Its About Time

It is official - the Allee family will be Florida bound again come this August. We have decided to do the Disney trip again for Braden's 9th birthday, but we have to celebrate it a smidgen early (darn the bad luck!) since his birthday falls during the first full week of school next year. We are super excited to have another family vacation planned! We are going to broaden our horizons this trip since Braden is a couple years older than the last time we went, and we are going to go to Universal Studios as well...so it will be a big week packed with Disney's Magic Kingdom, Hollywood Studios, and Epcot, as well as Universal Studios, a day at the beach, and some family time enjoying a visit with a new arrival on the Allee side! We will be exhausted when we return home...sort of like needing a vacation from our vacation, but isn't that what vacations are all about sometimes! This Disney trip is going to be extra special this year, because we get to take Diana with us...Josh's cousin (my Jr. Bride from our wedding), who is turning 15 years old today (HAPPY BIRTHDAY DI!). I cannot wait to update the blog with awesome pics of me and my favorite mouse - oh, I mean of Braden enjoying his birthday celebration at Disney (who is this vacation for anyway - ha!)!

I have to admit, I am a bit bummed out by the countdown that is provided at the top of the daily e-mails which are jam packed with vacation information, notice in the above pic...seeing 161 days until my vacation stinks because is seem SO FAR AWAY, but I guess the silver lining is that we are going on a vacation this year so it gives us something to look forward too!

We have a great summer planned between camping, spending time with family, Braden's sports, and now we get to end it with this wonderful family vacation!

I Should Be Grounded!

I cannot believe that I have let momentous occasions such as Halloween,Thanksgiving, and Christmas pass without a blog update! Here we are half way into the introductory month of a new year, and NOTHING! I have grounded myself from Facebook or other online browsing until I let you all know how the Allee fam has been doing - which is now, so that means I am only going to be grounded for about 30 minutes - yay! I know that saying simply "life is busy" sounds like an excuse, but seriously it IS busy! Busy with work, home, boy scouts, guitar, sports, family, holidays, you name it we are busy participating in it! But I totally wouldn't have it any other way, I love this life that my husband and I have created together, we have the best kiddo, best family, and best friends in the world - we are truly lucky! Right now we busy planning how we are going to spend Spring Break 2011. I am pretty sure it is going to be a simple trip to St. Louis this year for us. Braden is DYING to go up into the Arch, and that is basically why we are planning a whole trip to go there. We have tossed around ideas like going to D.C., or doing a driving camping trip to like Mt. Rushmore and Yellowstone...but we just aren't sure if that is something we want to do over Spring Break. Nothing fancy this year, but I am sure it will be a blast - how could it not be when I will be spending my days with my favorite two guys in the whole wide world! There seems to be plenty to keep us busy for a good few days there! I know no one wants to read me babble, they want to see pics! Here are some pics to bring you all up to date since my last post!

We have a new addition to the Allee Clan...his name is Brutus, and he is Josh's new dog. He is an Olde English Bulldog, and is as sweet at can be...even if it does look like he needs a doggy dentist! What a cuddler this one!

Braden had his very first guitar recital this past November, and he did awesome! He had quite the entourage show up to support my little rock star! He played "Had a Bad Day" by Daniel Powter and was the star of the show as far as I am concerned - hehehehe!

Our beautiful Christmas tree of 2010!

Braden's sheer excitement of opening up his Special Edition DSi XL - love this facial expression!

Boys and their TOYS! Both daddy and Braden got their much wanted remote control helicopters, and they both have played with them nonstop - like father like son! Josh and I at my work Holiday Gala - it was held down on the plaza and it is a pretty fancy event. I love still having a reason to get all fancied up and going out on a date with my hubby!

My two favorite guys - at Grandma Allee's house on Christmas evening.

Me and my boy at Grandpa Jack's house on Christmas Eve. I cannot believe how grown up he looks in this pic!

I have been whining for two years for Josh to light a fire in our beautiful fireplace...this year I finally was able to whine long enough for it to have an effect on him! I think it is beautiful, I sat in front of it all evening!

The snow storm that had school out of session for three days here! Braden loves the snow and was out playing in it as soon as I said he could go!

Well, that should do it. We are all caught up! Not alot going on, just alot of happy smiling faces in the Allee household! Hopefully I won't wait another four months for my next post! Happy New Year, cheers to you all and I hope that 2011 finds you in the best year yet!!!!

Grandparents Day 2010

I know that Hallmark created this day just to make more money off of the world, but I truly do have some great people in my life that deserve this special day dubbed just for them. Not only for me, but for my son as well. Braden is a very blessed little boy, not many kiddos can say that they have as many grandparents as he has to shower him with love; he has 5 great grandma's, 3 great grandpa's, 4 grandma's, and 4 grandpa's still alive and with us and all of them love him dearly! Now, not all of them celebrate this day quite like the Shelledy's do, but that doesn't mean they don't deserve their props at being just as awesome. We started off the day by heading out of town to my Granny's house where we celebrate with the Shelledy crew. My mom, stepdad, aunts, uncles, and cousins all piled in her place for a fantastic meal of fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, mac-n-cheese, salad, rolls, and hot apple pie with ice cream. It was an All-American meal and we loved every morsel of it! Just as a little thank you for being such great special grandparents, we get my mom (from Braden) and Granny (from me & Braden) a special little gift. This year we bought mums for their fall flower planting :) We enjoyed the afternoon playing outside with all of the kids - we played ping-pong, basketball, keep away, kid-style washers, Frisbee, and Steph & Nick even ganged up on me...I believe we heard "quit wrestling" a few times...but hey, at least we took it outside and weren't doing it in middle of the living room floor - ha! ;) After a great afternoon of spending time with the Shelledy clan, we headed out to meet Grandmother & Granddaddy Walker (Braden's great-grandparents) for a small dinner. We had a great visit with them...though I did have to arm wrestle granddaddy to pay for the tab, I kept saying it was grandparents day, and kept saying that there was no way I was paying. The sweet little girl at the cash register was kind enough to take my card instead - heheheheehe! I love that they want to take care of us, but it was our day to treat them! We had a great visit, and then headed home for the evening. What a great day! What awesome grandparents we have in our lives, and even though it is a "commercial" holiday, I still love and want to honor these special people in our lives. So, (Great) Granny, (Great) Grandpa Jack & Nancy, (Great) Grandpa Burton & Pat, (Great) Grandma Allee, (Great) Grandmother & Granddaddy Walker, (Great) Mema Millie, Grandma Jancey & Papa John, Grandma Paula, Grandpa Steve & Grammy Mellody, and Grandpa Mark & Grandma Julie - we love each and every one of you and cherish you and want to say thanks for all you do all year long for our family, you are all truly treasures in our lives!

Grandma giving Braden her "thank you so much, I love you bunches and bunches" kiss!

The beautiful mums up close and personal! Some of the grandkids (Kaylea, Alyssa, Braden, Austin, and Emma)

Me & Braden enjoying some family time - and NO he isn't too big to sit on my lap yet! ;)

Me and my beautiful Granny on Grandparents day, she is the most awesome lady in the world, we have learned from the best right here how to love, treasure, and treat your family!

Me and my awesome mom! She learned the ways of family from the fabulous woman pictured above and has passed along those lessons to me, I just hope to be half the mom as both of these women are!

Me about to bite Nick because he is picking on me - ha! I just had to throw one of these in there!

Weekend Full of Fun

This past weekend we had planned on going to Jefferson City to visit out of town family, and to visit friends and enjoy the one year birthday celebration of a very special boy...but we ended up being home bound yet another weekend. Earlier in the week Braden received an invitation to a birthday party for his best friend since preschool...but it was scheduled for Sunday at 2:00 p.m., and although I had already prepared the family for not coming to town this weekend, I was considering the trip anyway. Then, Thursday I got an e-mail from Braden's coach saying that a last minute planned practice had been scheduled for Saturday morning from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. I have to admit that I was really irritated about the practice, I was like "these are 2nd grade boys, what the hell, are we suppose to just live and breathe football?!?" Josh quickly responded with "Yes, as much as he enjoys this game, I am sure that is exactly what we are going to be doing for the next 12 years." Then we had decided that since we were going to be in town this weekend, then we really wanted to go see Diana race in her Soap Box Derby race. We had never had the opportunity to see her race, so this was perfect timing for us. I took Braden to practice and Josh headed over to the race track to help Diana with her car for the races. Braden and I headed that way as soon as practice was over...well I made him go home and shower first after practice - he was a VERY stinky boy! Next on our list of things to do this weekend was going to the Royal's vs. Chicago White Sox baseball game. Originally we were suppose to go to the Friday night game...but it was rained out and rescheduled for Saturday night as a double header night. Unfortunately, we didn't get our front row behind the dugout seats from Friday night, but we were on the front row of first level which were really good seats too! Braden had a blast, and Diana came with us too. Whew, so Saturday consisted of football practice, the soap box derby, and the Royals game! Then Sunday finally arrived and it was the big b-day party, the whole reason we stayed home this weekend to begin with - ha!!!!

1. Football Practice

The morning started early that day with getting up at 7:00 a.m. to have breakfast and then get the boy off to the fields for practice. This is the first practice I have attended...typically this is dad's job, but not this weekend since he was headed off to the race track for Diana. So, I get there, with my bottle of water and my book to read to bide my time while I waited for practice to get over. I never once cracked open that book of mine. It was soooo interesting watching them practice, I learned so much about the sport. For starters, I had NO idea that all those numbers the player calls out before hiking the ball actually mean something! I totally learned what those numbers mean, at least for Braden's team, Saturday morning. All of those drills that they have to do and then the scrimmage game was SO interesting, I couldn't take my eyes off of them. I have to admit that I was also SHOCKED that they run the drills they do for such a young group, I thought this would just be a easy let them enjoy the sport sort of thing....Nope, this is serious stuff ya'll! But oh so entertaining to watch, and when Braden does a good play he is soooo proud of himself! I am super psyched for a real game!!!

2. Soap Box Derby

Diana raced in two double elimination races on Saturday as well. She did a totally AWESOME job. Her first race she placed third, and her second race she placed second - way to go Diana, we are so proud of you! Dave was doing a documentary on a gentleman that builds soap box cars and finds kids to race them for him, so he wasn't available to help Diana out with the moving of her car for the races, and Debby had hurt her back and wasn't feeling up to par, so Josh stepped in and offered his assistance for the day. Between you and me...and everyone else reading this post....I think he really enjoyed being that close to the action and knowing what was going on the tracks and with the other racers ;) Braden was TOTALLY hooked, and wanted to race a car too. Unfortunately that wasn't possible, but he did indicate to us that he would like to start doing that too - WHAT, like he doesn't do enough already! Anyway, Diana raced her little heart out, drove nice and straight down the track (most of the time) and had an awesome finish. She even beat out a girl this time around that she hasn't beaten before in their past races, very exciting stuff! I enjoyed watching her kick some butt on the track too. We are very proud of her achievements!

I love this picture, mostly because do you see Braden bending down checking it all out behind Aunt Debby. He was so cute and so interested in Diana's racing and her car. :)

Waiting in the shade for Diana's next heat. He was so cute, I cannot tell you how many times he asked me if he could race down the hill ;)

3. Royals vs. White Sox

Originally we were scheduled to go to the game on Friday night, we had our firm tickets, which are front row seats 1-4 right behind the dug out box. Saying that they were AWESOME seats doesn't even begin to describe how great they were. After the first couple of pitches of the game, the sky ripped open and a down pour proceeded to follow along with a horrible thunderstorm for several hours. The was postponed to Saturday night, making it a double header night for the Royals and White Sox. The only problem with that is...we didn't get our same seats, because the people who received our firm tickets to Saturday night's game had precedents over our seats. So we were reissued seats on the next level, row A, so they were still good seats, just not near as awesome. Braden could have cared less if we were in the nosebleed section, he cheered, and jumped, and danced, and had such a blast the whole game! The game turned out to be a fabulous one! It was the top of the 7th inning, and the Royals were losing 1-5, things weren't looking good. Then the next thing you know, the bases were loaded and Yuniesky Betancourt came up to bat. Ladies and gentlemen, we witnessed a Royal's Grand Slam, and Braden was stoked...as was every other Royal's fan in the stadium. The crowd was pumped, the Royals were pumped, and the game was now 5-5. It went on for 5 more innings, that is right - 12 inning overtime game for the Royal's to fight hard and win it! Such a great game, one Braden will definitely remember for a long time - he was so proud of the Royal's! :)

Josh and Diana enjoying the Saturday night Royals Game.

Scoreboard showing the four runs from the grand slam in the top of the 7th inning

Victory! Look at the happiness in that little face, I just love it!

So it was a great weekend, full of doing fun stuff with the kiddo and family. Sorry that we didn't make it to JC this past weekend, but one day, our lives will slow down and we will make it there like we use too...one day, like after Braden graduates high school - ha!

1st Day of 2nd Grade

Okay, now this is more like it...a normal "what is going on in the world of the Allee's" type of post - hehehehe! Yesterday Braden started school for his third year...yep, he started 2nd Grade! We had the meet your teacher night last week, and that is when we found out that Braden will only have one kiddo in his class this year from his class last year...and it is a girl. I guess that is what you get when you go to a large school that has seven second grade classrooms and 16 elementary schools in the district, but I was totally bummed that none of his buddies from the previous year were in his same class. After talking to the other mom's it turns out...they are all split up! Anywho, it appears that it upset us mom's WAY more than it did the kids because Braden was chatting up a storm to his new friends, he made in like seconds, at Meet the Teacher night and they were all like, "It's okay mom, we will see each other at lunch and at recess and stuff." Kids are so resilient! Back to the task at hand though. Braden is back in school and I just had to snap a few shots of him waiting for the school bus yesterday morning...he looks thrilled that I have the camera in his face doesn't he - ha! I wonder when I will stop taking pictures of him going off to school?

Purdy, Purdy Flowers!

Okay, so I know this isn't a typical "Allee Family" type post, nothing going on with the family...but I do have to say, I am SUPER proud of my flowers! Yep, that is right, I said F-L-O-W-E-R-S! Let me preface this with a little story.

Two days ago I had a lunch meeting here at work with several other gals in the office. Business was done but we were still sitting there chatting not wanting to get back to our offices. We were talking about the normal things: family, vacations, weather...which lead to talking about it raining. I had no idea it was raining here Tuesday, and when I expressed my excitement on the rain so I didn't have to go home and water my flowers the ladies were astonished that I had flowers to go home to at all. I was hearing, "Oh my gosh, you have flowers left to water!" and "Wow, my flowers died weeks ago when the heat index rose to over like 115 degrees!" and "I just have some green leaves and twigs left to water!" "How on earth do you have anything left this season to water?!" You get my point. HELLO, I have gorgeous flowers to go home too. Granted, when the heat index was CRAZY for those several weeks, I didn't just water my flowers every day (yep, they were astonished that I watered every single day), I watered them twice a day; once in the morning before heading off to work, and then when I got home in the evening after dinner was done and cleaned up.

Call me Corny, I know I am totally ate up because I love my flowers so much, but that is why I have these...and everyone else's seem to be dead or on a downhill slope heading that way. So this means only one thing, I have to show off my beloved blooms!

My Impatience growing like crazy! Terri says she gets to take credit for their beauty as well, she helped me pot them at the end of Spring and has been my stand-in "waterer" when I am away on weekends. They look gorgeous!

Pretty Hibiscus bloom...so pretty!

Another Hibiscus bloom, just a different color. I actually took my kiddo off the background on my computer desktop and replaced it with this pic of my flowers - ha! :)

My Wandering Jew I searched high and low for to no avail...this one my mama picked up for me and brought up to KC when she visited earlier this summer. It is huge and absolutely fabulous if you ask me! :)

A Boy and his Dog

I just had to share this with everyone because I thought it was just too stinkin' cute! This week we are starting the whole "going to bed early to get ready for school" thing. So, at 9:00 p.m. I sent Braden off to bed, which is about 2 hours before what he has been going to bed this summer. I thought that I would go and check up on him to make sure that he was laying down and attempting sleep. He was obviously more tired that I figured he would be, and that goes for Patch too, because when I went in there to make sure he was laying down, I found my boy and his dog all snoozed out and looking absolutely adorable! I love the bond they have, and it just makes me smile ear to ear to see them all comfy and down for the count! I just love my boys and they love each other - absolutely adorable!!!

I just love that they are both covered up and laying on pillows! Two peas in a pod!

Boy Scouts Camp 2010

Braden attended Boy Scouts camp the last week of June, and boy did he come home with some stories of all the things they did...shooting bows, rifles, sling shots; making memory stones, tie-dye tshirts; learning to walk a monkey bridge; and many other "working together" activities to learn the skills of being a good and patient boy scout. Braden just loves boy scouts, and the camp was a great ending for this years round of scouting. One of the Scout leaders took along a camera and shared some pics with us that were taken of Braden...here are some pics of his good time being a boy scout.

Monkey Bridge - I am not familiar with this, but apparently it is WAY awesome! Those two "railing" ropes are attached to a single rope on the bottom which they have to walk across without falling off.

Listening intently at the shooting range before handed a rifle, I am loving the eye protection there, but he didn't seem to mind, he just wanted to shoot that target. He says that he wants to go hunting with daddy this season - WHOOOAAAH, too soon for that, but I didn't burst his bubble just yet, ha!

The results of shooting...not bad really for a 7 year old!

Aren't they adorable - so proud of their shooting abilities. By the way, all the boys had the camo hats...it was part of the boys scouts deal, but Braden choose to wear his bright orange Browning hat (just like his dads) that he got for Christmas this past year. Made him easy to spot in the pics - hehehehehe! See what I mean by easy to spot? He is in the background doing his own thing...but I spotted him right away with that orange hat on. This is mostly posted because my little Scout has his hat on backwards and reminds me so much of his dad in this picture, posture and all! Making their "Memory Stones"...I haven't seen Braden's in final form yet, it is still with the Scout leaders and will get them at the next meeting - but he is super proud of it. He had a fishing lure that he put in it, but he only put its tail in and the head sticking out so that it wiggles, he thought that was hilarious and cannot wait to show us - ha! All in all, I think it was a success!

Blue Doo

We went in tonight for a take two of getting Braden's hair dyed blue. The first time around it washed out in just a couple of days. Ashlee said it probably had something to do with him having "virgin" hair, so she used a different technique this time around rather than the cap, this time she "shoe-shined it"! Before it was just a small portion of the tips, and this time around it is more of an all over color on the portion of hair he wanted dyed. It is REALLY blue this time y'all - but it is way cute if you ask me :) I am so glad he is choosing ways to express himself in a completely harmless manner! Now all I need to do is get a pic of him rocking out on his guitar with that new blue doo!

Boys Scouts at the K

This past Friday night, Braden's boy scouts den went to a Royal's baseball game. It was so cute seeing how excited these little 7 year old boys were about seeing a "real live pro baseball game"....even though NONE of them knew any of the names of any of the players - hehehe! It was just the coolness of it all, not to mention the peanuts, nachos, ices, lemonade, chocolate malts, and souvenirs. The Royals lost, which we could have guessed before the game even began, but these boys could have cared less. They were just having fun smashing peanuts (which were $6 a bag for them to waste...but it was too cute watching them have fun), chatting it up, and singing "Take Me Out To The Ball Game". Every now and then they would pay attention, like when the Royals hit a home run (they did that only once) and the fireworks went off, or when the video cam was scanning the crowd, because those boys of ours really wanted to see their cute little faces up on that big marquee. They would cheer and chant when prompted by music, but mostly they just had a blast smashing peanuts. We went on a Friday night to get the full Firework Friday experience of a Royals game. I must admit, they put on a really good display of fireworks for the Royals crowd, I was very impressed. As we were walking out Josh says to me "That was pretty neat, the fireworks were the best part." Braden shot back saying that "the whole game was the best part" - so there dad! ;)

Braden posing with his mini Royals baseball bat he just HAD to have ;)

The boys singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game", they were swaying and all, it was so fun watching them!

Fireworks Friday

Just a neat experience all around with our little man and his friends!