Braden X-mas Morning

Waking up Christmas morning in our new home was wonderful! Especially since we were able to share the experience with my mom and John since they stayed all night with us to wake up with Braden on Christmas morning. He woke up at around 7:45 a.m., which wasn't too bad we didn't think :) He was VERY excited to walk down the stairs to see his presents waiting for him. Santa brought him all sorts of goodies and he was ecstatic to see all the new presents sitting around the Christmas tree. It is so much fun doing the whole Christmas experience with a child!

Braden and his new bike. Papa John searched long and hard for this bike to make sure his grandson was riding the perfect bike!

Patch had to get his own stocking as well, and his mole was a BIG hit!

Heelys, I have been hearing about these darn things for at least a year now...thank goodness Santa remembered to put them under the tree this year!

For some reason, Braden has this obsession with Mustangs, so on his wish list for this year was a fancy remote control car - but it MUST be a Mustang - good thing Santa pays attention to details!

Power Ranger Jungle Fury Rhino Rider - who knew it was so simple to put a smile on a kiddos face!

Christmas Celebrations

So, the Allee's have WAY to many Christmas celebrations to do a post for each one, so I decided to outline our holiday celebrations and include one picture from the day. I will then add a Smilebox presentation with lots of pictures from all of the family, food, presents, and fun!

We kicked off the holiday celebrations with the Ives' at Uncle Troy and Aunt Debbie's house in Sedalia on Saturday, December 20th. Josh, Braden and I were the first to arrive, and I am pretty sure that Dad, Julie, Brett and Dallas were the last to arrive :) - with the exception of Uncle Troy, but he doesn't count since he was out working. It was decided to go easy and no one have to prepare a big meal, so we ordered pizza and just hung out, drank a little wine, a little bit of some frozen amaretto sour, and had dessert - which means Julie's (my stepmom) awesome pecan bars - NO ONE makes them like she does ;) We exchanged presents and enjoyed the company of family we don't get to visit with very often.

Dad, Uncle Doug, Kaleb & Stephen deep in conversation

Next it was x-mas at Grandpa Jack's in Lee's Summit on Christmas Eve evening. We always seem to snack out at Grandpa Jack's house...Nancy makes lots of goodies for us to eat. It seems like I graze all night long there :) It is nice doing the Christmas celebration at his house, this is the only holiday celebration that my family doesn't have to travel far to spend an evening with family, and then we only have to drive 10 minutes to get home when the night is done :) We all laughed and ate and had a great time - and the presents were awesome too, cannot have a holiday without someone unwrapping a present. At one point I thought that mom and Grandpa Jack were going to start wrestling in the snow over a lemon pound cake that Nancy's secretary made -ha!

Uncle Jackie with the kiddos before the present unveiling :)

When we returned home after Grandpa Jack's xmas celebration, Braden headed straight to bed without any arguments at all - he was ready for Santa to visit our house ;) Mom and John came over to our house this year Christmas Eve and stayed all night at our home so that they could see him get up Christmas morning and open his presents from us and from Santa. It was awesome having them there with us to share in the experience of Christmas morning with our son. I have dedicated a post of its own to Braden opening presents Christmas morning, so no pics for this one.

We had to be at Granny's house in Sedalia for Christmas at noon. Granny's is always AWESOME to go to, because she does the traditional - dare I say "old fashioned" (HA!) Christmas dinner - sorry Granny, I couldn't resist :) My all time favorite thing for Granny to make is her scalloped potatoes, but I don't think there is anything she makes that isn't just out of this world! Plus Granny made sure that I had plenty of black olives to snack on for this family holiday celebration - she was lacking in that department on Thanksgiving ;) Presents are pure mayhem at Granny's house - it is the most awesome sight to see! Lots of memorable things happened this Christmas...one is funny and one is sweet. This year, Nick & Tara, Stephanie, and Josh and I went in to get Granny her a new shower for her bathroom. It was pretty tough to wrap the whole shower, so Stephanie wrapped up several tubes of white caulk and gave it to her as a present to open from all of us...when she opened it someone in the crowd, while Granny was trying to figure out what she was going to do with all of this caulk said "aaaaahhhhh, Granny got caulk for Christmas" - everyone busted out laughing - so hilarious! The sweet moment was, my mom approached all of the family members a few weeks ago regarding doing a "gratuity box" for Granny. Everyone wrote a card to her telling her why she is so special to us, and what we love her for and why we are thankful to have her in our family. As a surprise to my Aunt Jenein and Uncle Steve we did one for them as well. We presented them with their boxes with all of the cards and we read them outloud - resulting in LOTS of tears - all good tears though. We are very lucky to have each of them in our lives!

Granny and her caulk - hehehehe, it still makes me laugh!!!

From there we went to the Walker's to have a Christmas celebration. We ate a great meal prepared by Aunt Velma and George, grilled chicken and bbq ribs. Everyone dug in and ate until they were stuffed. Josh and I were really stuffed because that was our second HUGE meal of the day. Braden had had such a big day by then, that he went into the extra bedroom at Grandmother and Granddaddy's house and went to sleep. He slept for pretty much the entire holiday celebration at the Walker's house. He just played way to hard at all of the other xmas gatherings :) He woke up just in time to give Grandma Paula her present from him he picked out from Hallmark. We had a packed house, but we like it that way, lots of people to love and celebrate at a time like the holidays! We headed home from the Walker's so that we could sleep in our own beds one last time before the weekend celebrations began

Everyone doing their own thing - and Josh in front of the computer!

Friday Braden and I got to hang out at home and run errands while Josh went into work. It was really nice to just chill out at home and Braden play with all of his toys before we were off to the next holiday family gathering. We celebrated with the Allee family Friday evening, we arrived at about a quarter 'til 7 p.m. - we were a little late, but in they were kind enough to wait for us to start dinner. Aunt Cindi and Uncle David are here from Florida visiting for the holidays, which is really nice since we don't get to see them very often. Jana was here this year as well since she is back in Missouri, it was great having her around for the holidays! She helped Braden put together a couple of the presents he received. Which by the way, was WAY to many - he is such a brat HA!!! We also wanted a recent family picture, so we gathered in the living room to take a good picture of the bunch! Braden's attention span only went so far with the multiple pictures taken, and started making faces into the camera, so we decided to have one final picture taken with everyone acting silly - so naturally, that is the picture that made the post!

What a crew!

From there we went to Jefferson City, I think we arrived there a little after midnight Friday night - or Saturday morning, whichever way you look at it :) I wanted to make sure that I woke up at mom's house so that if she needed any help getting ready for her Christmas celebration at her house on Saturday with us kids then I wanted to be there to help her out as much as I could. She pretty much had it all under control, but I was there just in case :) Aunt Jenein and Granny came up to share in the celebration, this is the first year they have been able to come and participate in Mom's holiday with her kids since generally it falls on Christmas Eve or during a time that another celebration is going on. It was awesome having them there with us and celebrating in mom and John's new house. Plenty of room for all of that wrapping paper ripping and kids bouncing off the walls with excitement of the gifts - actually I think that Jodi was just as excited over her vaccum - ha! We all got awesome presents from mom and John, and we had even better food (homemade fried chicken) and company for the evening!

The kiddos getting waiting to open presents

Sunday we wrapped up the weekend celebration with the Stokes' at their house. Josh and Jim spent most of their time driving back and forth to Daisy Delight - they got our order wrong - but the kids got to play and open their presents. I didn't have my camera for that one for some reason, but we had lots of fun sitting around in a calm atmosphere enjoying company of friends :) We have one last holiday celebration to do which is with the Ham's, and that will have to wait until Braden gets back home from staying the week at Uncle Quintin and Aunt Jodi's house. So much family and friends to celebrate the holiday season with!

Braden's New Hair Cut

Last Thursday I went to a jewelry party with Terri and left Braden at home with Josh for the evening. Unknown to Josh, because he was downstairs on the computer, Braden decided to give himself a slick hair cut while mom was out with the girls. I noticed it very quickly...Josh on the other hand, didn't notice at all and was wondering what the heck I was so mad about until I literally had to point out the chunk of hair missing from Braden's head. I thought it was VERY noticeable, you can give me your opinion when you take a look at the picture below of Braden and Santa ;) I asked him what he did with the hair he cut off, and he told me that he flushed it down the toilet so I wouldn't be mad that he cut it...I guess not thinking that I would notice the fine new hairdo -ha! After getting over being mad and threatening to buzz his hair off the length of the shortest piece of hair he cut, I ended up telling him that it was just hair and that it would grow back. So now every day when he gets up and comes in to see me he spreads his hair apart to where he cut it, and says "Has it grown back, mom?" I just laugh at him and shake my head! When we went to visit Santa Claus Sunday afternoon at the Capital Mall, I asked Santa what he thought of Braden's new slick hair cut, and he chuckled, patted Braden on the back and said "Son, that is just one of life's experiences, lots of kids out there cut their own hair at one point or another." When we walked away he said to me, "See Mom, Santa isn't mad at me, its normal." HA!!!!

Snow Day

Yep, Lee's Summit public schools had their first snow day of the year yesterday, can you believe it! We only got four inches, but it was on top of a thin sheet of ice which came down right before the snow started. So, I stayed home with the kiddo yesterday, with full intentions on working...but he soon wanted a snow playmate. I wasn't up for the challenge...I am not much for getting cold and covered with snow, so we ventured to Independence to pick up his cousin, Diana, so they could play together in the snow. We originally thought we were going to be able to build a snowman, but that was a bust since the snow was very fine and powdery. Instead they resulted to just throwing snow at one another, making snow angels, and burying Braden in the snow :) I shoveled the driveway...yep, my first driveway to shovel and I got out there and did it - okay, maybe I only did half - ha! All in all it was a fun day spent at home on a snow day with the kiddos!

Braden making a snow angel...for some reason he was laying on his belly for this one, and then decided he was going to take a nap...burrrrrr, that pillow looks cold!

The kiddos wrestling in the snow, I don't think either one of them got cold out there the entire time...tired from running and wrestling, but not cold!

See what I mean by powdery snow...not the sticking kind for a snowman :(

I just love this picture of Braden...this is when he decided it would be cool to be buried...but he just got as far as his legs...it must have started to get cold, I think I need to invest in a pair of snow pants for this kiddo of mine!

Snow Ice Cream

A week or so ago, we had our first snow fall here, but it wasn't really much to count for anything. At that time Braden begged me to make snow ice cream. Fortunately there wasn't enough snow to actually make it...my mom always said that you cannot make homemade snow ice cream with the first snow of the season. Braden was bummed that we didn't get enough snow at that time, but as soon as I pulled into the garage this evening, he met me at my car door with the same song and dance I heard when we had our first snowfall. This time, he was prepared...he had placed two of my tupperware bowls on the ledge of the deck to fill up with snow, and boy did they! After dinner, we grabbed the bowls of snow, and our very first batch of homemade snow ice cream was created!

The tupperware dishes he set out to fill full of snow ;)

We start with the eggs...

Then in goes the milk...

Time to beat the milk and eggs together...

The sugar was added to the mixture, as well as the vanilla...so now it was time to mix it with the snow. I just love Braden's facial expression while spooning the snow :)

And whaala - we have snow ice cream!

He LOVED it! I don't know what he loved more, making it himself or eating it! I told him that it tastes just the same as when my mom use to make it for me, and that it was because I used the same secret ingredient...LOVE! :)

Another Favorite in my House

This is just random here, but last night Josh and I FINALLY got up the picture and quote on our bedroom wall, which I had been planning for years ;) I have had pictures from Josh and I's wedding for quite some time now, --since we have been married for over two years-- but I hadn't framed them. I wanted to wait to place them above the headboard in our room until we were in our house, knowing that I spent quite a bit on the quote I didn't want to leave it behind in the townhome. We have now framed the picture, and Josh and I placed our quote and the pictures above our headboard last night. I just love the way it looks so I thought I would put a couple of pictures on the blog.

New and Improved Dining Room

Okay, so those of you who have been here to the new house know how ugly the dining room wallpaper and border was; and those of you who keep up with the post saw pictures of the ugly blue-ness. So, this past Sunday, Cari and I undertook the task of a dining room makeover :) I have a plate that that has some grapes on it with antique coloring in the background, which accompanied my great friend (aka Cari) and I to Scherwin Williams. We matched the colors perfectly, which were a plum brown color, as well as multiple shades of brown - Cari promised me she could undertake the task of antiquing an accent wall, and away we went. We started at around 10:45 a.m. and finished right at 7:00 p.m. that same evening. It turned out fabulous, just the way I had it pictured...I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! Here are some pictures of our wallpaper removal - which Cari says was WAY easier than it normally is, so now I have these high expectations that removing wallpaper is a cinch (HA!) - as well as pictures of our fabulous painting skills and the final product :)

Down comes the wallpaper - Cari worked her butt off - actually this was the easy part!

I just had to take this picture because it shows all the colors with the wallpaper and border as it was all coming down. See how the previous owners painted the wall post putting up the border - ha!

Up goes the purple on the bottom part of the wall

Up goes the antiquing

Final walls with new brown color on top and the purple on the bottom

Antiquing accent wall done and drying

The final product, what do you think? I LOVE it!

Christmas Tree of 2008

Last weekend during all of the sickness, we managed to get our Christmas tree up. Braden had been begging all day long on Friday to put it up...that is the tradition, up goes the Christmas tree in the Allee house the day after Thanksgiving...but I just couldn't muster up the energy to do it...then Saturday he begged more, after I got home from the hospital, of course. At that point I had serious doubts about the tree being put up that weekend at all. However, at about 8:30 p.m. Saturday evening I really needed a drink, so I venture out of my room down the hall and when I enter the living room - what did I see - Braden and Josh fluffing the Christmas tree :) It takes a good couple of hours to get the limbs all straightened out and in working order to place lights, ribbon, and bulbs on...but it was practically done when I came out of my hole. I was starting to feel a little bit better, so I relieved Josh and put all of the lights and the ribbon on the tree, and then handed Braden all of the bulbs to place on our masterpiece. It was a group effort, but it was completed...and it only took us until around 11:00 p.m. to get the finished product. Technically that is not true, I am still rearranging bulbs on the tree...it is tough when you have a six year old placing three bulbs on the same branch, or placing the same type of bulb side by side on three consecutive branches - but he meant well, and he did a great job...I just find myself doing alot of rearranging every evening each time I look at the tree. It should be perfect by December 25th - ha!

Game Night

Tonight Josh had to work late, he didn't get home until around 10:00 p.m., so Braden and I picked up Taco Bell...his request...and came home to watch The Grinch Who Stole Christmas The Movie and play games all night long. We took turns choosing what game we were playing, and we played games for hours. We started off with I Spy Eagle Eye, next was Uno, then we played a little Go Fish, on to Guess Who (one of my favorites), next was Trouble (one of Braden's favorites), and then last but not least Yahtzee Jr. We had a blast playing together all night long :) He won some, I won some, but truly it was a priceless night for a mom, these were the nights I was waiting for when Josh and I had a baby. I love the age of my little guy and I look forward to all of our mom and Braden time. Below are some pictures of us from the evening, I thought it would be fun to share :)

Braden and I, let the games begin!

Braden was so funny when he would roll the dice, it took forever, and he shook the heck out of those dice - it was so cute to watch him!

I wanted a picture of Braden with our stack of games after we were done playing for the evening

Then he wanted to take one of me :)

Lastly, Braden and I were making funny faces at one another and I was just snapping pictures, I liked this one alot so I thought I would add it to the mix!

Through the Years of Christmas!!!

Every year since Braden has been born we have taken him to the Capital Mall in Jefferson City to see Santa Claus and sit on his lap to visit about Christmas and the toys of his dreams. I started it for two reasons, one: I just love the image of the Capital Mall Santa Claus; and two: that is where my nephew's go to see Santa and I didn't want to have them showing us their pictures of their visit with Santa and Braden share his and have the Santa's look different...I didn't want to answer any uncomfortable Santa questions ;) I thought it would be fun to post the "through the years visits with Santa" Braden has had...

2002 - and the most precious picture of all. I have a bit of a story here :) It was the last weekend we would be in Jefferson City before Christmas, and I REALLY wanted Braden's picture taken with Santa for his first Christmas...so, by myself, I packed him up and went to the mall for my shot. Braden was awake all through the line, but fell asleep when there were only a couple people left in front of us. When it was our turn, I just looked at Santa and said "I know he is asleep, but I really want a picture of him with you...so he took off his glasses, sat them on his belly, ask a helper for a book to use as a prop, and posed for this picture as if they both fell asleep reading a Christmas Story. I just love this Christmas picture!!!!

2002 - Obviously, not a good year for the visit...but as you can see in the future pictures in the years to come...he wasn't traumatized -ha!

2004 - He is getting so big (Braden, not Santa - he is suppose to be big!)

2005 - However, here he doesn't look like he knows for sure if he likes this visit either - ha! 2007 - this year it is ALL good! I have been corrected by my mom...this is not 2006's picture, it is 2007's - I am not convinced but I am going with it :)

Okay, bad mom here...I guess I don't have a picture for 2006 :( I cannot believe that i don't have one...I will have to keep digging and see if it turns up :)

WARNING WARNING!!!

Okay, between the big move, the holidays, and having the flu - which ended with me in the hospital over the weekend - I have really fallen behind on the blog. So, tonight I played catch up and spent the last 3 hours updating posts, so the warning is this: there is ALOT of new going on here to look at and read!

So below, you may want to scroll down to the beginning of tonights post starting with "Moving Day", and then work your way up to see and read about the move, the house, and the holidays - ENJOY!

The End to a Great Day!

THE CAR RIDE HOME, NEED I SAY MORE!!!!!

Walker Thanksgiving

At about 3:00 p.m. that day, we headed over to Lahvie and Paul's house, who also reside in Sedalia, to celebrate the holiday with them too. Aunt Belinda had blessed us with her presence from Virginia, and we always love when she makes it into to town for a visit - she is just too much darn fun to tease -ha! We had a great time with the family eating wonderful food and watching the kids work on their projects Great Grandmother Walker had designed for them. Each holiday we get together she always has something planned for the kiddos, this Thanksgiving it was mini pies and homemade ice cream. There were only three great grand kids in attendance this year, so Alexis, Braden, and Logan got all of the fun :) As always it was a fabulous time to spend with family and loved ones. Here is another slew of pictures from the wonderful day!

The kiddos enjoying their mini pie project - Braden and Alexis licking up the mess!

Logan had to have a little help from Grandma Diane, but the big kiddos had it all under control

Sorry Aunt Belinda, I couldn't resist! Hey, you posed for the picture - ha! (This was her sexy pose)

Homemade ice cream in the winter months, yep that was the plan...and we aren't talking electric ice cream maker, oh no! Grandmother Walker says it tastes better if it is hand churned...so Braden got his turn at the wheel :)

He rather enjoyed it, can you tell -ha!

Josh and Granddaddy had to bring it into the finish line, I just like this picture of the two of them working away...and I like to tease Josh and tell him that he is balding in the same spots that Granddady did - hehehehe!