Photographer in the making

Allie enjoys taking pictures... here are her latest...

Bountiful Blessings.

We spent a nice day at home, just the family for our Thanksgiving. We enjoyed a big meal.. turkey and the fixins... Allie helped make the mashed 'tatos. :) As we gathered around the table, Allie told us she was thankful for everything.... :)


We are so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends. Hope you all enjoyed your day.

God Bless.

Stay Awake

We recently returned from a trip to visit family in Washington and Idaho. While in Idaho, we attended church where Uncle Ross is the pastor. Allie spent the church service in a pew row towards the back of the church, with her back to Uncle Ross, coloring in a new book (doing connect the dots and color by number with Aunt Kris). She was not acting up, but did not appear the least bit interested in what Uncle Ross was saying, though she did go up front for the children's message.

We came home on Monday, and on Wednesday at nap time, I told Allie it was time to rest. With little enthusiasm and a bit of grumbling, she went upstairs with me. As she climbed into her bed she insisted she was not the least bit tired. I told her that was ok, her body needed rest anyway. She then told me.. "mom, remember when Uncle Ross was the Pastor and we went to his church?" I said "yes". She said, "mom, uncle ross told us at church that we needed to stay awake... so I cant take a rest".

Uncle Ross's sermon was about us staying awake in our lives as we wait for Christ to Return. Uh, I guess she was listening, and decided to use this sermon to her benefit. Anyone who believes children do not understand what is going on in the "big" church, well... perhaps you are not giving the kiddos the benefit of the doubt.

Visiting Family

I Love Family. I love that my girls will grow up with cousins. I wish all her cousins were closer.

This past weekend we took a drive to Washington and Idaho to visit family. First we spent a couple days in Tri Cities with Uncle Mark, Aunt Kim and Brett....

The girls are so enamored by their cousin Brett. Shannon, though, was especially attentive to his needs. She was constantly bringing him toys and trying to feed him.




We also headed up to Yakima for a morning to see Aunt Shasta, Uncle Shawn and cousins Sandy and Michael. We went to a Kids Castle play area and let the kiddos run til they couldnt run any more. It was a great place for them, and all had a fun time.


Saturday afternoon we drove to Idaho to see Uncle Ross and Aunt Kris. When we were about half way there, in the pass, we found ourselves surrounded by snow. Allie became ecstatic and INSISTED this was the perfect place to stop and take a break. Luckily we had all our warm gear with us... though Allie was very upset that we somehow forgot to bring a sled.





While in Idaho, Allie enjoyed playing the Wii with everyone.


She also spent quite a bit of time in the back yard, helping get rid of the tumbleweeds!! After clean up, it was on to a game of tackle uncle ross football with a soccer ball. (Allie made up the rules, "Aunt" Ross followed the rules... for some reason, Allie didnt get that Kim and Kris are Aunt, but Mark and Ross are uncle... for the weekend, all were aunt..aunt ross, aunt mark, aunt kris and aunt kim.... i sorta liked it!!)


On Monday, we headed home, and once again we stopped to play in the snow. This time the snow was wet enough to build a snowman, which we appropriately named Harry since he had a head full of hair.



Did this sign apply to her??

I cannot believe how well they did on the 8 hour drive home.


It was a great weekend, and we are blessed to have so much family in driving distance.

Learning to dip

Allie was two years old when she first learned about ketchup. We had not really given her any, and she was content to eat her fries and chicken nuggets solo... then her cousins came to visit and introduced her to "red dip" and she has never gone back..... Of course, Shannon's love for ketchup would come much sooner than 2 years as she watched her older sister use it...

It is amazing to me how early they pick this up.....


They are finally getting their appetites back after being so sick!!!

An artist in the making

We have been spending a lot of time doing crafts lately. Due to swine flu and rainy days, it seems our coloring, cutting and painting time has been expanded.

the other day, Allie drew this picture...

and then promptly explained it was a butterfly, wind, sunshine and flower.... (the blue circle like thing is the wind... it has been windy around here lately, so she has wind on the brain).

We also had some painting time, and I was so impressed with her work. For some reason, she is fixated on butterflies and on huskies (though the huskie is explained easily by her best friends... )

She loves arts and crafts and saw on tv where you trace your hand to make a turkey... she insisted on doing that over and over again!!

Swine Flu Quarantine

For the past two weeks, our home has been under the influence of H1N1.... First Allie got sick, spending five days with fever, chills, cough and general crankiness.... then, she started to feel better. Just when we thought we were out of it, Shannon busted out with five more days of fever, chills, cough and general crankiness.
While in quarantine, the girls found some interesting ways to entertain themselves....



In order to get out of the house, we spent time on our deck where the girls could check on the doggies and get a little fresh air. (dont you just love girls in overalls??)


We played a lot of dress up....

And ate a lot of frozen go gurts... it was one thing they would eat and would give them a smile...

Both girls are getting better, fever free and bouncing off the walls... however, they both still have that yucky lingering cough!!

Happy Halloween

For Halloween this year, Allie dressed up like a dog, and Shannon was a cat.. they were super cute.

We let Allie go trick or treating for the first time, and let me tell you... she caught on quick and had a great time.

Then we came home to pass out candy.. another thing Allie enjoyed. She loved to answer the door and give out candy. Shannon just went along for the fun!!!