What I love

I love...
Last minute projects that turn out great and make my kids happy!


I love....
Seeing these two cousins together (only 8 days apart and Easton is so tiny compared to Will)


I love...
Seeing Riley sing his little heart out for his preschool program...here comes kindergarten


I love...
New church clothes (the kids looked great on sunday in their easter clothes- only 5 weeks late!)


I love...
sewing for my cute girl!


I love...
my cute husband (not so much the facial hair!)


I love....
that Will has started wearing the cute bibs I made for him... I dislike the reflux that gives him a reason to wear the bibs!


I love
the school dance festival.... this year was great weather and three kids to see...kinda excited to see Ethan move on to jr high!




I love...
this cute guy


I love....
how gentle all my kids are with the baby especially Owen

Will

Baby Will is now a month old. How time flies when I'm not in pain and waiting for a baby to come! I attempted to take these pictures of Will when he was 2 1/2 weeks old. I think they turned out cute but really how could they not considering the subject!

Before the baby...

Before our cute little Will came into this world, Ben and I were hard at work refiguring the bedroom situation in our home. I came up with a blog inspired idea. Sometimes those kind of ideas are hard to convince Ben that it would be easy to do- especially if I need his help. For those projects that don't require Ben's help, he is unable to refuse the changes and actually most of the time he likes what I've made or done to the house (Thank goodness!). A while ago I found a great website for building the beds and decided to show them to Ben and off to home depot we went. The new beds required help from Ben and he was actually up for the challenge. I had to adjust the plans for Owens toddler bed and I added my cowboy flare but I love the way it turned out! Rileys bed is almost finished- I just need to paint it black and I have some great ideas for his room. Hopefully I can get it done soon.

Too many kisses???

Maybe it's all those kisses Will has been given- or maybe he felt he needed more?! I love the expressions newborns have and I also love how Will has begun to get chubby and change already. His cute little outfit was given to him from his aunt AmyLyn and I was excited for him to wear it on his first official outing- his cousins blessing day. He looked so cute! Totally kissable!!!

Happy Easter!

What a great Easter! We were blessed to have our second Easter baby! Ethan was our first born on Easter conference sunday just over twelve years ago! Everyone kept saying how cute it would be to have another Easter baby and I guess our little guy just wanted to be as cute as can be! So here he is
William David Allen
5:45 am
7 lbs 14 oz
18 1/2 inches
We were a little surprised how fast he came into this world- the epidural kicked in on the first push and looking back I should of just said "forget it the hard part is over" and had him natural!!!! I guess warning the nurses of how fast things can progress wasn't taken seriously enough!
Here's a little about how things went: After a day of unsteady contractions I was resigned to the fact that he was in there until my induction that was scheduled for Monday. Around 1 am Owen climbed into bed with us and woke me up and thats when I noticed the contractions. What's new I was contracting every other night or so. So I headed downstairs to find something entertaining to watch on tv until the contractions stopped. Let me just say that Harry Potter #7 is not a good "contracting" movie. It was just irritating! I decided to do something with my hair- just in case- and around 3 am I woke Ben up to let him know it was time- he just laid there! So after a couple "are you awake"s he got up!!! I guess by number 6 the excitement has worn off for my husband! Mom came to the rescue and we arrived at the hospital just after 4. I was surprised they even wanted to triage me and yet they did. Once we were in a labor and delivery room I noticed that my pain was way worse and that maybe I should warn the nurses about how fast I go once I hit a 5. They didn't seem too concerned until the anesthesiologist came in to work his magic and he gave the nurses a little warning, as well, that maybe I was further along than what they thought! Yup a 10! After a couple of bolus epidural injections, doctor Liddle showed up and three pushes later I was asking when I could go home.
First picture

Proud daddy!

The cutest visitors ever! I was a little sad I wasn't able to be with them at home on Easter. I never get to have Easter off because of work and I was actually looking forward to being home to see the kids look thru their Easter baskets. They were pretty cute at giving me a run down of what they got from the easter bunny. They were also excited to bring Will his Easter bunny that we had picked out the day before "just in case" he was an Easter baby!




Owen was a little hesitant on what to do with the baby and pretty much just looked from afar.

Heading home


Once we got home Owen warmed up a little and now loves to hold Will and when he cries Owen says "ok baby ok baby"
Just to let him know he is ok. It's pretty cute to see how gentle he is with Will. I was expecting a lot of jealousy.

On Tuesday we were suprised to find out he need bilirubin lights. A couple of our kids have needed these in the hospital- but not at home. It was a long 2 days and nights!!!

It's now a week later and things are still getting settled. Pretty much it's just crazy around here! It was nice to have Ben home for a week and I miss the extra help! Will has his good nights and bad nights- he's a typical newborn. The kids are all helpful and love him a ton. I love him a ton too. I find myself just holding him and staring at him just because and saying in my mind "you will never be this little again" He is loved beyond belief!

Before it gets crazier...

Thought I would catch up before our new little one comes into this world (hopefully soon). Riley and Jake were both able to be different people for a day at school. Riley had to pick, recite and dress up as a nursery rhyme. He picked Humpty Dumpty. So we designed our egg costume complete with the crack and yolk and Riley did perfect on reciting the rhyme. he was a little dramatic when Humpty fell but it was dang cute! He is a crack up (no pun intended)!
Here he is with his friend Austin.

As for Jake, he was able to dress up as Neil Armstrong for the fifth grade wax museum. He did great on his report and seemed to have fun during the wax museum, it's a lot easier to sit around when one of your best friends is right behind you!
Jake and Wes



An event that deserves it own post- Ethan turned twelve! Crazy! He is so excited to be in young mens and with the twelve year old scouts! He's changed so much this year. Recently he has decided he likes to read (sometimes), He did phenomenal on his volcano written report and doesn't seem to mind homework as much! The late night hugs after I think he is asleep are still appreciated and he has a way of always having some song or rhythm coming from his mouth. Happy Birthday Ethan!
Ethan wanted a new bike for his birthday


He also wanted cheesecake, so I whipped up a batch of mini cheesecakes that were loved!

Happy Birthday!

I've put off doing this post partly because I don't have much time these days and also for a loss of words. In the beginning of March my cute, dear, sweet husband turned the big 35. This year was particularly hard for me to create a great birthday for him considering the lateness of my pregnancy and 5 kids to keep me exhausted. I had great and wonderful intentions for this day for him but he patiently and gratefully accepted costco cheesecake for dessert and itunes giftcard and a day backpack (because he never has enough camping stuff-curse those scouts!) for his presents. I would have loved to go out to lunch with him but instead he settled for his work buddy Travis. I did give him a lunch time phone call just as him and travis were headed to rc willey in which they stated they were off to find the beds! How can I compete with that? ;)

The 76 on his cheesecake is the year of his birth and also because we unfortunately do not own a 3 and a 5 from prior birthdays.


I did try to make him one of his favorites for dinner- homemade rolls- just as I finished the dough, the electricity went out! Arrrgh! It turned out to be a good thing. The kids rounded up posters and I pulled out the craft bucket and they went crazy each making a part of a birthday sign. Just as it was time for the rolls to bake the electricity came on. Hooray! Ben settled for one of his favorite things- cheese on a nice warm roll. The kids on the other hand were dreaming of chuck a rama! Too bad!