Halloween

We had a great Halloween this year! First, on the Wednesday before Halloween we went to our Ward's Halloween Carnival. Allison was scared for the first solid hour, but once she decided she was okay, she had a blast! Here's out little cowgirl (she's already told me she wants to be a cowgirl AGAIN next year)!

Heather and I dressed up as cats. Heather put a picture of a goldfish in a fishbowl over her pregnant tummy and told everyone she'd eaten the fish. It was pretty cute.

Here's Heather, me and Teonie...it was a fun night!

Allison spent the majority of her time coloring in the little kids room - since it wasn't scary.

On Halloween, Allison and I went to my brother Kevin's house for a Halloween Party with my family.

We made caramel apples...

And all the kids were super cute in their costumes (Mia's missing in this picture, but she was a monkey just like her big brother)...

We took the little ones trick-or-treating...

Trust me...they had a lot more fun than it appears in this picture!

After most of the party had quieted down, the kids and I had fun messing around with the camera. They instructed me how they wanted pictures taken and I even let them take a few of each other. Am I the coolest mom/aunt or what?

Best buds...Mark and Allison

EXTREME closeup!

Overall, Halloween was AWESOME this year and tons of fun now that Allison is in to it. I'm hoping next year she will be over her "scared" phase and we can really enjoy the season a little more.

Pretty Girl

Here's just some random pics of Allison. She was so cute the other day at church I made her go outside and do a little photo shoot with me.

This day she insisted on having her hair pulled back AND wearing a headband. This kid definitely knows what she wants - and she does look cute!

Cowboy Boots!

For Allison's birthday we got her a pair of pink cowboy boots that go with her Halloween Costume. I think they are the cutest things ever (I want a pair!).

Happy Birthday, Allison!

Well, I'm a few days behind in posting this, but Happy Birthday, Allison! I cannot believe my little girl turned THREE on Monday. She has been talking about this birthday for a really long time, so it was so much fun to make this a special day for her.

First off, the Saturday before her birthday, Julie (2 days away from having a baby) and I switched her bedroom to our guest bedroom. We gave her the BIG bed and bought new sheets and stuff to make it a special room. Chris' Grandpa moved in with us on Monday, so we decided he needed the bigger bedroom for all of his medical equipment and stuff.....so Allison got moved. She definitely doesn't mind at all, she LOVES her new room. Thanks for the help, Julie!
Here she is waking up in her new bed on her birthday!

Isn't she a doll?

Here's the new bedroom!

I took the day off to be with Allison, and it was a good thing since we ended up moving Grandpa in that day - Chris ended up being home, too, since he had to go to the doctor for his lovely "issue" that NEVER goes away. Anyway, we all spent the morning together and then Allison and I went out to lunch with my Mom, Kevin, Chanel, Mark, and Mia at Taco Bell. Yummy! After lunch, we were supposed to go and pick up Grandpa, but Allison wasn't too interested in that and ended up spending the afternoon with Mark....which is her favorite thing to do!

That evening we had her birthday party at Walker Park. It was a Monday night, so I only invited immediate family (didn't want to mess up anyone elses family night). It was a beautiful day and we had a great time.

Here is Allison's birthday cake that Chanel made. It was so amazing and the little details were crazy! Strawberry Shortcake has never looked so good! Allison thought her cake was the coolest thing ever - thank you Chanel!

Allison posing with her cake...

She picked this out to wear on her birthday - we had a difficult time getting it to stay on.

I LOVE this picture!

We had pizza for dinner (her face just kept getting nastier as the night progressed - I guess that just shows what a great birthday it was for her).

And the kids LOVED the slide!

Time for the cake (it was so sad when I had to cut it up)..

Most of the kids at the party....Rose, Allison, Lacy, Mark, Mia, Kendall and Taylor.

Time for presents!

Thank you everyone for helping to make Allison's birthday so special. It was such a crazy day, and I was worried her birthday would be ruined with everything that was going on, but it turned out great. And the best part of it all is she now has a cousin who SHARES her birthday. Little Hailee was born to Tim and Julie right before Allison's party started - so we definitely had more than one reason to celebrate. Congrats guys!

On Friday I took Allison in for her 3-year checkup. Here are the stats:

Height - 39.5 inches - 95th percentile

Weight - 35 pounds - 90th percentile

They also took her blood pressure for the first time - which was adorable (104/60). Allison was so perfect for the doctor and it made me realize how grown up she is. The only problem was, I had them give her a flu shot, which I told Allison was just a "little" shot. Well, apparently it hurt a lot because she was crying and saying, "Mommy, that was NOT a little shot, that was really really BIG". Whoops! At least maybe now she won't get the flu.

We love our little girl so much - it is crazy how big she is getting. That kid talks so well and is so smart, it amazes me. I love having regular conversations with her and getting to know her personality so much more. Her baby sitter's daughter is in cheerleading, so that is her new thing and she knows about 4 different cheers and performs them for us NON-STOP. That kid of ours has her own mind for sure and is so independent! I know we have our work cut out for us!

Buddy Walk

This last weekend we did a buddy walk for my cousin, Sam, to help raise money for Down's Syndrome research. Julie came with me and Allison - we were trying desperately to get her to go into labor on Saturday - didn't work. We had a large showing from our family and although we didn't have the MOST people there supporting our buddy, we were probably in the top five. Here's our group:
It was really wet and rainy, but the rain pretty much stopped when we were actually walking.

Aren't Mark and Allison the cutest?

There was quite a bit of standing around and waiting until the walking began...

Allison and Sam are great buds!

Random Catch-Up

I finally uploaded the pictures from my camera and I PROMISE to start taking pictures again so that I don't get threats from "certain" people when I "borrow" their pictures.

Anyway, these pictures are from when we went hunting with Chris, his dad and his brother Tim. Allison is so so cute with me in the backseat of the truck and was entertained coloring for a long time!

The other day we went shooting with Kevin, Chanel, Heather and Daniel. I apparently only took one picture, but it was a good one of Kevin and Mark.

Oh, and I learned all about fire extinguishers the other day at work. Hopefully I will actually know how to use them because I got bored and started taking pictures of myself...you know me!

Pictures Finally!

Chanel posted more pictures from our crazy weekend 9/18 - 9/19. First off was Chuck E. Cheese for Mark's birthday party. My mom and grandmas just look THRILLED to be around all the screaming kids.

Allison loved every minute (well, except when the mouse came out).

Most of the kids there for the party...

And the adults...

Mark is such a cool little kid!

Then on to the Puyallup Fair. It was so crazy to just put Allison on a ride and stand back and watch. I was so worried she would freak out and try and get out of the seat. She did really good but drove her cousin crazy with all of her screaming...

Not my favorite picture...but Allison's cute! This picture makes me realize I need to start wearing my hair down more...maybe a haircut?

Anyway, I've found my camera...now I just need to start taking pictures again. Life has been crazy with sicknesses and family stuff...so hopefully things will settle down soon.