Thursday, December 17, 2009

Christmas 2003

I have absolutely no digital pictures from Christmas 2003. I'll have to do some serious thinking about scanning some. In the mean time, these will have to do.
These three pictures aren't from Christmastime but they do involve snow and were taken in February 2003 when we lived in CO. HELP!!




Remember Tommy the Talking Snowman? This was the year he entered our family.
(By this time we lived in Mesa.)










Abby's Christmas jammies ~ all of my kids have worn this pair (see the picture of Ben down below from my parents Christmas party).
(Yes, that is Abby in the dryer. Yes, my mom freaked out that I let her climb in there and that I documented it. And here I am posting it on my blog. It was the only picture I had of her in the jamiies!! I promise mom that I have not let any of the other kids climb in the dryer.)

Abby in her Christmas dress. She turned 18 months that December and the Sunday before Christmas was her 1st Sunday in nursery. Always a happy day. Ü

I wish I had more pictures to post from that year. Abby had the cutest Christmas nightgown she wore for Christmas morning. She also wore this pretty cute Christmas overall outfit that day. I remember we spent the night Christmas Eve at my Grandma Hall's house and had Christmas morning there with her and my mom. All of the cousins came over to Grandma's house for breakfast. Abby got a cute white wooden rocking horse that year. That was also the year we got our $60 entertainment center from DI (we still have it!!). It was my surprise Christmas gift to Tyler. My unlce Darwin went and picked it up in his truck for me a few days before Christmas. He brought it to Grandma Hall's house and my dad went out to help him carry it in. Dad ended up falling and breaking his hip (his 2nd hip - he's broken both)!! The surprise was kind of ruined after that. Dad spent Christmas in the hospital and New Years in a rehab facility. Their Christmas vacation was a little longer than planned that year. Ü
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What great memories!  I remember that snowfall very well.  I have lots of great pictures of it as well.  Remember Tyler and his friend getting the snow off the roof of our storage shed?  We should make a book about that snow storm!  You are going to make amazing books.  By the way, I can contact someone in the Phoenix area who has one of the high speed scanners and see if I can use it during the time you have your parties for me when we come out.  I am thinking February sometime.
Happy storytelling!
Aldine Allen

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Christmas 2002

These first 4 pictures were taken during our visit to CA at Thanksgiving time
The First Santa Picture
Our drooly Santa Baby

We had just moved to Colorado this year- right in time for Christmas. Abby was 6 months old.



What great pictures.  Would you please send the one of Abby by the basket and holding the bear to me in an attachment?  For some reason when I try to save it nothing happens.  I would like to include it in something I am making.  I am so glad you blog!! It is such fun to see your pictures.
Happy storytelling!
Aldine Allen

Saturday, December 12, 2009

This Year's Ward Christmas Party

We weren't able to attend our own ward Christmas Party this year so tonight my parents invited us to theirs. There were beautiful decorations, yummy food, and good times. The kids got to wear their new Christmas jammies.

The primary sang. I was so proud of my boys for going up to sing even though it wasn't their ward. Abby wasn't quite so brave (don't worry Abs - I wouldn't have been that brave either). They sang Away in a Manger, Jingle Bells, and Rudolph.
Seeing SantaAbby loves the sound her Jingle Bell from Santa makesThe reason we weren't able to go to our own ward Christmas party this year was because it was held on the same night as Tyler's work party (Friday December 11th) . The party was held at the Bitmore hotel in Phoenix and included dinner, entertainment (Rob Schnieder - the comedian), and dancing. The dancing was my favorite part. We haven't danced in FoReVeR!!With our good friends Eric and Tiffany Davies 12 more days until Christmas ~ Ho Ho Ho!!!

Friday, December 4, 2009

Tortilla Soup

We had a pack of Bear Creek tortilla soup mix that we made up for dinner a few nights ago. It reminded me of the last time we had a Bear Creek tortilla soup mix...
March 2006
Andy

Alex

I learned my lesson and did not let Ben feed himself his soup. Ü


Sunday, November 29, 2009

Thanksgiving is Over - Bring on Christmas

Thanksgiving is over. I'm going to be honest - it's not my favorite holiday. I really don't like turkey, or stuffing, or cranberries, or pie really (I am discovering that the sweet potatoes are pretty yummy though). Too bad for me. I do enjoy being able to reflect on my blessings; which are a lot; and being able to teach my kids that "a thankful hear is a happy heart"!!
This was supposed to be our year to go spend Thanksgiving with Tyler's family in Texas. But we are poor and didn't go; so sad. We signed up with oovoo and were able to talk to some of them via webcam. That was cool! Gotta love technology! I am thankful for the wonderful and large family that I married into. I love them all and wish we could spend more time with them.

This was my parent's first Thanksgiving in their new home. I'm so thankful they are here and honestly don't know how we lived without them. Grandma Hall, Aunt Marsha,and Uncle Paul ate dinner with us too. I am thankful to have my Grandma still here with us and for the many aunts, uncles, and cousins that I have. (The kids only ate about 1/4 of what was on their plates. They couldn't wait for dessert though.)

Aunt Marsha (my mom's sister) made the comment that it was getting easier for her to tell Andy and Alex apart. Alex said, "Well I still can't tell Uncle Darwin and Uncle Paul apart." Uncle Darwin is my mom's brother and Uncle Paul is Marsha's husband. We got a good laugh over that as they look nothing alike!!

Grandpa and Alex playing Thanksgiving bingo


I'm sure thankful for this guy!!



Alex was sooooo excited for Thanksgiving. Which is funny because he is our pickiest eater. Ever since Halloween all he could talk about was eating turkey, mashed potatoes, corn (which he fusses about eating every time we have it), and pie. He ate better than I expected him to but he was sad when he realized the turkey wasn't on the bone (my kids love to eat "chicken on the bone). So grandma gave him a turkey bone to take home and he ate it for breakfast the next day. On Thanksgiving morning Alex said, "Today is my most favorite day of the year." When I asked him why he said, "Because today we get to thank Heavenly Father for all our blessings."




Now on to Christmas. I am really looking forward to Christmas this year and I'm hoping it is filled with joy and peace with as little chaos as possible. We are starting to put up our decorations little by little. Friday we got up the outside lights (which about 1/2 are burnt out. Guess we'll be buying some of those at the after Christmas sales). We did not get up our reindeer and trees though. Alex kept saying, "But last year you got all the outside decorations up in one day. Why didn't you do that this year." I said, "It's getting dark - it's too late to put up any more." He said, "Well, you should have started earlier." He got sent inside. Ü
Today we got out the tree and stockings. No ornaments yet; just the tree. - Abby was in tears about that one. Our artificial tree comes in 3 pieces. When we got them out Alex excitedly said, "Look there is an ornament still on there from last year!" It was the tag that said "middle section".

Andy trying his stocking on


I love a lighted Christmas tree

Ben watching

We've had Tommy the Talking Snowman sincy Abby was about 18 months old. We got him from Avon back when I was selling it. For the last 3 years Andy and Alex have given him rocks. I don't get it but they feel he needs rocks. Without any prompting, as soon as Tommy was up Alex said, "Come on Andy lets get Tommy his rocks!!" I limited them to 2 rocks each but Abby decided she needed to sprinkle some little rocks around too for snow.

The kids made these reindeer masks with Grandma the other day

Looking at "I Spy Christmas"
Happy December!!
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What fun pictures and stories!  This would make a cute book for the kids to read over and over again.  You do such a great job on your blogs.  I love reading them and looking at your pictures.  I can’t wait to show you some of the things I am creating. 
Aldine Allen

Monday, November 23, 2009

Christmas Give Away!!

Go to this link and check out the give away that could be your's!
(If I do not get it first haha)
http://kellis-thisandthat.blogspot.com/2009/11/its-another-giveaway-believe-vinyl.html

Ben at 15 Months

Benjamin had his 15 month check up today. He is 29.3 lbs and 34.5 inches (that's almost 3 feet!!) He wore a 3T shirt today; the shirt Andy wore on his 2nd birthday. My baby is getting too big!! Besides some congestion he is a healthy boy. He got 5 shots today one of which was the swine flu shot. He needs to go back in a month for a 2nd dose of that one. There is nothing worse than holding your baby down on the table for shots and having them look at you while crying thier eyes out. Luckily the nurse was quick.
I absolutely love this age. It seems like kids this age learn something new everyday. Ben can say daddy, doggie, ducky, teeth, and cheese. Ok, so daddy, doggie, and ducky all sound the same and teeth and cheese sound the same but really ~ he is saying the different words. Ü He can pant like a dog, hiss like a snake, and say aah aah for moneky. He can understand what we say and follow simple directions. He loves the 4 Bs - books, blankets, balls, and binkys. He also loves his daddy...



...and his grandma.
Ben has 10 teeth now and is learning to feed himself.He's a stinker though. He loves to play in the toilet and the trash. He hits. He throws full on tantrums which include falling to the floor and screaming. He knows what he's not supposed to do and does it anyways ~ for example when we go to the park he'll take a couple of steps towards the street and then turn around and look at me; I'll tell him to stay in the park; he'll take a couple more steps and then turn around and look at me; again I'll tell him to stay in the park; he'll take a few more steps and then look at me; I'll get up to go get him and he'll make a mad giggly dash to the street. Stinker!! He's not supposed to be that smart yet is he? He's loud and he's always on the go. He HATES to be in his playpen or highchair too long. His new favorite thing to do is play outside. Today he was trying to ride the boy's scooter.

I uploaded some videos mainly for the grandma's to see. This 1st one is of him playing peek-a-boo with the curtain - which of course since I let him do it this once he wants to do all the time.

This video is to show how smart Ben is. He is learning his animals.

We went to the zoo on Nov. 7th. Ben loved seeing these frogs. His sqeals of excitement are so cute. This video is about 3 minutes long - if you watch the 1st little bit you'll get the idea.


This video shows how LOUD Ben is. He sure knows how to get our attention. We're working on being quiet. He gets distracted in the middle of the video by daddy and his milk but then makes some more noise at the end. This video also shows him signing "more please". He puts the 2 signs together and just brushes his hands together. Today he signed thank you - I was so proud. Ü


We Love You Ben!!
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Too cute!  I love your blogs.  He is definitely getting to be a big boy.  I  can’t believe he is almost 3 feet tall already.  He is going to be your real giant!
Happy storytelling!
Aldine Allen
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Carrie,
I was talking to Mom, and she had mentioned to me that Ben was about 30 lbs.
and 3 feet tall already. I was totally shocked! That is exactly how big
Nicholas is right now! I couldn't imagine a one year old being Nick's size.
I went to your blog to see some pictures of him. It's still hard to tell his
size from the pictures but he sure is cute!! He is probably going to be 7
feet tall before he is done growing! Start thinking Basketball Scholarship!!

Have a great day!

Angie

Hey Angie,
     Ben is 15 months, 29.3 lbs, and 34.5 inches.  CrAzY!!  He doesn't seem
that big to me but he definately is bigger than Andy and Alex at this age.
Hopefully he didn't inherit my inability to play sports.  I pulled out the
3T short sleeve shirts for him the other day.  He's nuts. How are you doing
with your 2 sweet boys?   Thanks for the email.  Love you!

Carrie Ü

Nicholas is 32 months and 30 lbs., 37''.  It's gotta be a little sad for
you...they grow so fast as it is, but to have him do it twice as fast, it
doesn't leave you much time to enjoy him being little! :( I've got Nikki in
3T's right now too.

We are doing good with the two boys! I am trying to savor every moment of
Connor being little, since I know we are not going to have any more kids. It
is so exciting to watch him learn new things! I remember how immensely proud
I was of Nikki when he made big accomplishments like learning to crawl or
walk. I'm looking forward to going through that again with Connor. Every day
I feel like I am SO blessed to have them! For so long we worried we wouldn't
be able to have any kids at all! It is really amazing to me how much joy
they bring into your home! I love to see Mario play with Nick - they are
such good friends!

Your blog is awesome! I love to read all the funny things your kids say! I
also love the series of pictures you put up of Tyler playing with Ben! That
was so cute!

Well, I better get back to work. I hope you had a great day today! Give
Tyler a big kiss for me! :)

Love you guys!
Angie