Girl Trip- Day Three at the Dallas Arboretum

Our last day in Dallas before driving home was spent at the Dallas Arboretum. It is a beautiful large garden and we'd never been before, but will certainly go back! We started in coats and ended with sleeves pushed up! The weather was perfect!

Our first stop was the Rory Meyer's Children's Garden. It was so well designed and super educational! Check out the celery slide and pea boat.

These were found in the incredible edible garden along with this silly veggie art! This whole area taught kids about gardening, food's importance to your body, dirt and soil types, etc. It was fun to teach her more about where the grocery store is stocked from.

There was also a whole weather section that showed how wind is used to pollenate, water and sun make plants grow and the other more sever weather's damage to plants. Abby stood on the sun dial and it was right on- 11 AM!

I jumped in the wind tunnel with her! Total and complete silliness!

Nana helped Abby shoot water to make the orange pieces spin and then she proudly did it by herself numerous times.

I loved this flower area- it felt like Honey I Shrunk the Kids!

There was also a fun little cottage playground area with over sized bugs!

After the children's garden we had lunch on a covered patio inside the kids area. The lunch spot offered tons of healthy options- I loved it! We had sandwiches, carrots, apple sauce and yummy non-soda drinks like Texas Tea.

After lunch we walked the main gardens. I feel like visiting in May would be ideal! Lots of things starting to wake up for Spring.

I'd love to see these trees in bloom! 

I am no gardener- I think this is a white Dogwood. I love trees that just cover themselves in flowers in the Spring. Leaves are so boring when flowers can be seen.

They have seasonal displays and we saw the peacocks made from greenery and flowers for their big tails. There were a handful of them and they were really impressive!

Overall we had a really fun day and girl trip! We had good weather, a pretty happy camper with us, and the right shoes to walk without blisters!

We might have even made a little tree hugger out of Abby!

Girl Trip- Day Two

Wednesday was our light day on the trip- we knew the zoo would be lots of walking for Nana and crowded, so we wanted to do something a little easier that day. It also was the coldest day so we looked for indoor activities. My friend Erin is a big fan of the Urban Air Trampoline park nearby, so we decided to go jump there on Wednesday morning.

Abby and I had so much fun! It was a blast for both of us and a really good workout. I had fun and was out of breath!

Abby loved running and jumping into the foam pit. I did not do that one... I wasn't sure how easily I could climb out of the foam!

Check out the video of Abby running and jumping in!

After our jumping, we drove to nearby Plano for my favorite BBQ- Red, Hot and Blue. It was delicious as always. I so wish we had an Austin location. We also did a little shopping before going back to the room to rest.

Then, it was time for the moment Abby had been waiting for... her tea party at The American Girl store. She was giddy with excitement and couldn't say the words without squealing!

For Christmas this year, we bought Abby a My Generation doll from Target. It is the "off brand" American girl doll and it works just fine for us. I couldn't buy Abby a real doll and luckily she has no idea she has a generic version. 

Abby had saved her money for months and with a little help from the tooth fairy, she was able to buy the two items she really wanted- a lunchbox of food and a baby sippy cup and snack. You are looking at $38 right there. Wow.

We made an appointment to have a tea party and expected a large group to do a craft and then have a few snacks. It turned out to be our own table and this beautiful presentation of food!

It was all delicious and at 4 PM, really counted as an early dinner for us! I would highly recommend doing the tea party. 

It is $12 per person and includes all of this food and your pink lemonade to drink. 

Abby was also given a small cup and plate for her doll and the pink bow napkin rings and the flowers in the small pots. She was thrilled! 

We had a wonderful time at our tea party!

Up next, our last day was spent at the Dallas Arboretum. It was a pleasant surprise that we loved even more than the zoo!

Girl Trip! Girl Trip!

This past week was Spring Break and Marcus had a training all week in Denver. Boo for the odd scheduling of that! So, rather than sit around all week and miss Daddy, we grabbed Nana and hit the road for a GIRL TRIP! GIRL TRIP! (We named it that to take away the sadness that Marcus wasn't with us. It worked like a charm!)

We were all so excited that we left before 7 AM on Tuesday morning. We were at the Dallas Zoo before 10 AM which is a good thing because it was super crowded as the day went on. We were lucky to get decent parking and sunshine all morning! We even got a little sunburn!

It was a lot of walking for Nana but she did great! 

We rode the monorail which is a must do. It costs $3 per person but you get a guided tour of parts of the zoo you can't access by foot. And, you are up high so everyone can see!

The okapi is Abby's very favorite animal and she has only seen one at the Houston Zoo. They had a couple at the zoo and we attended the zoo keeper talk where she fed one and told us all about it.

I believe we were told this is the only koala in North American zoos right now. It was pretty cool to see- they are super fluffy and look so friendly. It sleeps 20 hours per day, so we didn't see much movement from him :)

We have been to lots of zoos in Texas- Abilene, Austin, Houston, Fort Worth, San Antonio, Waco and now Dallas. Waco is still our favorite, but I really liked Dallas too! Lots of animals, easy to get around, and a couple of really interactive spots. The food was awful and parking was pretty bad, but overall we liked it a lot!

I'll share Day Two soon!

Tooth Fairy Came!

I took this picture on Wednesday knowing it would likely be the last one with a full mouth of baby teeth. It was an exciting time in our house learning all about teeth coming out, the tooth fairy (which she knows is me!), eating soft foods, and playing with it with our tongue.

Here you can see the bottom right tooth is loose and leaning toward the other middle tooth. She could push it forward about 1/2 way to flat with her tongue. But, being her first tooth she was really scared to let me help her or even tough it.

We tried really hard on Friday morning and were even late to school. Then, I picked her up on Friday and was given a baggie with her tooth in it. She played with it during rest time and it came out! Her first tooth lost at 5 years, 2 1/2 months.

Clearly the new tooth was coming in and pushing it out!

Abby was brave as could be and so excited to place it in her tooth fairy pillow. I bought it about a month ago when the dentist told me the two front bottom teeth were loose and she could see the next teeth coming!

After some disagreement between Marcus and I, I put $20 in her pillow. She knows that is special since it is her first tooth.  We also are spending part of Spring Break in Dallas and that is her spending money. I'd rather give it to her to manage ahead of time than give it to her at the gift shop.

Big girl! So proud of her and so glad I got some great 5 year close ups before the transitional mouth began! ha!

Update on Tree Nut Allergy

We have had an eventful couple of weeks in the allergy department.

At Abby's 5 year well check we talked about her allergy in kindergarten this fall. That led to me making a follow up allergy appointment to ask the many questions I have about keeping Abby safe in public school. My questions with the allergist prompted him to skin test allergy for tree nuts.

We have a very strong PEANUT allergy and that hasn't and will likely never change. However, last summer after doing bloodwork, we were told Abby was allergic to TREE NUTS. We found it strange since she drank almond milk daily, including the morning of the test. The numbers were "weak" but present, so we cut out tree nuts.

Last week we did a skin test for the many tree nuts out there (pecans, almonds, walnuts, cashews, sesame, etc). This is what her back looked like. Note that #9 is histamine and it should be the biggest reaction.

Her skin test showed a "weak" presence of allergy to walnuts, cashews, and almonds. They are #1, #3, and #4 above. So, we made the decision to do a food challenge in his office. He was 98% sure she was not allergic but felt safest testing her in his office in small amounts increasing to larger and doing one more skin test.

We started with 1 cc of almond milk, waited 15 minutes then 2 cc, then 4 cc then 6 cc. She was so excited to have it... after the initial fear it would make her sick. No reaction!

So, Marcus ran to the store and grabbed a can of cashews. She ate 1/2 of one, then 2, then 4 with 15 minute intervals in between and nothing happened! Hooray!

We can happily eliminate tree nuts from her allergies and it is now just peanuts! The peanut allergy is still major, these nuts measured 3 and under on blood tests and her peanut number is over 100. And we likely won't give her many tree nuts since they are processed with peanuts and fearful she'll accept a peanut on accident. But, we know almond milk is okay and we don't have to be as fearful around the many tree nut desserts.

We are still trying to balance what is reasonable with the school and what is safe for Abby as she enters kindergarten. I have had numerous conversations with the nurse, our pediatrician and our allergist. So far, we have resolved 3 major issues and have one hurdle left. Will you join us in praying that we can convince the school to have kids wash their hands after lunch? 

Kids will still have nut foods at lunch (she'll sit at a nut free table) and if they don't wash their hands the peanut oils could be placed on shared objects and if Abby contacts them she could get a rash/red eyes. She wouldn't go into full anaphylaxis if she didn't ingest the nut; however, anaphylaxis starts as a rash/red eyes and not giving an Epi Pen soon enough can be tragic. So, we will have to Epi her and call 911 if she shows those symptoms from touching peanut oil or rely on the judgement of the school to determine if it is just touch or ingestion. It is a scary place to be. Hand washing would eliminate the possibility for us. 

As a side note, we did learn that anti-bac gels do not remove peanut oil from the skin. It must be soap and water or wipes like baby wipes. We'd happily provide baby wipes to Abby's class as a solution; however, after lunch she is cross mingled with kindergartners from numerous classes for things like music, PE, art, etc. So, it would be more difficult and is also riskier since she won't be returning to her desk with her teacher during the high risk hour after lunch.

We'll keep the conversation going and look for more solutions!

If you are curious about our peanut allergy discovery, click here. My sweet girl was a puffy red mess!

Our Valentine Celebrations

We have been celebrating Valentine's Day for a good week around here! 

On a recent snow day, Abby and I made her Valentine's. I had some cute business card size photos made with Abby's five year pictures and tied those onto a handful of pixie sticks and baggies of gummy bears for Abby's school friends.

While I was doing that, she drew pictures for each of her friends.

I also had her write each of their names and she was GREAT at it! I was so proud of her for taking the time and not complaining! She was obviously bored being home another day and happy to have some art to do!

She did Micah's first.... "because I love him". Oh boy!

The Friday night before Valentine's Day we had date night with another couple at Jack Allen's Kitchen while Abby was at the YMCA playing. We exchanged little gifts that we had picked out for ourselves- I got a new bracelet and Marcus got a pair of bluetooth headphones. 

I joined Abby at her school party on Wednesday, just before Valentine's. They all made boxes from Kleenex boxes and here is Abby's. Super cute!

The kids exchanged simple Valentines and had an ice cream sundae party.

Abby's little Valentine survey made me laugh. I attended a talk on Monday morning about love languages for kids and I can't decide if hers is gifts or touch. Clearly, I am on the right track! :)

 On Friday afternoon, we met up with other Moms from our MOPS group and delivered Valentine cards to a local nursing home. It was a great opportunity to talk to Abby about serving others!

Finally, on Friday night we had heart shaped pizza from Papa Murphy's and we had cupcakes from Gigis. We loved them both!

Dentist Appointment

Abby has the best dentist and she has the prettiest offices! It looks like a fancy hotel, but is just an amazing lobby! 

 Our last dental visit was March of last year when Abby had cavities, crowns, and root canals needed and we learned that flossing toddler's teeth is important and costly! We also learned that fruit snacks are bad!

So, we were a little nervous this time. We even bought the good dental insurance this year so we could see Dr. Singletary and so that we'd be ready if another big bill came.... and it didn't! No cavities. Very little plaque and we found out her 6 year molars are coming in and front bottom center teeth are loose. Um, is this my baby we are talking about?

Abby did great and dug through the prize drawers before picking a new rubber ducky for her bath collection. We celebrated with Sonic milkshakes :)