Who turned ELEVEN?

 I want to get this birthday blog typed up before anymore time passes! I'm not sure if I'm just putting too much pressure on myself to remember and think of everything or what. But I will continue to work on getting over my perfectionism in order to have something rather than nothing! 

Back in January Zeke turned 11. He had a great year. He went on his 10 year trip to Ft. Worth, TX in March 2022. 

- Zeke loves to mini golf! 

We ate at Central Market --- one of our favorite places because it's grocery store style food, with lots of choices, but you can sit outside! 

BBQ with Dr. Ross, one of Jeremiah' mentors from seminary 

We stayed at SWBTS and showed Zeke lots of the places that Jeremiah and I frequented while we lived in Ft. Worth. He had fun swimming at the RAC, playing games in the cafeteria building, and we stayed our nights at the Riley Center. 

We visited the Dallas World Aquarium -- so great! 

It was very special to get to show Zeke his birthplace and give him a sense of who he is and where he started. 

BIRTHDAY INTERVIEW! 7/24/23 

What is your favorite color? Gold 

... food? BBQ chicken pasta and lasagna 

... movie? "Chipmunks 2- The Squeakquel"

... TV show? "Grizzy and the Lemmings" 

... book? "Peter Nimble and his Fantastic Eyes" 

... fruit? Mango

... animal? Fish

... instrument? Guitar 

... band or singer or favorite thing to listen to on Spotify? "It changes, I don't know. My station" 

... thing to do every day? "If I could, play Minecraft everyday and watch Minecraft videos. Oh, and read!"  

... thing to learn? How things work 

... about Naomi? "She's younger than me." 

... about Zoë? "That she's artistic." 

... about Levi? "That I can play Minecraft with him." 

... about Mommy? "That Mom cooks and gives me hugs when I'm sad." 

... about Daddy? "That he has a very interesting job." 

What do you want to be when you grow up? "A plumber" 

What do you like most about homeschooling? "That I get to stay at home. And I don't have to take a school bus. And it doesn't last that long. And I can spend more time with my family." 

You are a great big brother! You care about what happens to your younger siblings and help me out *most* of the time ;) 

You have become an excellent reader! You prefer non-fiction: manuals, how-to books, books about electricity, wiring, solar panels, how things work etc. But recently you have devoured a few fiction books; I am thankful to see you broadening your horizons. 

You got your braces off! 

You enjoy baking and helping out in the kitchen. 

Every year for Thanksgiving you are in charge of making the cranberry sauce -- a family favorite! This year you made it all by yourself. We are proud of you! 

I just had to include this one because we are hand twins! And I love it :) 

You chose Dr. Robotnik for your Halloween costume. You think he's really cool because he makes lots of inventions and is a bit of an evil genius. You plan to be him for the next few Halloweens! 

You enjoyed this outdoor train set we saw at one of our A&W hikes in September. It is set up outside at the Overland Park Arboretum. It was really cool! 

Our first family bake-off. You and Naomi made pop-tarts and won the competition! 

We went mini golfing many times throughout your year. You love it! This picture is from the Parkville Mini Golf. 

Zeke, you are smart, kind, and love a good pun. You know how to fix things around the house that I don't understand. You enjoy sleeping in, playing piano, watching videos on YouTube, jokes, building with Legos, and listening to loud music. We are so excited to see how you continue to grow and change and become the man God created you to be. Love, Mom 

Levi is NINE!

Levi, this blog post is late in coming, but I am going to do it anyway. Happy 9th Birthday! Here are some pictures of what you've been up to the past year: 

You had a Pokemon themed birthday! Daddy and I made you a Squirtle cake from vanilla cake with blueberry filling, rice krispie treats, and fondant. 

You wanted to get sushi for your birthday lunch, so we went to Kome Sushi. You loved it! We sat along the bar and watched the chef make the food. You tried lots of fresh, raw sushi and enjoyed it! 

On the 16th, we went to Main Event to celebrate you. We were there for many hours playing in the arcade and playing laser tag. The boys all did the high ropes course as well, which you got a little nervous about, but you made it all the way through! As a special surprise, the manager allowed you INTO the crane game to pick out a stuffed animal of your choice (you chose a huge koala!) and then you got to try out the virtual reality game as well. 

You love to stay busy. In the morning we try to give you tasks because you wake up ready to work. You'll sit on the couch and spend time with Dora. You like to play board games if Daddy has time. Sometimes you'll wake up and get a jump start on school work. If you could have your way, you'd watch TV or play your nintendo switch. But we try to guide this time toward helpful activities. 

You enjoy baking and cooking in the kitchen. You have gotten pretty good at making our family's unity cookie and peanut butter cookies. I think you mostly do it because you get to lick the batter at the end, but who wouldn't be motivated by that?! Here we were making reindeer cookies for one of our Christmas school activities. 

We are pretty sure you react poorly to food dye, so we try to avoid them as much as possible. It seems that especially around Halloween you break out with a rash on your chin. But it's been a lot of trial and error. We've been avoiding dairy and gluten since you were 3 and it seems to be beneficial for your overall health. 

Playing Pokemon Labryinth at Mission: Board Games. We get to go on 3 special times throughout the year. We do a variety of things; in July we went to a KC Monarchs game and had an absolute blast. In November we went to a nearby game store to play games together. I really enjoy spending these times together. We also do "Together Time" for about 30 min. each week. You really enjoy this one-on-one time with me and we do a variety of things: read, pray, talk, watch YouTube videos, and play on your switch to name a few. I pray this time stays consistent and it will bear fruit in our relationship. 

You are getting better at making green bean casserole for Thanksgiving every year! 

You are silly and fun! You love to laugh and run; play football, volleyball and soccer. You like making friends and talking to other people. You like reading the "Calvin and Hobbes" comic books. You are becoming a better reader and starting to read more and more on your own. You particularly love books with lots of action -- like Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, and more. You like shooting your Nerf guns, bow and arrow, and fishing. 

You love finding and caring for little animals. You are a great care taker of Sapphire your leopard gecko. You began your own pet care business this year and were able to open a savings account with a good chunk of money (besides buying a few things off your amazon wish list!). You are hoping to double that amount in the coming year! 

We enjoyed a fun camping trip as a family in September up at Wallace State park. You enjoyed laying in the hammock, fishing in the canoe, riding your bike around the loop, and exploring. You seem to really love the outdoors and I hope we're able to do more camping trips in the future. 

You are almost ready for your next bully battle! You've loved moving up to the Black Belt club and having a smaller class size that is more focused. Your favorite teachers are Ryan and Paul. You plan to take a couple of private lessons with them to further prepare you for your Bully Battle in 2023 when you hope to earn your first orange belt. 

The kids enjoyed competing in a family baking competition! You and Zoe made chocolate whoopie pies. You worked together well and did a terrific job following the recipe. 

This was a fun science experience when we painted thin layers of glue on our skin, waited for it to dry and then peeled it off. It was meant to represent the way reptiles molt and shed their skin. You loved it! Especially since you love learning about reptiles so much! 

You walked in the Parkville Day parade with your Kick group! Zoe and Daddy joined you as well. It was a hot day, but you seemed to have a lot of fun! 

You are in 3rd grade this year! In Math you are learning multiplication; you are becoming a better reader - we are almost through the 100 lessons book for learning how to read. You are improving your skills in piano and nearly ready for the red books. You are less frustrated with school than you used to be. You are very motivated to get through your essentials -- math, phonics, and handwriting -- every day so will sometimes work ahead either the night before or the morning of. 

This is Oreo and Marshmallow, a couple of the cats you take care of with your pet care business. This year you hope to make business cards to spread the word. Although I think more than anything, I'm going to need you to start biking to some of your jobs to save me some time ;) 

This was a fun day at Powell Gardens. This cabinet was full of chrysalises, waiting to have butterflies emerge. You thought it was pretty cool! 

Birthday Interview -- February 24, 2023 

What is your favorite color? "All of them" 

 ...movie? "Croods 2" 

... tv show? "Avatar: The Last Airbender" 

... book? "Calvin and Hobbes"

... fruit? "Banana"

... animal? "Gorilla" 

... thing to do everyday? "Do screen time!" 

... about Naomi? "That she likes morning and night hugs." 

... about Zoë? "That she likes playing games with me." 

... about Zeke? "That he builds tents downstairs for us." 

... about Mommy? "That she helps me figure out problems in math."

... about Daddy? "That me and him like fishing."

What do you want to be when you grow up? "What do you call someone who owns their own shop? A business owner -- an animal shop." 

What do you like most about homeschooling? "That our school isn't as long as public school." 

What is your favorite food? "Lasagna" 

Anything else you want to remember about turning 9?  "That there's only one more year until my 10 year old trip! And that I'm 9. That's it!" 

 Levi Olin, you are so loved and wanted and appreciated in our family! Our lives would be much quieter without you. You are persistent, want fairness in all things, struggle with intense FOMO, stand up for yourself (and others), like routine and consistency, wear very large shoes (I think we've finally found a pair that last more than 2 months, fit your foot well, and don't require me to help you put them on!!!! #winning), know how to start your own load of laundry, are picky about your socks, and love family movie night -- with pizza! I love you so much! Happy Birthday!  ~Love, Mom 

FIVE years old!

 Naomi Irene, you are five years old today! I am having a hard time accepting that my baby is 5! How can this be? 

- You enjoy participating in school with your siblings! You're tracing letters and numbers, completing mazes, playing with playdough, playing ABC Mouse, listening to many, many books, doing a few reading lessons, cutting pictures, taking a few piano lessons, and more things I can't think of right now. You are very sharp with numbers. On your own you're skip counting, adding quickly, and seem to understand it all in your head quite easily. I will be curious to see how this progresses. 

- You are shy. When we go to new places, you want to stick close to your family. It takes you a long time to warm up to new people before you'll actually talk to them or even look them directly in the eye. You are starting to give hugs to more people! 

- You like to help me in the kitchen -- measuring, pouring, mixing. You complete one-minute chores around the house such as taking laundry to the hampers, putting away shoes and books, putting away the silverware from the dishwasher, and you are learning how to wash dishes! 

- You like to play outside, although you prefer to be with others when you do. I will occasionally see you outside alone, but it's rare. You like to swing. You do well on our nature hikes (we walked for 2 miles yesterday!). You're becoming interested in frogs and bugs, whereas before they made you scream and run away. You are riding your balance bike well and can keep up with your older siblings on our family walks each Sunday.  

- Some of your favorite foods are -- honey nut cheerios, frosted flakes, plain potato chips, honey mustard chicken, fries, pasta, roast, steak, and strawberries. You don't like food that is too spicy or overly flavorful. This morning for breakfast I made you chocolate donuts with pink frosting, yogurt parfaits, and hot cocoa. For your birthday dinner tonight we're having pasta, green beans, lemonade, red velvet cake, and strawberry ice cream! 

- You like to do things in your own time and own way. At night you like to shower by yourself and take your time. You don't like to be rushed because you'll totally shut down into a small, mute brick that won't do anything. Which is tricky when we're trying to get out the door and get ready for bed. 

- We went camping in September at Wallace State Park and you had fun catching little frogs beside the lake. You did a great job playing outside, riding bikes, and enduring the yellow jackets that joined us for every meal! You had fun in the canoe with Daddy too! 

- As with your older siblings, I am now finding many of your selfies on my phone! You enjoy taking pictures, mostly of yourself, but I find some of other people as well :) 

- You had your face painted at the Fall Fun Night at Weston Red Barn farm. You chose the ice princess pattern and sat very still while she completed the look. It looked great! 

- You have recently begun to ask again when you'll get to take dance class. You wear tap shoes around the house, love listening to music and dancing, you jump off of things, spin, work on moves you've learned at dance class, and more! I can see that's in just in your bones. 

- On November 6, we took you and Zoe out for your birthday movie. We saw "Lyle, Lyle Crocodile" and it was very good! It was a clean, funny movie for all of us. You laughed out loud at several spots and were at the edge of your seat! Now we're listening to the soundtrack on Spotify at home. 

Birthday Interview: 11/11/22 

What is your favorite color? "Black and a little bit of yellow, but just a little since I have a yellow head band.. and pink! And... another color which is, blue." 

... movie? "Lyle, Lyle Crocodile" 

... TV show? "Gabby's Dollhouse: 

... book? "Curious George" 

... fruit? "Strawberries" 

... animal? "Oooh! *thinking with her finger to her mouth* That one's a hard one..." *she can't seem to come up with one. 

... song? "The baking one (from Lyle, Lyle Crocodile) 'Rip up the Recipe'" 

... thing to eat? "Pizza" 

... thing to do every day? "Play!" 

... about Zoe? "That she plays with me." 

... about Levi? "About he plays with me too." 

... about Zeke? "I don't know." 

... about Mommy? "About you bake."   

... about Daddy? "Oooh, about him goes to work and gets money." 

Who is your best friend? "Ooooh, my bestest friend... can it be one in my family? *whispers* Zoe" 

What do you want to be when you grow up? "Oooh, a baker!" 

What do you like most about school? "About I get to do mazes!" 

What are you looking forward to about being 5? "About I get new clothes cause the other ones are too small. But I can't fit them." 

Naomi, you are so loved! You bring joy and laughter to our family. You are my calming goat. Over the past year, you've told me countless times "I love you Mommy!", at least daily. You would alternate with different versions such as "I love you a latte!" :) and "I love you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much!" You tell us you want to be a mommy when you grow up and have lots of babies. This year we are doing a baby/doll birthday party. You love to feed and dress and take care of all your dolls and you'll be getting a new stroller and bunk bed to add to your collection. You like to snuggle and cuddle with me at bedtime. You still whisper to me that you need me to put your blanket back on in the middle of the night. I love your beautiful, curly hair and hope that it gets easier to brush it at night! You like to kiss me on the lips and your sweet, little lips are pretty dry right now. I ask you if you want chapstick and you tell me no. *ha ha!* 

SEVEN Years Old!

 Zoe Kayte, you are 7 today! Here's what you've been up to:   

- You love to play outside! You tan the easiest of your entire family, besides Daddy. You love catching frogs, hiking, taking care of our animals, running, biking, swinging on the monkey bars, swimming in our pool, and more! You are game for nearly any adventure we go on in nature! You had such a fun time at swim lessons in July with Miriam and your teacher Hailey! You passed to level 2 and are feeling so confident in the water. You even jumped and swam in the deep end! 

- You are silly! You love to laugh, tell jokes, and, apparently, make silly faces while taking selfies 😆

- You are learning how to read directions and follow a recipe. For our end of year project, you made us pink lemonade for family movie night! You enjoyed it so much, you made more the next day for our Family Dinner at Smithville Lake. 

- You continue to love art! You are always creating something in your room or at the table. You finally attended your first art class at Orange Easel this summer and had a great time. We have you signed up for a homeschool multimedia class for the month of September. You will be learning about pastels. You have been doing watercolors with Daddy on the weekends and have made some beautiful creations together! 

- You enjoy school! You have a lot of focus and energy, so if we can get it directed at your school work, you can really accomplish things! You are learning to read and are starting to sound out more and more words correctly. Math seems a little tricky for you, but you are finding ways for it to make sense to you. You are a great at being consistent in getting your work done every day. You are making progress in your piano books and love to sing and dance. I can't believe you'll be starting 2nd grade in just a couple of weeks! 

- You don't like to wear dresses as much as you used to. We have finally found your niche - athletic clothes! The material is smooth and often doesn't have tags so we have fewer complaints from you not liking your clothes. I think you are going to be a great athlete! You are very strong. We have started a small exercise habit in the morning and you seem like a natural doing your planks and push-ups and jog. You have decided you want your two sports to be CrossFit and Swim. I'm excited to see how that will come to pass in your life!  

- I love to find the two of you sleeping together like this still. You are a great big sister! Sometimes if I've made Naomi upset, you will go to her and calm her down, reason with her, talk it out together. You know how to get down on her level and calm her down! I am so thankful for you. 

- You like to help me in the kitchen. You are getting better and better at making your brownie recipe! 

- You love animals! You do a great job helping to care for Dora. You really wanted a pet this year and I had thought we might be able to get you a cat when you were 6, but it just didn't work out. You have been extremely patient and understanding. Hopefully soon we will be able to get you a pet of your own! In the meantime, you do great with both Marshall and Dora and had a great time when we visited the cat café earlier this year. 

- Your first lost tooth last fall! Now you've lost 4 and 3/4 of them have returned! The top two you both lost on two different taco nights :) 

- You still sleep with Kitty -- the red panda you picked out at the KC Zoo on your 4th birthday. Even in the middle of the night, if you wake up and can't find her, she must be found before you fall back asleep. 

Birthday Interview: 8-1-2022

What is your favorite color? Pink 

... movie? "Tom and Jerry" 

... TV show? "Chip and Potato" 

... book? "Paddington" 

... fruit? Strawberries 

...animal? Cats 

...song? "Cheerleader" 

... thing to eat? "That's a hard question. Pizza! Fruit or pepperoni." 

... thing to do every day? "Color." 

about Naomi? "She's my little sister." 

about Levi? "Hmm... that he eats fast." 

about Zeke? "That he's 10." 

about Mommy? "That you're my mommy." 

about Daddy? "He fishes a lot." 

Who is your best friend? Aliyah 

What do you want to be when you grow up? An artist 

What do you like most about homeschooling? "That we get to be at home." 

What are you looking forward to about being 7? "That I'm grown up!" 

Zoe Kayte, I love you so much! You are full of life and zest! You love to shop so it makes it more fun for me to go with you. Today for your birthday lunch you chose tortilla roll-ups with lettuce, baked beans, fruit salad, and strawberry ice cream bon-bons (we need to get those finished soon!). We are having a Wingfeather themed party for your party on Friday night. You are having some family and friends over; we're planning to swim, color, play games, eat pizza and bbq pork, and have chocolate cake! I am so excited to see how you grow and mature in the coming year. I love spending time with you on Tuesday nights, to hear "your side of the story" about life, to watch miniature baking shows on YouTube, to grow closer to you. I can't wait to continue our little traditions together. Happy Birthday! 

"Why do you do it?"

In June, we visited family in CO and someone asked us, "Why do you eat gluten free?" It's hard not to feel like a burden when we visit others -- we have six people in our family, gluten free items are more expensive, harder to find, and {according to some} not as tasty. So it's hard to not apologize or feel bad or like an inconvenience. But I'm getting a little braver and believing in myself more. So here's a little more to the story... 

Way back in July of 2010, Jeremiah took a trip to Africa. *But wait* [even prior to this, it was an issue, but we never really attempted to do much to accommodate it. It just felt mildly annoying.] While he was in Ethiopia he got sick and was given a very strong antibiotic to "kill the bug", but when he returned home his gut microbiome, was never the same. We discovered this one night when I made a delicious chicken-velveeta-broccoli supper and, without being too graphic, after spending an unreasonable amount of time in the bathroom, let's just say, I never made it again. After this unforgettable night, Jeremiah began doing his research on milk alternatives, yogurt, bacteria strains, kefir... basically a deep dive into what he could have, what would help heal his gut, why he was having such strong reactions to dairy (as well as other high fat foods such as pork, avocados, hot dogs, etc.). While he did all this, I didn't make the changes with him. My stance was, "I'm sorry you're going through this, but no, I like all those things so... you're on your own, buddy." Super supportive wife. 

Fast forward to August 2015 and we realized Zoe (a newborn at the time) seemed to have a reaction when I was eating dairy. So, much to my dismay, I made the switch. My first foray was into cashew milk because I already knew I didn't like almond or coconut, especially when eating my daily cereal. It helped with the transition, because I felt like it tasted most similar to regular dairy milk. Once I removed all the dairy, her crying and screaming dramatically decreased. I was sold on this outcome alone. 

Not long after, we felt like Levi seemed bloated and was in some pain which made it hard for him to control his emotions. Once we moved to KC in 2017, we took him to a chiropractor and she recommended removing dairy and gluten from his diet. As he was only 3 years old at the time, we decided we would do this as a family. So in November 2017, we took the plunge. I was 8 months pregnant at the time, the holidays were coming, and people kind of knew me for my baking abilities. I was feeling rather intimidated and a bit sad because I knew some of my holiday favorite foods would not taste quite so, tasty, that year. But as we began to overhaul our diet -- it wasn't quite as big since we had already cut most dairy, so it was mainly the gluten at this point -- we noticed changes, and quick! My eczema was gone. Behavior issues that the kids had been having, lessened. Jeremiah's gut began to feel better. I wasn't as tired. Jeremiah wasn't as tired. Levi's face began to look less bloated and even now, we all get sick less than we used to. We felt the changes and the changes felt good. 

How do we live this out long term? For awhile, Jeremiah and I were adamant that we were 100% all the time, no mistakes. But now that we've been doing this for almost 5 years, we are trying to find the line. And sometimes we disagree on where the line is. Jeremiah tends to ride the more conservative approach, but this makes sense since he is the one who is more sensitive and has pain and repercussions if he doesn't. It's been hard too because the kids have been so young up to this point, we couldn't get much feedback from them aside from what we observed. Now we try to ask questions after we eat something out of the ordinary. We try to relax when we are in a place that is new and we can't manage to get them something to eat that "meets our standards". But it is a hard line to follow because it's all based on our best judgment. 

But what does it all mean? It means we pay attention. It means that we want to take our health seriously. This is the only body, the only life we get. Technically, could we eat gluten and dairy? Yep, we sure can. We're not allergic. But we really feel convicted that God has given us the wisdom and understanding that for our family, we want to do better. I've read too many books, since we started this journey 12 years ago, that talk about how well our bodies can adapt, process, manage all of these foods... right now. But over time, the toll it takes on our bodies to do that work, particularly if we have an intolerance, does damage to our body that is irreversible. Just because we are not seeing a problem now, doesn't mean we say, "Oh who cares? I'm young! My body can handle this!" We are looking to the future for how we want to treat our bodies, how we want to feel when we're in our 60s, 70s, and 80s. Some days are harder than others. We've taken our own treats to birthday parties -- will we offend the host? Are our kids missing out? Why can't life just be easier?! Ultimately, our heart behind these changes, as a family, is to help our kids make their own healthy choices in the future. Is it sometimes worth it to eat something that might hurt our tummies later? Can we enjoy foods without gluten and dairy? {Yes!} How do our bodies feel after eating certain food items? It seems like it will be a lifelong journey for all of us. A journey of awareness, treating our bodies kindly, and supporting one another. 

I plan to do some follow-up posts about how I bake and cook now that we eat this way. I hope it might help others who might want to try, but haven't felt sure where to start. Some days it can feel overwhelming -- we eat nearly all meals at home, there are always tons of dishes because even snacks are hard to find so I make those too, there's chopping, cutting, prepping, cooking, and more. If you have questions I'd love to hear them! Or give me some ideas for possible future topics if you're interested. 

To life... full of delicious food!