Thanksgiving 2008

We made it through a Thanksgiving without messing up anything. The food turned out really good and Quaylan has now mastered peach cobbler (Good looking out Aunt Mel!...somebody please forward this to her). Instead of uploading all the pictures to Blogger, we put them all on our Web Gallery. You can see them here:

http://gallery.mac.com/qallen24#100196&bgcolor=black&view=grid

My little Lolo

Usually Brooklyn (that's the name we are going with :)) is pretty still till about 2 oclock, then super active around 8 or 9 at night. But on some days, like today, she starts her workouts at 8am! I can almost hear her as she kicks, "Get up Mommy! Get up!" and then Kanye starts wimpering and staring at me and I can hear her too, "PPPPLLLLEEEAAASEE Mommy, there are squirrels outside!" So I was up earlier than normal today (Weds are my one day to sleep in) but I was ok with that, my kids needed me :) I figured once I started moving around the baby would stop kicking, not today! On days like this I picture her in there, swimming around kicking and running her little legs. And if she's anything like me and Quaylan, she just wants to GO! She can't sit still, punching and kicking and running. When she's like this, I call her Lolo. See, Lolo Jones is an AMAZING hurdler. And I've never cried watching a race until I saw her hurdle race this summer at the Olympics. It was a Gail Devers repeat: she was winning, hit the last hurdle and stumbled across the line. It was HEARTBREAKING. But to me, she is still the best hurdler in the world right now and I can't wait for the next Olympics when Brooklyn will be 3 and will be able to watch them (actually, we are going to try to go to London and see them in person!) I'm blabbing on, but my point is, I already see her as a little hurdler, my little Lolo, ready to train and run and run. And if she doesn't like track, well then that's ok. But she'll be good at whatever she does! Oh, my little Lolo. She's one pound this week. As I sat through a boring boring class last night she kept me entertained, kicking and poking. Again, I looked like an idiot smiling and poking my belly for about 2 hours while the rest of the class paid attention. I'm pretty sure I looked like a monkey picking at myself. Ok, guess I should go back to doing some work, this weeks paper is the kinetic and kinematic assymetries of a countermovment jump in trans-tibial amputees! Woooohooo! Oh, and I just put up a pic of me and Quaylan for fun. its from last year around Christmas. Just wanted to put up a pic :)

Snowy in Colorado

So what do two Arizonans do when it snows for the first time at their new residence? They yell the "sky is falling, the sky is falling!"

What does an Arizona dog do when it sees snow for the first time? It looks for squirrels of course...what else is new?

I am fiesty

I read today about a priest who sent a letter to his congregation informing them that those who voted for Barack Obama had committed a great sin and should refrain from taking Communion until they had gone to confession. I read the letter he sent directly from his parish's web page. His reasoning was that it is sinful to vote for a pro-choice candidate over a pro-life candidate. I am very sad over this. I am a good, strong Catholic and do not feel that supporting Mr. Obama is a sin. I do not believe that anyone takes abortion lightly. I think abortion is a great tragedy; however, making it illegal will not solve anything. I am pro-life, but I think the government should leave the laws they way they are. Does that make me a great sinner? I don't think so. I could go on forever, but instead I took advantage of the "send our priest a letter page." And did just that :) it may be a tad strong, but I'm tired of people making the same argument with little substance and I'm VERY TIRED of a senseless war. This priest does not make me ashamed to be a Catholic, on the contrary, I will stand up for myself and my faith and not let it be tarnished by his misguided opinions. I am more motivated than ever to change the world I live in. I'm about to bring a child into it, so sorry if I offend anyone with my post and letter, but I'm not going to let idiots scare us into submission. So, here it is:


Dear Father,
As a lifelong Catholic and daughter of a deacon I am very sad to hear about your letter. My father and I supported Barack Obama for president and this does not make us sinners. Pro-life means more than abortion. What about the lives of the soldiers fighting an unholy war in Iraq? What about the 60 Afghani's who were killed last week while attending a wedding in a "mistaken" bombing? Abortion is terrible, but it is not the only issue we need to take a moral stance on. Supporting a war that is inherently evil and slowly destroying our economy and society is much worse. I pray that God opens your eyes as to the true meaning of Pro-life. Pro-life for our soldiers, pro-QUALITY of life for the poor who receive subpar education due to the color of their skin or socioeconomic status, pro-life for EVERYONE. To support a presidential candidate who encourages killing innocent people in another country is great sin. Mr. McCain and President Bush are directly responsible for the deaths of our soldiers and Iraqis and Afghanis, a war being fought for oil! They have blood on their hands and by encouraging your parish to support them so do you.
Sincerely,
Amanda Allen

New belly

So i'm at 22 weeks and here is my jelly belly! It feels a lot bigger than it looks, let me tell you!

A big boy and a loving dog

Somebody turns three today! I thought I'd share these videos with everyone because they make me smile. Kanye and Luka had a special bond. When other kids come around Kanye has nothing to do with them. But with Luka she was protective and watchful. If we were in a store and someone came up to her she'd back Luka up against the wall and get between him and the other person! And when Luka and I talk on the phone he always reminds me that he misses Quaylan, Kanye and Amanda (in that order!) So enjoy the videos. We used to practice our track and field all the time and in these videos its long-jump training day! Happy Birthday Luka and I'll see you in ONE MONTH!

Some comments

So I went to work today on a cloud. At first I woke up and immediately asked myself if it was all a dream, did we finally elect a competent, prepared, and passionate president? Yes, we did. I rode my cloud all the way into the office, where my joy was soon thrown on the ground and stomped on by others.
I guess I should explain that I'm pretty quiet at work. And some others aren't, they've been voicing their opinions for a long time. But I thought that maybe today would be different. Maybe they'd finally shut up. But no, and so I'm going to share with you some of the things I overheard.
"Well, I'd rather have McCain in office since I know what I get with him, I just don't know about Obama and what his real goals are."
"Yeah, he just has so much too conceal."
"He never talks about his white side, why is he so secretive about that? I just don't trust him"
"I can't believe it, but I guess since he's the new president I have to live with it."
and finally, "Our nation just isn't ready for a multicultural president."


with that last comment I put my hands around my belly and whispered to my daughter not to worry. Obviously the nation, and world, is ready for "multicultural" people. I wanted to hit that woman, to shout to her, "So you think I need to tell my daughter that the world isn't ready for her?? That people who look like her, or her daddy, are limited??" People are so stupid sometimes. But thankfully more intelligent people exist, otherwise Obama wouldn't have been elected.
Obama was the best candidate for the job. And he didn't win because he is Black. He won because he is intelligent and a great leader, who happens to be Black, and the nation accepted him. I am optimistic for the future and what this means for my family, white and black. Ok, I'm done with my post!
Amanda