Life in the new year!

We have settled into our new life here in C-ville. We love our new home. Almost everyday we tell each other how thankful we are for our amazing house and location that we are in. It has really been such a blessing. Matt is done with work at 2:30 everyday. Who gets that much family time everyday? WE DO! and I love it. It allows me to teach a couple of days a week, well one day right now, working on 2 days, and allows Matt to have some quality alone time with Mace. And Matt and Mace are buddy buddy. Mace loves his daddy so much. Copies Matt with his actions, like placing a pillow on his lap, watch cartoons together, eat popcorn. This kid loves his Dad, and I couldn't be happier. He copies me too by the way, the way this kid climbs up onto the piano bench and plays on my piano and sits there and just has fun. So cute!

I am playing with the Charlottesville Symphony again right now as my schedule allows me to. I am thankful that they want me to play. It is a fun and exciting thing for me to be back in the saddle again with making music. I am so truly thankful for this amazing talent that our Heavenly Father has blessed me with. My talent for music. The ease it is for me to remember how to play my instruments no matter how long of a break I have had from playing. It is just easy for me. And I am so thankful for that. I am also teaching again which I love! I am excited to grow my studio out here. I am excited for the amazing young people I will meet along the way and pray that I am a good influence on them that they desire more out of music and strive to gain a love and appreciation of music.

Matt is still working hard. He is in the Army reserve still and drills every month with them along with working 5 days a week. So one week a month he works 7 days straight then right back for another 5 days without taking a break. He is such an amazing man. He takes care of us. Provides for us and loves us! I am so lucky to have him in my life. Matt loves his "man cave" and loves to share it with Mason and teach him the "cool" shows to watch. We have also started playing a game on our PS3 with Mace, Jetpack Joyride. If you haven't tried it, it is great, addicting, but great. Thanks Cliff and Travis for showing us the game. Mace will play it too, but he just loves being allowed to hold the remote and push the buttons.

Mace is a strong walker. That is what the Doc said. He is amazing at walking. He can walk backwards, climb, tip toes (he lost a toe nail from all his toe walking). His gross motors skills are just amazing. She was very impressed. Mace weighs a whopping 26 lbs now and is 32.5 inches tall. He is in the 75% for both areas now. He is an eater, as I said earlier. This kid can eat and eat and eat. We have no idea where he puts it all but he is an eater. He is just now starting to expand his vocabulary. This morning he finally started saying, "Mama" but not to me but just in passing. He already says "Dada" but again not to Matt just all the time. The way he calls for me is pretty funny, he does call for me and we finally figured out what it was. he just does this "Ahhhh" with the tone going up, almost like a question but also a statement. If that makes any sense. Hopefully he will start to associate Mama to me and Dada to Matt soon. He definitely knows how to say Archer, or sometimes, Archie he will say. He knows exactly who that is too, wonder why he knows association with the dog but not mom and dad? We have heard him say Thank you as well. And Agua for water. He is a smart kid. He understands way more than he can say. I love this kid so much. I am so thankful he is in my life and even though some days can be really hard, like today was, I know I will never forget these days. The good and the bad. He is such a great little guy and I am so thankful he is here!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Happy new year! Hoping for a happy and wonderful year. I am so blessed to have my son and we look forward to what the future will bring and hoping for it bringing a sibling. But that is just a hope.

Christmas in PHX

We came, we went, we saw, beautiful PHX for Christmas. We had tons of fun visiting everyone. Saw a wedding, had tamales, and got a puppy. Actually my parents got a puppy but we were there when they brought him home and Mace was in doggie heaven! Really had a great time visiting family and seeing everyone. We know that it will be a long while before we return as hopefully we will add another little one to our family and it will just be too expensive to fly cross country anymore. Someone needs to invent teleportation, cost effective teleportation!


Mace got to meet his new cousins, Mark and Aliza for the first time, even though Aliza was only a few days old at the time. He got to spend some very fun quality time with his 5 cousins for one night, tuckered him out completely, and the other kids that when we, Matt and I and Matt's sis, Marie and hubby Cliff, returned home from our double date that all 6 kids were passed out asleep in the front room. Oh, and Mace cleaned out their fridge as he has quite the appetite. He ate like 4 string cheese sticks and a ton of strawberries while he was there. What can I say he is a fruity, he loves fruit and loves to eat. Matt got to catch up with his Aunts and Uncles that he hadn't seen in a few years since he has been gone on deployment for a few years in a a row.

It was just a great trip all around for all of us. Despite the flights. I won't get into that but the flights were not the most fun thing I have ever done. Not doing another flight with him for a very, very, very long time.

~Aunt Kathrine and Tom got this lovely chair for Mason. Seriously the best thing ever. Fits him perfectly!~

 ~4 Generations of Allen men~

 ~Mason and Great Grandma Allen~

 ~A little blurry but seriously THE best pix of Great Grandma and Grandpa Allen. Everyone is just so... happy~

 ~The Allen generation~

 ~Like father like son~

 ~Mason getting to walk around the Mesa, AZ temple~

 ~Marie, Cliff, Matt and I went on a double date and came home to this. All 5 Maynard and 1 Allen baby passed out cold! Oh what a beautiful sight!~

 ~Mason chopping on a lemon at Tia Rosas. He loved the mexican food too!~

 ~Mace with Nana and Papa Branum~

 ~Meeting Bandit~

 ~Gpa fell and broke his wrist while we were in town. So he is one handed for awhile but still able to be a puppy wrangler!~

 ~We got to play with some of the other spoken for puppies at the breeder's house, which was exactly like my piano teachers home and just a block away!~

 ~And they call it, puppy love! Seriously how cute!~

 ~When we arrived back in VA from PHX, I forgot to pack warmer clothing. So we were a little cold to say the least and I bundled up Mace as well as I could. He was a trooper though! (ASU footie pj's, rugby stripe hooded jacket, and his winter blanket topped off with his paci!~

Christmas in VA

We are going to PHX for Christmas this year so we had our family Christmas a little early. We didn't want to have to make Santa haul all of Mason's gifts all the way to PHX either!

Random Pix

I had some cute pix just sitting on my iPhoto and wanted to share a couple with you! Enjoy

~Mason fell asleep while in time out. He just leaned forward and rested his face on the wall and fell asleep.~

 ~Mason found a new toy~

 ~Alligator wrestler~

 ~Somebody got tired~

 ~Playing dress up! I want to be like dad~

 ~I love watching him sleep~

Our New House

What a wonderful time of year to move into a new house. Not only do I get to decorate it for all the time, but I get to add the extra touches of Christmas decorations to it too! I love Christmas time and all the wonderful memories that are associated with it. I love spending time with my family, which we are excited to do again together this year. I love the music, the smell and just the overall feelings that Christmas brings.

Last night Matt and I put Mace to sleep, turned on the Christmas music, made some hot coco and decorated the tree together. First time in 10 years that I haven't had to beg and plead for him to help hang the Christmas lights on the outside of the house and to help with the tree. So thankful for him being such a great sport!

Because Mason is a curious toddler we only put the ornaments on a select few that we have collected over the past 10 years. It was hard picking and choosing which ones would make in on the tree as the bottom third of the tree is naked. Now to work on Mason to not touch any of the tree. He has been crawling under it, which is fine, it is pretty cool looking up into the tree at the lights.

Anyhew, most of the boxes are unpacked. Pictures have been hung and we are getting more and more settled into this home. Mace has the run of the place and loves to explore all the rooms and closets. As he has figured out how to open the doors in this place. He loves to climb the stairs both of them and just wanders throughout the house. I have a lot of trust in this kid, even though when I go upstairs I get to see the destruction that he has left in his wake.

He does love to listen to me sing to him and will sit on the floor and listen to me then clap when I am done. He also claps at the end of a song in the Backyardagains show too. I also play the piano for him and he likes to help play the piano with me. He is a good little boy and is growing everyday. He is a very smart little boy. He isn't talking per say but he knows exactly what we ask him to do. He still has his chores that he does, his fav is feeding the dog and being an overzealous waiter and tries to take the food bowl back from Archer before the dog has cleaned out the bowl. It is very cute!

I have been going to the gym at Matt's work which is great. Since Matt gets home so early I can go before I have to start dinner up so it has been great. I am going to run in the Charlottesville 10 miler coming up this March so I am training for that and working towards that goal. I am am going to run a half marathon later next year too. Not sure which one or when it will happen but I will do it. I am ready to cross an item off my bucket list. So things have been going well here for us.

I tried to upload pix but it said that I am out of storage room, WHAT!?! Anyone else have this issue. Please let me know!

WE HAVE MOVED!!!

It is official. We signed our life away on Nov 1 and started moving things over that day. We were all the way moved in 2 days later on the 3rd. It was a short and hard move. We spent many hours driving back and forth loading and unloading stuff in our van on Friday the 2nd, it is a 2 hour round trip just to get from our house to the rental. Yes we call it the rental now because that is what it is and as of yesterday, WE HAVE A RENTER! Anyhew Friday we did 3 loads, 2 of which were with 3 vehicles. And Sat we had the big well somewhat big moving truck and had to make 2 trips with that thing. But we are in our amazingly awesome, big, beautiful home.

~Mason found this while we were packing and started to have way too much fun! I couldn't help but take pix~

The house is still being put together, but about a week ago from today we had almost all of the boxes unpacked and put away on the main living areas. That does not include the storage areas in the basement and I have no idea what are in those boxes yet. Still a work in process. Also yesterday I did put some pix up in the living room, so I feel like my house is becoming my home.

~Mace enjoying his last croissant in the house, the day before we moved~

Mace is enjoying the new home and the 2 flights of fun stairs he gets to climb up and down on. He loves to climb the stairs and I am thankful he is so good at it because that is what he is always doing. Sometimes he does it when I don't know he is, like when I am making dinner I will turn around and he is already half way down the stairs to the basement where his toy room is. But mostly we are watching him. He knows where his room is for nap nap and where the diaper pail is for dirty dippers, which I now make him throw away. Oh and because of the move I found out that he will listen to direction. He knows how to, "put it back," "clean up", "put your toys back in the crib", "trash trash, throw it away", and now "lets feed the dog." He has his little chores he does now. When he throws his dinner on the floor out of protest, I make him clean it up and throw it away. (the dog is usually out on the deck because Mace tries to feed him his food and the dog is getting fat.) He helps me feed the dog. We cleaned up his toy area in his play room the other night before bed. He is such a little helper and I love it. I also like seeing the results. I ask him to do something and he does it. I know that will not last forever and there are times he doesn't want to throw his own dirty diaper away but he is learning.

~Only pix I took from moving day. Too many things to do, too much stress.~

Archer had a hard time adjusting to the new house but seems to be acclimated to it now. I look forward to getting a fence for the backyard so I can just let him lose in the back. We have narrower lots at this house than the previous area and his "potty" area is a little more restricted. It is funny though because I put him on the leash to go potty and when I come in Mason likes to take the leash from me, with the dog still attached and he will "walk the dog". Archer doesn't like it because he is attached to the kid and the kid is pulling him around but he deals with it, and I don't let him stay attached for very long. but once I detach Archer Mason will still carry the leash around with him around the house. He loves holding it. Archer still doesn't like Mace all that much, excpet when Mace is feeding him food. He still keeps distance. Which is fine. Archer is an old man and doesn't put up with baby stuff anymore.

We are so thankful that we are in this house because we have so much more family time. Matt is home around 3 everyday and it is so nice to have so much time with him and as a family. We are really loving our new home and area! Hope this post finds everyone well. If you want our new contact info please email me or msg me and I will get it for you!!!