A Hodge-Podge of Activity...

The Allee Family has a hodge-podge of recent activities to report. For starters, Kris got a motorcycle at the end of the summer. He really likes to ride it, and so does the rest of the family. Alyson and Kourtney like to take slow rides around the neighborhood wearing Alyson's bicycle helmet for protection. Kris likes accelerating fast, and I like snuggling up behind him and putting my arms around his waist as we zoom down the road. I like to think the rebel side of him is getting it's fill when he revs up the motor really loudly and takes off for a spin.

Secondly, Alyson began her second year of preschool in the HeadStart program. She loves to learn, play and help out in class. Alyson's teacher, Ms. Ruthie, says Alyson is her little teacher's aide because Alyson likes to help the younger children in her class with projects, and helps get everyone organized to go outside and for story and circle time. Alyson brings her work home with her...meaning, she likes to play teacher at home too. Luckily Kourtney is usually a willing participant and does just about anything Alyson requests of her.Kris' birthday was last week. We spent lunch together at a park near Cascades Playground, ate Chipotle fajitas, and Kris opened his gifts. We also took some pictures of the family. That evening the missionaries brought over a woman interested in knowing more about the church for family home evening. Following their departure, we had cake and ice cream. It wasn't the most traditional birthday, but we hope Kris enjoyed it.

The weekend before Kris' birthday, the girls and I developed some pictures I had taken of them in our front yard and in our neighbor's yard. We took these pictures to his school office and replaced the old pictures of them with new ones. The older they become the more willing participants they are. They liked getting dressed up and posing with flowers. Luckily the flowers they held were artificial otherwise they would have taken a beating! The following are a few pictures that turned out really well.

While Kris was away for the annual BYU Accounting Conference, the ward had a chili cook-off get together with some fun things for the kids to do. Alyson and Kourtney chose what they wanted to be this year for Halloween and wore their costumes to the ward party. Alyson originally wanted to be an angel, then changed her mind to Cinderella and finally settled on being Snow White. Kourtney found a Dorothy dress, but it was too small. After a vast search and coming up empty handed, I decided to make a dress for her. It gave me something to do while Kris was away and also helped me with my limited sewing skills. Needless to say, they both had fun at the party and won 1st and 3rd place ribbons in the costume parade.

Lastly, my pregnancy is going well. I just had an appointment today and heard the baby's heart beat for the second time. The doctor says it is a very strong heart beat, and so that was great and reasurring news that things are going well. I am 14 weeks tomorrow, and we will find out the gender of the baby in five weeks. Wow-it's so exciting!