Its begininning to smell a lot like Christmas

MMMMMMMM.... love the smells of Christmas. Freshly cut Christmas tree, cinnamon and clove scentsy burning and the smell of freshly baked cookies. YUM. Here's our tree (unfinished obviously). I set the camera on a timer and got mostly chair and not a lot of tree. There was no hope of getting more pics....kids were already WAY past their bedtime.
Early bird gets the ....uh......tree- proved to be true this year. There were slim pickings at the Old Barn Christmas Tree Farm this year. Every year prior we go right after Thanksgiving. We just didn't make it until now this year and Jason and I were both a little disappointed with the selection. We ended up with a tree that wasn't as tall, straight or as full as we like. So...what I am saying is that it is crooked, short and sparse in the branches. Jason bagged up some pine boughs and said, "its nothing a little wire and glue can't fix". Right. Good luck with gluing on extra branches honey.

This is the best one we could find. Saw in hand and ready to slaughter it.
VICTORY! That's the way a real man gets a tree. :)
Riding the golf cart with tree in tow on trailor back to our van.

Ready.

Checking the tree for squirrels.

Tomorrow we will decorate.

This is what it looks like.....

I worked yesterday (filling in for a girl on maternity leave). There was a slight change on the schedule around 3 pm when Jason came into the office. Leslie -a dental assistant- pointed it out to me. In an appiontment block the schedule said, "Claire- hope you like Kentucky?". Much screaming/ jumping/crying ensued and then this....

This is a picture of a picture of what shock/elation/emotional melting pot/ happiness/ pride...etc.etc. look like when Jason confirms that he got into dental school. Look at Jason. Cool as a cat.

This is what excited friends who came over to celebrate with us look like. I texted at 5:30. They came over at six. What good friends!

Again, more excited friends.

Me toasting to Jason.....so proud!

Our kids....kind of clueless as to why we are celebrating. All they know is we are moving and they have missed their Daddy A LOT in the past few years that he has been working SOOO hard to accomplish this. Ella asked if we were moving to Africa. Hmmm.

So this scene/post is what it looks like when your husband gets accepted into dental school at the University Of Lousiville in Kentucky.

I wish I could have some numbers here that could actually be accurate but I am going to attempt:

-started taking pre-req's in 2006 (the political science degree from BYU wasn't getting him any where in the dental field :))

-Countless amounts of vacations missed including Colorado, St. George, Boston, Albuquerque, Texas, and the list goes on

-At least 10 hours a weeks studying/doing homework

-About 7 hours a week spent in class

-MONTHS spent studying for the DAT

-Many all-nighters cramming for a test

-Two years applying

I could go on and on. Jason has worked so hard for this and I am so proud. I am proud that he wasn't afraid to chase his passion even though many would say he is too old to go back to school.(He'll be 33 in April) He did all of this while providing for our family and being YM's president for three years and is now in the elder's quorum presidency. Great job Honey! Could not be prouder and cannot wait to start this adventure together!

PS- And just for those of you who will ask, dental school is four years long. He also interviewed and applied at the medical college of GA in Augusta so there's a chance we might not be going as far as Kentucky.

Huffin' for Stuffin'

Everything in this post is backwards...of course. Ugh. Blogger (or maybe me) has really got to get a handle on that. Does that frustrate anyone else??? Anyway......this was our Thanksgiving table. Wow. There was so much delicious food. We are so lucky and so grateful for many many things. Especially good food. YUM.

Cheeseball picture......I know.

Although Ella looks....well...tipsy, I couldn't resist putting this pic up. It has so much potential!!!! Oh, photoshop, I wish we were better acquainted!
This one redeemed that one. SO CUTE!
Croquet, cooking and football dominated our Thanksgiving week.
Oh, and this. Huffin' for Stuffin' race. This is how I like running to be- pure fun. No training, no one taking it too seriously. Just fun. Loved it. This was Jason's debut as a runner. His first race. And he still beat me...of course. Just barely. :) I will blame that on those long legs of his. :) The whole Allred fam ran some part of this race (10K, 5K, mile fun run and tot trot).
The fam before the race with the turkeys. Jason kids and I are on left and bottom. What a hot bunch!
Quincy's stalker/uncle/future-Georgia-resident and wife in tow came into town for the big Turkey day. I got a really great break because Billy could not get enough of our little angel Quincy. Thanks Bill!
These guys looking REALLY serious before the race. Yes, Jason wore that. And so did Bob...read on....
Stretching. I would just like to note that the night before the race Bob (my F-I-L pictured here in his favorite color, yellow) asked me what to wear for the race. We had an extensive conversation none of which he internalized. Too funny. He is wearing loafers and jeans to run a race. He kept me laughing.

And these last two pics are enough to melt your heart.

Michelle (our primary president) is going to die when she reads this. Last week as soon as I got the kids for sacrament meeting Lincoln tells me to say thank you and then hands me a little square that says "service smile" on it and says, "you're welcome". Then Ella scrams, "Lincoln, NO! It's supposed to be a secret". Baffled.

But then when I got home and my bed was made (and even topped with Ella's green vintage pillow all the way from upstairs in her room - she insisted it was the "king" pillow) and had another service smile paper on it I understood. They had been learning about service in primary and were told to do a secret act of service and then leave this little card. I am sure Michelle suggested small things they could do to offer service like saying thank you to mom and dad and that's where Lincoln went astray. :) I almost cried though when I saw my bed. All equipped with the king pillow. What a sweet girl! Thank you Michelle for teaching my kids about service!

ZUMBA!!!!!

I cannot beleive it but some people have no idea what Zumba is......I guess I didn't really get it until about six months ago and now I am OBSESSED. Wish I could say I look this cool/good doing it. I don't. This lady (Tanya Beardsley) is HUGE in the Zumba world and is a major pro. Watch and LOVE. :) Take into consideration the first song is a warm-up. Keep watching...promise...it defnitely gets your heart rate going. Like I said, I burnt 763 calories last Saturday in an hour long class. Beat that!

Things like that happen

Today (Take into consideration it is mid-November) when I picked Lincoln up from Pre-K he was wearing his "emergency" clothes. (Which obviously have not been updated since the seasons have changed.) His teachers really couldn't give me details. They said he very discreetly got up during nap time and went into the bathroom and came out wearing this. They didn't ask him much because I think they didn't want to embarrass him. Missing out on details? Not my thing. I wanted to know everything. So I grilled him in the car. Not out of anger, but out of shear curiosity. There was not much going on in his underwear. Just the regular 4 year old skid marks. :)

So, when I asked him gently what happened I wanted to pee my pants I was laughing so hard when he responded, "Mom- I was having nap time and I was tooting a lot. Then a big toot came and it wasn't a toot. It was poop. Then there was green and so I changed my clothes." No shame. This boy makes me laugh so hard. He kept on asking me if I was laughing at him. To which I responded, "No. Things like that happen. I am smiling becasue you are SO cute". I know this may be TMI for a lot of you folks. But he's four- it pretty much gave me a good laugh every five minutes for the rest of the day. Oh, and for some reason he didn't put on new underwear (it was in there). So, I took a pic of the cutest bum crack ever.

While taking the pictures of Lincoln I got a little freaked out by the hundreds of birds flying above my head. See? It was a little Alfred Hitchcock-ish.

Did you know I teach Zumba? Yes. I do. I love it. Just thought I would put that out there because I forgot all about writing about this recent love affair. Here I am in my Zumba gear. I teach three times a week (twice at Praxis, an MMA studio, and once at my gym, Club Fitness on Saturdays) and am proud to say I usually burn about 750 calories per class. I get this count from my personalized polar watch. Not an estimation...a REAL count. WOOT WOOT! But...having said that...it is ALL about what you put into it. I have soooo found my calling in life.

I totally forgot to add this to Quincy's repoirtiore of skills on his birthday shout-out. He is skilled at blowing bubbles with his snot. Poor guy has FOUR teeth coming in and is getting over a sinus infection. The snot is endless.

Happy still. Ain't no thang.

PS- We had our first experience with bullying this week. Ella rides the bus home from kindergerten everyday. Her school is quite far and picking her up just is not an option. I have to get Lincoln everyday at the same time in the opposite direction. I never really wanted my five yera old to ride the bus....but, at the same time, it's kinda something that they just need to do at some point.... a rite of passage if you will. ANYWAY, she came home very sad on Monday. When I asked her why she told me a "big" (meaning old) boy on the bus told her he didn't like her smile. He told her the shape of her smile was ugly. Who says that? Can an elementary student really be so miserable that he has to tell a five year old that their smile is ugly? I wanted to crush that boy and swoop Ella up in my arms at the same time, overdoing it with compliments. I did the latter.

This one goes out to my baby!

Now lets rewind....... STEP 4

STEP 3


STEP 2



STEP 1

We descended upon Long Horn for Quincy's 1st birthday. After all, his favorite thing to gum to death is steak. :) He was a little under the weather with a tiny cold and so he wasn't quite himself. But he had no mercy on his cupcake and got some fun new presents. Happy first Birthday little sweet angel Quincy!

REPORT:

-About 20 lbs (oh.....that means no infant seat...YES!)

-Not walking yet

-He has five teeth

-Loves to pull up on things

-Can clap and wave and say "uh oh" and "mama" and possible "hi" and "night night". Those words are questionable.

-Favorite person in the whole world- Dad.

-Reminds me of a little puppy...he loves to follow me around excitedly wagging his proverbial dog tale. He loves to eat out my hand.

-Nickname: Tinc, Tincy, Noodle, Lover loo, little duck, etc.

Should I really be glad that Halloween is over? It is a sure sign that I am getting old and grumpy. I usually love love love Halloween. This year it just felt like a lot of work.


Selfish.


I usually really get into the kids costumes. I didn't even really enjoy it this year (not that this holiday is for me...I get it. I know its a kids' holiday). I somehow got succored into (by my own money-saving devices) making Lincoln a robot costume. I ended up killing myself -while watching six kids- and making the entire thing on Thursday. My finger tip still hurts from all the spray painting. What good mom waits until the night before the party? Result: It ended up being very mediocre. And to add insult to injury, Lincoln wore it for maybe 30 minutes between the two days of Halloween marathon-ing. He hated it. In fact, none of my kids liked wearing their costumes. Next year maybe we will just T-O-T ing in real clothes.

OUCH.

No, this is not us. I wish. I was not that creative or cool when it came to dressing up for one of the funnest parties I have EVER been too. The Forsyths (on left) had an adults only (that says fun right there) Halloween scavenger hunt party. Serious fun. My team won the scavenger hunt. We had some very worthy opponents though. This rockin couple with the Forsyths is Emily and Jake. They deservedly won the costume contest.

We were kind of lame this year. We waited until the last minute and ended up throwing something together. Jason was Richard Simmons and I was a fat heifer. Get it? I know, it's a stretch. This was our scavenger hunt group. Tons of fun. Our poor Sienna took a beating (we could smell the brakes burning) but it was well worth the victory!

Me going crazy at Party City. I was trying in to figure out one of the clues while my team members waited in the car. I could have made up the trifecta of "Kiss" with Emily and Jake with that tongue. Wowsers. Put it away.

This was our family the same night. (Yes, it was a Halloween marathon of sorts the entire weekend...except without the medal much to my chagrin. I deserve one. Every mom does.) This is at the Hampton Halloween T-O-T ing night. This is one of the locations of Allred Family Dentistry that Jason manages. Here we are: little duck (how fitting, right?), clearance witch from last year's rack, and homemade disappointment of a robot. Oh, and Richard Simmons of course.

The happiest boy ever in his daddy's arms. It's true.

Our very uncreative pumpkins.

No, this was not after a torture session at the Allreds. Unless you count a forced photo-op as torture.....which, this group just might. Nope, it's just another day in the life of children throwing fits because...blah blah blah. You fill in the blank. Good times.

Here is Allred's version of painless camping. Setting up "camp" on the back porch, having hot chocolate and watching a movie thirty minutes later then bed time. No one complained about the disingenuous experience. They all thought it was a great camping experience.

So glad Hello Kitty could make it. I am even happier that Ella remembered to capture her little buddy.

How precious is this little angelic face?

Ella could not love mommy-ing Quincy any more. Poor ( I mean lucky) kid.