Lunchtime Activities

A few days ago, at lunchtime, I left the kids alone at the table to finish eating, and when I came back, I found Anya reading the ingredients label on the bag of pita chips!

(Mommy, what's enrich-ed flooooer?)

(What have I done?!?)

Spicy Juice!

I haven't written much on this blog about our adventures in working around Isaak's wheat allergy. (Mainly because I realize that it may not be as fascinating to you as it is to me!) The short version is that if he eats whole wheat, barley, or rye that has not been soaked, he needs to eat pickles too to help offset the allergic reaction. (You can read the long version here.)

The other day at my friend's house, we had whole wheat pita bread, and she didn't have any pickles. (I know, horrifying, isn't it?!?) She did have apple cider vinegar, though, so I mixed up a concoction for Isaak to drink; about a half a cup's worth of half vinegar, half water. If he would drink enough of it that I could be confident that it would offset the wheat, he could have the pita bread with the rest of us.

He took a small sip and instantly lowered the glass, blinking. "Spicy juice!", he announced. I agreed and told him that if he would drink just a little bit more he could have some bread. He took a few more swallows, then set it down and accepted his bread.

And then he drank more! He kept sipping from his glass throughout the meal, and when it was halfway gone, I switched out his glass with a glass of water, thinking that he had probably had more than enough vinegar water.

He was having none of that! "No!", he exclaimed, "No wan water! Wan my 'picy juice!"

Yep...he's related to my side of the family, all right! :)

Macey's New Accessory

The verdict has been in for a while...Macey needs glasses!

We finally picked them up today, and oh, the things she can see!

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

I woke up this morning to the sound of the girls singing at the top of their lungs:

(Macey's version):

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, even though the sound of it is really quite atrocious, if you say it loud enough you'll always sound atrocious...

(If you're a little rusty on your Mary Poppins song lyrics, I'll remind you that it's supposed to be "you'll always sound precocious...")

Mr. Manners

Isaak has been working on his manners lately, and last night he demonstrated his progress. He burped, and immediately followed it with a polite little "Excuse me!" I was so proud. (Mike didn't even notice.)

This afternoon, though, as he was sitting on the couch waking up a little bit more from his nap, he farted...and grinned.

Me: Isaak! What do you say?!?

Isaak: Oh, Maaannn!!

I guess those manners still need a little bit of work!

Dauphin Island, AL - Day 2

On the second day of our visit, we took a ferry to the mainland,

and drove to Pensacola, FL to visit the Naval Aviation Museum.

We took the ferry back to the island again,

and spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach.

Dauphin Island, AL - Day 1

Our first official family vacation was spent on Dauphin Island, AL, in the Gulf of Mexico. We rented a beach house for a few days and had some fun!

On our first day on the island, we took a long walk through a bird sanctuary,

and then we visited historic Fort Gaines, where we got to watch a blacksmith in action, explore every nook and cranny, and watch a period actor demonstrate the firing of a rifle and a cannon.

Then we spent the afternoon at the beach playing in the sand, flying a kite, swimming, and hunting for shells.