Nut Scare

After over 6 years of protecting Maddox from nuts, he had his first accidental ingestion today... and it was my fault.  I attended a cooking class and we added some chopped pistachios to one of the dishes.  I knew then that Maddox couldn't have any, but by the time I got Maddox home from school, I had forgotten.  He had a couple bites at 4pm and then a couple more at 6pm - I'd say he had no more than 1 or 2 full pistachios.  By 10pm, he had gotten out of bed complaining that he itched so bad it hurt.  He was covered from head to toe in hives, his tummy hurt, and he was pale as a ghost.  I knew immediately what I had done. ...oh, the guilt.

We gave him Benadryl and within 10-20 minutes, the itching had subsided.  Fortunately, he said his mouth, tongue, and throat all felt fine, so we did not use the Epipen.  His color did not return, however, and he still complained that his tummy hurt, so for our own peace of mind, Michael and I took him down the hill to the ER.  They confirmed that he was recovering well, but they gave him some steroids to help his body fight the invasion.  This photo is just before he was released - after a cup of yummy juice... and notice the clock on the wall says it's well after midnight.

Fun in the Snow

After a big snow, we are usually treated to a gorgeous day of sunshine when the snow simply sparkles.  I've never seen anything quite like it, and although I cannot capture the sparkle on camera, I can show you this gorgeous sunset.

A Big Snow

We got quite a bit of snow today.  We needed the moisture, but it makes tending the chickens a bit more challenging - take a look.  I am standing on the patio, and I have to get all the way up there to the coop!

Painting Fun!

A dear friend and I went to a painting party tonight.  It was one of those functions where everyone has a bit of wine and then paints the same thing - or tries to!  I was actually pleased with how ours turned out, so I don't mind showing you.  ;)

Our instructor was a darling young gal - and at the end of the party, I discovered that she happens to be Mason's current art teacher!  What a lucky kid he is to have her - she is really talented to be able to get 40 or 50 women (some a bit more tipsy than others!) to paint a beautiful picture.

Michele

Curiosity and the Cat

You know what they say about curiosity and cats... well, here is Kaspurr after a particularly funny case of curiosity.  I was in the kitchen and I kept hearing this thumping against the floor and couldn't figure out what it was, until I saw this:

The poor thing stuck his head in the window of Maddox's Build-a-Bear box and couldn't get it back out!

Oh, how entertaining cats can be!
Michele

Taekwondo Tournament

We attended our first Taekwondo tournament to watch Morgan compete.  It was quite a spectacle with all of the people and all of those black belts!  Morgan competed with the 12-15 year old color belts, of which there were only 3 others.  He was a higher rank than the other 3 (Morgan is blue), but you never know who is going to attend the tournament.

Here are some shots of him in action... this first one is while he was performing his form for the judges. He wanted me to get a picture of him in one of his kicks - I'd say I did a pretty good job, even though I was far up in the stands!  You can see Michael standing on the left side of the photo by the judges - he was taking video with his phone.

This next one is of him sparring with an opponent.  Again, I captured him mid-kick!

And here he is getting scored.  The judges hold up their fingers to indicate their score.  If they hold up 7 fingers, the score is 9.7.  Morgan got a 9.7, 9.7, and a 9.8.  Michael is leaning forward to see the scores.

And finally, here are the fruits of his labor... two first place medals!  One for forms and one for sparring.

 Fun times!

Maddox's Valentine Robot

For Valentine's Day, the kids were asked to create a box in which to collect Valentines from their classmates.  They wanted them to be creative - not just a shoebox with candy hearts like when I was a kid!  This is what Maddox and I came up with:

It was a hit - although it couldn't compete with the dancing flamingo box that another little girl brought. :)

Michele