The Denver Allen's

the burial

noreply@blogger.com (denverallens) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 04:30:00 +0000

My thoughts have been all over the place lately. So many thoughts rambling around in my head. One memory I can't get out is of Calvin's burial. I was thinking of it the other night and wanted to call my sister, Donna, to relate it. It was a very emotional day, I didn't know if she'd heard it. Of course I couldn't call her, tears were streaming down my face.

The funeral was hard for all of us, but I think the burial was even harder. For me, the thought of putting someone in the ground is unimaginable. We were there to put my nephew in the ground. That's not right, that shouldn't happen. My older kids favorite cousin had died and this was their first experience with loss. My first experience with someone so close and young. Nobody really knew how to act. In my head I look around at all that's going on. My husband, Craig, David and my Dad all stood at attention and saluted the honored. Others put flowers on the casket. His sweet brother Clayton just sat on a chair, sad. Grandma McLean went over and sat with him. I don't think a lot of words passed. Cole kept talking about the awesome limo ride he took from the Church to the cemetery. My dad wanted photos, but couldn't do it and handed the camera over to me. The scouts lined the cemetery grounds holding flags, in full uniform. It was absolutely breathtaking. It was cold, windy and miserable outside. That's how we felt on the inside too.

But the one memory that keeps coming back to me is of my brother, Tim. He put his hand on the coffin, bowed his head for a moment, then kissed the coffin. It was the sweetest gesture I had seen that day. Tears were running down his face too. This is what I had to tell Donna. Somehow the memory is still so fresh. It's a good memory, but it always brings tears.

It's been over a year now. The burden is no lighter. Calvin would turn 15 this month and we all know he would have been a handful. I love to think about all the great times we had together. I loved him and Clayton coming to spend a week with us in the summer. It was those times that I really got to know them. Clayton still came last summer and it was so much fun to have him. But it was a little hard to, I missed Calvin.

Last night Mac couldn't fall asleep, so he popped in the "Calvin DVD". It's a collection of photos of Calvin's life. He watched it for a long time. He told me today with a smile on his face. I'm so glad we have all the happy memories!

I love you Calvin.

I heart my rice cooker!

noreply@blogger.com (denverallens) — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 15:37:00 +0000

I am so in L.O.V.E with my rice cooker! I recently bought one off of Overstock.com. It's a fantastic site if you've never checked it out. I love it. So it was late at night and I was in a silly mood (having already taken my a.mbien). I had wanted a rice cooker for quite some time but hadn't bought one because really, how many pots and pans do I have. Do I seriously NEED a rice cooker? NO. But in my loopy post a.mbien thoughts, I NEEDED one in the worst way, plus, shipping was only $1. So I bought a $120 rice cooker for the low price of $31 with shipping. The next morning when I checked my emails I realized that I had indeed bought this rice cooker, it wasn't a dream. Eeek. Now what do I do?

Well, it wasn't to expensive, I guess I could try it out. If I hate it I can sell it on Craigslist. Everything sells on craigslist. So I pulled it out of the box. It was SO pretty. It was a shiny chrome color, made by wolfgang puck. COOL. It was BIG. I could make 10 cups of rice if I wanted to. Not that I ever have, but I could!

I started out simple, just rice. It turned out perfect! No burning, sticky, and the rice cooker told me when it was done! It told me! I didn't have to set a timer and hope it was okay. We had that with some chicken thing on top. Everyone loved it.

Then I decided to put in some rice a roni stuff and add veggies and cooked meat. Hmmmmm, you wouldn't have known you were eating rice a roni, it was fantastic!

I have tried at least 20 different things in this now, everything yummy.

Last night I realized I didn't have a lot of time to make dinner. Craig was leaving in 50 minutes. Quick, think, what can I make. I decided to make black beans and rice. I quickly found a recipe on my FAV website, www.recipezaar.com and found a 'mild black beans and rice' recipe. I started all the ingredients in the rice cooker while I defrosted a tube of sausage. The rice was about half way done when the sausage got done. After straining it, I opened the lid and plopped it in. Didn't even mix it. Closed the lid. About 15 minutes later the cooker told me it was done. I opened it up, did a little mix around, and wallah! Perfect dinner. In thirty minutes I had dinner on the table. Besides a few picky eaters who may or may not be my youngest girls, it was a hit! Everybody loved it! I figured it had a super food (black beans) a super fat food (sausage) and a bunch of onions (veggie). I had done pretty good. We topped it with cheese and sour cream. I even had two bowls.

I LOVE my rice cooker. It's like a slow cooker, but not slow at all! Perfect!

PS. Thanks for all your concern about Craig's job. It is all very uncertain. We don't know if we'll have a job come April, and with a job comes, I don't know if we'll have a house! So we are living in a bit of lingo. I have days that I'm totally freaking out and others when I live in denial. We are trying to live right, so somehow things will work out. So if you catch me on a down day, it will pass. I'm trying to stay positive though. Sometimes that's hard.

So the moral of the story is, make sure you have your food storage, you never know when you might need it!

It's Almost Christmas!

noreply@blogger.com (denverallens) — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:06:00 +0000

I'm so excited it's almost Christmas! What a fun time of the year! I love the cold weather, snow on the ground and lights everywhere! We even put a few lights on our house this year. It's the first time we've done that. We put our Christmas tree up on Thanksgiving. While I was finishing up in the kitchen the kids and Craig put it up! It turned out so pretty. We've had the same tree for almost 14 years, so last year I threw it out and we bought a prelit skinny tree. It's so in this year and it fits in our livingroom so much better than the big poofy one did. I was worried our beagle, Junie, would be all over it, but she hasn't been interested in it. She chooses other things to destroy. Generally she's busying destroying expensive headphones, brushes, anything squishy or plastic. I'm so ready to sell her on Craig's list, but the kids tell me NO. I wish she'd hurry up and not be a puppy anymore!

The kids are SO busy in school. Mac and Alyssa are both in play, Phantom of the Opry, a spoof on the real show. Alyssa decided to go out for Volleyball this year and has already had two games. It's her first time ever to go out for a sport, I'm so proud of her. She seems to be showing improvement. I never made it off the C team, I have hopes that maybe she will! Mac decided to manage Volleyball since there are so many hot chics. He is having a blast! He is so social. Plus, he loves to help out (as long as it's not cleaning at home). He's the first to jump up and help with nets and balls. The coaches say he is indispensable.

Meagan and Sydney are just trying to keep up. They bring their homework to games and Church on Wednesday nights. Poor girls are always a little behind because we are running after the big kids. But they love every second of it.

I'm DONE Christmas shopping and have about 5-6 sewing projects to finish. Not to bad! We're scaling down Christmas this year. I'm glad because I feel like our house is already bursting at the seams, we don't need anything more!!!

Craig found out his contract with General Dynamics got underbid, so he is currently looking for a job. So if anybody out there has a job in Intelligence they think he can do, let us know! Or if they know of a good job opening up somewhere, let us know as well, he can do anything.

I hope everyone is having a great Christmas season. Look forward to a Christmas card with photos and no letter. We've got blogs now, why waste paper??? I love blogs. If you haven't updated yours in a while, get to it! Sometimes that's the only way I know what's going on!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Here's a bonus picture of me quilting Mike and Allison's quilt. It was a lot of fun to do. I hope they like it!

Mac ** 4th in City

noreply@blogger.com (denverallens) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:52:00 +0000

It's been a busy couple weeks for our family. Mac decided to go out for wrestling this year. I was so proud of him, since previously he hadn't done any sports. For his first year he did remarkable. He pulled 4th place in City Championships. We were all proud of him.

The season did not go without incident though. When I was out of town at my brother's wedding he lost three teeth. I was incredibly upset! He explained they were baby teeth, no worries mom. Mom's always worry. They were his 12-13 year molars, and indeed they were ready to come out. Phew! The new ones are already making a nice appearance.

This is my Mackey boy standing in front of the brackets with his fourth place ribbon. So proud!

Check out the other photos at our flickr site!

Premier Jewelry Party!

noreply@blogger.com (denverallens) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:54:00 +0000

Premier Jewelry Party

Host:	Jennifer Allen
Location:	Jeni's House 1861 S Cathay Ct, Aurora, CO
When:	Thursday, November 5, 7:30pm
Phone:	720-227-4713
My sister Krissie is flying in from Albuquerque to host a Premier Jewelry Party at my house. She just started selling this jewelry and is super excited. I would really like to do a great show for her to kick it off right and keep her motivated. Please come and support her. I promise to have yummy food and drinks. PLEASE COME!! Bring your friends If anyone would like to order, but can't attend, please let me know. I'LL HOOK YOU UP!

Donna~Jeni~Donna~Jeni~Donna~Jeni

noreply@blogger.com (denverallens) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:44:00 +0000

The weekend came and went in one great whirlwind! But we had a great time.

I picked Donna up at the airport about 3:30. We had just enough time to drop kids off where they needed to be, get home and change. Then we met up with our friends and walked to Cheesecake Factory Downtown. Craig, Alyssa and I have never eaten there before, so were were in for a treat. The food was so good. We all ordered something different. When we finished eating our waiter came over and convinced us all to order Cheesecake to go. Mmmmm. I got Pumpkin with nuts. It was so good.

After we finished dinner we jogged over to the Beuell Theatre to see "Wicked". I've been reading the book, so I was anxious to see the play. Wow! It was fantastic. My first Broadway play and I was NOT disappointed. The ending was perfect,. LOVED IT!

Of course we had to go see the Genghis Khan Exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science! Go see it, absolutely fantastic! We spent 90 minutes in there. We were at the museum for hours. We love to look around at old mummies, animals, space stuff, dinosaurs and many more things!!!

After our feet were completely worn out we decided to brave the largest Eddie Bauer outlet I've ever been to. It was well work the trip. I always get out of there with fantastic bargains. Craig's got a new sweater cardigan, long sleeve t, and khaki painters for less than $20. I got two nice shirts for $9/each. Alyssa got a new NICE bathing suit for $5.

As we're getting ready to leave i remember that there is a Lego Outlet inside. Donna and her family are real Lego people. So, we moved a little bit farther around the mall and found the Lego outlet. Donna decided it wasn't any cheaper, but they had EVERYTHING! Pretty awesome!

We ended the night by going home and grabbing my hubby. He was feeling a little bit left out by now. So we kidnapped him and took him to Rumbi Grill. One of our favorites. Yummmmmm.

We stayed up until all ours of the night chatting. Actually we both went to bed and them came back down. We hadn't gotten out all the chattiness yet. The most important parts of the weekend.

These weekends are what keep me going. I love it when we can get together and have a GREAT time. If we lived closer it would be DANGEROUS! But the danger would be SO MUCH FUN!

I'm looking forward to next weekend when Mikey gets married. We're going to meet in Boise Idaho and wish the young people many years of happy times.

Balloons to Heaven

noreply@blogger.com (denverallens) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:15:00 +0000

Last night after all the kids got home from school, we went and bought balloons for Calvin. We all picked out the balloon we thought was appropriate. Then we went to a park. We all said something to Calvin. Mac said, "Calvin, you're the best cousin ever, I miss you." Alyssa said, "I'm sending you hugs and kisses to Heaven." Sydney said, "You were the funniest cousin ever. I love you." Meagan said "I love Calvin so much, I wish you were here." They all taped their messages onto the balloons.

We let them run around and shout and play, to show Calvin they loved him. Then we let the balloons go. It was really windy here, so they took flight quickly and were out of sight in less than a few minutes.
Mac is actually posing in the 'candid' photo. He thought it would make him look cooler!

noreply@blogger.com (denverallens) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 05:28:00 +0000

As we approach on the one year anniversary of Calvin's passing, we can't stop talking about him here. He is so close to our hearts. We seem to see him in so many of our daily tasks. Mac started wrestling recently. He's never done that before. His very first match was a sad one. He lost, but he didn't get pinned! I thought he did remarkably well, he lasted all three rounds and didn't get pinned. When he finally came over to me he put his arm around my shoulders and said "mom, I lost". Then his face got all messed up (he's a McLean, we don't cry pretty). As I comforted him and looked at him that night came crashing back. I haven't seen him cry over anything but Calvin's death. At least not since he was little.

We decided that we would make a top ten list about Calvin, our favorite things.

Calvin made my son Mac so happy. For that I am always grateful.
Calvin ate my cooking even when my kids thought it was disgusting.
Calvin could ALWAYS rile us up, his mom, sisters, aunts, girl cousins, whoever!
Calvin can leap small children in a single bound.
He loves fire, just like me! We loved lighting fireworks!
He has a great sense of fashion. I loved his necklaces.
He loves his family
He was a ladies man.
Calvin can fix broken trees with bungee cords.
Calvin can make a room smell like axe from 30 feet away.

One of my all time favorite quotes from Donna is "this house smells like boy!"

It smells a little less, and it's a lot quieter now, but somehow we're making it. Even your mom and dad are making it. How, I don't know. Remember Calvin, your parents are strong. They love you so much and are so proud of all you accomplished. So many things have been done in your honor. You continue to touch many people, even after you're gone. Calvin we miss you and send you hugs and kisses. We are looking forward to the day when we get to see you again.

PS, in the photo, Calvin is the loud one!

Memories

noreply@blogger.com (denverallens) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 04:11:00 +0000

Originally uploaded by denverallens

Last year we spent some good times together. It's almost been a year since my nephew,
Calvin, passed away in a car accident. I'm so happy to see that Donna still LOVES Halloween. It's always been her favorite holiday, but now it's riddled with loss. She is so amazing. She wanted us to share some memories. I've got a few to share.

The summer you guys visited our house, Calvin and Mac were into everything. Were they obnoxious and getting on my nerves? Of course, was is hard NOT to smile, absolutely! I guess Calvin got the great idea that they could escape during the night from Mac's bedroom window. In order to do it right they had to scope it out during the day. They needed to make sure the tree would sustain their weight. Well guess what? It didn't. It's a small Aspen tree. Shortly after the experiment they come sneaking and snickering into the house. "Aunt Jeni, do you have any bungee cords?" I asked him why, of course no honesty coming from him. "just cuz." I told him where they were in the garage and him and Mac went to get one. I didn't think a thing about it. The next time we left the house I saw my bungee cord. It was holding together my Aspen tree that wouldn't hold their weight. Ah Ha! Of course they had no idea how it broke. It wasn't until a year later that Mac told me how it happened. He confessed everything after Calvin passed. Most of it with tears. It was pretty good idea, fix the tree with a bungee, all that was missing was the duct tape!

Then earlier that summer Calvin and Alyssa built sandcastles by the reservoir. It was so funny, I asked her afterwards if she had a good time and she said, "yeah, Calvin's not that bad". Which, in kid talk means he's pretty great. She loves this photo and has it hanging in her room.

I can't believe we've all made it through this last year. The hurt is still deep and makes me cry. It's still hard to believe it actually happened. I love Calvin and I send hugs and kisses up to Heaven for him everyday. He probably prefers the ones from his hot girlfriends, but hopefully Aunt Jeni hugs are okay too.

Love you Calvin!

The Yummiest Granola Bars Ever!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (denverallens) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 01:46:00 +0000

Granola Bars

1 1/2 cups rice krispies (up to 2 cups)

1 1/2 cups quick oats

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 tsp. vanilla

Optional add ins

1/2 cup raisins, chopped nuts, seeds, flax, coconut

1/3 cup mini chocolate chips

Prepare a greased 11 x 7 inch or 13 x 9 inch baking dish (thinner bar).
In a large bowl combine rice krispies, oats and optional add in.
In a saucepan stir the honey and brown sugar until just at a boil.
Immediately removed from heat and stir in the peanut butter and vanilla until well combined.
Pour over the dry ingredients in the bowl; mix to combine.
Mix in mini chocolate chips, working fast. The mixture hardens quickly.
Transfer themixture into prepared baking dish, then using slightly wet hands push evenly down into the pan.
While the mixture is still soft, for easier slicing take a sharp knife and slice into desired size bars.

Yummy! They make 20 bars, 100 calories each. 1.6 grams fat, fiber 1%, sugars 11.7g Protein 1.5g

I'm going to talk to my friend and find out how to make these fiber bars, because they are so stinkin good I'd eat them instead of fiber one bars.

Birthday Parties Everywhere!

noreply@blogger.com (denverallens) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:01:00 +0000

Tonight is the night! We are having a triple birthday sleepover! I strategically had my girls two weeks apart. Sydney's birthday is August 21, Meagan's is September 6 and Alyssa's is today, September 25! We usually do something with the little girls and then we do something seperate for Alyssa. But this year they decided to do a sleepover all together. There's going to be a lot of girls running around this place starting 6pm tonight! We decided to plan it when Craig was working. I think there would have been a little to much girl for him. Mac is working on finding somewhere to spend the night.

The girls have all planned their night. Sydney was the first one to write out a plan. The first thing on her list was a pillow fight, followed by s'mores, pizza, spooky stories and a red box movie. I think we've got all that covered. Meagan next made a very detailed plan. She made a very stuctured plan with times and everything. She will probably follow it to the letter. Alyssa doesn't care. She's just excited to have friends over. She'll take whatever she can get!

We'll have to update tomorrow with some pics of the great birthday sleepover! Wish me luck!

Meagan's 9th Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (denverallens) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 07:26:00 +0000

Meagan had a great 9th birthday this year.

Her Grandma Allen from Indiana sent

her some beautiful clothes.

As Meagan said, "just in time for Church! Yeah!".

She's wearing the dress from Grandma Allen

while opening presents from her family.

Meagan loves to sew, so we decided to buy

her her first sewing machine! Yeah for Meagan!

Mac's Birthday and Ordination

noreply@blogger.com (denverallens) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 06:45:00 +0000

Back at the end of May Mac turned twelve! I couldn't believe it myself. That meant a lot of things for Mac and our family. He was able to graduate from Primary (the children's program at Church) and join Young Men. It's always exciting when you get to leave Primary. I remember being so excited myself. I was older, I didn't want to be with the annoying little kids. Oh to be twelve again! The other thing that happened for him was that he was ordained a Deacon in the Aaronic Priesthood. It was so cool. We were so fortunate to have family and friends come and share this special time with us.

The theme this year for the big kids is new bikes!

So we brought him out bright and early and showed him his new bike.

He Loves LOVES loves it!

The final photo of Gary, Craig, Dan and Mac.

Dan is NOT cooperating.

But we didn't really expect him to did we??

Dan is a little tired of being photographed here.

Here's the good one!
Here we have family from both sides and
friends from our ward here in Aurora.
Here is our family on the special day.
Doesn't Mac look sharp in that suit!

Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?

noreply@blogger.com (denverallens) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:29:00 +0000

This morning Mac and I put flags up for 9/11. It’s always a good experience to help him do this, but on 9/11 it is closer to my heart. As we drove around to the houses on our route we talked about that day eight years ago. Mac was only 4, but he remembers.

We lived on Kelly AFB at the time, and the kids went to school on the nearby Lackland AFB. Shortly after hearing the news and being absolutely devastated I decided it was time to go get the kids. I went and knocked on the doors. I got Mac first (from PreK), and then headed over to Kindergarten for Alyssa. Mrs. Mimari came out and asked me what had happened, she hadn’t seen anything, only heard rumors in the classroom. I told her what I knew and we wept outside her classroom together. It was so surreal. How could this happen here, in America. I was so lucky I hadn’t waited until the end of the day to pick the kids up from school, because the bases were in lockdown and many kids spent the night in the gym. How scary that would have been for me and the kids.

When we went home I didn’t let the kids go outside and play. I was a little bit worried. Lackland AFB had a flight line, and nothing was flying, NOTHING. It was so very, very quiet. The flight line was never quiet. I called Craig at work and asked him “Did you hear what’s going on?”. I’m still not sure why I did that, he worked on base, of course he had heard. He was smack dab in the middle of it, and that’s the day he started fighting the war on terrorism, he hasn’t rested a day since.

I was so worried about Sally and Jay, my sister and her husband who lived in NY City. Calls weren’t going out, calls weren’t making it in. Was she alright? I didn’t know. It felt like forever before I heard she and Jay were alright. I knew that Jay worked in the financial district and that he had meetings at the World Trade Center.

Shortly after the attack, a few days later, there was a memorial service on TV. I was in Wal-Mart when it happened. Everyone stopped, everyone listened, and there were no dry eyes in the store. Everyone flew a flag outside their house. Everyone was touched, everyone was affected.

Mac asked me this morning if I was scared. I told him yes. He said he was too. Then he made the comment, “well, I guess that’s what they wanted isn’t it. I wish we wouldn’t have been scared.” So true, I hadn’t thought about it like that.

We listened over and over to patriotic music. We were touched by all of it, especially Lee Greenwood’s “I’m glad to be an American”. We knew every word.

Now, each year that passes I hold my breath. Please let this be a normal day. Please don’t let anything terrible happen today.

I am so proud to be an American. I love this Country. I love what it stands for. I will never forget that day. Where were you when the world stopped turning, that September day?

Sydney's 7th Birthday

noreply@blogger.com (denverallens) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 12:40:00 +0000

Sydney turned seven this last month, on August 21st. I can't believe my baby is getting so old! We made her a really cute rainbow cake. She's all about the rainbows this year!

Baby Sydney

noreply@blogger.com (denverallens) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 06:11:00 +0000

I've been wanting to share some pictures of the family before we settled in Colorado. Before we were here we lived in England for three glorious years. We loved it so much over there. We moved there when I was seven months pregnant with Sydney. I have this thing with moving when I'm pregnant. It's kind of a tradition! This first picture is of when my Mom (and Dad, taking the picture) and sister Krissie came to meet Sydney for the first time. She was seven months old and a complete doll. She went in the baby sling everywhere. All the cobblestone roads and rocky steps aren't conducive to strollers, so she was close to my heart in my sling. This picture is taken outside Skipton Castle which was about 15 minutes from where we lived. It was the first place we took everybody. It was a well preserved castle with a dungeon and everything. The kids LOVED it, heck, I loved it!

After the castle we'd tour the town. Take in the sites and then eat at Bizzie Lizzies. Yummmmm! the best fish and chips around.

Here's some pictures of Sydney shortly after she was born. She is a princess! She was always trying to eat something!

Petite Elephant

noreply@blogger.com (denverallens) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 01:14:00 +0000

I am lucky enough to have met one of the coolest bloggers out there! She's my sister's friend. Therefore, by sisterly rights I get to brag that she's one of mine as well! If you check out her blog you will see exactly what I mean. One of the first blogs that gets checked everyday. I especially LOVE the vacation stories and places and pictures this last summer. Totally perfect! Now she's doing a $50 giveaway for hanes underwear! Woot woot! I hope I win!

Here's her blog: http://www.petitelefant.com/

I heart Alison

Pnemonia

noreply@blogger.com (denverallens) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 19:37:00 +0000

I took Meagan in for her 9 year old check up yesterday, that's right, she'll be 9 on Sunday! Remember how I've been taking her to the doctor for the last month and they keep telling me she's fine? Well, she is A LOT better now, but she's still coughing. She's mostly over whatever she had. The doctor listened to her lungs again, he's done this everytime. She has walking pnemonia. So NOW she's on antibiotics. She still went to school today. She's a LOT better now then she was before. I can't believe they finally found something wrong when I was bringing her in for a routine check up. Grrrr Argh!

Sydney's Turn!

noreply@blogger.com (denverallens) — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 06:07:00 +0000

Sydney came home from school on Thursday. I immediatley noticed that her nose was scabbed up. I asked her about it and she showed me her knees too and replied, "it's okay, I'm fine mom!". Off she went about her merry way. Well anyway but homework and chores. Off I went to Craft Group.

Friday came and went and we didn't have any significant conversations. But we played with friends and had a good time.

Saturday came, she reminded me she had $15 to spend from Birthday money. I had promised, so off we went. First things first when you go out with mom, 7/11 We had to go get sodas. Then I asked her if she wanted lunch first or toys r us. She was sure even though it was late that she wanted to look for toys. Fine. We went and spent about an hour cruising the store. Finally to find a slinky game and $5 worth of candy. She was happy. We made her purchases and went to find lunch.

We decided to dine across the street at Arby's. We get our food and for the first time in a week I really, really look at my daughter. She is so beautiful. I was noticing that the scabs on her nose were healing up nicely. But then I notice that the bridge of her nose is BLACK and she has a BLACK eye. Hmmmm, when have I seen this before? Oh yeah, two years ago when she broke her nose. I call Craig at home, "Sydney broke her nose, what do you want me to do?" He says "When?" I reply, "Thursday, but I'm just noticing it now. It's probably to late to have them fix it isn't it?" Craig says "Yeah, we've spent an awful lot on co-pays this last two weeks anyway haven't we?". We go back and forth a for a little longer and decide she's okay. We'll get her checked out again when she's a teenager and they can fix it.

Worked for Alyssa! Alyssa broke her nose when she was four, and had surgery two years ago to straiten everything out. I guess we'll take the same route with Sydney.

So, between croup, eye infections, broken noses and tired backs, we've had a great week. It has given me a chance to get some sewing done and that is always fun! I'm sure next week everyone will be healthy everyday and want to go to school!

My poor son Mac

noreply@blogger.com (denverallens) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 05:36:00 +0000

Mac was just diagnosed with a sty the size of Texas. He looks like he got into a fight and LOST. He can't open his right eye. Today when we took him out he put on sunglasses, his swollen eyelid touched the lenses. I know, gross! After talking to Donna (who doesn't take her kids to the doctor unless they are seriously dieing), she recommended he make a trip to the doctor. If I haven't told you before, but I'm sure many of you have heard it all to much, "Donna is ALWAYS right". As the oldest child, it's the rule. So after I got off the phone with her I promptly called to make an appointment. They had me go to after hours care. The first guy that came in (a 70 year old PA) was baffled. He had a few ideas. "Are you sure it isn't a mosquito bite?" I mentioned there was no entry point for one. "Are you sure it isn't an allergic reaction to something he may have eaten?" Ummm, it's just the one eye and everything else is fine. "Do you think he may have gotten something into his eye? I'm pretty sure it's an allergic reaction to something." At this point Mac pipes in "Well last Friday I went to a concert and there was a lot of smoking. That's probably what did it." (The PA is a heavy smoker). I mentioned immediately, "Denver is 'smoke free' and we were in an open air theater. No ceilings, we were under the stars!" The PA decided to go get the Pediatrician on call. A minute or two pass and the young peds doc comes in. He looks at Mac and asks if he can feel it. Mac says, okay. The kind doc proceeded to squeeze the puss out of his sty. I about died laughing. I said, "that's exactly what it says NOT to do, unless you're in a sterile environment, you're not even wearing gloves!" Poor Mac is wincing in pain, no tears for this guy. The doc says "Oh we're about to make it real sterile." He came back with eye drops. He asked Mac what concert he went to, Mac responding "Toby Keith" The doc replies "I don't think it was the smoke. I think you were really touched by some of the songs, you had to wipe back the tears and you gave yourself an infection." We both had a good laugh over that. My poor son. At least he's good for entertainment! But the best part was, I paid a co pay, I saw a real doctor, he took us seriously, and gave us antibiotic eye drops for his 'raging infection'. I won't have to go back in a week with a blind son and have drastic measures taken. PHEW! Sometimes the after hours guys are better. It's kind of a luck of the draw.

Lucky me, Mac gets to stay home tomorrow to. I think I can find some things for us to do! Hee hee hee! I think he'd rather be in school. Although today we did get in a lot of "Ice Road Truckers". Pretty good show!

making of the beds

noreply@blogger.com (denverallens) — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 05:30:00 +0000

I just watched a great video. I'm going to bring it out on Saturday morning and we're going to practice as a family how it's done. I love hospital corners. One of the best parts about this video is that boys are doing the bed making. The give me hope for my boy!

Enjoy the video. I found it very enlightening. You just have to get by the 15 second best buy ad.

Sick Kids

noreply@blogger.com (denverallens) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:20:00 +0000

You know how kids that were breast fed get sick less than kids that weren't?? Well I have news for you, it's a load of crap! I have Meagan home again today. She nursed for an entire 18 months (much to my chagrin) and has been SICK this year. Craig finally took her to after hours care on Saturday, because I wouldn't. I'm sick of the doctor too! He came home with her. The doc would NOT prescribe anything. All she has is the croup! I guess I thought they'd give her something for that. The doc did tell Craig she'd get much worse before she got better. Lovely was all I could think. Now I get to take her in again at some point next week and really get her meds. Why do you have to wait until your child is almost dead before anyone will do anything. It's ridiculous! Drives me crazy. Let's see, how many co pays can I pay before I get something in return. I should start keeping track.

This morning as she was coughing up a lung, again, I had a brilliant idea. If the doc isn't going to help, I can! I got out the NyQuil and gave her the recommended dose. She really just needs to get some sleep, uninterrupted by coughing to start to heal. She was out in thirty minutes and slept well for five hours. I was right, she's doing better already. I plan to give her another dose before she goes to bed tonight, surely she'll sleep better. Maybe she'll even be able to go to school tomorrow. She'd better, because tomorrow I start walking with my BFF while her girls are at preschool! I don't want to miss that!

Teaching the Young Women

noreply@blogger.com (denverallens) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 04:19:00 +0000

About a year ago I was called to be the Mia Maid advisor at Church. I was so excited, but a bit worried. I've never been very good at teaching. And honestly, the teenagers scared the crap out of me. But I'm hear to tell you that I have had some fantastic experiences teaching these awesome girls. I know the saying goes that you always learn more than you teach, but it's true.

I recently found this cool thing I could do. I discovered how to play Youtube videos during my class. The Church has an entire line of "Mormon Messages" by General Authorities. Then there are the songs of Jesus with the beautiful music and stirring pictures. It's been so fun to show the girls these things. This last week I taught about service. There was a great clip about people sacrificing for others. I love the technology and all it can do to enhance my lesons. It's just awesome.

Buddies

noreply@blogger.com (denverallens) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:13:00 +0000

Buddies-combined
Originally uploaded by DanMcLean

I have never met a three year old that didn't love Alyssa. She has such a good way with kids. The kids gravitate towards her. It's so cute. She has three 3-year olds here in Denver who love her dearly and run and jump into her arms, and she loves it. It's so precious to me to see that. Someday she'll be a great mom, until then she can practice with being that cool cousin!

All smiles at the end of the pack

noreply@blogger.com (denverallens) — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 13:09:00 +0000

All smiles at the end of the pack
Originally uploaded by DanMcLean

This was the first bike ride the family took. Everybody did great. In the end Sydney opted out when she was told it would be MANY miles long. It was, but on a bike that's not so bad. They went with many cousins and uncles.