Brecklynn's Bday and 24th Celebration! Lots of Pics

This is a long post full of pictures but what can I say? Its Brecklynn's 1st birthday and the big Pioneer Day celebration. So a lot has been going on which means a lot of pictures too.

Last Sunday Pat got the kids a cake to kick off their birthdays. I can't believe these 2 are already 1. I got them some cute birthday hats. I was shocked that they would leave them on.

Cambree and Ridge were such neat freaks about their first birthdays, that I never got any cute cake pictures. I was pleasantly surprised with Brecklynn

Today (the 24th) we actually celebrated their birthdays. It was perfect because everyone was down for the 24th celebration so we had a big party with family and friends. We had it at the Safford Pool.

Oh Curtis and Chad. Things never change :)

The Birthday girl. She ran a fever all day but tried so hard to be happy.

The birthday kids loving the water.

Cambree has become quite the fish. She taught herself how to swim. I mean full on swim. I was shocked when she showed me today.

Sara and I decided to do cake pops instead of cupcakes. I've made them before but for some reason they were so difficult this time round. Thankfully, my friend Rachel came to my rescue and helped me get them done. They were a hit.

Amber Daley and Sara Mack were some of the friends that came. It was so fun to have them all there for Brecklynn. Aren't they beautiful?

Brecklynn's 3rd cake of the week. Thought it turned out pretty cute

Look at Darrek's cake. It's got a picture of him driving his tractor. Very creative and super cute.

Brecklynn I think was just done with cakes by this point. She wouldn't even touch it. Her hands stayed up in that position for a long time.

Darrek loved his tractor stuff.

Brecklynn loved cake pop

Some more of our friends that came.

Around 5:30 we decided to head down to the 24th celebration in Safford. Of course that typical rain started. It always rains on the 24th. Well this year it was a bit ridiculous. It never drizzles and it continued. We were all soaked and it was muddy everywhere.

Ecksen loving the parade. He was so cute about yelling bye to ever float and getting all excited about the big trucks.

We were so soaked that we just left after the parade and got some food and took it back to Pat and Steve's to dry off. At 8:30 we headed out to at least catch the firework show. Curtis found the perfect spot. It was a great show too.

This was Ecksen's first fireworks show. He wasn't too sure about it.

Ridge loves fireworks. This smile was plastered on his face the entire time. Pure joy!!

This pile of kids was in the middle of the street. So cute. Look at Ridge. He loved it!!

It was such a fun day. Everyone was so tired by the end. I cannot believe Brecklynn is 1. Makes me so sad to think this past year went that fast. I love you Brecklynn!!

Preschool

I am excited to get preschool going again. This summer has FLOWN by but DRAGGED by at the same time. I have been doing this several years now and LOVE what I do. Here is a bit about me and some information on what you can expect if you are interested in sending your child to my home for preschool.

* I am nearly 27 years old. I have been married 6 1/2 years and have 3 beautiful children. I have an Associates in General Studies.

* The curriculum I use has been used by others in my family for over 15 years.

* This program is for children 3-5 year olds.

* We follow the Thatcher Unified School District schedule and school begins August 16th.

* You can expect your child to develop pre-writing skills, work on fine motor skills, letters, numbers, colors, shapes, days of the week, self confidence and classroom manners. We take 2 field trips during the year. The first will be to the Fire Station in October and one more in the Spring.

* There will be 2 sessions a week M-W-F. One at 8:30-10:00 and 10:30-12:00

* I am looking to have 2 classes of 12. The price is $70.00 a month with a $20.00 non-refundable registration fee to hold your child's spot.

You can contact me at chantel.allen@hotmail.com with any information or questions. You can also check out my preschool blog at abcjumpstartpreschool.blogspot.com

Thanks!!!

Crazy fun day

This week has been a whirlwind but really nothing has happened :)

Ridge has been potty-training this week. All mom's know the stress/fun that is. He is finally getting the concept of it and going on his own a bit. We are still hoping for an accident free day- hopefully soon. He loves his super-hero underwear. He is so little though that he has to constantly pull them up.

Yesterday Brecklynn got her ears pierced. ABOUT TIME!! She looked so much cuter earlier but she is getting so bad at taking out her hair. I finally gave up and still took a pic. She's still cute right? I love her ears pierced. Cambree got her ear's pierced when she was about 5 months old so it was so hard waiting so long.

Cambree is such a ham. The kids were out playing ball with Curtis and she kept posing for me taking pictures.

Look at his neck vein. We always joke that if he nicked that 'little' vein when he gets upset....he would be in a world of trouble.

So just look at Cambree...

I was trying to hard to get a picture of Ridge's little crack but he is so fast at pulling up his undies, I could never snag one ;) I love how white he is though. Proof he does tan.

So Ridge is almost an official big boy, Brecklynn is cuter than ever with her ear's pierced with her Mater teeth, and Cambree is just...well Cambree :)

A Family Day at the Pool

Yesterday we enjoyed a couple hours at the pool with a lot of the Allen family. It was a lot of fun for our kids to have some time with their cousins.

4th of July

We had a very enjoyable 4th of July!! We got to spend a lot of time together as a family. We started early on Friday with letting the kids do chalk on the sidewalk. I thought it would a simple enough of an activity. Wow, they got SO messy!! Especially Brecklynn. I was amazed at how mess she got.

Saturday, there was no early morning parade or fire trucks down the street or anything. We decided to have a fun morning ourselves. We woke up, took the kids out to eat, and then headed to main street to watch the town. We met up with GG and the kids loved the parade. It was really small but perfect for them.

Cambree was showing us how to 'properly' wave.

Ridge-when he saw the firetrucks

Right after the parade, we went to the pool. It was absolutely perfect. We stayed from 10:00-1:00. We all got ROASTED. We've never stayed so long and poor Brecklynn got a pretty bad burn on her little nose and cheeks and Curtis turned into a lobster. But we all had so much fun.

Here's all 3 babies at the pool. Could never get a good one. One was always crying, crawling off or something!

Then after good long naps, we got ready for the 4th of July (or 3rd of July) fun. I bought the girls shorts last year after the 4th. And of course, I just made their matching bows. They looked pretty cute if I do say so myself. I love Brecklynn's shoes. I got them for $1.50 at the second hand store. Her feet are a bit fat so they don't fit the best, but we had to take a picture at least :)

We headed to Pat and Steve's for pizza. Even Lan came down to share in the fun. Here are Darrek and Brecklynn. Notice the matching sunburns :)

At about 8:00 we all piled into the cars to head to the fair grounds for the fireworks. We had quite the group!! Cambree and Ava were connected at the hip the whole night. You'd think they never saw each other. I love their relationship. It was a great night and the firework show was great. We were literally underneath it with the ash falling all around us. It didn't start til 9:00 and then the fireworks lasted 30 minutes. Then you wait forever to leave. The kids were exhausted. It was a great night.

Next day, on the official 4th of July, we of course went to church. After, Roy and April suprised us all by coming down. So right after church we headed over to Pat and Steve's again to hang out for a bit. We then ate dinner with the whole family.

Ridge enjoyed a ride on the g0-cart.

Ava and Cambree did too

Then we had our own version of a fire-work show. Quite the show.

After she finally figured out that the sparklers didn't hurt, she LOVED them

All the Allen girls decided to give the go-cart a spin. It was quite the sight.

It was a wonderful day and we've enjoyed even more time with the family today. I love these times when all the families come together for a bit. Happy 4th of July!!!