Pumpkin Patch 2011

Wow, I’m a horrible blogger….

anyway…

We finally made it to the pumpkin patch this year! My schedule for October was CRAZY busy. Next year, I promise it will not be like that. No more putting our plans on the back burner. The boys had a blast. We only picked one pumpkin out to bring home because we already had three waiting at home. It’s crazy how they’ve grown this past year.

Disclaimer: Ignore the wacky processing done to these photos. The sun was horrible and I was lazy when editing ;)

Examples of how much kids grow in a year:

The most dramatic change: B at 3 months vs 15 months

He was soooo fat!

Even Gav has grown a ton!

Both of my growing boys!

Gav riding the trikes. Crazy to think that B will be able to ride on next year. Time flies. I love having things like this once a year to compare things :)

My Scarecrows ;) Don’t you just love B’s little fingers?

Horrible photo, but had to share. Gav was going down as this girl decided to run up. No injuries for either party ;)

The train. Gav’s favorite!

He did not crash into that girl.

This spider web was so cool! Photo 1: “Mom, help me!”

B, just chillin’… as usual.

Big guy.

Mr. Personality

Best sibling photo of the day.

Mr. Blue Eyes <3

Picking the perfect “punk”

B still looking while Gavin tuckers out ;)

After a refreshment, he’s ready to jump on the big pillow trampoline!

My brown-eyed boy

Choo choo!

Hanging out with the animals.

Can you tell B has never ridden on anyone’s shoulders before?!

Family Photo 2011 ;)

Best No-Bakes on the planet!

That’s right, I said it. My mom’s No-Bakes are the best. I hate even eating others because they don’t even compare to the greatness of hers :) So, as requested, here is the fabulous recipe.

Ingredients
2 Cups Sugar
1/4 Cup Cocoa
1/2 Cup Milk
1/2 Cup Butter
1 tsp. Vanilla
3/4 Cup Peanut Butter
3 Cups Oats (the minute kind)

First thing, line your counter top with aluminum foil. Do this now because it needs to be ready to go when the cookies are done.

Combine sugar, cocoa, milk, and butter in sauce pan. Stir. Cook over medium to medium-high heat.

Once it starts to boil, set your timer for 1.5 minutes. That’s 1 minute 30 seconds. Keep stirring constantly.

Timing is everything. 1  minute 30 seconds, people.

After your minute and thirty seconds, remove from heat. Add in your vanilla, peanut butter, and oats. I usually have these measured out and ready to go. Mix them up well.

Drop by spoonful onto your aluminum foil. How many cookies does this make? Well, that depends on how big your spoonfuls are. I like bigger cookies. It makes about 20 for me with my scoops ;)

Deliciousness :)

Now, share with your friends, pin on Pinterest, and make some cookies! :)

For those worried about how healthy these are:

Cocoa is FULL of antioxidants.
Peanut Butter is excellent protein.
Oats are good for you.

Brock Update

Most of you know that earlier this summer, Brock had some stomach issues going on. Basically 5-6 weeks of disgusting diapers. The doc ran a bunch of tests and they all came back fine. She told us that she wanted to run a Celiac panel on him to check for Celiac Disease. People with Celiac Disease have to be on gluten free diets, so after the doc took his blood we put him on a gluten free (GF) diet. Within 24-48 hours of going GF, we started noticing a huge improvement in his diapers (poo). That next week, I thought that maybe it was a coincidence that his diapers cleared up about the same time we went GF, so I gave him food with gluten. Big mistake!! So, the rest of summer (Since beginning of July) he has been o a GF diet. I wouldn’t say is poo is “normal” but definitely way, way, way better than before. The Celiac panel came back negative, but it can be negative and he could still have Celiac disease. The only true way to test is by a biopsy of part of the intestine.

August 15th, we went to a GI doc who we were referred to by our pedi. The doc was at Children’s Mercy here in KC and she was FABULOUS! I can’t say enough good things about that place. She checked him all out and took in all of his medical history. I told her all about his breathing/asthma issues. She listened to his breathing which was normal that day. She noticed he had dark circles under his eyes and asked how long they’d been there. Um, always?! She also asked about eczema, which I told her he does get some patches now and then. She said that all of these things combined leads her to believe that there is some allergy. Just what? She took some stool samples while we were there and also ran another Celiac Panel. All of these tests came back normal as well.

For now, he’s on a dairy free and GF diet. He drinks soy milk right now. Once we determine that he does okay with the soy, we’ll re-introduce whole milk and see how he does. If he does well with the whole milk, we will try to re-introduce gluten into his diet. If every time we introduce gluten he has issues, then we’ll talk about doing the biopsy. Fun, huh? We still have no real answers, but the dairy free and GF diet is working for us, so I’m not too worried.

No blog post is complete without photos, so here are some recents of Brock :)