Happy Birthday Allie

Happy Birthday Allie! It's so hard to believe you are 3 years old today. Time has gone by so fast. Your Daddy and I feel so blessed to of had 3 wonderful years with you. You are such light in our lives and bring us and those around you so much joy and laughter. We thank God every day for you and feel truly blessed to be your parents. We love watching you grow and change and feel like you are learning or saying something new each day. Thank you for making us laugh by dancing, singing and saying silly things. We love how sweet you are to babies and know that one day you will be an amazing big sister. We love how you want to be friends with any kid that you are around. We love it when you are there to comfort us if we don't feel good or have gotten hurt. We love to watch and hear you read stories. We love playing games with you and watching movies together. We look forward to seeing you grow over this next year and look forward to the new things we will do together as a family. We love you so much and are so honored to be your Mommy and Daddy.
Happy 3rd Birthday!!!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Very first family picture

I can't believe how tiny she was. They change so much so fast.

First family picture after we brought her home. The blanket she has is still her favorite and it was also my blanket as a baby.

We are celebrating her b-day tomorrow at the park. She is so excited to have a Cinderella cake and to have fun with her friends. I will make sure to post pictures.

Making Easter

We had a great time "making Easter", as Allie likes to call it. She has been asking to "make Easter" for a few weeks now. On Saturday, she and I had run errands and then I left her with Jarod so I could go to the grocery store. When I got home, she was jumping up and down shouting that she was getting to "make Easter" now that I was home. "Making Easter" is dying eggs. Crazy how things get stuck in kids heads. I told her a few weeks ago that we would make pretty colored eggs for Easter and she decided to call it "make Easter". This was Allie's first time to decorate eggs. I've never let her before because of her food allergy. I think she liked it okay. Not her favorite thing she's ever done but she liked helping me mix the dye and seeing the eggs turn colors. Later in the day she helped me cut out cookies and then later decorate them.

Allie woke up Sunday and was excited to see what the Easter Bunny left her. She did not understand why did not get to see him.
After church, my whole family went over the my brother Chad and his wife Jami's house. They just moved in a month ago and were excited for us to see it put together. We had a wonderful time and yummy food. It rained most of Sunday, but cleared out by the time the kids were ready to hunt eggs later that afternoon. We had more than enough eggs and Allie, Greer and Karlie came away with bags full of eggs. I had forgotten to bring Allie's basket from home, but it turned out that a Target bag worked even better b/c it held more eggs.

I did manage to get a few good pictures. I never got Allie in her Easter dress by herself. Maybe the next time she wears that dress I will just take a picture and pretend it was from Easter!

Thanks Chad and Jami for hosting this year!

Easter Morning. She loves peeps! They are a tradition in my family.

Family photo

Another tradition is to take a picture of the kids before they hunt for their eggs!

Allie was a girl on a mission. She would shake every egg to see if it made a noise. She wanted to put it down if she didn't hear anything (she thought it was empty). Usually the eggs that didn't make a noise had a dollar in them. Knowing that, I picked them back up.

Sweet Annie was sleeping during this family photo.

My brother Chad. He has a putting green in his yard. Pretty cool!

Opening Day

We went and watched the Rangers play on Opening Day yesterday. Every year, my brother and his family and my parents go watch the Rangers on Opening Day. Every year we are invited and we don't go because I don't want to take a day off. This year, I decided it would be really good to go because Allie is older and she would have fun. We had a great time even though it was really cold and windy. We were all bundled up, had on lots of layers and had blankets to help keep us warm. We sat up pretty high and were in the shade so we stayed cold the entire time. The fans that were in the sun looked a lot warmer!

We got there in time to catch most of the Rangers batting practice. Whenever Jarod and I go to games, we always go to batting practice and try to get a ball. I have been going to games ever since I was a little girl and I've never gotten a ball from a game. We were down in right field, right by the fence. I took some pictures and then one of the workers offered to take a group shot of a few of us. After he took the picture I told him all I needed to do was get a ball and he said good luck with that. Not a minute later, a ball was hit right in front of where we were standing and I asked the guy in the field if I could have it and he brought it right to me! I was so shocked. Allie was so excited to have a ball. I told her no matter what to not throw it. I could just see her throwing the ball over the fence and bye bye ball! Of course, then Greer and Karlie wanted a ball. While the other team had batting practice, Greer kept yelling for one of the outfielders to give him a ball. My brother Scott went down there to help Greer and Karlie get a ball. Finally, one of the players threw a ball to Scott and he gave it to Karlie. She was thrilled and Greer was so upset. A few minutes later, Scott got one for Greer too! We were all happy that all three kiddoes got a ball.

After batting practice we went to the top level and ate lunch at picnic table. We had a great view of the new Cowboys Stadium. That stadium is so huge and very beautiful. Can't wait to watch a game there. After yummy hot dogs and chips we found our seats. We made it just in time to hear the jets fly by (Allie did not like how loud they were). They also had the Texas flag out in center field and a huge American Flag out on the field. We also got to see former President George W. Bush throw out the first pitch (he threw a strike).

It was such a good game and the Rangers won! We had a great time and I'm so glad we were able to go. Enjoy the pictures!

Waiting for a ball to come our way.

Bundled up nice and warm.

Picture taken right before we got a ball.

Greer, Karlie and Allie showing their ball from batting practice. If you didn't have the seats and field in the background, you would almost think they were holding snowballs from the way they are dressed.

The new Cowboy Stadium.

Eating some grub!

Former President George W. Bush walking to the mound.
First pitch

A Few Firsts

Since finding out Allie is no longer allergic to peanuts and eggs, we have let her try some foods she has never had before. The first treat she enjoyed was a real chocolate chip cookie. Even though she liked them, I think she still prefers Oreo's. She also had Ego Waffles (I think she prefers her egg less organic waffles instead), miracle whip on her sandwich (she liked!), Reese's Peanut Butter Egg (still doesn't like peanut butter) and I think her favorite new treat are donuts. Before Sunday school at church, they put out donuts and Allie looks forward to eating them.

One day last week, she and I went to Kroger and she told me that she wanted eggs for dinner. We got to the aisle with the eggs and she was so excited when she saw them. She shouted, "Look mommy eggs. I can have eggs for dinner. They won't hurt my tummy!" I'm sure the people around us were very confused and thought we were really strange. When we got home I fixed her one egg. She seemed to like it okay. Every time she eats something that contains egg or peanut I still worry that she will get sick. I'm hoping that feeling goes away soon.



Allie investigating her eggs.

Can't decide if she likes them or not

I think she likes them!

First bite of her first real chocolate chip cookie!

Yum-O!

She would not give us a good smile. She was acting like a goof ball.

Eggs and Peanuts

Many of you know that Allie is allergic to both peanuts and eggs. We found out right before her 1st birthday that she had a mild allergy to both. We were then told to exclude anything that could contain either one from her diet hoping that one day she would out grow her allergy. After we found out, Jarod and I both made sure that she never had anything even manufactured in a facility that processed foods with eggs or peanuts. It was a hard adjustment at first, but we learned to go on with life. Luckily her allergy was not severe enough to need an epipen and we just carried Benadryl with us.
We were told that when she turned 3, we could retest her. With her birthday being a month away (crazy that she is almost 3; I'm in such denial) I decided to go ahead and have her tested. I was just hoping that she wasn't allergic to eggs (eggs are in so many things). When we got to the doctor, they decided to test her for other things too. I thought we were just doing eggs and peanuts. Allie did so well and we were so proud of her. After 15 min. of waiting, we found out that all tests were NEGATIVE!!! Praise God! Jarod and I were so thrilled. I don't think she quiet grasps the importance of this but we sure do. Now, we don't have to worry about food at b-day parties, restaurants, or a kid sharing a snack with her. We did go ahead and give her a little peanut butter to see if she had a reaction. She did not like the peanut butter ( I will have to work on that one) but didn't react to it either. They suggested that we slowly introduce her to foods that have eggs (waffles, pancakes, etc.) and hopefully she will be just fine.

Allie and I celebrated with a slush at Sonic. When I go to the store tomorrow I will buy some items with eggs and hopefully she will do just fine. Hopefully I won't go over board on the buying. I am so excited about all of the things she has never had b/c of her allergy. Now she gets to have the Cinderella cake that she wants for her birthday!

Going Bonkers or Something Like It

On Thursday, Jarod and I took Allie to an indoor play center called Going Bonkers in Lewisville. We have wanted to take Allie there for a while now. We don't usually go out during the week, but Jarod wanted to do something fun with Allie before he left for D.C the next morning. It turned out to be a great time to go because it was pretty empty being a school night. GB reminds me of the old Discovery Zones but it doesn't hurt your knees to crawl around and you can see inside where the kids are crawling. Allie had so much fun. I played with her at first and Jarod and I were both surprised at how much she loved climbing. She's never been much of a climber or risk taker. After about 20 min. or so, she started playing with another group of kids. She just followed them wherever they went, forgetting all about me. I took that as my cue to get out and just let her adventure on her own. For the last 20 min. she met a 9 year old girl and played with her. She was so sweet to Allie and acted like a big sister to her. I can't wait to take her again!


I decided to share several pictures because for once, my child was in the mood to smile!

Bitten by the Running Bug

Last Saturday, my brother Scott and his wife Kelly ran in their first 5K (Ft. Worth Cow Town)! Of course Jarod was ecstatic when he found out they wanted to start running. They both did so well and we are so proud of both of them. Jarod had originally planned to run in the race, but he has hurt his knee. He did end up running with Kelly for some moral support. The weather that day was freezing! If you live in the Dallas area, I'm sure you remember how cold it was that day. It was honestly the coldest weather I've ever endured at a race. It came as quite a shock because two days earlier it was over 80 degrees! All of the kiddos were freezing except sweet Annie. She was very bundled up and asleep. Allie told me that she was freezing and wanted to go home. Luckily by the finish line there was a Starbucks and we waited in there until it was time to see them come across.

I didn't get any pictures of my brother. But, they plan to run in another race so hopefully I will get one at that race.

Scott and Kelly we are so proud of you. Keep up the good work.


Kelly and Greer at the finish line.

Waiting outside against Starbucks.

Two of my favorite girls! Allie was so excited to see her cousin Karlie.

Kelly, her dad Dean, her mom Susan and Greer.

Where is Annie? Can you find her? I promise she is there. She is warm and toasty!