Gingerbread Cookies

We decorated cookies as a family tonight. Chris is amazing with his snowman. I am pathetic with my Santa (the picture makes it look better than it actually was). Needless to say I am not an artist. And finally, Allison's Santa....I think she was hungry.

Winter Parade

Allison and I went to the Shelton Parade this evening. We parked at Sara's house and the three of us walked over. It wasn't the most exciting parade, but Allison sure enjoyed it.

Something new...

Our new mode of transportation. I think I'm in love.

Happy Halloween

It's been a fun Halloween this year. Allison knew months ago that she wanted to be a witch...so her costume was pretty easy. My sister made the dress probably 7 years ago and Allison loves it.

This year we went to my brother's ward party Saturday and then a party at my brother's tonight. We have had way too much candy, but lots of fun.

Gearing up for Halloween

My mom & dad have these two little guys at their house - Allison thought it was awesome that they were her size! Too cute.

MIAMI

I had the AMAZING opportunity to go to Miami last weekend with my brother Kevin & his wife Chanel. Kevin had some sort of dental conference to attend, and I went to keep Chanel company while he was in class. It was definitely hard to be away from my husband and child for 5 days, but I loved getting to take a little break from reality and try something new.
This is the beautiful view from our hotel room. We stayed at an awesome resort with something like 2 golf courses, a huge spa, two pools - 1 with a waterfall, a lazy river, a water slide, private beach, etc. It was great! You almost didn't even need to leave!

The first night we headed down to south beach and I had my first experience with the Atlantic Ocean. Man, it was warm! And so pretty.

This was the pool with the waterfall. We enjoyed spending the 2nd day laying out by the pool while Kevin was in class. We ordered food while we bathed in the sun. That is the life!

The 2nd night we took a boat tour and saw the city that way. So fun!

The 3rd day we went on an air boat ride in the Everglades. So cool!

Sorry about the pictures! All I had was my phone...and obviously I am a little self-absorbed because all of the pictures are of me and NONE of Kevin and Chanel. Whoops! I'll have to remember to be better next time.

This trip was great, and I am so glad Kevin and Chanel invited me along. Such a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I will never forget!

Allison Turns 4 - Doctor's Visit - 10/7

Well, after all the exciting parties were done, Allison had to go and visit her doctor to get all measured up. These were the results:

Height - 3' 5 1/2" (83rd Percentile)
Weight - 40 lbs (84th Percentile)
Blood Pressure - 102/62 (so cute when they do this!)

Our little girl is growing up big and strong. She is such an amazing little thing, and she brings so much joy to our lives! A few weeks ago my parents took Allison with them to visit my brother for a couple of days. Chris & I were hanging out one night while she was gone and we were so BORED not having her there with us. She just brings so much energy and excitement. It's hard to remember what it was like before we had her!

Allison has quite the little personality. She is NOT shy AT ALL! She introduces herself to everyone she sees and tells us that every little girl she meets is her best friend. I LOVE how comfortable she is with people (although I wish she was a little less comfortable with strangers). She is such a people person sometimes I wonder how she came from Chris & I.

Allison is such a little smarty. Sometimes in a bad way! She remembers everything and can get quite a little attitude when she knows she's right. She pays so much attention to everything that is going on around her. The other day I realized she new her right from her left - and we'd only worked on that a couple of times but she remembers everything. She'll bring up things that happened months ago and she's always exactly right as to how things happened.

We love our little miss Allison and couldn't imagine life without her. She is such a blessing to us and we are so grateful for every minute we get to spend with her. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLISON!

Allison Turns 4 - Party #3 - 10/5

Allison had some great parties this year. We did one party with the Nadeau's, one party with the Nielsen's, and then I wanted to do something special on her actual birthday. The original plan was for Chris & I to take her out to Red Robin and then to a movie - but unfortunately there were NO movies that she would have enjoyed in the theater. So, Plan B - Julie & I took Allison and her friend Gabby (and Hailee) to go and get pedicures and then out to dinner. What a fun experience!
Allison was so excited she could hardly sit still for the lady!

Little miss Gabby looking so chill!

The two buds...they had a great time!

After we got our toes done, we went out to Allison's favorite restaurant - Red Robin - for dinner.

Gabby doesn't look too excited, but she was showing off the beautiful hand painting she got at the nail salon.

Allison was very focused on her ice cream!

Allison Turns 4 - Party #2 - 10/3

We also had a birthday party with my side of the family. It was a pretty laid back event. Allison and I got to my parent's house really early and Kendall decided to go all crazy decorating the house. It was pretty awesome. We had a "Halloween" theme since it's so close to the holiday.
She made bags for each of the cousins to collect their candy from the pinata. Very creative!

She made a ghost for the front entry.

After dinner we had a pumpkin pinata. The kids thought it was a lot of fun.

Allison looking very serious

Kendall trying to find the darn thing...

Cute little Mia...

Marko's got this!

Taylor taking a turn

And finally....Chris finishing it off (if you'll look closely you'll notice Grandma running for her life!)

And don't forget Tessa!

Allison got so many amazing presents for her birthday. That kid is spoiled!

She is OBSESSED with her pillow pet (we made her wait SIX months before she actually got it)

And finally...CAKE!

Allison Turns 4 - Party #1 - 10/1

I cannot believe that little miss Allison is FOUR! How did that happen? She is now lucky enough to share her special day with her little cousin Hailee. I actually really enjoy that the two of them have the same birthday, because we get to have one big Nadeau party for the both of them.
This is the picture Julie took to put on their invitation.

Allison was ready for this party to start!

All four girl cousins!

It was a fun party and it was great to get together as a family!

Buddy Walk - 10/2

Check it out! We've actually made it to October...I may actually be getting close to being caught up.

The first Saturday in October there's always a Buddy Walk for kids with Downs Syndrome. My cousin Sam has Downs Syndrome so we always go to supports him (well, this is the 2nd year, anyway). It was a lot of fun and had so many activities for the kids - face painting, magicians, balloon artist, etc. Then we get to walk a mile, I think - which was just lovely since Allison was on my shoulders the entire time. Unfortunately, Allison hadn't been getting much sleep around this time and was a bit of a handful that day. Oh well, I made her get pictures anyway!
I believe in this picture she was crying because I messed up the firework painted on her hand. I just told her it exploded because that's what fireworks do, but apparently that still wasn't okay with her - whoops!

My nieces Kendall and Taylor did my face painting. Taylor did the butterfly and Kendall did the Spider.

Trip to Bremerton - 9/25

Allison's buddy Kason (who actually is Gabby's cousin) turned 3 in September. His birthday party was in Bremerton and we were excited to go. There was only one problem - Chris had to work that day (in Bremerton) and we only have one car. So, Allison and I decided that we would just take the bus to Bremerton and then Chris brought us home after the party. Everyone thought I was crazy, but Allison absolutely LOVED getting to ride on the bus, and it was kind of nice not to actually have to drive for that hour.

She was so excited to ride the bus, I think we may have to do that more often - cheap entertainment!

I didn't actually take any pictures of the party - silly me, I know. But it was a GREAT party with tons of yummy food!

Gabby's Party - 9/20

Little miss Gabby turned 5 in September! We were lucky enough to be invited to her birthday party. Allison kept insisting that Gabby was her cousin, and after while I gave in and told her that she's close enough!

Gabby's mom owns a pizza restaurant, so that's where we had the party. It was a lot of fun and all of the kids had their OWN pizza to make and put as many toppings on as they wanted. Such a good party, and Allison had a blast.

One of the machines at the restaurant is full of mustaches. All of the kids ended up with one and posed for pictures - pretty darn cute!

Jeremy & Melissa Get Married - 9/10

Jeremy and Mellisa got married back in September! They've been together about the same amount of time that Chris & I have been together, so it feels like they've always been married - but now it's official! I was horrible about taking pictures at the wedding, but I LOVED the little outfit we got for Allison, so that's really all I have pictures of. She was a little rocker chick!

Movie Day - 9/7

Once a month I get "laid off" at work - although it sounds bad, it's just for one day each month. Although I sure don't like the smaller paycheck, I do enjoy the extra day off. On our layoff day in September I decided to do a mommy/daughter day since daddy was at work. Sometimes I feel like Allison and I don't get enough alone time, so I like to take her out on special dates just the two of us.

I can't remember all that we did, but I believe we went shopping (probably picking up MORE supplies for Super Saturday), and then we went a saw a movie - Despicable Me, I believe. It was in 3D, so she thought the glasses were pretty cool, but the movie didn't keep her attention too well.
After the movie we went out to lunch at her favorite restaurant - Red Robin. Then, we took a bit of a drive and picked up daddy from work. It was a fun day!

Fishing - 8/30

I'm back and I had a blast - I'll post on that later.

Back in August Chris & I took Allison fishing with his brother Jeremy. We love to go out to Fawn Lake - I don't know why we don't do it more often - Allison loved it, too!
She was all about the worms. Crazy girl!

And she started to get pretty good with her little fishing pole. Only problem was she just wanted to keep casting and not wait to see if she could catch a fish.

Chris got a couple fish on and let Allison reel them in. She loved it, but was pretty disappointed when Daddy said we had to let them go...

Allison and her Uncle Jeremy

Allison and her Mommy - she's just too cute I want to gobble her up!