I only received a few anonymous threats (well, I guess they weren't so anonymous)

Seriously, after daily text messages (I guess that's a bit exaggerated) as well as being threatened with canning (YUCK) if I didn't post, I decided it was time. Here's the thing - I may not post very often, BUT when I do I go ALL OUT! So, I guess you asked for it - this may be the LONGEST post of all time. Hope you enjoy....

Some time ago, the Nadeau Family (well, Tim) organized a friendly game of baseball. Since this is Chris' favorite game to play, he was all about it and excited for the challenge.

Thank goodness Carolyn & David brought toys (I guess you think to bring that stuff after you've had two kids) so Allison was kept occupied.
Such a cutie!
There's a bunch of Oregon grapes at the Olympia Stake center. I guess they're edible, but they sure don't taste very good. Allison didn't seem to mind.
And neither did Rose.

Mommy & Allison watched the game from the sidelines.
Rose & Allison really wanted to join in....
Allison finally got her chance...just like Daddy!

Kevin & Chanel came to visit in July (Brian & Becky also came for a week) and Mark & Allison could not get enough of each other. I cannot wait until they live closer and can actually get to know each other a little better.

Baby Mia is so precious...

Kevin - thinking he's a stud
While they were here my cousin Sam had a birthday party that we all attended. Here's Allison eating a cupcake with some of her cousins...
...and playing Ring Around the Rosie with Kevin.
Worn out - she decided to take a break with Mia (she just adores her new cousins).
It is so great to have so many of Allison's cousins close by. Brian & Becky moved home with their baby Crystal in August - so it's been great to spend time with them.

Here's Kendall, Taylor, Allison & Mom watching a movie.

Today Allison & Crystal wore matching Seahawks outfits (thanks Sara - hey Chanel, let us know if you want one). Allison cannot get enough of Crystal. That's all she talks about! It's great to see them together - we were a little afraid how it would work now that Allison isn't the center of the universe, but she does just fine. I guess she'll be okay if she gets a new sibling someday.
She also loves her cousins on her dad's side. Here's Lacy, Rose, and Allison in Allison's bed in her NEW bedroom. Speaking of new bedroom, this is what you've all been waiting for - the NEW HOUSE! So, it definitely needs a lot of work, but it's great to see the transformation so far. We LOVE our neighborhood and are so excited to be here for awhile.

Here's an outside shot:

Here's the living room - BEFORE:

And AFTER: We love our new curtains (they were called Allison Stripe - so it was meant to be). We still have a TON of decorating and unpacking to do - so these pictures are still a work in progress...

Here's the hallway BEFORE:
And AFTER:

Allison's bedroom BEFORE:
(By the way, I HATE wallpaper now that I've had to remove it!)

And AFTER:

(We're still working on getting an entire night of Allison in her own bed - she did pretty good last night -- 11pm to 7am - I'll take it!)

Our bedroom BEFORE:
And AFTER:
The full bath BEFORE:

And AFTER:
This is the 1/2 Bath off of our bedroom BEFORE - we haven't done much other than paint the walls - so no AFTER picture yet.
This is an AFTER picture of our dining room (I forgot to take one before). We just got the table, so now we finally get the hang the light centered over the table! Just one more thing to add to the growing list....
This is also an AFTER picture of the kitchen. There's a nice sized pantry on the other wall which we are thoroughly enjoying.
So, that's the house. We still have a LONG way to go, but we can actually live in it now which is great. We had so much help it was amazing. I actually did almost no painting thanks to Daniel & Heather. It's great to have such wonderful friends and family....I'll try and post finished pictures of the house at a later date (no promises!).

Okay, so on a different subject, Allison takes after me a in a lot of different ways. She's a bit OCD - doors have to be shut and things have to be "clicked" together. It's fun, but I feel kind of bad for passing the gene on to her. Another thing I apparently passed on was my love for taking self-portraits. I used to get made fun of by my family because every time they developed a roll of pictures (I haven't said "roll" of pictures in a long time - funny), there would always be a shot of me taking a picture of myself. It seemed like I was always the one taking the pictures, so I wanted to make sure I got in at least ONE of them. So, that's now Allison's favorite thing to do. I probably have at least 20 on my camera, but I've narrowed it down for all of you to enjoy! These are my favorites...

Open wide:

Up the nose:
Super happy:
Crazy cheesy:

Just for fun:
Finally - EXTREME CLOSE-UP:
And last but not least, just a few of my favorite Allison pics from the last few months. She is such a joy in our lives, it is hard to imagine what life was like before having her. It's been a tough couple months - hardly seeing her while we worked on the house - but we're finally together again as a family in our new home. Life is pretty darn good right now!

Well, sorry about the length of the post, but I hope you enjoyed all of the pictures. As always, I'll try to do better but I'm not going to promise anything. We do have Internet now, so that may help....we'll see!

Homeowners!

Sorry, no pictures to this post, but I just wanted to give an update. Chris & I are now homeowners! Yup, we closed the deal on July 31st (it was a little sketchy and we didn't know if it was actually going to happen, but in the end it worked out - after a trip to Oregon with our loan documents, that is!). So now our life includes work, work, work. We are frantically trying to get the house ready for us to move in, but the "TO DO" lists just keep getting longer and longer. With the help of some fabulous family members we were able to rip out all of the carpet and scrub all the walls down with simple green (remind me NEVER to pick up smoking). Even after all the cleaning, a lot of the walls were still yellow (SO GROSS), so on Tuesday night our friend Daniel sprayed down the entire house with Oil-Based Primer. The paint sure doesn't smell very good, but at least it doesn't smell like cigarettes anymore! It already smells better once we opened all the windows and aired it out. Last night Daniel & Heather started painting the wall color while Chris & I installed light fixtures and new nobs in the kitchen. There's still a long ways to go, but the progress is amazing. We're hoping to get the majority of the painting done (at least in the bedrooms, hallway and living room) by this weekend since the carpet is getting installed on Monday. Once the carpet is installed we should be able to move in and keep working as we live there. It is so exciting! Probably the hardest part of the whole thing is not getting to see too much of Allison. Chris & I pretty much go directly to the house after work and then get home around 8 or 9 each night (or 10 like it was for me last night). It's wonderful to have parents and grandparents who are willing to help watch Allison, but it still makes it tough only getting to see her for such a short time each day. We keep telling ourselves it's worth it and we'll get to spend LOTS of time together very shortly.

Anyway, that's what's going on with us. I'll post some pictures of the place sooner or later. It's not much to look at right now, but it's going to be completely different by the time we're done (I guess that is if we actually ever do get done!)...

Update...

Look, I know it's been a long time....but life has been INSANE! Time to catch up the last two months, so brace yourselves, this is going to be a long one.

The first weekend in June, the Nadeau Family goes steelhead fishing at Wynoochie Lake. It's one of my favorite weekends even though I don't fish - I just enjoy being out in the middle of nowhere and camping. And Chris gets to do something he loves and fish..... Allison also loves camping because of all the junk food she gets to eat. I was messing around with my camera and found out a way to accentuate all the cheese she had eaten...pretty cool, huh?

The following weekend we took the Young Women to Hope Island for their Girl's Camp hike. Kind of a funny story....All the girls started on the hike walking around the inside of the island. Chris was working so I had Allison, and I thought that it wouldn't be a very good idea to try and hike the entire thing with her. So, we played around in a meadow, but then we got bored and decided to hike the inside of the island as well - only about 2 miles. Not very far into it,Allison decided she wanted me to hold her. It was kind of a pain, but okay so we continued walking. After about 1 mile of the hike, Allison fell asleep in my arms, so the rest of the hike - another mile - I had to carry 30 pounds of dead weight. Not so much fun....but we made it. Then I was able to lay her down and let her sleep a little while longer. She's just so cute.
Once she woke up, I couldn't keep her out of the water.....
For Father's Day, the Nadeau Family got together at Burfoot Park. It was a really good time to get together and play around for a little bit.
They have toys there, so Allison and Rose were loving every minute. They are such cute cousins. During the month of June, we were also able to go to the drive-in. It was pretty fun, and Allison had a great time laying on top of the car!

For the 4th of July the Nadeau Family rented a couple of cabins at Lake Crescent. It was a beautiful lake and fun to spend time with family. We had ducks right outside our cabin....
And the water was right there for the girls to play in...
And it was just a nice weekend to relax and spend some time together.
I just thought these pictures were so cute - our neighbors had a small sailboat and it's the perfect backdrop for these pictures

Allison is such a sweetie....time to trim those bangs...
We could not keep her out of the water - again!!

Allison is obsessed with the water and goes swimming all of the time. We just can't keep her out of it....but we love to watch her playing in it.

Allison is also loving having Taylor and Kendall live nearby again. They are so much fun together I am also glad they are so close now!

Allison is also EXTREMELY independent. Here are some examples.

She always wants to change her own diapers. I let her help me when we're home, but it's just not okay when we're out in public. I guess it's time to potty train....

But it's just so cute!

She also insists on pushing her own stroller....crazy girl!

She also wants to be a big girl....drinking her own water!
And she will no longer let us feed her....she has to do it herself! Which is good, but messy at the same time.
This past weekend was Dance Festival at the Tacoma Dome. After seven months of hard work it's finally over. There were so many kids it was crazy!
Just like the preview in May, they didn't have enough girl dancers for the Tango. They needed Heather for all three performances, but I only had to dance for the two performances on Saturday. We had a really good time - it was fun pretending to be teenagers again.
By the end of the weekend we starting getting a little silly and taking all kinds of crazy pictures. We had so much makeup on we had to show it off!

I think we're both happy it's over, but sad at the same time. It was so much work, but well worth it. I just hope the youth all enjoyed it and can have good memories from it.
Today we went to the Nadeau's and had a BBQ with a couple of Chris' cousins. It was a lot of fun and Allison loves playing with her cousins. I put her hair in a pony tail today, and I thought she looked so cute.
When we got home, my whole family was here so we got to spend some time with them as well. Sidse took the little girls out for a photo shoot. I love this picture of Allison..
I keep thinking that now that Dance Festival is over life will calm down. I don't think that's going to happen since we're signing papers on our house this week. So exciting, but it's going to be a lot of work! I just can't wait until it's all done and we can move into our own place. I just can't believe it's really happening.

I hope everyone else is doing well and you enjoy all of these crazy pictures. We're really loving life right now and enjoying every minute with our little family.