Charlie’s Christmas Gift to Us

Charlie loves her doll from her daycare workers
She seems to be a fan of her new pj's

Well Charlie’s 1st Christmas did not go off as planned which is probably something I should get used to. Instead of having a fun Christmas Eve drinking, eating and opening presents Wade and Todd came down with the flu. Not more than a few hours later it hit my mom and then a couple hours after that I was the lucky recipient followed closely by my dad and then lastly Kara. That’s right. Not a single one of us was lucky enough to avoid it. We think Charlie gave it to us as a Merry Christmas suckas present! :) Luckily Charlie had it first and easiest as she only threw up once and had a couple not so solid diapers, but other than that she was just a little more quiet and solemn than usual. (Also, she can wear diapers and puke where she wants to and not worry about a thing. Adults aren't so lucky in that aspect.)

Wade feeling like shit and still opening his presents

Paps, Charlie & Kobe prior to the flu

Wade trying to act like he doesn't feel like death warmed over

So needless to say Christmas day came and all you would find at the Allen household is a bunch of sickies trying to stay upbeat and not puke. Not exactly the 1st Christmas I had envisioned for Charlie. She got a lot of fun presents from her Paps and Omi and Aunt Kara and Uncle Todd though. She is very excited to get to play with all of them!

After finally feeling like death had passed us we decided to make the trip to Galesburg a day later than planned and headed there Sunday morning. Grandma B, Z-pa and Grandpa Gary were thrilled with the news that we would still be making it. They were bummed when we originally thought we'd be too sick to come. We went straight to Gary’s house where Charlie was bombarded w/ love (aka: cousins and aunts). Let’s just say she was not lacking in the attention department! She was loving the attention and picture taking (she’s a total ham for the cameras). She even got her first saddle. What other 4 ½ month old can say they already have their own saddle!?! Spoiled much? I think so! We spent the rest of the night playing Just Dance 2 (super fun!) on Wii and blackjack (I won!). So it all ended up a great vacation just with a little interlude of sickness thrown in for the fun of it.

A big fan of her new rocking horse!

We are so thankful to have such wonderful family who are so loving and giving to Charlie. We are truly blessed!

Up next, New Year’s Eve. I’m thinking it probably will be the 2nd tamest I’ve ever had. Last year would be the tamest due to me being pregnant and not able to drink. We aren’t really sure what our plans are exactly but at least I can imbibe if I want to this year!

Happy New Year!!!

We Partied Like It Was 2010 (or something like that)

So I would love to update ya’ll on our New Year’s Eve shindig and show you pictures and all that jazz but I only took like 3 pictures the entire evening. I don’t know what I was thinking! We had friends over which included 5 little boys (and 3 dogs) all under the age of 6 so things were a bit rowdy for a while! Our house has never seen so many little kiddos and didn’t know what hit it! We had to baby proof our place and fast!

We had food galore and kegerator beer along with some mixed cocktails. The evening started early with the ISU/MN bowl game starting at 5:00. ISU managed to pull out a win (1 point is all that is needed and won me the bet w/ my boss so I scored a 6-pack of beer!) and we celebrated their victory and the new decade. So we partied from 5:00-2:30am! We may be 30 now but we can still hang! (Although the hangovers are worse… Sorry Brad!)

(One of the few pictures I took. Brad, passed out w/ his tongue out. Priceless.)

Other than that the rest of our long weekend was relaxing and uneventful. We rented movies, (District 9 was dumb, Terminator Salvation was decent and GI Joe was meh) went out to dinner, and I was a lazy bum with Kobe and he loved it! Cuddle time!

How was all of your New Year’s Celebrations? Is it as cold where you are as it is here? The high today was 1. And it isn't supposed to get above the teens for the next week! WTF? I can't handle this shit. I need to move south.

2010 ~ Here We Come!

2009 In Review

I can’t believe it’s the end of a decade. It kind of starts to make me feel old… Hmmm… Regardless, 2009 was a great year for us. Here is to hoping that 2010 is even better and is wonderful for all of you as well!

Here is a look back at what we did this past year:

January - A pretty quiet start to the year 2009. We made a trip down to Des Moines for Wade to be in an indoor race. He's his own biggest fan. J/k :)

February - We made our annual trip up north to Bessemer, MI for a weekend of drinking, drinking and more drinking. Some people actually get out and hit the slopes but not me. :)

March - Made another trip down to Des Moines for Alicia's birthday party and also had family up to visit us in MN. The weekends were all full!

April - We got our kitchen repainted! It looks so much better although we still need new cabinets. (That will be a 2010 project!) And our yard put together with a new fence and garden! Success!

May - What a busy month! I participated in the Des Moines MS Walk, saw Foreigner in concert, went to IL for a race and turned 30 years old! Holy moly!

June - Wade participated in the MS150 bike ride (I was the chauffeur) and Wade left for France which left me behind for 2 weeks and just dying to get there to meet him!

July - Another BUSY month! I left to meet Wade in Europe for a 10 day trip that included Paris, Amsterdam, Bruge and Bacharach. Time of our lives. We also traveled to Chicago to see our great friends, Bill & Bartels, and Wade turned 30! How we squeezed that all into 31 days I have no clue! August - STURGIS baby! I love that town. Nuf said! We also made a trip to Galesburg and made it out onto the lake.
September - I took a trip to Chicago for girl's weekend getaway and had a blast! And we made another trip to Des Moines for the Iowa/Iowa State game. October - We took a trip to Dallas, WI for Oktoberfest, had a neighbor outing in Minneapolis (and took the bus!), made it down to Des Moines for the ISU Homecoming game and partied like rockstars for Halloween. I also busted the shit out of my knee. It felt good. Not! :) November - Wade and I celebrated 3 years of marital bliss, our good friends the Schuman's finally visited us and we traveled all over for Thanksgiving feasts! December - We went to an ugly sweater party, I saw Paps for the first time in years and we traveled like rockstars for Christmas vacation. Looking back at the year I realize we have been busy little beavers! I'm looking forward to January which is usually a quiet month! :)

Coming up tonight, we are having a little get together to ring in the new year. Cheers to you and all of yours for a happy, healthy, prosperous and fun 2010!

Wordless Wednesday