Finally I get a picture of this girl on the go!

Traveling through the Hill Country...

Most families want a vacation in a beautiful destination right? Mexico,Bahamas,Hawaii
Well the most perfect place we think is Texas. It is big and beautiful with so many great sights. I really love Texas. Don't get me wrong I would love to go to Hawaii or something but it does not sound relaxing at all considering all the stuff we would have to haul with us. Originally I wanted us to take 2 weeks and go to Colorado BUT as it got closer I realized Ashlynn will not do well at all. So instead we planned a fun filled relaxing time in the Hill Country. Hope you are ready and I really hope I don't leave out details.

We loaded up and left by 9 a.m Saturday morning. I kept going over list and more list just to make sure we did not forget a thing. Being away from home for 6 days with 5 people can get hectic. Our drive up was flawless...we always have something stressful going on like a screaming baby but NOTHING this time! It was great. We played a few silly games to keep the little ones distracted and it worked! Not one bit of a cry. We actually had fun but nobody wanted to discuss this till we arrived home!
Yes we got to see Wendy!
As we passed through New Braunsfel I was sitting in the backseat with the kids playing and....
I laughed so hard and rolled down the window to start taking pictures. The group of "kids" in this van were having a blast!


I have so many pictures I am going to have to add a slide show on here. The day we arrived we set up everything and headed down the the river. ABSOLUTELY beautiful! The water was crisp,clean and clear. It was amazing how clean it was. Lauren found a rope swing and played on that a while as we just laid in the river relaxing.

FATHER'S DAY
What a perfect spot for Father's Day. Everyone having a great time,laughing,relaxing and tubing down the river.

I am pretty sure the day could not have been better.

Now I will tell you as Lauren went swinging on this rope...her pinkie finger got stuck and as she let go her top went flying. I personally would have died! She just kept on going like it was nothing.


I have decided to just post this as I want...no order at all just my mind running all around thinking about it all. Hope you enjoy!



On one of our days on Vacation we went to Natural Bridge Caverns. First thing we took a tour of the cavern. A 75 minute damp tour. My first thought was DEAR GOD let Ashlynn make it through this. My second thought was 75 minutes..are you kidding me? We survived! We had to distract Ashlynn alot and I really think it was to long for Nick's attention span but it was nice. I could have done without it but this is about making memories for our children and I know they will one day look back at this. I still think about and talk about my parents taking me to Mammoth Cave.
Now after the cave we jumped in line and watched people zip line down a 50 foot high tower. HOLY COW let me just say I was scared to death! We did it! Lauren,Nick and I all did it! I have never been so freaking scared in my life but it was a blast! Nick and Lauren loved it. I really thought he would be scared but all he kept talking about was jumping from the tower.





That was a blast! We could have totally skipped the caves and done this all day long. I was amazing!

After this we headed over to the Animal Safari... So worth the visit! I don't think we have had more laughs ever! Lauren and I did not want to leave at all. Had we gone to this place first we would have skipped the cave.



This zebra was the most amazing animal I have ever dealt with. He was like a big puppy. So loving and sweet. We watched him at the car in front of us and he stayed with them what felt like forever. He then walked to us as he let us take pictures,love him,and feed him. I really wanted to keep this guy. Up until we saw him we kept thinking if we see another deer or mountain goat we were going to be disappointed.

Then he just walked off, we looked back and had cars waiting behind us to see him. Off he went out in the acres of land. I am sure those other people were so upset but we were loving it! I had tears in my eyes over his big head in the window.

I really didn't want to leave this place and the kids didn't either.


This llama was so sweet. He left his shady area under a tree as we were hanging out the window calling him. He was adorable!

So far the trip has been flawless. No screaming babies,no stress and no mishaps. I love it. We needed this so bad. Life can get so hectic and you easily can lose sight of the important things. As we drove around I wondered if these people know how lucky they are. Do they realize the beautiful land they are living on? The amazing sights and sounds?



So maybe it seems like I have not included many details...my brain was left at the river I do believe. I am in no hurry to do a thing or even think. The kids went to bed at 10ish every night,no nap time, ate lots of junk and everyone was happy!
We did go fishing in the evenings after playing in the river all day. The first night of fishing Nick caught 3 tiny fish. When I say tiny I am not kidding. Normally we would not keep these little guys but he was so proud and just kept saying "I want to cook em and eat em" So what do we do? Let him!


I don't think I have ever seen him so proud!

We have all decided he is a country boy.
Our last night of camping we went fishing again and Lauren caught the biggest catfish. I am just going to be honest and tell you we threw it back. We were all to lazy to clean it or prepare it in anyway.
I have never seen these kids happier in any other place just running around. We didn't take toys this trip, never turned on the T.V,computers or used our phones. It was great!
I have so many more details but seriously my mind is still gone.



I envy people who live in the country. I really think we laughed more during this trip then we have in months. We always laugh alot but by Wed. my ribs were so sore from laughing. I promise I will tell more details later but for now I need to go finish relaxing.

Next week Natalie...

Natalie will have to stay back for this trip. I am super sad about it, she is always the life of the party and we have so much fun with her. Since she made the cheer team she can't go with us. I FEEL SO BAD but she is really looking forward to her cheer camp. I am so excited for her and so proud of her for trying something new. She put her little heart all in this and has done great. She amazes me daily with the things she tries. I love it.

I hope everything goes perfect, you know my mind is racing with my "what if" problem or as Lauren calls it WCS. I can not help but worry. I worry if we are all hurt in an accident and Natalie is left here alone. What if she is in an accident and we are so far away. This is so hard for me to leave her and trust me I had the thought of telling her she can not be a cheerleader so we could take her. That just would not be fair. I could never hold my children back over something like this. Don't get me wrong if we were going to Hawaii or something I would be moving mountains to get here there.

Last NIght I was thinking

Our kids are loved. I would love to have had the life our children have. We try to do everything for them, stay involved and we always push them to do everything at least once. I love planning fun things with them, teaching them new things and having life little experiences with them.
Planning this trip we are about to take has been so fun. Yes we could just drive to a camp ground and sit all week but instead I want to take them to see things, experience things and have a little fun. I can't wait to take them to Natural Bridge Cavers. I think they will be in awe. We have a few other things planned but ssshhhh it is a little secret.

Ashlynn's check up

So a few weeks ago I took Lauren to get staples out and Natalie and Ashlynn for check ups. I have been concerned about Ashlynn's weight since she was about...4 days old. She has "struggled" with being very small. When she was born she was 8 pounds, I did breastfeed for about 9 mths but was very concerned with the fact she only gained 3-4 pounds in 9 mths. So my doctor kept saying as long as her development was still going well we can just "watch" Which I did and still do. So we switched her to formula. Never a problem not even spitting up. The one problem we did have was getting her to latch on to a bottle. We tried every single bottle on the market. Since she was a BF baby it was somewhat normal so we kept trying. Well when she hit 11 mths we just switched her to a cup and whole milk.
So I will just skip the boring stuff and say the first year about every night Ashlynn would scream. Not just scream but her eyes were blank,body stiff as a board and she was totally unresponsive until this fit went away. Then we noticed at about 9 mths she developed a chronic runny nose that kept us visiting the doctor about 1 time a week. Terrible stomach pains and some other issues. We switched her to Soy milk at about 13 mths and everything went away! AMAZING! She obviously has a milk allergy.
Well at this check up we went to it was apparent FINALLY that something is going on because she has been 20 pounds for 1 year! HELLO! I have been questioning that! So we did some blood work and had to wait a few days. Her development is right on track doing everything she should and more.

The doctor called to say her protein levels were low..which meant poor nutrition or infection. She wants to first treat her for poor nutrition. I was a little offended by this since I make sure we eat "healthy" I cook 3 meals a day so I was mad. So she wants to feed her pediasure and keep doing everything the same.
A week went by and a friend sent me an email about one of her friends that went thru the same thing. Low protein in blood,stomach pains, bloated belly, vomiting and some other issues. OH I forgot to tell you we have taken Ashlynn off of sugar because she has been throwing up often, extreme bloat in belly and pain at night. Her friend found out her son has an allergy to gluten.
I looked it up did some research and we have since taken Ashlynn off gluten to see what happens.


3 weeks later!


OK Ashlynn has now gained 5 pounds and has little to no stomach problems....

Gluten is pretty much in all flour,wheat, pasta and bread products. If it is in a box,can or pouch it is out of the question. Which means... no chicken nuggets and convenience foods.

Pretty much all meats, fresh fruits and veggies are ok. HEB and Kroger have alot of Gluten free products (especially HEB)

I have never been much on organic foods but now I understand the whole thing....I really thought Organic was for artsy fartsy hippies BUT most organic food does not have gluten and a handful of other junk.

THINGS we have all done....

Some things are the same like the fact we all always eat alot of grilled vegetables in the summer however I stopped buying corn and green beans in a can.

GRILLED~ yellow squash,zucchini,bell peppers,tomato,potatoes,corn

We have switched to turkey meat instead of beef (we did this 2 years ago because of fat content) yes it was different but now the kids don't even know the difference.

We have been eating alot more fish~grilled or always cooked outside. I am hoping the fish will bring up Ashlynn's protein levels.

We have also been eating more shrimp but again we do that alot in summer also.

We do grill pork chops but Ashlynn's is dry because bbq sauce has gluten.

I have bought gluten free organic patties that are frozen and in the vegetable section at Kroger. I gave them to Nick and Ashlynn for lunch today and they ate them with an avocado and never acted like it was not meat.


So a few things she can have.....

eggs

Kellogg's Rice chex

Kellogg's yogos

** I just found out Heinz does make gluten free bbq sauce

Organic Heinz ketchup

Yo plait yogurt

white rice

brown rice

corn tortillas

ALOT of potato chips are gluten free

Newman's own Popcorn

Oatmeal

Some cheese

She can have some fruit juices BUT we don't give juice anyways.

Fresh meats

We have noticed a big difference in Ashlynn. She seems not so "bloated" happier and is eating better. Let me just add she has completely stopped vomiting and the night screams. She is like a different kid.

Please excuse....

The fact that I can not figure out how to fix my messy looking blog. I will try at naptime today. I have so much to write about but have been so short on time.

Remember when you and I were kids? We played in the waterhose all day long...it was safe to drink from the hose....

I loved those days...I love to give our children these simple memories.

We are now packing up for our week long adventure! We have never "camped" longer that a weekend so we are very excited! I have lots planned for us along the way and while we are gone. The only thing I am not excited about is Natalie can't go with us. Since she made Cheerleader her mandatory camp is the exact same week! What are the chances? Normally we would have changed everything but since this was during the week and planned 6 mths ago we were unable to change. Makes me sad. We are going to miss that silly girl.

FROGGY

I still have a ton to catch up on but REALLY it has been busy here. Can you believe that? But instead of playing catch up I am going to post these pictures that are so sweet. It is no big secret I love frogs! Since the day I found out I was having a boy I love them!

When I was little my cousin and I would play and she would gather as many frogs as she could. I really don't like to touch them...so I send the kids to do it!

That is our neighbor giving Ashlynn her "first frog"



As bad as I hate to admit it no matter how girly I dress her she still LOVES bugs,frogs and to run around outside.

HALLELUJAH! Yesterday was the last day for Baseball for a couple of months for Nicholas. THANK YOU LORD because it was very hot yesterday. We have so much fun and LOVE our Baseball family.
I have not decided if Nick loves baseball yet or I just love to socialize out at the fields. As long as he is having fun we will continue to play.

I am pretty sure these will be perfect pictures for Nick's Senior pics....

Oh to be a kid again....

I don't think Ashlynn has ever been given the chance to play in the rain. So today when someone knocked on the door she took that chance to run right out to the sidewalk to jump in the puddles. Made my heart so happy to see her so innocent and having such a good time with no worries.

I took these this weekend and just love them.

So we have had this bird problem in the back yard....LOTS of birds! This problem is so bad were not able to swim or hold a conversation in the back yard. I swear there must have been 1,000 birds in one tree alone.
This picture is my husbands attempt to scare them away. It didn't work! We have since bought a big plastic owl that we placed on a pole. It worked!

OK remember Natalie's Violin Solo? The little goof ball was upset and worried for nothing! She place 1st division. I told her she never fails at anything and I think she is starting to believe me. I am so proud of her for trying something new. Way to go Natalie! I also need to mention we went to the awards ceremony for her school. I was so impressed she was given several awards!

Outstanding Student (only 2 were given out per hallway,4 halls)
Polar Pride (Dedication to School work,Positive attitude,Respectable behavior)
President's Education award (Outstanding Academic Achievement)

WAY TO GO!!