Santa visits the Allen Ranch

Ho Ho Ho Merry Christmas! Santa makes a guest appearance at the Allen Ranch for our holiday (adults only) party! Santa surprisingly resembles James-huh? Santa brought all kinds of special gifts for all the little girls and boys this year.

We are so grateful for the wonderful friendships that we have formed in the last 9 years of our relationship. Some we've known longer or maybe shorter, but either way we feel blessed that each and every one of you are in our lives. We look forward to the adventures we will share in the new year.

Blessings to those near and far this holiday season.

Love Mr. & Mrs. Clause

Touchdown!

Touchdown Jonah! Go Beavs! We are still proud to be beaver believers after this year's Civil War game! Jonah was totally wound up and had an audience to show off his new skills of showing touchdown and fist bumps! It was hysterical-and this kiddo made it happily to the 4th quarter until he wore himself out.

Love the j's

Happy Thanksgiving From the Allens

I can't help but think of all my many blessings as Thanksgiving soon approaches.

I am thankful...
For the peace that is available to me now where I can sit here and write without interruption,

For the true love that I have for my loving and adoring husband, who today more than ever is the love of my life,
And for the truly amazing father that he is and grows to be every single day right in front of me,

For the absolutely joyful, curious, compassionate and creative little boy we have been blessed with-
For Jonah, I owe so much thanks to you for reminding me to be more present and take more advantage of the simple pleasures and the opportunities that are available to me to grow and blossom as a mother, and as an individual,

For my parents, who have given James and I the opportunity to still be Joelle and James and for their constant love and support,
and for standing by through our challenges and triumphs as parents,

For my family, my sisters; Laura and Monique, my brothers, Cory and Jay, my beautiful nieces, my sweet Debbiemum, my grandmother, Hilda and all of my aunts and uncles, cousins and extended family who have supported us in our first years as parents and who have shared in our joy,

For my friends who give me the chance to still be Joelle and to share in the joy of motherhood together,

and lastly but not least I am grateful that each day I walk out my door I get to choose my agenda and choose my experiences, but not to forget my many blessings in my world where I have choices and not to forget those who have very little, who are faced with surviving each day, or for those who make sacrifices for my peace.

My wish today and every day is that those who have no peace can sit today and find it, no matter what their situation and no matter who they are, that they can find love today, true peace and happiness found within them self, or with family and friends.Today I put my focus on all the wonderful things that happen in our world.

Peace and Love to you and yours. And a very Happy Thanksgiving.

Jonah and his new hat!

I splurged this weekend and got Jonah some new shoes and a new hat! He tolerated the hat for a little bit, especially because we were telling him how cute he looked with it on.

I took Jonah to his 15 1/2 month well check up appointment today. Jonah weighs 25 lbs. which puts him the 63rd percentile, and he is 32.25 inches (grew an inch in the last two months) which puts him in the 85th percentile and his head circumference is 18.5 inches which is in the 50th percentile. And his cuteness puts him in the 100 percentile. Teehee....

We spent the weekend at Aunt La La's and Uncle Cory's in Medford. The trip went by too fast, but it was so nice to spend the weekend with them.

And let's throw a party-All Jonah's teeth are in until his 2 year molars come in! It feels great to know we will have a break from teething.

Hugs and Blessings to all.

Happy Halloween from our Little Lion

The Allen Ranch was feeling under the weather for Halloween, but we made the best of it! After we all got some much needed rest we headed out for a small outing to our local mall to show off Jonah's super duper cute Lion Costume. Then, we did some trick 'r' treating in our neighborhood, which made a lot of our neighbors really happy. We laughed about how the candy we were getting was really for our benefit and not Jonah's. Though he had some of the treats that we handed out. We really have not introduced candy to Jonah, but when I have made a few attempts to give him chocolate he really is not a fan.

As Jonah cruises into nearly his 16 month he is truly such a joy to watch grow up. He is obsessed with books. He brings you book after book and crawls into your lap to read, or as you can see from the current album he likes to read in his chair. He has recently learned the sign for please. And its really cute to see it in action.

Heather and I also got the boys to the Children's Museum for their Halloween Party! Check out the super cute pictures in the new album.

I will have to retract my previous statement in which I made the claim that his molar teeth were worse than his eye teeth. This past week has been rough with a lot of broken sleep. I honestly think that if we had not gotten such rough sleep for 4 nights in a row we would have been in much better spirits on Halloween morning. Though, we are all doing much much better today. And I swear by Coldcalm by Boiron! Seriously, they are amazing!

Happy Fall-And healthy wishes to All-

Our sweet 15 month old boy

At indoor park with friends.

Putting Jonah to Work

Jonah is 15 months old in a few days. October is flying by way too fast. Fall is my absolute favorite time of year. Every day seems to be very full-but a lot of fun. I have given into my favorite temptations of pumpkin spice lattes and pumpkin bread. Pretty much anything with pumpkin in it is my weakness right now.

We made a day trip out to Sauvie Island with my mom and grandma. A first for both of them. We also celebrated my grandma's 76th birthday early this year by surprising her with dinner, the ballet and dessert. We had such a great time!

James and I also have some great news-we moved into a new office space in Sellwood. We plan on having an open house-most likely in November or early December. Our new address is 5609 SE Milwaukie Ave. Portland, OR 97202.

Jonah is fully cruising around, even running, jumping (well, he does not lift off of the ground-but its darn cute to watch him try), dancing, singing and just being cute! His eye teeth have all come in-I was told these would be the worst, but I have to say the molars gave us more trouble. But, we will keep our fingers crossed.

I have finally uploaded tons of pictures from our summer adventures and posted the albums. I did not have time to filter them-so be prepared there are hundreds, but they are surely great!

Hugs and Kisses! Jonah, James and Joelle

Cheese!

Jonah loves crawling into the box that holds all his stuffed animals. His favorites are his monkeys. The new album has pictures of him kissing his monkeys. It is super cute!

Jonah in Lincoln City

I know...I know I have been horrible about updating our blog, at least that's the word on the street. Honestly, I have to say I am just caught up in the moment with Jonah. It has been amazing to watch him discover the world as a walker.

Mainly there have been a lot of new firsts. Like Jonah walking and playing his harmonica. He is signing: nurse, eat, more, help (he made his own sign for this) and all done. And he understands the sign for sleep. He pretends talking on the phone (James blames this on me). He knows where his nose, mouth and belly button are, as well as ours. The little wonders go on...

Well, I have to run because Jonah is telling me he desperately wants to go for a walk in his red car that he got for his birthday. We have tons of pictures to post, so I will get working on that.

Love to you all,

Jonah, Joelle and James

Jonah takes his first steps

Our sweet baby boy, I mean our sweet toddler turned 13 months old on August 20th. We spent the evening on Sauvie Island at Kruger's enjoying a picnic with friends, listening to music and entertaining or rather being entertained by Jonah. James and I each shared in the joy of Jonah's first steps--as we were walking in the flower gardens on the farm.

He has not taken many solo steps since this past week, but each day he is gaining more and more confidence in his walking ability. But, he finally LOVES us walking him around the house and out and about.

I am not surprised my sweet boy is being cautious and calculated about his walking. Knowing him he is intently thinking about it as we speak and perfecting his steps for his audience.

Love Joelle, James and Jonah

we all have these hair days!

Our New York Trip

This is a picture of my cousins from my mom's side of the family. From left to right: Sarah, Alison, Laura (my sister), me, Jared and Christa. The background is Hunt Lake-we have direct access from our "summer house" aka camp.

July flew by way too quickly! But, it does when you are having fun! July was filled with a lot of great events; my 30th birthday, my sister's 28th birthday, Jonah's 1st birthday (I will post bday pics soon), my mom's 54th birthday, two concerts to see Cold Play and a trip to Hunt Lake in New York and more family birthday celebrations (Cousin Sarah, Sarah and Jared). We are surrounded by Cancer and Leo babies!

Our trip to New York was a real vacation! You know how you normally need a vacation from your vacation, but this was not the case with our trip. We also had tons of help with Jonah, so James and I got a vacation too!

Jonah got to meet his Great Aunt Magali, Cousin Derek, Michelle and Penelope and his Great Uncle Larry (who he immediately reached for), Cousins Sarah, Rob and Alex-and Christa's girlfriend, Sarah, all for the first time. And he got to see family he met at six weeks old, like Great Aunt Linda, Cousins Jared and Christa and Great Aunt Judy and Cousin Alison. He was also surrounded by his grandparents, Grandma Ellen, Grandpa Joe and Grandma Debbie and his Aunt Laura aka Aunt La La and Uncle Cory. This was Debbie and Cory's first trip and I think I can speak for them and say it will not be their last trip to Hunt Lake.

Jonah loved having so many people around! At all times Jonah had an audience--in just two weeks he really grew up. He became such a ham. He definitely has a preference for the ladies, especially ones with blonde hair! Hilarious.

Most days started with a morning swim. Nothing wakes you up more! Jonah loved the water! So much that he wanted to be Mr. Independent in his own float toy. The rest of the day was spent chasing Jonah around-and hanging out with family. The day ended with everyone hanging out down at the point by a bonfire roasting marshmallows-and partaking in some tasty beverages. James, Jared, Cory and the frogs provided some hilarious entertainment. And once my Dad arrived-he added to their antics. The nights were so clear that you could actually see stars and shooting stars.

James and I got away for the day for our first tubing trip ! Laura, Mom, Debbie and I got away for another Cold Play concert! And Sarah and I snuck away for some shopping and lunch in downtown Saratoga Springs.

I have to extend extra thanks: to my cousin Sarah and Aunt Judy for all their help getting the cabin ready for our visit-and for letting Jonah borrow toys and much more! And to my cousin Alison for doing our laundry! And to Jared and Sarah for the limo service!!! Miss you all tons! And can't wait to see you all again soon!

xoxo,

Joelle and crew

Jonah's First Haircut!

We were holding off on cutting Jonah's hair, but we figured with Grandpa Joe visiting it was a perfect opportunity for Jonah to get his first haircut for his first birthday party!

The event took two days-day one started out in Jonah's high chair while he ate a snack-and then we moved him to the exersaucer, which seemed like a great idea until he started jumping up and down-and we finished with me holding him in the ergo. The final touch ups on day two happened at grandma and grandpa's house today. My dad swears that we girls did not move as much as Jonah did, so it made it challenging and entertaining all at the same time.

Jonah officially looks like a little boy! So cute, but it also marks a turning point from baby to toddler. Thankfully the haircut was not too drastic. If anything his baby locks have a lot more bounce to them. (Alyson, you will be impressed).

Thanks Grandpa Joe for my sweet haircut! Love Jonah

Joelle's 30th Birthday Party!

It is hard to believe that I am now a proud member of the 30 year old club, because I swear I feel like I am still 18--But, I am so grateful that I am not and I am truly excited for what is in store for my 30's! My birthday was a three day celebration. My mom and dad treated Laura, Debbie and I to see Cold Play at the Clark County Amphitheatre. It was an incredible and memorable performance. My sister has already booked tickets for us ladies to see them in Saratoga on July 27th! Woohoo.

The weekend followed with some awesome laziness on Saturday morning and then we headed to start the official celebration at the Grand Central Bowling Alley where we met an awesome group of friends-played some bowling, drank some delicious vodka tonics and then headed on our merry lil' way to check into our hotel and end (or start the night) the night at the Cornelius Pass Roadhouse for a brew fest. And a fest it was! Loved the Obama-nation beer! This picture says it all-Debbie was so sweet and had the balloon man make this special birthday hat for me! While waiting over an hour to get food we made great use out of the hat and made up a fun game! The night ended with eating pizza at midnight in our hotel room--which was absolutely necessary!

I have to give out some special thank you's: to my hubby for planning such a special celebration-to my wonderful mom and mother in law for watching Jonah to make this all possible-to my dad who really surprised me on my official birthday--to all my wonderful and truly dear friends and family who made me feel really special--and to Jonah for being such a rock star throughout my whole birthday weekend!

Thanks to you all for making my first 30 frickin' awesome!

Hugs and Kisses,

Joelle

Hey Blue Eyes...

It is hard to believe that Jonah will be one next month. We are getting excited for the festivities-and I am preparing for my big 30!

A few months ago I remembered that I was embarking on the my 30th year-and felt inspired to do something crazy, something in ol' Joelle style, which was to train for a race, but not just any race--it needed to be something that would force me to get my act in gear quickly.

With little or no convincing at all-I asked my sister in law, Monique to join me in training for the Sauvie Island Half Marathon. Let me just say that she is incredible. She has been training for longer than I have and is a huge inspiration. We ran in the Drop Top 10k in Helvetia last weekend. We just have a few more weeks to go--and I am so happy that I am running again. I will be running into my 30's!

love to you all-joelle, james, jonah, jasmine, max and gabby

Watch out Ladies It's not a Toupee!

You have got to love Jonah's bed head! His hair totally cracks us up and it definitely has a mind of its own. Some days I attempt to style it and on others like this day I just let it go crazy. Hysterical!

Jonah welcomed tooth #7 on Monday, May 18th. You wonder I am being so specific, well this mama does not keep a journal of this information, so our blog is my way of keeping track of this information so when and if he bothers to ask me later in life when his teeth came in-we can refer back to our blog. It is a fun thought of keeping the Allen Ranch rolling into Jonah's 20's. Wow, that is a weird thought.

We are eagerly awaiting #8 to make its grand entrance, mainly because I think the little guy will feel and sleep better. Sadly, I caught a nasty cold (one that James and my mom both had)--so broken sleep and a cold have not been the best combination. But, James has been amazing-went to New Seasons and got me all setup. A must try is Red Thyme! I boiled water and put 2 drops (and trust me no more than that) of it in the water and had a nice steam. And he has been staying later in the mornings and coming home earlier to help out this sick mama. It seems like every time I get sick my mom is out of town. No matter how old you are you just want your mom when you are sick. :-)

But being sick is not slowing us down too much. We had a great outing yesterday with our friends, Jackson and Alyson. I posted some great pictures of the boys swinging and playing together. They are great little buds-the boys are just 8 days apart. And little Jackson and I share the same birthday!

Jonah has really mastered the art of clapping and clapping objects together. You can tell he is so proud of himself. It is still hard to believe that is just two months Jonah we will be celebrating Jonah's 1st birthday!

Sending healthy vibes to everyone! xoxo, joelle, james and jonah

I am sitting in a shoe and loving it!

where to begin...

this is a picture of jonah at the tulip festival. we really had a great time-and as you can see he loved sitting in this wooden shoe. i wish we had one of these for our yard. after the tulip festival i am inspired to make our own wooden picture cut outs. you know the ones that you stand behind and poke your face through for a funny picture. i was thinking it would be fun to make one of these for jonah's birthday party. we will see if i actually get around to making one.

jonah is totally fascinated with pulling himself up on everything. it is the sweetest thing to watch him stand at our end table looking through his books. he looks like such a big boy doing this. he is pivoting between objects now and lets james and i hold him to take steps towards us. it is pretty exciting to think of him walking soon. and with all this development it is understandable why his sleep has been all over the place. but my mom keeps reminding me that this is just a phase. speaking of my mom, she is a frickin' saint. really she deserves a gold medal for putting up with my moody self after a night or a few nights of broken sleep. oh mom, i sure do love you!

last week, we got to spend a fun afternoon with addison. we picked him up from school and the boys were cracking me up in the back seat. jonah loved having someone to keep him company. and addison was a big help by feeding jonah cheerios. addison and i also got a chance to bake a cake together. that was a lot of fun. a fun activity that i look forward to sharing with jonah. but, i feel so fortunate that my friends share their children with me and that i get the chance to share special moments like that with them.

it is so easy to get wrapped up in a feeling, mainly that of being tired-but when you look at that little smile above-shoot-it's hard not to be in a good mood. oh, jonah i love you so much! thank you for choosing me as your mama.

my love and blessings to each and everyone of you.

(hey-mark your calendars for jonah's big first birthday celebration on july 19th-it is going to be a fun one)

Jonah and Daddy Rock Out!

Our Baby Boy on the Go!

I am so happy that we have this blog, because it forces me to slow down in the midst of the day to day to reflect on the time that has passed. Jonah has taught us so many wonderful things, but truly my favorite has been the reminder to be in the moment, which is why I have been terrible about blogging this month.

Ever since he started crawling life seems to be at a faster pace. With the crawling has also come the fascination of standing up in his crib, as well on other things (and sometimes during the middle of the night)-my sister in law swears this novelty wears off-I can only imagine how hard it is to shut off that shift in your head when you learn a new trick. I have a hard time slowing down my mind when I am going to bed, so it totally makes sense that his sleep patterns have been all over the place in the last two weeks. And to top it off, he is teething! And this round of teeth are definitely causing him the most discomfort, in comparison to his other ones.

But, thankfully we have the support of family and friends to keep us sane after some rough nights. Even in some of the more challenging nights-we shared some really special moments with Jonah. Merely, I could recognize how precious it was to have him fall asleep on me, because these moments will soon disappear. I try to live in appreciation even when I am tired.

We made a trip out to see Mike and Danelle in Sequim-and shared the weekend there with Ben, Heather and Jack. It was the sweetest thing to hear Jack, saying "where are you junah?" "junah". We have continued the Music Together series, but this time we are taking the class with Jack. Heather says that when she puts on the Music Together cd, he says "junah".

We also spent a wonderful Easter with my parents, James' mom and his sister, Jay and the girls. It was really precious to see Victoria and Sasha with Jonah. In the album pictures posted you will catch a glimpse of the precious moments they shared when playing with each other.

At Jonah's 9 month appt. he weighed in at 21.14 lbs which put him in the 75% and a little over 29 inches put him in the 75% for height as well. He also has learned to say bye bye-and is clapping. He loves peekaboo-music-dancing-and bouncing up and down while his daddy plays the guitar for him. I posted a video of the two rocking out!

For my sister's sake I will be better about posting videos and pictures. Laura made a special trip out to see Jonah-just so she would not miss out on his crawling.

xoxo,

the j's

Jonah crawling!

Jonah starts crawling!

While I was out with friends on Saturday afternoon I got a fabulous call from James saying that Jonah started crawling! At first, I was sad that I missed this official crawling moment, but then I was so happy that James got a great first like this, especially because I so often get the "firsts" being at home with Jonah.

Ever since Saturday he has been on the go. He has discovered that he can go get his own toys, but mostly he is interested in the speakers, his diaper bag, the floor lamp, the couch and this storage container that holds our blankets. Basically everything that is not Jonah's. I suppose this means we have some baby proofing to do!

Another great first was that he waved to my dad and I goodbye today! At first, I thought it was a coincidence, but then we had to run back in to see if he would do it again-and he did, he actually waved.

These simple pleasures really make life what it is meant to be. If you have your eyes closed you miss it. I think simplicity is the theme of the times. It is forcing everyone to slow down and focus on the beautiful life moments that are truly important.

Wishing you all love and joy in your own happy homes!

xoxo the j's

Jonah is 8 months old!

It is hard to believe that in 4 months Jonah will be turning 1 year old! The big boy has 4 new teeth! He has learned to crawl backwards, which frustrates him when he is trying to get something in front of him. We wrapped up swim lessons and his infant music class. We are already signed up to start music class again because he absolutely loved it. We are planning to start swim lessons again-but twice a week on top of other classes was getting to be a bit much. I like a happy balance.

Oh, my word...I just witnessed Jonah crawl forward (then he fell on his tummy), but this is awesome progress. I put a long mirror along the couch and he was trying to crawl towards it. I think we have an official crawler almost on our hands.

xoxo the j's

James Turns 30

After months of planning I pulled off James surprise party, but I did not do it alone. I have tons of family and friends to thank for all their help in successfully pulling off the surprise. And James was adamantly surprised! Thanks to everyone for making James 30th a memorable one!

A special shout out goes to my parents for watching the little man as we partied the night away at OBA and ended the night at the Hotel Deluxe. It was heavenly to wake up to breakfast literally in bed and to spend a lazy morning sobering up after a wonderful night of debauchery.

Mashuga Nuts! Ask James.

Guy Time

I took the fella out for some shopping so that momma could get some R&R. I'm glad I didn't put him in the 'babe magnet' onesie ... or I would have been mugged by old ladies! I can't take this lil' guy anywhere without people noticing his blue eyes and long curly hair.

Video of Jonah Splashing

Jonah loves swimming!

My parents came with Jonah and I to his swim class today. He has been really enjoying his swim class. But, I have to admit I am exhausted by the time we leave. It is amazing how fast I can get us packed up and out the door. I swear I don't breathe until we are in the car. Even some of our friends in the class remark how fast I can pull it all off, but my thinking is that I don't have time to let him wiggle which will make it that much harder to get him dressed on a small bench.

It is hard to believe he is already 7 1/2 months old. I think I will be in constant awe of his growth and development. He has four blisters on the top of his mouth, with the two of the four teeth coming in. I never realized how thrilled I would be about his teeth coming in. As a parent, even grandparent, or even relative you are constantly showered with these priceless gifts.

Jonah is also thoroughly enjoying solid food. With the four day wait rule we have managed in a month and half to introduce him to sweet potatoes and squash (his absolute favorites), green beans, peas, pears, rice and oat cereal, bananas, applesauce, and avocado and tofu (which he humbles me and takes a few bites).

He is babbling like crazy. Desperately trying to figure out crawling. He is up on all fours (or three-with a bent knee) rocking back and forth and grunting. He loves his musical maracas and dancing. Recently he started bouncing up and down while sitting. It's pretty hilarious. Video worthy.

Sending you all love your way.

I am a little delayed on posting our pictures from Valentines. We went with our friends to the Airplay Cafe for an 80's dance party. It is the perfect family venue where you can enjoy fun music, party with friends and drink a beer at the same time.

Love to you all!