A Day of Thanks

I’m constantly on the lookout for new foods that are Matthew friendly. My latest discovery was a product called Choco No No’s. They are allergen free M&M copycats. I discovered them in the heat of the summer and so we had to wait for cooler weather so they wouldn’t melt while they were being shipped. Fall has brought the appropriate weather and they arrived yesterday. Malia was excited because she can’t eat M&M’s anymore, but Matthew was totally stoked to try an M&M-like candy for the very first time ever in his life.

He loved them. And that totally makes them worth the hefty price tag. I mean, do you see that look of glee? What mother wouldn’t willingly pay goodly amounts of money to see that? Now I’ve got to see if I can get one of my local stores to order them in for us. The increasing awareness of food allergies and the accompanying increase in allergen free products has been a huge blessing for us. It lets Matthew experience some of the small pleasures that other children have regularly. The next item on our to-try list is the Matthew friendly white chocolate chip. I can hardly wait.

Malia has some things to be grateful for as well.

(Boogie boards are e-writers that she gets to use at school.)

I’m enormously grateful for kids that are learning to be thankful for the little things in life. It’s easy to be thankful for the big stuff, but remembering that even the small things are blessings is really what it’s all about, isn’t it?

When Did He Grow Up?

Today has been a big day for Daniel, and not just because it was pie day. 😉

(Nathan and I created some very serious pi. He made the lovely crust and I made the cranberry custard goodness that filled it.)

This afternoon Daniel became a legal driver. Yup, that’s the official temporary license. I’m not sure if he’s excited or not, but I’m excited (and a bit nervous). It will definitely make getting him to all his various activities easier though. He has become a typical teenager who is heavily involved in extra curricular and social activities and getting him everywhere he needs and wants to be has become wearying. So this will be a good thing. I just have to steel my nerves for the moment he walks out the door alone, with the keys in his hand.

This evening Daniel received an official invitation to his first ever school dance. The lovely girl who asked him has been in band and the various accompanying carpools for years. Like Daniel, she is a Whovian and she knows that he is a Trekkie as well. (Since the advent of the new iteration of Star Trek, being a Trekkie isn’t viewed as being anywhere near as geeky as it used to be. Either that, or being geeky has become more mainstream.) The tribble reference from Star Trek was a perfect fit for Daniel.

I try not to think about the fact that this kid of mine with graduate from high school in a year and a half…

Happiness is…

…tying your shoes for the very first time.

Where No Band Has Gone Before

Daniel has been in marching band at the high school this year. He has gone to school, had after school rehearsals most days, competitions on Saturdays, pep band performances at Friday night football games, sectionals on days with no school, parties on any free night, etc. Basically, he sleeps here but other than that, we haven’t seen him since the beginning of August. Despite his lack of time at home, it has been a great season for him. He has really enjoyed himself and has learned a lot. He was the section leader for the alto saxes and really stepped up and took charge of everything he needed to and helped mentor and guide his section. This was his first year in fall marching band and in fact, 60% of the band this year were marching band rookies. They had so many more kids than last year that they went up two divisions. In spite of that, they have proven themselves to be very competitive in their new division. Their show was “Star Trek,” a different (and harder) show than the one the band director announced back in the spring. But with so many more kids in the band, he obviously felt a change was needed and the show ended up being super fun.

The state competition, the final one of the season, was Friday. The band traveled to St. George and did a great job. They came away second in their division, being only half a point behind the first-place band. They took the music caption (basically the award for the best music). Daniel is enormously pleased with how well they did, as am I. I’m so proud of how hard these kids have worked, how much time they’ve dedicated, and how much they have accomplished. But even more than that, I’m very proud of the fact that our little(ish) marching band has gained a statewide reputation for having fabulous sportsmanship. They cheer for all the bands, even those that are their fiercest competitors. They shout out love for everyone. They mentor and support the small bands. They are positive and upbeat and don’t let the competition be the most important thing. The other bands have started shouting that love back to our kids and honestly, I feel like that sense of comradery they have helped establish is the most important way they are making their mark in the high school marching band sphere.

Daniel is going to be bored for a while. He is going to go through band withdrawals and find himself lonely and wondering what to do with all his spare time. But he’ll find his new balance in time and he’s already looking forward to next year.

And She’s Off!

Positively Defrightful

Halloween is probably one of my kids’ favorite holidays. I mean, they get to party, dress up, run around the neighborhood half the night, eat a bunch of candy…what’s not to love, right? To be honest, I think it’s fun too. I enjoy making a creepy themed dinner and creating fun costumes. And taking my parent tax out of their trick or treat bags. As a food allergy parent, the whole trick or treating thing used to stress me out, but my kids are so smart about the whole thing that I don’t really worry any more. We just help them go through their bags and swap out off limits treats for safe ones. And then the big boys get to eat all the rejected confections so they are pretty happy about the whole thing as well.

This year I fed the kids worm sandwiches, brain Jell-o and Jacked up veggies before sending them out the door.

Daniel went to a party and didn’t really do a costume this year so he is not part of our photo lineup. Malia was Ariel in the pink princess dress, but really looked like a standard princess because she didn’t want to wear a red wig. She was super excited though and even let me get her a hoop skirt to wear with her dress.

When we started the costume discussions last month, Matthew didn’t want to dress up at all. I think he wants to be a young man and not a boy and sees dressing up as something for little kids. But we turned to pinterest and found a non-standard costume that he was actually super excited about. Honestly, what’s not cool about being a pedestrian crossing sign?

Nathan didn’t have any grand plans, but he wanted a costume anyway. He really wanted a cape, Phantom of the Opera style, and I was happy to help him sew one. By help, I mean I helped him pick a pattern, taught him how to use a pattern, guided him in his selection of fabric and then acted as sewing advisor. He did all the actual cutting and sewing himself. He was enormously proud of himself, as well he should be. And he loved the whole swirling of the cape thing.

Since he didn’t have anywhere to go, Nathan invited a few friends to gather at our place for snacks and a movie. Unfortunately, only one person came, but they had a great time nevertheless. We made caramel popcorn and ate it all warm and sticky, so Nathan followed my lead and ate his with chopsticks to avoid the super sticky fingers. Honestly, I don’t know what normal people do without chopsticks. I use them for all kinds of non-Chinese food things. In fact, I use them for all kinds on non-food things...

So Happy Halloween y’all. Hope you had as much fun as we did!

Dork O’Lanterns

We finally got around to carving our pumpkins. Daniel’s schedule has been so crazy that finding a time to choose and carve our yearly squash has been a challenge. If he didn’t care about participating it would have been easier, but he still wants to do these family activities (for which I’m so grateful) and so we worked around his calendar. All the kiddos seem to have caught the dork bug and for once Nathan was the only one who looks fairly normal in his picture. To be fair though, he does look like he is pulling a dorky face behind that pumpkin…

As always, the images carved are definitely not the standard Jack face. Daniel went with the death star, Nathan did the headless horseman, Matthew crafted a Simba design and Malia selected the little mermaid. And then she carved the entire thing all by herself. I think she did a great job. In fact, I think all the kids did a great job.

And to be completely honest, the fact that they are all dorks is really not their fault. After all, they did get the dork gene from both of their parents so I guess it is inevitable that they would choose to let their dork show on a regular basis.

Missed It by That Much

Tonight was the Pinewood Derby. Our ward went their own way this year and invited all the activity days girls to participate. The girls were super excited and I think the boys were originally fine with the whole thing. That did seem to change a bit as the derby progressed and the girls started winning everything. But despite a few grumbles, the boys were good sports and took things mostly in stride. They had all the kids take their first four runs and then planned to narrow it down to the top 12 cars to do another round. Unfortunately, the first runs took longer than they had planned and they decided to take only the top 8 cars to the next round. But they didn’t make any kind of announcement to that end. Matthew’s car was in 9th place at that point and he was pretty anxious as they started the second round of runs and he did not have a place in the lineup. After awhile it became obvious that they had taken only 8 cars and Matthew was disappointed. I would have been disappointed too. Once the derby was over, I took Matthew to the store to buy some ice cream. As my older kids have discovered in the past, ice cream can help soothe a disappointment. Matthew made his entire car all by himself and I made sure to let him know how proud I was of that. Many of the cars obviously had a lot of grown up handy work, but he built his all on his own. And it was fast enough for 9th place. I’m super proud of him. He did perk up after awhile and was able to admit that he was proud of himself as well.

As a side note, the first and second place prizes went to girls as well as the prize for the slowest car. Of four winners, only one was a boy. 😐