Grammy, Papa, Aunt Kelly and Ella

Grammy, Papa, Aunt Kelly and Ella came to visit! The weather was perfect for lots of outside playing. And we found that the boys and Ella share a love for dinosaurs so we went to a traveling exhibit that just happened to be in town. Ella just loved Nate. She said his name all day long, even when referring to Ben. 

Ella insisted on bringing Kelly some sand on top of the ball. It took many, many tries but she finally got a little sand to Kelly's white pants!

Proud Grandparents looking on.

Nate enjoyed having sand dumped all over him.

 Seriously cute kids!

Hi Ella.

 Ben was in heaven getting to play games on Kelly's kindle fire. Ella was there to assist.

  The dino exhibit.
It wasn't the greatest thing we have ever attended, but we managed to have some fun (thank goodness there were inflatables to save the day).

Happy big brother. Grouchy baby brother.

 Sweetness.

 Uncovering fossils.

 A dino with a saddle. 

 

 

  They ran and ran and ran around this thing.

 She loved it!

 Grammy protected Ella when she was a tiny bit nervous about the dinos that moved and made noise.

 The boys club.

 Dino ride. Nate was a wee bit scared.

 

Ben was in heaven.

 Eaten by a dino.

 My cave men.

 Grammy always insists on a family picture. Too bad the Carter boys were too far gone to the goofy side, but it's still cute.

Soccer

The boys had their first soccer game! It was a huge improvement from last year's soccer experience. The coach is great with the kids which makes the season. 

First soccer season. He LOVES it.

 Acrobatic kick from Ben.

 Stretches before the big game.

 Jogging in place.

 Two somersaults. Ha!

 Pep talk from coach before the game.

 Nate getting to kick it off. And good friend Jackson close by for support.

 Herd ball.

 A few goals were scored. Some even in the correct goal.

 Ella was loving Uncle Ryan time.

 Was it worth the 12 hour drive Grammy, Papa and Aunt Kelly?

Lifestyle Change

Guess what's new in our house?
We are officially Gluten Free!

As many of you know, Ryan has had intestinal issues since he was a little boy. It has just become a part of our life.

However, for about a year now it has seemed to negatively affect our life more than usual. The major push to really look into it was the fact that Ryan was losing weight unexpectedly and unable to regain any of it.

So, he started seeing the doctor more and trying to figure it all out. On March 21 he had an upper gi and colonoscopy. They had to put him completely under and the doctor took lots of biopsies. We went back for the consultation on April 7 and we found out he is 'gluten sensitive.' It was very obvious that he is not absorbing food, hence the weight loss and has much gut irritation. We learned lots of big words and details about the intestines. Lovely.

We dove in head first. The doctor highly recommended that our whole family go gluten free instead of trying to balance both and risk 'cross-contamination' that would be harmful to Ryan. We tried to get everything out of our house and we are still finding things little by little and giving them to friends.

Cooking gluten free has been easier than I imagined but overwhelming at the same time. Lots of foods are naturally gluten free, so I am mostly sticking with that until I really get a feel for it. We have found that we like brown rice pasta. The boys LOVE pancakes, so we are buying the gluten free packages for now and we can barely tell the difference. A gluten free loaf of bread is not a loaf of bread! Ben recently asked for the 'soft bread.' Sorry kid! Not in this house anymore.

Eating at restaurants and attending our many potlucks for work have been the hardest things to navigate. Ironically, our first potluck for work just two days after we found out was a "breakfast for dinner" menu and Ryan couldn't eat hardly anything on the buffet! Don't worry, he survived it.

It has been an educational experience for us. We are learning just how many things have hidden gluten in them. We hope that we end up much healthier and Ryan's health improves dramatically. So far, we aren't very far in and don't have much to report in terms of whether Ryan feels better or not. We are praying this is it though! We welcome your prayers for our adjustment period and for Ryan's overall health.

Cross Timbers State Park

This past week we took a family vacation to Cross Timbers State Park on Toronto Lake. It is just about two hours east of Wichita. It was quiet, peaceful, relaxing...all the things we look for in a family getaway.

The first few days were cool and cloudy and we didn't see another single living soul. It was kinda weird. Then, the sun came out and a couple of fishermen showed up. In total though, we maybe only saw five other people (Aside from going into 'town' one evening for dinner - there were about 10 customers there!).

Most fun: Smore's on the campfire daily.
Most freaky: Insane hail storm on a metal roof. We literally had to be inches apart to hear each other talk.
Most surprising: Boys didn't ever wake up during hail storm even though they were sleeping in the loft and the roof was literally inches from their heads. And a window at their heads with no curtain and the lightening flashing.
Most so-Nate: Nate fell off the bottom bunk the first two nights. Mattress on the floor for the rest of the time!
Most parental fun: Watching Ben navigate the hikes like a big kid.
Most relaxing: Lots of Kindle reading for parents and movie for the boys.
Most funny: We borrowed some Pippi Longstocking episodes from the library. The boys played "Pippi" A LOT! She was a hit. They are still playing "Pippi" at home! Nate is always Pippi, by the way.
Most so-Ryan: We joke he always gets hurt everywhere we go. Two minutes into our second hike, he impaled his hand on an insanely large spikey thing growing out of a tree. Wouldn't want to break tradition. He survived it though.
Most so-Amber: I took lots of pictures for you all!
Most so-Ben: Always the boy to bend the rules, things went like this:
Mom: Just put your toes in, don't get your boots totally wet.
Ben: Mom, the wave just happened to spash in my boots. I like it squishy.
This is just an example. It always happens like this!

Here is our trip in pictures!

Realized we were in this same cabin at Thanksgiving in 2009. 

2009

2014

2009

2014

Just had the camera phone so no timer to get Ryan in the pic.

Our spot.

The boys' fav spot - the loft! They have been asking for a loft at home!

 Daily smore's were a must!

 Ben is getting very good at tending the fire. I was much less nervous this year. Nate however, I kept on a tighter leash around the fire.

 This boy makes a face or sound affect or both for all occasions.

 We traveled a few miles over to the spillway of Toronto Lake. It is quite a site. We think they opened it while we were there, but didn't drive over to confirm.

 Massive

Yeah, I get this look all the time!

 The first few days were chilly. We stayed close to the fire.

 Ben is really good at Jenga. We played lots of board games too.

 Lunch in their pop-up tent in the loft. Little boy heaven.

 Ben posed for this and then requested Nate do the same.

 

 Morning stroll in pjs.

Morning mud pancakes!

Trike riding with no fear of cars! And maybe I was playing with the camera to get this picture too.

 Sweetness!

 Rest time with movies! Rest time is still a must. Nate fizzles out too early in the evening without it.

Brushing teeth with Daddy.

 We took two hikes. The first was 1.5 miles and the second was 1 mile. The first was easier, the second a little more challenging. Nate needed a hand the whole time, but Ben bravely led us! He was very confident and quite good at mastering the rocky, uneven, wet terrain.

Exploring.

 I couldn't resist.

 Told you, I get this face A LOT.

 Bravery.

 They were in heaven. 

 It didn't take long before their toes in the water turned into filling their boots with water.

 Lots of water in their boots! 

Proof we were both there.

 The weather warmed up and we stumbled upon the swimming area. The boys were elated when I told them they could take off their shoes and wade in. Ryan said the water was painfully cold, but the boys disagreed. I didn't try it for myself. They only left because we needed to go back to the cabin to make dinner.

 Ben 'washing his hair.'

 Throwing. They threw everything and anything. Ben kept saying, "I'll send you out to sea" with each toss.

 Found these gems from 2009. Same exact sink! And this year he was taking showers. Time flies.

2014 - see, same sink!

 2009

Family shot 2014