THE RESULTS ARE IN.....

So, I got the girls tested for Allergies and today we got the results. Just by looking at them Dr. Jones could tell the girls have allergies and they've had symptons and over the years they both have broken out in hives a few times....so Its great to finally find out exactly what they are allergic to. Ashlyn's Allergies: Bermuda Grass- Allergy Level II (this is horrible because that's pretty much all we have around here and the season is very long.... she has to take Clariton and Nasonex once a day from April to October and then when she is 4 we will be able to just give her drops under her tongue or allergy shots instead, but we have to wait until she is atleast 4. Of course she will still go out and play and the medicine will help and then she'll need to have a bath after also! Dr. Jones said that it looks like she'll need her adnoids out in a year or two also. Wing Scale- Allergy Level 0/I (this is a bush in the desert)....not too big of a deal. **I was very surprised that Ashlyn has no food allergies, there must be something else wrong with her then, I'm guessing it's her Acid Reflux that she had as a baby.....this girl throws up all the time and her tummy hurts all the time....so I'm pretty sure that's what it is... =( Alley's Allergies: White Birch Tree- Allergy Level 0/I Ragweed- Allergy Level 0/I (So, she'll need to take Clariton once a day from February- April (for the trees) and July- October (for the weeds)) Peanuts- Allergy Level 0/I (I'm glad it's not too high of a level....yet! But, yikes......this girl loves Peanut Butter, She has Peanut Butter on a spoon everytime she has hiccups (yes people it really works to make them go away =), she has just peanut butter on her waffles and pancakes (thanks to daddy) and she loves peanut butter sandwiches! =( =( The level isn't too bad that she'll need epipen shots or anything like that, but Dr. Jones said it is likely it will get worse and to avoid Peanuts and Peanut Butter whenever possible because it's surely not helping her AT ALL! And they don't do the drops under the tongue or allergy shots for food allergies. Aahhhhhrrggghhh! Alley is soooo not going to be happy when I break the news to her after school! So, I just know Ammon has allergies too.... he seems to have a lot of the symptons the girls have... so I'll at least wait until he's a year or so to get him tested also!

*Our Little ScHOoL GiRL*

I can't believe my little girl is all grown up and going to school. Alley's first day of Kindergarten was today. She was soooo excited. We have been couting down the days and marking them off the calendar and she was so happy that it was FINALLY here! It's so weird, it's like with being a mom of course you need to be responsible, but when they start going to school it's a whole new responsibility... (is that weird). That's the best way I can explain it. I just about cried, but I didn't.... I held it in as we left her in her classroom and she hardly even noticed we were leaving. Artie took the day off work because he didn't want to miss taking Alley to her first day of school... (awwww, what a good daddy!) Last night we set her clothes out and painted her nails and Artie gave her a fathers blessing. Then, she couldn't stop asking questions like, "how long am I going to stay at school?" "Am I going to sleep there?" hahah

(Ashlyn was soooo bored without Alley. We were trying to entertain her all day! I'm glad she'll be starting preschool next week. She kept saying, "Am I going to go to my school yet?")

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Here we go....we're off to Kindergarten..

Alley by her classroom, room #3 (this picture is a little blurry)

Her teacher, Mrs. Mickelson (Alley has a hard time saying "Misses" Mickelson, she says "Mickel Nickelson....hahaha, I'm sure she'll get it soon)

This is on the wall outside their classroom, it's little cookie faces that they made last friday when they got to come and see their classroom and meet their teacher. It says all the names of the kids in her class. (Alley's name is spelled wrong...oops, so the teacher is gonna have to fix everything that her name is on =( )

Ashlyn and I made cookies for Alley for when she got home and then we went to pick her up......She was so excited to see us and she said, "I missed my family so much." But, she said she had a lot of fun. She was a little tired and said, "it's been a long day." So, after eating cookies and resting for a bit, she was ready to tell us all about her day! She had so much fun and she said, "they boys really like me." hahaha, oh great....

Lovin' the Olympics- 2008 Beijing

We are loving the Olympics! Team USA is doing Awesome! Here are a few of our favorites!May & Walsh did Awesome taking away the Gold in Beach Volleyball for the 2nd olympics in a row Nastia Liukin was awesome at Gymnastics, she took Gold in the all around and ended up all together with 1 Gold, 3 silver and 1 bronze! Woo HOo Shawn Johnson was also awesome in Gymnastics and took home 1 gold and 3 silver.

Love, Love, Love Gymnastics!

Okay, Michael Phelps is the Best! Wow, 8 Gold Medals including 2 team races & just about killing the record every time! He was so fun to watch! Aren't the Olympics just soooooo Cool!! Love it!

Alley has really been getting into it with us too. She always asks who she is suppose to cheer for and she yells right a long with us! During the Gymnastics the girls will do their little flips and cart wheels and Alley changes her mind all the time about what she wants to do in the Olympics when she gets bigger! =)

My Cute Boy Ammon...

Ammon is growing so fast. He is just the sweetest thing ever! He is already 8 1/2 months old. He weighs about 19 lbs. He has the most beautiful brownish green eyes (daddy is happy that his boy has brown eyes like him), he smiles all the time and loves to laugh at his sisters!

I've been so bad at updating everything he can do and when....I'm going to try and do better at that for journaling purposes. So, here are a few things he has done or is doing now....

5 months *He learned to roll and then would just roll everywhere to get around *started eating solids 6 months *sit up all by himself *learned to go from his tummy to sitting up position *does not like rice cereal, but likes most of his other baby food- apples, pears, bananas, peas, sweet potatoes, & carrots. 7 months *started learning to army crawl with a perfect army crawl, arm..arm...scoot..scoot...(I never got video...how horrible is that, maybe he'll do it again for me to get it =) *started wanting to self feed with baby finger foods 8 months *army crawled his way around the house following his sisters....he's pretty fast at it! *learned to wave "bye-bye" (when daddy or anybody comes in the room he waves "hi" to them...it's the cutest thing ever! I definitely will be getting video of that soon) *when he hears music he dances by shaking his head "No" *takes a few sucks out of a sippy cup *got his first bottom 2 teeth *Is now crawling on his hands and knees *tries to pull himself up to stuff to stand on his feet. He pulled himself up onto his feet once holding on to the couch. Oh- he's growing too fast! We just love him so much and cannot remember what life was like without him. He's such a good baby except for that he has NEVER slept throught the night yet.... argghhhh! I know it's just out of habit to wake up and nurse, but we cannot break it.....Am I ever going to get any sleep between him and Ashlyn???? Hopefully some day! (And you would think I would learn to go to bed earlier because it get's interupted way too much, but I keep staying up waaayyyy too late reading the Twilight books =) Artie is on the 4th now and I'm on the 3rd.... I soooo can't wait for the movie...anyway, enough about that, back to my cute Ammon....) Here he is in his famous "model pose." He'll stay like that forever and just chill =) He's too funny!

*We've been Tagged!*

About Us..... *What is his name? Artie Wayne Shaner *How long have we been married? 7 years *How long did we date? About exactly 1 year *How old is he? 29 *Who eats more? He does....although I could eat a lot, I eat more often than him, but he could eat a lot in one sitting! *Who said I love you first? He did at my parents house! *Who is taller? Artie, by 5 inches *Who sings better? Well, I might sing a little better, And he won't admit it but he sings pretty good... he wouldn't dare sing in front of anybody except for singing in the congregation at church =) *Who is smarter? He is definity more street smart and I'm more Books smarts....sort of *Whose temper is worse? Definitely him...but I have my moments *Who pays the bills? I do (with his money =) *Who does the laundry? I do, he helps out sometimes and he is the best folder.... I get mad because I can never fold as neat as him. *Who cooks dinner? I do, but he cooks breakfast a lot of the weekends! *Who drives when together? He does *Who is more stubborn? He definitely is... he's got his dad in him.... =) *Who is the first to admit when wrong? Me definitely... *Who wears the pants in the family? ummm... I guess he does.. *Who mows the lawn? He does... *Who kissed who first? He kissed me first and it was again at my parents house.... *Who asked who out first? He asked, it was 1 week after he got home from his mission and we went to dinner at Los Lupes and miniature golfing and to a movie (Where the Heart is) *Who proposed? He did on Christmas Day, the ring was in a ring box that looked like an ornament and it was hanging on his tree! *What is my favorite thing about him? Well, he is a great Husband and Daddy. The kids love to play with him. He is so good to me and I love that I can talk to him about anything and that he supports me in no matter what I do. He can be so sensitive sometimes, although he won't admit it (he thinks he's a "tough guy") & He always thinks I look great no matter what I say or complain about! We love you Artie/Daddy! *I tag Andrea, Valerie, Gina & Jana! Have Fun!!

Fundraiser for Kairi

If you don't know Kairi's story please go to www.larenabbottfam.blogspot.com I feel so grateful for the opportunity and that I am able to help out and do an awesome gift of service for somebody in need. I heard that Kairi loves Usborne books and I knew this would be a perfect thing to do! Click on the flyer to enlarge it and if you can help out in any small way it would be awesome ! I knew the gift of a book was amazing but we have been given the opportunity to see how truly amazing the gift of a book can be! (I will also be giving anybody the opportunity to make money donations to the Abbott Family along with their regular orders at my upcoming parties.) Thanks So Much! www.thegiftofabook.com

(click on "for Kairi")

Twilight Books!

Okay, so just about everybody I know is reading or has already read all these books! So, I finally broke down and decided to start.... I'm so behind, I'm only on the first one and everybody else is on the 4th....& should I read the Host too??? Is that totally different or what??? Anyway, It's kinda hard for me to find the time to sit down and read.... but I'm gonna try! So far I'm on chapter 7 of "twilight" and I like it so far. Artie has read some of it too...(he likes to read, he's read all the Lord of the Rings books, all the Harry Potter books, the Aragon Books...and he loves things about Vampires, that was the reason he wanted to start reading it, do you think it's a girl book???hahha, just wondering!? =) anyway, so that will be fun if he reads it with me.) But, I may have to go get another copy if we want to read at the same time! =) Anyway, it will be great to finally know what you are all talking about =)

5 YEARS OLD!

Wow, I can't believe that Alley is 5 years old. Time really does go so fast.... I bet I'll be looking back when she's 18 just thinking how I remembered when she was 5.... it's so sad! She is just getting so big. Anyway, her birthday was Friday, we hung out as a family that day and then had her first "friend" party on Saturday! So, Friday she wanted Waffles for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner... haha, we settled for just having them for Breakfast. Later- Daddy, Mommy, Alley, Ashlyn and Ammon went Swimming at the Rec Center Pool. As I was getting Alley's swimsuit on she said I don't think it's going to fit now cause I'm 5! haha, too funny how she thinks all the things she'll be able to do now that she's 5 and she thinks she grew sooo much bigger =) Mommy & Daddy gave her a Backpack & Lunch bag for school that says her name on it and also a matching travel bag! (Ashlyn also got the same thing for her b-day, but with her name on it and I could tell Alley was thinking for a minute..."boring mom, it's just like Ashlyn's"...hahah, but after a while she was sooooo excited about them) Saturday it was time for the PARTY! Alley could hardly sleep the night before. She was like, "I can't wait until it's my REAL birthday"......(We kept telling her it's her REAL Birthday now, she'll just have the party tomorrow!)
We had 2 pools set up and a slip 'n' slide. (Thanks Gina for the pools) They had a BLAST!



FriendsEating their homemade icecream sandwichesI thought this Picture was funny because Ashlyn's sticking out her tongue!

Ammon had fun swimming after everybody went home!

*Swimming*SlipNSlide*Presents*Pizza*Friends*IceCream*

Alley had a great Birthday!