Little Miss Muffin

This is the video for the post below.  I could never get it to work so Allie posted it for me separately.  Thanks Al.

Inauguration day, and so much more...

First of all, I must thank everyone who posted a comment on my previous post!  There were several of you that I did not know were regulars, how fun!  Thanks for indulging me!

Today was an amazing day for our country and I am grateful to be an American!  Oh how I wish I could have been in Washington for the big event.  My Dad, Josh (brother), Ben (brother-in-law), and Maddie (niece) were all there---in VIP seats no less---living the high life on the Capitol steps.  I so regret not having even attempted to figure out a way to get to Washington and those great seats.  Not only would it have been cool to rub elbows (literally...see Ben's photo of Elder Uchtdorf and Elder Ballard in the Deseret News tomorrow morning... I guess no one else brought a camera) with some pretty amazing people but it would have been an unforgettable experience to have witnessed the swearing-in of such a pivotal President.

I told my kids that I was sad to not be able to see the President and Abbie guffawed and said, "Hah!  You're sad!  You are sad that you didn't get to see the President? I didn't get to see HANNAH MONTANA!!!"  She was, of course, referencing the fact that her cousin Maddie got primo seats to the kids pre-inaugural ball last night where she was just a few rows behind Michelle Obama and her girls, but more importantly within spitting distance of Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers, Queen Latifah, Jamie Fox, etc.  Although I am certain she only cared about Miley Cyrus.

I can understand the priorities of a three-year-old girl.  

It has been an interesting day at our house.  As every mother knows it is impossible to just veg in front of the TV and watch history unfold when you have four little kids running around but I was determined to do my best.  I woke up before the crack of dawn (and more importantly before the kids) and began watching the coverage of what was going on in Washington.  We are an hour earlier here in Austin so there was more happening at 6AM my time than there would otherwise have been---all of the networks had begun their live coverage.  However, soon I needed to be straightening up for the primary presidency meeting at my house (don't these ladies know it is a historic day?), make my kids lunches, get them dressed, get them to school, etc.  But things never seem to go according to plan in my life.  After emptying the dishwasher from the previous nights load I heard the older two scurry down the stairs to announce to me that the sun was now up and they were legally allowed to be out of their rooms, that is when I decided to head up and release the babies from their cribs.  Surprisingly Tate was still asleep, which truly NEVER happens, but he's been sick so I shut his door again and headed across the hall to get Ruby.  I opened her door (those with a weak stomach stop reading now) and I was nearly knocked out from the smell that came charging out at me.

Last night Justin and I were watching TV in the family room when we heard Ruby cry out.  We were both surprised since usually once any of our kids is asleep that's it, no encores.  So, Justin waited a few minutes and then decided to go peek in and see if everything was OK.  Afterall, she's been getting her molars and we thought she may need some Motrin.  After creeping into her room and seeing that she was soundly asleep--but smelling that she had done some business--he decided that sleeping with a dirty diaper was better than waking her up, changing her, and risking that she not fall back to sleep.  I don't know that I would have made the same assessment.  

When I opened the door, however, I was bowled over by much more than a dirty diaper.  My poor baby had been sick all night long I'm sure.  Our bedroom is on the main level of our house, as are all master bedrooms in Texas, so I didn't hear anything during the night but that doesn't mean there was nothing to be heard.  From the doorway I saw Ruby sitting up in her crib with her hair all wild and crispy around her face, sticking out in every direction, crusted with throw-up.  Her pajamas were soaked as was her bedding.  Her nose was crusted shut (not with vomit) and it looked and smelled as though everywhere her body has an opening something had erupted out of it.  I had to pivot on my heels back into the hallway, pull my shirt up over my nose, then run in and grab her before running to her bathroom and beginning the decontamination process.

Sick.  Literally.

It was awful, though it did allow me to get out of my primary meeting and thus more time watching the inauguration.

At preschool pick-up Bracken's teacher told me that he was the only child in his class that knew what day it was today.  Of course Bracken and Abbie knew that it was inauguration day!! What kind of children are people raising here in Texas?  Oh wait, perhaps they are raising the G.H.W.Bush kind...

The kids have actually been pretty funny about all the pomp and circumstance.  I was watching President Obama and Michelle walk a little along the parade route before it began and I was explaining to Bracken about the bullet-proof limousine and who the secret service agents were, explaining that the secret service men were there to help the President.  I thought that Bracken may be interested in the secret service because one of his friends in Virginia has a Dad that is a secret service agent on the president's detail.  I explained that Zach's dad, and men like him, protect the president.  Bracken wanted to know what he needed to be protected from and I told him that sometimes there were crazy people who wanted to shoot the President.  He seemed to accept that and then sat silently watching for a few minutes before saying, "Hey, I know who might want to shoot him!  John McCain!!  He's angry because he really wanted to be the president!"  I was very impressed that Bracken remembered the name John McCain because I'm sure he hasn't been mentioned in this house since November.  And though I am sure he is angry, I am quite confident that Senator McCain left his gun at home today.

I wish I had great pictures to post of inaugural events but I am sure those can be found on Allie's blog and Josh's Facebook account.  I myself am waiting most anxiously for the kids concert photos that I am sure Josh took.  After all, I got to watch the inauguration live but Abbie and I both missed seeing Maddie LIVE with her idols!

On a completely separate note, when I sat down to write this post I heard a little voice beside me begin to sing the following song:

"Little Miss Muffin sat on her Tuffin eating her curves away!  Along came a spider, sat down beside her, scared Miss Muffin away!"

Abbie was singing some ultra-jazzy version of Little Miss Muffet.  She must have learned it at school today because I have never heard her sing it before, and I especially liked her alterations to the lyrics.  I got her to sing it over the phone to Jessie but I doubt I'll be able to get her to sing it for my camera so I could post it here, but I'll try.

I wish I could eat my curves away!  Lucky Miss Muffin!!

God Bless America!

(I was able to get Abbie to sing her song, but a few other kids were interested in what was going on...also, Abbie is wearing her Halloween costume over her clothes...for some reason I can't get the second and best video to upload but I'm still working on it so check back later, i think the file is too big)

Come out, come out whoever you are...

Who are all these mysterious people that are reading my blog but not posting comments?  I am going to take a moment to give a genuine Thank you to all of those who post comments on a regular basis.  You know who you are.  I am always so interested in who is reading about our family and I get equally frustrated when I check my cluster map and see that the number of people who have visited my blog on any given day is often 5 times the number that have actually left a comment.

Are people just too busy to say "I was here, I read your blog"?  I know that the people who comment time and time again are doing so in order to just let me know that they are reading and because they are my friends and it's a way of keeping in touch even though we aren't actually speaking.  No need for incredible insights of witty retorts, though those are welcome as well.

I just like to know who's taking a peek at what's going on with the Allen's.  The most fun is when people you didn't know were reading leave a comment, I was pleasantly surprised to get comments from two good friends (Audrey and Danielle) lately. So, FYI, I love it when people leave comments---and they don't have to be long---truly, an "I was here" every once and a while will do.  

Danke.

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to

So...because this is all so old it isn't that fun to write about anymore.  I have decided I will post these pics and some Christmas pics later---for the sake of having a record of them---but not a whole huge story about every detail of what is happening like I usually write.  After these two posts I will feel "caught up" and able to write about the here and now.

Ruby Jane is one entire year old!!! I know it is hard to believe---hard for us to believe anyway because she is our baby, and by now I am usually at least 6 months pregnant, so this birthday sort of crept up on us.  The above is a picture of her on her actual birthday--Saturday, December 6th--and she was meeting Santa for the first time at a charity event at our friends house.  Ruby must not have gotten the memo that Santa is a jolly man with treats and presents because she surely wouldn't be crying if she had known what he had to offer.  The pictures in this post are out of their true sequence but I thought I needed to lead with the terrified picture.


This was immediately after I placed her in Santa's lap. The fear hasn't fully set in.


This is before I even gave Ruby to Santa. Abbie is explaining that she would like a real Cinderella crown for Christmas and Ruby is giving Santa the stare down.










Tate desperately needed the "1" candle in his cupcake.  We tried to give him the "2" so that Ruby could have the "1" but no dice.

  This is her loot.  We usually have a rule that the child with the birthday gets the same number of presents as the age they are turning but it looks really lame to only get one present so Jessie and I picked out a few extras.  The favorite was definitely the "singing snail" as Abbie calls it.  Ruby loves to squeeze that little glow worm and make her face light up as she plays lullaby's.  I think that Ruby would also have loved the pink cell phone and keys if Abbie had ever given her a chance to play with them.

Jessie and I made the cute cupcake onesie for the birthday girl that day.  The tutu was Abbie's from her second birthday.  

Who you callin' turkey???

Yummy Thanksgiving breakfast!




The following post was written right after Thanksgiving, but due to camera connecting to computer issues I totally got out of blogger mode:

Thanksgiving was SO MUCH FUN at our house this year. Actually, Thanksgiving day itself was crazy warm (shocker) and we spent the whole day in the kitchen just to have a very anti-climactic dinner with way too tired children. Somehow things began to run late in the middle of the day and we knew we weren't going to be eating until closer to 6:30, not the 4:30 or 5 I had originally informed everyone. Justin wanted to use the new fabulous thermometer that came with the oven which you stick in a piece of meat (turkey) and then plug into a socket inside the oven so that it can continuously give you reads of the temperature of the meat. Justin was so excited to use it, I however am happy as a clam (that one's for you Jess) to just use the little plastic thing that pops out of a turkey when it's done.


That is the face that Justin makes for the camera each year while putting in the turkey, I don't know why.



Anyway, to make a long story short, by the time the turkey was done so was Ruby. She had had enough. Truthfully, all of the kids were wondering why we were eating so much later than usual and why it was pitch black outside. I was trying to make gravy and juggle all of the side dishes that were coming out of the oven while also insisting that the guests (Jessie and Taylor) dig in and enjoy the meal, but instead they were trying to help the kids and wait for me and Justin to begin eating. Finally we decided to put the kids to bed and then enjoy our own food. It was great to just sit around and talk and eat...and eat some more. Jessie would take long breaks, waiting for more room inside her cramped baby belly so that she could fit in more food that looked good to her. She even made room for some midnight pumpkin pie, yum!

Needless to say, there was way too much food. In years past I have cooked for my family, the Burton's, my Dad and Josh, and some years Jess. So, usually there are a lot of adults to eat all of the food, plus I would usually make enough so that the other families could take home leftovers. I made the exact same amount of everything this year than in years past. What was I thinking? The only thing I cut back on was desserts and I'm glad that I did because there are still one and a half pumpkin pies in the fridge. I think that I was too busy wolfing down Utah's famous green Jell-O (which may as well be a dessert) to worry about having any pie. In fact, Jessie did point out during dinner that more dishes on the table did have marshmallows than did not...not good. I found that very odd since I do not cook with mini marshmallows for any other dinner of the year, but it wouldn't be Thanksgiving at my house without my mom's delicious pomegranate salad, yams, or green Jell-O, all of which have marshmallows in the recipe. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised since a little boy at the grocery store the week before had said "Gee, you sure do have a lot of marshmallows!"

While Jess and I were cooking the husbands took the kids over to a park near our house, the same park I had taken Tate too a few months back that is right next to our pool. The kids had a great time playing football and riding their bikes around until I insisted that Jess see the pool. We went through the little gate to the pool and before we knew it my kids started to strip down and wade in. We were content to let them fool around for a little while so that we could enjoy the beautiful weather and views from the pool (it sits up high on a hill overlooking several other tree-filled hills and valley's). I think that that's how we got behind on the turkey, we spent too much time at the pool. All of the kids had to be dragged away with promises that we would return later, or possibly the next day...or never (we never made it back).

Tate stripped down and ready to go!

We did soooo many other fun things while the Miller's were here. We went out on several date nights, which NEVER, EVER happens. We saw multiple movies in one week (yes, I DID sleep through 2 of the 3---James Bond and Four Christmases---I stayed awake for Twilight) and had fun going out dinner or even just hanging out around the house. When Taylor wasn't around (he stayed in SLC for the first few days to work) Jess was back to her old ways and hung out in our bed at night watching Conan, etc. with me and Justin----it was great to know that some things never change. A little sister is still a little sister...even when she's seven months pregnant.

We stopped on the way home from the airport at Rudy's BBQ so that Taylor could start things off right with some authentic barbecue. Jess seemed mortified by the amount of food he ordered (just 6 slices????) but we all enjoyed it once we got home.




I should mention though that that younger sister did get one year older while in town. Jess had her 25th birthday last Sunday while she was here. It was so fun to celebrate with her! She had to share the limelight with her namesake niece little Ruby Jane. Ruby's birthday isn't until Saturday but we celebrated early so that Ruby could have family around. Jess even had the great idea to make Ruby a special birthday onesie. It was a joint effort on our parts and turned out really cute!! We spent a lot of time laughing and trying to figure out how to use a new brand of applique that neither of us were familiar with. Jess has made a bunch of darling onesies for baby Brody when he arrives, what a creative mommy!

I am so grateful for such a wonderful family. In fact there is nothing that I am more thankful for during this season than my husband and kids. I am also very blessed to have had such wonderful parents and siblings. Justin and I are both so lucky to have loving and supportive families who take such an active role in our lives!! We love you all!!!

Alright, this is getting a little long, plus Justin has been out of town all week and I'm really pushing it with how much time I have to update the blog while allowing the kids to roam unattended. So, the last item for the blog is a matching game. The Lee family has a tradition of making apple turkey's and this year was no different. We all gathered around the table with bowls of marshmallows (I know, more marshmallows), raisins, gumdrops, toothpicks, and apples and set about making our turkeys. My kids love the activity as much as I did as a little girl. See if you can guess who made which turkey!! The participants were: Bracken, Abbie, Tate, Jess, Taylor, Justin, and me. I'll post who did which turkey in my next blog!







Ok, well, since it has been about a million years since I wrote this post I can't even remember who made which turkey...oops!

Bungee Jump Anyone?

I saw this on Allie's blog (who saw it on her friend Elisha's blog) and it looked like fun. I'd love to see what you have done from this list. Copy it and paste it to your blog and then put the things you have done in bold and the things you have yet to do leave regular. Have fun!



1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band ....at school
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland /world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelos David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone's life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

I must admit that some of the ones I left "regular" I may have done but I didn't bold anything that I can't specifically recall. I hope this was semi-interesting, I really enjoyed reading Allie's and seeing how many were different for the two of us.

Three Cheers for Emily

I LOVE my sister-in-law Emily!!!!!  This is not breaking news, I have always loved Emily, but I am so grateful for her today.  In response to my plea of desperation (see post below) I received a very sweet voicemail on my cell phone this morning.  She left the message last night saying that she thinks she can help us out.  It is not even 7AM in Utah yet, so I have decided to place a thankful shout-out on my blog instead of waking her up with my hysterical shrieks of joy.  Emily, I will call you today!  You are the BEST!!!!!

[FYI we had not been harassing Emily (as we had her parents) to fill the position because we knew that she has school (BYU) and a job.  She was obviously on a very short list of most desirable candidates but we were saving her as an option only in an emergency situation----Emily we did this out of love and respect for you and your crazy schedule but if you are willing we are DEFINITELY going to accept!!!]