This little number is done on half of an old Candyland game board!  Painted, charcoaled, varnished, signed and ready for delivery to Prairie Hearth!

Food Allergy Awareness Week

Our lil' Macy is now a spunky five-year-old who loves preschool, playing dress-up and "camping" with little brother, Evan.  She's a smart cookie who enjoys learning and creating.  Our house is loud, but fun, and filled with laughing, singing and dancing.

When Macy was one-year-old she ate two small bites of a cookie.  Very quickly, she broke out with hives, turned bright red behind the ears and developed a raspy voice.  After a trip to the E.R. and follow-up skin and blood tests, Macy was diagnosed with food allergies.

Macy is allergic to peanut and tree nuts.  Her food allergies are severe.  If she ingests even a trace amount of peanut or tree nut she could go into anaphylaxis.  Anaphylaxis is rapid in onset and potentially life-threatening.  There is no cure for food allergies.  Therefore, we are diligent about strict avoidance of foods containing peanut and/or tree nuts.  In case of accidental exposure, Macy has an Epi-Pen shot with her at all times and we know to call 911 immediately after administering it.

May 13-19, 2012 is Food Allergy Awareness Week.

• Learn more about food allergies at www.foodallergy.org
• Go to www.youtube.com/FAANPal to watch videos.
• Join us at the Nebraska Food Allergy Walk this October.  Register at www.foodallergywalk.org with "Team Macy".
• Support the School Access to Emergency Epinephrine Act by visiting www.foodallergy.org/page/school-access-to-emergency-epinephrine-act1

I'm not cheap, I'm thrifty.

I love a good bargain.  My heart pitter-patters at a rummage sale or good garage sale.  It's the thrill of the hunt for that special something and at a steal of a price.

Well, this weekend I decided to host my own garage sale.

It's been several years since I've done this.  With two little ones, it's amazing how much stuff one accumulates.

I'm pleased with how things turned out.  I met more neighbors, chatted with friends, sold some treasures, added to the vacation fund, donated some unsold merchandise to a church, Goodwill'ed some unwanteds and got some exercise setting up/tearing down.

I'm pooped.

Therefore, tonight, I thought I'd treat myself to having some fun with PicMonkey.com.....

making special memories out of lil' moments...

My lil' Macy's stuffed monkey is not just any toy.  At preschool each student was allowed to bring a stuffed animal that would sleepover.  Well, when the preschoolers arrived the next morning they found that the stuffed animals had munched on popcorn, trashed the classroom and left notes for the students!

Needless to say, that pretty much sealed the deal....'monkey' was #1 in Macy's book.

For as long as I can remember, Macy has talked about her monkey's birthday.  Now, Macy never narrowed it down to a particular month or date, but she would say that monkey's birthday "was coming up" and that we needed to celebrate.

So, one night I decided...why not?!  Okay...I openly admit that this is a bit coo-coo, but the kids loved it and got such a kick out of it.  When the kids went to bed I grabbed a few things from around the house and wrapped them.  The next morning I told the kids we were going to give 'monkey' (and Evan's kitty) a special day.  The kids decorated the wrapped presents and the anticipation grew.  Macy took her time taping on silk flowers onto the wrapped box while Evan used stickers to decorate his.  It didn't take long...we decided to sing 'happy birthday' and dive right into unwrapping.  The kids were giddy. 

Although I'm not sure how old these special friends are, I am sure that the plastic bananas and fishy crackers were a huge hit!

...and why didn't I use this as an excuse to make cupcakes?!...