Spring Fling 2010

To give you a little insight into my (Jenny's) twisted mind, I came across a really adorable and fun dessert the other day and decided I wanted to make it. Of course, if I was going to put in the effort and bit of money to make it, I wanted to make it count. So I made up a family party. Called Spring Fling. The kids so loved our Valentine's Party that they got super excited at the idea of another family party. We made up a sign and had Emma, Elise, Ethan, and Aunt Dana over for grilled chicken shish kabobs, fruit skewers, watermelon, garlic bread, and this:

an ice cream flower pot dessert.

It was a surprise to the kids and they loved it. A little confused at first, but it didn't take long for them to dig in.
And it was messy.

Very messy. And Abby tried to eat her flower. :)

The evening ended with all the kids wrestling, the boys with their shirts off, and Abby sitting and reading books smack dab in the middle of the chaos. Spring Fling 2010 was a success.

Little Abs

Today, Abby had her yearly visit to the Allergist. Last year we knew she was allergic to peanuts, but since then she has had skin reactions to walnuts. Today was time for retesting.

Here's the sweet innocent girl, unsure of what's to come.

She saw the camera and felt the need to pose. Here's her pose. :)
Here's the skin test. They were also concerned about some environmental allergies for her, since she has had frequent sinus infections, so they did quite a few. Each number represents a different allergen, if you've never seen this testing before. This is a picture after the first few minutes. A little bit of redness is appearing...

She's not quite as happy at this point.

This is towards the end of the test. You can notice a reaction in five spots, one of which is the control.

The verdict: Abby is still very allergic to peanuts and also allergic to pecans, walnuts, and..... dogs!? We had no idea about that last one and it isn't a huge deal, but something to consider. The good news is that there's no allergy to a lot of other common allergens, including mold, dust, grass, and she's also not allergic to almonds, which is great. And, must to daddy's dismay, she's not allergic to cats. :) (No offense to the cat lovers, but daddy's not a fan).

Either way, we are very thankful for our daughter's overall health and the fact that these "special needs" are relatively minor and easily overcome. The Dr. was still optimistic that she would grow out of them, so that was an encouragement too. And, grumpy or not, she's still stinking cute.