Thanksgiving Day Recap

We typically spend Thanksgiving with my parents, but unfortunately my mom had to work. 

So instead of the usual, we drove to Washington and spent the day at the farm with Aunt Ann and family.  We had a great time.  The turkey and ham were DELICIOUS! 

The kids had fun hanging out with Blair, a second cousin, from Marysville. 

It was a relaxing day.



Mallory and Blair



Hannah playing with some of the great toys that Ann keeps stashed out at the farm.

Matt on the computer.  Looking kinda bored.

We decided to head outside and take a ride on the 4 wheeler.

Suddenly, Matt found some energy.  The kids grabbed their coats, hats, and gloves and headed to the barn.

And they are off!  It was cold and windy.

 

I was not so fond of this.  Makes momma a little nervous when her babies aren't level with the ground.

 

Todd, Hannah, and Matt all smiles.

After 4-wheeling, we took a drive to spot deer.

The kids thought that this was GREAT fun!

Overall, it was a great Thanksgiving with so much to be thankful for.

8.

It's hard to believe that 8 years ago Matthew Tad Allen was brought into this world. 

Thanksgiving Sickness

Mallory has a short lived bout of the stomach flu over Thanksgiving weekend.  The couch is where she stayed most of the afternoon.  However, by evening, she was feeling much better.

Early Bird.

Today was Grandparent's Day at Mallory's school.  She was lucky enough to have her mom, Grandma Dawn and Great-Grandma Shirley join her for Thanksgiving Dinner.    Mallory was so excited to have us there.  We were thankful that Grandma Dawn was able to break away from work and that Great-Grandma Shirley made the 1 1/2 hour drive.  We even got to tour Mallory's classroom and meet some of the staff.  It was a wonderful hour spent with her at school.

Reward.

Matthew has been helping his dad at home and at work quite a bit lately.  All his hard work has paid off.  Matthew has wanted a new Wii game for awhile.  He finally earned enough money and was able to go buy Endless Ocean.  He loves being able to explore all the marine life.  It was also a good lesson- showing him that hard work does pay off.

The sparkle in her eyes.

Recently I took Mallory to meet one of my favorite photographers, Meg.

Meg has a way of capturing the inner beauty of a person in her photography. 

I wanted to have Meg photograph Mallory.

Mallory is at a wonderful stage in life right now.

She has overcome so many obstacles this last year and is truly happy.

She is a joy to be around and I wanted to capture that.

You may wonder why I chose Meg.

I met her through my friends, Steph and Beccy.

You see, Meg, is one of my favorite bloggers.  I follow her posts almost daily.

Meg is about as real as it gets.  www.megduerksen.typepad.com/whatever

I knew that Mallory would like Meg.

Her photos show it.

Meg posted a photo of Mallory on her blog.  I don't typically cry. Often.

I did.  To know that in the hour we were with Meg that my girl made an impression. 

To read all the comments from other bloggers.

To see the words.... Beautiful.  Love the sparkle in her eyes.  Love the haircut.  The list goes on and on.

They all saw what I already knew. 

They looked beyond my daughters disability and saw her for the beautiful girl she is.

Thank you, Meg, for capturing that.



Halloween 2010

Both Mallory and Hannah wanted to wear costumes for Halloween. 

Matthew decided that he was to old to wear a costume. :(

Mallory wanted to be Tinker Bell. 

Hannah wanted to be a Fairy.

The girls enjoyed getting dressed up and heading out to Trick or Treat.

Once we got back home, we greeted Trick-or Treaters.  We thought we were prepared.  Sadly to say we were not.  We had over 500 trick or treaters.  We ran out of candy in 2 hours and 15 minutes.  We had a line of kids waiting to get to our porch.  It was non-stop. 

This however was our favorite Halloween. 

We were so relaxed.  The kids enjoyed greeting everyone.  We loved seeing all the costumes. 

It was fun.

Can't wait for next year.