Everyday Life

This is just a little peak at what keeps me happy every day.

My boys make me laugh so much!

This afternoon Malachi heard me say that I love my job. Afterwards he wanted to talk about my job, and I told him that it was playing with him and Elliott every day. He quickly responded that playing isn't really a job and that my job was baking cakes! Wow, they learn fast!

Story Time with Dad

My boys love reading!

How cute are these brothers?

Elliott's Room

Because we didn't know if our baby was a boy or girl until Elliott was born, his room wasn't really his until then either. Until this week I still had pictures of Malachi up and hadn't personalized it at all!

I had a lot of help from big brother, Malachi. Yes, I was even brave enough to let him paint - and he loved it! He did a great job, too.

I think Elliott loves his new room. He's so alert now and always smiles really big when he looks at the bright colors and animals!

2010 Bridal Expo

Yesterday was the 2010 Ross County Bridal Expo in Chillicothe. This was the third year that I've had a table and I think it was another success! I had lots of help from Meg (who is a great person to have by my side to talk to all the brides coming through - most of them think she works with me) and Kels (who took care of Elliott while I was busy), so thank you to both of my wonderful sisters!
Meg and I handed out 200 mini cupcake samples and talked to lots of brides who are busy preparing for their special day. As of this afternoon I already have two bookings from the show. Hopefully some more will be contacting me soon!One thing I'm definitely going to have to practice in the next few months before wedding season gets into full swing is time management. Decorating takes a lot longer now that I have Malachi and Elliott under foot all day! As I was decorating the display cake, Elliott wanted nothing but to be held and Malachi just wanted to help the whole time.
Maggie and Isaac's cake was the inspiration for the display cake. Not only was it one of my favorites from 2009, it's a design that is very popular with lots of brides. I did tweak the colors a bit - mostly because the orange gerber daisies were what Walmart had to offer on Saturday night!

My Big Boys

Last week I finally admitted to myself that one reason almost-4-year-old Malachi wasn't potty trained was because we weren't home often enough for him to just do it (and honestly, diapers are easier when you're in public places). So, with that acknowledged, Malachi was on lockdown at the Allsop house last week.

On Monday morning we discovered that the Pull-Up monster had taken all our Pull-Ups and Malachi would have to wear underwear now. I cleaned up 5 messes on Monday with no successes at all.

On Tuesday morning Malachi refused to put on underwear in the morning and went without anything for two hours. At 10:45 he decided he could wear them (thank goodness! I was really dreading that clean up!), but didn't go to the bathroom at all until dinnertime! Erik got to clean up that mess. He tried to use the potty again before bed and was finally successful. Yay!

That was the turning point. He's been wearing underwear and going by himself ever since! We realized that he was very concerned about what happened once he flushed the toilet. He told Erik that he was afraid it would get in the sink and then all our water would turn into pee! He has also told us that he thinks he'll have a lot more friends now that he wears underwear! It's funny how what we thought would be really difficult turned out to be relatively quick and painless.

On a different note, Elliott is now two months old! We can't believe how fast the past two months have flown by. He went to the doctor for his well visit and now weighs 11 pounds 12 ounces and is 23 3/4 inches long. His weight and height are in the 50th and 75th percentiles and his head circumference is in the 25th! I think it's safe to say the Allsop genes prevailed!
He's sleeping well (we've already had a few 12 hour nights!) and is on a very good schedule during the day. He's also been busy smiling and learning to talk and laugh. He loves it whenever Malachi is around and will look for him then smile and squeak as loudly as possible. He even got to take a bath in the big tub with his brother this week!

Litter Family Christmas

This year's Litter Family Christmas party was a little different than past parties, but I think it may have been one of the best. Even though Grandma didn't feel great (she's been fighting kidney stones), I think she loved seeing all her family together.
55 of the 56 family members were able to attend. That meant we were able to take family pictures, sibling pictures, grandchildren pictures, etc. This picture was taken when Kelsey was lining everyone up for the full family shot. She was going by family, so our family, Uncle Joe's family, Aunt Laura and Uncle Pete are not in the picture yet. Kelsey did a great job organizing everyone (what a job, huh?) and hopefully she was able to get a decent shot!

Instead of having a traditional meal, we participated in a "Dip-Off" competition. Everyone brought a dip and each was judged based on taste, creativity and/or presentation. We voted by placing money in cups next to the dips and the money was given to Grandma Litter to use toward the mission of her choice. This was one of the four tables of food we had. My dip was the Pina Colada Fruit dip. Aunt Sally, Kyle and Benj were the lucky winners, although I think I want a recount!

The original program that Mom always writes was definitely the best this year. Normally everyone has to participate, but this year only the nine siblings took part - and they did a great job. She wrote a poem that was a take on "Twas the Night before Christmas" and all nine of them came out wearing Christmas pajamas and carrying various toys. They were fighting because everyone had someone else's toy. They sorted out the toys and each person talked about their favorite childhood toy, relating it to scripture and our relationship with Christ. It was very meaningful and Grandma Litter loved seeing her kids together.

At the end of the program Benj played his guitar and sang a song. Malachi got off Erik's lap and started dancing. When Aunt Meg and I started laughing he told us he wasn't trying to be funny, he was just trying to dance!

We had four new babies ranging from 7 weeks (Elliott) to 6 months old (Adeline) this year. They were all passed around. Even my cousin Jeff had to hold at least one of them!

Elliott and Adeline had the same idea - his shirt and her bib say, "Are these people REALLY my relatives?" After being at one Litter party, I think anyone would say the same! But, we always have fun together and laugh a lot!

Happy New Year!

These two handsome fellas were excited to ring in their first new year last night. We hope 2010 holds many blessings and fun experiences for you all!

Cooper Day and Elliott