Gulf Shores Part 1

We're back!! We had such a great time at the beach this past weekend. We travelled down to Gulf Shores, AL, which is NOT four hours away as I thought. It was actually more like seven hours after stopping to nurse. With Tristan screaming in the car part of the way, it felt like fourteen! So, we made up our minds to REALLY enjoy our few days at the beach to make up for the trauma of getting there and back! Mom and I left on Wednesday morning. We travelled through Alabama at the height of lovebug season and the front of my car may never be the same again! When we finally got there at about four in the afternoon we were SO happy to be done driving and so ready to get to the beach.

I was so excited to have both my kiddos at the beach. I could hardly wait to get down there with them, but we figured we'd better unpack and organize first. So, poor Tristan got taken out of his car seat and placed in his infant seat. He wasn't too worried about it. Somehow, the infant seat is at about the same angle and snuggles him in similar to a car seat but he loves it as much as he hates the car seat. Go figure. Maura busyed herself with playing peek-a-boo with Tristan while he sat. He loved it. I was a little afraid that she'd clock him in the head with the edge of the raft, but she was as gentle as she could be and they both had a great time.
Peek-a-boo! The center of the raft is just over Tristan's legs which were pumping and kicking as fast as he could go. He LOVED it. I love watching my kids play together. Something about it is just too sweet and makes my heart melt!
After a quick dinner, we headed down for our first look at the water. Maura could not have been more excited. She's talked about the beach for weeks, and has been so excited about playing in the water and the sand. She headed right for a tidal pool and stopped dead to survey the scene. The beach and boardwalk were pretty torn up after Hurricane Ike a few weeks ago, but it left nice big tidal pools for the kids to play in.
Tristan getting his first ocean experience. The water was pretty warm, so he enjoyed his little dip in the big blue sea.

Tristan, aka Popeye the sailor man! He looks pretty stoic, but I think he liked it.

Grammy tried giving Tristan a feel for the sand, but Maura would have none of it. She wanted him in the water and went over to make him move on in.
Sweet little baby foot. He loved scrunching his toes in the wet sand. Is there anything better?
Grammy and Tristan enjoying the beach together. Is there any doubt that he's getting huge? He just looks so tall in this picture!

Mommy, Tristan and Maura taking it all in. We were all looking forward to the next few days of rest and relaxation.
Maura getting a start at sand play. She loved the seashell too and collected them all week long. She was also a huge fan of seagulls and asked all week for me to catch one for her. I'm not sure what she would have done with it if I had been able to catch one! She also loved the sand crabs and couldn't wait for her daddy to catch one for her.
Sweet girl testing out the water. Sunset at the beach was such a lovely time to be there.
The object of Maura's affection. The seagulls teased her all week long.

What a beautiful sight. It was a perfect time of the year to be at the beach and we had such a great time. Stay tuned for LOTS more beach photos.

Desperately Posting Pictures!

We're preparing to go to the beach on Wednesday, and knowing myself like I know myself, I'll probably take a million or so photos. In preparation of that momentous occasion, I need to go ahead and get these on the blog, or they'll be lost forever in the recesses of my computer! These photos were from this weekend. We went to a children's program at church on Saturday morning and stopped by Chick-fil-A on the way home. They're always so nice in those restaurants and one of the ladies brought Maura a balloon. That was the end of the meal for Maura. She had zero interest in finishing her chicken nuggets. All she wanted to do was play with her "yeyyo baboon"(I'm not making this up!) Someday she'll actually learn to say her "L's." She talks completely clearly in every other way, but for some reason just can't say "L."
A happy girl and her balloon. She danced all around the living room and Brent got a little camera happy! Below, you get to witness the evolution of a freak out. Watch closely.
Maura sitting with her two balloons on the couch. The other one is a swan made for her by Mr. Benny the clown at Saturday Morning Sillies. She started experimenting with letting the string go through her hand.
Suddenly, the balloon escapes! Yikes, she can't reach it!
Total meltdown. I heard it from the other room and came running, sure that life or limb was in jeopardy. Brent managed to rescue it and from then on it lived in a room that did NOT have a cathedral ceiling!

Oh, thank goodness, the balloon has been safely returned. "I'd better keep my eye on it!"
Maura loves the flowers that Brent brought us the other day and she won't leave them alone. I catch her up at the table pulling the flowers out to smell all the time.
This one is her "special" flower that Brent brought her. She loves it. By the way, can anyone else see why I insist on a hair bow for this child? The hair in the face makes me crazy!!
Our little UK fans. I never thought that I'd be one of those moms guilty of dressing my kids alike, but I loved having them both dressed to root for UK on Saturday.
Go CATS!! I can't tell if Maura is trying to smile or if she's trying to look like a wildcat. Check the end of the blog for the official UK cheer!

On Sunday I couldn't resist taking some pictures of the kids before church. Maura has on a beautiful dress that Grammy made for her. Mom learned how to smock at a seminar last year and she made this gorgeous dress for Maura. I wasn't sure if it was going to fit, but it looked perfect. Tristan is wearing a cap that belonged to Poppa and then to Brent when he was a baby. It was so adorable. People just kept coming up to look at him at church because he was just so darn cute!!
Sweet children! I may just have to get a professional photo taken in these outfits.
I couldn't decide which photo I like better, so you get to see them both!
Big sissy leaning in for a quick kiss. Maura loved the hat too, and kept saying, "Aww, how cute. Aww, Tistan, I love the baby."
Maura playing with two of her favorite toys in the car--two Happy Meal toy snakes that she just loves!

Circus Fun

The Allen Family went to the circus tonight. Truly, I wonder if I've ever really grown up. I think that I'm reliving my childhood through my kids. I'm using my children as an excuse to enjoy every single kiddie activity that I can. I LOVE the circus and I was so excited when I heard it was coming to town. I immediately started making plans for us to go and trying to convince Maura that the circus was fun and the clowns wouldn't hurt her. She currently has a pathological fear of clowns that I'll probably have to expend many therapy dollars on since I was the one who brought her into clown paradise in the first place. We've managed to get her psyched about the circus by talking it up all week. When we woke her up from her nap this afternoon, she was ready to go...mostly for cotton candy.
Me and the kids waiting patiently for the circus to begin. As you can see, Maura snagged some cotton candy on the way in. It truly was the reason that she even wanted to come to the circus. I'm not 100% sure that she even knew what cotton candy was, but she was ready to come and find out!
Preparing for that first bite of cotton candy. She couldn't stop smiling!
Going in for the big bite!

Mmm, that's some good stuff. She managed to eat most of the bag by herself and she was truly sticky by the end of it, but she LOVED it!!
Funny clown!! I did indeed dress him in a clown costume. It was just too good of an opportunity to pass up! We had been given a clown costume as a hand me down and since he isn't going to be a clown for Halloween, he won't wear it otherwise. Brent forgot the hat that goes with the costume, but he was still the cutest clown there.
Daddy and his little clown baby! Tristan was so fascinated by all the glow sticks and wands that all the kids had. He didn't know where to look first.
Maura got a red balloon, and between the balloon and the cotton candy, the night was complete for her. Really, we could have left just after Brent bought her that balloon and she would have been completely happy. I was terrified that the balloon would escape and we'd have a catastrophe on our hands!
Maura's first glimpse of the circus action. She was really interested in the tigers, which were the first act.

The kind man next to me volunteered to take a family picture of us. This is as good as it gets, folks!
Maura had good reason to be mesmerized by the tigers! They were jumping through hoops of fire!
They even had a tiger who could walk a tightrope. Very cool.
The high flying trapeze performers. I know I'll have to sing many verses of "The Man on the Flying Trapeze" for Maura in the next few days.
Two guys juggling fire. One was WAY better than the other--the guy on the left kept dropping his fire!

Tristan actually managed to fall dead asleep during the circus. It's amazing because the music was LOUD and there were people clapping all around us. I guess when you're the second child, you just get used to noise! He slept until the clown car backfired LOUDLY!
Maura loved the dog and pony act, especially when the little dog rode on the pony's back.
My sweet little clown. I could just eat him up!
"Mommy is hilarious!!" He's giving great big belly laughs these days.
One of the grand finale acts, the Elephant. All the kids screamed and clapped when he appeared. Consequently, this is the only act that Maura talked about when she came home. When asked what she liked most about the circus, she answered, "The balloon, the cotton candy and the elephant." Perhaps she was a bit young for the circus, but we really had a fun night together.

Maura's half birthday

Those who know me well know that I'm over the top about a lot of things. It's OK, I can own it! When it comes to me kids, I'm really over the top. I get so excited about doing things for them that will make them excited and happy. Thus, on Thursday, September 11th it was time to celebrate Maura's half birthday. I remember as a child thinking that my birthday would NEVER come. It seemed like ages from year to year until my special day would roll around. I have decided that we'll celebrate half birthdays in our home. Maura's will always be easy to remember as it falls on such a memorable day. And so, on Thursday, we got down to the business of celebrating.
Maura and I made her cake together in the morning while Tristan was down for his nap. It sounds easier in writing than it is in actuality. Baking with Maura generally involves a lot of grabbing, moving things and watching her like a hawk! She was so excited to help me and we actually managed to get most of the cake mix into the bowl. Maura spent the next five minutes licking the rest off the chair she was standing on! Mmmmm, yummy!
On the way home from work, Daddy stopped and got Maura( and mommy) a flower. She felt so special when Daddy gave her the flower. Today she told Brent that he bought it for her because he loves her. She makes her stuffed animals go and smell it all the time.

Right before supper, I let her decorate her cupcakes while I iced the cake. As you can see, she went a bit overboard on the decorating, but she had a ball! I had a hard time keeping her from diving into the cupcakes and eating one right before dinner.
She did manage to indulge on several handfuls of sprinkles. BEWARE anything made by a child in our house. It probably contains some yummy saliva.
The beautiful finished product!
I also made her a half birthday cake. Maura got to pick the cake mix(a yellow Pillsbury mix that had a picture of the Doughboy on the front), but Mommy picked the icing. Chocolate, of course! Maura didn't care, as long as it had sprinkles on top!
After dinner, we sang, "Happy Half Birthday."

She loved it. She was a little embarrassed by all the attention, but she smiled through the whole song.
Tristan and Daddy celebrating Maura's half Birthday.
She loved the song so much that she required a relighting of the candle and a re-singing of the song. Note the chocolate goatee.
She even required round three of lighting and singing. At that point, we ran out of matches and told her we were all done singing.
Maura even got a present for her half birthday. Now, ordinarily I wouldn't have given a present for a half birthday, but this doll was actually given to her as a gift last Christmas and I thought she was too young for it. I stowed it away in a closet for such a time as this. She LOVED her Belle doll. She's getting really into Disney Princesses these days. It was a successful Half Birthday.

These pictures are actually from Monday. I couldn't resist taking a picture of Daddy and Tristan watching Monday night football together. Tristan LOVES watching TV.
I had to take a picture of this little outfit. It's my favorite and he'll be growing out of it soon, but I LOVE the wiener dogs on his shirt, pants and socks. So cute!
Monday was his four month checkup. He was twenty six inches, which was the 90th percentile for height. He weighed 16 pounds, which is the 75th percentile and his head was in the 75th percentile. So basically we have a long and leaner man with a big-ish head! He was a very healthy boy, but he did have to have two shots. Poor little man, he screamed in terror when they administered them, but settled down as soon as I picked him up.
Maura wearing a new Princess shirt that Grammy sent her in a package. As soon as she saw it, she declared that she MUST wear her sparkly princess shoes with it. She promptly went outside and stepped in the pool with them on.
Tristan at eighteen weeks. Sweet little chunk. We've been calling him "Little Man," "Boo Bear," and "Sweet Potato." We love him so much!!