Thanksgiving 2008

Sofie had a turkey filled, mashed potato stuffed, yam feast! She loved eating EVERYTHING! I even gave her a little taste of my own homemade pumpkin pie too.

It was so nice having all the family together. Kalani, Bryan and the girls made it from California. This Thanksgiving was a little hard, it being the first Thanksgiving without our Mama Chana. My Dad wanted to make all the recipes just right. My mom her stuffing, and her sweet potatoes. The night before Thanksgiving we did the necessary "chopping party" for that stuffing that we all LOVE to eat. This year was like no other, Dad did it his way with three turkeys. One was deep fried and the other two were injected with delicious sweetness-mango citrus marinade and a Teriyaki Marinade then smoked over night. I was in charge of the pies and we all helped make all the sides. After hours of intense labor, we ate and had a feast!

It was nice having the girls play with Sofie. They all got pose together in their Thanksgiving dresses that their Nana bought them.

Here is Sofie enjoying her first taste of sweet potato casserole that I made. We think she prefers Gerber??

A couple days after our Thanksgiving feast, we took my mom out to lunch for her birthday. It was nice having us all together again. Here is Sofie getting some love.

Here is Sofie and her Uncle Ryan.

Sofie lunching with the girls...

Papa being goofy and Sofie just playing along...

After everyone was gone and all the festivities were done, we relaxed and had a family day. We took Sofie to the park to feed the ducks for the first time. She loved watching them swim and she was intrigued by their quacks.

She wanted to eat the bread...we let her know that it was for duckies only. She is still trying to understand the meaning of sharing....

She did not understand that once the bread was gone, so were the ducks! The look on her face was priceless!

Fun fact- this was same park that Nick and I took our first "pregnancy" pictures, this time last year (11/18/2007) right in this same spot. And now, Daddy is showing our little girl the world. AMAZING!

We finished the day by taking Sofie to the park and letting her crawl in the grass for the first time. She was a bit unsure at first but she got the hang of it.

We took Sofie on the slide, teeter totter, and the swing. It's amazing, having a child really takes you back to being a kid again. It's probably been 15 years since I've been on a swing...let along crawling around on a park playground!

Each and every day I am thankful for Sofie and Nick! The two most amazing people in the world. I love each of them more than they will ever know! This year, I am thankful for them!

We started one of many Allen Family traditions- The day after Thanksgiving, Nick hung up our very own Christmas lights on our own home. We want this to be a tradition that we can all take part in. Sofie loves seeing the light. As the years go on, we plan on getting more and more elaborate.

After 17 LONG years!!!

Well people, I have been waiting more than half of my life for this momentous occasion and after 17 years, several false alarms and more than a few people laughing at me for believing it will ever happen....... Guns N Roses is FINALLY releasing the long awaited Chinese Democracy album on Sun 11/23/08.

Tina and I went to their concert in Minneapolis 2 years ago and they rocked the Target Center for over 4 hours. They played all of the classics and all of their new stuff. A highlight of the night was when Sebastian Bach (who opened for them) sang a duet of Mr. Brownstone with Axl. Let's just say that I had to clean my shorts after that!

I know that people say it's not the same with out Slash, Matt and Duff and that this GNR is just Axl with some dudes, but I don't care. It was always about Axl and always will be. Someone once seriously told me several years ago that Fred Durst was a lyrical genious. Once I stopped laughing (okay I'm still laughing) I can say with all honesty that Axl is like a modern day Mozart, only with better pipes. In one of their new songs he debut's what I like to call the 3rd range of Axl. Before it was just low tone, and the screech. But I heard a new tone that I have been calling super-high tone. Awesome!

Anyway, Tina just came in and reminded me that this is supposed to be Sofie's blog page, so I will stop going on about Chinese Democracy. Oh yeah, don't forget to go to drpepper.com and get your free soda. They doubted Axl too, and will be giving coupons for free drinks if the album comes out in '08.

Welcome to the Jungle, you gonna die!!

Nick

Daddy's Blog

Well it has been a couple of weeks since the last blog. We have been extremely busy around here, so I'm sure that we have ran off the last remaining readers with the inactivity.

First off, I would like to say that the election was of no surprise to me, although it didn't go the way that I hoped. I am no huge McCain fan but I am also not a fan of Socialism lite, which I'm afraid is what we are going to get here in the USSA pretty soon. Hey just remember for all of you that voted for "Change", what kind of change was never specified. I only wish that GWB could run for a third term. I guess I will have to wait for his library to be built. Stay tuned for the pics!!

Tina has been busy with her new job with me at UoP. It's not ideal for her background, but with student loans now due it's more $$ for us and a chance for her to get a free BA and MBA. So for now it's what we have to do. I'm proud of her for taking on a new challenge. I'm also very proud of her for being such a FANTASTIC mommy. She has taken to the challenge like a champ and is doing a great job. I love to see the two of them together.

We did a easy Halloween this year. I didn't want to be that guy that pushes his infant in a stroller just to get candy for himself. I'm a grown-ass man and can buy my own candy. We dressed Sofie up in a cute pumpkin costume, but since this is AZ and it was still in the 80's she got hot and ended up just in the pants and a onezy.

We got to have a "date night" over the Halloween weekend. We went to the Melting Pot for some Fondue Fun! This was a cool experience...a restaurant that gives you melted cheese and condiments and to finish, melted chocolate and more condiments! What more could we ask for?

Mainly it was fun to get out and not have to worry if we brought enough diapers or worry about the "formula situation".

Sofie has been doing all kinds of new things. Since the last blog she has started to say more words, Mama, Baba, Dada and HEY! (in order of appearance). She has also started to waive hi and bye, she is starting to clap her hands and she has started eating some solid foods like puffs and bread. The biggest accomplishment is that she finally started to crawl!!!! She crawls all over the place now and she's pretty fast. She will crawl over to the chair or couch and pull herself up and stand. I had to start baby-proofing the house, which so far has included moving some things and taking the coffee table into the garage. I think that she will be walking soon and then the real fun begins.

Having a daughter has been better that I could have ever imagined. I am enjoying every minute of being a Dad. Even the crying and tantrums (both Sofie and me) aren't so bad. Its amazing how fast she is growing up, the last 8 months have flown by.