catching up...

This time of year goes by so quickly soooo I am playing catch up on the blog. I can't believe how close we are to Christmas. I am working on pre-school teacher gifts and then I am DONE. Woo Hoo!

In the last month this is what has been going on :

My dear wonderful friend Brittany Godfrey and her two adorable kids Abigayle and Jackson came to visit us before they moved to CO. We have known each other since freshman year of college which seems ages ago. We talk almost every day, but always seem to live so far away. Now she is two hours behind instead of one hour behind. Could we please live in the same time zone. Is that too much to ask????

The girls got a special birthday package from Uncle Sam, Aunt Ashley, Charlie and Owen. They love their dolls as you can see in the pictures!

My cute little Indian...

For thanksgiving we made our journey over to Hickory, NC to visit Nanna and Fowler crew. Here is a picture of the girls with their 2nd cousins, Ava and Ryan. Are they second cousins? John's cousins children. Not sure what exactly that would make it... But anyway, they had a great time playing together in the leaves. Sadly, Eliza lost her pants to dirt stains that were impossible to remove from their fun time in the wet leaves.

We celebrated the girls birthday's the weekend after Thanksgiving. I don't know if we will do a duel birthday every year, but it worked for us this year. Part of the reason this season is so busy is the two birthdays that are thrown into the mix. Anna is a Thanksgiving baby and Eliza is a Christmas baby. I thought pick a day inbetween and celebrate both.

Thanks Chris Deitsch and Rachel for making the trip to see the girls. It was fun visiting with you both!

My friend Kelly and her two boys came over. Kelly is pregnant with her third boy :)

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree how it was so hard to get you... I was bound and determined to get my free Christmas tree for the troops. I waited in a long car line for two hours, with three cranky kids. Anna had to pee sooo bad and thankfully I had a pull-up because their was NO WHERE to stop. Yes, my potty trained girl for well over a year was made to go in a pull-up all for the free tree. Well, here it is...

Lastly, the Allen kiddo's have been really sick. Strep throat, ear infections, and upper respiratory infections. I am keeping up with 5 different medications and breathing treatments for them all. I made a lovely chart :) The good news is is that they are feeling much better and we should all be well for Christmas!

A couple pictures of them sleeping peacefully.

Abigail is 6 months

November 14th she turned 6 months.

What a sweet baby she is. I can't believe how quickly 6 months has just gone by. In another 6 months she will be 1. I don't want to even think about it so moving on....

Abigail weighs 17 lbs 3 oz and was 26 inches long.

When Anna was 6 months her statistics were the same...I couldn't believe it.

Eliza was 17 lbs 13 oz and 27 inches.

4 years ago..

On November 18th 2006 I became a mom. Anna Grace Allen was born. I can't believe it has been 4 years since this day. I loved that day! It was a great day. I was nervous and excited and I didn't really know what I was getting myself into. Hahaha...Labor was tough, bringing home this little baby with jaundice was overwhelming and scary. She didn't sleep at all that first night. John and I didn't know what we were doing, but we made it through those first few weeks. Now she is 4...she is a sweet, spunky, take charge kind of girl. We love you Anna Grace and are so blessed to have you as our daughter.

1st birthday

2nd birthday...she moved non stop and I never got a good photo of her that day.

3rd birthday

4 years old and such a little girl

pictures from the summer

I wish I could say that I just forgot to post some of these gorgeous pictures of my girls from the summer, but in all reality I just figured out how to save pictures from a disk onto my computer. Yes, I am not a tech girl and probably never will be. It is hard to believe that in just 6 months your children can change so much. The summer was wonderful and hard all at the same time (new baby and husband deployed) , but I am so glad to have these pictures to capture the sweetness that is Anna, Eliza and Abigail.

Where did October go?

Why is life so busy? I blinked and October was over. This month we all had the stomach bug, Abigail saw doctor's about the bump on her chest which has turned out to be a hemangeoma, the girls are still in school three days a week, Nanna came to visit, we traveled to South Carolina for the state fair, and we went back to South Carolina to visit my parents, take a trip to the zoo and celebrate my Grandmother's 88th birthday.

Visit with Nanna

The girls at the zoo

My Grandmother's birthday Party

(notice my mom in the back ground..I got a good laugh out of that)

SC State Fair

This past Thursday I met my Dad at the SC state fair with the girls. We had a great time riding rides, eating, and looking at animals. The girls loved it! Here are a few pictures of our time there...

Huge sand sculpture

Poppi and the girls checking it out.

Cows being judged..I know nothing about cattle or their requirements for winning a blue ribbon.

Anna riding in the car..Eliza was too scared to go

Anna on the train...Eliza was too scared to go again.

Eliza finally wanted to try. She said that she would only go if Anna held her hand so she woulnd't be scared. Anna took her hand and they walked together and got on the train. I, of course, didn't have my camera ready to capture this precious moment of the two on them. I was so proud of Anna for being such a sweet big sister.

After Eliza finally tried the trains she was up for anything... we went to see the goats and sheep. The girls even fed them. They could have stayed there all day.

Then they both rode a pony for the first time. They had a great time!

It was a long day!! But we had such a great time. Thank you Poppi for a great day at the fair! We will have to do it again next year.