It's greAt to be 8

Congrats Madison! We are so happy for you!

Madison had her baptism the day after her birthday on Saturday, December 19, 2009.

Madison had a late night the night before and her baptism was at 9am, so she woke up in not the best mood. She was a little argumentative with everyone. It's crazy how the adversary tries to drag down even the youngest of souls.

Madison was so somber at the church. She looked unhappy, but really was nervous to get baptized. She went to sit up front with her Dad, then came back to give everyone hugs before the service began. she started to cry after she gave Grandma Sharon a hug. Poor girl.

She was the only one in our ward getting baptized, so it was just our families in the room where she was baptized. We walked back and I took Madison into the room to get baptized. She was visibly nervous so I said a prayer for her to trust her Dad and heavenly Father. We walked out and I led her to the few steps into the water and Dason walked through the water and grabbed her hand and took her into the water. She was immersed in the water and came up smiling.

She changed into her white dress with my help and we talked about the feelings she was now having and she said that the water was kind of cold, but it felt good. Grandma Sharon came in and put a white necklace around Madison's neck for her to keep and remember this day forever.

Dason was then able to lay his hands on her head and confirm her a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints and to give her the gift of the Holy Ghost.

Everyone in our families came back to our home for a little brunch and little birthday/baptism celebration. Aunt Nell, Uncle Jarred and Tate were @ home taking care of their new baby Kendric. Uncle Ricky and Sara were coming into town for Christmas so they couldn't come for the baptism. Uncle CB was home sick. Papa Dan and Nana were watching from heaven.

PooR Madison has had Pneumonia!

Poor girl got sick on Saturday, December 12th. It's actually quite humorous. Janelle went into the hospital @ 10am because she started labor, so Tate came over to our house. Fast forward to 1pm and Blane has a 102+ fever, then Madison gets a fever of 102+. I think "great" 2 kids
sick ..... I'll deal. I leave Dason at home with the now 5 kids so that I can go into the hospital to see my new niece/nephew born. When I get to the hospital and into my sisters room, I can tell she is upset, so I ask, " What's wrong?" She begins to cry and tell me that the on call Doctor does not want to do a VBAC delivery and tries to "scare" my sister into having a C-section to deliver her baby. I ask my sister if she would like Dason to come down and give her a blessing for comfort and peace to decide what to do. She started to cry and she shook her head "Yes". So Dason loaded all 5 kids and drove to the hospital. My Dad went out to the car and stayed with all the kids while Dason and Cody gave Janelle a blessing. It was pretty spiritual and Janelle said that she felt peace and comfort immediately after it. Got to love the power of the Almighty.
After that, I walked out to the car with Dason and told my kiddies "bye" and noticed that Vance felt like he had a fever. Yikes 3 kids with fevers!!

We decide no church for Sunday and then realize that Tate now has a fever of 101+. I hoped he would not get sick with a new baby coming to his house. Oh man! Tate stayed over for 2 nights while his Mom and Dad were in the hospital. Alright, Back to Madison and pneumonia....

On Monday I took Blane into the Doctor because he had a fever and had been sick for awhile and I was worried that he may have bronchittis or Pneumonia. Turns out he had an ear infection. That's an easy fix. Some doses of antibiotics will do the trick. We get home with some donuts for everyone to snack on and find Madison extra sick. After visits to the doctor we always get donuts, kind of our tradition.

When I checked Madison she was 106 degrees! We got her in a cold bath quick to start to bring down her temperature. It worked and it went down a couple of degrees. The doctor checked her for the flu which came back negative so she got a chest x-ray which came back Pneumonia. She has taken medicine and is feeling much better. She missed almost the whole week of the last week of school before winter break. She went back to school on Friday, December 18th. It was her BiRthdaY.

Everyone is on the mend in the Allen household....thank goodness!

It's a.........

GirLy girl GlaMour PaRty!

The girls seemed to have lots of fun. We decorated Little mirrors with jewles and we made little clay snowman pencil toppers. The girls all picked two colors of nail polish to get their nails painted. They ate Madison's faVorite pizza from Dominos(thin crust square pizza). We sang "Happy Birthday" and the girls wanted to play the rest of the time. We had bracelets and ornaments to make, but they just wanted to hang out with eachother and play.

Man...we have an 8 year old? ReAlly??

Just a little note to my first born daughter on her special day.....

Dear Madison,

Happy Birthday Mats! I have so many dreams for you in this life.

My most important wish/dream is for you to choose happiness for your entire life. I hope and pray that you will stay close to your Heavenly Father and believe that Jesus really did die for you. I hope and pray that you will be strong through all your trials and that you will draw strength from our God in your times of need. I am so excited for you to be baptized. I hope you will remember this day forever with the fondest of memories.

I love you and have enjoyed having you as my daughter for the past 8 years. Heavenly Father sure trusted me with your care. We will be buddies, especially since you do not have a sister. You have grown so much spiritually and academically this past year. I am really proud of how hard you work on your school projects and homework.

I hope you have a perFect day at school on your birthday. I am sorry you had to miss schhol all week because you had Pneumonia. You are one tough cookie.

I love you Mats!

LoVe,
Mom

Vancey....

His first time eating his very own Ice cream Cone ..... He was loving this!

We love that Vance wakes up with big puffy eyes. It is so sweet.

More updates.... Vance is still cruising around. He crawls around without letting his knees touch the ground super fast. He has most of his molars in or breaking through. He yells for candy or sweets when his sister and brothers have it. He doesn't like milk yet, but I am sure that will change. he is such a JoY!

1st Piano Recital...

This was Madison's first recital. She is really starting to understand how to play the piano. She loves to play "Who's on third". She played "Old McDonald" for the recital. She did such a great job! Way to go Mats!

Motorcycle aCCidents...

Blane was riding the "fast" motorcycle and he forgot to put his helmet on. He crashed into the brick wall in our backyard. When we heard him crying and came out to get him he was covered in blood! It was so scary! We came inside to dry it up and figure out where the blood was coming from. It was right above his forehead nestled in his hair. Poor baby. He was such a trooper.

We were waiting to see the doctor.

During the procedure.... 5 stitches! He was not liking this. My poor baBe!

Afterwards...so sad. We took him to pick out a treat afterwards for being so brave. He chose a bag of M&M's and chocolate milk.

First came Madison on Halloween 2009...... Dason fixed these bikes up that Ryan and Tenneal gave us and he keeps trying to make them go faster.

Grandma & Grandpa (boston) visit

It is so nice to be able to spend time with my Grandparents. I have always had such a good relationship with them although they live hundreds of miles away in Massachusettes. We had a BBQ at my Uncles for some ribs and some homemade spaghetti and meatballs...yum. The next day I kept Madison and Davin home for school to meet up with Grandma and Grandpa Lucente. Of course we ate first, and then we sat outside in the seasonably warm weather to watch the kids play in the splash pad in Old Town Gilbert. The kids (great grandkids) got spoiled with gifts. I am so thankful that my kids can come to know my Grandparents. I too am thankful for their love in my life.

haPPy haLLoweeN 2009

PR lake and park

yEAh for cooler TemPs!!

Is it fAll??

@ VerTuccio Farms........ Petting zoo + Kettle corn + playground + pumpkins+ cow train + peddle cars + Corn maze = Fun

Not sure who won, but we laughed the whole time. The Derfs are pretty competetitive!

I'm pretty sure my brother won this race .....wait I mean ...... I'm sure my hubby won, cuz he's the best!

SwEEt Blane on the Cow Train... ALL Aboard!!

What a BuNch

The corn Maze was so fun. We had a competition to see which family could make it out first... and guess who won.......??? Of course we did! Well we were one short in our family, Madison mid way through became a traitor and went with her Aunt Jenny and Grandma. When we were getting close to the end, we started to run through. We had to win, ya know.

A tRibute....

to a wonderful Grandma. My Grandma D (red) passed away on October 11, 2009, unexpectedly. She was 79, almost 80 years old. I thought she had a good 5-10 years left. Time moves so quickly with lifes many twists and turns. One thing I know for sure is that she is now being able to live forever with her all of her loved one's who have passed before her. She is also being able to LIVE without fears now. I know she is perfectly happy.

Words @ her Funeral

I just wanted to stand and express the great love I had for my grandma.

I have to say, she was my most favorite grandma.

She sure knew how to leave an impression. She made friends easily and was loyal to those she loved.

She was so proud of her kids, grandkids and her great-grandkids. On more than one occasion, she proudly stated this to me, “out of all of my grandkids and great-grandkids… I don’t have one ugly one.”

I can speak for her as a grandma, she really enjoyed being a grandma. I have so many fond memories of her. She loved having her grandkids stay the night and as a child I loved it too. I remember how cozy she made me feel, as I lay in bed listening to her voice sing me to sleep….somewhere over the rainbow. She was a kid at heart. I remember her at this very time of year for the past 30 years of my life. I will miss having her here to celebrate the coming seasons. I smile when I think back on the little things she did. She was young at heart and loved shopping with her Grand daughters at the mall in all the young teenager stores. Grandma was 29…….right?? I will really miss this about her. I will miss her smell, her red hair, her humor, her wisdom, her sarcasm, and her love.

I can speak for her as a great grandma too. My kids loved their Nana and she loved them. When I would see my Grandma, whether it was out to lunch or dinner or at my home, she most always paid attention to her grand babies. They really did bring out her fun and happy personal;ity. She would sit and play games and sing to them. I can remember watching her with them and thinking to myself….”this is what I love about my Grandma”. When I found out the sad news, my kids were so concerned. Davin, my 5 year old, looked at me as I was crying and said to me…. “Mom, I feel like crying.” Madison, my 7 year old, also expressed to me her sadness at Nanna’s death.

I will miss my Grandma for a life time. I feel peace knowing that she is in heaven with our maker. My very last conversations with her were very spiritual, maybe she knew life here on earth was coming to a close. I am happy to think, just as my Dad said to me Yesterday…… Grandma is up there living life to the fullest, care free and doing everything she always wanted to do, but was too afraid. I will carry her spirit with me forever.

I love you Grandma.