First Day of School

Do you remember your first day of school? Well, today was Kaylyn's first day of preschool. She is attending the Early Childhood Special Education Reverse Mainstreaming Preschool, which is part of Springfield Public Schools. She actually attends preschool on the campus of Jeffries Elementary, where she will be in kindergarten next year. She is in the afternoon preschool and goes Monday through Thursday. The program uses "normal" kids to help kids with developmental delays or handicaps to develop their skills. So Kaylyn gets to be a role model. Isn't she wonderful? We know she is, but know that other people may need a few minutes to recognize that.

Kaylyn was very excited to start school. On Tuesday, we went to an orientation meeting and she got to meet her teacher, Ms Deborah. Then Wednesday morning, we went to "Meet the Teacher" at the school and got to see her classroom. That was the clincher for Kaylyn. She couldn't wait to get back to play with all the cool stuff in her classroom. She spent all morning talking about school and wanting to get ready. But I worried that she would be sad and upset when I started to leave her. But she was perfectly fine sitting at the table coloring her picture with the other kids. I told her goodbye and headed out the door. I took her picture when I picked her up. She talked the whole way home about school. She loved it and can't wait until Monday to go again.

And for those other moms who wonder why I picked afternoon - here's my plan. Walk Kaylyn to school after lunch, getting exercise for me and fresh air for Morgan. Then come home for a 15 to 20 minutes of one-on-one time with Morgan. Then Morgan will take her nap from 1 to 3. (We've been working on building this nap schedule for the past few weeks.) Then a few more minutes of one-on-one time before we leave to pick up Kaylyn.

I expected Morgan to only nap until 2:45 as getting an actual 2 hour nap in doesn't happen very often, but she's normally close. So we got home and I fed Morgan a bottle. She CRASHED (not usual). She slept from 12:45 until I woke her up at 3:10 because I wanted to change her diaper before we left. I got a lot of work (actual work) done. On days when I don't have work, or when there's not so much of it, I'll be able to take some me time, do some projects, etc.

Celebrating Morgan!

Our big news today is that we have a court date for Transfer of Custody of Morgan - Sept 13th. This means we will no longer technically be foster parents but adoptive parents and will start our six month countdown to finalization, blessing her and taking our family to the Temple!

While we were on vacation with the rest of the Allison clan, we watched with envy as Rebecca held her own bottle to eat. Kaylyn never, ever did this. She would just go hungry. But we decided to try to get Morgan to hold her bottle. And she now does! It is so nice! That means I can read email and hold Morgan while she eats. And like today, I walked to school with Morgan in the stroller, holding her own bottle. I had to wake her up to go get Kaylyn so there was no time for her to eat first.


Another celebration for Morgan was that yesterday morning we discovered a tooth! So she's on her way now to being a big girl like her sister.

Writing My Name!

Kaylyn wrote her name on the white board this afternoon. It was so good I had to share.

Wednesday in Nauvoo

We spent Wednesday in Nauvoo. Adam and I did sealings in the Temple with Adam's parents while Zeb did an endowment session. Kaylyn and Morgan hung out with their aunts, uncles and cousins and enjoyed a wagon ride and show. We picked up a couple pizzas and ate at the park for dinner. After eating, Kaylyn drug Uncle Zeb to the swings.

We headed off to the Nauvoo pageant for fun and games followed by the actual pageant. Morgan was fascinated by the singing and dancing. Here she is watching the show.

After the pageant was over, we climbed in our van and met Spencer and Sheree at our hotel in Keokuk. Everyone else headed back to La Plata. We wanted to get everything into the hotel in one load. Here's how Spencer managed to get two sleeping boys and a suitcase into the hotel.

Thursday morning, we slept in (a little bit) and had breakfast at the hotel. We then got on the road to return to our beloved home. Spencer and Sheree headed for a layover in Omaha on their journey back to Idaho.

We had a great visit with everyone and Kaylyn really enjoyed playing with her cousins. We had no trouble getting either of our girls to bed Thursday night. Yeah!!

Allison Family Birthday Party

Tuesday afternoon, Naomi was released from the hospital so she and Chris, and Taylor, joined us for our Allison Family Birthday Party. Since we never are together for our birthdays, we decided to celebrate everyone's birthdays at once. We played several water games outside. Then came in for Pin the tail on the Lion (Daniel and the Lion's Den). We each had a cupcake that we got to decorate with sprinkles and M&Ms. Then we opened presents. Each of the kids got a fun present. Each family got a cd with some Allison family histories on it.

After presents, many of the family headed back to the pool. Even Zeb decided to get in. Some of us were recuperating from sunburns (me, Spencer and Sheree) and limited our time in the sun and wore t-shirts into the pool.

Family Home Evening

On Monday, while dinner was being prepared, the kids gathered around Aunt Sheree for stories.


After dinner, we all gathered in the living room for Family Home Evening. Sheree gave the lesson on following the prophet. I then provided the activity - a Follow the Prophet game.


After our game, we made ice cream sundaes, courtesy of Matt and Norene. They were absolutely delicious.


After the kids went to bed (really late), we had a late night game of The Great Dalmuti. Spencer and Sheree say it's just like "Armpit". Adam and I used to play this all the time with friends but haven't for years. We couldn't remember why - we had so much fun! For a beginner, Alma certainly ended up being the Great Dalmuti more times than he deserved.

Allison Family Reunion - Morgan and Rebekah

Morgan and Rebekah really enjoyed having someone their own size to play with.

Allison Family Reunion - Sunday

On Sunday afternoon, we checked into the Meadowlands Lodge in Atlanta, MO. It is absolutely a perfect location! We had plenty of room, even with everyone there. We had our own pool, which we took good use of. You can check out the lodge at http://www.mosportsmen.com/ads/meadowlandslodge.htm.

Grandpa broke the lodge in by walking across one of the rafters above the living room and then sliding down the stairs on his belly, face first. The grandkids were immediately told not to follow Grandpa's example. He then walked around the outside and couldn't resist the pool. So he dove in, taking off his shirt and shoes. Spencer and Sheree went to visit Naomi and William at the hospital.

Earlier in the day we took a family photo at church.

Back row (l to r) Norene, Alma, Matt, Dad/Grandpa/Jack, Mom/Grandma/Deanna, Zeb, Kaylyn (burying her face), Adam, Eden and Morgan

Middle (l to r) Isaac, Sheree, Nathan, Spencer and Aaron.

Front (l to r) Daniel, Joseph and Rebekah.

Allison Family Reunion - Monday at the pool

We spent much of the day on Monday swimming. We were in the pool in the morning. Took a break for lunch. Then back in the pool for the afternoon.

Here's Morgan's first time in a swimming pool. She didn't mind it but wasn't in love with it. I did have her go underwater a couple times so that, hopefully, she won't have an issue with it like Kaylyn.Kaylyn loved being in the pool. She never wanted to come inside. We could only get her up to the house by promising she could go back down later.
We did lots of games that we've learned at swim lessons. Here, Spencer and Sheree demonstrate a new one.... Motor Boat, Motor Boat, go so slow. Motor Boat, Motor Boat, go so fast. Motor Boat, Motor boat, put on the gas. (Then blow bubbles in the water.)
Here's Daniel in the spiderman float.
Joseph in his life jacket.
Even Alma got in the pool.Here's a great picture of Matt, Norene, Isaac and Nathan.

Allison Grandkids

Here are Grandma and Grandpa Allison (Adam's parents, not grandparents) with all their grandkids, except William who was in the NICU. From left to right - Daniel, Joseph, Morgan, Kaylyn, Rebekah (one month older than Missy Morgan), Nathan (by a head) and then Isaac.

Introducing William Christopher!

On Friday, we welcomed the early arrival of William Christopher Allison/Baker. He was 12 inches long and 1 lb 6 oz. Adam's sister, Naomi, is a proud mommy. William was breathing on his own, without a ventilator. We met him on Saturday evening in the NICU. Here's some pictures of him on Saturday. What you see in his nose is oxygen, not the ventilator. You can see Naomi's hand in the second picture to give you a reference for how little he is.

Swim Lessons Day 6

I failed to post these pictures earlier so I'm catching up.
On the last day of swim lessons, the kids got to try on life preservers. Here's Kaylyn in her's. Unfortunately it rode up on her, making it very difficult for her to do anything.

At the end of the lesson, the kids were given the option of jumping off the diving board (not a chance for Kaylyn) or going down the slide. I don't think she realized what meant as she immediately walked off to the slide. She changed her mind when she got to the top. But her teacher, Tiffany, put her and another little girl on her lap. Here's the slide and the three of them as they entered the water. Kaylyn wasn't happy when she got out of the water. But she did it.