Our 1st July 4th and Madison Wisconsin

Our family had a very fun and eventful July 4th. We spent the morning at Lakeview Park for a ward celebration. We ate breakfast and watched the kids play in the park and on the splash pad.

Then we went home, had a little nap while the kids watched a movie, and got ready for a fishing trip to Columbus, Wisconsin. Columbus is about a 45 minute drive from Middleton. What took us to Columbus, Wisconsin you may ask? Fishing and fireworks.

The river we fished on was very beautiful. We had fun casting out our lines but unfortunately we only caught one fish. Our luck fishing in Wisconsin has been pretty poor thus far. But we enjoyed the scenery and family time all the same.

Following our fishing trip we drove back to Columbus and ordered pizza. Then we found a place in the Fireman's Park to watch the fireworks. Joel and I played on the blankets while Kris took Alyson, Kourtney, Ellary, and Keegan to a carnival in the park.

At dusk we watched the fireworks. Joel was intrigued at first and also afraid at times when the fireworks went boom. Keegan was excited to watch the fireworks. Ellary laughed and pointed out all of her favorite fireworks. She said she likes carnival rides but that fireworks are better. Funny kid! It made me think back to when we watched fireworks last. When I got thinking about it, it was 4 years ago in Grand Junction, Colorado with all of our family including Nana, Papa, Oma, Aunt Uta, Uncle Jim and my sister Renee and her family. Ellary was only a little over a year and Keegan hadn't been born yet. So as we sat in Fireman's Park it was as if 3 of the 7 people in our family were watching the fireworks for the first time.

Following the fireworks, we drove 45 minutes back home. All of the kids stayed awake except for Joel. What a great day and a fun way to celebrate the birth of our nation!

Cheese Please

The kids and I went to a birthday party today at Chucky Cheese. Alyson and Keegan buddied up and Kourtney and Ellary buddied up. They had a great time playing games together.

At one point Kourtney got really excited about a game and told me to come see. As soon as I saw the "game" I had to laugh because she is most definitely my daughter.  It was the huge clock face with the one hand that has a seat attatched to it. You strap yourself in and then get lifted up as the hand goes around. 8 year old Koco strapped herself in put the coin in the slot and rode the kiddie ride. Why did this remind me that Koco is my daughter? My last memory of going to Chucky Cheese when I was a kid is when I was about 8 and rode the same ride, different location of course, and then I became incredably embarrassed when my sister told me it was for toddlers. Today I just smiled and let Koco enjoy the ride.

Soccer and swimming in Middleton

Ellary and Keegan are taking soccer lessons a couple days a week.  They really like it. We also went to the swimming pool for FHE tonight. We had a blast. During adult swim time Kris and I took to the diving board for a friendly competition. The kids scored our dives, flips, gainers, and one and half dives on a 1 to 10 scale. I won for form. Kris won overall because he has more dives  in his arsenal.

In addition, Ellary and Keegan took to the slides and felt like such big kids walking together without us or the big girls escorting them.  And Joel seems to be getting over his fear of water as he wasn't as scared of the of it this time. Such a fun day!

Also, I have a smart phone now with an awesome camera (13 megapixels) and can take pictures and post them to our blog so easily. So there are a lot of changes in the Allee household. I will tell you more about them when I have time to make another post.

Long Overdue: Thanksgiving 2012 thorugh December 2012

Thanksgiving morning of 2012 started out by Alyson and Kris completing the Lansing Turkey Man Trot.  Alyson spent the weeks up to the race training with Stephanie Smedly from our ward.  They got together in the early mornings to prepare for the big day. When it finally arrived, Alyson and Kris were both ready.  They beat their goal times which included Alyson's 5K personal best time.  Aly averaged 7:45 miles.  Great job, guys!

 

 Kris tackled the turkey while the kids and I made the rest of Thanksgiving dinner.  And of course we went around the table telling what we are grateful for.

Here are our kiddos all decked out for a holiday photo.

 Madison, Wiscosin...Our soon to be new home.  Kris interviewed for a job at the University of Wisconsin last fall and got the job.  So we spent a few days exploring the area to make sure it is the right fit for our family.  And guess what...we decided it is!  So, we are currently in the process of boxing up our belongings so that we can move next week (March 30th).  Wow-we have loved living in East Lansing.  We know we will love living in Madison too!

Here are pictures from our adventure to the Madison Zoo and at the pool in our hotel.

 Kourtney's favorite animal...a tortoise (turtles count as her favorite animal too).  The Madison Zoo has two very large tortoises.

 I am sure this tortoise will replace the giraffes at Lansing's Potter Park Zoo.  The kids love to get their pictures taken on them

 The zoo has a number of really cool animals including a polar bear, penguins, seals, giraffes, alligators and Alyson's once favorite animal, a pink flamingo!

 The pool was a great place for the kids to let off some energy.  It even had a slide and a boat.

 Joel and I enjoyed watching everyone...ok, I enjoyed watching everyone while Joel slept.

 Time to document Joel's growth.  Here he is at the end of December making him 3 months old.  Big boy, happy boy.  He could roll over to his tummy at this point, but then he'd get stuck there, belly surfacing, until someone turned him back over.  Cute kid.

 Lounging...taking it easy.

 The stocking decoration just so happened to look like a 'J" for Joel.

 Alyson also had a recorder recital.  She was chosen to play a solo.  Seems her violin lessons have come in handy in the instrument department.  This is Aly with her friend Kendahl. 

So, see Keegan's ear?  This is a story he will have to remember the rest of his life.  Kris was giving a talk in church and Keegan was bugging Ellary really badly on the fourth or fifth pew from the front, so I took Keegan and Joel to the back of the chapel to sit in the overflow on some folding chairs.  Well, Keegan wouldn't sit still.  He kept standing on the chairs and climbing from one to the next.  I could only do so much to try to get him to sit still without creating a ruckus.  A few minutes went like this as I tried to listen to Kris speak and keep an eye on Keegan.  Then it happened.  Kerplank!  Keegan fell through the whole in the backside of one of the folding chairs and it folded up on him.  He began to cry.  Well, I handed Joel off to a friend who was sitting in the overflow area too and grabbed Keegan and went out to the foyer.  I held him and then a short time later realized his ear was bleeding, and it would not stop.  I tried to examine it, but he only screamed and squirmed some more.  What I did see, however, worried me a bit, but what could I do at the point except apply pressure and try to comfort him?

A friend walked by a short time later, saw me holding Keegan's ear and just how bad it looked, there was a cut almost through his ear from back to front with the bottom of his ear lobe just barely held together by tissue, and asked if I wanted her to get the ward surgeon.  So technically, Brother Fredline isn't the 'ward surgeon' but we have a number of medical students and doctors doing their residencies in our ward who often come to the aid of fellow ailing members.  Brother Fredline was in the chapel and finished speaking before Kris.  I didn't want to disrupt the flow of the program by having Sister Coupe get Brother Fredline off the stand.  It might disrupt the congregation, but also alarm Kris and prevent him from finishing his talk the way I thought he should get to do.  But she did get him anyways.  Brother Fredline took one look at Keegan's injury and said, "I can take Keegan to my office.  We can get that stitched right up and be back for third hour."  Wow-what a relief!  I was afraid Kris and I were going to have to take Keegan to the emergency center, and with Keegan's fear of doctors it didn't seem like it was going to be very pleasant for anyone, especially for him.

Brother Fredline took Keegan and me to his office while Kris was speaking.  I informed Kris of what had happened when he called after sacrament meeting.  He was somewhat alarmed, but relieved Keegan was okay.  Keegan cried almost all the way to the doctor's office but gradually calmed down.  Then Brother Fredline played "I Am a Child of God" on his phone while he stitched up Keegan's ear which really helped him calm down even more.  Soon, we were back at church with five stitches in Keegan's ear, three in the front, two in the back, and attending the last meeting.  We were very grateful Keegan's injury hadn't been worse and that he was feeling better.  We were also very grateful for Brother Fredline sharing his talents by helping Keegan.  Keegan's ear has healed up.  He has a scar to show for it, but there is no permanent damage to his ear which is great.  It turned out to be an eventful morning, but ok in the end.

 Joel sleeping on a folding chair.  Let's hope he stays as calm as this while sitting church folding chairs when he is three years old!

 We went to a holiday event in downtown Lansing before Christmas.  We are sitting on a sleigh sculpted out of ice!  Cold, wet bums.

I love this picture.  Not only is Keegan displaying his favorite attire or lack thereof, but this pic also reminds me of one I took of Alyson and Kourtney when Kourtney was about Joel's age.  Can you see the fear in Joel's eyes?  It reminds me of the fear displayed in Kourtney's eyes as if saying, "Mom, please help.  I'm in the arms of a crazy kid!"

Ellary began the school year being afraid of attending preschool.  Kris had to literally bribe her with donuts and cookies to get her to go in the mornings.  Then when he'd pick her up on his way home from work, she'd be so excited about how well her day went.  Well, preschool is like an old hat to her now.  She usually loves to go and comes home talking about her friends and what she did.  It's also a great time for her to spend time with Kris in the car talking about her day and working on spelling and math.  Here Ellary is standing outside her preschool door in front of Frosty the Snowman made of Styrofoam cups, cardboard and a scarf.  She was so excited to have her picture taken in front of him.

So, not the best picture in the world...But this taken at a Marshall Music holiday recital that Alyson participated in.  She played "The First Noel" on her violin and did very nicely.  Great job, Al!