Happy New Year!!

December always ends up being such a busy month! This year was no different. We had a wonderful month and it just flew by. Our poor little blog was grossly neglected and we have a lot to catch up on. I just wanted to post quickly tonight to wish our dear friends and family a very happy new year! We hope that this new year brings wonderful things to you and your families! Here's to 2009!!

Oh Christmas Tree...

On Wednesday night, the guys brought in the Christmas tree. We'd had wonderful Currier and Ives dreams of driving up to Idaho and cutting down our own Christmas tree while creating warm, fuzzy memories. We then started thinking about hauling our trio to the boonies in Idaho, trudging through the cold, and trying our hand at lumber jacking... Steve wasn't as warm and fuzzy about the idea. His idea was to put up our artificial tree (that won't die before Christmas) and light a pine-scented candle. We decided to wait until the baby is older to have that adventure. So they brought it in from the garage and put it up. We actually decorated it last night. The end result was quite charming, fun, and festive.

As we embarked on this annual family Christmas kick-off, I grabbed the camera to capture the sweet moments of my children decorating the tree. Umm..nope, didn't get much of that. They did have a great time. They just didn't have many Kodak moments between Bailey getting tired and cranky, Rachel being sooo excited that she lost all impulse control, Matt losing patience with afore-mentioned excited three year-old, and Steve coming down with flu-like symptoms and shivering with cold chills while telling the kids not to touch anything as he put together the train at the bottom of the tree. Ahhh...creating Foster Family memories.





Matthew was good to pause for one sole actual tree-decorating picture. It was fun getting all the ornaments out. We start with the "ornament parade" during which we line up all the ornaments that each child has acquired since birth. Our family tradition is to let each child choose their own ornament every year. They generally choose one that reflects their interests that particular year. This year Bailey's is a gift from her sweet aunt and it's a "Cherished Teddies Baby's First Christmas." Rachel picked Dora the Explorer after long and careful deliberation. We'll have to keep you posted as to Matthew's. He hasn't quite found just the right one yet.

Rachel was such a bundle of excitement and energy that she had kind of a tough time containing it. As a result, she was being too rough with her baby sister. After several warnings, I resorted to telling her that I was going to take a picture of her being naughty and send it to Santa. (I know, this is what causes people to need therapy as adults.) She ran and hid behind Bailey's chair so I couldn't document anything for Santa Claus.

Bailey wanted to chew on everything in sight. She adopted this snowman.

After Rachel decided "to make better choices," she turned up the Christmas music and danced, and danced, and danced.

Overall, the decorating was really fun and the house looks cute. We only had a few fights, a few melt-downs, and one time out. To cap off the night, Matthew and Rachel sat down and shared a bowl of ravioli as a little bedtime snack.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I love Thanksgiving! No, not just because we get to eat incredible food until we're sick -- although that part is definitely awesome. It's good to just slow down for a day and think about how much we have been blessed with and all that we have to be grateful for. (I know, bad prepositional use...)

The night before my wedding - when I couldn't sleep a wink, I wrote in my journal. It's kind of gaggy to read it now, but I remember writing that I must have done something amazing in the pre-existence to deserve such blessings in this life. You know, after 11 years, a ton of trials, a ton of blessings, I still adore him. I'd choose him all over again. Thank you, Honey, for the best ride of my life.

This morning as I lied in bed smashed between my two girls who somehow made it into bed with me, I was thinking about how much I love my son. (Matt added that last part.) It's true, though. As I attempted to dislodge those little limbs from my side, I couldn't help but think how grateful I am for my three miracle babies. I love them so fiercely and wouldn't trade those little stinkers for anything! They regularly push me to the very brink of sanity, but there isn't anyone else in existence who I would rather be with, laugh with, and love.

I love this crazy little family so much and I'm so grateful to know that there is a promise of forever. I love having a belief in a God who loves us as powerfully and intimately as only a parent can. I'm so thankful for the Plan of Happiness and for my Savior who gave His life for us.

I'm so grateful to live in a country where I can openly have these beliefs and worship how I choose. I'm thankful, so thankful, for the families who sacrifice so much to ensure these freedoms. Enough cannot be said to families like the Allemans who are separated by thousands of miles for such a selfless reason. Thank you!! Thank you to those men and women who desperately long for their spouses -- long to simply touch their faces and breathe the same air. Thank you to the children who miss their dads and moms so much and will only get to share their holiday greetings over the phone. I am so grateful for this country and for the pure goodness of people.

That's just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. I am thankful for family and friends who make life so much better. I'm grateful for a warm home to live in and for comforts that we often take for granted. I am so thankful for this time of year... and I'm thankful for the obscene amounts of delicious food that will be on the table this afternoon. :) Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Not a Grinch!

So my family has accused me of being a Grinch. Steve had Matt covinced that they needed to put up the Christmas tree in October, because, "So what if we haven't had Halloween yet." For the record, I finally broke down and told them that they had my blessing to put the tree up. That was at least a week ago. Guess what...no tree yet. In the spirit of my holiday festiveness, I have changed our blog background. Scroll down to the bottom and check out the tree. :) You can even leave gifts for our very un-grinchy family. Happy Holidays!

Halloween

Our kids love Halloween. Okay, what kids don't? Not only do my kids look forward to dressing up and later gorging themselves with treats, but Grandma, their great-aunt, and their aunt came to visit. These wonderful women have come on Halloween for a couple of years now. They like to come see the kids and their costumes. The kids adore playing games, eating jack-o-lantern pizzas, and just soaking up the attention of people who love, love, love them!
Grandma and our aunt played a wild and crazy game of Halloween Bingo with the kids.
Rachel let me put her hair in curlers. Her hair is naturally curly, but we tried the spongy curlers to see if we could make it super curly.

We all went to Matt's school for the costume parade. Unfortunately Matthew zipped by too fast for me to get a good shot of him. My nephew went as Darth Vader (notice him in the bottom right corner). His costume was amazing. The entire time we were at the school, he had scads of little boys standing around him just staring at his costume - with their little eyes popping out and jaws on the blacktop. My sister is uber-creative and makes the most incredible costumes for her kids. Yah, we know where all the talented genes went...

I'm disappointed that I didn't get good pictures of the kids on Halloween. Perhaps we'll have a reinactment - minus all the gut and tooth rotting candy. They looked really cute, though. Matthew went as Albert Einstein. It's tough to see here, but his hair was all sprayed white. I let him grow it out for the occasion. (We even did family pictures last month. I so debated, but let him keep it long. Man, the boy has TONS of hair. So unfair!) Rachel and Bailey were princesses. Although, for several weeks leading up to Halloween, Rachel changed her mind quite a few times. Luckily, she came full circle and ended up with what we started.

The kids loved trick or treating and the weather was beautiful so we all went. We have a really super family in our neighborhood who builds a bonfire and serves hot cocoa and donuts. Yum. We had a blast. We really didn't stay out too long, but when we got home the kids were exhausted. Steve lied down on the floor and Rachel quickly snugged up to him and fell asleep.

Matt and I giggled about Rach and Dad, then I went upstairs to put Bailey to bed. When I came back down a few minutes later, I found him sacked out on the loveseat. The successful end to Halloween -- happy, tired children.

Pumpkin Walk

Every year we have a fun tradition to go to the Pumpkin Walk. Using pumpkins, people set up scenes based on a theme; this year's theme being "Heroes." We love to go in the evening because it's all lighted up and looks really cool. This year, though, we went in the afternoon to avoid the crowd and the cold.

One of the kids' favorites was Noah's Ark. (Tee hee, look at the cute elephant rumps in the doorway.)

This was one celebrating doctors and nurses. Rachel was enamored with the "pumpkin babies."

Brent, "The Waver," is an icon in Logan. He even carried the Olympic torch when it came through Logan during the winter Olympics.

This "Andy Griffith" one was cute. I wish you could see the faces better. They were painted on and it looked awesome. It totally made me think of my dear childhood friend who has every single episode memorized.

There were a bunch of wooden stand-ups for the coveted photo op. Actually, Matthew was a very good sport to pose for me. We took quite a few pictures, but the sun was shining in their little faces. That, and I stink at taking pictures. A lot of them didn't so much turn out.

Rachel - our "Wild Thing!!"

Catching up

I've got some catching up to do. Our computer has been out of order for a bit as the resident three year old tripped over the power cord and broke it. After finding the desired replacement cord at Best Buy for $149, we decided to call Gateway and ask about getting a new one. Great news for our pocketbook - the helper guy at Gateway was wonderful and arranged things so that we could get a new one for FREE. Yah, Gateway! So we had to wait about a week and a half for a new one. We weren't able to do a lot on the computer during that time, but, hey - free.
Fall has been kind of crazy this year. The weather stayed warm longer than I expected. Well, then it snowed. Then it got warmer again. Now it's rainy and cool. Anyhow, While the weather was still unseasonably warm, we took advantage of the warmth and spent as much time outside as we could. One evening we went to the park with some friends. Here are some pics.

Rachel and her best friend cheesing for the camera. (Do you like the little hiney hanging down in back of them? That was a stranger hiney.)

Baileys first ride down the slide with our cute friend. She really liked it.

Rachel hadn't napped that day and was tired. She was swinging in this big comfy swing and fell asleep. Truly, fell asleep right on the swing in the middle of the park.

SNOW!

Last Sunday we got our first official real snow. It didn't last long and nothing stuck, but there were big, beautiful flakes. The kids couldn't stand just watching from the window, so we threw on jackets and ran outside. Bring it on!

Princess Party

About a week and a half ago, Rachel and her best little friend celebrated their third birthdays. Rachel's birthday was in September and her friend's is in October. After realizing that we would be having 2 princess parties practically back to back and inviting essentially the same little group of kids, we decided to combine forces and have one party. So, poor little Rachel, who at three has no concept of time anyway, was even more confused by having a party several weeks after her birthday. She didn't waste too much time figuring it out, however, and just enjoyed celebrating again!


I know this picture is blurry (I'm not very good with our camera), but her friend's mom made the girls really cute little princess skirts and capes. It was darling, but of course, right after this photo, Rachel had to pull her trusty, tried and true purple princess dress over the top. Yah, she'd have to chose one of her oldest and not very birthday girlish dresses. Just for the record, I really tried to do her hair that day. She's actually getting really good at letting me do her hair - as long as I tell her it's princess hair. But as my life goes, on her birthday when people were going to be seeing her and we would be taking pictures, she didn't want anything but a headband that she could do herself.

The birthday girls decorating their princess crowns. They used very liberal amounts of glitter glue. Who can blame them?? C'mon, glitter glue! Because such generous amounts were used in the beautifying of the crowns, it took forever to dry. We had a gaggle of little girls with glittery hair and foreheads.

Steve worked the late shift that day so the lucky guy got to join the princess party. He was a good sport. The secret is that this dad is so completely smitten with his little girls that he really would have been disappointed to miss out. (Don't tell him that I blew his cover.)

The kids had a blast and it ended up being a really cute party.

6 Months Old!

On Friday Bailey officially reached her 6 month mark. How did that happen? I mean, when I was a kid, I'd nearly die trying to make it from lunch recess until the end of the school day. Now it seems that days, weeks, and months just fly by. Sorry, I digress. Anyhow, We celebrated the big 6 month day by giving her a first run in the excer-saucer. She loved it.

Our Bailey is such a sweet and mellow baby. She is so happy and so quick to smile - and she adores her big sister and brother. We love our little baby so much and can't imagine our life without her.

Ask and Ye Shall Receive?

I was in nursery with Rachey yesterday. (Yah, I pretty much end up there every week). They were having their lesson, which being geared toward 2 and 3 year olds was short and sweet. The teacher was talking about following Jesus' example and praying. She asked the kids who they could pray for and they essentially just stared at her with their eyes wide and mouths hanging open. The teacher prompted them and gave them ideas such as "mom" and "dad." They all whole-heartedly agreed and echoed her. She then asked some of the very distracted kids for other ideas. It went a little something like this:

"Rachel, who is someone you can pray for?" Rache squints up her eyes and thinks for a moment. A huge smile then spreads across her face, she leans forward in her chair, and blurts out, "A Dora backpack!" Nice. Who, Rachel, not what.

Such a spiritual girl. Such a proud moment.

Story Time

The other day Steve and I were in the kitchen making lunch. We came back into the living room to find Rachel "reading" Barbie Island Princess to Bailey.

Watch this!!! (-Matt)

You HAVE to watch this! This is so funny. In this video, you will see that Rachel is making Bailey laugh. I took this at night after dinner, and Rachel was pushing the swing because she was being naughty at first, but then it ended up like this.........
(You'll have to turn off the music at the bottom of the blog page.)

Haircut

Rachel had her first haircut!

Okay, so it was much more of a trim than a cut. And yes, I did just say that it was her first haircut and she did just turn three. Our Sweet Rachel has taken so darn long to grow hair that she has never had a haircut. (Yah, at her 2nd b-day she barely had hair). She has such pretty little curls, but her hair is so fine that her hair gets nappy and crazy pretty quickly. It's been so much shorter in the front the way it's grown in that I figured if we start trimming it up, it will eventually even out. Steve was all for just going for the gusto and cutting it. I'm sure it would have looked darling, but I had to do this in small steps. I needed her baby hair just a little longer. I'm not sure how much longer her curls will last (my hair was curly until about 3), so I couldn't cut them off yet. So nobody else could really tell that she'd had the cut, but she was excited about it. (The last few times Matt's had his cut, she wanted hers too). At any rate, she got a haircut so we celebrated by going out for soft serve cones after.

Happy Birthday!

Last Friday Rachel turned three! It's so hard to believe that my baby is three. Because she really has no concept of time, she had forgotten it was her birthday until she came downstairs and saw balloons and decorations all over the living room. She was elated!

In honor of the big day we visited her very favorite place on earth - "Warmart." She got to choose a present with her birthday money and is now the VERY proud owner of "Twelve Dancing Princesses" and "Barbie Island Princess." (Thanks, Grandpa!) We went all wild and crazy and even got her a "happy meal" for lunch. That evening we had her birthday dinner with her Logan cousins.

It's crazy to think that our Rachel has been with us for 3 years. She is such a sweet and tender little girl, and also so strong and stubborn. We waited for her for 5 years (doing every test under the sun and being told there really was no apparent reason we couldn't get pregnant). We were literally just about to give up and that is when we found out we were pregnant. Rachel was born on September 12 and named for a great grandmother and a dear aunt. She had kind of a rough start, as she had horrible colic and reflux. (The poor baby screamed for about a year). Still, though, she was a sweet baby. People say that you can tell a person's temperment and personality from infancy -- I believe it. Rachel is so strong willed and can have such a temper, but at the same time, she is such a loving and delightful little girl. She loves to rough-house with her boy cousins and has been known to fight them for the superman cape. She is also such a "girly" girl. She loves to dress up in her princess dresses and "dance like a princess in a castle." Our Rachel is an incredible little girl and she is so worth the wait.

I let the Birthday Girl stay up a little late to wait for her Daddy to come home from work. She didn't quite make it. Happy Birthday, Rachel. We love you so much!

Got your back...

There are so many unwritten laws in childhood. They are things that are just understood and universal. For example, siblings can pound on each other and push each other to the very brink of sanity, but if anyone else messes with your brother or sister - watch out! Now, my children love each other...I know that they do...deep down... No, just kidding. My kids are awesome and really do adore each other. They are each others' greatest fans. They are just siblings and know exactly how to push each others' buttons. At the end of the day, though, they are there for each other.

A few weeks ago we took Matthew to get his hair cut. He got settled in the chair and the cute stylist got started, so I took Rachel's hand and suggested that we go sit down and read a book while we waited. She immediately looked conflicted. She loves to read so I couldn't figure why she was frozen there. She then put her hands on her hips and stepped right up to the stylist and said, "Don't hurt him." She assured Rachel that she'd be careful. Rachey eyed her over one last time then, apparently conviced, happily grabbed my hand and headed off to read.

Yesterday we took Bailey to the pediatric instacare. She has had trouble with asthma-like symptoms ever since the RSV. When she gets a cold it seems to trigger these difficulties. So, we took her to be seen, but it wasn't our regular doctor. Rachel was cute because she wouldn't leave Bailey's side and it was obvious by the way she watched the doc's every move that she didn't trust him as far as she could throw him. The doctor didn't seem to have such a great sense of humor, but Matt and I could barely suppress the giggles.

So - rest easy, Foster Family. Rachel's got your back.

Our Dancing Princess

We borrowed "Twelve Dancing Princesses" from the library and have, in the last two weeks, watched it no less than 200 times. Rachel adores it. Barbie, princesses, ballerinas... what is not to love?

Rachel LOVES to dress up. On any given day she can easily go through 3 or 4 outfits. She'll just disappear into her bedroom and come out in different clothes. During our two weeks of Dancing Princesses, she has given her chest of drawers a little break and empties the dress up drawer multiple times a day. Every time I turn around she is wearing a different princess dress. This evening she chose this lovely purple number and danced while Daddy played the piano.

She will turn 3 this week and I'm not really sure how I'm feeling about that. She just seems to be getting so big. I have to be honest and say that "two" has been a little rough for us as she is very independent and very stubborn. But turning three... that means my toddler is officially becoming a preschooler. Yikes.

Woodruff construction update

This is amazing. They are not done with the school, but just looking at this, you can see that they have done a lot so far. Look at how our old front office is filled in on picture number one. The next picture is of our principal's old office, filled in too. They connected the old office and the principals office and the now use it as a copy room, I should say. The only reason I know this is I peeked through the window. I will keep you updated on whats going on. Hope everything is good with all of you. -Matt

Back To School!

Today was Matthew's first day of fourth grade! Fourth Grade??!!(Not quite sure how that happened... ) He was so excited to be headed back to school. We miss him when he's at school -Rachel was so happy to see him when he got home, but I sure welcome the re-introduction of a more structured schedule. This is an exciting time of year and we are looking forward to a wonderful school year.

Matt's school has been undergoing a major remodel. I do mean MAJOR remodel. Our whole street has been torn up and the school hardly looks the same. It's going to be beautiful when it's done. The inside of the school is done enough for school to begin today, but there is still a lot of work to be done. So, here's the official Before photo. Matthew will be posting soon with more up to date information and pictures. ...Did I mention that he's in fourth grade?...