On the FOURTH Day or our Christmas

On the FOURTH day of our Christmas the gift we gave our kids was: letting them wrap their presents for us and put them under the tree!

The wrap jobs are certainly not from the mall professionals. B may have hurt himself on the tape dispenser (it's just a little scratch!) and if you touch any of these gifts the paper will probably rip and show what is inside.

But the pride and joy on B's face as he wrapped these gifts, chose the tags, and filled them out in his shaky six year old penmanship is something that will never be forgotten. He and L picked out gifts for their parents and put them under the tree as a great surprise.
On the fourth day we gave them pride in giving. An excellent gift!

We opened a bakery

We did it. We decided to start our own little bakery with the goal of making safe goodies for food allergy sufferers to enjoy.

The main goal would be to get our goodies into classroom and birthdays throughout the land to let every kid feel completely normal and part of the group. No more "special" plates for kids. They'll get the same piece of cake or cupcake or cookie that everyone else does. This might not seen like a lot to most people, but to a kid (and the parents of these kids) its monumental.

The Bon Bakery came to be from the delightful way Ben said his name when he was little. "I'm Bon" was always followed by the most infectious, beaming, friendly little smile this world has ever seen. No one on the outside could tell that at a moment's notice, that smile could disappear behind a swollen face and hives thanks to food. Nor could they see the anxiety that any of those reactions could make that smile disappear forever. This bakery is "Bon's" Bakery.

Its driven by his Momma and step-dad who have an insane love of cookies, both our kids, and baking treats. Combining these three loves has driven this passion to a new personal level. We want to help kids like Bon experience things. Hopefully, people who are nervous to cook for an allergy kid will reach out to us. It IS daunting and scary if you're not used to it. After five years of navigating this food allergy jungle - we're veterans, but always looking for new ways to spread our goodies and the message behind them.

We've had a little boy sit alone with a different treat because a classroom treat that was brought in wasn't safe. It hurts. We've had a little boy who has been teased for his different "safe treat" during class parties. It infuriates. And we've had a little boy smile so big and squeeze us so tight when we've been able to recreate something he thought he couldn't have. Its inspiring.

Please visit our Etsy store at http://www.etsy.com/shop/TheBonBakery or find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheBonBakery. Help us spread the word and educate people to the needs so many kids and adults face. We might not be able to find a cure, but we've yet to meet a problem that a really good cookie can't make better - especially a safe cookie.

Bird Brained Festivities

Did you have a good Memorial Day? We sure did. It was sunny, close to 90, a little humid, and we just redid the play area in the back yard. It was the perfect recipe for a day of fun in the sun family memories.

But, like every other day that I pray will become a cherished memory something always goes awry.

We were good as we played in the sprinklers, got the kids pool filled, had a water fight, munched a few snacks, and had some neighbor kids over. The swinging was great, the new fort worked well, and millions of bubbles were blown, chased, and popped. After a long winter inside, we were finally outside and at the request of our son, we decided to eat outside too.

I took one step toward the house to gather what I needed and heard a pop, then felt a squish. As I looked down, I was standing IN a baby bird. I’m assuming he fell out of a nest somewhere high in the tree that covers part of our yard.

Immediately, my normally rough and tumble ninja/warrior/brave boy was a sobbing mess. It was like the end of Old Yeller in the backyard.

“Why did you step on him mom?!”

Really? I’m hosing birdy off my foot and he thinks I did this on purpose? I assured him that other than the bird, I was probably the most disturbed party involved in this mess. There is squished bird ON MY BAREFOOT.

This led to “Why was he there? Where is his mom? Why did this happen?” and a litany of others.

To get him off the topic, I decided to try and get the bird out of the yard. The shovel just made a bigger mess, the little trowel somehow sent feathers everywhere – finally my husband quietly came over and told me “I think I’m just going to have to mow him – he’s really into the grass.”

Gross.

I moved the kids along and got them to forget about him. Hands were washed, dinner was cooked and as I approached the picnic table to give our son his plate, he was holding something in his hand and investigating it. If you have a six year old boy, you know where this is going. It was a “chunk” of our bird buddy.

I may have freaked out more then, than when it was on my foot. I marched him in, made him wash his hands three times. I washed them once. And we purelled the living daylights out of the kid. I was about ready to cancel eating outside (I hate it anyway with all the bugs that fly around). But we got to the table, sans bird, and enjoyed a meal.

As our daughter finished her meal, my husband plopped her onto the ground to play for a few minutes – RIGHT ON TOP OF THE DAMN BIRD. I may have lost my cool for a moment when asking him why my darling baby was now SITTING in dead bird. I’m not sure how, but he claims he forgot the bird was there. Temporary insanity possibly? Maybe.

By the end of the day, the bird was scrubbed off the baby’s legs and butt as well. We’re all bird free. And my lawn is getting mowed today.

And I’m guessing, while it’s not the stuff of Hallmark movies, we made plenty of memories we won’t be forgetting any time soon.