Tuesday- cooking day

We've tried to keep our Tuesday cooking day going this summer. It has been lots of fun and I am realizing how much the boys love to be a part of things that happen in the kitchen. Don't get me wrong, they are still very much into rough and tough boy stuff, but they like to cook too. 

They have learned a lot. (I am preparing them for their future wives) 

Anyway- today we made homemade poptarts.

I am not really a fan of poptarts for breakfast. They kinda seem like a dessert item to me, but I survived eating them as a kid. All that to say, my kids don't really get these very often so this was a treat.

Step One: Roll the dough and cut your squares.

 
Step Two: Spread your jelly
My kids felt the need to sneak in a lick or two as well.

Step Three: Paint on an egg wash around the corners

Step Four: Put a top on it and close it up

Step Five: Use a fork to seal the edges.

Brady's- a little more round and fluffy

Step Six: Egg wash and sprinkles on top

 
Luke's- long and flat- heavy on the fork closure

Mommy's- tried to look a little more like a traditional poptart

Step Seven: Bake on 425 degrees for 10 minutes

Yum yum yum!

The Greatest Show on Earth

Two weeks ago when I was in ChickFila (our all time favorite fast food) I won free tickets to the circus plus a year of free sandwiches. Since Daddy was fine to stay at home with Owen, we invited the McGinn girls to come too. It was a lot of fun!

 Friends!

 Luke was entertained the whole time and never got bored.

 Our seats were amazing! We were almost right on the floor so we got a close up of the clowns :)

My favorite part is always the elephants- and the tigers, but this was a cool elephant trick.

April Family Pictures

I just realized that I never uploaded our family pictures from April onto my blog (i told you i was WAY behind)...

I never really need a reason to have our pictures taken- pictures are one of many things in life that make me very very very happy. But, most of the time I have to come up with a reason for the boss :)

This time, it was time for Luke's birthday pics & thankfully we have a photographer who is super cool and  will combine a birthday session and a family session and put a cherry on top by taking them at the beach. 

Thanks Ginny :)

I love them all, really- but these two are my favorites.

 

Brady Allen- almost 4

 Best buds.

Luke Allen- 6

 

Owen Allen- almost 2

New Room

With our family expanding it was time to bunk up. So, last weekend Yaya & Papi took Luke & Brady to Oklahoma for Cash's birthday party which gave us an opportunity to make the big switch.

The boys were so happy to come home to their new room and could not be any more excited about sharing. I tried to combine the best of both of their old rooms into one new room for them. They have done great with the change and look forward to going to be every night up there, so we will see how long that lasts.

Our long term goal is to move to a new house, but we haven't been able to find one we like this summer. For now, we will just make the best of the one we have until something we like comes up.

A New Addition...

We found out in June that we are expecting a fourth Allen child! Everyone is really excited especially Luke who is always asking how big our baby is and what we are going to name him/her. Luke really wants another brother, but Brady wants a sister because he thinks we already have to many boys around here. Owen...well, he doesn't really know what he is in for. I don't think he is quite ready to be kicked off his "baby of the family" thrown. He will survive it though just as the others did.
We are looking forward to finding out what the final addition to the family will be!

10 Year Anniversary Trip

This year, Caleb & I celebrated our 10th anniversary with a cruise to Nassau Bahamas, CocoKay, & Key West. We traveled with our friends Josh & Kristen McGinn and had a wonderful time.

Our first stop was Nassau. We got off the boat and took a boat taxi over to the Atlantis resort which was amazing. We rented jet skis on the beach, and toured Paradise island. It was beautiful and the water was crystal clear.

Another picture of the beach at Paradise Island

Each night back on the boat we had a nice dinner followed by bingo most nights and some sort of entertainment. It was lots of fun!

 

Our second stop was CocoKay which is a private island owned by Royal Caribbean. It was a lot less touristy and much more relaxing.

Caleb spent time snorkeling and I relaxed on the beach. 

A few more pictures of us dressed up at night.

 
Our last stop was Key West, Florida which was the most fun! We have been to Key West once before and loved it even more the second time.

We rented mopeds and drove around the whole island. 

Here is a few of our cruise ship from afar.

We stopped back in Miami and flew back home to see our sweet boys who we missed so much! It was a great time away to celebrate.

4th of July

4th of July is one of our favorite holidays around here. It is just such a fun time to be proud to be an American. For the past month, the boys have been making themed crafts (so have I!) all centered around the American flag. We've made red white and blue food and all of that fun stuff. 

Anyway, on the actual 4th of July. We celebrated with a pool party with all of our friends from our small group at church along with Saw, Steph, and Ms. B which was a little added bonus.  Everyone brought lots of  great food, we grilled hamburgers, Ms. B made snow cones, we swam and swam and swam until dark. Then we headed to see the fireworks in Pearland. It was a great day.

Happy Birthday America!