The Great Pumpkin

When Samantha was diagnosed with her peanut/ tree nut allergy, so many thoughts ran through my head- How will I explain this to other parents? How will I be able to keep her safe when she is away from me? And then Halloween creeped up on us and 'OH MY GOODNESS WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO??'  "She can NOT go trick or treating!!" (that was my initial thought) But that is not the right way to handle the situation.  So, I was talking to a friend one day and she suggested that 'The Great Pumpkin' come and visit our house (kind of like Santa, Easter Bunny, etc).  AH HA! What a great idea!  So, now, Samantha goes trick or treating just like everyone else, the only difference is that I carry safe candy for her and her friends to eat while they are out together.  At the end of the evening, we give our candy to the other children.  By the next morning, 'The Great Pumpkin' has visited the house and left a little (non edible) gift for Samantha.  This seems to work well for us and I hope that it gives some parents a good idea for their children that deal with life threatening food allergies.

  

2009

2010

2011

It's been a while.... AGAIN!!

Writer's block!  Yep, that  is what I will call it!  I feel like every time I sit down to write something, I have no inspiration, well, that is until the other day.  I was thinking of ways to help me with my anxieties- journaling- check and daily prayer and meditation- check... What else could I do?  As I sit in my chair covered by an afghan that my Granny spent many hours crocheting for Kevin and I, it hits me- I should crochet!  My Granny taught me how to crochet when I was a little girl and what a great gift that was.  So, I got in my car and went to Hobby Lobby and picked out some yarn (boy are there a lot of choices)!  I came home and crocheted a pretty cream colored, curly scarf and I am going to give it to my Granny next weekend!

It is so nice to realize how loved we must have been and still are.  My Granny crocheted a blanket for every one of her grandchildren, her own children, their spouses and not too mention the extra blankets that she crocheted for our families 'just because'.   I can't even begin to imagine how many hours she spent making these blankets for us.  We never had a 'store bought' blanket in our home when I was growing up and God help you if you took one of your siblings afghans!

So, with that, I am excited to have made this scarf and bring it to my Granny- making it brought me so much happiness and wonderful memories.  People show affection in many different ways- and this was one way that my Granny showed us how much she loved us.  I will post pictures of Granny and her new scarf next weekend.

OH and the other reason for writing today- BLUE BELL'S HOMEMADE IN THE SHADE is back in the freezer!!  YAY!!  I hope that everyone has a great weekend!

~Casey

Granny and I