No Greater Joy

Happy Birthday Jesus!

2011-12-23T11:06:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas from the Allen Family! Since my last post, we are still a family of three, hoping desperately that the Lord will add to our quiver soon! However, we have since been to a wonderful fertility specialist who has been incredibly aggressive in her treatment of us! We feel confident that we will have another baby in 2012 and can't wait to see what blessings the Lord bestows upon us out of these trying circumstances! We have more faith than ever before that He gives beauty for ashes and that He is in control of it all!!

Malachi is doing FANTASTIC! Writing his name like a champ, starting to add small numbers together and is actually starting to sound out words! The other day we were at a stop sign and we heard him say, "S-T-O-P...SSSSTTTTOOOPPP" We were VERY excited and impressed by the amount of information his little brain is picking up!! He is just a joy to us in every way!

My mom did a vision check on him the other day at the daycare and his vision was poor. He knew all of his letters until he got to the 4th line, then, out of nowhere, it was obvious he had NO idea what he was looking at! Turns out, after an appointment with the pediatric eye doctor, he has astigmatism in both eyes. So, my beautiful boy now has glasses and is SO adorable in them!! He wears them perfectly and actually told me the other morning (when I forgot to put them on him first thing) that he couldn't see. So, I guess that's a good sign that his glasses are doing their job!!

We are so looking forward to Christmas this year since it's the first that Malachi has really understood it a little more! Daddy and Mommy's present to each other will hopefully arrive sometime in September, but we won't find out about whether or not that will/has happen(ed) for a little while longer! Malachi saw a train table at Sam's in September that had all the pieces and was really quite attractive, as far as train tables go! It was espresso colored wood (the same as his bedroom set) and really nice looking! I told him (after Daddy reinforced how cool this monstrosity was) that I wasn't sure if we could get it because I didn't think we had room. His response? "That's okay Mommy, I'll ask Santa." Sure enough, that's exactly what he has done everytime he's seen Santa...guess we'll just have to wait and see if that's what he got! ;o) (But, to be on the safe side, we've already measured and found a perfect spot in his room just in case Santa delivers on his persistent request!) We are so thankful to be able to provide for him and pay for the very expensive fertility treatments we are now undergoing! It's taken some dedication, but it's definitely getting us back on rice and beans, beans and rice which is always a good thing! We hope you all have a wonderful Merry Christmas and remember Who this wonderful holiday is all about!

In Which I Share My Heart

2011-10-25T11:45:00.000-05:00

So, if you've been reading my little ol' blog for any length of time, you know that we have been entrusted with the most beautiful, sweet, smart and hysterical boy of all time. Or, at least, that's what I think, because I'm allowed! Anyway, Malachi is absolutely the best thing, besides our Jesus, that has happened to our marriage!! He brings us so much joy and warmth and filled a void we didn't know existed in our life. I have the most wonderful husband who loves me unconditionally and encourages me not only in my daily life, but also in my spiritual life! We have a beautiful home, an amazing extended family, good jobs, an awesome church family and continue to grow in our walk with Christ. So, what could be missing? Well...that's easy for us to see and sometimes hard for others to see.

It's no secret, we want another baby. Last October, we announced we were pregnant by painting pumpkins and painting an extra one for another sweet baby that we were never to hold. This year, we painted pumpkins, and it was one more painful reminder about what is missing in our life! We're coming up on the year anniversary of one of the worst days of our life and, the fact that we're still not pregnant makes that anniversary particularly bitter. July was hard - knowing that's when we would've been due for our entire life to change again. But, with reflection, silent time spent grieving again and the Lord's daily sufficient grace, August came and we sighed thinking maybe, just maybe, that would be our month. August came and went, so did September, and still, no smiley face, no double lines, no "pregnant." 9 months...9 months of Clomid have been completed and still, we wait. The Lord knows why we're waiting and, as much as I'd like to know too...I'm too scared to know everything HE knows so I'll continue to be patient.

For 16 months now, we've been on this all too familiar journey to bring another precious baby into our family...to make Malachi a big brother and to give my parents another grandchild. This is by far the longest wait we've had once the Lord has planted the desire for another child in our life. However, it's also the most beneficial time we've had in our marriage and the most growth-filled time we've had in our walk with Christ. That's a definite plus to the struggles we've had. If we'd gotten pregnant immediately and never had another complication, would we ever have fully realized the complete miracle that occurs when a baby is conceived? Would I ever have appreciated my sweet Malachi the way I do now because I learn each month just how amazing having him was? Would I ever have appreciated the encouragement, support and love I get from my husband? Maybe...but those are things I most definitely would've missed out at this time in our life together!

I've found a wonderful group of women from all across the world who share the pain of secondary infertility and have been given the opportunity to encourage them from the strength I've been given of the Lord. I've also found out just exactly where my priorities are and that I may only get one chance to be a parent. If that's it...I've got to strive to be the best parent God can make me! I screw it up ALL the time and sometimes I get down on myself when I'm not everything I know God wants me to be as a Mom. Sometimes I'm too hard on Malachi...other times I'm not hard enough. It's a CONSTANT balancing act. (Which isn't easy when you're the daughter of a parenting expert!) In all though, I have to remind myself that my ONE task in life isn't to make sure that my discipline skills are perfect or that my child never misbehaves. My one goal, my one duty, my one responsibility, is to raise Malachi to know the love of the Lord and to instill in him the faith I have in MY God so that one day he has his OWN relationship and, ultimately, we'll be together in Heaven. I pray that I have the opportunity to instill that in at least one more child of my own but, if not, I'm determined to be thankful and to have the testimony that whatever my lot, I've been taught to say, IT IS WELL with my soul!

2011-09-14T16:37:00.001-05:00

If you remember, (if you were reading), last month, we took off to take my sweet baby brother to college in California! After getting our car loaded to the hilt with everything from luggage to pillows to TONS of toys and snacks, we finally set off around 3:00p.m. from Amarillo with intentions of making it to Flagstaff by that night! We decided to put Malachi in the middle of the back seat to make it easier for us to get to him while we were driving. Then, I stuffed pillows under his feet so he could stretch out! Here he is while we were getting gas before we left!

And, within a matter of 10 miles, he was OUT!

We finally made it into Flagstaff, 620 miles or so, around 1:00a.m. their time.

The next morning, we saddled up (with a couple extra backpacks) headed out to San Diego. On the drive, we did lots of fun stuff! First, Malachi slept while I finished my book (Redeeming Love...Oh my, SUCH a good story). Then, after one of our stops, (I think this one was taken near Kingman, AZ) we pulled out our sock puppets! Here, Malachi is coloring clothes on his! (And yes, those are pipe cleaners for hair...we had to be creative!!)

We also wrote on our wipe-off board and sent messages to everyone! This one was taken outside of Blythe, AZ. His cheeks are so red because we were (literally) out in the middle of nowhere and it was about (literally) 130 degrees outside. There were sand dunes everywhere and we there were signs telling you to turn off your air conditioner for fear that your car would overheat (literally) out in the middle of nowhere! There were stops about every mile so you could get non-potable radiator water! At one point we had to stop because Malachi yelled from the back seat only for me to turn around and see that his carseat had shifted and fallen over on its side! I suspect between all of the shuffling around it got off balance. So, we stopped (literally) in the middle of nowhere to fix it and kept having to put our feet up on the car because the pavement was burning our feet through our shoes!

We finally made it to our destination, San Diego, around 5:00p.m. their time. That's another 492 miles. Oh, and see that pretty blue line mapping our route? It took us about 1 mile away from the Mexican border. There were checkpoints everywhere, Border Patrol helicopters flying overhead and we could even see the observation towers on the border. It was WAY creepy to see mountains about a mile away and know they were in a (very dangerous) foreign country. I'm not sure we've ever sped so quickly to get out of an area in my life! If you're keeping track, that's approximately 1112 miles we traveled in approximately 24 hours. We were VERY ready to get there!

Malachi found the sweet spot as we were loading and unloading our cars at each hotel. (A different hotel each night for 4 nights)

Sunday morning we got up and went to the San Diego Zoo! Here's one of our favorite animals! 10 points to whomever can name the animal and its significance to our life! The zoo was eh...okay. We were disappointed actually!

Malachi, however, had the time of his life! Here's Daddy telling Malachi how big elephants get!

Malachi had been begging to go on the double decker bus tour, and it was included in our ticket price, so we decided to go for it! We sat on the top at the very front and he seemed to really enjoy it! It allowed us to see several portions of the zoo we hadn't seen yet without us having to walk all the way!

After our trip to the zoo, we loaded back up in the car to head to Lancaster, CA. That's another 179 miles...up to about 1291 miles so far. (And that doesn't include the driving around we did in San Diego going to the beach to watch the sun set, looking for dinner, etc.) As you can see, Lancaster is North of LA by about 60 miles or so. But, it's in a valley surrounded by mountains. The climate there is VERY dry, like Amarillo, only worse!

We spent the night in Lancaster and got up early Monday morning to go to the college to get Logan settled in. I must tell you, Monday was literally one of the hardest days of my life. We'd gotten some other sad news early that morning and coupled with the dread of knowing we'd be leaving my sweet brother some 1200 miles away from our home, the only hometown he's ever known, was debilitating! I spent most of the day crying. However, my emotions aside, we loved the campus! As soon as we walked into the building where orientation was to be held we all felt an incredible peace about it! All of the professors and staff from the college were there greeting everyone, making them feel comfortable and all of the young men and women were dolls. As I mentioned in my last post, I am praying the Lord will send Logan a wife. All of the young women there were so modestly dressed and meek in their spirits that I just know he'll find a perfect help-meet there! There's something about being surrounded by young men and women who are gathered together to grow in their love for the Lord and follow His will!

In an interesting twist of God's infinite wisdom, there is a family there in Lancaster who has just sent their son to our local college in Canyon. So, we've all agreed to take care of one another's loved one and be their surrogate families! Kristy Kelly has been an absolute Godsend to us! She guided us back into Los Angeles the evening after we dropped Logan off. That's another 69 miles - 1360 miles so far

We were very worried about him having to drive into LA on his own and Kristy saved us! She was also able to keep my mom's attention off of the fact that she'd just dropped her baby boy off at college 1200 miles away on the drive! So, God sent our angel, Kristy, to guide us through the hellacious traffic that is Los Angeles at dark! There are actually 5 Panhandle kids in college there and the Kellys have opened their home to all of them! Makes us all feel so much better! We're trying to return the favor by taking care of their sweet Trent here! Kristy, you've done a fantastic job with Trent...he's a great kid!

Tuesday morning, Malachi, Lolli and Pop and Uncle Tanner (Logan's best friend who'd gone with us), all loaded up in a shuttle from our hotel headed to the airport to fly home. Thomas and I had to drive back, so we decided to take a detour back down to San Diego to spend the day/night there! Another 120 miles, up to 1480 so far.

We stayed at the Dana on Mission Bay. Our room? Somewhere in that large white building to the left side of the picture in the foreground.

We walked to Sea World after we checked in and had a fantastic, cool, relaxing day together! We've always loved Sea World as we went there on our honeymoon. But, this time was just perfect. There were hardly any people there, we had no plans, it was cool (almost chilly, actually, by the end of the day) and it was SO relaxing!! We had such a wonderful time! Then, we came back to this view!

And, this view!

So, in the matter of 24 hours, I went from what was one of the worst days of my life to one of the best. Mine and Thomas' quiet time together was just exactly what we needed to recharge after what's been a rough summer waiting on the Lord to answer our prayers. We had the most romantic dinner we've ever had outside, listening to the birds and the water, staring into each other's eyes over a candlelit table! One of my most cherish memories thus far for sure!

We saddled back up early (much to our dismay) the next morning to head back home! We left San Diego around 8:15 a.m. their time and made it all the way to Albuquerque, NM by around 10:00p.m. their time! Add 844 miles to the 1480 miles we'd driven already and that brought us up to a total of 2324 miles approximately!

Around 7:00a.m. their time the next morning we left Albuquerque to make it back home by about 12:15! We've (our old, tired bones) never been so happy to see Canyon, Texas or our little boy in all our life!

The last leg of the trip was 297 miles totaling trip miles to approximately 2621 miles of straight driving. Including all of our ancillary driving we guess we went about 2800 miles! However, they were 2800 of the most enjoyable miles I've ever driven. Malachi was a complete angel the entire time, never fussed, never cried and was SO patient despite missing naps or napping on the go for 4 days straight! And, my time with my husband alone for 2.5 days was Heaven, even if it did include a ton of driving!

My Dear Sweet Baby Brother

2011-08-22T16:26:00.000-05:00

Logan,

Words cannot begin to express the pride I have knowing that you are following the Lord's direction at this time in your life. I was just looking at wcbc.org and found a number of videos that brought tears to my eyes and warmed my heart. To see that you will be surrounded by like-minded young men and women who are also there answering the Lord's call warms my heart so much! Knowing that your spiritual life and participation in a local church is one of the college's biggest goals excites me for your heart and your soul. I know you have struggled to find direction in your life and to figure out just what it is the Lord wants you to do. However, knowing that your heart is open and prepared to go and do and that you have answered the Lord's calling makes me so proud. Yesterday at church when Bro. Bigham asked for prayer over you, Brittany and Casslyn, I wanted to jump up and say that's MY brother. My heart is bursting with joy and pride.

On the other hand, my heart is hurting knowing that you're going so far away from me. I feel so blessed that you and I have always had such a wonderful relationship, much closer than a lot of brothers and sisters and I truly feel like a part of me will be left in California next week. And, although a part of me will be left, I am excited to see how that part of me will change and grow and mature over the coming months! I know that you will be successful in whatever endeavor the Lord places in your heart. I know that you are going to have more fun than you could ever imagine and I know that you are going to know the Lord in such a personal way when you come back. (You are coming back right?) Truth is, I'm a little jealous of the opportunity you have to shut out the world for the next 12 months and grow your personal walk with God. I've gotten those opportunities, but only for a week out of every summer and, inevitably, the fire fades and I've got to work twice as hard to kindle the flames next time. However, you're going to have 12 full months will little to no worldly influence on your life. You will be living the revival that is SO badly needed in this country and in many Christians' hearts today! And, if the Lord chooses NOT to call you back home at the end of this journey, but instead sends you somewhere else, my prayer is that I can continue to rejoice in His grace and mercy knowing that He is using you for mighty things!

And yes, just in case you were wondering, I AM praying that the Lord will give you a beautiful young woman while you're there. Mom has always prayed that you would find a godly wife and I have no doubts that while immersed in the greatness of God's love, He will provide you a help-meet who will encourage you and love you for the wonderful man you are! You deserve that Logan!

Our hearts will hurt and Canyon won't be the same without you. I'm going to miss terribly seeing you out in that congregation from the choir and will think of you with every "on the last now" spoken! You are an incredible brother, a wonderful uncle and a great all-around guy and I know that God, if you continue to allow Him, is going to move in your heart unlike anything you've ever felt before. Get ready, the Devil is going to attack harder than he ever has knowing that you're doing the Lord's work...just like 1 Peter says...BE SOBER and VIGILANT! The Devil wants to devour you and your spirit...hold tight to your God and seek first His kingdom. Pray without ceasing, do everything to the glory of God and thank Him continually for the blessings He's given you. Know that we will be anxiously awaiting each update and will celebrate with you every success!

I am proud of you, my brother and I love you with all of my heart!

Miscellaneous Pictures!!!

2011-08-22T13:01:00.000-05:00

Playing in the Mirrors while Daddy gets fitted for his new suit!

Such a talent! ha

Helping Pops on the Tractor!

Sleeping with our new puppy, Raider!

Being Silly!!

Loving on Pops!

Eating Dinner!

Breaking into our Friends' House!!! (To take care of their dogs...next time I bet that door isn't locked! haha)

Wearing a tie like Daddy!

And, bathing in Lolli's sink!

Kids say...and Daddy's 5K!

2011-08-17T16:57:00.000-05:00

So, I am proud to announce that I am officially...married to a runner! Thomas has always been an athlete, but usually in the form of a massive tight-end in football. However, as most things go football wise, when you quit, that mass of muscle tends to get a little less toned and that massive steak/hamburger/hot dog diet that you were on starts to really add up. (Especially when your wife hates to cook...ahem, I'm working on that!) Christmas Day, my hot hubby started working out and exercising and has lost 30 pounds to date! I'm not really interested in seeing him lose too much more weight, but very interested in the increased energy he has! The first few months were spent doing a combination of P90X and Biggest Loser on the Wii, as well as drastically changing our grocery shopping habits! He's even got ME eating more vegetables which is a big deal for anyone that knows how much of a steak and taters girl I am!! Anyway, on August 6, Thomas ran in his first 5K in our hometown! As he'd only really been training for a 5K for 4 weeks, he was hoping to come in around 26 minutes. Like anything else he does, he easily surpassed that goal with an official time of 24:47! Now, I can't stop him! Nor would I want to! The joy he gets from running is something I wish I could understand, but am so happy for him! So, on that note, here are a few pictures from his first 5K! WAY TO GO honey - I could NOT be more proud of you!

Here he is before the race!

His number one fan!

Yes, his tag (?) says "Thomas Callen!" Apparently Thomas C Allen is difficult to read ??

Go Daddy Go! (He yelled this the entire 5 minutes before they took off and started again when we saw Daddy coming back up the street!) SO Cute!

Getting ready to take off!

Eating a blue snowcone at 8:30a.m. waiting for Daddy to come back! (Mother of the year folks...come meet her anytime!)

And here are my two favorite men AFTER the big finish! Bananas and all!

I wanna be just like you Dad!

So what's next for my running man? Well, there's the Komen Race for the Cure coming up in September and another 5K in Lubbock in October! I better keep myself lookin' good to hold onto my hottie! haha

In other news, I have to tell you how fun it is to have a 3 year old boy! The things he comes up with keep us constantly laughing! He loves Sonic "flushies", is proving how "boy" he truly is by thinking all bodily functions are hysterical and worth repeating and loves his "Raider Naider" (our puppy who shall be getting his own post soon probably!) He can recognize most letters A-M and we're going through them about 3 times a week before bed so he can learn not only what they look like, but also what they say! He signs all cards that we send with his "M" and can count objects, not just counting in sequential order! Next on the list is long division...haha He has a place in the big kids class (4 and 5 year olds) at daycare and I have no doubt he'll learn a LOT from his teacher, Mrs. Monique (sugar booger to Malachi!) He loves to take Aunt J (another daycare teacher) on "dates" to McDonald's or Feldman's and adores our new home! His favorites right now are riding his bike, helping Daddy mow our grass and playing a "Kerplunk" type game with bumble bees! He's become quite adept at finding ingenious ways to argue without actually arguing, i.e. "Hey Mom, you know what?" then going on to say the exact same thing I told him he'd better not say again. Everytime he gets in trouble his first defense is to tell me, "Hey Mom," "Yes handsome?" "You know what? I love Daddy." Or, vice versa! And, if we're both getting onto him, all of a sudden he loves Lolli! haha I do love how sensitive he is when it comes to disappointing one of us! I"m glad his heart breaks when he thinks we're disappointed...I'd much rather him have a tender heart about that so that we can use discipline as sparingly as possible. (And, it's working...for the record...not all the time, but real discipline is few and far between these days!) More importantly, he has memorized 5 memory verses since Christmas, John 3:16, Colossians 3:20, Psalms 119:105, John 1:3 and Jeremiah 10:10. We try to do one about every 6 weeks and I'm so glad we're planting those seeds in his heart now!

Well, I won't lie...there is a good chance I won't have any more posts for a while. My brother is getting ready to ship out to West Cost Baptist College next Friday so we're all driving him to Lancaster, CA via San Diego next Friday. My parents, Malachi and Logan's best friend, Tanner, will be flying back next Tuesday and Thomas and I are going to head back down to San Diego for a day to go to Sea World and then drive back arriving home hopefully early on September 1st! I'm very much looking forward to the trip and very much NOT looking forward to dropping my baby brother (who happens to be 22 and 6'5") off that far away! However, I know this is the Lord's plan for his life so I couldn't be more excited for him and to see what the next phase of his life is going to bring!!!

3rd Birthday! (Only 2 months late in posting!)

2011-07-06T09:13:00.000-05:00

HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY MONKEY!!!

I cannot (I repeat) CANNOT believe our sweet boy is a whole 3 years old! Everyday is so much fun with him and it's really hit us over the last couple months how grown up he has become!!! On top of truly (not just saying this because I'm his Mom) being a really smart kid...he's hysterical and keeps us laughing constantly!

As I said in my last post, the last few months have brought a LOT of changes! On May 14th (Thomas' birthday) - we celebrated Malachi's birthday! No invitations...mostly family and a few friends...ALL fun! The reason we didn't go all out? Our entire household was packed in boxes because on May 16th (Malachi's actual birthday) we closed on our new home! So, as you'll see from the upcoming pictures, we had a "leftover" party! My mother is known for going out and getting plates/cups/bowls for all our celebrations. Inevitably there are 6 or 7 bowls and 3 or 4 plates left over from each party! And, besides using those when we're out of our "fine" paper goods (ha!) we still have a stash of mis-matched stuff! Thus - the "leftover" party! I love it because it was easy...no one cared (least of all Malachi) and we didn't have to spend much money at all! Which, as you all know, is optimum when planning a party and a large move at the same time!!! (See all the different patterns? Christmas, Graduation, Halloween and even Baby Shower!)

We LOVE our new home and soon I'll put pictures of Malachi's new room up! It's the first we've tackled and I love it - though it's DEFINITELY a work in progress! We've also gotten a new puppy, Raider! He's a morkie (maltese/yorkie) and is a DOLL! He's perfect for us and Malachi ADORES him! We're still waiting on some unanswered prayers but continue to trust (I'll be honest...sometimes it's a struggle) the Lord that His timing is always perfect!!

Our New Puppy, Raider!!!

Raider and his brother, my Mom's new puppy, Magnum!

Alright folks - I've got a TON of posts planned over the next week or so so HOPEFULLY this will catch us up! Oh, and have y'all heard of the "dropbox" app? My bestie introduced me to it and, seriously, NOW I feel like blogging again since I can share all of my pictures easily that I take on my phone!

HEY!

2011-06-29T08:51:00.001-05:00

We're here...we're alive! But, in the last month we've moved, had a garage sale, gotten a puppy and been dealing with a 3 year old who hasn't been sleeping all that well!!! And, to top it off...my brother is going to Bible College (SURPRISE!) in the Fall, my cousin is getting married, we've joined the choir at our church and, as of yesterday, my Dad has a COOL new bionic knee!! We'll be back soon!

**Edited to Add...

Amy - I've been trying to get ahold of you through your blog, but it won't let me comment anymore! Colton is absolutely beautiful!

MageeMommy - I've missed you friend! I'm sorry I haven't gotten back, but as you can see, we've been CRAZY busy!!

Easter Sunday!

2011-04-29T08:26:00.000-05:00

Our Easter Sunday was much like most others we've had - Church - Lolli's house for lunch/eggs - playtime - chocolate bunny - CRASH!!!

Yep, that about gets it in a nutshell! After church we all headed to my Mom and Dad's house for an Easter lunch of ham, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, rolls, green been casserole, homemade red-eye gravy, deviled eggs, corn and desserts!!! (Oh my...the desserts!) It was perhaps the most beautiful day we've had all year with very little wind, beautiful temperatures and a bright sun!!! Seriously gorgeous! We even took our festivities outside and ate and played in the back yard for most of the afternoon!!!

And, in other news...WE SOLD OUR HOUSE!!! We found a house that we really thought we might like about 3 weeks ago and decided to go look at it. Turned out, it was perfect for us! So, we made an offer contingent on our house selling. The sellers agreed to a 30 day contingency so we ramped up to get our house sold...we had TONS of showings in the first 2 weeks and then found out that the sellers had a non-contingent offer (we think) on the table so they told us we had until Wednesday, April 27 to get ours sold. Prior to that we had a buyer who then had a family emergency and couldn't buy ours. So, on Monday the 25th...we thought all was lost. Turns out, God had other plans...as of Wednesday around 5:00 p.m. was accepted an offer and now, we have 2 weeks to pack and move into our new home!! I'm SO stinkin' excited!!! I'll be sure to post pictures when we move in and get everything set up!!!

Oh, and yes, I uploaded over 20 pictures to one blog post. It's getting to the point that if I don't blog it immediately, it doesn't get blogged!!! haha

Scroll through these next pictures and see who the most difficult child to photograph of the 3 of them is right now...

Looking for eggs!

Double fistin' the Chocolate Bunny and Ring Pop! (YUCK!)

Where has the time gone?

2011-04-06T14:53:00.000-05:00

I used to be SO much better at this whole blogging thing than I am now! I used to have fun topics and creative titles. Now, I struggle just to blog more than once a month! This was such a great tool for us the first two years of Malachi's life and now I'm completely letting it go to the wayside...which I'm VERY sad about. This is basically Malachi's baby book, because I just haven't been so great at keeping his up so I really need to get back with it to record some of the hysterical things he says and does on an (almost) daily basis!!!

As you can see with the last two videos I posted, he really is a ham! As has always been, he's obsessed with music still and LOVES to dance and sing! He's also been doing really well memorizing his memory verses for his new Sunday School class and got his first prize last Sunday for saying Colossians 3:20 all by himself! They do the verses every month I think so in between, I think we're going to try to memorize some of our own. Any suggestions on the next one we should work on????

As I mentioned (briefly) in my last post, we transitioned him to a big boy bed and he's done absolutely fantastic with it!!! He's only gotten out of bed once or twice after we've put him in...although for a couple weeks we dealt with constant yells of "MOMMY" or "DADDY" from his bed for a while after we put him down. He figured it out pretty quickly that we weren't playing and he's done SO great since then!

Although, it must be said, he doesn't always sleep the way I would!!!

He's also a major blanket hound...the more blankets, the better! haha

We also had a birthday party for my grandmother in January at my Aunt's house and then another, SURPRISE party for her in February so my aunt from Dallas could come! For 70 years old, I think she looks fantastic and I'm glad that I have good genes to look forward to when I'm her age!!!

We've spent a few days at the park feeding the ducks and enjoying our time there and we've created a new tradition...Donut Stop - every Saturday morning!!!

And yes, those are cheetos! It's tradition in my family - Ducks LOVE cheetos!!!

Here's Malachi and Kadi Jo at the park with Lolli one pretty (albeit windy) day!

We've enjoyed beautiful days at the playground waiting for Daddy to get off of work...

We've gotten our first baseball cap...

We've participated in Crazy Clothes Day at Daycare...

We've helped Lolli and Pops at Sams...

And yes, we've had our first ankle sprain...which led to our first trip to the doctor for a possible broken bone and an X-Ray!

Finally, we got our family pictures made for our church directory and LOVE them!!! Here's a sneak peek...we didn't want to pay an extra $20 just to have the CD so here's a picture of our family picture...you get the idea though!!!

We did meet our goal of getting completely out of consumer debt by March 15th (I need to update that) and March 15-19 were some of the BEST days for us!! However, on March 19, my car died, as in the transmission completely went out! So, we made the painful decision to get a VERY affordable used car which still required us to use credit. We bought a 2006 Stratus with 70K miles for about $8,000 so hopefully we'll be able to have that paid off within the next few months. However, we're going to split half our extra income to go to the car and the other half to go to savings to build our savings account up! Of course, if the Lord chooses to bless us sooner rather than later with another pregnancy, we'll put that debt on hold until we get our fully funded emergency fund. (So, if you want to pray specifically for that, I wouldn't mind!)

We are constantly amazed at our sweet son and his heart! He never fails to say "bless you", "please" and "thank you" and reminds us constantly to do the same. His new thing is saying "May I..." instead of "Can I" or answering us, "Yes you MAY." He has a very proper teacher who is teaching him SUCH great things!!! Although he's a typical (almost) 3 year old in most ways...we haven't really had too much of an issue with behavior. Of course, that doesn't mean he's perfect - in fact, the other day, he hit three times at daycare and the consequences were dire for him! I showed up and he told me what he did at Lolli's prompting, so I took his favorite stuffed monkey away (Frosty the Snow Monkey...can you guess when he got that?) and put it on top of Lolli's filing cabinet. I told him Frosty would have to spend the night at daycare all by himself - and, though that bothered him, it didn't seem to affect him as much as I was looking for. So, I threw it away in her trash can. Of course, THAT got his attention, but that's exactly what I was going for. I felt like I had to make an impression on him and the next morning, he woke up saying he wanted Frosty back and he wouldn't hit anymore (without our prompting, I might add) so it did the trick. (Of course...5 seconds after we left, Frosty was taken OUT of the trash can...I may be tough, but I'm not MEAN!) Well...that was last week and two nights ago, Thomas heard him in his bed talking to Frosty saying "It okay Frosty, I not hit, you not go to dumpster okay?" I guess it worked...and though it broke my heart to hear that, I'm glad that we can get his attention that easily! Other than that, he's a VERY sweet, VERY happy, VERY handsome little boy and I feel SO blessed to be his mommy!!!!

Another Cute Video! (I'm much more proud of this one!)

2011-04-01T14:51:00.000-06:00

So we've moved from John 3:16 to Colossians 3:20.

"Children, obey your parents in all things for this is well pleasing unto the Lord."

The Artist Formerly Known as Our Handsome Little "Prince"

2011-03-31T11:11:00.001-06:00

Our boy - so talented - so comical - such a ham!

Since the last time

2011-02-10T17:26:00.001-06:00

This is what we've been up to...

1. Not blogging (but that's obvious, right?)

2 - Eating chocolate pudding while mom tries not to be OCD and wipe my mouth after every bite!

3. Setting up and sleeping in our big boy bed!

4. Eating lunch with Pops wearing matching shirts!

5. Digging out from the snow...La Nina Who?

What number am I on? Oh yeah...6. Spending an hour making my sweetheart a fruit bouquet!

7. Taking pictures of aforementioned sweetheart EATING his fruit bouquet...in 10 minutes!

8. Making Valentine's for Malachi's Class!

As you can see...we've really done some fun things together since Christmas came and went! Thomas is doing ABSOLUTELY fantastic on his diet and has lost 20 pounds in the last 6 weeks!!! He feels great, looks even better and has more energy than he has in a VERY long time!! I, on the other hand, have TOTALLY fallen off the wagon! I certainly haven't gained anything, but I'm just not losing anything either. Honestly, I gained about 30 pounds after high school (I was a TOOTHPICK) and have stayed the same weight for the last 9 or so years (except for about an 18 month period during and after baby!) I'm pretty okay with where I'm at!!

We're also celebrating the fact that Tuesday marked the end of our "3 month post-miscarriage wait" and now have the full blessing of our doctor to hurry up and get pregnant again!! I will be saving the news this time for a while, but I covet everyones' prayers for the health of our next pregnancy...and that it will happen SOON!! We're so ready to have a second little Allen running around!!! Everyone was right...the 3 months went by SO quickly!

I got the unique opportunity of meeting a sweet new life last Saturday as a former high school classmate welcomed her new baby girl Riley into she and her husband's life! She was so sweet at the shower and I was blessed to have her handed off to me so I could cuddle her! Congratulations Lindsey and Josh - the Lord has been good to you both!!!

We've had a little sickness here and there, but we've been blessed to stay relatively healthy through this winter! Getting out of consumer debt is so close we can SMELL it and we can't wait to get our income tax back and hopefully spurn us into financial freedom!! (Well...except for our house and student loans!)

I keep saying that one of these days I'll upload Christmas pictures and here it is February 10th! Oh well...life happens! Now we're planning for Malachi's 3rd birthday (I can't believe it) and I'm thinking we'll go with a Veggie Tales theme...He's stuck on Veggie Tales and the Pirates Who Don't Do Anything right now so hopefully I can come up with something creative for that!!

Other than that, life has continued to be good to us and we continue to feel God's presence in our life together!

And, just in case I haven't mentioned it in a while...I sure do love my husband! He is an incredible father, and incredible husband and an incredible man! He sets the bar in my book!!!

We're alive!

2011-01-18T13:39:00.000-06:00

Man I cannot believe it's been almost a month since Christmas! This last three weeks has FLOWN by!! Right after New Years, Daddy and I took a trip to Austin, just the two of us, for a work trip and had a fantastic time! It was just the rejuvenating couple days we needed! We stayed in a super-swanky hotel in downtown, had dinner with good friends and spent the trip re-connecting. Of course, we were VERY ready to get back home to our baby boy, but couple time is ALWAYS a good thing! Oh, and no, I didn't take any pictures. I just wanted to live for those 48 hours!!

I will update with Christmas pictures soon (I hope) so you can see all the fun we had!!! This was the first Christmas that Malachi seemed to understand even a little bit of what was going on so it was pretty fun opening gifts with him!! He is STILL asking about that big green Christmas tree, but the questions are coming fewer and farther between! Hopefully he'll either (a) forget about it or (b) finally figure out that he'll see it again next year! (I'm thinking the former is much more likely than the latter...although ask me in June - he may still be asking by then!)

We're figuring out that Malachi has a mind like a freaking steel trap! The boy doesn't forget ANYTHING! He can hear a song once and have it down (ask me about Bushel and a Peck...CUTEST THING EVER) - he remembers details from things that happened WEEKS ago that even WE have to struggle to remember! However, the greatest thing that he has done since Christmas is to memorize John 3:16! Christmas night before bed he wanted to read his Calendar (Advent Calendar...see video post below this)! Unfortunately we tried to explain to him that our Calendar was finished - finally, the idea popped into my head to go get my Bible and read John 3:16 to him. In 2 weeks, he had it down! Now, when he's paying attention, he can recite it with very little help from Thomas or I! I don't think there's anything else I'd rather be filling my sweet boy's head with than Bible verses! If you have any ideas about what other verses are special to you, let me know. Next, I think we're moving on to Psalm 27:1!!

The other major news in the Allen family right now is that we are all working hard to lose weight/tone up. Thomas started on CHRISTMAS DAY...talk about dedication! He had a salad while the rest of us pigged out on enchiladas, beans, rice, chips, hot sauce and queso! And, in less than a month, he's lost 15.4 pounds!!!! I'm not really watching my weight, but more what I am putting into my body and whether or not it's good for me. I've lost like 3 pounds, but I'm pretty much at my ideal weight now so I want to TONE! We are borrowing my parents' WII (to make sure we'll use it before we invest in it) and we're working out with the Biggest Loser Challenge. Thomas is doing a lot of high-energy routines and circuit training. And believe me when I tell you, it's kicking his butt! Bob and Jillian are hard-core even when they're animated!!! I, on the other hand, am sticking to Yoga and very low-impact exercises. My knees are in terrible shape, so much so that our family doctor recommended that I keep an eye on it and go to an orthopedist if they start hurting. It sounds like Rice Krispies every time I bend my right knee!!! However, the Yoga is pretty intense. I'm doing it for about an hour a day and I LOVE it. It's enough to get your heart-rate going and get you sweating AND keep you sore the next day!!! So, we're buying low-calorie foods, stocking up on fruits and veggies (which is a MAJOR shift if you know me at all) and overall just eating more healthy! Some combination of dried fruit/granola bars/yogurt makes up our breakfast routine and neither of us have eaten beef in about 3 weeks! For this steak and potatoes girl, it's been a committment! But, we're enjoying our turkey, string cheese, tuna and other food items and trying to remember that food is for fuel...not for enjoyment!!! (At least not all the time - I've still splurged on ice cream 2 or 3 times...but you can't deny yourself completely or you'll get demovativated VERY quickly!!)

Finally, we are continuing our debt snowball and should be out of debt (except for student loans) no later than March or April of this year! We paid off about $2,600.00 this month, but added about $300 for Thomas' plane ticket to Austin with me so our totals are a bit off! Right now we have $5,900 in our first snowball, approximately $42,000 in student loans and then we'll be done! We will be getting a little out of line as far as the "baby steps" are concerned because we're going to delay paying off our student loans in order to beef up our Fully Funded Emergency Fund since HOPEFULLY we'll have a new Allen in 2011! Thomas and I continue to talk that 2011 is going to be our year! Getting out of consumer debt, funding our emergency fund, MAYBE moving and adding another sweet baby to our home are on tap among MANY other exciting developments this year! I pray that you are as excited about this year as we are and that 2011 will be a blessing for us all!

Oh, and next time, pictures, I promise!

Advent Calendar!!

2010-12-16T21:48:00.001-06:00

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Lately...

2010-12-07T09:26:00.000-06:00

Lately, we've been very busy preparing for the Christmas holidays! This is by far my favorite time of year (which sounds SO cliche, I know, but it REALLY is!) I didn't take ONE SINGLE PICTURE on Thanksgiving because it was just so full of playing and resting and eating and sleeping and chilling. It was such a wonderful way to spend the day!

Since then we've been doing lots of list making, shopping, list crossing offing, party going, Santa seeing and other general holiday comings and goings. Malachi absolutely adores our "Kissmas" tree and it's the first thing he asks for every morning! That, and the beautiful "Jesus Cross" that Daddy made for our front yard!! I am so proud of our little house this year! It's definitely not my dream house, but our sacrifices now will pay off BIG in the near future, I can just feel it!!!

One day while we were shopping, Daddy remembered something that he wanted to start with Malachi as a good memory from HIS childhood!! So, we searched and searched, until we found what he was looking for!

I would like to start a Jesus Tree next year, when Malachi is old enough to kinda understand it, but this will forever be a tradition in our family! Malachi LOVES reading and getting his chocolate every night before bed!

We've spent lots of time decorating both the daycare and my mom's house as well and Daddy has worked very hard to make sure the City of Canyon is as beautiful as everyone expects it to be! (Hey Daddy, you succeeded! I've never been so proud to see a 30 foot (20 foot?) LED Christmas Tree in all my life! Can you spot Malachi?)

Laying Under Lolli's Tree! It spins so it's really cool to watch it from underneath!

In the little bit of quiet, family time that we HAVE had, we've gone out to dinner and spent some quality time, just the three of us!!!

Finally, after church last Sunday, we all went out to eat and I snapped this CUTE picture of Karter, Malachi and Kadi Jo! They sure love each other!!

Lolli watched Malachi during naptime on Sunday afternoon and Daddy and I got some more shopping done! Then, it was time to come home and start ANOTHER new tradition!!!

Malachi was so excited and did REALLY well helping me put this together! (And, if I can brag on myself a little bit, I think I did pretty well not being too OCD about it looking perfect!!! haha)

We shared lots of giggles...

...lots of eating yummy candy...

...lots of icing licking...

and lots of pride in our first Gingerbread house!!

Thomas and I continue to heal and grow with one another in our faith and in our love! The last two years have brought a lot to our plate, but I'm so thankful that we have grown together! If I was to be completely honest, I would tell you all that I have been experiencing some bitterness and frustration with our current situation. I would tell you that I'm sick of seeing pregnant women all around me and that sometimes I even get angry. Not at God, just at the situation. Now, that being said, please don't misunderstand me. I know as soon as those feelings come in that it's just the Devil trying to dissuade me in my belief that God is still on the throne and that He ultimately knows the best for me! I know it's bitterness and as soon as I start feeling it, I try really hard to just put it out of my head. I don't WANT to feel this way! However, I'm also realistic in that this is probably a normal emotion to be going through! So, if you're pregnant and you're reading this, please know this is not targeted at you in ANY way. I am thrilled for those women whom God has chosen to be pregnant in this season of my life. Because, I realize this is just a season and that seasons pass, all too quickly sometimes!! Our doctors' appointments are all finished, and now, we wait. Which stinks...and which we're not so good at! I don't WANT to wait (she says, stomping her feet and crossing her arms!) I want a baby and I want one NOW! Above all, though, I WANT to be used of the Lord in this situation. I have always told God that I want to be used of Him. Of course, I never thought this was how He would do it, but I pray that He will use me to be a testimony to someone, anyone, out there who might be experiencing the same things as I am! I'm sure Paul and Silas didn't exactly plan on being thrown into prison when they surrendered, but when they did so, it was with joyfulness and singing unto the Lord! And, I'm sure that prison guard in Heaven now is thankful that they had the attitude they did!!!

Funny Things Malachi Has Said!

2010-11-15T20:04:00.001-06:00

So apparently we have been singing "Ring Around the Rosie" all wrong! I've been singing "ashes ashes we all fall down." According to Malachi it's "a@#less a@#less" we all fall down. Pretty appropriate if you ask me considering the boy has no butt!!

Oh, and tonight as I was *ahem* cleaning him up in the bathroom, he said "Look Mom, 2 popcorns!" and then he flushed! I guess I should be happy he can count!!!

He is SUCH a mess!

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This weekend -

2010-11-15T14:00:00.000-06:00

Sorry for the lack of creativity! It eludes me at the moment...you'll just have to forgive me!!! ha

This weekend was full, but in a very relaxing, very re-charging way! Friday didn't start out so great as our sweet baby boy was diagnosed with and got a BIG shot of steroids to treat Croup! Can I just say, YUCK? Croup is what caused him to get so sick 2 years ago so I'm not a big fan of the virus itself! When he woke up Thursday night around 11:30 and coughed, I knew IMMEDIATELY what the cough was and what it meant. So, Daddy stayed home Friday and after we took him to the Dr., they both went home and rested! (Well deserved for Daddy...he's been pretty busy in the last week!)

Saturday morning, Malachi's cough was gone and he seemed to be feeling well so we decided that for ALL of our sakes, we needed to get out of the house for a little while. We headed to breakfast with Lolli and Pop before we spent some time at the "scratch and spit" stores, Lowe's and Home Depot looking around!! Then, we came home, took a nap, cleaned house (kinda) and got ready for Aunt Donna and Uncle Steve to come over. They're some of Malachi's favorite people - especially Uncle Steve! Although, we continuously laugh that we're not sure who's more tired when they leave, Malachi or Uncle Steve!!! hahaha

Sunday, since Malachi had been sick, we decided to keep him home from church and we got busy around the house! By 10:00 a.m. the dishes were done, laundry was separated and going and several loads had been completed, closets were cleaned out and Malachi's room looked like this...

We were planning on transitioning to a big boy bed this weekend, but with him being sick, we didn't want to rock the boat! He's not climbing out of it or anything, but it's time! (insert sad face here) I cannot believe my little boy will be 2.5 years old tomorrow!!! So, we're going to HOPEFULLY go to a big boy bed NEXT weekend!!! I'll be sure and update on how that goes!! As a friend pointed out on facebook, though, at least it was his room and not the living room that looked like that. So true...however, THIS is what the living room looked like approximately an hour later!!

Yes!! We were decorating for Christmas. Now, before I hear all the moans and groans that it's not even Thanksgiving yet...let me explain. Not only are we responsible for decorating our own house, but we also help my parents decorate their daycare AND their house. So, it's necessity that we decorate early - or it might be too late by the time we DO get around to our own house! Just like last year, we went with the lime green, white, silver and red motif and I LOVE it just as much as I did last year!!! Sorry the picture's a little dark...the lights were off and all of these pictures were taken with my phone!

This is our tree topper this year! My mom bought it for me and I LOVE how whimsical it makes the tree feel!!!

This little cutie likes it too!!!

Cheese!!!

All we have left to do for our house is hang our giant stocking on our front door, decorate our light pole outside and hang the lights outside!!! Hopefully that'll be done by this weekend!!

As far as other things are concerned - here's where we stand. I had my blood drawn last Wednesday and my "levels" dropped significantly from last Monday's levels. This (I guess) indicates that my pregnancy was NOT ectopic which (again, I guess) is a good thing. I'm still trying to wrap my head around everything! We are headed back to the doctor this Wednesday to do a final check of my levels and then meet with our fabulous doctor to discuss. What we're going to discuss, I'm really not sure. I want to know why they thought it was ectopic to begin with...I want to know where we go from here and when our 3 months starts...I want to know what we do when we do get pregnant again - Will we be more cautious when I do get pregnant again? Will we do more close monitoring when I do get pregnant again? What should I do for the next 3 months to get my body as ready for another baby as possible? Do I HAVE to wait 3 months? (I know the answer to this...but I still want to ask!)

Emotionally and spiritually we're doing very well. We've had lots of time to cry, snuggle, talk and joke over the last week and that has done WONDERS for our marriage! Truly - I've never felt closer to my husband than I do at this very moment! Thomas has been my rock this last week and continues to lead me through this. I have a husband that lots of women would kill for - and that fact is not lost on me! Some of the hardest things we've had to do is to try to choke back tears when Malachi comes up and points to my belly, laughing and saying it's a boy. (It's a game we played...he would say it was a boy and I would tickle him and tell him it was a girl!) Throwing away the baby's pumpkin from a couple posts back and then telling Malachi we had to throw it away when he asked where it was...Packing up his "big brother" T-Shirt because we just can't bear to look at it right now. These are all things we've had to just push our way through this week! On the other hand, we've never questioned why...I had a few angry moments last Wednesday after my blood draw, but, again, Thomas comforted me (on facebook, nonetheless) and brought me back to reality pretty quickly!!! We're just ready to put this behind us, never forgetting, but moving forward with the next stage in our life together!!! I've been listening to my Pandora "Selah" station a LOT lately and have been comforted by many of the songs the Lord has chosen to play for my sake! All in all, life is good, God is better and we're thankful for what we DO have and who we DO get to hold and cuddle each night!!!

One very long weekend

2010-11-08T18:53:00.001-06:00

I've never understood why people wait 12 weeks into their pregnancy to announce to the world that the Lord has blessed them! Sure, I know the whole superstition about miscarriage during the first 12 weeks, but that's never been something I've really, fully, grasped. Now, I do.

Beginning on Friday, I began to experience light "complications" which continually got worse and worse throughout the weekend. This morning, Thomas and I were at Dr. Hopkins' office from about 9:30 until 12:00 going through scans and tests and exams to confirm what our hearts already knew. The Lord decided to bring another of our precious babies back into His beautiful kingdom. We were back at 1:30 for more bloodwork and talked to the nurse soon thereafter since the Dr. was off bringing another baby into the world! Here's the rundown -

Yes, we had a miscarriage. However, it is suspected that I had an ectopic pregnancy, as opposed to a "normal" miscarriage. (Is there such a thing?) Beginning on Thursday I started having HORRIBLE back pains which radiated around my midsection and down into my leg. After a quick trip to the Dr., the nurse on call did a simple test to check for infections and when it came back negative, it was determined that it was just sciatic nerve (or something like that) pain. I went straight to the chiropractor where she worked on me for a while and really did make me feel better. (AFTER she stopped working on me...during HURT!) Then, everything started Friday night. I can't help but think that it's all somehow related. Not the miscarriage and the chiropractor, but the miscarriage and the back pain. We're facing blood draws again on Wednesday followed by weekly blood draws thereafter to determine if my hormone levels are dropping like they should be. If not, we may be faced with surgery to clear out any remaining tissue.

Now, after the physical pain of yesterday when it got REALLY bad, and after the emotional AND physical pain of today, we're beginning to heal. Thomas has been incredible during this time and, honestly, our marriage is already strengthened SO MUCH by going through this! We both know there is a reason that the Lord is allowing this to happen; and, even though we don't know what that reason is yet, we're at peace. Yes, we have our ups and downs, and probably will for some time, but all-in-all, we're doing okay! We'll be able to start trying to get pregnant in 3-4 months assuming that surgery isn't in the Lord's plan!

One of the worst parts of this whole experience? We saw TWO young girls there who had multiple children today. When I say young, I mean in their teens. And no, I'm not condemning them, nor judging them. However, it sure did STINK to be reeling from the pain of a miscarriage and watching a 15 or 16 year old girl walk in with her mother, her 1 year old and her two newborn twins. The funny thing was - I told Thomas I wanted to be angry, but who would we be angry at? There is no benefit to being angry at those girls, as I am no more deserving of God's blessings than they are! Since when did I become all high and mighty and above anyone else? The Lord doesn't look on sins as we do. A sin, is a sin, is a sin. And, until I go through a day, or heck, even an hour without having a bad thought or saying something I shouldn't have, I'm not any better than anyone else. I'm only a sinner, saved through God's amazing grace, trying to be a testimony, but failing miserably more times than I care to admit!

Halloween 2010!

2010-11-01T13:38:00.000-06:00

Halloween 2010 was a BLAST! Malachi was old enough this year to understand the concept of Trick or Treating and he couldn't wait to wear his "Lawy the Coocumber" costume!!!

If I do say so myself, he's the cootest coocumber I've ever seen!! These pictures were taken at the daycare right before his Halloween Party!

Here he is with Lolli - AKA "Witchiepoo!"

Saturday morning we decided to paint our pumpkins instead of carve them! And, I'm so glad we did!

Painting his first colors!! Think he enjoyed it?

Version 1 of the pumpkin...

...which soon became...

...version 2! Beautiful shade of gray!

My sweet husband and our beautiful son! Seriously, it just doesn't get any better...*

Dirty boys!

Our pumpkins! Aren't they cute?

At Lolli's house fixing to go trick-or-treating!

All the kiddos!

Finally - going to see our favorite people! Aunt Donna and Uncle Steve!!! Our Halloween was definitely a treat, not a trick!!!

*Oh, and remember when I said it just doesn't get any better?????

I LIED! I bet it's better next year when we've got two little ones!!! This sweet boy's gonna be the best big brother EVER!

Canadian Fall Festival

2010-10-27T15:02:00.000-05:00

Just like last year, this year the fam headed up to Canadian, Texas for their annual Fall Foliage Festival! And, just like last year, (minus our best friends), we had a complete blast!!! The weather was beautiful, the craft fair was awesome (thanks Mom for the purse) and spending time with family and friends was wonderful and JUST the re-charge we needed!

On the way there, we had the most BIZARRE experience, in the little town of Miami (my-AM-uh, for those of you NOT from around here...NOT my-AM-ee). This gentleman is a volunteer firefighter raising money for breast cancer research and awareness!! One of them was even holding a sign saying "Saving Second Base!" SO funny!!!

Both times we've gone, we've headed to the same restaurant for lunch. Both times we've gone we've been disappointed. We won't make that mistake again. However, we had to get pictures again!! Just for the sake of comparison - I've put a picture from LAST year and from THIS year! Boy - we've changed!

And, just because I LOVE Black and White!! (This one's going on our picture wall!)

At the restaurant we let the kiddos play on a really cute staircase they had (it led to storage, so it wasn't a big deal) while we waited!!

Kadi Jo and Malachi LAUGHING their heads off!!!

The Three Amigos. (Kadi - 4, Karter - 5 and Malachi - 2.5!)

I hate that this picture is so dark - but these are my two handsome men!!!

And, again, for comparison sake - Malachi THIS year...

Malachi and Aunt Donna - LAST year. My BABY is GONE!

After lunch we headed out to Lake Marvin for a horse drawn carriage ride and the kiddos got to run around a little! Here's me and my baby boy waiting for the horses!

And...last year! Look how FAT he was! Man I miss those cheeks!

After the horse ride, we headed out to the historic wagon bridge right outside of town for some more pictures! And, we got some good ones, if I do say so myself!

My sweet husband and I!

Karter, Kadi and Malachi running off some steam!

Pops, Kadi, Malachi, Lolli and Karter!

And finally, my baby, Daddy's big boy and Lolli and Pop's Handsome Prince! (Yep, this one's going on the picture wall too!)

It was a wonderful treat for us to get away for the day and just enjoy God's beauty!

Where in the world is???

2010-10-14T17:31:00.000-05:00

The Allen Fam-i-ly? Okay...work with me, it's been WAY over a month since my last post. Reason? Frankly, 50 hours at work per week + general busyness with family = my blog being WAY down on the priority list!!!

Do I have anything super exciting to post about? Nope - not really! We've had some doors that the Lord has closed in our lives so we're currently looking for some open windows...preferrably with nice hot pies cooling on the sills...think that'll happen?

Malachi has been relatively healthy, other than a minor case of strep and an official diagnosis as being actually allergic to mosquitos...Thomas is doing well - I'm going crazy, but doing okay! Life really seems to have sped by over the last 3 months so my contact with the outside world has dwindled down to facebook and an occasional phone call!! But, the holidays are coming and that's my FAVORITE time of year so I'm hoping things will calm down enough that I can really enjoy the moment!

Almost a month ago Thomas and I took Malachi to Dallas for a good friend's wedding and had an absolute BLAST! Strangely enough, it was the first time that the three of us had ever gone out of town alone. Without Lolli and Pops! And yes, there was much crying for them...but their "handsome prince" survived the weekend unscathed! Malachi was so fantastic on the trip, even though he went without naps a LOT of the time and could have been quite a little stinker! He was great on the plane ride there and back (thanks to the help of suckers and brand new dollar store toys!) and LOVED Aunt Net and Uncle Frankie's longhorns!

Waiting at the airport for our DELAYED flight!

I seriously need this one blown up!!

He decided he needed to get wise to the emergency procedures just in case he needed to assist anyone!

We were headed to the Stockyards to take a trip on their train, but because of our delayed flight, we pulled in JUST in time to see the train take off! So, we made the most of it and went to the petting zoo! (and yes, there was TONS of hand sanitizer involved)

See the train t-shirt? Yep - see, I way planned ahead! So much for planning. Oh, and yes, that is a goat walking around freely! It was really quite sweet!

Petting the "Hee-Haw!"

Watching the cattle drive with Daddy in the BLISTERING heat!

THEN we went to play with the misters!!!

He thought that was just about the coolest thing next to powdered donuts!

Love those sweet chubby cheeks!!

When we missed the train, we thought it might be fun to spend that money on a horse-drawn carriage. Not sure it was worth it completely - but Malachi had fun and it gave us something to do!

Here's our sweet horse, Eloise!

We finally made it to Aunt Net's house where Angela (my cousin) captured these precious photos of Malachi...

...and his cousin (Angela's daughter), Sophie!

The next morning we got ready to head out to meet up with my other aunt and cousins (of whom we didn't get ANY pictures...dang it!) - but not before visiting Josie!! (Right Aunt Net? That IS Josie right?)

He would've climbed in there with her if we would've let him!

Literally fixing to give her a kiss!!! Now, he can't see a longhorn picture without yelling JOSIE!!!

Other than that - we've had a really boring few months! (Which I guess we were due after all the excitement this summer!!) We've got some hopes on the horizon that we're waiting for God to fulfill...but until then, we'll keep going, knowing that His way is not our way and His thoughts are not our thoughts!!

Oh, and one more thing - congratulations to Amy and Chris on their new little bundles of joy still growing in their mommy's tummy!!! Love you girl and we're so excited for the Lord's blessings on your life!!!

2010-08-26T14:35:00.000-05:00

Our 3rd day was spent off ship (YEA!) in Cozumel. It was DREADFULLY hot when we got off the ship and terribly humid. But, we were headed to a water park so we were (somewhat) prepared!!

The front of our ship docked in Cozumel

After walking around waiting for the water park to open up, we wanted to eat pretty quickly after we got in! We had a hamburger - (at least that's what they SAID it was...)

We played in the sand and water in this little bitty lagoon area. It's actually the only part of the beach that isn't rocky with cliffs. It's the only place you can walk down into the water like this! Malachi had a BLAST!

Exfoliating Daddy's skin! He LOVED smushing the sand all over Daddy!!

Overlooking the ocean - it was gorgeous!

All the little huts towards the middle of the picture were places where you could rent snorkling gear. So, mom and I did!! We snorkled for about an hour, then Thomas and Tanner joined us for a little while. Thomas, however, was NOT into it, so he got out about 15 minutes later!

Finally it was time to rinse off in the fountains before getting back into the taxi! (BTW - "air conditioning" in Mexico is rolling the windows down and driving like a maniac...just thought you might want to know)

We got back that afternoon and freshened up before dinner. Lolli and Pops took Malachi so we could have some quiet time together and we sat and talked for about an hour and a half just looking out over Cozumel! It was wonderful!

That night at dinner was "Italian" night and during one of the songs everybody twirled their napkins in the air! SO FUN!

This is a terrible picture of Malachi, but the best one that any of us had of Barb, our waitress. She was fantastic and in LOVE with Malachi. (common theme throughout the cruise) He thought pretty highly of her too and it's taken about a month for him to stop asking for her!

My dessert that night with my husband's artistic flair! Sweet thought!

There are only so many ways you can keep a 2 year old entertained. This was one of them!

Pops and Mali resting after eating dinner!

The rose guy loved Malachi too and gave him a rose after dinner. So, he did what any good grandson would do, he gave it to Lolli!!

So she took him dancing!

Then he started dancing with these two sweet people. That gentleman is 80 years old and the lady with him is his daughter. Malachi just went right up to them and they took to him so well! Then, after the dance, he gave Malachi a gold dollar which now resides in his piggy bank for safe-keeping! SO sweet!

Our next day looked a lot like this...RAIN! We ported in Key West and had about an hour before it started POURING down rain!

We ended up getting out in it and playing! SO fun!

Sad part is, it was raining so hard that my camera got ruined. I didn't get any good pictures in Key West, or for the rest of the trip. (Which was really all traveling anyway!) We got home safe and sound but will NEVER forget the fun we had on our cruise!!!!

On another note, you will see on the sidebar that I've stolen another idea. This time from Today in Dietzville. She and I are both working (with our husbands' leading, obviously) on getting out of debt and she put up her debt owed and debt paid amounts...LOVE how bold that is. However, I also realize that several people will be encouraged by seeing that it CAN be done - SO, I've done the same!

As of today, we have $10,550 left in consumer debt and $44,000 left in Student Loan debt. Considering that we started with $32,746 in debt just over 15 months ago, I'm thinking we've done pretty well! At this rate, we'll be out of debt (not including student loans) by December or January...dependent upon a few circumstances! We'll tackle our student loans after that - SO, conceivably, we COULD be completely out of debt except for our house by the time we're 30!!! Thomas has done an incredible job of keeping us on track with spreadsheets/charts/graphs, etc. But, we don't spend a dime without the other knowing about it and we're using our envelope system to keep us accountable! It can be done - you CAN win with money!!!

2nd Day and Captain's Dinner!

2010-08-16T13:02:00.000-05:00

After we ate our first meal in the windjammer and got all unpacked, it was time to chill out for a little while before dinner!! So, Daddy and Mali relaxed for a little while watching Little People!!

Mali decided he wanted to try on Lolli's hat before dinner and put it on all by himself. In fact, he wore it a LOT. (Only while we were in our rooms, of course! hahaha)

This was our first night right before dinner!

We woke up the next morning thinking it was early so we could get up and watch the sunrise. Well, it was 9:00a.m. SO, we got up, got our swimsuits on and headed down to breakfast. Malachi kept looking out the window saying "We Moving? We Moving?"

MMMM...breakfast! As you can see, it was deserted. NO ONE gets up that early on a cruise! So, we had a large majority of the area to ourselves!!

We climbed in the pool (seawater...yuck) and had the whole thing to ourselves!! No other kids, no teenagers...and it wasn't burning up either! BEAUTIFUL morning!

He wanted to wear my sunglasses...and he wanted me to wear Daddy's sunglasses...

A little girl at the daycare made this hat for him and it was originally all colored in. Needless to say, I don't think it was waterproof! hahaha I still love this picture of our sweet boy!

Climbing on Daddy's back!

Funny Story - children that aren't potty trained are not allowed in pools on the ship because they're not filtered or chlorinated. (I think that's why) Even swim diapers aren't allowed. However, I bet I had to show no less than 5-7 people his underwear to prove that he is potty trained...NO ONE believed me! Here we are giving that gentleman a high-5 after showing off our underwear AGAIN!

He was done swimming and so was Daddy (not mommy...she could've stayed in all morning!) - so they lounged together by the pool!

After swimming and napping it was time to get ready for dinner! Thomas taught Malachi this "look" - he's really perfected it since then, but this was the first time the whole trip that we got it on camera!

Here's me and my wonderful family right outside the dining room before the Captain's dinner! It was so nice to get dressed up with my handsome husband and son!!!

My beautiful mother and I!

My brother, Logan and I - He cleans up pretty nicely huh?

All the handsome men we traveled with. (L to R - Tanner (Logan's best friend), My Dad, Logan, Thomas and Mali!

Our family!

Seriously - does it get any cuter than this? And, to think, he's only 2 and behaved like an ANGEL!

Yes, the people in this picture are gorgeous, but LOOK at that view! We got to dine by the water EVERY NIGHT!

Malachi's ketchup smiley face from our favorite waitress, Barb! She LOVED him and the feeling was VERY mutual!

Eating like such a big boy

Every night he would finish early and sit by the window...still saying "We moving? We moving?"

The requisite sunset picture...that I tweaked a little! I LOVE the finish on this picture!

This was our first towel animal! It's watching the TV with Leroy (the monkey on the left) and Zolt (the monkey on the right, named after the DJ on the ship!)

And here's our very unhappy boy ripping his sunglasses off that stupid towel! He was SO sleepy by that point!!!

The Best Vacation EVER - Part 1

2010-08-02T16:06:00.000-05:00

As many of you know, our family goes on a big family vacation every July to celebrate my brother, Logan and our Mom's birthdays!! We've gone to Dallas, Colorado, New Mexico and San Antonio...this year, Logan turned 21 and my beautiful mom turned 49 - SO, we HAD to do it up big!!! We began planning this vacation in January, paid it in cash (Go Gazelles!) and finally left July 21st for our voyage on the Grandeur of the Seas with Royal Caribbean!!!

We flew out Wednesday at 4:00p.m. from the Amarillo airport - you can see who the star of the show was! I think all eyes were on our sweet baby from the second we stepped into that airport to the second we stepped out of it back into the Amarillo heat!

He LOVED the airplanes and couldn't wait to get on!

Once on the airplane, our long day REALLY started. Our first flight was only an hour from Amarillo to Dallas. Our second flight began after a 30 minute stop in Dallas to pick up more passengers and then it was another hour flight to Houston Hobby. We had an hour and a half layover then we were supposed to fly out at 7:40...we didn't actually leave until almost 9. This put us in Fort Lauderdale at 12:00...where we finally settled into our hotel around 1a.m. Thankfully Malachi slept from Houston to Fort Lauderdale so the travel there was fine!! Unfortunately, he thought it was time to wake up once we were all ready to go to sleep so it took us a while to get him back down!!

Malachi and Daddy from Dallas to Houston! Hands up for takeoff! WEEEEEE

And from Houston to Florida! Isn't that sweet?

The next morning we all got up pretty early because we were so freaking excited! We could see the ocean from our hotel rooms and we could even see our ship from Mom and Dad's room! Here's my sweet husband and our beautiful (albeit very sleepy) little boy waiting for the shuttle to the ship!

On the way!!

THERE IT IS!! We were literally only 5 blocks from the port! SO exciting!

Yes, I know, I'm a dork! This is just the most anticipated trip we'd ever had!!

Stomping down the gangway after waiting in several lines! He did SO well!

If you know me well, you know that I was more than a little apprehensive about being on open water. We West Texas girls aren't exactly used to that much water! So yes, I took a picture of the lifeboats!

This was the view from the looking towards downtown Fort Lauderdale! BEAUTIFUL!

Of course, our first stop on the ship was to the Windjammer Cafe - all you can eat nearly 24 hours a day!

Then it was time for Muster...they allowed us to leave pretty early on since we had a young child! Oh, and yes, my son has a leash on. I HATE HATE child leashes, but I was terrified (see above) of the water. I had MANY nightmares leading up to the trip...so, he wore a leash for the first few hours until I got comfortable with letting go of him. It really was very safe...I just needed to get comfortable! No apologies! At least this one was a monkey! Malachi actually loved it! Thanks go out to my boss and his wife...they lent this to us!

Finally, it was time to shove off! Thanks to the Coast Guard for keeping us safe and guiding us out into open water! (Oh, and that big boat in the back...it was a Dole boat carrying either bananas or pineapples and it was HUGE!)

Stay tuned...part two will include our first couple days on the ship including the Captain's Dinner!!!!

Just a few pics to tide you over!

2010-07-28T13:00:00.000-05:00

We're here...

2010-07-21T09:39:00.001-05:00

JUST BUSY!!! We've had a CRAZY few weeks around our house. Mommy's been working some major overtime at work - it's just that season! And, Daddy's been working hard at his work since his boss officially retired on June 30th. Just been busy! And, there's no hope of it slowing down anytime soon since...

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WE LEAVE ON OUR CRUISE TODAY!!!! Thomas, me, Malachi, Lolli, Pop, Uncle Logan and Tanner are ALL GOING ON A CRUISE TODAY! We're SO excited and we've spent a TON of time preparing, planning and paying for it! (Cash, I might add...thank you VERY much!) We're going to Ft. Lauderdale then from there we port and go to Key West and Cozumel! We'll be back Monday at 7:00a.m. then we fly back to Amarillo. So, I'll probably be out of pocket for a few more days...who am I kidding, WEEKS, after that! haha

Hope you all have a blessed time!!! In the meantime - here's some cute pictures of my boys/family on 4th of July AND a video of our sweet boy counting to 13!!! SO proud!

Life is to short not to LIVE it!

2010-06-10T17:25:00.000-05:00

In the weeks since Malachi's 2nd birthday (Oh My Gosh, I still can't believe I'm saying that!) we have been very busy. Particularly the weekend of May 29th!!! (5 points to whomever knows the significance of THAT date!)

Thursday night, May 27, Daddy was outside working on our VERY beat up yard. The woman we bought our house from never, EVER mowed until she got citations from the City because her (our) yard was SO overgrown with weeds. Last year was spent on our hands and knees for DAYS straight digging up weeds that just wouldn't go away!!!

THIS was just one of the many weeds that were taking over our lawn. Yes, those are the weeds you see growing along highways and in the drier areas of the state. It's called a Russian Thistle and those things have thorns on them like you would NOT believe.

Okay - Back to my Story - We finally seemed to have gotten rid of many of those weeds and this year Thomas sprayed some sort of SUPER killer on our yard. Our grass was shocked for a couple weeks, but now it's coming back thick and green and in the next month I expect all the little yellow patches to be gone!!! So, Daddy was working on our yard and Malachi looked out the window and said, "Ouside, Daddy?" I took one look at him and said, let's do it! Yes, he was in his underwear. He had just finished eating Spaghetti and was a mess. These are even training underwear because they're the first ones I grabbed after I cleaned him up from dinner!! So, we threw on his shoes, grabbed his favorite ball and headed outside with Daddy!!! I would NEVER have believed what a wonderful few minutes we would have had or the adorable pictures I would have captured if you would have told me!!!

TRY to tell me this doesn't look like one of the happiest kids you've ever seen!

So, we started playing. Daddy has a game where he throws that $1 walmart ball (We used them in Junior high as a "war ball..." but, I guess that's a whole 'nuther story huh?) against the house and it catapults right back at Malachi. (Don't worry...it's NEVER going fast enough to do any damage if it hits him...which it has...and he laughs down to his TOES!) Not a bad reaction time is it? hehehe Ya think he's anticipating it a little bit?

The ball isn't actually about to hit him...It's actually about 3 feet to his right...He still THOUGHT it was coming though!

Then, Daddy rolls the ball on TOP of the house and it bounces down and around...Here's Malachi trying to CATCH the ball!

Hi mom!

I am IN LOVE with these action shots!!! He was laughing SO hard and having SO much fun and I just COULDN'T stop clicking away!

The fun briefly stopped while a VERY loud motorcyle drove by and Malachi ran to Daddy for protection. I think this might be one of my favorite pictures of the two of them! SO sweet to see him running to Daddy for protection and Daddy providing that protection just like a good Daddy should!!! It's okay son!

After the "ball" game wore out, he decided to play chase around Daddy's City truck and I popped out from behind the porch at the right time to scare him...He screamed like a little girl and took off running again!!!

Of all the picture sequences I've taken, I think this might be close to my favorite so far! I will NEVER forget the giggles we ALL had that night and how much fun it was to see our baby boy running around in his undies and Nikes playing in the front yard!! Sometimes you just have to throw reason out the window and LIVE a little bit!

My Birthday Boys

2010-05-25T12:34:00.002-05:00

My Boys' Birthday weekend was, in a word, hectic! Daddy was very sick the night before his birthday with what we THOUGHT was food poisoning. We figured out it WASN'T food poisoning when Mommy woke up very early the morning OF Daddy's birthday with the same symptoms. NO FUN! The virus seemed to go as quickly as it came, so even though neither of us were feeling 100%, we still went out to eat at Daddy's favorite Italian restaurant, Napoli's! It was supposed to be a surprise party, but Daddy has learned to read Mommy too well over the last 12 years, so the surprise was ruined. We still had a great time, though with our wonderful friends!! After dinner we went to see Robin Hood...it was actually a pretty decent movie...and I'm not even a fan of Russell Crowe! Daddy had already gotten a few small gifts from Mommy and he got his cards and his gift from Malachi (a bubble mower) that morning. We have talked about having a bubble mower for our children for as long as we could remember and now, Malachi is old enough to get out and help Daddy in the yard. I can't wait to get some good pictures of the first time they "mow" the yard together!!! Thanks to our wonderful friends for a good night out and thanks to Lolli and Pop for watching Malachi!

(L to R - Steve & Donna, Melissa & Kurt, Daddy & Mommy!)

Saturday morning was, well, eventful. We spent most of the day at Lolli's house cleaning and finishing the final touches for the party. Then it was time for the party!!!

Here's the birthday boy, still unsure about everything and surveying the situation! And, a REALLY great shot of his shirt. Isn't it precious?

Once everyone got there, he started to warm up, as long as he had his BAlloon, that is! CHEESE!!!

Trying to sample his cupcakes early...I don't blame you buddy, they were AWESOME weren't they?

Here's Melissa taking pictures for us with her really cool camera! Maybe one of these days we'll have some blow money to spend on a nifty item like that. Not yet, right Melissa? We've got to keep up that gazelle intensity!!!

Yes, this one is a LOT like the one in my new header...but it shows mine and Malachi's matching dimples! I think it's the ONLY feature he inherited from me. He is SO his father! (Thank the Lord!! Malachi, you've got a wonderful Daddy who loves you very much!)

Once all the kiddos started to filter in, it was time for some cheap and easy entertainment. Enter, Lolli with Bubbles!

I just LOVE this action shot!!!! So many kiddos having SO much fun!

And, here's Malachi signing "More" because Lolli had gone inside...she was hyperventilating from blowing all those bubbles!!! hahaha

And, since Lolli couldn't "hear" his sign language inside, he thought he'd just holler for her!

Finally it was time to open presents...with as much patience as a 2 year old has for opening multiple presents!

After presents, all the kiddos sat down to eat on the tarp in Lolli's living room. I'm telling you, this might have been our best idea! All the kids sat on a big tablecloth and when they were done, we picked it up and tossed it! So easy and it protected her carpet!!!

Dear Malachi,

I can't believe you are already two years old. Every single day it seems you are doing something new! You're learning SO FAST!! You've been fully potty trained for about a month now and are doing so well with that! You LOVE your Thomas and Elmo underwear and haven't had an accident in a VERY long time!!! Your vocabulary is increasing every day and you're starting to speak in sentences more and more often!! Your first sentence was "Bye Bye Choo Choo Train" while waving out Lolli's office window to the choo choo! Every morning Daddy puts you in your carseat and you say "Kiss? Kiss?" until he finishes buckling you in. Then, you get your kiss, you give him a hug and he closes the door. As we're backing out, you always say "Bye Bye Daddy" and blow him a kiss...and then you and I call the bus and the choo choo until we see one of them. (Usually it's the school bus...so if there's no train, you just say, "Bye Bye Choo Choo or, Choo Choo Bye Bye" and we head into daycare!) At night we've taught you how to sit by your bed and put your hands together while we pray. Then, it's your turn to say "Thank You Jesus!" followed by a VERY excited "aMEN" - emphasis on the "MEN"! You love to eat Chos (Cheerios) and Pink (Cap'n Crunch - don't ask me where that came from...) for snacks, as well as Puffcorn and Goldfish. You're in size 6.5 shoes, 24 month/2T shirts and you're between 18-24 month pants. You're wearing a LOT of track suits right now (when it's too cool for pants...which won't last much longer) because your legs are so long, but you're so skinny! We have to roll most of your shorts at least once in order for them to fit snug under your little belly! Your 2 year checkup was last Friday and you weigh 29 pounds (62%) and are 37" tall (88%)!! You still love music and love to dance and your favorite shows are Thomas the Train, Curious George, Little Einsteins and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse! You know many of your shapes by sight and can pick out AND NAME a triangle, rectangle, diamond, circle, oval (your favorite), star, heart and square! You know all of your main colors including black, brown and pink and we got a compliment on you a few weeks ago after church because the nursery workers were so impressed with you! You talk ALL the time...hmm, wonder where you got that! Although you're testing the waters with us, it's not often and you're a pretty fast learner that Mommy and Daddy aren't playing around. Malachi, you are an absolute joy and my favorite time with you is rocking you at night still. You LOVE your Daddy and would prefer him to do EVERYTHING if it were possible! I only get to rock you SOME nights - Daddy gets preference! You are SUCH a loved little boy and have NO lack of people to spoil you! I could not be more thankful for you and can't believe it's been 2 whole years!! I love you my sweet handsome!

Mommy

2010 Birthday Extravaganza! - Decoration Pictures!

2010-05-24T13:43:00.000-05:00

To start with - I have to compliment 1 business and one incredibly talented cousin!! The Cake Company in Canyon created this REALLY cute and SPOT ON cookie cake for Malachi based off of his invitation! GREAT JOB Mandi and Crew!!! If you're in Canyon and you need a custom cake, these are the girls to call!! Secondly, my enormously talented cousin, Angela Sanchez, runs Sophie's Sassy Stitches and hand-sewed Malachi's t-shirt based on an internet picture of the theme! Thank you Angela - just like last year, his shirt was perfect!!

Here was Malachi's cake BEFORE the traditional finger-smearing took place...

...by THIS little guy and his Lolli!!

And HERE'S the after effects of said tradition!

Here is the cupcake stand Thomas and I put together out of cake boards and foam cylinders with decorative ribbon!! I'm REALLY quite proud of it!

CUTE Napkins from The Celebration Shoppe - Who, incidentally, ALSO furnished the train cupcake picks, napkin rings, "Thanks" stickers, plates and other coordinating items. They also customized their train invitations to match our theme!!! SO FUN!!! These girls have an easy to use website and TONS of cute ideas!!! (Disclaimer - MOST of what you see here was COMPLETELY ripped off from the internet!! I am so NOT that creative!)

We got these cute conductor visors off of Oriental Trading and got the Train Whistles (handed out as favors as kids LEFT) at rtdtrading.com!

The Drink Table

There is a story behind this train!! Our dear friend, Nancy Camp (the wonderful woman my mom bought her daycare from) had this hanging at the daycare FOREVER. I was honored to use it at Malachi's party!

VERY fun cupcake picks! We just cut them out, used foam squares and attached them to brightly colored scrapbook paper before putting a toothpick in them! These turned out SO cute. Also, the cupcake wrappers were printed, cut out and double stick taped around the cupcakes. (Note - My Aunt, Gradena, made all of the cupcakes for us and COMPLETELY saved our lives! They were chocolate and white wedding cake!! THANKS Gradena! She said it's easier to ice them AFTER you've put on the cupcake wrappers!)

These are some FUN and EASY Tissue Paper Pom-Poms!

I was VERY happy with the way his birthday banner turned out! However, I couldn't get a good picture of it with my cheap camera! Oh well...you get the idea!!

Thank you to everyone who helped decorate and just gave general input! I could not have done it without all of you!!! And, thank you to Lolli and Pop for letting us take over your house last weekend! Love you guys VERY VERY MUCH!!!

Resurrection Sunday - Part 2

2010-04-21T08:00:00.002-05:00

So, after we had a HUGE lunch of ham, brisket, potatoes, mac and cheese, rolls, salad, TONS of desserts and YUMMY ice tea - it was time for the Easter Egg Hunt. Malachi was too young last year, so this year was particularly fun for us for the first time. I'm still not convinced that he understood it all and by the time we got around to hunting, it was WAY past his naptime. So, he hunted a little and then went out for the count. We still had a wonderful time, though!!!

Here is Malachi's Easter Bucket. I got the idea online, but decided the buckets I saw were WAY too expensive to buy. I could TOTALLY make that!! And, it turns out, I was right!!! I had tons of fun with Aunt Danielle and Aunt Kelly making these buckets with our kids. I'm thinking we started a new tradition!!

Here's all the kids' buckets lined up outside and ready to go!! Robert's was dinosaur, Kadi Jo's was, of course, Princess, Karter had Pirates and Malachi had Monkeys!!! I'm telling you, these were SO easy to make and SO MUCH FUN!!! And, they're personalized. Malachi is now using his as a crayon/coloring book holder!! However, I STILL don't think he likes to touch the handle with all the ribbons on it...He would NOT carry it while hunting for his eggs!!

All the kiddos getting ready.

Our baby boy's first time hunting (well, okay, picking up) Easter Eggs!! I remember last year how LITTLE he was. Just crawling!!! Man, how time flies! I'm so glad we're enjoying every little moment with him. I know I'll blink and he'll be graduating!

Mali - LOOK!

Got it Dad!

He was SO proud of his eggs!! This is approximately 1.2 seconds before he smashed them together and egg went EVERYWHERE!!!

After naptime it was time for the traditional chocolate bunny!

Don't even THINK about taking it away from me this year!

How incredibly blessed we are to have such a beautiful little boy! He is SO happy. (Most of the time, anyway!) And, did you notice? UNDIES!! I am happy to report that we are completely potty trained except for naptime/nighttime. He's been waking up dry the last couple weeks in the morning (with a few exceptions) and as far as I know, he's waking up dry at naptime. So, we'll be transitioning to underwear at naptime and then slowly get to nighttime. We'll be DONE by the time he's 2!!!!! I'm SO proud of him!

In just 1 short month he'll turn 2 and I've already spent 2 whole Saturdays on party prep! Thanks to Lolli for helping me shop this past weekend and thanks to Lolli AND Brittany (my baby brother has a girlfriend...tear)for helping me put together his banner. Here's a sneak peek of the party theme...

Finally, here's my baby boy eating his second chocolate bunny...another tradition!! He had JUST woken up from nap, so he was still a little whiny!!

In which I rant

2010-04-12T17:42:00.000-05:00

Okay - so I've been thinking of posting this for quite some time. As most of you know, I have a big mouth. Over the years I have (somewhat) learned to guard my words and "think before I speak..." - Sometimes, however, it's okay to rant. I did during the last presidential elections and it felt good...however, this is NOT going to be a political rant. Well, at least I don't think it is. Rarely do I NOT edit myself when I'm typing, but this is going to be one of those times. I'm hacked off and I don't care who knows it.

Since when did it become okay for children to back-talk their parents? Since when did it become okay for children to sass and get ugly and throw fits and throw toys and not mind and disrespect? Since when did it become acceptable for parents to sit by and watch their children have screaming-mimi hissy fits and subject all of us to their tantrums? Since when did it become okay to allow children to run society? (Or at the very least, their parents' homes?) Since when did it become okay for children to hit and kick and scream at their parents, or other children and NOT face consequences? Since FREAKING WHEN?

I have a two year old. This weekend I was actually given condolences when a couple next to me in Hobby Lobby noted Thomas and I picking out stuff for Malachi's birthday party and they asked how old he was. (He wasn't with us, he was with my parents a few aisles over and NO I didn't know that because he was screaming...I knew that because my parents were helping us look for stuff for his party and I could hear him giggling!) CONDOLENCES when I said he is fixing to be two. Why does that make me so angry? BECAUSE, MY NAME IS JAMIE ALLEN AND EVEN THOUGH I HAVE A TWO YEAR OLD, IT DOES NOT MEAN HE'S TERRIBLE!!!! Why, you ask? BECAUSE I DISCIPLINE HIS LITTLE BACKSIDE AND TEACH HIM THAT THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES TO EVERY SINGLE ACTION HE TAKES! He has learned this from the time that he could comprehend the word no. He got a spanking this weekend because he wouldn't pick up his toys when he was told to do so.

I am so completely over seeing children ALL AROUND ME who misbehave. And NO this is NOT directed at any one person in particular. So, if you're reading this thinking that I'm talking about you, I'm not. UNLESS IT APPLIES TO YOU!!! Children are NOT supposed to get away with murder, or, more close to home, with stabbing each other in junior high.

Unless you start to raise your children properly from the GET GO, then be prepared to visit them in juvenile hall because they decided to take a knife to school and stab a classmate who made them mad!!! It's okay for your children to hear the word NO. It's okay for them to see disappointment on your face. It's okay for them to see ANGER in your face because they are disrespecting/disobeying you. It's okay for them to know that you're mad. (Don't read that it's okay for you to beat them...that's NOT what I'm saying) BUT, it IS okay for them to be disciplined BECAUSE you are angry at an action they took!!! I would NEVER EVER EVER HURT Malachi. But, boy, let me tell you, I have swatted his backside because he disobeyed me. And, you know what...because of that, I get compliments CONSTANTLY on how well behaved he is. He's not SCARED of me, but he does RESPECT my husband and I and he KNOWS there are boundaries.

He's not allowed to run all over the church just because he wants to and the pastor isn't preaching. He's taught to respect it, ESPECIALLY the sanctuary. He's not allowed to climb on the table at home or jump on the couch or throw his toys. WHY? Because he's being taught to take CARE of his toys and OUR couch and OUR table. He's not a little beast because we are raising him in the FEAR AND ADMONITION OF THE LORD! The Lord chastises and punishes us when we sin against Him...why should we teach our children ANY DIFFERENTLY? The only thing that I see that accomplishing is giving them a sense of entitlement...not to mention confusing them. On one hand our biggest goal in life is to raise our children for the Lord, teaching them to respect, revere and YES FEAR Him. But, on the other hand, we give them everything they want, cower to their EVERY whim only to hope that when they're adults they respect God? How can we expect them to respect the Lord and Fear Him if they don't even FEAR US! We can't dish out even 1/2 of what the Lord can (and has and will) - Man parents, I don't know about you, but that strikes a chord with me.

DO THE HARD WORK WHEN YOUR CHILDREN ARE LITTLE THAT WAY YOU AREN'T HAVING TO FIGHT HUGE BATTLES WHEN THEY'RE OLDER!!! AND QUIT GIVING THEM A SENSE OF ENTITLEMENT AND ALLOWING THEM TO DISRESPECT YOU AND ME. FROM NOW ON, MARK MY WORDS, IF YOU SEE ME AND YOU SEE CHILDREN BEING DISRESPECTFUL OF ME, MY FAMILY OR THE SURROUNDINGS I'M IN, I WILL SAY SOMETHING IF YOU DON'T!!!

Resurrection Sunday (Part 1)

2010-04-08T16:39:00.000-05:00

And what a GLORIOUS day it was!! The last two years ~~Easter~~ Resurrection Sunday has been either too cold or too windy to do anything outside. Last year we were out there for about 6 minutes total with Malachi before we headed back in...BRRRR!! But, this year, the Lord saw fit to give us a BEAUTIFUL day. No wind (unlike the last 2 weeks), beautiful sun and gorgeous temperatures soaring close to 80 degrees! Per.Fec.Tion!

Sunday was FULL of activities for our family. We woke up early to get ready for the day and I immediately got to work on finishing my desserts and getting ready for dying eggs. We were supposed to do that on Saturday, but my grandfather was in the hospital with heart problems and Malachi refused to take a nap, so by 7:00p.m. he was OUT. Needless to say, we didn't feel right about dying eggs without him!

Look at how well he's holding that Crayon!!

Still a Little Sleepy!

Daddy's Turn!

LOVE those little FAT toes!

After about 10 minutes though, he was done and just wanted to go play. So, we finished getting ready and headed out for church. We had a short devotional with our AWESOME pastor and 400 of our closest church friends and then ate an INCREDIBLE breakfast they served!! After breakfast, we all piled into the sanctuary for a wonderful Easter Cantata sung by our choir and a very clearly stated salvation message! We were surrounded by our dear friends and wonderful family and that made the day THAT much more special!!

Skeeter (Robert), Malachi and Karter Man!

Carson (looks thrilled doesn't he?), Skeeter, Malachi, Kadi Jo and Karter (I don't know if he was afraid she was going to fall or what, but he did that in TONS of the pictures!) hahaha

SEE, I told you!

Is her hat not PRECIOUS? I think this is the best one we got of these four kiddos!

I have to tell you, this couple is absolutely PRECIOUS! Their names are Clarence and Maydell Pope and you can ask ANY couple in our church - they are the CUTEST, SWEETEST and MOST INSPIRATIONAL couple I've met! They make it their mission to minister to young couples that are just starting out and they have touched our lives beyond belief! We LOVE Brother and Mrs. Pope and PRAY that one day we'll be 1/2 the example to others as they have been to us!! Hmmm...Maydell Allen, what do you think? Seriously, I can't think of many better women to name a daughter after!!!

Except maybe this one! Love you mom and dad!

More to follow later!

These are a couple of my favorite "things."

2010-04-05T16:55:00.001-05:00

As I prepare my ~~Easter~~ Resurrection Sunday post, I want to post something I found a long time ago. It combines two of my favorite things, right now anyway. They're not really things, they're people. Both are living. It's how ONE of those people influenced the other and made him into the man he is today.

Enjoy. (and pics are coming soon, I promise!)

Resurrection Sunday

2010-04-04T06:48:00.000-05:00

Mark 16:6 "And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him."

I pray that the Lord will bless each and every one of you that reads this blog today and that He shows Himself to you in a special way! I am so blessed to be able to call on God as a child of His Almighty Power and I pray that if ANY of you do not know Him as your personal savior, that you will come to know Jesus and ask Him to come into your hearts and save you from your sins! I promise you, life will NEVER be the same if you do!

The Lord is risen! Let us praise His name!!!

Have a WONDERFUL Resurrection Sunday!

Top 10 Tee-Tee Training Techniques!

2010-03-30T15:43:00.000-06:00

I've had people all over the blog world and in real life ask me how it is we're going about potty training a 22 month old, so I thought I'd share our secrets.

**Full Disclosure...everything I'm doing, is because my mother has taught me these tricks. She's been in childcare since I was 4 (that's 23 years people) and NO ONE knows better than she does!**
**EVEN MORE Disclosure...some of this might be a little personal...if it's too much, deal with it or hit that cute little red "x" in the top right-hand corner!**

First, we knew Malachi was ready to start potty training because he would say "potty" or "poo poo" when he was going or soon thereafter. We had reinforced that in the months prior every time he poo pooed or pottied in his diaper. He was also interested in watching Thomas or I in the bathroom and we would continually reinforce "potty" every time there was an opportunity! It is VITAL that your child understand what you're talking about if you want to even THINK about potty training. If he/she is NOT grasping this concept, it's probably not time!

Second, NO PULL UPS. Pull ups feel just like diapers to toddlers trying to potty train. They can't tell the difference between a diaper and a pull-up just because one fastens on the side and one pulls up and down like big kid underwear/panties.

Third, when you start potty training, start with thick underwear/panties and rubber pants on top. This is to prevent potty going EVERYWHERE, but still allow them to feel like they're wearing something different than diapers. (We still do diapers at nap/nighttime, even though after 2 weeks, he's woken up dry the last 2 mornings!)

Fourth, when you're ready to start, you take the child every 15 minutes. Put them on the potty. With Malachi, we would put a little bit of toilet paper in between his legs so he wouldn't "shoot through" and tell him to make "lello" because Yellow is his favorite color. No, his potty isn't REALLY yellow, but it helped him with the visual. We learned quickly that Malachi wasn't completely emptying his bladder and that he would just go a little bit and then tell us he was finished. THEN, 5 minutes later he'd have an accident. So, every time he went for the first couple weeks, we told him to "finish" or "keep going!" He didn't get to get up until there were just drops. Yes, he fought, but he didn't win. Distraction is not an excuse for your child having an accident. NOT when you're spending time every 15 minutes taking him/her! (For example, just now, Malachi wanted his book and I told him he could have it when we got back...he cried for his book the whole time, but didn't get it back until he finished pottying!)

Fifthly, once your child goes on the potty the first time, make it a HUGE deal!!! Do a happy dance, give him/her a HUGE hug and kiss, play music, even give him/her an M&M or some sort of treat. (Whatever makes them tick...you know what that is better than I do!) They get the happy dance EVERY TIME they potty in the potty for a while. With Malachi, we did that CONSTANTLY for the first week. Then, Sunday, he TOLD us he needed to go poo poo in the potty for the first time and DID so we did a MAJOR happy dance at Buns Over Texas!!! (That's a local hamburger restaurant...fitting name for the occasion, don't you think?)

Sixth, once you KNOW your child understands how to "hold" their potty and will go on the potty for you, it's OKAY to tell them or show them you're disappointed when they have an accident. NO, I'm not talking about scolding (at first) - just tell them you're disappointed and shake your head. (It's ALL in the tone of voice!)

Seventh, KEEP THEM IN UNDIES as much as possible while potty training. I'll admit that on the last 2 Sundays, we've put Malachi in diapers because he was still learning and I didn't want to put that burden on the nursery workers in Sunday School and Children's Church. However, he ended up with a dry diaper and pottied a TON as soon as we picked him up, so I KNOW he can hold it. He's ready for underwear next week.

Eighth, it's ALL about consistency. Let EVERYONE keeping your child know that you'll be doing underwear/rubber pants and that diapers are off limits except for nap/night time. Even then, put a diaper on and THEN put underwear/rubber pants on so they still have the visual. This is VERY MUCH a psychological issue!

Ninth, this is NOT something that's going to happen overnight. I think we've had it relatively easy with Malachi. But, we're ALL on board and we're ALL following the same game plan from us, to Lolli and Pops (the grandparents) to Aunt Kelly and Uncle Daniel to his teachers at daycare, we're ALL on the same page! That's KEY! Everyone reacts the same when he goes tee tee in the potty and everyone reacts the same when he goes tee tee in his underwear.

Tenth, (although I'm SURE I'll be blasted about this from some people, I said at the beginning of this post that this is OUR way of potty training. So, it goes without saying that this is MY opinion. You don't like it, that's fine, you do it your way, I'll do it mine!) - I DO believe in waiting until your child is ready. I do NOT believe in being lazy and not giving your child accountability. Malachi will get scolded if he potties in his underwear at this point. He KNOWS how to hold it, he KNOWS how to tell us that he needs to go. Granted, there are times when he'll potty because he's playing outside or has an accident. That'll happen for a LONG time to come. However, we will express our disappointment in him when that happens. Kids need to learn there are consequences.

And, for a bonus, I'll add that we do not use a potty chair. Some do. We just found that he's going to be forced to potty on MANY different toilets if/when we're out in public (EWWW, I know, it's gross, just carry lots of hand sanitizer and germ-wipes!) - I don't want him to be scared of big potties. Again, that's just our choice and it's worked so far. We also have a stool for him to use that Lolli and Pops made him so his feet are touching something when he's pottying. You wouldn't want to hold yourself up by just your arms and not be able to touch your feet for extra stability!

And - Just because I found this one again!

2010-03-29T11:14:00.000-06:00

What did you get into this time?

2010-03-29T11:02:00.000-06:00

Oh the joys of having a boy!!! Daddy thought I was watching him (I was in the bathroom) and I thought Daddy was watching him (he was in the kitchen!) But, it was easier to blame it on daddy!!! hahahaha

Dave Ramsey Weekend Continued

2010-03-27T12:00:00.001-06:00

So, where I last left off, I was explaining the metaphor of getting "gazelle intense." I encourage you to watch this video - and imagine yourself as the gazelle and credit card companies as the cheetah - SEE if it doesn't energize you to get out of debt!!!

Anyway - he used that video along with TONS of clips from "What about Bob" (remember the Baby Steps???)

Another interesting illustration he used was how the credit bureaus calculate your "FICO" score.

35% payment history on debt - 30% debt levels - 15% Length of Credit History - 10% Type of Credit ON Credit History - 10% New Credits (debt) taken out - IT'S A FREAKING I LOVE DEBT SCORE!!! They grade you based upon how much, how often and how long you've been in debt!!!!! Dave also read us his credit score...wait, he doesn't have one. The credit bureaus "regretted to inform him that they were unable to calculate his credit score." AWWW, how sad! He's gone 15 years without ANY debt. 15 years people. No house debt, no car debt, NO DEBT!!! AND HE'S RICH. I'm taking my money advice from him from now on!!

During one of the breaks we went out into the lobby and had some fun.

Here's Thomas and his new best buddy!
Yes - Thomas is the Nerd and I'm the Free Spirit!!!
Our Hero - Hearts Fluttering....hahaha

Back in the venue, Dave brought his beautiful wife, Sharon, out for a visit. Her only requirement was that he was NOT allowed to make her talk!! So, he didn't. She came, she saw, she conquered, she left! That simple!! But, what a beautiful example of how WONDERFUL a marriage can be when you're not stressed about money!! (However, I heard him say JUST YESTERDAY that she STILL carries the envelope system in her purse. She's Mrs. DAVE FREAKING RAMSEY - and yes, she practices what he preaches!! LOVE IT!)

Finally, after it was all over, and Dave had given us every ounce of energy he had, we headed out to dinner. The drive to Cheesecake Factory was hysterical (well, not at the time, it wasn't) - but once we got there, we were EXHAUSTED!!!! We ate outside in the peace and quiet and tried to digest what all we had just learned. We were excited and talked about what all we could sell!!!

It was an incredible trip and one that I won't soon forget!! Thanks to Melissa and Kurt for going with us and for encouraging us! I'm proud of you guys!! I can't wait until we're debt free. Soon, we'd like to consider going to a counselor training session in Tennessee and becoming teachers of FPU since I know there aren't many in our area. Once you've changed your life like this, there's something INCREDIBLE about helping other people get there too!!! My prayer is that the Lord will use our story to inspire others and that we will be open vessels to encourage those that may want to do this, but may not know how!!!

Thank you Dave Ramsey -

New Post

2010-03-26T13:20:00.000-06:00

Blogger posted my blog about Dave Ramsey under a couple of my last posts...

Go HERE to read about Dave Ramsey!

Prayer from Friends and The Lord's Speaking

2010-03-23T02:17:00.003-06:00

I sit tonight (this morning, actually) typing with a burden lifted from my heart. Let me explain.

Saturday, my grandmother (my Daddy's mom) passed away after a long battle with Alzheimer's. It's an ugly disease. It took from her all semblance of a normal life and even her recognition of her beautiful son. We were with her Saturday around 12:45 when she took her last breath on this side of eternity and took her first, meeting Jesus. It was an INCREDIBLE experience for me to take in. I've dealt with death a lot in my life, unfortunately. I know that I will get to see those who are saved by God's grace one day, because I have accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. So, it wasn't a sad occasion for her. Only for us. Only for my dad. And, as any Daddy's girl knows, there's NOTHING worse than seeing your daddy cry. Then, Sunday, we pried ourselves out of bed, though we were drained from the events of the previous day and had a wonderful morning at church. I was overcome when our church sang "Holy Holy Holy" because I knew that as I was singing (or rather, listening, because I was truly overcome) that in my church, in the spiritual presence of our Lord, my grandmother was singing in the PHYSICAL presence of our Lord. She's there. She sees Him. She can touch Him. It was too much for me to understand and comprehend beyond being thankful and in Awe.

THAT was followed by a beautiful special by some wonderful ladies in our church. The song was entitled "Can I pray for you?" and was a wonderful testimony that there is NOTHING more beautiful than friends praying on one another's behalf and mentioning each other's name before the Lord. There is nothing more powerful. So, when someone says they're praying for you, believe that they are paying you the highest form of respect, because they are specifically going to the Lord on YOUR behalf. It's powerful, humbling, awe inspiring stuff.

Tonight we had visitation for my grandmother and, I must say, she looked beautiful. Only, it's not really her. I know that this old, frail body of this "soldier" is a terrible depiction of what she actually looks like now!! So, it was a sad, but peaceful occasion (as peaceful as things can be with MY family and friends involved...you know who you are and you know what you mean to us!) But, still, here I sit at 3:30 in the morning, wide awake. Thomas hasn't slept well, Malachi woke up, not crying, just not sleeping, and I had to rock him to sleep. And, as I rocked him back to sleep, I felt this incredibly unsettled feeling. I don't know why, I just did.

My friend Lindsey at todayindietzville.blogspot.com recently wrote about just such a feeling and how the Lord laid a specific Bible passage in her heart in the early morning hours. And, when she hastened to read that passage, her heart was soothed because she could almost feel the Lord talking to her. So, as a rocked my sweet boy, I prayed that the Lord would just point out to me where He wanted me to read. And, as I prayed, MY mind sifted through several passages that I enjoy reading. But, for some reason 2nd Corinthians stuck out. No particular verse or passage, just 2nd Corinthians. Now, I questioned it thinking, Lord, really? 2nd Corinthians? That's just a letter to a church. Is this really YOU speaking to me, or is my mind doing this?

Still, I finished rocking my baby, and came in to check Facebook before reading 2nd Corinthians. I wasn't sure that it was what the Lord wanted me to do. I posted this "

Jamie Allen is tired, but NO ONE in my house is sleeping well tonight. Off to read my Bible in hopes that this unsettled feeling will disappear in God's word and that His presence will calm not just me, but my entire household tonight!!

Then, I went to read. I opened my Bible and found 2nd Corinthians. Here is what my Bible says before Chapter 1, Verse 1. "The God of All Comfort." CHILLS. Now, I'm going to type the first 11 verses because they SO spoke to me. I encourage you to read them if you're going through a hard time right now. Wow... (all emphasis has been added because this is was stuck out to me)

1. Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia:
2. Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
3. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the GOD OF ALL COMFORT.
4. Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
5. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.
6. And, whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation ans salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
7. And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.
8. For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:
9. But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:
10. Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;
11. Ye also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.

You see, Paul was telling the church at Corinth that their prayers were powerful. And, as he and Timothy suffered and feared for their lives, so the church went through the same emotions. And, as he and Timothy were delivered from their fearful situation, so the church was delivered. The church walked with Paul and Timothy in their time of tribulation and sorrow and fear and rejoiced with them and thanked the Lord on THEIR BEHALF when they were delivered. It's so powerful. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but there is NOTHING more exciting, just like Lindsey said, than when the Lord almost audibly speaks to you. I pray that if any of you ever has a need for prayer, that you will come to me so that I may lift you up to the Father and put YOUR NAME before Him. And, I thank you if you've prayed us through the last couple months of difficulty in our lives. I didn't understand until Sunday just how incredible the words, "Can I pray for you?" really are! I will never ever take for granted prayer requests again.

Thank you God for Sunday's message in song. Thank you for my grandmother's life and testimony. Thank you for a church family and wonderful friends, both close to me and those whom I've only "met" in the figurative sense. Thank you for putting THIS passage on my heart and making it clear to me that you ARE the God of Comfort.

Potty Training

2010-03-18T15:33:00.008-06:00

Yes, that's right, we're potty training!!!

Last weekend, while Mommy and Daddy were away in Dallas seeing DAVE RAMSEY LIVE - Lolli started potty training Malachi. He did so well, that we're off and running for real and he's doing GREAT! He typically makes it through the day without any accidents. Yesterday, he had 1 and that wasn't his fault. We are SO VERY EXCITED and PROUD of our 22 month old boy who is already potty training! We contemplated getting a potty chair or his own little potty, but Lolli explained that he needs to learn to go on a big potty for when we're in public. (Yuck, I know!) So, he's just learning on the big boy potty and it's working perfectly!!! (Side note...I just LOVE the little underwear...SO CUTE!) I realize we'll have our down days, but so far, it's been AWESOME!

Here is a picture of his potty stool that Lolli and Pop started working on this weekend. Pop made it and Lolli put his name and the Curious George face on it. (FREEHAND, might I add!!!) Lolli will paint it soon and I'll put a picture up then!! They've made a stool for each of their grandchildren (Karter and Kadi) so now it's Malachi's turn!!!! I'm SO excited for this change. It's going to be a HUGE improvement to carrying diapers around. (Especially when we go on our CRUISE in July...oh, I haven't told y'all about that? haha Maybe sometime soon!)

Is that not the CUTEST? Of course, we LOVE monkeys, if you haven't been able to tell so far! I'm telling you, I have the most awesome parents ever!! They spoil Malachi (and us) SO MUCH! I'm so very thankful!

As far as what ELSE has been going on...

Today was crazy hair day at daycare...

(Not sure why daddy looks so crazy in this picture...haha!)

And...yes, Daddy and I went with our good friends to see Dave Ramsey LIVE in Dallas this past weekend. It was INCREDIBLE. HUGE kick in the pants to keep going. I'm working on a full-blown post for that one by itself!!

We're starting to work on 2nd b-day preparations and, we've discovered that Malachi is OBSSESSED with choo-choos! So, we'll be putting together a choo choo train party. Not a Thomas the Train party. Just a generic choo choo party. (I'm not into characters all that much...) But, it's going to be a blow-out if I can manage to get all of the ideas in my head to come together!!

Other than that, we're happy, we're healthy, we're on our way to being completely debt free and our marriage is SO MUCH better for it. However, I have one prayer request to ask for...there are some changes that could be coming up in our life (READ: NOT baby related...hahahaha) and we're praying that the Lord will have HIS will. We're also praying that HIS will is OUR will!! I don't feel comfortable saying any more than that right now, just suffice it to say, it would be REALLY great for our family if the Lord sees fit to answer our prayers in the affirmative!!

Be Blessed!!

The Rich Ruleth Over the Poor

2010-03-17T11:42:00.020-06:00

"The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender." This is in the NKJV. King James Version says "The rich ruleth over the poor and the borrower is servant to the lender." (Essentially the same, except I believe in reading from the KJV and as a matter of principle felt it necessary to write out the version I use!)

The weekend of March 13th was CHOCK FULL of fun for the Allens!! Thomas and I left Friday at noon with our friends, Melissa and Kurt Cockrell to go see DAVE RAMSEY LIVE!!! YEAH BABY!

Back up - Thomas and I have been working for the last year to pay off our debts that we've incurred. Stupid Tax, if you will! We have succeeded EXPONENTIALLY and REALLY seen some AWESOME progress. Our credit cards are gone except for a couple. Granted, with all of our medical challenges lately, our snowball has been put on pause. However, we're fired up and ready to start again! And, 10 minutes ago, I was able to take a phone call from BSA (our local hospital) and tell them that, No, I do NOT need to know your payment options, we received your bill and will be mailing you a check next week!!! Do you KNOW how good it feels to be able to just pay those bills and not go in debt? If you don't, ask me, and I'll tell you!!

So, although we've worked hard over the last year, we've still got a ways to go. Our friends are just beginning to get their snowball rolling and it's SO exciting to be there and be reminded of how FAR we've come in the last year and to encourage them about their new life!! In January, when we all found out that Dave was coming to Dallas, we KNEW we had to jump on it! We booked our hotel room (shared with them...hey, it's Dave Ramsey) and jumped in their car Friday afternoon!

In the Back Seat - Stopped in Childress!!

We pulled into Dallas around 8, but it took us another hour to find our hotel because it was NOWHERE NEAR where the maps OR GPS said it was going to be. By the time we unloaded the car, we just wanted to eat somewhere close. So, Outback it was!

No, it's not a good picture of us - We'd been in a car for 7 hours!

Saturday morning was leisurely and fun. We got up and got ready slowly, just chilling out! We left our hotel in plenty of time to get there and, when we did, we couldn't BELIEVE how huge the Potter's House was! We saw it off the highway and figured it was a movie theatre or something. Nope, that's a CHURCH my friends!!!

Just SOME of the 8,000 people that became our friends for the next 5 hours!

Once we got inside, we realized how WELL our $40.00 tickets were going to work for us!! We had AWESOME seats. I would venture to say that they were better than some of the VIP seating that cost WAY more than that!

Look how CLOSE we were!!!

There were cameras EVERYWHERE because it was being simulcast to 250+ locations and, you could text in your comments pre-show and during the break! Here's one we thought that was interesting. Unfortunately, it took Melissa and I a while to figure out who else from Canyon could "Luv" Melissa...DUH, it was from her husband!! haha - SO sweet

After tons of pre-show games with the audience, it was time for Dave to come out and it was SO exciting!!! I swear, it was like being at a concert!

If you've listened to Dave AT ALL, you know about his famous SCISSORS!! Those suckers are HUGE! Anyway, when he performed that plasectomy, we went nuts!! I know, it sounds silly to cheer for a man cutting up credit cards, but, it's SO symbolic for the life changes you make!!! Plus, his energy is just contagious!

He used TONS of powerpoint examples to get you focused on what he was trying to say!! The first one here is a picture of a pack of gazelles. I've always heard to get "Gazelle intense" but never knew what it meant. Well, we figured it out! He explained that he was reading his Bible one night and read Proverbs 6:5 which states "Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler." (In Dave's Bible it said deliver yourself as a "gazelle" from the hand of the hunter) After asking God why he was using animal metaphors, Dave turned on the TV that night only to see, on the discovery channel, a group of gazelles running from their predator, a cheetah. He said he laughed because he then understood why God chose to show him that particular verse. Cheetahs can get from 0-60 mph in only 4 leaps. Cheetahs are a gazelle's most ardent predator. Only, gazelles can leap pretty quickly themselves and often outrun their predator because they have STAMINA!! The whole point was to RUN THE RACE AWAY FROM DEBT, just like a gazelle runs to get away from it's predator. You are in a race for your life. WIN THE RACE!!!

Stay tuned for the conclusion of our trip!! I'll give you a bit of a break since I have learned that if my blogs are too long, you won't read the whole thing before tuning out and I want you to get this!! It's LIFE CHANGING STUFF, I TELL YA!!!

10 Years Ago

2010-03-04T12:31:00.003-06:00

My bloggy friend, Sandy Hop, over at Pardon Our Dust gave me a GREAT idea for a new post. My posts lately have centered around our family and especially, our beautiful son!

However, when Sandy posted about where she was 10 years ago, I thought it would be fun to go back 10 years in MY memory bank. (P.S. If you're reading this on Thomas' facebook, obviously we have this blog set up to upload to BOTH of our facebook accounts. I'm typically the blogger of the family, so, this is written purely from MY perspective!! Maybe we can talk Thomas into writing a blog one day soon!! His last one was when I was still pregnant...hmmm, that's been long enough hasn't it?) That being said...here goes!

10 years ago, I was a senior in high school preparing for my prom with my sweetheart. I had just finished playing "Marty" in our high school musical production of "Grease!" I was getting ready to graduate high school and begin attending college at West Texas A&M University. My senior pictures were done with my precious puppy Odie (whom we lost last year...love you Odie!) My graduation announcements were sent out.

Mrs. Gwinn's Physics class was coming to an end. And, what a WONDERFUL class that was. I will NEVER forget my wonderful physics partner (you know who you were...100 points to the person that guesses who my partner was EVERY SINGLE TIME!) - I will never forget the projects or the hovercraft or mailing a Pringle to the school. Mrs. Gwinn, I will never forget F=MA!!!

2000 was the year that the public, over the PA, prayer before a football game got taken out of the lineup in Texas. I will never forget my experience in trying to change that. Thank you to those of you that supported me in that endeavor. It taught me a lot!

2000 was the year that Thomas and I began our "countdown to marriage!" I think it was supposed to be sometime in 2005, but I don't remember, actually. I DO remember the flip-chart I had in my room forEVER. Everyday I would pull off a number to leave the number of days we had until we would get married. I remember it was somewhere in the 2000s when I started and somewhere in the 1800s when I fell off the bandwagon! I remember coloring page after page of numbers in Speech class. Kelly Tillman helped me...good times!

I remember Teresa Hassell having a FREAKED out look when she saw us fighting one day before class. She couldn't believe it!! haha I remember making out in our car (sorry mom and dad) before school. My kids won't be allowed to sit in their car with a member of the opposite sex either...I understand now! I remember Thomas leaving for Seattle with the choir, and me staying home. I remember crying my EYES out in the rain while my best friend, Chrissy Warren, consoled me!! (Drama, right?) I remember the notebook that Thomas brought back to me from Seattle. He had written me a note every day he was there and then gave it back to me when he got back. We continued that for a long time. The last note in that notebook was to him, from me, on our wedding day!!

I remember worrying about going "off" (more like across town) to college and leaving him in high school. I remember wondering if we would really make it or if SO MANY NAYSAYERS were right that we would break up. (Guess we proved 'em wrong huh honey?)

WOW - 10 years has gone by SO fast. I can't believe my reunion is coming up. But, I couldn't be happier that I'm taking the same wonderful man with me that I took to all my proms!!

10 years, a great job, a cute house, a wonderful family, an A-W-E-S-O-M-E (hehe...love you honey) marriage and a beautiful baby later. Thank you Thomas. You are the love of my life! PHS - 143 - OLIFE!

WE'RE STILL HERE!!

2010-03-02T12:49:00.012-06:00

But Barely. This is going to be a long post, but it will recap WHY I haven't been around!

The last 4 weeks have been REALLY hard at the Allen household. It all began right after the first of the year when we figured out that Malachi was having a REALLY difficult time sleeping. He kept waking up and wimpering and was ALL OVER the place. We figured out that he was having a difficult time breathing at night so we went to the pediatrician's office to discuss the possibility of him having Sleep Apnea because of his tonsils. (Side note, I'm not really sure WHY we didn't go to the ENT, but we didn't) - They tested him for Strep and Flu just to make sure that he wasn't sick from anything else. However, he had no symptoms of either, so we didn't think anything of it! The Pediatrician agreed that he probably had sleep apnea and advised us to get a video of his breathing at night to take to the ENT. Fast forward 5 days.

Ring Ring...Ring Ring

Me: Hello?

Dr: Yes, Mrs. Allen, this is the pediatrician's office. Malachi has strep so you need to start him on a course of antibiotics.

Me: WHAT? He hasn't even had any symptoms. He's not running fever and not acting like his throat hurts.

Dr: Well, the test came back positive.

Me: Okay, send the script to our pharmacy

Dr: Okay

Next day, we go visit Dr. Wright's office, our WONDERFUL ENT, the same that did Malachi's tubes. (I say "we" in a figurative sense...it was my mom and Thomas, as I had 3 meetings scheduled for that particular day!) Malachi begins to play with a little girl over by the toys and a sweet, little, old lady pops over to my mom and tells her that the little girl is VERY sick and has been coughing VERY BADLY the whole time. So, NO MORE playing over there!! The doctor sees Malachi and agrees that he has Sleep Apnea due to enlarged tonsils. We schedule him to get his tonsils out on February 26th. This was on February 3.

The next day, February 4th, Malachi wakes up with a HORRID cough and is running 101+ fever. I IMMEDIATELY thought that it sounded like his RSV cough did LAST year, so I went ahead and gave him a breathing treatment before the doctor's (pediatrician) office opened. We go in and SURE ENOUGH, it's RSV. OH GREAT!!! He runs fever for 4 days (101 to 103) and is REALLY having a hard time getting through. He won't eat or drink, so he starts to get dehydrated. We finally take him BACK to the doctor and they schedule a chest X-Ray. That night, we get a call that he has pneumonia! Perfect! So, in a matter of two weeks, my son has been diagnosed with Strep, RSV, Pneumonia and Sleep Apnea.

We FINALLY get over that. Fast forward to February 16th. Malachi isn't sleeping well, AT ALL. He's tossing and turning. I go in to check on him and realize that his breathing sounds HORRIBLE. MUCH worse than it has been. He can't get a good breath so I spend the next 4 hours trying to HOLD him in a MILLION different positions so he can breathe well. It doesn't work. I call the doctor the next morning and he goes on steroids (again) to shrink his tonsils as they may be inflamed from all the crap he's been going through. February 17th, I leave for Austin for work. Lolli keeps him that evening so Thomas can get some rest. She calls me the next day (February 18th) at 5:00a.m. to tell me that Malachi didn't sleep at all the previous night and that we've got to do SOMETHING. We can't wait until the 26th. I call the doctor and they ask to see Malachi immediately. So, it's Lolli and Daddy to the rescue again. They take him in (again, I'm still in Austin at this point) and call me immediately to tell me that his tonsils are MUCH larger than they were two weeks ago and they want to take his tonsils out the next day (February 19th.) I manage to get out of Austin late on Thursday the 18th, home to hold my baby and go through ONE MORE horrible night before surgery.

Surgery day comes on February 19th, not a moment too soon. Malachi is playing before surgery, without ANY clue as to what is fixing to happen to him. Mommy gets in LOTS of good snuggle time with him and TONS of sweet laughs and kisses.

Can I just say, Versed is an AWESOME drug, but, once it starts wearing off, you'd better hope they've got your kid back in surgery already. If they don't, you are dealing with one HACKED OFF baby!! Surgery and recovery takes about 2 hours and he's back in our arms NONE too soon! He wakes up well from the anesthesia and is actually in a pretty decent mood.

By 9:00p.m., however, his IV goes bad. Thomas and I have to hold our precious boy down while two nurses try 4 times to get a good stick. All while he is screaming "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy" and we look at him writhe in pain. He's begging us to pick him up and we're the ones allowing him to be tortured. AW.FUL!

Finally, they call in an anesthesiologist. However, by this time, an hour of intense screaming has gone by and my blood sugar is through the floor. I can barely stand up, my whole body is shaking and the nurses now put ME in a chair with my feet elevated and are feeding me peanut butter and coke to get my blood sugar to regulate out. I tell them that they're on their own when the anesthesiologist gets there, and that I can't be in the room. They, OBVIOUSLY oblige and send Thomas and I to get some fresh air. 3 minutes later, they say it's over and that the IV is in. So, we head back in only for them to hand him BACK to me and then realize that yes, it's in, but the IV isn't dripping. So we're back for another 45 minutes of SCREAMING while they adjust and readjust and readjust the IV. Finally, at 10:30 or 10:45 it's over. Malachi is hot and sweaty and exhausted and has CRASHED in his daddy's arms. Thus begins a LONG night in the hospital. Though it's a BEAUTIFUL private hospital (Quail Creek for anybody that lives around here...I SO recommend it) and the nurses are WONDERFUL, anyone who has spent ANY time in a hospital knows how LITTLE sleep you get. I was able to keep the nurses AWAY from him most of the night so he could sleep.

The next day, February 20, after about 30 minutes TOTAL of sleep, I wake up sick. (Hmmm...stress? Lack of sleep? Worry?) So, I call a good friend who is a doctor (practically) and she is able to call in a Z-Pack for me. After a HORRIBLE (I'm using that word a lot, huh?) morning, we finally get Malachi to start drinking and, of all things, he asks for a "bite" while we're eating our Taco Villa burritos. He proceeds to eat almost an entire burrito. Aunt Kelly, Karter and Kadi come see us and he has LOTS of fun playing with them...

...then CONKS out.

The doctor says if he can eat a burrito that's good enough for him that Malachi's recovering well and we FINALLY get home around 5:30p.m.

Lolli and Pops GRACIOUSLY offer to stay at our house so Malachi can sleep in our bed and allow us to spend the night at their house so we can get some much needed rest. We did. And, he woke up the next morning in a WONDERFUL mood! Not eating still, but drinking little sips. And, 2 days post-op, we're thinking he's doing pretty well. However, Sunday night comes around and it gets BAD. We're up every 4 hours giving him Hydrocodone for pain. But, in order to do that, he has to wake up and eat something 3 minutes before. Which means, we're actually up every 3.5 hours. But, in order for him to eat something, he has to wake up and we have to have a MYRIAD of options READY for him to eat. Which means, we're actually up about every 3 hours. But, we get through the night and I get up and go to work on Monday, because Thomas didn't need to be off on Tuesday.

Monday goes OKAY, but Malachi starts to begin to have a hard time drinking. 3rd day post-op...we knew this was coming. Monday night, his sleep is restless, but, it's okay. We've learned that the hydrocodone doesn't upset his stomach, so we don't wake him up to eat, we just pin him down and give it to him, then hold him until he goes back to sleep after sobbing.

Tuesday, I stay home and it's awful. He won't eat, he won't drink, he spends the whole day crying and doesn't have a wet diaper pretty much all day. Thomas gets home to relieve me and I begin to question my ability as a mother. I should be able to handle this, but, it's not going well! That night, we begin to pin him down and give him his Hydrocodone and it comes out his nose. Have I mentioned how STICKY that crap is??? It's like Karo syrup. I can ONLY imagine the pain that it must have caused him, so I saline spray his nose out and get him back to sleep. (Only to do it all over again in 4 hours) Honestly, though, he's not really sleeping at this point anyway. He spends pretty much the whole night wimpering and crying for us. Daddy and I take shifts, but really, neither of us is sleeping.

Wednesday, Lolli takes over for us. She brings out the big guns, Karter and Kadi and they ALL spend the day at her house. Every 10 minutes, the 3 of them sit down and drink. It's working for his attitude but he STILL isn't having wet diapers. She begins to worry as do I. So, I called the doctor. And, we begin giving him a syringe of liquid every 10 minutes. He does OKAY, but he's still not wanting to eat and his attitude is HORRIBLE from the hydrocodone. That night, at 1:30, I make the executive decision to take him OFF the Hydrocodone because I think it's making it worse!!

Thursday, he stays with Lolli again and still isn't having wet diapers, so we start doing a syringe every 5 minutes. He's still not eating. He's still not sleeping. Horrible day. That night, he still doesn't sleep. Daddy and I are beginning to get exhausted.

Friday, Lolli keeps him in the morning and Mommy keeps him in the afternoon. It's OKAY, not great, not horrible. He's drinking a LITTLE bit more and has finally started having wet diapers. However, I call the doctor again because he's just NOT sleeping, AT ALL and it's NOT pain related. So, they prescribe Valium. Friday night, the valium actually makes the situation WORSE instead of better and at 3:00a.m., he's BEGGING for Lolli and Pop. They come (because they're such great parents and grandparents!!!) and he FINALLY relaxes around 4:30 and sleeps until 6:30.

Saturday is spent chilling out around the house and resting. Although, not much. Saturday night we try Valium again thinking that maybe there was still Hydrocodone in his system Friday night. NOPE...the sleep is worse than it has been. Then, at 9:00p.m., he wakes up and Thomas goes to get him and bring him to our bed so MAYBE we can get him to lay down. (We'd been asleep since 7:30...we were PASSED the point of exhaustion by that point) I realize that I feel something wet but it's MUCH to much to be drool. Nope, it's bright red blood gushing out of his mouth. He will ONLY drink for Lolli at this point so she gets him to take some drinks of COLD tea out of a syringe. He FINALLY stops bleeding and we get him back to sleep. (kinda) The doctor says if it happens again, we have to go BACK into surgery to cauterize the wounds and that will start the healing process ALL OVER AGAIN!!! I hold him in my arms and he whines "night night, night night, night night" over and over and over and over. He wants to sleep SO BADLY he can't even stand it, but his brain just WON'T shut off!

Sunday, we FINALLY see a turnaround. He is in a MUCH better mood, EATS EVERYTHING IN SIGHT, begs for "locket" and "nonut" (chocolate and donut) and is drinking like a champ!!!! And, Monday, March 1st, the doctor says that he's completely healed, the scabs are gone and he can go back to daycare. Just no hot-tubbing for a while! haha He has a wonderful day at daycare and for the first night in over 3 weeks, he sleeps ALL NIGHT LAST NIGHT!!!

Today, my mom calls and says he's got a rash. We have an appointment scheduled for 5:30.

AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! Seriously?

Finally, here's a cute picture of his brand new monkeys (the large one is from Aunt Kelly, Uncle Daniel and Aunt Danielle and the small one is one that I bought in Austin before I had to leave!) Believe it or not, this picture was NOT staged. I happened to look down in the hospital and see that his monkeys were sitting like this. Maybe I'm just an overly emotional mommy, but this sure looks like a daddy and baby monkey to me! And, it DEFINITELY defines the relationship between my wonderful husband and beautiful son!!

Christmas 2009

2010-01-06T09:43:00.021-06:00

This year at Christmas was absolutely MAGICAL. There were 12 of us at Mom and Dad's house Christmas Eve into Christmas Morning and it was SO fun!! The parents filled the house with presents and food and the kids filled the house with giggling and fun! Here's my sweet baby with his Lolli and Chance before the festivities started! Isn't he just gorgeous? (If I do say so myself, ahem)

Once the rest of the kiddos came it was time to start making our Happy Birthday Jesus cake! It's tradition you know. However, for the life of us, we couldn't get a good picture of all of them!! This is the BEST we got! I'm serious.

Here they all are helping me put in the mix. Karter Lane is holding the bowl!

Yeah - we tried again. And, you'll probably notice a theme here. The ONLY kid who LOOKS at the camera during any of the pictures is Karter. EVERY TIME!

Malachi wanted ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the mixer. He was okay sitting there but had NO desire to actually touch it!

And then, they each got to look a beater/spatula/spoon!

Maybe I spoke too soon - Kadi Jo did a good job looking at the camera here! There's a first time for EVERYTHING right Aunt Kelly?

Here's the final masterpiece! And yes, the first "s" is an upside down 5. You can read about why we have that tradition here.

And, finally, I got my Happy Birthday Jesus plate that I've always wanted to remind Santa why we celebrate! I LOVE this plate and can't wait until my kiddos are old enough to understand it!!!

After we finished the cake, Lolli let all the grandkids open their pajamas for the evening! Here's Malachi's. I ask you, in all reality, are these not the CUTEST things you've EVER seen???

The kiddos played and played and played and finally, it was time to go to sleep. So, Malachi got his new pillow from Aunt Kelly - (Note, Monkey pillow case!!) We are ALL things monkey at our house!!
When the kiddos went to sleep, the adults stayed up and played Wits and Wagers, endorsed by our hero, Dave Ramsey. It is THE MOST FUN we've had in a VERY long time!! It's an awesome game and I TOTALLY recommend it!

After a couple hours of completely side-splitting laughter, it was time for us to ~~get all the Santa stuff out~~ go to sleep so Santa could visit. And, visit he did! Here's Malachi's stocking stuff. Of course he had to have his peppermint stick like he does every year. And I can't wait to watch the Curious George video with him!! Thanks Santa.

Here's his little Santa corner. (Hey, when Santa's putting out toys for 4 kids, you have to be creative!) He LOVES the munchkin bath toys and his pull behind puppy. And, of course, you see the guitar in the front. I'm telling you this kid LOVES music. Finally, the Veggie Tales videos were SUPER exciting for Mommy and Daddy to wake up to. We LOVE Tales from the Sock Drawer already!! However, let me just make a mental note to remind Santa of something next year. Dear Santa, "washable" bathtub crayons aren't supposed to take COMET to come off the bathtub. Just a tip. Thanks!

I have to be honest that Malachi wasn't completely into the opening of presents this year. There was WAY too much activity for him to be sitting down opening presents! BUT, he LOVED this "choo choo", AKA a John Deere Tractor from Aunt Net and Uncle Frankie!! He even knows where each little animal goes and puts them in their proper place while he's playing with it. Genius...I know!

He has also demonstrated an absolute LOVE of driving lately, so we got him this cute little steering wheel toy! He carries it around and really likes to honk the horn!

Here's Daddy playing with him and his new bathtub toys. And, of course, he's got his "buppy" and his guitar right there with him. Rarely do those two leave his side at home. Actually, strike that, I think the guitar has taken up residence in my car!

The adults got in on the action too! Here's daddy with his new 6 in 1 hoodie/scarf/mask/etc! He's wearing it today, actually.

And, though I don't have any pictures of me wearing my earrings, my wonderful husband got me some beautiful White Emerald Hoops and a brand new set of hot rollers! I'm growing my hair out and, though I've had to figure these new boogers out (i.e. - don't leave them in your hair longer than 5 minutes if you don't want to look like Shirley Temple) - I'm SUPER excited about using them in my quickly growing hair!! Thanks honey! I had a marvelous Christmas!

I didn't upload the 200+ pictures I have of Christmas and the AWESOME presents that everyone gave/got for two reasons. The first - I don't have the time. The second - the presents just DIDN'T matter this year! Honestly, this was THE BEST CHRISTMAS we've ever had as a family! Everyone got presents that MEANT something to them. And that, to me, is better than all the money and expensive presents in the world!!!

Wiping tears away - sorry. After 2.5 hours of opening gifts and 7 (55) gallon trashbags full of trash later, the kiddos wanted breakfast. So they ate at their new picnic table from Lolli!!

After this all the families went back to their respective homes to prepare for Christmas lunch. UNFORTUNATELY I was struck with a MASSIVE migraine right after we ate and I was forced to come home and take some medicine. Thomas stayed with me while the rest of my family watched Malachi and played and ate some more. So, Christmas morning was wonderful and magical and COMPLETELY unforgettable, but Christmas Day was somewhat of a bust. We didn't even get a family picture on Christmas. It's such a shame. Unfortunately I can't help but think that the migraine was related, in some way, to the TIA I had a few weeks ago. However, I have found out that I have several goiters on my thyroid so I've been started on some synthetic thyroid medicine to try to help regulate that. I'm trying to get into a neurologist still and now I'm also trying to get into an endocrinologist. Oh well - God knows what's going on and I trust my doctors to treat me well. We'll get it figured out.

New Years was spent at Uncle Steve and Aunt Donna's house playing, again, Wits and Wagers and, come 12:05, we were on our way home. It was quiet and fun and relaxing and we rang it in with our best friends. I'm so thankful for this year and the wonderful new start that we have. Thomas and I resolved to read our Bibles through this year, so please keep us accountable in this. Also, I'm GOING to lose at least 10 pounds by May for my 10 year reunion and for our cruise in July. So, I'm REALLY watching my weight and what I eat! (In other words, don't offer me chocolate between now and August) PLEASE!

I pray that your Christmas was as blessed as ours and I pray your new year will be fantastic and God-filled!

Life as we NOW know it

2009-12-16T09:28:00.004-06:00

A year ago we were concerned about Malachi not being able to hold anything down wondering if he was going to have to have stomach surgery. Pleading with doctors to listen to us that something was wrong with our baby and driving back and forth to multiple doctors' appointments every week. Now, he's perfectly healthy and is the absolute LIGHT of our lives.

This year, it's a new challenge. Last Thursday I had a Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) - Otherwise known as...a mini-stroke. Yes, you read that right. I am a 27 year old female who woke up last Thursday morning and had a stroke. Obviously I'm okay now, but it was, by far, the 2nd scariest thing I've experienced in my life. (The first was waking up when I was pregnant with Malachi bleeding and thinking I was miscarrying him like I did his twin.)

I woke up Thursday morning to the immediate thought of "Okay self, let's get busy, we've got 4 meetings today and it's going to be a crazy day!" After my shower I got a little dizzy so I sat down then I started to feel a headache coming on so I popped 4 Ibuprofen. Obviously with 4 meetings, it was NOT the day to have a headache. Then, I walked into the living room to tell Malachi to take another bite of breakfast (like I often have to do...you know, Curious George is pretty intriguing) and, when I spoke to him, all that came out was a bunch of gibberish. I'm sure it sounded something like "Id po fe mey alaighe aeoifjqpdj" - or at least that's what Malachi's blank stare told me. I immediately went back into the bathroom to see if my face was drooping or anything like that. It wasn't, thank goodness. And, it lasted about 3 minutes or so until Thomas got out of the shower. As soon as he did I tried to talk to him and about every 3rd word just wouldn't come out. It was SPOOKY. But, after that, it was over other than being tired and having a headache. Thankfully my mom HAPPENED (I don't really think it was coincidence, I think it was God's directing) to come over to show me her new haircut and she noticed immediately that I didn't look good. She and Thomas convinced me to go to the Dr. and, as it turns out, it was a good thing I did.

After TONS of bloodwork, an EKG and a CT scan, it turns out that my Thyroid level is high. Not ridiculously high, but high enough to warrant a Thyroid Scan and ultrasound which has been scheduled for the 29th. I'm also taking 2 baby aspirin every day and have been taken off all of my birth control just in case. (That's a whole NUTHER story. No, we're not ready to have #2 quite yet, so we're going to pray that the Lord will allow us 6 or so more months before anything happens in that department)

So, last year it was Malachi and this year it's me. I will tell you, it has completely taken me aback and given me more perspective. It's SO cliche to say that, but, it's true. Lots of things don't really matter like I used to think they did. And, lots of things really DO matter that I used to take for granted.

I covet your prayers at this time while my doctors try to figure out if my Thyroid is what caused this and throughout the next few weeks when, apparently, my risk of having a major stroke is quite a bit elevated! I'll close with this verse that I read Thursday night (actually Friday morning around 1:30) while I couldn't sleep for fear that something might happen and I wouldn't be there to take care of my husband and son. No, it doesn't COMPLETELY apply to this situation, but, it spoke to me. And, for anyone that reads their Bible, you know that the Lord can speak to you and apply ANY verse he chooses in ANY situation.

It's from my favorite book of the Bible...any guesses? Well, I don't know if it's my favorite book, but it is definitely my favorite name from the Bible...

"Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it."

How awesome that our Lord promises us these blessings and CHALLENGES us to prove Him!

And, by the way...it's MALACHI 3:10

It's beginning to look a lot...

2009-12-04T14:46:00.014-06:00

...like CHRISTMAS!!! Wow! How true this statement is! In the last week we've had snow, cold weather, met Santa (well, kinda) and gotten our tree put up, decorated, presents bought and even presents wrapped and put under the tree already!!

Christmas 2009 is in full swing at the Allen household right now and if you can't tell and mommy couldn't be more happy about it! I know I've said it before, but this year is SO SPECIAL because we have a BEAUTIFUL, HEALTHY little boy who is going to be SO.MUCH.FUN this year! The weekend before Thanksgiving we put up our Christmas tree and decorated it. We thought about trying to include Malachi, but he was sleepy and we figured it would be easier to do it with him taking a nap, so, while he slept we decorated! (And it was fun to just spend time with the two of us decorating!! It reminded us of our first Christmas together and how special that time was in our lives!)

Here are a couple pictures of the finished product!! We did our tree in red/white/lime green and silver and could not be happier! It's amazing what some cheap ornaments and ribbon from Wal-Mart can do to a Christmas tree!

All Lit UP!

The Whole Tree!

I LOVE the top of our tree this year!

Last night we took Malachi to meet Santa Claus for the first time and, well, it wasn't COMPLETELY horrible. Of course, we didn't make him sit in Santa's lap since he had a DEATH GRIP on dad the whole time.

Uh...Hi?

Who are you?

Of course, as soon as we put him down, he started backing away and shaking his head, so we left Santa alone and let Malachi warm up a little bit.

He got a cookie and all was good...

Until we tried to take a picture next to the blow up penguins!

So, Thomas' boss was nice enough to take our family picture so we could at least prove we were there!!

Then, mommy got a cute picture...

...and Daddy got too close to the penguin again!

After all the excitement, we went to see Lolli with her new puppy named ______. We don't have a name yet for him. His name right now is Chance, but we don't really think it fits. Do you all have any ideas for a cute name for this little guy??

Finally - Malachi got some good quality time with Pops!

Thanksgiving

2009-11-30T12:44:00.027-06:00

We have SO VERY MUCH to be thankful for this year! Last year we were in the midst of a valley begging God to heal our little boy and make him healthy again. This year, we are on the mountaintop praising that same God for a beautiful home, a wonderful family AND a healthy little boy!!

Thanksgiving actually started a little early for us since LAST Sunday was our Thanksgiving dinner at church. NO LIE, there were 9 - 8' tables completely FULL of desserts that all the wonderful Baptist women cooked for the event. It took 10 women an hour to cut into all of the cakes and pumpking pies and pecan pies and organize the cookies and brownies. It was HEAVEN! (And Malachi enjoyed it too!!)

Here's Daddy and Mommy and Messy Mali!

When I say he was "stuffing" his face, I MEAN it! His FAVORITE Uncle Daniel (and, doesn't Kadi Jo look cute too??)
Whip Cream Face!

In preparation for Thanksgiving, I had been looking for some cute Thanksgiving desserts to make and found these at bakerella.com! So, I decided to try them, only as cheesecake balls instead of cake balls. Cousin Morgan and I worked at Aunt Dena's house for about 3 hours on them! We had so much fun and even though they don't COMPLETELY look like Bakerella's (a professional baker, might I add) I was pretty happy with them! Too bad they were so rich that you could only eat like 1/2 of one!!

What do you think?

Otherwise, Thanksgiving went SMASHINGLY!!! Thomas and I were in charge of the ham for the first.time.ever. But, I think it turned out pretty well! We cooked it in 3 cups of Apple Juice, 1 cup of orange juice and then 30 minutes before it was done, we smothered on a brown sugar/honey glaze!

Here's my handsome hubby carving the ham and my daddy carving the turkey! YUMMO!

We took lots of pictures...

Our family

Me and Cousin Mo-Mo

Malachi and Grandmommy

Malachi and Kadi yelling at Gracie - the Chihuahua who ran away with the hambone

Hannah, Kelly, Aunt Dena, Grandmommy, Lolli, Cousin MoMo and Me

...ate lots of yummy food, including the turkey balls...

Kadi and Karter ...and made it home to Lolli and Pops' house just in time to nap, watch the Cowboys play and admire Lolli's tree...
...from underneath... ...while it spun around! (Yes, their tree rotates...does it GET any cooler than that?)

And, finally, I leave you with a couple of pictures and a video of Malachi helping Lolli peel potatoes for her famous mashed potatoes!! (Hint - if you're reading this on facebook, please had over to http://www.tjandmallen.blogspot.com/ to see this video! It's TOO TOO CUTE!)

Halloween!

2009-11-16T12:55:00.028-06:00

I'm a little bit late on posting this. I could go on and on about how busy I've been. I could tell you about my weekends and how crazy life has been. But, I won't. I'll just start from where I left off!!

Halloween this year was a BLAST! Malachi was sick for a few days before with Strep and the Flu, but, we got past it for Saturday's festivities and I'm SO glad that we did! We all decided to get together this year and take our kids trick-or-treating since they're all old enough (almost all of them, anyway) to have a good time!

So, we ALL met at Lolli's house before we commenced Trick-Or-Treating!! All the mommies were thinking that we needed to take pictures BEFORE we started just in case the babies gave up before the night was over!!

This is the best we could get (at least on my camera) - sorry Amanda, Austin wasn't having it! From L to R, (front) Malachi, Connor Cockrell, Austin Schoenenberger (back) Kadi Jo, Karter Lane, Carson Cockrell and Tyler Schoenenberger! And, yes, my son's diaper is showing, those buttons were stubborn!

Special thanks goes to Aunt Kelly for allowing Malachi to use Karter's 1st Halloween costume! He was a HIT! I'm telling you, they just don't come ANY cuter do they? (It's okay if you think the same about your kiddos...I won't mind!) Malachi and Connor - A BOOGER to get them to BOTH look at the camera...AT THE SAME TIME!!! Yes, his face is a little shiny. It was DRY and I lathered him up and APPARENTLY didn't get it all rubbed in. Ask anyone, we're pretty good about gettin' him all greasy!! (It's our secret to his pretty complexion!) A Boy of MANY Expressions!!

Me and My Baby Boy - the only person who knows what my heart feels like from the inside!!

So, who is we ALL, you ask? I've shown you the kids, now here's behind all those little monsters and superheroes! Pops, Kurt Cockrell, Daniel, Thomas, Carl Schoenenberger, Kelly, Tyler Schoenenberger, Carson Cockrell, Keela and Deann, Kadi Jo, Karter Lane, Lolli, Malachi, Amanda Schoenenberger, Austin, Melissa Cockrell and Me (behind the camera!)

We all piled in Pops' truck and headed over a few streets to where we KNEW the trick-or-treating would be at its best! But, first, we had to stop and see Donna at Ninny's house! (We miss you Ninny and we wish you were HERE!)

Connor and Malachi Trick-or-Treating at their VERY FIRST HOUSE EVER!

Emmalie, Aunt Donna and Frank...er, Malachi! We're so glad, Aunt Donna, that you got to be part of his first Trick-Or-Treating experience! We love you!

He caught on pretty fast!

Lolli and her little monsters!

This Frankenstein danced and sang Michael Jackson songs! Malachi danced and danced!

I just thought this was a cute angle!

Our protectors! I told them they looked like bouncers! (Or a parade float!)

And, finally, here's a couple pictures of Lolli all tricked out as Witchiepoo (Malachi was napping) and visiting Pops with Kadi and Karter (Post-Nap!)

Honest Scrap Award!

2009-10-28T14:05:00.003-06:00

Here are the rules: Say thanks and give a link to the presenter of the award. Share "10 Honest Things" about myself. Present the award to 7 others whose Blogs I find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged me. Tell those 7 people they've been awarded Honest Scrap and inform them of these guidelines in receiving.

Wow - a Blog Award? REALLY? Thanks to Sandy from The Hop Family for the awesome award. I'm NOTHING if not honest! So...here goes!

1. My rear end hurts from the two shots I got yesterday to treat my sinus infection.

2. I secretly LOVE days when either I'm sick or my son's sick because that means that I get more time to spend with him and MUCH more cuddle time!

3. I LOATHE cooking.

4. My favorite time of the month is payday. NO...not for the obvious reasons, but because that means we get to see our debt reduced again!

5. I'm working HARD at becoming a better wife thanks to the Lord and our awesome Ladies' Bible Study based on Psalm 14:1. LOOK IT UP!

6. I can't wait until we DO get our debt paid off so that we can continue fixing up our little house! Then...ultimately, we can sell and move into our dream home and be RICH!

7. I'm nervous about getting pregnant again. I didn't handle post-partum very well last time and with all we've gone through with Malachi (GRANTED...not NEARLY as much as some others!) I'm a little apprehensive. Oh well...I've (hopefully) got a while before I have to worry about that.

So...NOW to forward this sweet award on!

1. Magee Baby

2. Kelly Michelle - It's TIME to start blogging again!

3. Nicole

4. Elisa

5. Hood Happenings

6. It's a Smalling World

7. Life at the White House

17 months!

2009-10-23T14:17:00.011-05:00

Malachi - you are now 17 whole months old!! How did that happen? What are you up to now?

Currently you have (wait...I have to count) a LOT of teeth! We noticed your first molar has started to come in and actually, over the course of the last couple weeks, you've had 3 teeth that have popped through! You haven't given us an OUNCE of trouble with any of them! (For that I'm VERY thankful)

Last week you were one sick little boy. You were never officially diagnosed with the flu, but I'm convinced that is what you had. Sunday the 11th you started running a fever (around 101.6) so we took you to the clinic in Canyon. No flu according to the test so we treated you for a sinus infection. Then, Monday came around and you just weren't acting right so I took you to see Dr. Young. We were able to get you into a 6:30 cancellation which made us so happy because they made an appointment for you for 10:30 that night! (We're lucky to have Dr. Young!) They also tested you for flu but that one came back negative too. So, we kept you on Augmentin until Wednesday when they called and said there was NO bacteria present so that Augmentin wouldn't do any good! You stopped running fever Tuesday only to start up again on Wednesday afternoon. So, the whole week either me or daddy stayed home with you! And, honestly, it was a GREAT week. You never acted poorly, just tired. So, it was some GOOD cuddle time! (Which I'm VERY thankful for considering you're not really into being still at the moment!!)

You hadn't run fever since Wednesday so we took you to Canadian for the Fall Foliage Festival on Saturday the 17th. You were SO MUCH FUN and were in a great mood ALL DAY LONG!! Here's a few pictures of our trip!

Here's Me, You and Daddy waiting for Lunch!!

You and Aunt Donna! You sure are getting to love her and she SURE DOES love you!

And this is you and Leroy, your favorite Monkey! You were SO sleepy after lunch!

Here's Me and You at Lake Marvin waiting for...

THIS! Your FIRST carriage ride! You stood up the WHOLE TIME watching the horses and talking up a storm!

I think you KNOW who these two people are! They love you SO MUCH!

And finally, here's you and Pop! It sure was a beautiful day!

Monday started a whole new week, especially for you, big boy!! You are now, officially (drumroll please) a TODDLER!! You transitioned SO WELL over there that Lolli just went ahead and moved you over there permanently. You LOVE IT! Addys is one of your new friends and she LOVES to love on you! Meghan and Denise, your two new teachers think the world of you and you're getting spoiled SO MUCH! You are even EATING with the toddlers and you got caught stealing food off of Colin's plate on Tuesday so they had to give you seconds!! You've got SUCH a sweet little personality!

You LOVE LOVE LOVE ANY type of music and will dance anytime music plays! Sometimes it's clapping while rocking back and forth, sometimes it's bending up and down and up and down, sometimes it's marching in place! BUT, if there's music, you're dancing to it! You LOVE your little puppy that plays songs and talks to you and you LOVE one of your little books with lots of pictures of different animals in it! It's your baboo. Why do you call it that? Because there's a hippo on one page and you called it a baboo. So, it stuck! You love your monkey costume that has been hanging up on your closet door since last halloween and you give it a kiss EVERY MORNING before you eat!

Overall you're just an incredible son and daddy and I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!! Thanks for being our little monkey and know that we will always be here for you!

Thanks unto thee for ever

2009-10-01T15:47:00.003-05:00

"To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever."

Never has my heart sunk faster, or beat stronger, or rejoiced more than it did between 5:28 and 5:30p.m. yesterday afternoon. How can all of these things happen at once? How can you be scared, and sad, and shocked and grateful and fearful all at the same time? I couldn't have answered that question until, well probably this very moment as the fog is lifting and my head is just beginning to cipher through the million emotions I went through hearing that my son, only minutes before had been given the Heimlich maneuver by the one person in this world whose love for my son can compete with mine and Thomas' love for him, his Lolli.

Yesterday morning at 8:15 when I arrived at work and unloaded my lunch into the refrigerator, put my coke down on my desk and went to get my cell phone out of my purse, I felt annoyed. I forgot my cell phone. Seriously, not usually a big deal, just an inconvenience. Little did I know that the Lord had seen the events to occur a mere 9 hours later and orchestrated that little annoyance to possibly save me from the torment of what was to come.

5:00 came like it does most days. I was leaving my office headed home, listening to Dave Ramsey, completely oblivious to the fact that my son, during those very moments, had choked on an animal cracker (a cracker whose consumption has become a ritual around 5:00 everyday for my sweet Malachi.) It's usually around 5:00p.m. that Malachi goes into Lolli's office, goes around her desk and looks for the large jar of cookies and patiently (sometimes) asks for a "kiki." And, as he stood less than a foot away from his Lolli, he took one tiny bite (unlike most times when he shoves it ALL in his mouth) and choked on the foot of what appeared to be a zebra upon further inspection. Not even the WHOLE foot...just a little tip off of the foot. He choked, right there with 4 teachers and the second most important woman in his life looking on. This is where my emotions come in. You see, it was then that Lolli saved his life by administering the Heimlich maneuver as she has been taught, and re-taught how to do at her yearly CPR/First Aid certification. The only difference is, she's never had to do it on her own flesh and blood. You see, God knew why I needed to leave my cell phone at home. I can't imagine having been in rush hour traffic knowing that my son wasn't breathing and that an ambulance was rushing to his aide while my mother saved his life. True, it couldn't have lasted more than 2 minutes, though to everyone involved it seemed like an eternity. But, for those two minutes, my world was crashing down and I didn't even know it.

I walked in completely oblivious that anything had happened to my beautiful babe. I walked in to see my mother sitting where she almost always does. In her rocking chair out in the lobby with my sweet boy in her lap. However, this day was unlike any other as when I walked in, the first words I heard were "He just choked." Initially I didn't think anything of it until I saw the faces of those around him and me telling me it wasn't just a little coughing fit. It was all I could do to keep it together long enough to scoop him up into my arms and take the 5 steps to the office so that I could lose it behind closed doors. And lose it, I did. All while my baby boy walked around Lolli's desk saying "kiki?" "kiki?" And, lost it I have a few more times since then. And, lose it a few more times, I probably will! (Wow - that's coming across really Yoda-ish isn't it? Go ahead...re-read it, you'll get it if you've even seen part of one of the Star Wars movies! Sorry, I deal with a lot of things with humor...part of God's grace I suppose!)

And, as I laid beside him last night, and patted his little bottom after putting him in his crib, and laid on the floor just listening to the glorious sound of a deep breathing, beautiful 16 month old angel, I could only think one thing. God, he's Yours. He's ALL Yours. I am nothing but a caretaker of this precious soul with which you have entrusted me. Me! A fallen, sinful, prideful woman. A woman who could not be more thankful for that role. Lord...I will no longer purport to be anything more than a blessed woman with whom God has given much. And I know that to whom much is given, much is required. I pray that I can fulfill all that is required of me as a mother to this incredible boy. I pray for humility to know that without you, I can do NOTHING. I can BE nothing. Lord - you haven't given me much. You have given me everything. Therefore, the best I can do is give you everything and HOPE that my everything can be enough to thank you for the blessings you given me. I know it never will.

I thank you for my son. I thank you for your son. I thank you for my mother, my son's angel. Who knew that Lolli would one day save my son's life? Only You - the ONLY other that can save my son's life. I thank you for her saving grace and, more importantly, I thank you for YOUR saving grace.

I will TRULY give thanks unto you forever, O My God.

I've lost it...

2009-09-25T15:09:00.014-05:00

...my creativity, that is. I have nothing creative to offer anymore. No fun words for my blog. It's almost like it has become a CHORE that I have to do. Does anyone else go through this? I miss the excitement and fun I used to have sculpting cute stories and mixing in fun pictures of my beautiful little boy! Oh well...I'm sure the fun part will come back. In the mean time, I do it because I want to chronicle these times for Malachi!! I love you sweet baby!

So, at 16 months (well I'm only 11 days late for that one) what is Malachi up to? A LOT! He's learning new words EVERY DAY! He has added Doggy, Quack Quack (we recently started taking him to feed the ducks), Juice, Cookie and Thank You. He had his first McDonald's hamburger on Thursday the 16th and LOVED.IT. He's running ALL OVER THE PLACE and plays peek-a-boo around ANY and EVERY corner he finds! The pacifier is now officially gone! (YEA and it wasn't even that hard! He lost it the night he got tubes put in and it remained lost until last Saturday when I opened up the top drawer to our desk and found it. But, according to him, it's lost forevermore!) He climbs up in his high chair when it's time to eat and says num-num! (Cutest thing EVER) He can now identify mommy, daddy, Uncle Logan, Lolli and Pops in any picture and point to them! He's been visiting the toddler's room at daycare more and more, and, even though it's not going too well due to the complete and total devotion he has to Traca, Delores and Brenda (his nursery teachers), he'll get there and learn to love Ms. Denise just as much! (On a side note, could I BE more thankful for the wonderful women that love my little boy like their own? God has truly blessed him!) He's sleeping on a cot at daycare for naptime and no longer takes morning naps, just afternoon naps. Bedtime is about 7:30 p.m. usually and he usually sleeps until about 6:45 or 7:00. However, if it's not closer to 6:45 when he wakes up, he doesn't get to finish breakfast! (He gets distracted WAY too easily and it takes him FOREVER to eat breakfast if the TV is on or anything else is around him to distract him!) On a side note, he's currently loving French Toast Sticks and Oranges/Peaches for breakfast! Yesterday, the little toot got his first office time-out when he wouldn't quit pulling hair. I don't think he knew that it was wrong, but, he's got to learn. (And, let's face it, it's Lolli's office, how bad could it really be? The worst is Lolli's disappointment! Hope it ALWAYS stays that way!) He's learned to sing E-I-E-I-O though most times it comes out YAYAYO. It's still SUPER DUPER CUTE!

A year ago I posted this post in which I talked about Malachi having Croup...YUCK. Little did I know what the next 2 months would hold after that post. UGH - I don't even want to think about how horrible last year was. How sick Malachi was. How helpless we, as his parents, felt. How much we coveted the prayers and encouragement of our families and friends. I could not be more thankful that he is SO MUCH BETTER OFF this year than he was last year. (Lord willing that will continue, of course!) He's currently on Poly-Vi-Sol for vitamin supplementation, Allegra and a nasal spray for allergies and Bio-Gaia Acidophilus for his tummy. We're hoping this will keep him healthier throughout this winter season. He did, actually, get Chicken Pox FROM the vaccine a couple weeks ago, but no fever, just a few spots, nothing major. Other than that, his tubes are doing their job and he's been relatively healthy for going on 4 or 5 weeks now. He got thrush from the two HUGE shots of Rocephin he got right before he got his tubes put in and we've been fighting that for about 6 weeks. Finally, I went and got some Gentian Violet, and, though it stains EVERYTHING it touches, including his mouth when he spits it out, his lips, his cheeks when the Q-Tip goes right up the side of his cheek while you've got the Q-Tip in his mouth and he decides he wants to sit down, his sheet from drooling at night and the one pair of pajamas we've been washing and letting him sleep in every night so it doesn't ruin EVERYTHING he has...But, it's finally gone for good now!

Finally, he went to Donut Stop about 6 weeks ago with Lolli and Pop (and me and daddy were there just for fun) for his first Cherry Donut! Pop said that they were gonna go for Cherry donuts as soon as he got old enough. So, I've been holding off on giving him donuts and chocolate milk until Pop could take him. And, it finally happened!

I'm telling you, right here and right now! Little boys don't get ANY MORE LOVED than this one! (And, on another side note...that shirt is already too small for him...YUCK - he's growing up TO FAST!)