, he loves cheese... it just didnt make sense. 

He still was drinking formula so we hadn't experienced whole milk yet.  

The immunologist told us to hold off on giving him milk until his doctors appointment. Because Lanes levels were so high for diary they wanted to watch him.

 

The first test they did was the basic panel. They pricked his back with all the most common allergens.

We had to wait about an hour to see if his back had any swelling from any of the allergens.

And sure enough....nothing was swollen. 

He didnt seem to be allergic to any of the things.

Then we moved on to the milk test.

First they rubbed a drop of milk on his lip and we waited for 15 minutes.

Then they rubbed it on his tongue and we waited for 15 minutes.

Then they gave him 1ml of milk to drink and we waited for 15 minutes.

Then they gave him 2ml of milk, then 3ml, 4ml 5ml-having to wait 15 minutes in between each one.

Then he drank a 1 ounce, 2 ounces, 3 ounces.

AND guess what....he was fine!

 Ultimately the doctor said to keep doing what were doing.

Keep feeding him all the foods!!

He doesn't seem to be bothered by any of it.

Our pediatrician told us early on to give eggs and a little peanut butter to our babies at about 6 months.  Apparently they are finding that if you are introduced to it earlier the less likely you'll be allergic to it.

So, is that why he doesn't seem to be reacting to these foods????

We don't know!

We have an Epi pen if we need it, but, so far there haven't been any problems.

We love Texas visits

 June 15-21, 2019

 

We LOVE LOVE LOVE our Texas friends and family.

When we go to Texas our kids are in heaven!

It is constant fun, adventure and food.

This round, I took the kids by myself and flew solo.

I was so nervous to do it, but we all survived and people are kind.

If I needed help, there was someone lending a hand.

I appreciate the good that is still out there. 

 

 

Andie and Blake were all about catching frogs (all the kids were actually).

They put on huge boots and carried big buckets around until they found some. 

At one point we couldnt find these two for lunch.

We kept calling for them, we searched high and low.

We went outside and found them-frog hunting!

Little cuties.

  Miles caught a massive frog and was so so happy about his find.

 

 

 We spent so much time outside swimming and eating. 

Kade took Miles down to the creek to fish.

The rest of us went on a walk and saw them in action. 

It makes my mama heart so happy when I see my kids happy.

And this brings Miles so much joy.

The boy loves fishing!!

Soli drove us around in the golf cart. 

It makes everyone calm and is such a good distraction from tantrums!

We chatted about boys and future plans.

It is crazy to me that Soli is driving, I was at the hospital the day she was born!

We went to a museum where we looked for dinosaur bones, built legos and sat in big shells.

It was a great outing while staying out of the heat!

We drove up to see my brother and his family!

They are so fun and we love them so much.

Lane danced to the song Baby Shark and gave us lots of laughs.

The girls gave Andie a stuffed tiger that is now the favorite thing.

Miles and Beckett boy who are only 15 months apart continue to amaze us with their size difference. 

Both are on the complete opposite spectrum of size.

Hilarious and sweet all rolled in to one.

They are good cousins these two.

 

And then there is my brother who I adore.

Uncle Byron is awesome and it was so fun to spend some extra time with them.

 

We are already counting down to the next time we see everyone again.

Thank you Texas, we love you!