Deck the House!

Hadley is a little older this year, so we are really looking forward to Christmas!  We decided to put up our Christmas tree tonight.  If you remember, our tree broke last year and fell over in the middle of the night.  To replace it, we bought a 7.5 foot pre-lit and it's super nice. 

These new ornaments will have to stay in the package this year!

Hadley and daddy putting the tree together...

We didn't get out the other decorations this year because Hadley gets into everything! In fact, we decided not to put any decorations on the tree at all. Hadley loves the lights though and every morning when I plug it in, I hear "Oh my!" about 10 times.  Too cute! 

 

After putting the tree up, Hadley and I read "Santa's Busy Night" before heading to bed.

Thanksgiving 2010

I had to work this year on Thanksgiving, so Austin and Hadley traveled to Grandpa and Grandma Reames house in Michigan for the day without me. From what I heard, they had a great time with family and enjoyed lots of yummy food.

They got to meet the newest addition to the family, Ryder.

Austin got to watch some football.

Hadley got to help her great grandma cook, and get down to her skivvies to eat some messy dessert! 

 I got to eat lots of leftovers when I got home. Yum!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Computer Time

We start them out young in the Allen Household... 

Happy Halloween!

...I bet that everyone's first pick would certainly be you.

(These are a couple of the cards that Hadley got for Halloween from her great grandparents)

I had to work this weekend, so Austin and Hadley hung out at Grandpa and Grandma's house for Halloween.  On Saturday night they went over to Uncle Charlie and Aunt Barb's house as well.  Thanks Elaine and Brad for the pictures!  

 Hadley, Alex, Brynn and Shelby hanging out on the trampoline.

Hadley and Brynn hangin' on the couch w/ their new Fisher Price Sing-A-Ma-Jigs!  Check out Hadley's face.  She doesn't look too happy that Brynn's playing w/ her See n' Say.

Chillin' by the door... 

We didn't dress Hadley up or take her trick-or-treating this year, because she's too little to understand and we don't want her eating all of the candy.  Ah, who are we kidding? 
We don't want to eat all of the candy!

Happy Halloween!

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Robinson!

We traveled to Indianapolis today for yet another wedding of one of our friends: Jonathon Robinson. Austin's parents watched Hadley for us so that we could attend.  We left early this morning to travel to Indy.  Once there, we checked into our hotel room and headed downtown to Circle Center to do a little shopping before our dinner reservations at P.F. Chang's.  The wedding took place at the Indianapolis Historical Society at 7:00 p.m. and was followed by a cocktail/dessert reception.

Austin and I have been historically late for our friends' weddings over the years: i.e. opening the door to the alter at the Larson wedding and basically walking down the aisle with the brides at the Sullivan and Boggs weddings...just to name a few.  So, we wanted to prove that it's never to late to change!  Check out the picture below.  We were there at 6:29 p.m., yes that's right, 31 minutes before the ceremony started! Woo-hoo!    

      

A picture of Mr. and Mrs. Robinson right after sealing their vows with a kiss: 

The Robinsons had a "photo booth" at the reception, which was pretty cool.  It took 4 pictures in rapid fire, and printed out two copies of each.  We got to keep one as a souvenir and then the other was kept for the newlyweds.  

I didn't take any more pictures at the wedding, because I'm trying not to stick myself behind a camera all of the time.  I find myself missing out on life that way!

Congratulations Jon and Katie!   

Punky-Spunky Bathtime

Hadley-Bears...

Visiting Great Great Uncle Billy in Crooksville, Ohio

Austin went to Parsippany, New Jersey this week on business, so Hadley, mom and I all headed to Crooksville, Ohio to visit my mom's uncle, my great uncle, and Hadley's great great uncle Billy. I love the fact that I'm close to all of my mom's family, and it's important for me to make sure that they get to meet Hadley and she gets to meet them!  

My great uncle Billy wears this hat when he works outside and Hadley loved it.  Every chance she got, she was in the kitchen getting his hat and wearing it around!  Too cute. 

It took Hadley about 1 day to warm up to her great great uncle Billy....but after that day, she thought he was pretty cool.  I could tell it melted his heart when she would put her arms up for him to pick her up and sit on his lap. 

They sat at the kitchen table and shared cheesy poofs together...yum!

Important stuff I learned during my visit: My great uncle Billy entered the Air Force when he graduated from high school, and planned to make a career out of it.  However, after 8 years of service with the last 2 being stationed in Alaska, he was done.  They wanted him to stay in Alaska and he hated it, so he discharged and came back home to WV.  Once home, he got married and needed a job.  The Sunnyhill coal mines in Crooksville, OH were hiring, so he moved there with his family and worked for the next 29 1/2 years until they closed.  When the mines closed he decided to retire.  Below is a picture of the Sunnyhill Mines that he has hanging in his house.   

He was featured in several magazines as the coal mines were under fire for stiffer/safer laws and regulations.  Here is a picture from the "Capitol" out of Columbus, OH dated February 12, 1984.  They snapped this picture of him as he came out of the mine after a long day of work.   

Not only was it nice to get to spend some time w/ my great uncle, and for him to meet my daughter; it was nice to spend some time talking to him.  Now that I'm older and care to listen, I learned a lot about him and his life. 

...and I had to add this picture.  I took it a few years ago at my great uncle Mickey's (my grandma and Billy's brother) house when we were in West Virginia visiting.  I love the "expression" that it caught of my brother and him chatting it up...priceless!   

Happy 5th Birthday Cousin Gabe!

Our nephew, Gabe, celebrated his 5th birthday today with a pizza party at Pizza Hut.  Austin had softball, so Hadley and I joined in the fun without him.

 Hadley seemed to enjoy herself a lot, as you can see from her picture!  Don't mind my creepy fingers trying to adjust her bow in the background. 

Hadley and Julianna sat beside each other and had a great time.  Here are some pictures of the two of them enjoying Gabe's birthday cake.

Our nephew Gabe is the most polite and grateful child when it comes to getting presents.  I think you could give him a deflated balloon and he would still grin from ear to ear and say thank you.  His sweetness makes it easy and fun to buy him presents!  

We bought Gabe an Action Links Toy Story 3 thing-a-majig for his birthday.  I'm terrible at knowing what to buy little boys, but Gabe loves Toy Story 3, dinosaurs and "Cars."  I knew that as long as I bought something that had to do with one of the three, I couldn't go wrong!

 Dad and Karen bought him a scooter.  It looks like it will be super fun to play with next spring, and from the looks of the picture, I think he would agree!

...and a final picture of some of the party-goers.  Karen, Dad, Cadence and Dana. 

Happy 5th Birthday, Gabe!