On the road again!

We were on the road again yesterday to Columbia. AnnaBelle is expanding her store on Devine and she needed Tommy to do some work for her. While he worked for AnnaBelle we went to the Riverbank zoo. It was a perfect day for the zoo, 65ish:) The children of course loved it!

A long overdue trip...

We are so embarrassed to say that it has taken us a year to get to Bluffton SC to see our friends the Newsomes. They adopted the most precious child, Nicholas nearly a year ago. We loved getting to meet him and spending some time with Johnny and Anne. We used to be neighbors several years ago and think the world of all of them!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

We had a wonderful day celebrating the birth of our Lord. We started the night off at church. Thomas LOVED the wise men that were there to greet us when we parked. Off we went to nursery but did not make it too long as West is anti nursery right now and Thomas had an accident, we left him to play in a pull up and his white shirt, no shoes..lol Christmas morning we were up at our usual 6am and boy was Thomas excited! He got way too many presents. I don't think that Tommy and I need to buy them anything next year, just let everyone else, it was truly a blessed overwhelming experience for him..We had a great gluten free breakfast casserole with Mumsey and AnnBelle and then went to our friends the Chalks' for Christmas dinner at 3. The really fun thing you see Tommy and Thomas pulling are "Christmas Crackers". They do this in England, you pull them apart and then they pop open with fun little prizes in them and a crown:) The children had a blast and then we headed over to my childhood best friend, Jennifer's house on James Island, we loved seeing everyone and getting to catch up from last year. After a lonnnnggg overwhelming really fun day we settled in at home and were all in bed by 9!! Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas Eve!

We are so excited about Christmas!! We bought the boys a Little People Manger scene and it has been so precious to watch especially Thomas playing with it. He really loves it! We have been busy. Last Sunday we had a family Christmas Eve celebration with all of my sisters and our extended family, the boys loved playing with their cousins and it was great to see everyone! The night before AnnaBelle and I did some Christmas baking, everything is new this year being gluten free, didn't our trees and stars turn out cute? On Monday we went to Connor's house who is also gluten free for a really fun play date.We also had Caroline over to do Christmas before they headed out of town for 2 weeks. She and Mrs. Jodie are so precious to us! We are headed to church today at 5 and then have really fun plans to celebrate Christmas tomorrow. Merry Christmas Eve everybody!!

HOFL and playing at the park

Last night we loaded up and went to James Island County park for the Holiday Festival of Lights. West fussed through most of it but he was fussing at home too so we figured why not go out and get some fresh air. Thomas LOVED it! He is still talking about it today. Thankfully Westy seems to be feeling better today so we all went to the park before nap time. The boys, all three of them had a wonderful time.

Birthday party for Jesus and MORE!

Last week we went to a Birthday party for Jesus at Sophie's house. We all had so much fun and enjoyed teaching the children the true meaning of Christmas! Last weekend my mom came into town, many of you know that she has Borderline personality disorder and that we were not raised by her. We were nervous about her visit but praise the Lord it went well, Thomas LOVED her! Isn't it amazing how children just don't see what we see..We have all of these walls up and they just loved someone to love on them, play toys, read books, it was very special for she and him. I also had a Mom's Night out with my LLL leaders last week, we had a great time at the Long Point Grill, very yummy gluten free menu. And sweet Westy and his RSV. Poor little guy he does so well with the nebulizer, although he has been super sad he is still so sweet and loving! We also had a really fun playdate over last week, Shanen and her boys, Haywood and Beckum:) We are sooo excited about Christmas just a few days away! Merry Christmas everyone!

The Lord is in control..

Seems as if we have really had a lot going on lately. First and foremost we know and proclaim that the Lord is in control and that everything happens for a reason. Westy has been on the nebulizer since Friday with some wheezing we took him back in today and they tested him for rsv. This 15 min test was positive in 30 seconds! He is on the neb every 4-6 hours and we go back on Wes. Also Tommy lost his job today...Not what we expected but also not a big deal. Thankfully he has maintained a nice side business so he has been able to jump right back in with many of those clients as he looks for something else. We are not worried and thankful for all of our many blessings. Hopefully some fun updates and pictures to come!

The answer came..

not what we prayed for, withdrawing him tomorrow am..such a blessed day though, Thomas saw his 1st rainbow and told me after I told him how much I loved him in the car, "Meme, I am so glad I found you!" Just precious!

The short version of the preschool drama...

I just wanted to take a few minutes to clue those of you in that I do not talk to on a daily basis about the preschool drama around here.. As you all know Thomas has CD, we found out last May just after school got out so this is our 1st time having to deal with school/church ect..Because I would go to the ends of the earth to help another family with an allergy issue I thought that we would receive the same response from the parents/teacher/director at Thomas' school. There had been a few bumps in the road between the director and myself but nothing too big until Thanksgiving when being the room mom I was trying to sort out what everyone was bringing to the party. I was met with a lot of resistance from the other moms and later received a call from the director complaing about me trying to make the whole party gluten free. We chatted, I was confused and then called the other moms to try to clear the air and sort out what was going on. The other moms were terribly rude and said things to me like " I have an 11 year old, have never accommodated for a child with allergies and will not start now." and "You mean to tell me, if your child were in a wheelchair would you expect my child to sit on the floor all day and not use his legs!" Spoke to the director, she was just about as rude, removed Thomas from school the Monday before Thanksgiving, spoke to the board last Wes night and he has not been back. We are awaiting a response from them on whether or not they will be supportive in us keeping Thomas healthy at school. Under the Americans with disabilities act they have to make responsible modifications to their policy's and procedures etc ect, which they have not done. We have looked at a ton of other schools and are just really praying about what our next step will be, returning to Westminster, finding another school, keeping him home at least for the rest of this year.. Thank you for your prayers and calls of concern. Hopefully we will have some resolution soon! Honestly though, I have really enjoyed having him home..

My heart was breaking..

I have tears just writing this. Today at church I dropped Thomas off reminded the ladies about his Celiac Disease, showed them his snack and went on my way. We are working on potty training Thomas so on the last song I went to take him to the potty. I walked in and he was having a normal snack with the rest of the children! I said very calmy " Oh no.." so sad he saw me and burst into tears, sobbing "I want to go home, I want to go home, that's an owie snack.." I scooped him up, the teachers were extremely apolgetic. I took him outside to the lobby he was still crying, which was making me cry.. Cam I confess something..Sometimes I am so thankful for CD we are healthier, Thomas is thriving and finally growing as he should,it is controlled with diet not meds, usually it is no big deal. But today when he was so sad and scared and with all the stuff happening at preschool it just makes me mad! I just want to keep him at home and home school him to protect from all of this.. He has talked about it several times since we got home."I dont want to go back to church they have owie snacks."It just made me really sad for him.

Breakfast with Santa!

We had a lovely time this morning at Breakfast with Santa. This was the 1st year that Thomas was excited to see him and did not cry. Westy loved him as he loves everyone especially anyone with a beard..Pictures to come this evening!
If you are wondering why Thomas was not in the Christmas tree pictures he was in the car throwing a big fit, does not wake up from a car nap well...

Sunday dinner at Mumsey's house

We had a really nice Sunday dinner at my mom's house. My sister Melanie and her family were still there. Thomas loved playing with Baily, and yes West does have on a Christmas outfit!