Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!!!

We hope 2010 finds you all well!! Love, The Allens

Look Who's Walking

Ryan is now 11 months old and is just starting to walk. He started taking a few steps here and there about a month ago, but he's getting the hang of it. I don't think it'll be long before he's chasing his brothers around on his feet.

(Sorry for the loudness of the video.)

Wii

We must have been really good this year because Santa brought us a Wii. There was much rejoicing from all the boys at this house. John and Mark have had a good time boxing.

Allen Family Christmas 2009

This year Rebecca, William and Ms. Emily hosted Allen Family Christmas. It was a delicious meal and it was great to catch up with everyone for a short time. We are so blessed to have such an amazing family. We love you all!!

Christmas In Dallas 2009

Here are all the pictures from our adventures in Dallas for Christmas. We enjoyed a day of 80 degree weather and some park play time. Then we had snow and sleet, so we headed to Main Event to bowl and do video games. You'll have to check out Jacob's winnings. We did our annual Christmas Eve cookie decorating/tasting. Had a great time opening presents and hanging out with family and friends for Christmas Day. And the day after Christmas, we hit the Fort Worth Museum of Natural History. Great museum!!

If you don't like the weather in Texas...

stick around! It was 80 degrees on Dec 23, so we went to the park and played. This is what it looked like in Dallas on Dec 24 at about 10am:

We had ourselves a snowy Christmas for the first time in about 10 years I think. I honestly don't remember the last time it snowed Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. The boys loved it!!

First Day of Vacation

For the first day of vacation, we went to New Braunfels to celebrate a belated birthday for Great-Grandmother. We had a great lunch, Mark and Pop worked on the antennae...that's Mark there at the top answering a work call, and the boys hit the driving range with a vengeance.

Mr Destructo

Fall in Texas

We usually do not get fall in Texas. It goes straight from 100 to the 40s & 50s. This year, fall decided to come in the middle of December and we got this beauty to look at in our front yard. It reminded me of when we lived back east in New Jersey. As most weather in Texas, we only got to enjoy this for about 2 days, then Mark had to clean up the front yard. Totally worth it though!

Cookie Monster

Ryan had his first chocolate chip cookie. Think the pictures explain the rest.

Color Us

The boys entertained themselves by coloring Jacob while I made cookies for the boys Christmas parties. Jake was blowing blue and red boogers for a couple days I'm afraid.

Yep, we have....

"that" kid. Poor Mark, just tried and tried to build an awesome tour and the lego bully kept kicking it down.

Last Preschool Christmas Program

John had his last Preschool Christmas program tonight. Yes, he is the cool guy with his hands in his pockets. Here is a picture from his first Christmas program back in 2007...can't believe how much he's grown! Such a little guy!

Birthday Take 2

While we were in Dallas for the Texas v Nebraska game, we celebrated my birthday again with my family. My parents found some bug cakes since I'm their bug and we had a good time with the black frosting. A little Gene Simmons will do anyone some good ;)

First Recital

John had his first piano recital. He did fantastic!! He just started piano lessons in June of this year and has just loved it. He played Up On The Housetop and Away In A Manger for this recital.

Snow!!!

Get out your microscope & shut down the schools...it snowed in Texas today! I had to wake John up from his nap to see the snow because he has been praying everyday for snow. I was so glad I did because it lasted about 30 minutes and then the sun came out. John said, "well Mom, I guess I've been saying some pretty good prayers!"

2-year olds

Jacob had his 2 year old Christmas program today at school. These are my favorite things in the world because the kids have no idea what is going on despite having practiced for the last 3 months. They just smile and wave, hide behind whatever other kid they can find or breakdown in tears. Jake had a great time. He even did some of the hand movements and he loved his little blue star.

Getting Ready for the Holidays

Love at First Bite

Ryan got his first taste of a juice pop. He was pretty excited about that!

John polished his right up and Jake wasn't too sure about his...eventually it found it's way to his tummy.

G'vine Railroad

Over the weekend, we rode the historic Grapevine Railroad from Grapevine to the Stockyards in Fort Worth. We had a great time. The boys loved watching the cowboys wrangle the longhorns down the road. We put pennies on the train tracks and watched them get smashed. And Ryan got in some good mustache pullin' on Papa!

Stair Master

Yep, Ryan has conquered the stairs. This is now all we do when we go to visit my folks in Grapevine!!

Thanksgiving Feast!

The boys had their annual Thanksgiving feast at preschool this week. We were excited to have Grammy with us and Mark was able to get away from work to join us for a bit. We had a TON of food. In fact I could not get a picture of John without food in his mouth, so there you go! Jake was so excited to show us his things and then get the heck out of there. He's adjusting well to school, but doesn't mess around. When we show up, it's time to get out of dodge!

Advanced White

John had his first belt test today in karate. He passed with kickin' colors and has moved on to an advanced white belt. While he is loving karate, he has decided to move on to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. It's a little more his style with the wrestling and all. He has been loving his new classes & Mark and I are starting to worry about our ability to keep up with him. I can see us saying "no" to something and him putting us in a choke hold till we're out cold!

Verdict is in...

Ryan had roseola and a double ear infection! The roseola rash showed up on Saturday (his first fever free day in 5 days)...classic roseola. The only interesting part is the petechae rash...that we can't explain. The dr. said it was the most unusal and severe case of roseola she'd seen or heard of. I knew I had a one of a kind kiddo! I did tell her that my family is opting out of providing them training opportunities in the future if we can help it! No more fevers with scary rashes!!!! Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers...it's been a heck of a week and we are just so thankful for answered prayers!

From the mouth of babes

Ryan, as you can see, is doing great! I took these on Sunday. The one above you can just barely see the petechae rash on his hand...looks like little freckles now and gets lighter by the hour. You can also see his new addition to the mouth...tooth #3!!! Cheerios here we come!!!

This was a picture John drew on Sunday at church. It is a picture of his grandma walking to his great-grandma's house with a balloon and some candy for great-grandma because she isn't feeling very well. It's been interesting to see how John is processing the loss of his great-grandma. It has to be hard for those little guys to comprehend physical death. I just thought this was so sweet. John's grandma has worked so hard, night and day for the last few years taking care of her mom. Her selfless service has clearly left an impression on all of us.

1st ER Trip

Ryan made his first ER trip this week. It's been a long week. It started with hives last Sunday. We gave him some allergy medicine and those disappeared. Monday he was a little congested, but also cutting a new tooth. That evening he had a low grade fever. Tuesday he was a little congested but fine in the morning. That afternoon he spiked a fever of 102.5. Wednesday, Ryan woke up with a fever...it was around 101. I called the pediatrician and changed Ryan's 9 month well check to a sick visit and we headed to the pediatrician's office. The dr checked Ryan for the flu and that was negative. She didn't like his fever being so high but said to call if anything changed or if the fever went higher. We headed home and I put the boys down for naps. When he woke up from his nap, he was running a fever of 103.4 and now had this strange looking rash on his legs and arms. I debated about calling...I don't want to be one of "those" moms. But thought I should since I'd never seen a rash like that in all my rash experience with the other two boys (I think after all this I should get an honorary nursing license or something). I called and the nurse asked a bunch of questions. She asked the usual, "when you push on it or stretch the skin does it disappear?" I said, "no." She was not expecting this as she had already written it off as a fever rash. She said, "it's still there?" Me-"Yes." Nurse-"Let me get the dr." The dr came on and asked the same questions. She then asked me which ER I would like to go to. I was not expecting this as I had already thought they would just have us come back in the morning. I told her Seton Williamson and she said, "head on over there now and I will call ahead and let them know to be ready for you." In my mind I'm really not liking this and trying not to get too emotional yet. Mark was very calm and matter of fact and said he'd stay with the boys and get them dinner and in bed. So Ryan and I headed out. They walked us back to an isolated room (not the curtain area) and started asking a million questions. The dr came in right away and looked Ryan over and then said, "We are going to go ahead and start an IV with some antibiotics, we will need to do a urine analysis so we will have to place a catheter, and then we will be doing a lumbar puncture or spinal tap to look for meningitis. I will start working on getting him admitted and he will need to be transferred down to Dell Children's because we do not admit children here." So two nurses came in and started the IV. I was so thankful they found the vein immediately. They took a bunch of blood samples and then hooked him up to a bag of fluids. Then the chest x-ray guy came in and I had to pin Ryan down (who is screaming now) so they could to those. That finished and he calmed down a little bit, they had to come re-wrap his IV b/c part of the arm bar they used to keep him from pulling his IV out scraped his stomach during the chest X-rays. Then they started the catheter. He did NOT like that...that is a one way street. After that they gave us a break, so I called Mark to tell him what was going on and that we were waiting for the spinal tap and to see if they were going to let him go home. They came in to do the spinal tap. The dr was very nice but said the dumbest thing...she said as she is scrubbing down Ryan's back, "my brother had to have a spinal tap when he was 2 weeks old and my mom still talks about it." Not what you want to hear when they are about to start digging into your baby's spine. But it went well...the shots of lidocaine hurt and made Ryan sad. But after that I could tell he was just mad that they were pinning him down. With that over, it was just time to wait. A friend came over to watch the boys and Mark headed to the hospital. By now, Ryan's rash had spread to his face, chest, legs...he was covered. I learned that his rash is called a petechiae rash and is a classic meningitis symptom. His fever started climbing so they gave him a mega-dose of motrin and then another bag of fluids. The lab results came back somewhat in conclusive, but it did not look like meningitis thankfully! So they decided that if his fever went down with the motrin, he could go home. Thankfully it went down to 99.4 and so they sent us on our way. We had follow-up visits with the pediatrician Thursday and phone calls Friday. The fever finally broke on Saturday, which we are very thankful for. He is doing great now (Sunday). Still does not have much of an appetite, but he's got the chubbs to compensate for a little while. We are just thankful he is ok and I pray I never have to do this again!!

Karate Tournament

John had his first karate tournament this last weekend. He did great...he got 1st place in his match and won 7 to 2. We had a great time watching the little guys spar. They don't quite know what to do. The little boys aged 5+ for sure knew what to do and loved every minute of it! We also had a great time playing with Grammy & Papa over the weekend. Papa warmed John up for his karate tournament with a little wrestle mania!

John's 1st Field Trip

John had his first field trip. His little pre-k class went to Crowe's Nest Farm. Ryan and I tagged along. We were not allowed to ride on the bus though. The kids really enjoyed the farm and I will for sure go back. They started off with a milking demo...I felt for poor Bessie. Then we had a hay ride and a video about responsible eating and living. Then we were free to wander the farm and look at the animals. It was a lot of fun. John said his favorite part was learning where milk comes from and riding the bus. John had to sit by the teacher on the way home because he was mis-behaving on the bus. Good thing we live within walking distance from his elementary school next year!!!

Hammond, LA

Over Halloween weekend, we traveled to Hammond, Louisiana for Great-Grandma's funeral. It was a 9 hour drive in the rain out there. And about 8 hrs home. The services were so good. Grandma was an amazing lady and we miss her dearly. It was nice to visit Hammond again and the boys really enjoyed getting to see where Great-Grandma and Grandma grew up. Louisiana is a beautiful place! The boys were amazing on the trip. They did not complain much and enjoyed several corn dogs on the way.

9 months old!

Well Ryan is 9 months old! He's a busy little guy for only being 9 months old. He loves playing with his brothers and can't wait to join them in the big boy shower. He LOVES the kitty (a little too much)...poor kitty. And he's great at making faces...most of his faces are happy faces, but he's always doing something. 3 more months to the big 1!!

Happy Halloween!

We celebrated Halloween early this year since we would be out of town for the actual day. John was Aragorn from Lord of the Rings and Jake was a "scary pirate."

Flu!

I got the swine flu. It knocked me on my rear and I have never been so sick before in my life! The pediatrician put Jake and Ryan on a prophylactic dose of tamiflu to help them fight it off. Neither one really appreciated it. Jake pretty much spit his out everyday. My parents say it's pay back for when I was a girl...never really was one for medicines...

Standing tall

Ryan figured out how to pull himself up to stand. He is very excited about this new skill and has been using it a lot today! Here are a couple other pictures I took of Jake and Ryan at the park.