speaking of getting old...

OH YEAH... my birthday.

Ok so: Bday morning, hubby let me sleep in. SWEET!

Afternoon, went and picked up my gal pal/partner-in-cooking-crime: Lindsey. NICE!!!

Got Lindz, get home and BAM! Monk pal, Bro Pete, sitting in my kitchen with my hubby, stopping by to wish me well on my day-older-day! AWESOME! Made some cupcakes with Lindz for a home-made cupcake tree... YES... devil's foodcake and funfetti! FANTASTIC!!! Although we made 36, only 27 got put in the tree... hrmm odd?

Hubby surprises me with pink roses! Double nice!!

YAY birthday pic with hubby.

Phenomenal night with Lindz, gal pal Erin, her hubby Andrew, and my hubby... played some board games, watched some t.v. and watched the ball drop! it was a spectacular night while my two babies slept only feet away!

a resolution...

So I have been thinking about it for a while... and what will be different for this year, decade, even week that made last year's different? What's my resolution?
Yes, I am in a family competition-style weight loss goal for this next half a year... but is that what I really want 2010 to be remembered for? Then there's always the solid answer of "I'm gonna get out of debt", or "This year I won't procrastinate" But that's not a true change... those are just goals I would love to get, but will probably not strive for months later...
So then the answer came to me in a birthday gift this year. It's a book based on the 100 things every Catholic (teen) should know. So I got it. I need to make this week, month, year, decade, really life about seeking the deeper meanings of my faith. A lot of people know me for having a pretty strong faith, I'd consider myself a "medium-rare" Catholic. You know, medium rare being the scale for your steak; I'm the Catholic who has let the Holy Spirit lead my life, but not let it grab my spirit with all the teachings of the Catholic Church... but I need to grow closer to the teachings in order to take the next big step in my faith journey. I know the basic ones sure... but the nitty gritty ones, I want to learn my Catholic identity. It's important that we not only understand who we are as Catholics, but what we believe and proclaim as well. Many people claim to be Catholic, but don't live by what the Church teaches. Others claim to be Catholic but don't know what the Church teaches. At some point in my life, I know I've crossed into one of these two groups...but I've grown and now I desire more. So it realy shouldn't matter how old we are right? Christ is ready to share His love and truth with me, and with YOU, out there in blog world.
This year starts a huge growth in my faith journey. This year, I will actively seek the Church's teachings and understandings. This year, I want to become a well-done if not very well done Catholic, soaking up the Catholic teachings and understandings. If you are interested in following along or read about this adventure, check out my second blog: welldonecatholic.wordpress.com
So I guess, it's real.

St. Nicholas Came to Monticello

So after the long trek home from Fargo, guess who came to our home while we were gone for Christmas? That's right St. Nicholas! Now many readers out there might be asking why St. Nicholas and not Santa? Well A. Because Santa is derived by St. Nicholas and B. My husband and I would rather teach our children about saints instead of telling them somoene who is commercialized all too much in our society today. I think the amazing history of St. Nicholas is a tradition my husband and I would much rather pass down instead of a jolly red coated man. Plus why not thank a saint for his amazing gifts he passed on through our Catholic tradition?

Sidenote aside: he brought the best gift of all for Mommy and Daddy, a toy to glorious that it has kept my daughter occupied for hours on end every day since she saw it Sunday morning: a Grand Walk-In Kitchen! Thank you to the many individuals who helped generously so that Preston and I would be able to afford such a marvelous kitchen. The best part about opening it was being able to Skype video call my grandmother, Babu, so that she could see B's face light up for the remarkable gift! Here are some pics!!!

Look at how big it is!

B Loves using the coffee maker...

She kept making Babu more on her conference call with her! Thanks Babu for playing along and taking a sip of your tea each time B offered her drink

Everything is B size! It's perfect!!

B can even be like Daddy and make eggs

Love and God Bless, Kym

Extended Family Christmas

So after we opened our presents, P and I decided we'd take the risk traveling through a blizzard storm to be with our extended family over the holidays. We really wanted to present our gifts to our secret santas, Cameron and Makensie, as well as Skylar and Landon. So we prayed our rosary as we treked to Fargo, where we had a fun time with our extended family! We were very blest with being able to stay at our family's home and it was quite snuggly with 16 busy bodies at the Allex household. It was fun! Everyone is so great! Here are some pics of our adventure!
B's face: terrified for the snow "Why are we in the car Mommy?!?!"

T loves sitting with Great-Grandpa Ed

B with Auntie Skylar, B loved every minute of play time with her aunties and uncles

Great shot of Great-Grandma Ellie, T, and me

B loved her Baby from Great-Grandparents. Her name is Lucy!

I love this pic of P consoling B after we attempted to put to her bed. She is clinging to Lucy!

T with Grandpa Grant

B with her Lucy and the awesome stroller Uncle/Godfather Addison got her!

True miracle of Christmas: the sippy cup B actually uses! Thanks Auntie Kensie

Yes, car in the back is ours... and yes it is almost completely covered by the blizzarding snow

Great Grandparents with the great-grandbabies

The Large Allex family with the small Allex family and the small Miller family! Thanks Grandpa Ed for taking the picture!

Love and God bless, Kym

Our Family Christmas

Well we wanted to celebrate Christmas as a small-but-growing-family before we headed out for an adventure to Fargo to celebrate the holiday with the extended Allex family. So Christmas Eve morning we woke up and opened more of our gifts before heading out to Fargo. It was nice getting to celebrate as a small family that morning and we had fun with B and T as they got to play and wear their amazing gifts. It was a nice Christmas Eve morning, but I can't wait til next year's Christmas morning at our home to impliment some new traditions for our small family!
Here are some pics:

Love and God Bless, Kym
Two presents under the tree for me from my hubbie

Aww he got me the Catholic Trivia DVD!

Well, we

T loves his gifts from Great Aunt Sue!

B loves her Curious George Puzzle

Trimming a Tree

Well, it's been a while of blogs... so here's some pics of trimming the tree. Preston surprised me with this gorgeous 6 foot tree after I was sick in bed for about 4 days at the beginning of December. Bella LOVED putting up the shatterproof ornaments and Teigan loved staring at the dim lights.


All done!

T loving the tree

B even helped put on the ornaments

Preston explaining to B where the balls go.

Thankfully B understood not to touch the tree after we were done decorating it!

First crush

So some cute little stories, so last night after youth group, P and I had a CHRP meeting with a few other adults from our parish. We are really gearing up for this great retreat for adults this upcoming year for women and one for men too! Now here's the thing, one of the other couples have two children. I find them to be absolutely adorable and they seem pretty good when they have their Leapfrog game systems...anyways, it's kinda known that when we have these meetings we bring our young children with us so we don't have to worry about babysitters and whatnot...so at the parish library last night, B was feeling very social. Too social to be held, so we let her out of our arms to walk around the library and eat her bottle. Well, she noticed a very "cute" 4 year-old named Zach, who also noticed B... before long, my daughter went in for the "kill". Her first attempt to lure him away from his video game was by showing him her new toy, a pink flamingo pen that Mommy was given. Poor Zack, he didn't have a chance. He took the bait and was soon enjoying and playing tickle with my 16 month-old! After she got him hooked on playing with her, she swooped in for the real deal: a HUG!!! That's right my daughter, at all of 16 months-old, has "game" (this is not in a prideful statement, more like a low moan accompanied by an OH NO!). For about an hour these two played, read a book, and hugged every so often. When the meeting was over, my daughter gave Zack about four hugs before letting him go. I think he can be her first official crush.... or at least a baby crush.
Now for T... this little man has had game since birth. Many of my youth have stated more than once that he is handsome and a charmer. I believe he got these traits from my husband. Well, today my friend Mel came over to help me with the kids since I was wiped out from working for thirteen hours yesterday... Well my son LOVES this young woman! Everytime he saw her, he would try to stand up, smiling and babbling towards her. It was very amusing and super great that she was able to keep him occupied as B would go back and forth to her toys and her brother.

God Bless