Allergy-Free Kid

For the first time in eight years we have an allergy-free kid in our house!  We feel so blessed that Andrew has outgrown his egg allergy.  It still feels strange to not ask about ingredients and just give him whatever he wants.  He wanted a doughnut for his first egg-filled food.  We let him pick from the case and one that was mentioned was custard filled.  I had to stop myself from saying that custard is made with eggs.  He really wanted rock candy at Dollywood, and it felt really strange handing it over since we have avoided that stuff like the plague since Evie ate it (and got to meet the very nice paramedics at Dollywood) a couple of years ago.  It has been fun to introduce him to some new foods, and he is really looking forward to having birthday cake at future parties.  Hopefully Evie will outgrow her egg allergy in the near future.  We really won't know how to act if that happens!  

Egg Whites & Egg Yolks with NO reaction!

Thumbs up after eating an entire egg at the allergist office

 His first request: a chocolate and sprinkle covered doughnut from Krispy Kreme

Pancakes at Long's

Allergy Free Mouse

As you know, we love Disney.  One of the many things we love about Disney is their willingness to work with special diets.  I recently had the chance to contribute a review to a website I used in planning our most recent trip to Disney World, Allergy Free Mouse.  If you have food allergies, are an allergy parent, or have friends with allergy kids I highly recommend this site as a planning tool for Disney World.  I submitted a post about our experience going on a Disney Cruise because there just isn't a ton of information out there about allergies onboard a cruise ship.  You can read it by clicking here.  It is part of a contest, so if you like it you can click the thumbs up button or the Facebook like button.  My kids would love to have $100 to spend at the Disney Store :)  Even if I don't win, I am thrilled to have been able to contribute something that may help another parent as they deal with food allergies.  I hope anyone who reads this site or my review will be encouraged.  Food allergies can be scary and exhausting, but thanks to modern medicine and special places like Disney they don't have to stop you from living a very full life!  

Disney Dining

We did the Dining Plan again on this trip and think it is definitely worth it.  If we went to Disney a lot then we might skip it, but the kids loved the character meals.  We managed to not eat many pizzas and hamburgers on the quick service this time around.  The best quick service meals we had were at Yak & Yeti in Animal Kingdom (delicious beef lo mein), Wolfgang Puck Express in Downtown Disney, and tacos and churros from Taqueria del Lago in Epcot.  Restaurant research definitely paid off!  Pizza Planet had our least favorite food, but it was neat that the kids got to go to Pizza Planet from Toy Story.  Disney is known for their accommodations for food allergies.  I have to say it was a little challenging in Epcot for us though.  Language barrier made it a little trickier in Mexico and the Garden Grille just didn't have substitutions.  The kids menu is chicken legs, broccoli, and mac n cheese.  The macaroni had egg so the kids were pretty disappointed with chicken and broccoli.  

Dining in Cinderella's Castle 

 Belle

 Aurora

 Chef Mickey's

 Minnie

 Dancing and waving napkins to celebrate with Mickey

 1900 Park Fare with Cinderella and her family

 Dancing with Prince Charming

 Allergy dessert awesomeness

 Banana split tower

 Garden Grille with Dale

 Farmer Mickey

 Chip

A very fun Pluto

Go Vols!

We took the kids to their first Tennessee football game today.  They have been to a few orange/white games and have been begging to go to a real game.  I had no idea if they would sit still or how I would feed them.  Concessions and food allergies don't really mix!  However, the section we were in had expanded concessions and they stayed in their seats until the end of the game.  It was a very fun day!

 Our friend, Buddy, won tailgater of the game

 Awesome view

 from our seats in the Tennessee Terrace

 Go Vols!

 Dobyns-Bennett Band from Kingsport

Fun family day

 Watching the band on Papa's shoulders

 Evie got a pretzel as big as her head

Red Lobster Field Trip

Andrew's class got to go on a field trip to Red Lobster today. I have to admit I wasn't thrilled when I got the note about where they were going, but it turned into a fun morning. The kids learned about crustaceans and got to pet live lobsters. They also got to eat shrimp baskets, so Andrew tried shrimp for the first time. A huge thank you to Red Lobster for turning on extra equipment so they could grill some just for him. His check-in question this morning was "Do you like seafood?". As soon as we got back to school he asked his teachers if he could change his answer from "no" to "yes".

Our 1st Gingerbread House

We have never made a gingerbread house with the kids because they are allergic to gingerbread and royal icing. However, we got the idea from PBS Kids to use graham crackers. The recipe called for cream of tartar in the icing, but we just added some powdered sugar instead and it worked out just fine. I know you aren't meant to eat the house, but trust me, there was a lot of finger licking and candy sneaking going on. The kids loved it!

Construction begins

Phase one complete

Phase 2- another section of roof was added along with some landscaping

Phase 3- put up shingles, doors, and windows

The completed project! Next time we are going to frost that inside graham cracker, but once the roof was stable I wasn't about to try to frost the inside.

Cafeteria Food

It all started with Evie asking Andrew what was packed in his lunchbox last week. She then found out that Andrew doesn't pack his lunch and gets a hot lunch at school. She wanted to know if she could have cafeteria food too. The cafeteria manager at Amherst was extremely helpful and sent home a huge binder with all the product labels for everything they serve. Turns out the only main dish she can eat is spaghetti, which just happened to be on the menu for this week. I met her in the cafeteria today to help her pick her sides and double check all the food. We had to get her a plate without texas toast, but other than that she could handle it all on her own. She was very excited to buy her lunch for the first time!

Spaghetti, carrots & celery, oranges, strawberries, and a popsicle for her friend's birthday

Toy Story Pool Party

Ready to swim

Aliens, Hamm, Jessie's hat, Woody's hat

Yummy alien cupcake

Great friend having a wonderful time!

Happy 6th Birthday Evie

Evie got to buy ice cream for her class on her birthday, which is a treat usually reserved for Fridays only

Blowing out the candle at our annual Wasabi birthday dinner

Evie partied with her friends at Chuck E Cheese

She had asked for a birthday cake this year, so I was thrilled to find a local bakery that made an egg-free, milk-free cake.