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.