This is What Happens When I Blog in the Daytime...

Henry finds Charlie's dog bowls and helps himself to a drink!  YUCK!  WHY DO I HAVE A DOG?????????

March

 Siri is my favorite feature of the new iPhone 5.  (Stanton "gave this to me for Valentine's Day" - meaning, we don't usually give huge gifts like that for something like Valentine's Day, but since we were getting it anyway, we said that was what it was for).  Usually when I use Siri to send a text, it works out pretty well.  This time, it did not.  But I sent it anyway because it gave me the giggles.  It's the little things in life...

 I was reading my scriptures one morning when Charlie decided he needed a snuggle. 

 My sisters both happened to have kiddos in town for a visit to Stanton's office.  We ate at Pizza Pie Cafe before they headed home.  Happiness is being with my sisters!  I love them!  (Cindy on the left, Lori on the right).

 Cannon made up a story about Spider Man.  I was FLOORED when I saw the title page.  Ritin Bi Cannon.  (You can see he made a couple of attempts before he was satisfied).  I've never had a four year old who could sound spell like that.

 Henry with more fantastic bedhead.  The kid is a winner!

 

 I received one of my favorite missionary letters ever.  Nate Day (Henry's Day twin) sent a hilarious letter with the best closing line ever.  P.S. Don't have more kids that will ruin everything.  Hahahahahaha!  (meaning there aren't anymore Day twins for them!).  I love Joe and Nate and look forward to their letters.

 Proof that a 6 year old boy lives here.

 We took the kids to a USU gymnastics meet one Friday night.  The girls loved it.  Brigham was eh.  Cannon was ticked that we had to be there.  He wanted to be home in bed.  It was so cool to watch these fantastic gymnasts, though!

 Whoops.  Blurry picture.  Chloe and Cannon are the best at getting Henry to giggle.

 A sure sign of Spring.  Injuries.  Cannon (my truck of a kid) swung the baseball bat without paying attention and cracked Chloe right in the head.  She is NOT a freaker outer by nature and so when she came in screaming, "I can't breathe, I'm gonna die!!!"  We knew something was terribly wrong.  That and the fact that Stanton heard the crack through the open office window.  He hit her HARD.  We got ice on it right away and by the time I took this picture, the swelling had gone down by 2/3.  It was a HUGE knot when she first came in....like a golf ball stuck on her forehead.  Scary.  We watched for concussion, but she came through.  Within a day she was back to her normal self.

Cannon.  Registered.  For.  Kindergarten.
Someone please hold me. 
I can't accept that he is old enough to go to Kindergarten. 
I have to, though, because he is one bright little boy!  He scored 137 out of 140 points on his assessment.  And that was because his cutting and writing aren't quite up to snuff yet. 
He is going to enjoy Kindergarten so much.  And his teacher is going to love him.  He is such a great little guy!

Februany

 Chloe's tummy after an intense day on bars.  This is NOT a regular occurrence, I promise, because OUCH.

 I vacuumed out the van after my melt-down post (it's a mess again) - took photographic evidence of the melted crayon debacle.  I still haven't dealt with it.

 Sweet Hank had a nasty cold.

 I made this adorable Little Man Bib.  He wore it to church until he grew into his white shirt.

One of those moments I just didn't want to forget.  (And as a fun side note, I just noticed that I'm wearing those exact same clothes today - April 15th - Ha!).
My children are chronic crib sleepers - meaning that they have a very hard time sleeping in my arms, Stanton's arms, at church, etc.  The only places they'll sleep are in their beds or in the car seat (usually with a blanket draped over).  This picture was taken during that terrible cold Hank had.  I hate to admit it, but I loved having him sick because it made him snuggly.

 We've committed to attending the temple once a month on ward temple night.  It has been so great to be more consistent with our temple attendance.  One particular night, it was so beautiful I had to stop and snap a picture.  I love the temple.

 One of our favorite healthy dinners.  Asian Lettuce Cups.  Recipe can be found HERE.  (I used a higher fat turkey for the batch in this picture.  I like it much better with the fat free turkey).

 An Instagram selfie - a funny one.  I showed up an hour early to the choir practice I am in charge of and scheduled.  I surprise even myself with my flakiness sometimes!

 The door is dirty (and I even washed it before taking this picture!), but this is the wreath I made for the door in February.  I still love it- even with the off center ribbon!

 Brig had a Flat Stanley unit at school.  He thoroughly enjoyed it -- even though we did absolutely NOTHING out of the ordinary that whole week.

 I was very proud of how the boys spent some of their allowance money in February.  They both bought books!  And oh, how awesome it is to see them pull that cash out of their wallets and pay for items themselves...then go home and record their purchases with a bit of help from me.  Such an important life skill!

Let's pretend that I took the time to rotate this, okay?  Brigham wrote the words and drew the vehicle and Chloe drew Darth Vader.  I was amazed and impressed!

 I snapped this picture in one of those moments when my heart was full to overflowing (right out of my tear ducts) with love for Henry. 

 We had a good chuckle one morning as Chloe practiced her spelling words.  She misspelled "Spelling" at the top of the page.  Ha!  I love that she can (usually) laugh at herself for things like this.

 Just one of many selfies to come, I'm sure!  :)

 My kids are all good readers, but none of them are obsessive readers.  This morning was definitely an exception.  We were supposed to be kneeling for prayer before school, but I was the only one with that on her mind!

 Henry and I folded laundry and cleaned house together.  I love having him on my back.  He is very content to crawl around these days, but in February, I still used the Beco pack quite a lot.  His little eyes are just so happy!

 I sometimes let Charlie join us on our runs to and from gymnastics.  He was getting naughty about trying to climb on my lap while I was driving, so I grounded him to the floor.  He was so insulted. 

 Brigham and Cannon playing "Baby Swing" with Henry.  He seemed to like it, but I put the kibosh on it when the swinging got a leetle too high for my anxiety.

 Just an adorable dirty Henry.

Cannon doing a little light reading.  Haha!

This reminds me that I still haven't sent this in.  Must do today.  Lily wanted a picture to send to the "How I Read The Friend" part of the magazine.

 We visited my Grandma Rose in Brigham City.  She and Henry had a lovely time together.  The other kids were wild and crazy, but Hank only had eyes for his Great Grandma.

Some January Stragglers

 Clockwise: 
*Brigham in his Mickey Knight in Shining Armor outfit.  Seeing him wear this while watching a show really reminded me that he is still a little, little boy.  I sure love him!
*The kind of fridge I LOVE.  Stocked with fresh veggies and good food. (It has NOT looked like this consistently since January.  Believe me).
*Brothers gotta hug!
*I quit Facebook.  It's been 4 months now and I do not miss it even a little bit.  Except when I miss pictures of my nieces and nephews that are posted on there.  But really, I don't miss the time suck at all.
*I superglued my ring to my finger accidentally.  It hurt to get off (I basically had to just muscle it off - and that left a sore on my finger that made it very painful to wear for a few weeks).
*The girls playing Monopoly.
*You can't tell unless you look closely, but Charlie burrowed himself into the pillows on my bed one morning.  I had a laugh over the way it looked.
*Standing in line at Walmart at 11:30 at night.  In line.  At 11:30 pm.  Ridiculous.  (But somehow I survived to tell the tale.  *snort).

*Henry's 2nd haircut.  He wasn't sure what to think, but did a great job.  I instanly regretted the cut even though it really needed to happen.
*General Henry adorableness.  He's gotten so big since then!

Various Items - Another Picture Edition

What do you do when you're so behind in blogging that you don't know where to start??  Take all those pictures that meant something when you snapped them on your phone and throw 'em in a big ol' blogging stew pot - that's what!

Dressing up is a favorite past time in the Allen family.  

The pic of Brig's bare chest was just from a moment where I noticed how great his scar looks.  You can barely see it!  Dr. del Nido is a true miracle worker.

 

Cannon, Lily, and I at our "not best" on various days. 
Lily wasn't feeling well and just gave up on the bathroom floor. 
Cannon was upset that Lily and Brigham had the Spiderman costumes on (what is it that's so funny about tighty whiteys and socks?).
And my feet got crazy swollen at our family reunion last weekend.  Sadly, that's the ONLY photo I took the entire time.  Wait, no it isn't.  I took a different camera.  Better upload those pictures!  Anyway, my feet looked like Hobbit feet and they were really sore.  Thankfully, it has gone away and I'm back to normal.  I feel for my friends who experience this for weeks at a time during pregnancy.  Not fun!!!

TaLaisa sent me a box of beads and stretchy string to play with.  She's awesome.  These are the bracelets I made.  Not too terrible for my first try!
I love the greys in that paint picture.
I'm coveting that composter there.  Gotta talk to Stanton about that one.
Chloe and I saw the piano poster when we went to purchase her Level 3 piano books.  It made me chuckle.  I wonder if she'll EVER appreciate the nagging I put her through!
And this was a gauze blanket that my friend Vanessa had.  I love the thing - perfect for baby during the hot months.  I need to remember to look for them.

Summer fun in the van!  Brigham and Cannon and I went to Walmart to buy the annual wading pool.  He thought it was super cool because it covered his head.
Just this week my nesting instinct came back strong.  I've tackled several projects in the house, finally purchased a car seat, and got the van detailed.  After the detailing, I figured out how to fit 5 young'ns in there and the kids were thrilled with the change.  They spent an hour all buckled in and playing in the van.  Can't beat easily entertained children.  :)

We went to dinner with our friends, the Farleys.  We met halfway in Layton at a place called Corbin's.  It was tasty!  The company couldn't be beat.  Wish I'd taken a picture of Kyle and Ang.

37 weeks.  This has easily been my best pregnancy.  I'm so thankful for that.  I'm now just 2 days shy of 38 weeks.  4 cm. dilated and having a lot of contractions.  We'll see what the next 2 weeks hold in store!

I LOVE this picture of Brigham and Charlie.  Both of them are adorable.  Brigham maybe even more than Charlie.  :)

Alpha Male

Stanton is absolutely Charlie's Alpha Male.  And he respects me as well (as long as there aren't new people at the house -- then he goes crazy loco).  The kids are pretty well his alphas, too, especially Chloe.  But she might have to move over because Cannon is a natural alpha.  :)

He thinks it is really funny to do Stanton's meat on the nose trick.  And amazingly, Charlie respects him when he does it!

That is one good doggy.  We love him!

King Charles the Fluffy turns 1!

Charlie turned one on March 4th, so we had a little (and I mean LITTLE) party for him.   It consisted of pulling some new toys out of the packaging for him.  He didn't seem to mind, though, and had a great time chasing the toys as everyone threw them.

He's a good dog and we sure love having him (most of the time!). 

Happy birthday, Charlie!