Thanksgiving

My mom invited us to eat out with her on Thanksgiving this year and that did not sound appetizing.  I haven't put in 30 years of making turkeys and pies to justify going out to eat for Thanksgiving.  I felt like I needed to put on a feast; it's only once a year that you have to make this big dinner anyways so I told her just to show up with the drinks and I'd take care of the rest (with the exception of Blake making my mashed potatoes).  Honestly, I did a lot of prepping and making on Wednesday so it ended up being a yummy, not so stressful meal. 

My friend gave me a yummy recipe for a turkey in a brown bag.  It was delicious and could have been even more delicious if I hadn't over cooked it.  It wasn't dry by any means, but I think it cooked for about 30 minutes to long.  We enjoyed this bird along with stuffing, veggies, potatoes, rolls, jello salad, pies.  The best part was we had lots of leftovers.  I love the leftovers!

Blake's brother came into town for the weekend and so the rest of the Holiday weekend we spent with his family.  We went bowling; must be a tradition because it seems like we always end up bowling during the holidays with his family.  I can't believe that is really Sophie in the picture:(  She looks so big sitting with the big girls.

Allie loves bowling these days

Allie and Brynn

We love having Jane around.  I wish she lived closer to help me out with my little ones. She is such a HUGE help and Allie just adores her

One tradition that we have kept alive for years is hitting up the Holiday tree lighting on the Grove.  One more year of tree lightings

After the tree lighting we went for hot cocoa and then everyone headed to the cars.  When we got to our car, we realized we had a few too many kids with us.  We packed in like sardines until we caught up with the other cars and could unload a few.  Three is nothing like the Holidays when you just get to play and have fun with the family!!!

Turkey Trot for the kids

My ward if filled with a bunch of fun ladies and I have made some great friendships.  One of my good friends through out the idea of having a kids turkey trot.  The rest of us loved the idea and we all divided out jobs and helped each other put the race together.  The kids loved it!



Allie at the start line.  My friends was going to make the start line sign.  All the rest of us envisioned a paper sign, but no, she shows up with a canvas sign on PVC pipes....WHAT???  Really, who does this?  She said she wanted to reuse it for all the races we were going to do.  Really......who said we were doing more of these.

Me and my friend put together the gumball necklaces while another friend whipped together all the "turkey medals" to also go on them

All the kiddos getting ready to race.  There were two options that the kids could run, either a half mile or a mile race at our neighborhood elementary school

Good thing for Josh, our motorcycle cop.   He escorted the kids at the start of the race

Allie running in the freezing cold

Pushing through the finish line.

Showing off her turkey medal

Cute turkey, cheese and tomato kabobs

Nothing like some good oranges at the end of the race too.  Overall the race was a great success!
There were a few little mishaps that we will improve upon next time. Until we meet again at the bunny hop!!!

Milk Allergy

Sophie has been having breakdowns on her bottom for the last couple of months.  If anyone ever wants to try a diaper cream, I own every one of them:)  We have been trying to figure out what is wrong and have been into the Dr.'s office a few times regarding the issue. Not only does Sophie have a rash, she was constantly stooling.  The Dr. had thought that this was a yeast rash; which I thought the same thing.  When her bottom would clear up for a day after using the prescription cream, the rashes would return the next day.  I knew there was something else wrong.  It killed me to change her diaper. When we would go to change her diaper she would scream because her butt was so broken down. Sophie would tell us immediately she was poopy by screaming and crying.   I felt so bad and we finally got back into the Dr. to discuss the matters further.

The Dr. proposed that Sophie had a dairy allergy.  He proposed that we could do allergy testing or just eliminate dairy and see how she would do.  I felt like she mainly had a milk allergy.  Sophie started on cheese and yogurt around 8 months and never had a problem.  Around 10 months she started on whole milk after weaning herself from nursing and that is when we started to see the breakdown.

A poor shot of her bumb....it was like the stool was burning her poor bum.  She had lots of bleeding sores on her bumb

Other than the sad diaper changes, which take up most of our day, we have had some fun times.  Sophie is such a cheese ball; always doing stuff to make us laugh

Another thing you are into is putting things in your mouth and having them stick out

The other day I ran to put some clothes away in the closet and when I came back you had made yourself at home inside the dryer

Cheesing it in the dryer

Locks of Love

Allie has wanted her hair cut for a few months.  She wanted it trimmed up to her shoulders, so I tried to convince her that she would have enough to donate to Locks of Love and she could do a good deed just like I had.  I think the idea and concept was a little hard to grasp for her and hence it's why it has taken her a few months to get to the point of being ready to cut her hair. One day she decided she was ready to cut her hair, so we made an appointment at 2 B A Kid, a fun kids hair salon in town.

Allie started out by getting her hair washed up

It was time to put her hair in a pony tail and measure out a minimum of 10".  Then, snip, snip, snip of the pony

Allie and her pony tail.  We had the video camera with us and her face was priceless the moment she saw her ponytail

Of course Sophie was a wild one on the car next to Allie

Allie didn't want to let go of her old hair; she hadn't seen her new do yet.  We didn't want her to turn around until her new short hair was all done up

Her hair turned out darling!!!  She looks so much older to me with her short do.  We ended up sending out 11.5" of hair to Locks of Love

One last picture of that beautiful hair before it was sent off to Locks Of Love.  I must say I was a little sad to see the hair gone; Allie had beautiful hair!  I know that it will grow back, and someone will enjoy her beautiful hair. I am so proud of Allie and the great choice she has made.  You make your mama proud!!!

1 year Rainbow Party

Sophie loves balloons....anywhere we go she finds balloons.   There will be balloons across the store that I don't see and she finds them.  We were once swimming at the Y and there was a balloon floating up on the ceiling and Sophie kept saying, "bloon"-Sophie spotted it.  So, your passion for balloons sparked my idea for a rainbow birthday.



My sweet neighbor helped me bring my vision to life. She brought her camera and followed me to an abandoned barn to take some 1 year photos that I wanted of you.  I had seen this fun balloon arch somewhere and wanted to make it for your party and photo shoot

The rainbow outfit for the birthday girl.....a cheap $2 tulle skirt, a gumball necklace, and some scrap fabric for the t shirt.

Hanging on to your balloons....you didn't want anyone to get those balloons

Birthday Party Time with the family

We had the party over at the neighborhood clubhouse-there were plenty of balloons at the party

Yummy Cherry Limeade drinks

The rainbow cake

The cake maker-a.k.a. the mommy

The mini rainbow cake...I had intentions of making a mini six layer cake but totally forgot to take out enough batter from the larger cakes.....we ended up with a 3 tier mini cake.

Singing Happy Birthday....you weren't quite sure what to think of your cake.  You hate anything mushy and soft, so you weren't a big fan of the cake

Allie was trying to show you the ropes of eating cake

The middle of the big cake....my favorite part was cutting open the cake, it looked so pretty!

Happy Birthday Baby Girl....it makes me so sad when my babies turn 1.  Don't get me wrong, I love how fun and interactive you become over the next few years, I just love my babies.

Sophies' 12 months

I can't believe that Sophie turned 1!!!
 I'm just posting on here a few milestones you have hit at one year:)

Vocabulary: I can't believe how much you talk.  We will say a word and you will copy whatever it is like a little parrot.  These are a few of your chosen words you use every day:  Daddy, Allie, Max, Kitty, Piggy, Doggy, Hot, Hat, Milk, Nana (banana), touchdown, Up, Peek A Boo, Clap, Yuk, All done, THAT-my favorite.

Here are the words you use to describe the following animals to us
dog-ruff, fish-smacks her lips, duck-quack, cow-moo, elephant-hand up, sheep-baa

We are working on your sign language, but honestly you would rather just say the word.  There are a few that I make you use that you learned earlier and will sign rather than saying the word.
Signs: please, thank you, milk, more,

Teeth-just had two top teeth break through at 11 1/2 months
Walking...you are taking 4 steps at a time although you have walked across the room several times.  You do not like anyone to look at you when you are walking; if you catch anyone looking at you, you immediately sit down.

A few things I love about you.

1-Loves to go down the kiddy slide at the Y all by herself; it shocks everyone.  In order to get to the slide, Sophie does the bear crawl over to the slide because she hates the floor

2-You snuggle with me...I love it.  You understand the word "snuggle" and will cuddle up with me when I say it. I love that you snuggle because you are on the move every singe day.  All day long people comment wherever we go at how much you MOVE and how busy you are.  Hence....it's taken me forever to update the blog because I am so tired at the end of every night. You are constantly wanting me to hold you but then you crawl, climb, bounce, & wiggle ALL over, but I love ya.

3-You are attached to your piggy....you love love love your pig and take it everywhere with you.  You used to call it piggy, but now you refer to it as "OINK"