Farewell 2011

You've been a great year, It'll be hard to see you go! Hopefully 2012 will be just as good.

What are our big New Years Eve plans? Well. Hotel Grammy and gramps was open fir business with Maggie and coleman, so we made a reservation.

That gave us a night off from mommy and daddy'ing. What did we do? Date night! Dinner and a movie, good times. Hope we see the ball drop!

Kate loves it at Grammy and gramps. Her legs start kicking in excitement when we pull into the driveway. Her favorite toy over there is the sandbox filled with spoons, sifters, etc. Here's a pic of her and her favorite box of sand :)

Happy 2012! Don't forget to wish scott a happy b-day tomorrow!

Family Pic from Vogel

Hiking w the grandparents

My first hike

We are visiting papa ger and mama Lin up at Vogel state park for the day. I'm on my first hike. Fun!!

Family Day- mush warning

Today was one of my favorite days of the year. Scott has the week off, but has been putting in a few hours a day due to some important projects. We woke up, played, grabbed Hickory House for breakfast, played, napped while daddy worked (at least Kate did), went to Phipps Plaza, had lunch out, ran errands and had a nice dinner at home. What made the day so special? My amazing husband and daughter... That's what! It was a day filled with precious little moments. Katelyn is a very special little girl and i am so lucky to spend so much time with her. Today I heard katelyn laugh more in one day than I ever have (many tickle monster induced laughs) and saw her face light up with a huge grin on the escalator rides (which she wanted to ride over and over again). It was just a FUN day :).

I hope we have many more days like this as a family, priceless Kodak moments. I wouldnt mind a Groundhogs day on this one, maybe with weather a tad warmer. repeat, please!!!

Thanks Scott for such a wonderful day!

Merry Christmas!!

I hope Santa was good to you this year. He was to us and he brought Katelyn a bunch of fun toys. We spent Christmas Eve up at Uncle Scott's, Christmas morning up at my sisters, then we hosted Christmas Linner. It was a great holiday season, nothing beats time with family!

Here are some pics of our day.


Santa's gifts!! (If you see a christmas gift you gave to Katelyn in this pic, Santa may have used it to help make his gift presentation look a little more complete.)


Opening presents with Grammy



Here is a shot of our front yard inflatables. I should have taken a pic from the outside, and I'l be sure to do it before they go into storage for next year. I can't remember how much I've blogged about our Christmas inflatables. You see Scott has a dream. The dream is to be the Clark Griswald of inflatables. We add at least one each year, and now we are up to 5. We've got a santa, reindeer, penguin, snowman and this year we added a super-duper Santa snack shack. (Yes, Scott picked it out.) Eventually, we hope to have a yard filled with fun inflatables that is "the" house you have to drive by in the neighborhood. I wonder what our addition will be next year :)

We hope your Christmas was filled with love, laughter and cheer. Have a safe and happy New Years. My New Years resolution is to work out more and to find time to blog. It's hard when you aren't in front of a computer all day :(

Talk to you soon*.

Seasons greetings!

Here is our electronic holiday card. Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays to you and your families!!

Santa and You Have Mail

We went to take pictures with Santa. This is what we got:

1) Santa made Katelyn cry... a lot! I don't know if it was stranger anxiety, stage frieght, or the nice old man in the red suit that scared her. Here is a pic of the majority of our 2 minutes with Santa. Katelyn can't talk but I think I heard her asking him for baby dolls.



2) Here is our official 1st Santa photo. The photographer had an Elmo and used it to distract Kate long enough to take a picture without her crying. I was quite impressed we got a halfway decent shot.


Two great shots with the Phipps santa. He really is a great one. We'll be back next year. In case your holiday card didn't make it to you, the Allen family would like to wish you Joyful Holidays and a safe, Happy New Year. Here is another picture on our holiday card. I love it. I'll snap a pic of the card and post that too.

Our tailgate food set up

Found a picture of the chef stations at the tailgate. Yum, yum!

Miss tammie, one of kate's teachers came over to babysit.

Blog catch up

So a few weeks to catch you up on. Kate had a round of pink eye and a cold. I had a few job interviews, and mommy and daddy scored SEC championship tickets. And by "score", I mean paid a lot of money. It was our Christmas present to each other. Brandon hooked us up and we went with a group to a high-falutin' (sp?) tailgate at the world congress center with catered serving stations and bars. They even had a band. Very, very nice. Then we headed to our seats. We knew they were going to be good, but geez! Look at this view. It was a lot of fun until the Dawgs lost control of the game. You could literally feel the momentum shift, like our fan cheering energy was sucked up by a vacuum. No matter the outcome, it was a great day with friends. Thanks again Brandon and chris!!!

Dinner sleepy head

Katelyn's teacher had a birthday today. That and it was gorgeous weather. I think the cupcakes and extra play time put her over the edge! Check out our dinner video footage :)

Rainbow

There was the prettiest rainbow on the way to pick up Kate. It was a full arc and went from one cloud to another. Prettiest rainbow I've ever seen!!!

Hopefully it's a sign that things are looking up!

Wearing Daddy's Hat

Katelyn loves to wear daddy's hats. Here is a pic from yesterday, Saturday. I love this pic!

Where have we been?

Where have I been you ask? Well the fun started last weekend when Katelyn got sick. Grammy and gramps watched katelyn on Saturday so mommy and daddy could go to the Georgia vs. Auburn game. It was a Sleepover!!! Katelyn had so much fun with my parents. Mommy and daddy enjoyed a nice dinner out in dunwoody after the drive back from Athens. Thank you SO much Ardene and Stacy!

Saturday kate had two little sores on her mouth. They were right where her binky hits and she sleeps with her binky. Sunday when I picked her up from grammy and gramps her sores looked like scanned blisters. She also got a little bit of a rash on the back of her neck and her hand/arm. She gradually got a fever which got higher and higher, topping off at a 102.8. The nurses said to bring her in first thing. We did and she was diagnosed with a double ear infection and were told she was fine to go to school. I kept her home anyway.

The next morning the rash had spread... A lot. Back to the doctor we went. Dr. G said it was hand foot and mouth. The dreaded virus kid's can get. Kate and mommy got to play together all week. She finally went back to school where we found out a child was diagnosed with Fifths disease. So now we don't know what she really has. Her sores are on the mend but the rash was really bad. Thursday Scott got the flu bug and was home sick in bed for two days. Now Kate and I have colds. We are all just taking it easy and trying to get healthy.

Hard to believe thanksgiving is next week!! We have lots to be thankful for!

Say what

Not sure what Kate was doing at the store, but it cracked me up so I grabbed the camera.

1st driveway fall

I had my first fall on a driveway. I lost my balance and almost caught myself. My face scrapped the concrete a bit hut it could have been much worse.

Just a little scrape, not much blood. I'm doing all right.

Love, Kate

Bedtime?

How about a little playing in the kitchen before bed?

Halloween 2011- All the Buzz

Yes, we are UGA fans. But sweet cousin Maggie was nice enough to hand down a bumble bee Halloween costume that was too cute to pass up. Katelyn LOVED Halloween night. She didn't necessarily love trick or treating. We made it to one house. She did however love watching all the kids come by. We set up on the driveway with our visitors- Mom Myrt, Grammy and Gramps. Katelyn did a great job passing out candy. (maybe a little slow for the masses of kids, but we thought she did great).

Here are some pics of our little Bumble Kate.









Mom Myrt- how did we let the night get away without a picture of you and Kate? I was so sad when I realized. Thanks for coming over!

It was a great Halloween. Memories for a lifetime. Next year we hope to actually trick or treat.

Happy Halloween!!

Halloween part 2

Kate had so much fun last night! She woke up and continued where she left off. We have leftover candy and she's been walking over to the candy bags, getting a piece out, and walking it over to her friends Elmo and Baby.

She's even trying to feed it to Elmo. She really did have so much fun last night. I'll download pics and post later.

Ready

Our yard is ready for the madness!

UGA band?

Kate was practicing her musical talents tonight.

Go dawgs!

Dancing

Katelyn is a serious music lover. I guess we listen to it a lot, and have since her birth. It's gotten to be a lot more fun since she dances. She's got some good moves :)

1st Pumpkin Patch

Last Saturday, we took Katelyn to her first Pumpkin Patch. We met Tripper, Holly, Alex and Max up there. It was a blast and we got some great photo opps with Kate. Here are a few. We had a great time, truly one of those days I'll treasure forever. Kate was SO HAPPY! We were too :)

Thanks for the tip on where to go Tiff- it was perfect.

Bad mood food

After 9 years of employment with Arby's, my last day was October 15th, last Friday. The new owners decided to run a lean organization and cleaned house. Mainly it was directors and VPs who got the boot. My position was eliminated along with many others.

I'm taking some time to think about things. I'm not going to rush back into full-time career until I explore my "perfect world" options. What are those options?

1) winning the lottery
2) finding a job share or part time job
3) be a SAHM (stay at home mother)
4) Use my media and marketing expertise to start doing consulting work
5) finding the perfect full-time job, There are only a few companies in Atlanta I'd consider working for.

I'm leaning toward #4. I'm currently exploring the "what if". I'm starting by talking to others who have started their own companies and checking with some Cpa's. If any of you have advice, bring it on!

I'm choosing to remain positive. I know God has other plans for me, and I'm sure those plans include more time with Katelyn. I'm greatful for that. Scott and I are both pretty sick so I'm taking it easy and trying to get well. I'm using this down time for researching.

Thanks to everyone who has offered help so far. I appreciate it.

Trip to the store

Hairdo

Like my hair?

My New Language

I don't know why this video won't show up properly. It's sideways on my iphone too (which should be impossible with how the screen flips).

It's the audio that's important in this clip. Katelyn has developed her own language. It's captured on video here. so cute!

Hi!

Katelyn said her first word this mornign that was not mama or dada. Hi! She said it very clearly so I said it back and she repeated. She was very proud of herself.

We said it back and forth 4 times, then she changed the subject.

Hi!

Kate and her dolly

I heart Elmo!

Playing at the mall

We took Kate shoe shopping last week. She got her first pair of shoes with real soles. She was so cute and excited in them. She walked all the way from stride rite to dillards at perimeter (a pretty long way).

She also kept grabbing shoes off the shelf and running out the store. It's too early for shoplifting Kate!!

1st uga home game

Great weather, great game.

Playground fun

I'm in NYC for work. Daddy and katelyn went to the park and did lots of fun things today.

Welcome to the World Campbell!

One of my BFFs had a baby last night. Laura- so proud of you!! You and Perry will be the best parents (and I know you probably won't see this for a month...so you're doing great!)

Campbell Walker Hubbard, welcome to the world! We can't wait to meet you.

Dishwashin'

Katelyn loves to help out around the house. Washing and drying clothes and the unloading the dishwasher are her favorite. I got her on film with the dishwasher.

She's such a big helper.

Kate & the boys

Playground

We went to watch Alex and max play soccer Saturday. It was a blast. Katelyn played a bit on the big kids playground!!!

My First Real Playdate

Scott's co-worker who lives in Boston, Mary Ellen, had a little girl about 6 months before Katelyn. Scott and her are pretty close, and Emily (the little girl) has been so nice to give Katelyn a few gifts of her favorite toys over the year. So when Emily's mommy she brought her little girl down to Atlanta for a 2 week work trip, a playdate was in order.

They played, they hugged, they ate, they shared, they hugged. Talk about instant friends! It was SO ADORABLE!! Here are a few pics of Katelyn on her first official play-date with Emily.






Thanks for visiting Emily and Mary Ellen!

Brush Em'

Katelyn got her first toothbrush/toothpaste set last week. she loves brushing her teeth (or should I say chewing on a toothbrush). The trouble comes when you try to take away the toothbrush. Meltdown!

Here are some pics:




Soon Kate will not be a vampire. One front tooth is about 1/8th of the way in and we think the other is on it's way too.

a blur

As good of a blogger as I try to be, life just gets a little hectic sometimes. I forget to take pictures and I forget to blog. I decided to try and grab as many pics of Katelyn with my iphone as I can. I thought this pic was fitting for my past month of blogging.



Yes, a blur. I'm sorry that it's been a month since I've posted a pic of sweet little Katelyn. I thought she looked like a big girl this morning (minus big-girl hair). Scott and I joke that her hair got pretty long, then it stopped growing. Here's Katelyn getting ready for school this morning.

# 2

I just paid my last hospital bill for having Katelyn. Does that mean it's time for #2?

(and yes, having babies is expensive)

Go dawgs!

Dream Vacation: Dominican Style

Here are a few pictures from our AMAZING Punta Cana vacation. We went to the Iberostar Hotel Grand Bavaro at Bavaro Beach. It's adults-only and was very nice. We had a great time besides mommy being sick the whole time. (this always seems to happen before big vacations). It was the perfect way to celebrate 5 years of marriage.

We arrived the day Hurricane Irene was leaving, so we had 2 days of rain. Then the weather was perfect. A little rain didn't stop us from having fun at the pool bar either. That's where we spent most of our time. Thank you Dominican Republic for a great time.

Here are some pics:










That last one is the view from our room. Nice, huh? It was a great vacation. We relaxed, ate, drank and drank. We kept track of the drinks we had for the fun of it. It's on scott's phone so I'll have to get it from him.

We left Katelyn with her grandparents, aunt/uncle/cousins. Thank you so much to the care takers who kept our katelyn safe and happy while we were gone. THANKS!!! It was nice to relax and know she was fine b/c she was with loved ones. Next time, Scott and I vote family-wide all-inclusive trip! Any takers? I wish we could go back tomorrow!

I'd highly recommend the resort if anyone is looking for an all-inclusive get away.

Gone Fishing

Yep, that's where we were. Fishing. In the Dominican Republic. I know we had a little hiatus with posting, but first we had Katelyn's first birthday party. That was a BLAST and she was such a trooper all day. She loved every minute of it. Next we had a trip to prepare for. We left Katelyn for 5 days with grandparents, aunts and uncles while we celebrated our 5 year anniversary.

We went to a magnificent resort in Punta Cana, dominican Republic. The day Irene was leaving. Good news: at least it was leaving. Bad news: meant 2 days of rain. Posts to catch up on: katelyn's b-day and our anniversary vacation

More to come, just wanted to let everyone know we are alive and well (or at least alive...and sick).

Dance party: katelyn style

Watch these moves.

Day after

Balloon themed birthday party= success! We think everyone had a blast, especially the birthday girl. It's been a great three days of celebration.

Thanks to all those who came and for all the fabulous gifts. We got some great pics, just need to download them.

Here's a day after pic of the playroom. Still fun.

The Man in the Picture

Can you see the man in this picture? Look hard. It isn't a picture of a shrub, the shrub has legs. He's one of the guys working on our yard. There have been some much needed repairs back there and Katelyn's birthday party is the perfect excuse. There was a minor incident during some tree removal. One of the trees fell on our house and deck. Luckily it wasn't a huge tree, but it did cause damage to our deck, gutters and possibly our roof. I guess the week before the party wasn't the perfect timing afterall. Lesson learned. You can see some of the deck damage in the pic. It could have been worse!

We'll post pictures of the yard after Katelyn's party this weekend.

 

Steps and Birthdays

Happy Birthday Holly! I'm sorry you had a sick little boy to take care of. Tell Max he owes you a birthday make-up day. I hope your boys showered you with love.

Katelyn decided your birthday was meant to be an eventful day. KATELYN WALKED TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hip hip hooray for Katelyn. We are so proud of you bean! You amaze us everyday. We knew you were about to go for it, and although I wish it was with mommy and daddy, Miss Andrea said you took 4 steps on your own today. You've taken 1 or 2 with mommy and daddy, but I'm counting 8/15/11 as the first day you officially walked. I think you just wanted to show everyone what a big girl you are at your birthday party.

Let the fun begin :)

Sitting on the Dock of the Lake

Last weekend we took katelyn on her first trip to Lake Burton, one of mommy and daddy's favorite lakes. She wore her firt life jacket and had a blast hanging with the boys (she was the only daughter there). Thanks for the mini vacay, we had a blast!

Here is a picture of daddy and katelyn down on teh deck just after sunrise. Even with a houseful of kids, we were still the first ones up. It was nice to sit on the dock in absolute silence except the sounds of nature. Daddy was teaching her all about lakes. I loved that I captured this father/daughter moment on film. it was one of those moments I also took a memory photograph of...you know...those moments you want to never forget. So sweet.

Fangs

Look at my vampire fangs. Daddy's so funny!!!

Vampire style

Kate is getting her two top eye teeth. I've been trying to snatch a pic of the and this is best I can get.

See those little specks of white? So cute!!! You can see them good when she smiles her BIG grin.

I hope she doesn't sneak in to my room at night and suck my blood. Ah ah ah.

Ps... Whatever happened to The Count. And snuffslufagus? They seem to have been fired from sesame street.

Love is in the Air

My love that is. Scott returns late tonight from his week in San Francisco. Boy did we miss him! We love you Daddy!

Tallies from the week:
a few temper tantrums
12 doses of medicine
4 meals on the floor- she now likes to rub her food off her tray when she's finished, I'll try to get a video of that
2 blow-outs in her bed...new sheets
8 doses of probiotics
2 nights of bad sleep
5 "medicine" diapers...all I can say is WOW! Daddy- you get the rest of these I'm afraid, my quota has been exceeded...welcome home!
6 days of fun with Kate...even with that bad times I don't mind, she's so much fun to be around

Peek a boo

This is one of katelyn's favorite games these days. Peek-a-boo through the mailbox of her flower garden.