"Food Allergies Rock"

We took the family to an awesome free concert last Saturday morning. "Food Allergies Rock" by Canadian Musician Kyle Dine. Very empowering, positive, educational and fun for those who have food allergies or know someone who does. :) Kyle Dine also has anaphylactic allergies to peanuts and tree nuts and other allergies as well. He wears his epi-pens in a cool holder on his belt and his medi-alert bracelet. What a great role model! :)

I really liked what he had to say about why he entitled his CD "Food Allergies Rock:"

something like...." people might find it odd that I am calling this CD food Allergies rock, but having or dealing food allergies creates strengths and virtues within ourselves that otherwise we would not have realized..." Very positive indeed.

Click here to download a free MP3 of his song Food Allergies Rock. My kids love it.

Below are the kids dancing to the song "I wrote a song about my allergies" Parker is the dancing fool in the green. ;) Meadow was content to sit and listen but once we got home she was a dancing fool too. :)

Dinnertime Adventure

Greg has been out of town in Milwaukee this week. Actual picture he sent me from there. No this is not what he was filming. But they did get to tour Harley Davidson and he did get to drool over his mid-life crisis motorcycle again. :) His shoot was actually pretty interesting, it was for IBM and it was about Urban Gardening in old warehouses. It's a long story.





Anyway, today after school my lovely sister in law Taylor and I took the kids up to Lassiter Mills for a dinner picnic. It was fun. And hot. But more fun than hot. :)

For the history buffs: Originally known as the "Great Falls of Crabtree," this site is one of the oldest mill sites in Wake County. Cornelius J. Lassiter purchased the land in 1908 and constructed a grist mill that operated for fifty years until burning in 1958. The site was also a popular picnic and swimming area for Raleigh residents. You can see some of the old mill stones.















You know it was a good time when you get to ride home in your undies because of all of the mud.

Mover and a shaker

Liam is now 7 months 18.5 lbs and can get across a room! He loves to rock back and forth on his knees and then belly flop forwards and then army man it although he has officially crawled a step or two and has pushed up to a sit. Time to baby proof again and ban legos from the downstairs.

The Bennett Place, Durham

Site of the largest troop surrender of the Civil War.

This simple farmhouse was located between Confederate General Johnston's headquarters in Greensboro and Union General Sherman's headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina. In 1865 the two officers met at the Bennett Place, where they signed surrender papers for southern armies in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. The simple reproduction farm dwelling and log kitchen show what life was like during a tragic period in our nation's history. A modern visitor center with exhibits and an audiovisual program help tell the Bennett Place story.

The kids really enjoyed this! Great family activity and it is free. They only have the special events with the workers pictured below every second Saturday of each month. Greg says it is best to call ahead and make sure that it is happening on the date you have if mind because occasionally it skips a month.

Bennett Place
Phone: (919) 383-4345; Fax: (919) 383-4349
4409 Bennett Memorial Rd., Durham, N.C. 27705
E-mail: bennett@ncdcr.gov
GPS: 36.02921538090, -78.97397083620
















Meadow in the meadow :)

The Ponies and the Magical Goldfish

Story, title and dialogue created entirely by Meadow. Sound effects by Parker and Meadow.

The Ponies and the Magical Goldfish from Monkey Television on Vimeo.

For Heaven Sakes

This morning at our activity days activity I rolled my ankle so badly. I had to sit for a few minutes and I am still limping this evening. I went and got an x-ray and it isn't broken so that's good. sigh. If there is a hole I will find it. It is astounding. The activity was so fun though and turned out well. It was a father/daughter activity. We got the idea from Sugardoodle.

So Jillian, my friend, I am just going to have to take a break from you. The thought of jumping (impossible) makes me cringe. Workouts postponed....

Here are some pictures from the fun and limpy day.

So we handed out boxes to our girls about a week and a half before the activity so that they could make cars out of them with their dads for race day. The cars were AWESOME! I was certainly impressed with the efforts!!









Then we took pictures of them together. And the leaders too. :)





Race time! We split the girls and ran the race twice because some dads had more than one daughter to race with.






There were 4 pit stops that the racers had to stop at with different tasks to complete. They had to go around the course three times and each time there was a new thing for them to do at each station.









Victory! Right before lunch Sister Sprague gave a great thought about how the race was a lot like life after you are baptised. We have guidelines and commandments to follow that will bless us and keep us safe. We are to follow the course/example the Savior set for all of us, try our best and endure to the end.


2 Nephi 31:20
20 Wherefore, ye must press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men. Wherefore, if ye shall press forward, feasting upon the word of Christ, and endure to the end, behold, thus saith the Father: Ye shall have eternal life.

Day 12

Ran lots of last minute errands for Activity Days Father Daughter activity tomorrow which is going to be awesome. Did not work out - sigh. Went to play bunko with the ladies instead and ate 5 desserts out of a buffet of them. lol!! Which means I have to re-do day 12. No more re-do's missy! 2 is all you get. 2 strikes and you are out! I am making myself work out twice tomorrow. We'll see if it was worth the key lime pie, the turtle brownie, the caramel popcorn, the blueberry granola something or other and the peanut butter cheese cake. They were all small slices but still! FIVE desserts!!

Day 11 - re-do

Level 2 again today. Sheesh. Still very very difficult. Getting some man muscle biceps. lol. Still sore everywhere. Need to be better at counting calories maybe. How annoying that is. I didn't use to have to do that. Exercise used to work by itself. You'd think I was in my mid-thirties or somethin.'

Still down 2 lbs.

Day 11

Bust. Day 11 was bust. Does this mean I have to do the video twice tomorrow? ;) Sigh. It is very sad when you can't seem to squeeze 20 minutes in for yourself. lol. I shall have to start setting the alarm on busy days. Meadow has a play date at our house tomorrow so I spent the day catching up on overdue house cleaning stuff. Liam was a cling-on today because he got a shot yesterday, poor beansie. Then I went and helped out with YW tonight and then home to put the kitchen back together and more laundry.

Tomorrow is a new day fresh with no mistakes. ~ Anne of Greene Gables.

Day 10 for reals

Wow. I did this at 9 after the kids were in bed and I really didn't want to. It was terrible to begin but feeling good to be done! I think I'll start weighing myself at the same time everyday. There is a 1-2 lb difference from morning to evening. :) Feeling stronger.

Actually Day 9 since last day 9 I was sick

Back to workin' out today. I stuck with level two 'cause I didn't want to backslide. It was a sweaty good time. ;) Nothing too new to report yet.

ok! Here we go!

Alright friends. Feeling better today. Take that strep! Parker got strep again a couple of weeks ago and if someone has strep and looks at me, I get strep too. But 4 days of antibiotic later and 3 days off of Jillian and I am doing better! I'll be ready for Monday!

See you Monday

Ok, two days off was terribly ambitious of me. I think I'll consider workin' out again on Monday. I bet I'll have to start on level 1 again, lol. Have a great weekend!