Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Fall in Full Glory

New trivia from my sister Renee
These kiddos aren't sneezing because they have autumn allergies.  It's most likely due to a gene that causes people to sneeze when they look into direct sunlight. No wonder it can be difficult to capture a picture of them on a sunny day.  (Notice both kids have gaping mouths about to sneeze)
Upham Woods 
Koco's 6th grade class had the chance to spend a few days at Upham Woods, and I got to go with her. She learned more about fishing, pond study, archery, and canoing, and went on an awesome hike and team building adventure. When I wasn't teaching fishing, I got to spend time with her. We had a blast. Thanks for letting me go with you, Koco.
Halloween 2015
 Pictured above are Buzz Lightyear, Captain Irony (Alyson to be pictured later, Studio C plug), Briar Rose (Princess Aurora), a pretty zebra, Captain America, a dinisaur, and a Cupcake Wars fan (me, not shown). We all had a great time trick-or-treating and celebrating one of our favorite holidays of the year! 
A couple from our ward wanted a picture with Joel at the ward chili cook-off/trunk or treat because they dressed up as the two main characters of Jurassic World. Pretty sweet.
Our own Princess
It's official! All of our kids have had stitches. Joel fell into a door at the gym's childcare while I was working out and got this terrible booboo. I took him for an ice cream cone before going to urgent care just to raise his spirits, hence the milky goatee. He left the doctor's office with three stitches...and a sticker of course.

Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Fall of 2015 - Never Too Late

Sometimes life gets busy and certain things get pushed onto the back burner and eventually forgotten.  That's such the case with our family blog. Life happened, I guess you could say, and I neglected to document it. Now it's time to get this blog back on track.

I could try to play catch up from where we left off, but I think I'd drive myself crazy and everyone who reads our family history crazy too if I were to try to post all those pictures and provide commentary on every single one of them. So, I'm not going to put anyone through that painful process.

I think the beginning of September is the best place to start off from, so we'll just begin there. Somehow I don't have the children's first day of school pictures, so I won't be able to include those. I'll begin with Alyson's first ward trip to the Chicago temple.


Middleton Good Neighbor Festival
Kourtney had good intentions taking her brother on the carnival ride you see behind them. Keegan even started off extremely happy. Too bad it didn't end that way for this little guy. Maybe next year will be different if he dares to give it another try.
Happy kiddos after the first day of school. 
Our beautiful garden and the cranes that wondered our neighborhood this summer
Our garden yielded tomatoes, strawberries, zucchini and cucumbers in quite the abundance, snap peas, and eggplant.

To celebrate Kourtney's birthday, we went to the Cow Chip Festival in Sauk Prairie. Kris and Koco enjoyed some high flying times on the swings. 
Joel received his first professional haircut in September too. Keegan showed Joel how it's done. What big boys they're becoming! 
Alyson participated in Cross Country through her middle school again this year. After combating a knee injury, she rallied to do very well the last couple of meets. 
Koco had a friend birthday party this year. The theme-The '70's. They played games, ate pizza, and ended the night ice skating (originally thought about roller skating, the theme was the '70's afterall, but opted for a closer venue). Everyone seemed to have an amazing time. 
Kris and I enjoyed taking Ellary and Keegan to a Wisconsin Badgers football game. What an awesome time with number three and four. It's amazing to think they're old enough and mature enough to sit through a game with Kris and I and we all enjoy it.  What a special outing! 
Joel's 3rd Birthday
Kris and I had church assignments to be at the Monroe Branch on Joel's birthday, so we made a family trip out of it.  We packed a picnic and found a great park to eat at after church. Then we walked around the pond and enjoyed the sunshine. Happy birthday Joel!

Trip Down Memory Lane 
The family tagged along for Kris' annual trip to run in the Hell, Michigan Dances with Dirt race. While he ran with his team, the kids and I visited with old friends, namely the Bruening and Wille families. It was remarkable to see how everyone has grown over the last 2 1/2 years and yet how friendships can be rekindled so easily. What a great weekend. 
Incredible to think we brought Keegan and Joel  to this home from the hospital and that Joel was only 6 months old when we moved. 
It's fun to note that this pine tree infront of our old house in the center of the cul-de-sac was at one time Alyson and Kourtney's favorite tree to climb, and it became the first tree for Ellary to climb since she broke her arm (getting out of a tree), and the first tree for Keegan to ever climb.
Keegan was excited for his first school field trip. His class had the chance to visit a working dairy farm, to see and pet the animals, and pull vegetables from a garden. I'm grateful I was able to go with him because we had a really fun time together.  Keegan kept saying,  "This is the best day ever! "
Random pictures of great times at the Allee house
Our First Pumpkin Patch
Kris celebrated year number 39 in October. His day was jam packed with service to others as he has spent much of his life thus far and is very good at. We snuck cupcakes in at Ellary and Kourtney's soccer practice (Kris is coaching Ellary's team) and then ate at PF Changs the next day, had cake and ice cream, and he opened presents.
After nearly getting hit by two cars in the same week, I figured it was time to get Kris more reflective running gear. Think it will help him be noticed?