The promised photo ...

That would be Yolonda surprising the heck out of me for our anniversary gift. She and Tony and the kiddos rock!

xoxo,
AHC

An Inconvenient Illness

I have another sinus infection ... or maybe I didn't get rid of the first one ... anyway, once I'm feeling better I'll blog that awful picture of me with my mouth hanging open.

I promise ...

xoxo,
AHC

My November So Far: A list

It's been a month like no other. So much to say, but not much time (and no pictures on my work computer). So I'll summarize with a list.

• Tony & Yolonda surprised us with a weekend visit (Unattractive picture of me with my big ol' mouth open coming soon). Drove through the night to spend two days with us. And as if that wasn't enough, they also gave me a GORGEOUS handmade purse. We truly have the most wonderful and amazing friends.
• Kristen and Josh came to visit. They got to see Tony & Yolonda too. And they spent a few more days with us too. It was great ... we played BezzerWizzer and had different drinks every night. Sadly, they also had to endure the next item.
• In the midst of the visits, Allen got sick. Really sick. Doctor's visit revealed he had a double ear infection, sinus infection, and strep throat. Spent a week taking care of him.
• I got sick. Sinus infection. Courtesy of Allen. At least I didn't get sicker.
• Gigi (Grandmom) is convinced that she was robbed (again). Then she went into the hospital with Gall Stones, and had to have her Gall Bladder removed.
• Mom and I drove up to be with Gigi. Spent five nights away from my boys.
• Taught myself to crochet while away (with some help from Stephanie's tutoring four years ago). Making a scarf.
• Came home to my beautiful boys, the little one hacking away.
• Allen's sick again. Hoping it's just a cold.

I'm really hoping to get a little respite tomorrow. The shop will be closed. Maybe I can get some laundry done. And get some pictures posted. And take a nap ;)

xoxo,
Allegra

It was bound to happen ...

Allen wearing my sunglasses. Unrelated to this post, but cute.

Well, actually, I'm referring to two different things, both of which "happened" today ...

The morning started out well enough. Allen in a great mood (after sleeping all night in his bed), relatively smooth ride to school, during which Allen replied to a question I asked him with, "Yeah baby!"

Then things started to go a little haywire. First, I received a phone call from my Mama letting me know that Gramma and fallen. She fell on her hip that she'd had replaced, and couldn't put any weight on it. Good news: she didn't hit her head; Bad news: she cracked her thigh bone, and was admitted to the hospital. I supposed it was bound to happen at some point.

Because Mama was still at the hospital with Gramma at Allen's pick up time, I closed the shop early and headed out to pick him up. As usual, he was excited to see me. He gleefully hopped in the car, ate his snacks, and then informed me that he "decided we should go to Dunkin' Donuts." He wanted to go inside and eat his donut there.

No sooner did we pay for his orange sprinkle donut, than he announced that he had to poop. I quickly asked the girl at the counter to hang onto the donut for us, and off we went to the bathroom. While we were in the bathroom (those of you know Allen well, know that when he has a "big job" we're usually in there awhile. Occasionally, playing games) I noticed that his eyes looked puffy. I made a mental note to keep an eye on it.

Twenty minutes later, we emerged from the bathroom and retrieved the donut.

As we arrived home, I noticed Allen kept sneezing, and he was definitely congested or something. I figured it was either allergies or he was getting sick. And I also noticed him repeatedly picking his nose. Several times, I told him to stop, and finally he said, "I'm trying to get this round thing out."

I looked up his nose. Saw something, but thought it might just be a big booger. Went to retrieve a Q-tip. It was unsuccessful. So then I got a flashlight and looked up there.
Me: Allen, did you stick something up your nose.
Allen: Yeah.
Me: What was it?
Allen: Bird seed, I think. From my school.

Thankfully, I was able to get it out with the help of a tissue and the aforementioned Q-tip. And when I called Brian, he said, you guessed it ... "it was bound to happen."

Hope ya'll had a better day :)

xoxo,
Allegra

Finally ... the Room Pics

So I finally made myself take pics of Allen's room last night ... and now I'm going to share more pics than ya'll probably care to see :)

Here we go ...

The view from his door, and my proud boy.

 The Bed

 Close-up of the bed

 New bookcase cubby (from Target)

 Totally random picture of Allen's dragon Tattoo (from the Harvest Festival)

 Of course we had to have Cars stuff ...

 Cool alligator chalkboard

 Chest of drawers topped with pics of family and friends

 Future reading nook

 Goodnight Moon Print (was a graduation gift for me back in 1995)

 New Transportation lamp (from Target)

 Starry Night print. Used to be in our room, but he learned about Vincent Van Gogh earlier this year at school, and has been obsessed with it ever since, so we gave it to him.

 Yay! We got a toybox into his room (and out of the living room)!

xoxo,
AHC

It's those eyes ...

Above is Allen's first self-portrait. Age 4, October 2010. His teacher, Ms. A, pointed out to us that we won't get many more drawings like this, since soon he'll learn the stick figure. But I love this drawing. Look at the eyes. Not only are they my boy's most striking feature (and, of course he knows this, since everyone remarks on them), but it occurs to me that it says something about how he views the world ... full of awe and wonderment over all he sees.

Ms. A also told us -- at our parent-teacher conference -- that Allen is confident speaking in front of the class (since he introduces himself to just about anyone, we were not surprised), and that he interacts with all the children -- even the shy ones. Our hearts swelled at the thought of our sweet boy caring about every child in his class, drawing out the shy ones ... we could not be more proud. Ms. A also mentioned that Allen loves geography (he knows the continents), is extremely enthusiastic (somehow, I'm not shocked), and is enjoying the pre-math works (whose child is he?).

In other news, my Mama is recovering from sinus surgery. Dr. Christian (the most wonderful doctor ever) told us that he cleaned out lots of junk from her sinuses (old nasty stuff too), and once he got that stuff cleaned out, he found polyps, which he also removed. She's in a lot of pain and is struggling with some nausea. And in true Cheryl fashion is extremely impatient about her recovery. But I think she's slowly accepting that it will take some time.

Soon I hope to backtrack to September and share with you details of the Farmer's Table and our anniversary trip to Greenville. Then I'll share with you the gifts I received ...

xoxo,
AHC

Absentee blogger

Hi. It's been awhile, and, well, I could apologize, but ... I've done that before. Bottom line is ... TONS of blogworthy stuff is going on, but by the time I sit down at night to write about it, I'm exhausted. But I'll try ...

In case I don't get around to giving you more details ... here's what's been happening over the last month (in no particular order):

• Allen's discovered that he likes the word, "stylish."
• We had a delicious time in Greenville, SC (to celebrate our 10th anniversary)
• In the past year, Allen's grown three inches, but he's only gained a pound and a half (oh how I wish!)
• Nana (my mommy) is having sinus surgery tomorrow. I'm sad she'll have to go through the pain, but hopeful that this will be the end of the chronic sinus infections.
• Allen LOVES to talk (and pray) about the Paradise.
• I love to hear Allen talk (and pray) about the Paradise.
• Allen is a little addicted to his Bubblegum-flavored Tylenol and his Orange-Cream flavored Mucinex. He keeps telling me that, "his fever is up," in hopes that he'll get more medicine.
• Allen officially has real, big boy furniture. It's beautiful, and I promise hope to get pictures posted soon.
• We sold Allen's baby furniture, which according to EVERYONE, means that I will now get pregnant. Nightmares have begun (don't get me wrong, I would adore a baby, but, um ... I just sold every last piece of baby paraphernalia I owned ... because we decided that we like our family of three just the way it is).
• Allen's now going to school ALL day! And he loves it!
• Brian totally rocks because he makes Allen's lunch every morning (along with coffee for me), straightens the house, and mixes me drinks when I've had a rough day.
• I think I've caught Allen's cold ... so, I will now sign off and go to sleep. 

Love to you all, and I promise to try to post more frequently. After all, I have so many stories and pictures to share ...

xoxo,
AHC