Big news. We finally figured out why we have a skinny little rash monger these days. At Noah’s 15 month Dr. appt, his Dr. convinced me that he thinks Noah has an allergy. Noah scratches himself like crazy anytime he doesn’t have clothes on and the Dr. said that’s not normal. Anyways, I took him to an allergist who poked his little back with lots of sharp things to see if he had any reactions. The poor little boy had to not scratch his back for twenty whole minutes. Even with a sucker and me holding his little hands and walking around in circles over and over again, he had hard times. He kept saying, "Owa,” and tried to scratch his back. After it was all done, we found out he’s allergic to peanuts and soy. By the way, soy is in EVERYTHING processed. So, thanks to the little boy, we are totally eating healthier—nothing that’s not made from scratch. It’s fun, but a big change. We have to put steroid creams on him everyday and give him allergy medicine if he is itching. But, the rash on his face is just about gone. And, even more amazing, he eats now. He eats A LOT! I guess sometimes a reaction to foods you’re allergic to can cause loss of appetite. Now, all day long, Noah stands at the fridge and begs for food. Yea for Noah!

Other than that, there’s nothing else new. I took the kids to Chuck E Cheese last weekend while Aaron was on a really fun Scout camp out. It was frozen outside and they all had tons of fun sliding on the frozen beach and hiking to the frozen waterfall. You should see the size of the rock he brought home that has a hole in it. It’s amazing!

I (Aaron) went to the beach on a “campout” this last Friday and Saturday. “Campout” because we slept in a beach house, but it was 100 years old and had no insulation (the boards used for siding were also the walls) so it wasn’t lavish or anything. We got set up, cooked some dinner and then around 10:30 went out to the beach to play. It was very windy and below freezing but we had to play something. Me and a few of the boys ran out first and were running on very hard sand toward the waves when we hit ice and went sliding. The beach was frozen solid, we skated on ice for a while then looked at the stars, it was perfectly clear and we saw a few meteorites and found it hard to find many constellations there were so many stars. We played tag and capture the flag till midnight. We lost a few leaders and a few boys to bruises and sprained ankles. It was pretty much the scariest environment imaginable for rough games. The sand was hard as cement with patches of slick ice, sticks and rocks were frozen into the ice and sand. Underground streams were bubbling up in places then freezing to make frozen ice mounds. The wind would blow gusts of sand from higher dry dunes in wisps out to sea. We lost enough boys and leaders to call it quits around midnight and played games until around 2:30. I introduced the boys to UNO for pushups so we added sore arms to sore legs and bruised bodies. I somehow made it out unscathed but sore as the rest of them. The next morning I took a walk down the beach. I wish I’d brought the camera. A frozen beach isn’t something you see to often. About a mile down the beach was what looked like a frozen waterfall. I walked to the end of the sand and went back to get some more people to check it out. I took the Rodgers boys and a Waters; I trusted them not to die climbing on rocks. I estimated wrong and it was a long way to walk on rocks, which gets painful after a while. We found some good treasures along the way and marked them. Mostly buoys and such, but just about to the waterfall I found a huge rock with a perfect hole in it. I marked it and trudged on. The waterfall was amazing, all icicles and weird ice formations. It was awesome to see, we went another quarter of a mile to a archway carved out by the waves. One the way back one of the boys wrapped an icicle to show the others and we loaded up with buoys. I found a stick that looked strong enough and when we reached the rock with the hole in it we slid it on and carried a 50lb rock on two of our shoulders all the way back to the cabin, with a few whispered comments as we walked by people. We were pretty proud of ourselves, but very tired.

Arwenisms:
During one of her prayers, she said, “Noah is tender, and I am tender. Mama, she’s big. She’s….like….ummm….14, so she’s not tender. But please bless me and Noah because we are tender.”

She runs around the house telling us she is going to “mermatize” us. Something to do with mermaids, I guess, but I have no idea!

Anytime I make a mistake, like today when I spilled some sugar while making cookies, she says, “Mom, are you sorry?”

We caught her having a talk with Noah the other day because Noah had just gotten in trouble for something. She said, “Noah, these are the consequences. If you are bad, there are consequences. You get in trouble.” We’ve had lots of talks lately with her about the consequences of wetting her pants.

Noahisms:
At Chuck E Cheese, Chuck E came up to say hi to the kids. Arwen thought it was great, but Noah was very concerned. Then, when the big mouse touched his cheek, he FREAKED out and tried to dive out of his high chair into my arms. Poor little guy.

Noah loves to tell us about “puppies and kitties” and make cute little tickle signs with his fingers. He loves animals.

He learned the word “No” and loves it. He uses it for everything while waving his little hand at whoever he’s talking to.

Love,

NASA

Hello! I am going stir crazy being home alone with two sick kiddies while Aaron is in CA on a business trip. We have had fun though! Noah had a well child appt on Monday. Do not worry--the Dr is not concerned about his weight anymore (Noah is still below the charts) but I guess after watching the little string bean climb all the handles on the drawers to try to get to the sink and then climb a chair to and sit in the window cell convinced him that he is getting his energy from somewhere! Noah also threw an awesome tantrum. He threw himself on the ground and bashed his head on the cold floor, It was great. And the Dr. wondered if I had problems with him throwing tantrums. Who me??He is now concerned because Noah has a rash all over his face (since before Christmas) and he scratches himself bloody on his back when he is naked. We are off to an allery and dermatology Dr next! The Dr looked in Noah's ears and the poor baby has a double ear infection. Does Noah not have pain receptors? I never would have known!!The next day, I decided to cut Noah's hair because he was looking kind of scruffy--that and I thought it might help make his rash not so noticeable. Well, he flinched because it scared him and I had to buzz him. He looks ridiculous--there are a few little tufts I missed and his rash---yeah, well it looks 100 times worse now. Poor little boy looks like a skinny, rashy, cancer patient. Sorry Noah!!!!That's all from here! We are just hanging our till we get to see Aaron again--we all miss him like crazy!!

Arwenisms:
Arwen sang to the tune of “knick knack paddy whack..”—“Heavenly Father will come down from the sky. I will give Him my toys and he will give me new ones…and a treat…a sucker.”I clipped her fingernails on the same day I cut Noah's hair. I cut one of then pretty short so she needed a band aid. When she got up the next day, she looked at her finger and said, "Its ALIVE!!" Then Noah cried and she ran in his room saying, "Let's see if Noah's hair is alive yet...It's not!"When I was cutting Noah's hair and he was crying, Arwen started to cry and said, "I'm telling my Dad what you did!!"

Noahisms:
He begs for two things--his ba ba (bottle) and candy all day. I give him bottles, but he doesn't get much candy and he gets so mad!!He walks around the house saying, "Da Da" looking for Aaron.He loves to wave and say, "Bye Bye" to everyone.

Love, NASA