Happy Birthday Buddy!

Buddy's birthday is on New Years Eve. So, we had the Allen family over for dinner in celebration of Buddy's birthday. The children had a wonderful time playing and LeLe was obsessed with Samuel. I hope that this means that this transition will be a little easier than what I am expecting.

LeLe has successfully slept in her "big girl room" for a couple of naps and we plan on placing her up there tonight. We decided to put a crib in there instead of a real bed and we are VERY glad. She is having somewhat of a hard time sleeping up there.

The kids had a great time singing to Buddy and we had a great time seeing everyone!

As for daddy, he is a new man and we are very thankful!

Happy Birthday LeLe!

I cannot believe it! LeLe turns two today!!

How in the world time has flown by so fast...I will never know. I do know that I would not trade one day of time spent with LeLe of the past 2 years for anything. She is such a happy and energetic little girl. She is very loving, kind and caring and loves both Matt and myself. She is such a little character. She can sing almost all of the words to Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, count to 15, sing the alphabet, boss her dolls and stuffed animals around, and pretty much make her daddy do anything for her.

Today, Laura came up with the girls to celebrate LeLe's birthday. We had originally planned on going to Arab to visit family but due to daddy not being up to par, we are rescheduling. In an effort to so something fun, in the freezing cold, we decided to grab some lunch and then head to Chuck-e Cheese for LeLe's birthday.

We ate at the Diplomat Deli and Laura's girls surprised LeLe with some doll clothes, doll potty set and doctor set. She loves them! We then had to gobble up some cupcakes before heading to see Chuck-e.



Anne Reaves is NOT fond of Chuck-e and well, as soon as he made his appearance, we had to leave. However, Saxon and LeLe weren't scared at all!


After having enough of Chuck-e Cheese, we headed home and surprised LeLe with her riding 4-wheeler. She had a good time riding it but hasn't quite mastered starting and stopping.

Dad's Coming Home!

I headed to the hospital around 6:00 and found that daddy was awake and alert. It was such a relief. They took him off of the Nexavar for now in hopes that he will regain some strength and hydration. He got news that he was going to be released after lunch and boy are we thankful! He has a follow up appointment on January 4th for them to recheck him and a possibly put him back on the Nexavar. Please say a prayer that things will go well.

Merry Christmas!

We had invited Buddy, Pops and PawPaw to Christmas morning breakfast. We had planned on getting up and ready early but they were here before I even got out of the shower. Fortunately, LeLe is a late sleeper so Matt and I were able to get fully clothed before she awoke.

When she walked into the living room, she was amazed! She stood there for about 10 minutes without touching a thing. Finally, after us instructing her that it was okay, she ran up and gave Riff (the dinosaur on Barney) a big hug! She was so excited about Riff! She eventually got all of her presents opened.

Buddy and Pops brought over a breakfast casserole but LeLe was too excited about her presents to waste any time eating. So, she played in her kitchen and cut up fruit while we ate breakfast.

Shortly after eating breakfast, Buddy, Pops and PawPaw headed to the Allen house. Matt and I ran around and got all of our last minute gifts together and around 1:00 headed to their house.

Around 2:30, I got a call from Laura that we needed to take daddy to the hospital. So, Matt and I left LeLe with his family and headed to help get daddy to UAB. We all got kicked out of the ER so Laura and Mother ended up staying with him. We drove Matt Skinner to get his car and then we headed back to the Allen house where we continued to have Christmas. LeLe got a ton of presents from Buddy and Pop and had a wonderful time playing with Jason, Sara Kate and Samuel.

She was so exhausted by the time we left, she actually fell asleep in the car. Let me just say, I can count on my hands the number of times that she has fallen asleep in the car.

Laura called around 6:00 and said that they were admitting daddy for dehydration and elevated ammonia levels. Around 9:00, he was placed in a room. I am scheduled to go visit him in the morning.

Christmas Eve Tradition

My family (the Longs) historically gets together for our Christmas celebration on Christmas Eve. This year, the plan was to come to our house for dinner. However, due to the children napping and the expected bad weather, we chose to do Christmas Eve lunch instead. We had the traditional prime rib, salad, scallop potatoes and bread.

The girls had a fantastic time playing in the bounce house and chasing one another. It warms my heart to see how happy they all get each and every time that we get together. LeLe is in LOVE with Matt Skinner so she was equally excited to see him.

Laura's girls got so excited when they opened their American Girl dolls from Bobo and Pappy. LeLe loved her wagon that they gave her and she had to sit in it to open presents. Before the night was over, she had loaded all 10,000 stuffed animals and dolls into it and was pulling it around the house.

We had a wonderful time watching the children and are so happy to all be together this Christmas.

When I was little, Laura and I were allowed to open one gift on Christmas Eve. So, we decided to start this tradition with LeLe. She opened the wooden doll dress-up set that we got her. She loved putting the pants, shirts and shoes on the wooden dolls. She doesn't have the matching part down though.

LeLe put out cookies and milk in hopes that St. Nick will come to visit. She also put out carrots that Anne Reaves brought for her to give to Rudolph. However, she decided to eat 2 of the 3 of them herself.

Trip to see Santa....twice!

I had been putting off going to see Santa ever since our long wait at the Galleria. But, I decided that today would be as good as any to try to fight the crowds. I talked mother ("Bobo") into going with me to Brookwood as she had some returns to make. While she was making her returns, I decided to go ahead and get in line to see Santa. To my surprise, there wasn't very many people there and we were able to quickly get our picture made with Santa.

LeLe LOVED Santa. I was very surprised because she was definitely scared of him when we were in Dollywood. Regardless, she walked right over to him and proceeded to get in his lap. Once there, she asked him "whatcha doing" and then told him that she wanted "candy canes" and "Riff". For those of you who don't have a clue about Riff, he is the orange dinosaur on Barney. If you remember a few months ago, Bobo bought LeLe BabyBop, BJ and Barney but we were unable to find Riff. Ever since, she has been focused on getting Riff. So, we sure hope that Santa fulfills her wish.

When Matt got home, I was telling him about what a wonderful experience we had with Santa and talked him into going back. This time, we weren't as fortunate as the first and had to wait in line for about 30 minutes. LeLe walked straight up to Santa again but this time grabbed her a candy cane out of his basket first. She didn't even tell him what she wanted but they did talk some. Unfortately, she didn't light up when she saw him earlier in the day either.

Notice her crazy hairbow....that is from Bobo and is suppose to be on a package. However, LeLe LOVES wearing the feather bow! I almost forgot....we had to take Rudolph the second time because LeLe thought that he missed Santa.

Merry Christmas!

New Addition....

As most of you guys know, Matt and I went on an African safari about 4 1/2 years ago. While in Zimbabwye, I shot a giraffe....I know...I know. Well, let's just say, a giraffe will feed 150 people for 3 months. In a weak moment, I took out this beautiful animal.

So, here we are...4 years later and now have a new animal in our home. Let's just say, we had to move the entertainment center over to fit this beast. He is approximately 10 feet tall and is about 4 foot in diameter at the base. The pictures really don't do it justice.

LeLe LOVES it. She has named it "Geoffery" the giraffe. When she woke up from her nap today, you could hear her calling the giraffe. Oh me!

Saturday Shopping...NOT!

Matt and I went out very briefly for lunch and decided that we wouldn't even try to go shopping. So, back home we came....

Once we got LeLe down for a nap, I snuck back out and did some shopping. Don't ask my why in the world I wanted to get out when all of my Christmas was done....but, we now have some more things for baby brother.

LeLe is loving all of the Santa, Reindeer, Snowmen, Snowflakes, and Christmas lights!

Ice Cream!

We had a TON of ice cream left over from the party. So, tonight after dinner, LeLe enjoyed some "nilla" and I enjoyed some "Chocate". As you can see, there was not a drop left in her cup!

Birthday Party!

The plans for this year was to have a huge bash at the house in honor of LeLe's birthday party. I had already ordered all of the gingerbread items and had huge plans for a big gingerbread party including crafts and a human gingerbread man.......well, no one told me that I was going to be overwhelmed moving a 2 year old up to a big girl room, redoing my hard wood floors, painting, and then trying to get ready for Christmas.

So, my plans changed...

We detoured to the bounce party place next to the house. Anne Reaves had her 2nd birthday party at this place and all of the kids throughly enjoyed it. So, in an effort to keep my sanity, we turned a gingerbread party into a snowman birthday party at the bounce place.

Thank goodness that we decided to detour. The party was a hit with LeLe and she had a fantastic time. She wasn't sure about blowing out the candles though. She did enjoy all of her favorite people being in the same room though!

These beautiful pictures were taken by Mark Wilkins of B3 Photography. ENJOY!

Santa Baby!

Matt still bathes LeLe. Her new thing is to make a Santa beard and yell out "Merry Christmas Trees!". She is just so funny.

Our elf, Mr. Jingles, has been spotted around the house throughout the past week. She gets so tickled when she finds him. Today, she found him in the refrigerator and explained to him....it is freezing in there!

She is also loving Rudolph. Her teachers at school even gave her a Rudolph! She knows almost ALL of the words to the song. I am amazed! One of these days, I will learn how to post a video and share it with you!

Bounce House Action Shots

LeLe and I headed to Tuscaloosa today to do some final last minute Christmas shopping. We enjoyed seeing Laura and the girls. It is amazing what a different child LeLe turns into when Anne Reaves and Saxon are around. She totally wants to be just like them.

LeLe has continued to play in the bounce house every night and day since Saturday. She has now figured out how to climb into the bounce house with her toys and then push them down the slide. She gets SO tickled when they hit the ground.

Work Weekend

Matt and I had a date last night for the first time in a VERY long time. We went out to eat at Bone Fish and then watched "The Blind Side". We now remember why it has been 3 years since we saw a movie in the theatre. I believe the lady sitting next to me had a ice crunching problem not to mention that her cell phone kept going off. The boy in front of us could not get that last drop out of his drink and continued to slurp until finally his father put down the gauntlet. Regardless, the movie was fantastic and Matt and I enjoyed spending time with each other.

On Saturday morning, it was work time. Aunt "Sasha" came to get LeLe so that we could continue to work on the nursery. Matt got all of the Christmas gifts put together while I worked upstairs organizing different things. After lunch, Matt's friend came and dropped off the bounce house for us to try out. We then proceeded to hang more curtains....4 sets of them. Matt and I managed to get them all hung without many curse words or cross words. So, that is an accomplishment within itself.

After the curtains were hung, Sasha brought LeLe back home and she fell in love with the bounce house. Let's just say, there is NO doubt that this will be her birthday present.

We then watched Mark Ingram win the Heisman! Go Mark!!

Bobo dropped by before LeLe left for Sasha's and we snapped a few pictures. Does it look like they love each other or what?

Trip to see Santa

Matt and I decided earlier in the week that we would try to take LeLe to see Santa on Wednesday night. We had hopes that most people would either be at church or they would be too tired to go see ole St. Nick. Unfortately, we had no such luck. After LeLe having no nap today and the fact that I am 8 months pregnant and still had on my work clothes, we decided to throw in the towel.

Maybe next week....during the day, we can visit with Jolly Old St. Nick. In the meantime, some random shots of LeLe in front of a random tree at the Galleria. As you can see, even with no sleep, she is such a happy girl!

Just a Random Shot

Here is just a random shot of LeLe before she went to school today. She was in a great mood. I had to wet her crazy hair for it to actually lay down in place...but as you will see, it is still CRAZY!