Animal Crackers

After watching a recent report on my favorite morning show, I decided to try to only buy foods without preservatives. Last week I was at Target looking through all their organic and health boxed foods. Surprisingly, the animal crackers the boys love stated "All Natural." I looked at the ingredients and sure enough no preservatives, no hydrogenated oils. We consumed the box this week and while at Wal-Mart tonight I decided to buy another box. However, even though made by the exact same company, Wal-Mart's crackers are packaged differently and lower in price. Since I still had the box of the Target crackers, I decided to look at the ingredients. I couldn't believe it. The crackers from Wal-Mart actually had the hydrogenated oils and preservatives. After looking at the company's website, they actually make two different types of animal crackers, the "All Natural" ones and "Original" ones. I guess I will be heading back to Target for our animal cracker supply.

Spelling Test

Every Wednesday Camden has a spelling test. Each night before the test, we review all his words. He always knows his words and does well on the tests. However, today he came home with several words misspelled. He clearly knew the words and even spelled one of the missed words right in a sentence at the end of the test. I asked him if something happened during the test to make him distracted.

Camden: "No, mom, I just wanted to see what it was like to not get them all right. One of my friends always misses some words so I didn't want him to be all alone."

Thyroid . . .

A few weeks ago, I noticed that my hair was falling out, more than normal. Since I have blood work taken regularly for my Crohn's Disease, I asked my GI doctor if there were any other levels he could check to find a cause for the hair loss. Thyroid. Tests taken, levels a little high but not to worry. I started researching symptoms of hyperthyroidism and decided to go to my PCP to follow up. He ran more blood work. Yes, it is my thyroid. Tomorrow I will go for a thyroid scan. It may be my medicines causing the higher levels, so the only way to find out for sure is the scan. Never seen my thyroid before, actually don't even know exactly what it does. But tomorrow I will get the picture, actually three . . . hopefully this will be our answer.

October Pictures

Ben Lippen Homecoming

Camden's 7th Birthday Party

Test Run for Tent Set-Up

Soccer Boys!

Church's Fall Festival

Halloween

In my camera . . .

In my camera, you will find our October. It has been a crazy month. No down time, but lots of fun. Here are the highlights:

Homecoming at Ben Lippen
We had a great time tailgating, watching the elementary kids sing before kick-off, and loved the halftime parade.

Camden's 7th Birthday!
Camden had his 7th birthday party at Woodlands Park. We had a guide from the Nature Company come with lots of reptiles and frogs. The kids had a great time exploring the animals, taking a nature hike, and playing "What Time is it Mr. Fox?"

Two Soccer Games EVERY Saturday
Both boys are playing soccer this fall with Daddy as their coach. This is Landon's first year of on an official team. All three are having fun.

First Camping Trip for Camden
Greg took Camden with the RA's from church on their first camp out. It was pouring down rain, very high winds (trees were falling around them), and chilly. Regardless of the conditions, Camden LOVED it. He asked the RA Director if they could go camping every weekend. Camping gear is on the list for Christmas.

While Greg and Camden were gone, Landon and I went to the opening night of High School Musical 3. We had a great date night!

Road Trips . . .
We have taken a couple road trips. First, I had a doctor's appointment in Chapel Hill with my GI team. We had a great appointment. We are praying that my current medicine will hold my Crohn's in remission.

After that trip, we headed to Atlanta for a long weekend. We had a great time shopping, eating out, meeting up with friends, and of course the boys favorite - swimming in the hotel pool :).

Fall Parties, Church's Fall Festival, & Halloween
We had a great time celebrating at our church's Fall Festival. Camden dressed up as a ninja and Landon was a Clone Trooper. For Halloween, we went to a friend's house. The boys made slime and cotton candy with the Mad Scientist and jumped in a bouncer while practicing their karate moves. Landon decided to be a fire fighter instead on Halloween.

Fall Attire

Today the boys have off from school and I decided to dedicate this morning to go through their closets to prepare for fall. This is always bittersweet for me. I can always remember them wearing their favorite shirts from last year and of course they have outgrown them. They are in new sizes and continuing to get bigger and bigger. I still wish I could squeeze them into their cute longalls and smocked outfits. Now, we are on to camo and patches on the knee.

Because I have a tendency to overbuy, Greg asked me to inventory what the boys really need for the fall. Well, because I overbuy, the boys are pretty stocked on long sleeve shirts. I love Gymboree and the shirts Camden wore last year still look great so Landon can wear them this year. However, in the pants department, well EVERY pair from last year have holes in the knee. I bought three rounds of jeans last year and they all got holes. This year we are testing Land's End jeans. They claim to be made out of heavier denim so we shall see. So far, no holes. We are officially ready for fall!

Camden's Birthday Wish List

This afternoon, Greg asked Camden what he would like for his birthday. Here are the highlights:

- chameleon
- lizard
- snake
- swimming pool
- guitar- a real one that you can strum
- Wii, XBox, and a Nintendo DS
- double Slip & Slide (a side for he and Landon)
- picture taken of himself
- Target gift cards
- gun that shoots smoke

I am assuming the swimming pool is for the lizard, snake and chameleon. Of course, they may be used as prey so he can use his smoking gun. I guess I have liberty to venture out on my own for his gift. Perhaps the strumming guitar would be the best pick.