Christmas Vacation

My sweet girls on Christmas Eve! I absolutely love this picture of them. We were getting ready to leave for the children's service at my parents church. The girls did such a great job in big church and actually listened to the Christmas story and sang the Christmas carols. When they read the part of the Christmas story where their was no room for Mary and Joseph at the inn Anna cried out "OH NO."

Everything is all set up for Christmas! (Keep in mind that all these gifts were for 8 people )

Thanks Gigi and Poppie for our Doodle Pro's! Notice Uncle David and Aunt Aldi in the background. Eliza is not sure what they are doing :)

New matching outfit's from Gigi and Poppi. We were on our way to see family in Columbia, SC. the day after Christmas.The girls love their new panda outfits.

Eliza with Papa her great grand-father. She climbed right up in Papa's lap and I know that made him so happy.

The girls playing with their cousin Caleb. They had the best time playing with their friend. Anna is still talking about going back to see Caleb.

 The girls showing Papa their kitties that they got for Christmas. They are obsessed with cats right now.

David, Alden, Me and Anna got in there too :) It was really great spending time with them over Christmas. We hadn't all been together sense last Christmas.

This is my mom's mom, Grandmama. My Dad's parents Marmee and Papa live right down the street from my mom's mom. We saw family at Marmee and Papa's and then headed down the street to see more family. She has a cat named Robert Redford that the girls just love :) The girls did such a great job and were really well behaved. I was really proud of them!

Happy 2nd birthday Eliza. Eliza's Birthday is December 29th and is going to be a challenge. I want it to be special for her each year, but it is a busy time to have a birthday. We celebrated her birthday at Gigi and Poppi's with balloons, cupcakes and presents. Mom and I pulled some things together and we had a nice little party.

 She is so sweet!

Another sweetie enjoying her cupcake.

Elmo ipod or mp3 player ...not sure what it is supposed to be, but it plays music and she loves it.

Anna likes her gift too!

We went from Charleston, SC to Atlanta, GA to see John's brother, sister-in-law, nephew and Nanna. Sam just got back from a year long tour in Iraq and they are about to move to Ft. Hood Texas. It was a crazy trip, but it was well worth it being able to see more family. The girls had a great time playing with their cousin Charlie.

18 1/2 weeks pregnant. We find out what we are having January 9th at 9:00 pm. Really weird time, but it was the first available and I just took it. I am making myself a little crazy thinking about it. My prediction right now is another girl. I will be really shocked if it ends up being a boy. Either way we are thrilled!

16 1/2 weeks pregnant and growing

On Friday I had my 16 week doctor's appointment. I begged for an ultrasound because I am dieing to know what we are having!! I also thought it would be really exciting to know and tell John for Christmas...that was my plan, but it didn't happen. This baby had legs together the whole time and was not going to budge! That's okay...we will have to wait 4 more weeks to know. That is not too far away. Everything looks great and it was so much fun to see the baby. I feel so much better and haven't felt the baby move yet so it was a relief to know that everything is alright.

With baby number 3 I feel like I have really popped out.

the last few weeks...

At the SC acquarium playing with the penguins.

A pose for the camera

This time of year always seems to fly by. The last few weeks have been really busy. The girls were sick with ear infections and strep throat. Then as we were getting over sickness we went to Hickory, NC where we spent Thanksgiving with John's family. The girls loved spending time with Nanna and playing with cousin's Ava and Ryan. We came home for 1 whole day to do laundry and then the girls and I headed down to Charleston, SC while John spent 10 days in the field. Now it is already December 10th and I haven't sent out Christmas cards or finished all my Christmas shopping. We head back to Charleston around the 19th or 20th  and we won't be back home until after the 1st of the year so I am not planning on doing much decorating this year. I hate that, but we won't really be here to enjoy it anyway. Did I mention that I am already 16 weeks pregnant? I have my 16 week appointment tomorrow and would love to find out the sex of the baby. I am going to beg for an ultrasound and see what they say. I would love to be able to tell family and friends what we are having. That is what is going on in the Allen family...hope you enjoy the pictures of the girls.

Leslie and Stephen get married!

This past weekend Leslie Parks and Stephen Meyers were married. The girls and I made the trip to Lynchburg Va. Friday morning and John came in later that evening. It was so much fun visiting with friends and celebrating with Leslie and Stephen. I am just amazed at how God works and how he brought the two of them together. When I was a RD at Liberty, Leslie was one of my RA's for two years. We became great friends and continued as friends when I stopped working. I love going to wedding's where God is the center and is praised. That is exactly how their wedding was. Leslie looked absolutely beautiful and the day was perfect! Thank you so much for letting me be part of it :) Here are some pictures from the wedding that were taken by the talented Sabrena Carter! She is amazing!

Me, Leslie and my baby bump...I am 13 weeks pregnant and very thankful that I fit into my dress :)

I am not sure why the rest are so small...I will try and fix that later, but you get the idea of some of the pictures.

Anna's 3rd Birthday

We celebrated Anna's 3rd birthday this past Saturday. My parents, Chris Deitsch, and Chris's Mom came into town for the day to help celebrate with us. It was a really fun day with family and friends. I was trying to run the party and take pictures so I only have some of Anna and not the whole group :(  Anna was so excited for her party! She was especially excited for the cupcakes. I can't believe my baby is already 3 years old.

Here are some pictures of the party and few of the girls dressed up as Barney and Baby Bop. The costumes were sent to us from my friend Brittany :) Anna loves wearing them..Eliza thought she would like it, but hasn't wanted to dress up all.

The next day she woke up and said my presents are still here :) I guess she thought those gifts were just for the day, but she was glad to know that they were hers and would be staying at our house.

What we have been up to the past few months.....

I realize that I have been slacking on my blog, but I really have good excuses!!!! I do!! Well, we have moved from Lynchburg, Va to Ft. Bragg NC. It has been a pretty smooth transition. Moving is just hard. It just is. We are starting over meeting friends, finding a church, learning about the area, and adjusting to army life. The good news is that we are adjusting. We have found a great church and we are looking to get pluged in. I even found a playgroup to take the girls to every Monday.
My other news, more exciting news, is that I am 11.5 weeks pregnant. Today has been the first day that I can say I feel great. This pregnancy has been the most difficult with morning sickness. Well, more like ALL day sickness. I have never thrown up so much in my life. I have been extra sensitive with smells and foods. I am almost out of this first trimester and hoping to feel great during the second trimester. I have my first OB appointment tomorrow morning so praying that everything looks great. I found out that I was pregnant the first weekend we moved here. I was absolutley convinced that I wasn't pregnant. We were sitting in church and I just had waves of nausea come over me. Later that afternoon I took a test, the next day I took two more tests, and then the third day I took one more. You would think with my third pregnancy I would believe it after the first test.
We lived at the airborne inn for the first couple weeks at Ft Bragg. Here are some pictures from those weeks.

Here are a couple pregnany tests....

With all this going on you can see why I have not even thought about the blog :) Hope you enjoyed some pictures!! More to come soon. I have the messiest house, but as soon as it is clean I willl post some pictures of where we are living.