Thanksgiving 2012

Our Thanksgiving holiday began on Friday when we met my family for dinner at Jim 'N Nick's barbecue. Yum. 

I snapped this picture of Paisley's new accessory. Nugget. 

 At dinner, Mac was all about giving his Nana kisses.

 Uncle Jeff stopped by too!

 Nana brought me all these fun things she's made or ordered. Paisley's hair is top priority, ya know.

 On our way to our Thanksgiving feast!

 We spent Thanksgiving in Nashville with several families. It was a special memory in the making, and I love that we have so many pictures of the day. 

We were at Jordan's brother Kyle's house in Brentwood. We shared the holiday with my family, Jordan's parents, Kyle and Courtney and kids, Courtney's parents and Courtney's brother's family. Whew. Lots of family. Love. It. 

Our hosts :-)

Here's the whole Allen crew

 Big girl cousins, Lilly Scott and Caitlin

 Chattanooga Allens

Courtney's parents and the cutest pup, Izzy

The {Nashville} Paxton family

 The McKinney/Allen Family

 M&P's picture time

Big girl cousins

 

 Katherine got some sweet pics of Mac and Paisley. 

I love how their personalities totally show in pictures now. 

Mac and Paw Paw

 Miss busy body... 

 I love Mac's expression in the background... and their Uncle Jeff between them ;-)

 After lunch we enjoyed the perfect weather.

  I am NOT a football fan or athlete, and I'm forced to play every year. I escaped the wrath the past two years, but this year I had no excuse. It ends up being fun, but I'm super competitive as long as I know I have a fighting chance. Backyard football in skinny jeans and ballet flats- no. I played anyway, and my shoes still smell. :-/

Here I am... running like a crazy person, praying the ball isn't thrown my way. Terrible. I know. I'm okay with that, but look at Courtney's face. Serious. She changed even changed clothes. I didn't stand a chance. Next year... maybe. 

The next day Mac had a stomach bug. Poor boy threw up every so often. He didn't know what to do and cried the whole time. He finally got some relief when he fell asleep on Daddy.

 Back home to Chattanooga we go! :o)

What a great Thanksgiving holiday we shared with some pretty incredible people. 

as always,

ashley

Fall 2012 Picture Dump

I have been terrible at updating. I take a gazillion pictures, but the process of sending them to my email, saving them and posting each one is so time consuming. By the time the babies go down, poor Lilly Scott gets whatever is left in this gas tank, and I crash about 8:30. Well, mentally I'm finished. Physically, I need to work on laundry, finish the kitchen and prepare for the next day. One of my favorite times in the world is my quality time with Jordan. We watch whatever show(s) we have the energy to comprehend and share about our day. We have a debriefing session when he gets home so our words are limited by the time we go to sleep. Then the alarm goes off the next morning and we do it all over again. Like Kate said, It's a crazy life, but it's our life. I'll add: and. i. love. it. 

Here we go: a picture dump. 

Halloween with our small group at church

Mac and Paisley were quite entertained by the wheely-bug. I think Santa was watching ;-)

 Paisley found Jordan's headset for his XBox. Bleh. She thought she was big stuff. Cutie.

 When they get in the laundry room, the washer and dryer become the best drums. Ever. 

 Trying to do better about taking pictures with M and P. 

Even if it's 2:00 in the afternoon, and we are all still in pjs. 

 True story: Lilly Scott drew a picture of "Mac in my tummy." Random. 

 Gotcha! 

Jordan and Lilly's date night

 P makes her way to Mac's food. Constantly. 

 Which one of these is not like the other? P crawled in and got comfy :o)

 Yogurt mess

 Our November book from Dolly Parton's Imagination Library. Moms, it's a tear jerker. 

 Who knows? Play gym?

 P succeeded in getting her headband off, but the bow was apparently attached to hair.

 I found her playing like this. Hehe. 

Next post: Thanksgiving!

as always,

ashley

Old McDonald's Farm

Written over a month ago and never published.. oops. 

This weekend we went to Old McDonald's Farm in Sale Creek, TN. Such a cute little place with hayrides, a petting 'zoo', corn maze, pumpkin patch, and tons more. We had a great time there.

Before our venture, we dined at Chick-Fil-A. After getting this picture, everything on the table was cleared by the two toddlers {toddlers, really?} so only one picture was captured.

 The first thing we did was cheer LS down the slide. 

 Then we did the corn maze. It was pretty cool. After about 10 minutes of going in circles, Jordan decided to take the lead. {We were letting LS be the leader}. Then LS said, "Hey, guys! Why won't you trust me??" Haha, she's hilarious. 

We made it!

The pony was a popular hit with someone....

 Petting zoo! They had rabbits, sheep, goats and roosters all congregating around.

 We ran into our friends John and Jenny and baby Charlotte {why didn't we get a group picture?!!?!}. They offered to take a picture of us :o) 

 Pumpkin slingshot

 A stranger offered to get our family picture! It's so rare that all of us are in the picture so I love the times when it's a picture of 5.

{I promise my hair isn't thinning...

The wind was blowing at that moment. Otherwise I look like I'm wearing a cheap wig.} 

as always,

ashley

October 26 Birthdays!

Jordan turned THIRTY this year. He's so old, hehe. Good thing he has me to keep him young, right? ;o)

We had a wild, I mean wild, birthday dinner for him at El Meson. Our party guests were Jordan, myself, Lilly Scott, Mac and Paisley. Crazy crowd. 

Jordan warned me to not share his birthday with them, but LS did. We got renditions of Happy Birthday in a couple different ways.

 Mac enjoyed playing with the chip basket once we emptied it. We love chips and salsa. We also splurged and got queso and guacamole. 

 The next day we set up the projector and had a hot dog party. We lasted as long as we could in the cold before we moved it in the garage.

 Sarah playing with Paisley and Jill keeping Mac warm. 

I totally failed getting pictures of the party guests. We had a lot of family {The Nashville Allens} and friends celebrate with us.

 Before Jordan's party, we went to Emory's FIRST birthday party. He and Jordan are in the 10/26 club, as Jordan puts it. Here we are with moms and babies :o)

Frances and Holden {Holden was born the day before M&P, and Frances delivered in the room I labored in. Funny story, actually, they moved her out of the room because I was coming and in labor.}, us, and Mary and Emory Jackson! 

as always, 

ashley

Uncle Jeff's Surprise Party

My older brother, Jeff, turned the big 4-0 on October 22. Lordy, Lordy, Jeff is forty. I can't stop saying that in my head. I remember passing a yard sign that read that on my way to school in 8th grade. Random. 

He had NO idea, and that was pretty spectacular. Rachel and I pulled off quite a fun party and Jeff had a great turn out to celebrate him. 

Shhh!! He's coming! Paw Paw, LS and Colton hiding.

 Birthday boy and our Rachel!

 Colton, McKenna and LS having fellowship.

 I made Colton a shirt from John Deere flannel. 

We celebrated around a bonfire after dinner. Fun times, special memories.

Happy Birthday, Uncle Jeff!!! 

{Mac and Paisley were tucked into bed at Mimi and GeeP's house.}