JABBER TALKY

the motherload part I

2012-01-08T21:01:00.000-05:00

All of my posts have "part I" or "partII" in them these days. So, if that's not an indication that I am slacker then I don't know what is. Oh well. Here goes...remember to stay tuned for part II- the sequel which is right under this post.

We held the second annual Allred progressive dinner/talent show. Oh...and it couldn't be complete without the ugly sweater contest. Jason and I (I will admit- Jason fully took the reigns on this one) decided to make this a Hawaiian Christmas. Good Will was apparently out of hideous Christmas garb. Here's the group. The winner: Bob and Kristi. I think our family got one pity vote.

By far the BEST talent of the night was our sweet TY break dancing for us to the kids' version of "Boom Boom Pow". Shoulda worn some depends to watch that. I was rolling...we all were. Notice the gold chain. He even did the worm. Yes.

This was me and the two older ones doing the same talentthat we did at the Jewkes talent show, "Skidamarink". Then our family did "The Great Enlarging Machine" which we stole from Em and Jake from the Jewkes talent show. Are you sensing our utter talentlessness? Good. That's what I am trying to convey.

Charlotte's favorite- Aunt Bessy.

Luke and Quincy.

Ali sharing her stunning talent- reading "The Night Before Christmas" one week before giving birth!

I don't wanna talk about this pic. It had to be taken. The annual I-just-got-out-of-bed-and-got-no-sleep-last-night pic. You know the one. You are just probably not brave or stupid enough to put it on your blog. Can't decide which one.

The loot from Grandma and Grandpa A.

All of Ella's dreams came true with this often imitated but never duplicated American doll -Emily. Its presently sitting in Quincy's high chair having a midnight snack.

Jason handmade something for each of the older kids. He spent all week doing these sweet little tailor-made projects. For our Quinster, a tool box/car carrying box.

For our princess Ella, a jewelry box complete with several rings that are sure to turn her fingers green. You have to see this in person to really appreciate the design- there are compartments inside complete with plush fabric and pretty little details on the outside.

Jason made Lincoln a "treasure chest". This thing is awesome. You can eve lock it. Its everything Lincoln's little mind could've imagined. I personally want one of my own to keep precious things in. Like chocolate.

Isn't he a doll? har har har.

Look at these three cuties!!! These are their hat and gloves set brought to them by none other than Santa. How Santa knew they needed them we will never know. Gotta love Link's face in this pic. All of them really.

They are getting ready for the daily "truck" ride around Grandma and Grandpa Allred's. Where (in Quincy's words) they say the boaps (goats), aho (horse), guck guck (duck), dog dog (dog) and other inaudible sounds for animals like ginny foul and pigs.

This is New Year's Eve. This girl obviously had way too much egg nog.

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!

The motherload II

2012-01-08T20:23:00.000-05:00

So yeah, I have a ton of pictures. So...this is heaven for all you Allred fans. :) I hope you know that I know that there are no fans. Don't worry- I am in touch with reality. I just like to pretend. :) So....here we go.

This next series of pictures is why Uncle Billy coined the name "dandelion hair". If you blow it and make a wish, it WILL come true.

SOOOO outdated, but for my posterity's sake, gotta post these next pics of Charlotte at eight weeks. And she weighed 12.7 at her two month appoitnment and had a bi-lateral ear infection. But was still as sweet as can be. I had no clue she wasn't feeling well.

Ella's girl scout troop got to say the pledge of allegiance at the annual Columbia County tree lighting. They all wore matching "girl scout" scarves and froze their tiny little buns off. It was actually cold. believe it or not.

And of course ~~Jason~~ the kids built this awesome gingerbread house.

And these last two pics are compliments of Ella's photography.

2011-12-15T20:26:00.001-05:00

Our beautiful Charlotte Alexandra gets a name and a blessing by her dad on Sunday at Grandma and Grandpa Jewkes' house. So many righteous priesthood holders in the circle- 6 uncles, 2 grandpas, 1 great uncle, 1 dad and one friend- Mike Forsyth. Lucky girl!

What a cute guy! Espen-my nephew- is darling.

Our family of six. Holy crap, I am way too young to have four kids....:)

This gorgeous dress was painstakingly made by Grandma Becky. So beautiful and such a great keepsake!

Happy Thanksgiving part II

2011-12-05T21:12:00.000-05:00

I meant to post these pics about two weeks ago...oh well.

Charlotte at six weeks.

Quincy looking mischevious as ever. He's plotting.

Charlotte gives him a little warning "push"

Then she punches him.Stay away from this girl- she's fiesty.

He survived but is a little shocked that he just got served by his sister.

So the Friday before the Thanksgivng break (my kids had the WHOLE week off) Link's class had a sweet little Thanskgiving program. So glad I was able to go. He dressed up like an Indian. I was very impressed by the Christian themes and music througout. All the kids were able to get up and express what they were thankful for. Link said his mom. :) *Proud moment*
His school is like a magnet school for the county for children with disabilities, esp hearing disabilities. Several kids got up and made inaudible sounds instead of speech and a few were in wheel chairs and completely paralyzed. I was so touched by the sweetness in which the teachers handled these precious children. They let them each have their turn at the microphone and waited patiently, even whispering in their hear words of encouragement often times. At that moment time stood still as I tearily said a little thank you to my Father in Heaven for my sweet, precious, healthy children. Wow. I am blessed.

Blurry picture but this is basically what my special boy was doing while all the other indians, pilgrims and preachers (??I KNOW??) were singing.

This is Lincoln's classmate and church buddy- Elliott. Such a cute, sweet boy. These two are buds!

For the actual holiday we drove down and spent the week with my family. Me, coralling four rowdy monkeys and dealing with hay fever, while Jason feverishly :) studied for finals. It was a bummer that he had to miss out on so many fun things. We are so grateful for everything he sacrifices to go to school. But were able to go to the temple together and enjoy the entire Thanksgiving day just relaxing. Other than that, it was like a working vacation. :) You know how its sometimes harder to be on vacation than home??? Not that I am not grateful to have gone. I am. I am just saying that being in a diff. place/environment and out of whack is in some ways harder. Jason left on Sunday and the kids and I -along with many members of my family- drove up to north GA to the Blueridge mountains. We mainly relaxed but were lucky enough to see and taste the elusive snow that GA occasionally gets. It TOTALLY made the kids' entire vacation week.

And this adorable guy made Lincoln's vacation. these two were inseparable. Move over Cooper! :) They had so much fun just being boys. They had snowball fights, played Harry Potter, built lego....things, and teased the girls.

My sweet Ella was attached to Grandma like glue. Well, they all were. Who wouldn't be?! They went to see little ponies, got to ride in her cart at the store , made rolls or ate dough- not sure which-and just basically did whatever she did. While we were in Blueridge we patronized an AWESOME store/apple farm called Mercier farms. Jordan and Amanda introduced us to this place and it is a "must-stop-tourist-attraction". Holy moly it had the yummiest food and was sooo fun to look around. They had a billion diff. types of apples and every food possible made with apple something or other. My favorite part? Dessert of course. They are famous for their fried pies. They actually provide them to Chick-Fil-A and the Varsity. They ship them from North GA! I tried the blackberry cream. Dang, it was good. The kids got homemade suckers and complimentary ice cream for the owner who aslo happened to be one of the sweetest, cutest older ladies ever!

Aren't we lucky? I sound like my dad. :) Not a bad thing.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-18T14:15:00.000-05:00

I am so grateful for these little rugrats. They bring fullness ot my life!

Happy 2nd!

2011-11-12T09:18:00.000-05:00

Tuesday was Quincy's second birthday. This boy's world revolves around cars. To say he is obssessed is a HUGE understatement. So...I pulled a few strings and made sure "Cars 2" was released in time for his birthday.

I wish I would have been to capture his facial expression when he first saw his cake. It was priceless.

Opening "Cars 2" from Grandma Allred. Another facial expression that was priceless.

And his car carrying case from Grandma A.

My BF and cousin Katie came to visit last week. Basically we talked and talked and talked and ate. Ate a lot of dang good food. Holy cow. I was doing well in my postpartum weight loss. Now I am not. :) I did it all for you all. I was just trying to better our family recipe blog. The recipes will be posted on peachtreecooking.blogspot.com

My mom requested Halloween pictures of all the kids. Being the superstar mom that I am I didn't have any individual pics except for Charlotte. So...we got out the costumes and re-lived Halloween. Quincy absolutely refused to wear his costume on the big day but would not take it off on Thursday. How ironic. This is his adorable spider costume.

Miss Charlotte's web
I know. I have already posted a pic of this. This is another one I took with a white background and it looks a lot better. People request thes things y'know. I gotta give my fans what they want.

Charlotte is four weeks

2011-11-03T21:16:00.000-04:00

Everyone says it. I know, I know. But....I cannot believe its already been fours weeks since our sweet Charlotte was born. It seems like she's been with us forever. I guess because in a way, she has. Lucky us!
And yes, she is on the trampoline. No one was jumping. We were just enjoying the weather.

This is kind of a weird picture and she kinda looks like she has rabies with with foaming around her mouth :) but I though it really showed off her chubbs. This girl is getting CHUNK-Y. Just the way we like 'em.

October PART 1 (be sure to read all three!)

2011-11-01T13:14:00.001-04:00

Ella is taking ballet after school on Wednesdays. After begging to take since she could talk we finally figured out something that could work. Then this week she begged me not to go. Don't ys love that? She said she didn't wanna miss out on all the family fun while she was at dance. :) I had to laugh out loud at that one.

Grandma Becky came to help me after I had Charlotte. I was discharged Sat. the 8th and she left the following Saturday! Talk about service. She got the kids on the bus every day (allowing me to sleep a little more), cooked dinner every night (and four loaves of cinnamon bread for my freezer), and did all my laundry (twice), and cleaned my entire house before she left, and took care of the kids. Wow. What a Grandma! Thanks!!!!!!

Jason took the kids to a Revolutionary War reinactment. One if his professors was in it and it was free! The kids (and Jason) LOVED it.

The best part of the day....when all the other kids are in bed an dI actually spend time with Charlotte and cuddle her.

And she seems to like me too. :)

Uncle Bo came up to Augusta and Grandma Julie on Monday, when Char was a week and half. How lucky are we to have so many visitors!? However, Uncle Bo came under not-so-good circumstances...keep reading on to the next post....

Part 2

2011-11-01T13:14:00.000-04:00

So....as I was saying. Uncle Bo came to give our sweet Charlotte a frenectomy. She was born slightly tongue tied as were some of our other children. This can cause nursing problems and problems with speech later on. So, we clipped her. So sad. She was so tiny. Look at her compared to Uncle Bo's hands.

Jason said this was the altar of sacrifice.

She was totally undisturbed and peaceful until we had to hold her down. Then they clipped her. She wasn't even bothered by it. She just didn't like being restrained. As soon as she was in my arms she stopped crying and started stretching her new tongue to its fullest limit.

These are just some pics I took when she was three weeks old last Thursday. They are not great but for documenting purposes...

How precious! Wish I would have turned the picture.

The great pumkin hunt. So...I have noticed this cute little roadside stand since we moved here. I have been wanting to stop by and was so confident that a place like this would have great deals on local produce. PSH! Was I wrong! They were charging 7.99 for all pumkins, big or small. Don't they know you can get huge ones at walmart for 5.99. I was annoyed. Oh well.

The lucky pump who got to come home with us and be slaughtered.

One of Lincoln and Ella's favorite things to do at Halloween is to buy these little mini pumpkins. They named them creatively Mr. and Mrs. Pumpkin and drew faces on them with marker.

The great slaughtering. Lincoln and Ella were fascinated that pumpkins have guts or blood as they insisted.

Ella got to design the eyes, Lincoln the mouth and Jason did the nose. Pretty generic but pretty cute.

How cute is this face? And proud too.

This is Jason shamelessly wearing Quincy's costume at our ward trunk-or-treat. Quincy refused.

Meet Charlotte's web. I could not resist once we decided to name her Charlotte. I have been plotting this for three weeks now. I really like the way it turned out. Although if I had been a better planner ( I made it about an hour before we wealked out the door) I would have done a spider headband. I tried but the styrofoam ball melted when I spray painted it (who knew?!) and then I realized I didn't have any black pipe cleaners.

Gotta LOVE these leg warmers! How dang cute are they!

Part 3

2011-11-01T13:03:00.000-04:00

One of the funnest things about having a newborn is just watching them. Am I right? All their quirky little facial expressions and squeaky little sounds. And its funny how they all do the same sounds/expressions. This is one of my favorite: The Derek Zoolander! :)

Yes I made a ginormous bow that was bigger than her head. I know, ridiculous. I cut it down but forgot to take more pictures. I like it better smaller. When I was making it I misjudged her tiny peanut-sized head.

Allred Family Halloween 2011. Charlotte's web, transformer, witch, and stubborn 2 year old who refused to wear a costume. Lincoln asked me what I was to which I replied, "a mom". Aren't I fun!

2011-11-01T09:28:00.000-04:00

One week old

Jason and sweet baby Charlotte

Proud sister, Ella

Charlotte's One Week Photo Shoot

2011-10-19T15:11:00.000-04:00

My sweet friend and visiting teacher, Heidi, gave me the best give ever- a photo shoot of sweet Charlotte. Here she is at one week. Thanks Heidi- they are gorgeous!

Just a little disclaimer: I had not planned on being in any photos... As Grandma Jewkes would say, "I should've had my face on". :)

Charlotte Part II

2011-10-13T18:26:00.000-04:00

The kids enjoying the wonder of having a new sibling.

So happy with her "I'm a big sister" sticker.

She looks so different now! As I am posting this she is almost unrecognizable. So chubby and swollen in this pic!

Could Jason be any prouder? On Friday (the day after she was born) he wore a pink shirt to school and this "Its a girl" pen. How sweet and proud!

Our first family pic. I don't wanna talk about it. Ok, I will. I am so...well, fluffy. And let me just say, that one week later, my ankles and legs are STILL retaining fluids from all the stuff they pumped me with.

Leaving the hospital at 6lbs 14 oz. And on Tuesday she had already agined back all of her birth weight. Sore? Yes, the child LOVES to eat. All I can say is "OUCH!". Yes, I look like I have been hit by a train. A train named Charlotte.

Her first bath at home. NOT a fan of that.

Post- bath with all of her "fluffiness". FYI- Fluffy with Charlotte is a great thing. Check out her fluffy hair!

Welcome to the world Charlotte

2011-10-12T12:26:00.000-04:00

39 weeks pregnant and the last pic taken

The Birth Story (warning: no details spared)
My first run-in with "false labor". Ok, that's a lie. The last month of my pregnancy was in a word-horrible. I had cramping (from dehydration I guess) and contractions the ENTIRE month. I lived off of tylenol. I didn't sleep a lot and bascially I was on the internet daily figuring out ways to induce labor. I was miserable. So this was the Saturday before I had Charlotte. I was in labor and they stopped it. Why? Still a mystery to me. And just becasue I can't resist I have to put it out there that this is NOT normal pregnancy behavior for me. I hate complaining about pregnancy. I told my mom "I am sick of hearing myself complain"....in the past I have glided into labor with practically no probs...and even natural childbirth. Just sayin'.

           Four days later, here I am again. Even in worse shape. It all started at about 11 am on Wednesday morning. I was out and about trying to ignore my cramping. Nesting of course. Trying get things done. I was actually at Hobby Lobby with my friend, Kara. All the sudden I had a horrific back ache. I tried to ignore it for about an hour and a half, carrying on conversation and playing at the play place at Chick-fil-A with our kids. Well, once we went our separate ways, the moaning began. There was the most intense pain in my back that I have ever felt. I have serious empathy for people with back pain now. I had NEVER really suffered that way. I had taken 1000 mg of tylenol and it was not touching the pain. Luckily Quincy was in his room (screaming none-the-less) NOT napping like he was supposed to be. There have been very few times in my life where I am have been in so much pain to where I have completely neglected my children (by neglect I mean totally ignore). This was one of those times. I just laid there moaning and crying for about two hours.
       I finally called my OB practially begging for an emergecny C-Section (I was going for my third VBAC). I asked snidely, "At what point does my pain become an emergency to you?". That's exactly how I felt. In a state of emergency. They said take it easy and con't taking tylenol and the classic, "your body is just getting ready for labor" line. Let me just tell you how sick of that line I was. I had been hearing it for a month. Thus, my hesitancy to call in the first place. I knew they wouldn't do anything. Anyway, after calling Jason several times in tears he came home to take care of our poor children. And with Grandma Jewkes on the way, around 6 pm (so SEVEN hours later) I told Jason (using one naughty word), "I don't care what the *crap* they say, I am going to the hospital and they are getting me out of pain. Labor or no labor". Off we went.....again. My good friend Kara came to the rescue and sat with the kids and embarrassingly saw what my house looks like when I feel like crap for days on end. Then our neighbor Steven relieved her family around 8 or 9 and stayed until Grandma came at midnight. THANK YOU kind friends!!!!!!!!! And Grandma!!!!!!!
          Of course they hooked me up to monitor the baby's HR and my contractions ASAP. Baby was happy as a lark in there but I was having contractions...about every 3 min. apart. Hard ones. Funny thing is I couldn't even feel them because my back hurt so bad. They told me they weren't totally sure I was in active labor but was going to admit me, again. I was having flashbacks of Saturday. I was going to punch someone out if they even attempted to stop my labor this time. At about 8 pm, my contractions were getting closer and they assured me that one way or another, we were going to have the baby. At a pathetic three centimeters dilated I found myself BEGGING for an epidural. The contractions were not bothering me but my back was KILLING. Luckily someone noticed the crazed look in my eyes and relented.
          Relief. Sweet, sweet relief. I have never felt releif before like when the medicine from the epidural started working. I profusely thanked the anesthesiologist and was almost crying with joy. Seriously. I felt like I had been suffering for about a month. At this point I could not WAIT to just go to sleep. I had not slept in about two nights b/c of cramping. I was looking forward to that. Unfortunately, the nurses and baby had different plans. They noticed I had a temperature and that Charlotte's HR was all over the place. The came in every 5.3 minutes to take my temp. and to put another blanket on my shivering body. I could not stop shaking. Even after tylenol I still had a temp. They discovered that not only was I dangerously dehydrated (from having a temp) but I had some sort of infection...which, come to find out was a kidney infection. They gave me an UNCANNY amount of fluids. One of the nurses said she had never given anyone as many fluids as they had given me. Great. Elephantitis legs, here I come.
          The infection was a concern for them. But not as much as the baby's HR. Nurses in and out all night long. Several times they told me, "if this does not improve in the next ___, we will have an emergency c-section". Without fail, every time it would improve. Only to jump or dive minutes later. Finally at around 5 am they came in to check me. Afterall, I had been having hard contractions 2 min. apart for nearly 10 hours. I was only at a FOUR!!!!!! They deduced that Charlotte's head would not come down and so was prohibiting my cervix from changing like it should with the contractions. (AHHHH...the answer to why my cervix did not change like it should have when I went in on Saturday and they sent me home).
           So, the OB on-call decided to break my water as a last resort. She said if if didn't help me progress, with the baby's HR so erratic, then we would do a c-section. Breaking my water, the on-call Ob noticed that there was meconium in the amniotic fluid. No bueno. Finally, my cervix started slowly changing. Incredibly slow though complared to Quincy who I had in two hours! My OB showed up around 8 and said I was at an 8. Then left and said to call her if I got to a ten and she would be back around probably before then. At that point I started to feel pain again. I didn't want to complain and it wasn't TERRIBLE. I tried to ignore it for a little while. It only got worse. Finally, when I was wincing and moaning through contractions, I told the nurse. They were surprised. The anesthesiologist came back in to administer another kind of pain killer via IV that was supposedly stronger than an epidural. It worked for about 15 min....sord of. At this point I am at a 9 and my epidural had completely worn off. I had been in pain for about an hour. Ob came back and confirmed I was almost complete but the baby's head was still VERY high. She prepared me an extremely long delivery. She said it could possibly be hours of pushing. I would have to push her head down into the birth canal. Back to the pain situation. They had to get the anes. to come back, again. We all know how long that takes. He said the catheter carrying the epdiural medicine had slipped. He would have to administer another epidural or, given that I was already at a 9, I could just bare it. With the potential of hours of pushing? NO. No freakin way. I sat up and through contractions at a nine, got a second epidural. About ten minutes later, another wave of sweet relief.

My gi-normous ankles. This pic does not do it justice. I told Jason to put his ankle by mine for a frame of reference. I think my entire lower body had doubled in size, each leg felt like it weighed 200 lbs. It was really cute. About thirty min. after the epidural the OB told the nurses to prepare for delivery and to have me start pushing the head down into the canal. She would come in when the head was down and the baby was ready for delivery. After only two really long and hard pushes, Charlotte obediently descended into the birth canal. Hallelujah. Dr. Morgan-Gibbs came in to finish it off. I told her about my concern with ripping. She wanted to see if Charlotte would come out on her own along with the contractions. Sure enough, three contractions later, Charlotte came into the world. No ripping or tearing. I love you Dr. Morgan-Gibbs. They whisked Charlotte away to make sure she didn't swallow any meconium that was in the amniotic fluid with that first gasp of air. I hardly even saw her.

Slimy little worm. With lungs all cleaned out she had the sweetest, softest cry ever.

Check out that double chin! CHUBBA!!!!! So darling. She was so chubby in the face but just skinny every where else. The first things I noticed was that she had tons of light brown hair, a huge mouth, and tiny little swollen eyes that could hardly take it all in. She was so extremely alert right there in the delivery room. And above all, extremely content and peaceful. She was just looking around (as best she could with her swollen eyes) and taking in her surroundings.

Love at first sight. I thought I would maybe be a little angry or resistent because of the difficulty she had put me through. Hello! 24 hous of labor! How inconsiderate! :) But alas, all was forgiven. Haha. :) Thank goodness for such an easy delivery.

Jason taking her to the nursery for her first bath and weigh-in.

She weighed 7 lbs 4 oz and was 20 inches long. Perfect.

One of the sweetest things after having a baby is introducing your brand new angel to the other siblings. There is no experience quite like it. I am getting teary-eyed typing this now. These siblings have missed each other! They knew each other before and they have been patiently waiting for Charlotte's arrival! It was so apparent the immediate love and connection they had with her. They came right as they got out of school the day she was born. I could not wait. They could not wait. They each came in and with adoring eyes drank in her perfection. Lincoln could not stop talking about how cute she was. Ella loved her tiny "doll-like" size. they both wanted to name her Sarah. :) And Quincy (who I was especially concerned about) just wanted to stroke her tender little face and kiss her. He did try to curiously poke her eyes a few times too. They all embraced her immediately and welcomed her into the family. We are so lucky and blessed to have her sweet spirit in our family. She is angelic. Its so easy for me to forget what a special experience it is welcome one of Heavenly Father's very own into our home. I am so grateful for that reminder....a reminder of the important things in life: family.

She's here!

2011-10-08T18:47:00.000-04:00

Two days old

One day old

Introducing our sweet baby girl- Charlotte Alexandra Allred. She came after an extremely difficult 24 hour labor. SO worth the wait! Seven pounds four oz and 20 inches long. She was born on Thursday, the 6th at 10:24am. More details, pics and birth story to come soon!

Still cookin

2011-10-05T08:19:00.000-04:00

Remember this? October 2010

Yup- Ella can still wear this outfit she wore last year. Tiny little thing. I am thrilled though b/c its too cute to wear just one year! And check out these awesome gords! They are the prettiest ugly things. The kids think they are disgusting.

Don't get all excited now. The baby is still in there cookin' away. We just had a false alarm on Saturday night. I started having contractions around 11:00 pm. I wasn't about to jump the gun so I timed them for TWO hours. They were about two min. apart around 1 am. I knew it was unlike my previous labor (with Quincy they were so close together and progressed soooo fast) but I just figured this baby would take her time coming. Anyway, we called our poor neighbor, Debbie and she came over at 1am and stayed here through the night. Of course when I got to the hospital I had to go to triage where they make the decision if you are really in labor. They hooked me up with this flattering green smock and then connected me to the machines. Yup. Contractions. Strong ones every 2 min. After an hour there was no change in my cervix but I was still contracting. Weird. So they admitted me. Because I have had a c-section before they wanted to be extra cautious and watch me through the night due to the risk of uterine rupture. UGH. They pumped me full of fluids for about four hours. Finally around 5 am the contractions really slowed down much to my disappointment. Jason and I finally got a little rest. Then the next morning a doctor came in and wanted me to stay at the hospital ANOTHER night just to monitor me. Crazy folks. He was worried about uterine rupture. So Jason went home to relieve Debbie (and his mom at that point) while I enojoyed my night away. The End.

Family Day

2011-09-30T08:05:00.000-04:00

Last weekend was family day at Georgia Health Sciences University (the name recently changed from The Medical College of GA) where Jason attends dental school. We had Jason's alumni brothers and his parents come. It was so fun to see what Jason does on a day-to-day basis. I like to keep tabs on those things....sometimes I wonder if he's just on facebook all day.

This is HIS sim (simulation) lab complete with his name on it. See it? :) There's a little manequin attached to this station that you can pull out and work on.

Jason's dad- Dr.Bob, borther-Dr.Bo, and brother- Dr.Ben. Living the Allred legacy! :)

P.S.- Nine more days to go! I am "patiently" awaiting our baby girl's arrival. Dilated to a three and 90% effaced and SUFFICIENTLY uncomfortable. Ob informs me she thinks she'll be "just on time". GRRRR.

2011-09-20T21:35:00.000-04:00

Link's first t-ball game. Baseball was always "Jason's sport" so he was sooo proud. Lincoln is on the Cardinals. The game was so entertaining. I thought I would pee my pants when Lincoln ran from second to first. That was just one of the incidences that kept us laughing the entire game.

Holy cow

2011-09-19T15:54:00.000-04:00

Ok, so this guy thought this shirt was appropriate at a commemorative concert for the victims of 9-11 that we attended at a local park last week. Dude- seriously? Yes, terrorism is of the devil. Islam however, is a religion. And not all Islams are terrorists. And not all terrorists are Islam. This shirt just SCREAMS ignorance.
And of course I am the suuuuuuuuper classy, educated, non-ignorant lady taking a picture of this dork. HA! :)

Lincoln rolling down the hills at the concert.

Ella at the park. Dang it. I thought this pic was going to be the official cast picture but obviously you can't even see her cast. Well....she got her cast off today! So, those tiny tiny pics from the previous post are just gonna have to do. She is wearing a sling for now. Apparently it is against her fashion code, it is a dinosaur sling. *GASP* She tells the nurse, "You guys should really have barbie slings".

How precious is this little guy's bed head? SOOOOOOOO cute. This is nap time bed head too, not even morning bed head. Good quality stuff right there.

And now....for the title. HOLY COW! :)
Don't mind the facial expression in this pic. Jason was the photographer and I didn't have any warning. I think I was in the middle of something something to the effect of, "Honey is this a bad angle?". :)
And I would just like to note that this was taken after ~~the wrestling of three kids~~ church. I am 37 weeks. Jason says to me, "Honey, why are we taking a pic now? You are going to get bigger". He says it so matter-of-factly I wanna punch him. Little does he remember that I had Lincoln at 38 weeks.

Now these pics were taken by a real pro. Ella. Now the expression holy cow really takes on new meaning. The side angle is painful looking, right? I have to say my tummy feels bigger with this one than the others. It just feels very pokey-outey. :) More so than the other kiddos. But I have put on the least amount of weight (pat on the back...zumba up to 32 weeks really paid off!)....so maybe I am not as big as I feel.

I am in the mood...

2011-09-10T17:31:00.000-04:00

For...FALL! This fall weather (that lets face it- will not last) has given me serious fall itch. I have taken out my fall decor and even made caramel apples with the kids today.

We have been enjoying the outdoors like no other. Eating on the porch, going to the park, etc.

Is it too early for fall decor? Perhaps. Oh well. I could not resist.

I have been searching and searching for a really great yellow. Our Master BR is like the restoration hardware color (that blueish, grayish, greenish) and I have wanted to put some yellow accents in. I have been wanting to paint this table above, our lamps, a mirror and some frames. And MAYBE even those shutter I picked up about a year at a garage sale. I was scared. So, I followed a blogger's advice and painted something that was non-committal. Something that could be re-done. So, I bought some krylon spray paint today, put on a few coats (wearing a dress, 36 wks pregnant and looking crazy no doubt) and fell in love. The shade is perfect. I am officially obsessed. This is the table which is serving double duty as my fall decor table....for now.

These are our cute neighbor friends. How lucky are we that Henry (age 5) and Elizabeth (age 8) live directly across the street and go to our church? Soooo lucky. THEY were lucky today...coming over on caramel apple day. :)

Carry on fall lovers....carry on.

Pics may cause a squint and neck cramp

2011-09-06T12:00:00.000-04:00

I took these pics with my phone....so, I can't figure out how to make bigger or turn them. Yes, I am challenged. Anyway, I forgot to announce (and it is an announcment!) that indeed, Ella's arm is broken. I took her into the ER on Monday morning after Jason and I noticed it was a little swollen. On Saturday night Jason was jumping with the kids and Lincoln landed on her elbow. Crying and drama ensued, but that's pretty normal for Ella. The x-rays indicated there was lots of fluid around her elbow which usually indicates a break but b/c of the fluid, the break couldn't be shown on the x-ray. She wore the splint for a week and just today got a fancy glow-in-the-dark cast on. Bigger pics to come soon!

The Quincy and Claire show

2011-08-27T20:50:00.000-04:00

That's pretty much my life these days. Quincy and I send off the kiddos on the bus every morning and then its him and I taking on the world. We pretty much invent things to do to make our days together interesting.

After we send the kids on the bus his favorite thing to do is sit on the porch and watch all the cars and trucks go by while he mumbles, "vrrrooom".

He's a super helper in the kitchen. Here he is helping me make oreo truffles. There will be a few less oreos than called for in this batch.

Since we have moved here our kids get on the trampoline no less than once a day. Quincy gets on it probably three times a day. They NEVER got on at our old house. Must be about the nice fenced-in backyard, soft grass, and its only a few feet from the back door. Back in Brooks you were taking your life in your hands going to the tramp. Who knows what kind of critter might jump out at you. :)

I realize this is very fuzzy. Its cropped. I just wanted to capture his feather hair. Or, as some would call it- "dandelion" hair. So sweet.

This little creature in Link's hand has a death wish. It was found roaming our front yard a few days before school started. Besides providing the kids with tons of entertainment, I mostly don't like her. There. I said it. She meows INCESSANTLY and the little feline thinks she invincible. She practically walks under me when I take Q out to the tramp multiple times a day. Does she not know that would be like an elephant trampling a mouse. Did I really just compare myself to an elephant? Yes. Its getting to that point. I have five weeks to go.
Anyway....on to the death wish. She climbs ridiculously high in the tree in our backyard as if she thinks I am going to rescue her. She's almost fallen out a couple times. And she actually lets Quincy hold her which is terrifying. He will procure her by any convenient limb and hold her by that singular limb. He has sat on her and thrown her several times. And let me just clarify...while I am not an animal (I should say pet) lover I do not allow pet cruelty. I just had to put that out there for all of you who's mouths are agape that I allow such treatment. I don't. Quincy has become quite familiar with time-out due to his accersion of power with the cat.

Did I mention that Ella gave her cat quite a clever little name? She calls her MOW-E. Get it? I assure you she doesn't but I think its a little ingenious. The letters M-E-O-W switched around. So its pronounced like Maui, the island.

Now this...this could be child cruelty. :)

I knew Quincy's diaper was wet.

I was preoccupied and it was almost bedtime. Meaning: inevitable diaper change.
The kids have gotten really quite methodical when it comes to getting Q off and on the tramp. Well, one of these times his diaper just gave in and fell down. But for some reason the sticky tabs were still stuck to him. Q did not even notice.

Way too busy to care about public nudity.

The kids' favorite trampoline partner. And he also just could be the cause of what could possibly be a broken arm right now on our sweet Ella. Double bouncing should be for older kids not 2,5,and 6 yr olds. Jason thinks its for him. As for the broken limb-we will see in the morning. You never know. She's great at the drama act. We will wait for swelling. Its just one of those risks you take with owning a trampoline. You know at some point, someone will probably break something.

J's first day :)

2011-08-10T16:20:00.000-04:00

Of course I HAD to take a picture of Jason and his first day too. I would be remiss if I didn't document this important day in Allred history. And up on the shelf you can see the huge jar of preserved teeth he took to class that his dad has been collecting for him. Who wants to take a whiff of that? YUMMY!!!!

PS- I am sure you notice the bright green "cast" on Q's leg still. He was supposed to get it off on Monday and he did but they refashioned it into this boot called an RFC just to protect him for two more weeks. The good news is its removable so I was actually able to wash that nasty leg and toes. OH- the smell. And cutting his nasty toenails has never given me so much pleasure.

Fresh start

2011-08-08T08:34:00.000-04:00

We are off to a fresh start here in Augusta- well, Martinez. Pronounced Martin-ez. I know. Weird. Our house has fresh paint and fresh carpet, we have a freshly born kitten running around which Ella named Maui. Jason will have a fresh start at school on Wednesday and today my two oldest have a fresh year and a fresh new school to look forward to. And Quincy and I will explore our new surroundings together! And....a fresh new baby to join our family soon. So many new beginnings. We even attended our new ward yesterday and before we even went to church Jason got a call to be ward clerk. How do they even know we are the type to do our calling? Someone has been anticipating us and studying us out. The church has secretive ways. :)

Anyway...here are some pics from this morning before the kids got on the bus. They were so excited this morning and last night. Jason gave them both a father's blessing and both of them expressed concern with making friends. Lincoln sepcifically said, "I am worried cuz I want Pooker (Cooper-cousin)". They had a special waffle breakfast and then it was time to go.

Yes, Lincoln is carrying his lunch in a toy story gift bag. HEY! We've only been here six days. His lunch box is MIA. He was thrilled to have this "present" instead.

Looking down at neighbor kids waiting for the same bus.

And....they're off!

Happenings

2011-07-23T20:55:00.000-04:00

So..........the countdown is on. Less than a week and we will begin our move. I say begin b/c its going to take about five days of preparation. WE are soooo excited for this new chapter in our life. Sad to leave so many great things behind here (esp. family and friends) but so excited to experience new things. However, I am WAY less than excited for the physical move. UGH. Esp. being about 7 mos pregnant and it being a million degrees outside. Oh...and the small fact that we (along with some awesome family members -pro bono of course) will be painting the ENTIRE house and reflooring the bathrooms and carpet. So, that's why its going to take about five days of prep. Nonetheless, its here. This day has finally come. I thought it would be forever when Jason and I first embarked upon the goal of heading to dental school. It was about four years ago when we started planning and dreaming. Yes, kids, plan and dream and you can accomplish anything! :)

Now....on to this post. This Summer has been a whirlwind of fun and events. At the end of July and beginning of June we had the 2011 edition of the Jewkes Family Reunion with all of my siblings and their spouses. Yes, ALL. See below. I won't judge you if you need to click on it to even see faces.....there are so many dang people! :)

Doesn't it look like a circus crew or a neighborhood? Nope. Just all my siblings and their spouses and kids. About fifty people in its entirety. Uncle Wayne took all these awesome photos. Don't ask why they are soooo tiny. No clue.

The two crazy people who handled eleven of us growing up and then welcomed fifty people into their house in June and July. Both major feats.

The staff at the dental offices are also counting down apparently! :) They threw Jason a surprise going away party with this adorable cake that said "We're Giving you the Boot". It was so sweet of all of them and Jason's face upon arrival was priceless.

And then our summer got even more eventful when at the beginning of June I picked up Quincy from the gym childcare after teaching ZUMBA and he was practically handicapped for some reason. He refused to walk on his right leg and would not stop crying. So I immediately called the gym to see if something had happened. The girl said no then Ella interrupted my phone call to say, "Yes mom! Lincoln dropped Quincy!". It was confirmed by the girl at the gym. She just didn't thin much of it. To make a long story short I took him to the doctor the next day and it was diagnosed as toxic synovitis, which is inflammation of the hip. So, I gave him Ibuprofen for the next fourteen days and he seemed to get better and better. He did not walk for about 4 days though and that was TORTURE. For him too I suspect.

After about two weeks of anti-inflammatory I was surprised at how achy his leg seemed to be in the evening. Additionally, he would have very minor falls and would cry for an hour and wouldn't walk on his leg again for up to two days. So, I called to DR's office. Again, did not think too much of it. Just told to me to look for bruising or swelling and keep an eye on it. It got better after about tow days from the various falls. After about a week of continuous crying from this sad boy (he kept falling) I finally took him in again. An x-ray was in order. They immediately saw a fracture in his tibia.
Apparently Lincoln had dropped him and he twisted when he fell so it was a bit of a spiral fracture. So, my sweet baby boy had been bearing the pain for a little over a month as I impatiently demanded that he stop crying! He has to wear this cast for only three weeks and has been a champ about it. Bathing has been a trial, but overall, its been easier than I thought.

OOPS! Back to the going away party!....The staff showered Jason with going away gifts such as gift cards, etc. His brothers gave him a huge box of their retired school stuff including this lab jacket.

Spain: Volume 6

2011-07-20T21:00:00.000-04:00

All this Spain blogging is getting a little out of control, wouldn't you say? I am sure the proverbial you is nodding in agreement. I promise, its coming to an end. Got to document it!

Ronda

The next day we headed out to the city of Ronda. It was about an hour away and if you have ever even had a hint if car sickness before in your life, you would be retching on this drive through the narrow and windy mountain roads. Poor Ali threw up countless amount of times. This is most decidedly my favorite place we went to in Spain. It was so worth the car sickness and to think we almost passed it up b/c we weren't sure of its see-worthiness. :)

Again, the gorgeous European streets. This one only for walking/shopping. No cars allowed.

This is us standing on the famous bridge that you will see in the below pictures. Its one of the top tourist sites in Spain. GORGEOUS.

Looking out from the bridge. The mountains and buildings in Ronda were breath-taking. Absolutely stunning.

The bridge crosses over this very deep and narrow canyon that you can KIND of get an idea of here.

This is a cheese ball pic Jason wanted to take b/c these roses were gorgeous and in full bloom.

Check this out. WOW. Jason and Billy and Ali hiked down a path to the bottom of the crevasse to take this pic of the bridge from below.

The city of Ronda is famous for its orange trees (which apparently aren't good and shouldn't really be eaten) and its beautiful people. Interesting. That's what the tour book said.

That night we rushed back to our hotel to catch the Flamenco dancing show at the hotel.

All about the drama these flamenco dancers are. Their facial expressions looked like they took exercise.

Of course, the best part of the show was when Jason got pulled out of the audience and had a little fling with one of the dancers.

Just a little booty shaking Spanish style.

Spain- Volume 5

2011-07-02T10:47:00.000-04:00

The Rock of Gibraltar

The rock of Gibraltar was just about an hour away from our Marriott in Estepona. It's called one of the legs of Hercules. They believe, according to their Greek mythology, that after Hercules was done creating the world (something like that????) that he collapsed and this is one of his legs.

There were wild baboons all over the rock. They feed them so they stay there in that habitat. They are all named and have little biographies on the wall. One was said to have had "a weight problem b/c she likes junk food too much". I can totally relate.

From the look-out point.

These signs were hilarious. It depicts a stupid tourist thinking the baboon is so cute and petting it. Then the unsuspecting tourist gets taken advantage of and the baboon takes the bag of the tourist. True story ya'll. We saw it happen. They were very aggressive. Scary aggressive.

Here we are leaving Gibraltar. You can see all three flags here...Gibraltar flag, British flag and Spanish flag. The Rock of Gibraltar is a holding of Spain's and you have to have your passport to go. Its this tiny little part of Britain on Spain. They have fish n chips restaurants and the whole nine yards.

Lincoln's 5th- A Shark Party

2011-06-20T20:07:00.000-04:00

When Lincoln chose a shark theme for his 5th birthday party I was thinking getting all of the supplies would be a cinch. Nothing is ever a cinch. I could not believe how difficult it was to find shark themed things. Not pirate things. Shark things. Anyway...we had to be creative. And this beauty of a watermelon I must say Jason and our goo friend Mike Forsyth were extremely creative. They put Swedish fish (I only bought red....dumb) in the mouth and sacrificed a unwilling barbie to the shark's mouth as well. This thing was a hit!

Now I don't want to bore with too many details but I had stayed up very late the night before the party making Link's shark cake which I have since deleted the picture off of computer because of the disdain I had for it. Anywho...to make a long story short...I was in the middle of putting teeth made out of airheads into the shark's mouth when the mouth collapsed. It was supposed to be open. I said some naughty words in my head and my eyes welled up with tears. Lincoln has specifically chosen this cake. And to add insult to injury I was running out of time to do the other things for the party because my efforts were so concentrated on making the dang cake (it always takes waaaaay longer than I think). So...I ended up doing plan B which was to make cupcakes with a shark gummy. Boring. Oh well. No one noticed. In fact Lincoln was so consumed by Jason's watermelon he didn't even care and thought the watermelon was his cake.

These were little jell-o aquariums complete with a shark inside that I made for each kid.

And then there was the shark pinata which Jason was more obsessed with than anyone. He really wanted to see how hard he could hit it. Not allowed of course. Hayden was the one who actually busted that thing wide open. But check out this action shot my friend Michelle got of Link swinging.

"The best babysitter in the world" according to Lincoln. Kailey helped out TONZ the entire weekend and kept Q out of my hair as much as she could while the party extravaganza was going on.

Overall it was a successsful party and Lincoln was thrilled. He got some sweet new presents that are already missing pieces.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!!! This was taken at Sunday dinner where we honored all the fathers. The kids could not have a better daddy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CUTE LITTLE LINCOLN!

2011-06-14T21:11:00.000-04:00

Just thought I'd throw those pics in. Just enjoying popsicles on a hot hot Sunday.

Lincoln's 5th birthday was today....what a big boy. When I asked him what he wanted for his birthday breakfast he said pancakes with a strawberry uncutted. :) Done. Anything for my little Lincoln. Jason and I decorated his room (which he is sharing with Ella b/c both of them are too scared to sleep by themselves) while the two kidlets were sleeping. I said to Jason, "Why don't we just decorate the kitchen so Link doesn't wake up super early excited about all this and in the process wake up everyone else". He shook his head. Prophesy fulfilled. 6:30 and I hear joyful screaming and yelling.

These next pics are at Chuck E. Cheese's. Lincoln's other birthday request. It seriously is a kids' dream. I remember going there as a kid and LOVING it. I remember adoring those ridiculous Chuck E. Cheese shows. There was a sign saying "Live Chuck E. Cheese show every half hour". I got kind of excited thinking about reminiscing and thinking about my kids having the same memories. LIARS! They showed a live Chuck E Cheese show from somewhere else on a tiny screen. That's really taken CEC down a notch in my book. But all in all the kids had the time of their life. And I wouldn't be lying if I said Jason did too.

RIGHT after teaching ZUMBA. I look disgusting but this is our birthday pic for Link's 5th.

Link's water squirter. So thrilled with my dollar tree purchase.

This is a card that Ella made on her own, without any prodding or even reminding on my part. Sweet, sweet thoughtful girl. I need to give her more credit for those things. She is sooo good at doing sweet things for people. It said "The sun is yellow. Lincoln you are sweet. I love you.". How precious.

After Lincoln exclaimed, "Dad, this is the best day EVER!".

Spain- Volume 4

2011-06-14T11:48:00.000-04:00

Estepona, Malaga, Spain

Finally- Home sweet home! I cannot tell you how grateful we all were to come to this "home" away from home with all of our needy American-style comforts. Such as, beds that two people could sleep in, a kitchen with an oven, microwave and fridge, wi-fi, washer and dryer, hair dryer, TV, pool, hot tub, concierge to help us every question we could possibly have (there were a lot)....the list goes on.

Our awesome Marriott suite equipped with two master suites with their own bathroom. What a luxury! We had shared a bathroom with one too many weary travelers.

First order of business- to completely defile the sabbath day and go to a bull fight. Just kidding of course. Sundays are the only days they are offered...so, we seized the day. It was one of the most memorable things we did. We went to this bull ring in Marbella, a town about 10 minutes from our resort.

Packed house, right? No wonder they charged us $75 each to go. Someones gotta rent out the ring.... and pay the matadors and musicians (see below).

The live band. The ring must've been low on the budget. They sounded way better than they looked. It was fun to have a live band there to play the traditional Spanish music.

This guy was the BMOC. He definitely the star matador. Four bulls were tortured and killed (I don't know of another way to describe it....its gruesome). If my memory serves me right this stud killed two or three of them. If a matador gives a good performance and severs the spinal cord with one clean shot the audience goes wild indicating they approve of the matador's performance. At the very top of the ring is special seating with a big banner that says "El Presidente". Of what? Not sure. Anyway, if he approves he gives a nod of the head and the matador is allowed to cut off the bull's ear and keep it as a token of pride and glory. Thus, the ear. The place where the matadors sever the spinal cord is about the size of a quarter and before the matador goes in for the kill, he stares the bull in the face and then the matador charges the bull with the sword.
Most of the bulls were carried out of the rink by an ole' hitch on a car and a chain. But, if there is a good performance a horse decked out in flowers comes and takes the bull away. This matador's performance was rewarded by that as well.

Like I said, very gruesome. The matador has several assistants which help in distracting and tiring out the bull. They stab the bull with about four spears (look at pic) getting the bull good and angry and then in turn exhausted 20 minutes later. Then, he is prime for the matador to come in and do his job.

Spain- Volume 3

2011-06-13T15:09:00.000-04:00

We stopped at the next not-to-miss town -Sevilla. Definitely one of the most popular towns in Spain to visit. This pic was taken at the old cigarette factory. Spain was a huge exporter of cigarettes back in the day. This was the nicest factory I have ever seen. These people were rolling cigs in style!

Here's the front entrance of the cig factory.

Inside the courtyard of the factory. This man has some huge endorsements for Cigarettes all around the world. We'll call him Marlboro Man. :)

Next we stopped by the Plaza of Spain.One of the most spectacular buildings I have ever seen. It was shaped in a semi-circle with a gorgeous fountain and tile work and carvings to make one stare. This building has been used for administrative offices for the city today and in the past.

There were these huge tile tapestries all around op different cities throughout Spain. I think this one depicted the city of Cadiz.

Mr. Matador and his hot sexy flamenco dancing, booty shaking senorita. Yes, we paid two euro along with every other tourist to get this pic taken. Don't you love this hat on J? HOT!!!

One of the most famous cahtedrals in all of Spain. Very beautiful but closed for the day.

Again, the cathedral.

A tower in Sevilla. Don't know anyting more than that. The tourist map said we should see it. :) Check.

One of the oldest bull rings in Spain. It looked like it had been painted only about 100 times.

The canal that divides the city.

Another night of scouring the city for a hostal. Again it took hours. This was definitely the dumpiest one. Called "Pension La Gloria" we had to share a bathroom with an entire floor (yuk!-we were desperate!) and I am not sure but I think the bed had exactly 264 springs in it. I felt every one. The best part were again the beautiful romantic balcony doors that opened up to the city where an accordion player serenaded us (or more than likely the people at the restaurant below) until about 1 am. Billy took this from his balcony.

The nest morning enjoying the balcony.

The top the the hostal we stayed at had a patio/terrace where we captured a quick pic of the surroundings houses and buildings.

Spain- Volume 2

2011-06-10T20:07:00.000-04:00

We spent the next part of our trip making our way slowly from Madrid to Malaga where our Marriott timeshare was. We stopped at this ancient castle "Castilla de los Condes de Orgaz" in the city of Orgaz. At least that's what the sign said. Too bad we didn't undersrtand a lick of Spanish....I have no idea what this castle was used for etc. Wikipedia just told me it was built in Medieval times. Thank you wikipedia.

Finally we ended up at our destination- the city of Cordoba. As we were reading our handy dandy travel guide the book said, "do not travel to this city during the festival in May". Hmmm...too late for that. It also mentioned that driving a car in this city is a mistake. OOPS! Right off the bat we are offending cordobans right and left. Sure enough the city was CRAZY with young people who traveled from all over to go the biggest festival/carnival I have ever seen. Its there for ten days. It started at midnight according to the front desk helper at our next hostal which again, took hours to find. After hours and thousands of dollars later we found one of the nicest hostals we stayed at Hostal Los Fuentes. We had four single beds in a room and our own bathroom! Nice.

So, what did we do while we in Cordoba? Well, attended the festival of course. Everyone (adults included) were dressed up in their flamenco get-up. These kids were DARLING. I begged for a pic. Look at the little boy on the right...his hat could not be any cuter. That cute little conquistador (as Billy called all Spaniards) girl could have provided heat for the entire country of Russia with the amount of hair she had all.over.her.body. Cute little thing.

The boys especially enjoyed the festival. They even indulged in some serioulsy overpriced rides.

The next morning...all bright -yed and bushytailed. Again, notice the doors that open up to a balcony and the sounds of drunken college students til the wee hours of 4am. Cozy.

The front of the hostal.

This was the outdoor courtyard in the middle of the building. You can't tell its open to the elements of the earth in this pic, but it was. Gorgeous. The tile work and furniture in the courtyard was beautiful. Moving on...... Look for volume three! :)

Meanwhile...

2011-06-09T13:20:00.000-04:00

I come to you with brief intermission from our Spain escapades to bring to you a special post. One with a lot of REALLY important things. Like.... pre-k and kindergarten graduation. What kind of mom would I be if I didn't post the pictures Grandma Jewkes took? :)

And right before we left Jason had his 34th birthday party at Whirly Ball of Atlanta- compliments of Mon and Dad Jewkes. The best birthday present ever! We loved it and we think our friends did too!

Jason in full concentration. I actually did scream, "SMILE!"...but I am pretty sure that getting the ball was significantly more important to him than my photo op.

Let me introduce you...to my party people -J LO

Yes, I just quoted Jennifer Lopez. So what.

Now on to those REALLY important things that I mentioned before....graduations. May I just say I think its ridiculous? I have to steal this conversation/quote below from my friend Teryn's blog but I SOOOOO relate to Mr. Incredible in this conversation and she relates more to Helen. Read on:

Helen: "I can't believe you don't want to go to your own son's graduation!!"

Bob: "It's not a graduation, he's moving from the fourth grade to the fifth grade."

Helen: "It's a ceremony."

Bob: "It's psychotic! They keep coming up with ways to celebrate mediocrity..."

-The Incredibles.

Call me what you will- "heartless", "unsentimental"....whatever. Its just how I feel. I would've gone if I would have been here....trust that. But I didn't not feel guilty missing it and I frankly think its a ridiculous charade of sorts.

Ella saying "adios" to ORRS ELEMENTARY. Hallelujah. I felt a lilttle negligent sending here there for her kindergarten year...but, what can I say? For the rest of her elementary education we will be in Augusta.

Lincoln standing next to his super excited and charming girlfriend at his pre-k graduation.

I guess he sang a song...about frogs. He couldn't remember it to sing it to me when I got home. Now THAT I would've liked to see/hear. Again, take a look at Mrs.Happy girlfriend in the background. What's the chip on HER shoulder? Sheesh. She'll get an opportunity to perform. They all do. Maybe she just misses Lincoln's presence. Whatever the case, she is NOT happy.

Ella is so proud of her brother for following in her footsteps through pre-k. The very same pre=k she attended last year. She's way beyond that now.

Ella's kindergarten teacher's aid- Mrs. Rivera.

Ella's teacher, Mrs. Samples.

Lincoln's teachers Mrs.Wanda and Mrs.Debbie. The cutest ladies ever!

Ella's graduation celebration. In her flamenco dress mind you.

Spain- Volume 1 :)

2011-06-08T09:17:00.000-04:00

Before you read this post and think I am an imbacel...please know that all the words that corresponded to the pics WERE next to each other. Blogger is so......I have no words. So, do your best to make sense of it and I am sorry. UGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

We got to venture out to Spain from May 18-30. We traveled with Jason's brother,Billy, and his wife, Ali. It was a last minute trip...one last hurrah before baby number four takes over my sanity and dental school takes over Jason's. So, we took about 500 picutres. How do you summarize a vacation like that? In volumes I say. Just kidding. I will only give you the highlights! So, here goes:

This Mariachi band was awesome. Isn't that a Mexican thing though? Not sure. This was our first day in Spain. This was after we flew in, got our rental car, drove around for TWO hours "trying to get our bearings" and then all four of us passed out in a parking spot outside of a park for about three hours in the middle of the day. With our mouths open, drooling. Then we got our whits about ourselves, and actaully walked around Madrid. A little aimlessly, yes.

We just loved all the streets in Spain. We took a lot of pics of that. Boring to look at? Perhaps. Fun to remember.

Plaza de Mayor....one of the most famous plazas in Spain. There were goreous X rated murals painted all over the side. I am editing that for my posterity and you.

There were a lot of "weirdos" in the plaza trying to earn money for talents such as dressing as a fat spider man. Isn't he classy?

This sign was historic for us. A monument of sorts. I naiively assumed -upon loosely planning this trip- that finding hostals would be cheap and super easy. Wow. Was I humbled. We searched for two hours on our first night there for an available hostal and then another two finding a ridiculously priced and equally as evasive parking spot. This was just a foreshadowing of our trip in Spain. We (well, most of us...more details on this to come) spent a total of five nights in a hostal. I am so glad we had that experience and we all felt that it was an authentic "european" experience but boy was I wrong about them bing available anf affordable. So, four hours, a million dollars, and lots of sighs in frustration later, we finally collapsed (no exaggeration there) around 10 pm (4am our time) in "Hostal Luna". Only our room had a bathroom and was well-equipped for two weary travelors with two single beds. So much for romance!...as if anyone had any energy. And Billy's luxury suite (sarcastic there) was a smoking suite. Too bad the boys entirely relied upon mine and Ali's Spanish that we learned about 11 years ago for ALL communication. I am pretty confident that I butchered the Spanish language for 12 days. Thus...the smoking room. Sorry Billy and Ali!

Gotta love the open doors in the room overlooking the square. Although noisy, it was so fun to experience the open balconies everywhere. Its always something I envisioned when thinking about Europe. Bad thing about those doors: one thing that we thought was very interesting about Spain...people live to enjoy life. Period. They drink, socialize and eat all night (Seriously. Until like 3am) and then they wake up at like ten and work a few hours and then the shops and all humanity goes down for a siesta for about three hours. If you are Spanish- WHAT A LIFE! If you are traveling and looking for something to do or eat when they are "siesta-ing"...tough luck. So what's that bad thing about the doors I was talking about? The crazy city of Madrid was busteling until 3am (and we heard all the hustle and bustle) and then was dead silent until 10 am. Finding dinner at 6 or 7? You gotta be kidding. No way. They eat like at 8 or 9.

After one day in Madrid we had had enough of the city life and opted to head down to Cordoba for some rural charm. Cordoba- a city we were told we could not miss. I loved the flexibility during the vacation. And that was one really good thing about hostals...you really can fly by the seat of your pants and find something...eventually.

Our hero of a car.

The boys had WAY too much fun with this bull. Highlight of their trip for sure. Stay tuned for Volume two!

It's a....

2011-05-11T20:47:00.000-04:00

SOOOO excited to announce we are going to be welcoming a girl to our brood in early October. I have to admit I was secretly hoping for a girl. But, with conditions. I was wanting a girl for all the fun reasons- the girl dept. is infinitely more fun to shop in, making girl bows and headbands, cute little hair-dos...etc.- but was kicking my feet against having a girl for all the obvious-to-me reasons- drama, fits, emotional roller coaster, etc. Yes, this is Ella. Gotta love her cute little self but sometimes I wonder if her emotions are....well....er...normal for lack of a better word. Do they make Zanex for toddlers? :) JUST KIDDING!!!!!!

So anyway, now we can get on the girl baby name train, I can start making a pretty blanket and bows and headbands and maybe (just maybe) even browse craig's list for some awesome girl bedding. Ella's is six years old and her bedding from her crib is sooo not cute anymore.

Girl names are also way more fun. My husband would strongly disagree. When we found out today we were having a girl he said something to the effect of "Aw....I am disappointed I won't be able to give him a presidential name". Not that he is not THRILLED to be having a girl- he is. But he takes this name thing VERY seriously. What do you guys think of :
Charlotte
Fiona
Scarlett
Norah
Evelyn (calling her Evy -pronounced like levy...except without the -L obviously)

Those are the names at the top of my ever-changing list, in no particular order. Let me know what you think. I have been watching "Pregnant in Heels"....LOVE that show. HI-larious. And there was a couple on the show who were so desperate for help in naming their baby that they hired a maternity concierge ( a new thing/term...only for the really cool and sophisticated people who live in NYC) to help them with it. They went so far as having a poll taken in a public audience along with critiques and everything. So....consider this my poll. :)

And here a few pics just to keep you entertained. :) Grandma Jewkes was here for the past little while. She was a HUGE star in the lives of Ella, Lincoln and even Quincy. She was amazing with the kids and kept them entertained for hours. They wanted to sleep with her and eat by her...the whole nine yards. Here he is, taking her little finger and leading her outside. And of course Quincy is seen here rolling (literally) around with my Dad's dog- Ranger. To say he is obsessed is an understatement. I found two ticks on him recently that I am sure came from Ranger. Ranger is treated but I think the ticks just travel on him. I have a theory, but I won't bore you.

Peace and destruction

2011-05-02T15:17:00.000-04:00

This is one of my longest posts....ever. Sorry to jam it so full but I think you will see why.

The Atlanta temple has been closed for 22 months for renovations. It was just reopened and was open to the public for an open house. Jason was able to be an usher. The kids and I were able to go up the day he volunteered and take a tour. They LOVED it. They loved seeing where mommy and daddy got married (although b/c of the remodel the room really isn't there any more). They loved the beautiful artwork and chandeliers and the PEACE they felt.

How handsome are Link and Quincy in this three piece matching suit? Love it. This is our family almost 8 years after we got married in this very spot. Who would've thought we would be standing here 8 years later with 3 1/2 children. Crazy. Multiply and replenish the earth....we take it very seriously. :) I am kidding.

Jason is SOOOO good at working with his hands. One reason why I KNOW he will be an excellent dentist. He has an eye for detail and has the patience to see things through. He is in the process of building this ottoman. Amazing, right??? He built it from scratch and then painted and antiqued it. It even has a drawer and in-lays (which he carved by hand). He's going to put tufted leather on top. Can't wait for the finished product. Promise I will post a pic.

Ok.....now on to the destruction part of my post. I am sure you have all read/heard or even witnessed the destruction that took over the south last week. On Wed. (technically Thurs. morning) night around midnight Brooks was hit by a tornado traveling 140 miles per hour, with a path of twenty miles and was a half mile wide. I was oblivious to what was going on and just thought it was a bad storm. None of us slept b/c of the storm. All the kids were in bed with us trembling b/c of the thunder and lightning. Around midnight I do remember there being a really intense part of the storm where there seemed to be constant lightning for about ten min. straight. Other than that- nothing. We lost power, but we always lose power. It was pitch black after the storm passed and it was hard to sleep that night with all the kids smothering us in the queen bed and the heat. The next day I even got Ella ready for school. I sent her off with Jason and then picked up my phone and noticed the school called at 5:01 am leaving a msg that school was cancelled for the day. Hmmmm. So I called Jason and told him to turn around and bring her back. He immediately came home and told me to get in the car. He drove us all just half a mile away to HWY 16 where everything around had been devastated by the storm. There were power lines and trees all over this main road. But what I noticed mainly was the destruction all around. Houses flattened, trees uprooted or just ripped. Yet, half a mile away (less really) we didn't even have a branch out of place. All of the following pictures were no more than 2 miles away and as close as half a mile. The smell of fresh cut wood was rampant. It soaked the air. The storm was so concentrated. Ella and Lincoln were consumed the entire day with all of their friends and family and were wondering if they were ok. Lincoln said, "Mom, I am so sad. Jesus' world is broken". They were so eager to help and so sympathetic.

There are clothes in this tree. Can you see them?? And other household items...part of a couch? Not sure.

Mattress and monopoly.

This (and the following several pictures) was once a beautiful colonial home and equestrian farm. The people that were inside were miraculously unharmed but two of their horses were found miles away. They had to be put them down due to their injuries. The tornado DESTROYED (not damaged- destroyed) 400 homes in Griffin and 17 businesses.

The rubble of their house.

The barn that housed 17 horses.

Close-up of the barn.

This used to be a forest. All of the trees throughout the twenty miles that tornado went through are GONE. Ripped in half really...or up-rooted.

These pics (thanks to blogger.....don't bet me started) are WAY out of order. More tornado pics below.

Quincy's favorite place at Grandma and Grandpa's- pond. Yes, it scares me.

Kids enjoying the gorgeous weather.....and each other. For now.

J dawg celebrated his 34th birthday on the 18th.

Billy gave him this dagger....er....knife...whatever.

WE got a chance to go to St.Simon's Island for Spring break and Easter with Grandma and Grandpa Allred. It was so fun!

Easter egg hunt at the beach house.

The kids enjoyed the beach soooo much. It made the beach so enjoyable. They just wanted to play in the sand and beach ALL.DAY.LONG.

The first day we were there Lincoln scraped up his knee really good on the rocks that have the sharp seashells stuck to it. See pic below. I will spare you the pic of his gore-y knee. Ew. Anyway, so he resorted to jumping the waves like this. Guess which knee is injured? :)

Our family. Easter pic. I had the boys dressed alike- so cute. And I had a cute matching dress for Ella....but her entire suitcase got left home and so she rotated two outfits our entire beach trip.

SO much twisted metal everywhere. Twisted like a paper clip.

This house is VERY close to us. Less than half a mile.

Two people who live on this road (Lakeview) died. 8 people in griffin died.

Cows were everywhere. The fences were gone.

This house (on Lakeview...the afore mentioned road) is a house Jason and I put a contract on and fully intended on moving into. Things changed obviously.....Boy, aren't we glad now? I was able to speak to the owner. He was sleeping in the right corner. He said the roof/ceiling just came down on him. He was uninjured.

This house is directly behind the house that we almost bought. The entire top is GONE. There belongings are spread everywhere. There were two bedrooms upstairs. No one was sleeping in them the night of the twister. No one in this house was harmed.

The people in the above house rummaging through the rubble.

MAJOR Catch-up

2011-03-26T08:42:00.000-04:00

I know....I know. I have major catch-up to do. There are several reasonable explanations for why I have not been blogging. February was one of the craziest months EVAH! Within one week we:

1) Found renters to rent our house for two years and then they want to purchase it after that. Only stipulation- they wanted us to be out in two weeks! We weren't really preparing to rent it until summer (we aren't going to dental school until August) but we couldn't refuse these guys. They are awesome renters.

2) Found out we were inexplicably pregnant. Yup. I have been in denial. We are due with Allred version 4.0 here in early October. That's my biggest excuse as to why I have not been blogging as I have been doing a TON of sleeping and eating.

3) We finally sold our Mazda 5.

4) We started packing and preparing to move in with none other then Mom and Dad Jewkes. LUCKY THEM! Getting the computer set-up and me motivated to blog again after an exhausting month....well, it took awhile.

5) We cut Ella's hair. That's an understatement- we chopped off about eight inches. There's only so much milk-drenched hair I could take. And the milk-drenched hair led to crusty hair which led to a lot of crying when it came time to brush it.

6) Quincy walks!

Again- I have a lot of catching up to do like I said so here are just some random pics from February. Cute kids ready for church. Love dressing the boys alike. So cute!

The kids' favorite pet horsey- Dad. Notice the boxes in the background.

We did make time shortly after the whirlwind of moving to take a quick vacay down to Destin for Emily's last trip with us. Jason was even able to join us. The beach was gorgeous and the weather was all-in-all (for Feb.) pretty amazing, as was the company.

Best buds- Cooper and Link. Lincoln is SO sad that "pooker" moved to ABQ. Or Alba"turkey" as they say.

This was Quincy's first real experience with sand. I wasn't exactly sure how he would react. When Ella was his age she would FLIP out if we even thought about placing her on the sand. We started out slow. First, we put him on a tarp on the sand.

Not sure what to think of it.

"Hey- I love sand!"

"I even love being naked in the sand!"

Rolling in the sand was his favorite.

He would run and then trip resulting in a face plant and it wouldn't even phase him. He didn't mind getting sand in every hole and crevasse.

Just chillin.

Feeding the birds some cheetos, bread, pretzels- whatever!

Building sand castles.

We even went all the way to FL to celebrate Ella's sixth birthday. :) At least that what she tells people. I was even nice enough to pick up a "Tangled" cake. We went and played black light putt-putt too.

The whole clan. All here just for Ella's birthday! Happy sixth Ellie!

The Debilitating Blizzard of 2011 :)

2011-01-11T19:30:00.000-05:00

Seriously debilitating. :) We are going on three days of school being cancelled. UGH. That's the worst part. And everyone around is going stir crazy b/c they are scared to drive on the ice. I laughed at that. I often laugh in the face of fear. :) Alas, I ate some humble pie today when I took the kids to McDonald's for a release from the prison of the house and I got stuck on a huge patch of ice in the parking lot. Preceded by a nice fall flat on my back. To which Lincoln chuckled with delight. A nice chivalrous man gave the van a little push and I was off the patch of ice. Thanks bud!
So we drove to Grandma and Grandpa Allred's for some snow fun. Which included being pulled behind the four wheeler/truck thingie by a sled. Jason thought he should try a mixture of surfing and sledding. It didn't work out so well.
Does this pic kind of give you an idea of what we were doing? Link and Hayden are in the sled.

The Hutchings even braved the ice-y roads to have a little fun.

Sledding first thing in the morning at Grandma and Grandpa Jewkes'.

This facial expression is why I call her angel. :)

Jason did all the work. I did all the watching. HA! Fun Fun. There is hardly any snow. I know. But there's so much ice everywhere that it made the hills plenty slippery.

Lincoln making silly faces in the truck.

Ella enjoying a little snack of ice chips.

Now moving on.......

Over New Year's we went up to north GA and rented a house courtesy of mom and dad Jewkes (thanks mom and dad for that Christmas present!!!). We were nice enough to invite the Hutchings and Forsyths. :) It was really fun. WE had so many fun things planned from tennis, to hiking, to playing soccer. The plans were foiled when on the 2nd day it rained the.whole.day. Sooo...we enjoyed the finer things in life- McDonald's. Jason even ate two cheeseburgers and fries and hot chocolate. It was big. For those of you know Jason you know how big this is.

The first day it was decent enough so the guys went golfing and we entertained the kids at the park.
Emily, Mercy, me and the cutest boy in the world- Quincy.

All the kids. There were 10. Looking at this picture I can't believe we all stayed in a 4 bedroom place. It was actually quite peaceful.

Quincy's favorite boy of the weekend- Mitchell.

Soccer scrimmage with the kids. Mitchell and I played against Emily and Mercy and a few kids. Victorious!!!!!! My Griffin Bears' days paid off. :)

Now back to the blizzard. Are you with me? I know, its confusing. I am all over the place with this post. I don't have the energy to move everything around. Here is Ella again...insisting she must wear sunglasses to play in the snow.

Kailey and the kiddos jumping on the trampoline with the snow.

Back to our New Year's now....:).....all the little monkeys not jumping on the bed....but watching a movie in peace while the adults played games. So sweet.

And just two random pictures of Ella pulling Q around in the wagon. Could this last pic be any cuter???

The long-awaited, much anticipated, Christmas post

2011-01-06T14:02:00.000-05:00

This is long-awaited and much anticipated, right? Fans....right? I feel like my blog is falling on deaf ears. Oh well. I live a well-documented life and that's important to me. So here we go...The Allred Christmas Season: Part One. Once again, the pics are backwards....I really need to get a handle on that.

Obviously the kids got bikes for Christmas from Santa. And he brought them each a fish. They each got their own fish jar and the makings of a fish home. They are disgusting and murky as I speak. Gross. What was I thinking? Anywho....Jason and I feared (I mean Santa feared) that the kids would be disappointed in the bikes since neither of them even mentioned wanting one. But, as good parents often do {*chuckle*}, they give their kids what they want them to have. Jason and I wanted them to have things that encourage them to be outside. So, this is what they got. And when Ella got it she said, "Oh....I didn't know I wanted a bike! ". How hilarious. She just knew that Santa was supposed to bring her things she wanted. But this was said in total happiness, not disappointment. YEAH! Proud mommy moment.
Each kid with their Betta fish. Ella named hers Brianna (which she wants to name our baby girl if we ever have one) and Lincoln named his....can't remember.

Lincoln not sure why he ended up with a bike from Santa.

The running of the bulls....er...... kids.

Grandma and Grandpa Jewkes were in CO for the Christmas season and since it was a "Jewkes" year we spent the night at Mom and Dad's with the Hutchings and had Christmas morning together. It was fun to have a crowd and would have been lonely on our own.

Not a good picture of the pre-rip-apart-my-presents scene. The Christmas tree isn't even in it. But you get the idea.

This was the Sunday before Christmas that I deemed Christmas Sunday. I am in charge of those things you know. :) So, I coordinated the kiddos and they looked scrumptious. Quincy loved being poked in the ear by Lincoln. See?

These two pics were the best we could manage as we were running out the door to 9 a.m. church. Cute a little buttons!

Its begininning to smell a lot like Christmas

2010-12-04T21:16:00.000-05:00

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.....

2010-12-02T11:40:00.000-05:00

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'

2010-11-30T20:52:00.000-05:00

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!!!!!

2010-11-18T08:57:00.000-05:00

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

2010-11-17T13:38:00.000-05:00

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!

2010-11-09T09:33:00.000-05:00

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.

2010-10-31T21:50:00.000-04:00

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.

2010-10-14T13:38:00.000-04:00

The kids are out for fall break this entire week PLUS next Monday. Do you hear disappointment in my voice? Nah.... :) It is very hard having them all at home when I am so used to them being at school for a portion of the day. So, we took advantage of their time off and went to the Atlanta zoo with our cousins.

Ella boarding the ridiculously short and over-priced train.

The kids LOVED the petting zoo.

They all had a very rushed haircut before zoo day. I hate it but Lincoln (the 3rd to get clipped) really suffered. See? His hair was getting soooo cute and long. I loved it and I totally butchered it. UGH. He doesn't even care. But I think he overheard me telling someone that I messed it up and he innocently/self-consciously asked, "Mom, what does my haircut look like?". I could've responded, "Well, Link, have you seen 'Dumb and Dumber'?".

These are our little baby birds trying to get a worm from their mommies.

Self-proclaimed super model Ella was kind enough to pose with her plebeian cousins. Get it girl!

Weird but somehow cute.

Even though this picture is hard to look b/c of the blurry factor, it's the cutest little facial expression I have ever seen. Oh my gosh....if only I could make a cast of this little face just like this. He's going to be one in less then a month. *Sniffle*. I CANNOT believe it. Everyone says that, but I am FO REAL. It seems like just last month that I had to wake Jason up at 3:15 a.m. to get him to take me to the hospital and then bam!- Quincy was here. I still find myself looking at the 0-3 mo. section in the baby dept. still thinking he might be able to fit into that size.

I just have to brag a little a give a little tip at the same time. So, I am not usually one to dress my kids up in holiday wear. Really, I am not. But if I see something cute and cheap, I will go for it. So every year I go out about 2-3 days after Halloween and shop all the bargains. Last year my best finds were at Marshall's. I found tons of AWESOME decor (and tasteful) and this cute 3 pc. outfit for $5. Can't beat that! Ella is in love with it.

Happy Fall Ya'll!

2010-09-26T20:36:00.000-04:00

Hallelujah!!!!! Fall has begun. Translation: it is below 90- degrees in GA. It has been so hot up until this weekend that our upstairs AC unit couldn't keep up. It would get up to 84 degrees upstairs. Swelterting to sleep in. Goo thing I sleep in seventy-six degree comfort downstairs! Poor kids. :)

Qunicy's main mode of trasporation these days- Ella. Either she carts him around or drags him by his arms while he giggles with delight.

S'mores. First of the season. Total and utter delight.

Mother tested kid approved. S'more's with Reeses. Definitely. Thanks Jen for the tip.

Could these S'more faces be any cuter?

We had fall craft night again this year at my place. Remember the "Harvest" blocks from last year? Well, we did it again. This project was inspired and organized by Emily and cost about $5 to make. So cute!

The Magic Man

2010-09-18T14:46:00.000-04:00

I love Mr. Eraser. I know you all do too. Something that gets permanent marker off the wall? A must for a mother with toddlers. Today, the magic man achieved what I thought would be impossible. My friend and I were coloring each others' hair in an effort to save money. Thanks to my sister Julie (a hair dresser), I am able to get the professional products and professional advice. I set out towels under our chairs and everything. I thought I took every precaution because this stuff stains. After my friend left, I noticed a HUGE circle of dye that leaked through the towel on to the floor. And a long drip by the oven on the floor. And a big (about 8 inch) drip on my cupboard doors. *GULP*. First thought: Jason's gonna flip. I didn't believe the magic eraser would actually work. Obviously it did or I would not be writing a post. Instead I would be writing asking all of you how to re-finish little spots of floor/cupboards. Wow. He really is magic. Who'da thunk?

Jason is at the BYU-FL game today down on Tallahassee. He went down with some friends and his brother Ben last night. Everyone knows I am the BIGGEST chicken. Jason knows this all too well. He asked me to turn the sprinkler off when I got home from yesterday. He was already on his way to the game. I went out and he had strategically placed a snake skin on the door mat. Yes, I screamed. It looked like a real snake.

GO COUGS!!!

Then the other night we had to vacate the house at 11:30 at night with our children b/c our genius neighbor decided it was a good idea to try and shoot an armadillo (aren't those things made of armor or something anyway?) and he missed and hit his propane line. So, the firemen told us we had to vacate. Soooo....we went conveniently down the street to my moms. Sleep was lost. But oh well. BTW...I just want to add that I haven't seen that neighbor and I keep on expecting him to come apologize for his asinine behavior and for making my family vacate at 11:30 at night. RUDE. That's not the point. On to Jason and the things he does to scare me....So we went to my mom's to sleep. I won't go into details but there's been a lot of snake sitings in places where snakes should not be. I mentioned this to him on our way over. So what does my sensitive husband do? He puts a very realistic snake under my pillow. You can guess what happened. Thanks Honey!

AH.......I digress. On to what my point is......

So, like I said, Jason is in FL. Every time he goes out of town I have a sleepless night. I play out scenarios in my head of things that could happen to my children while I -seemingly-carelessly and irresponsibly sleep. Such are the thoughts of someone overtired. I review in my mind where the gun is (don't even ask....) and how to operate it, what our escape plan would be. I sleep by my phone in case I need to call 9-1-1. Ridiculous things. I thought maybe if I had a little company in my bed I would sleep better. And for some reason I got a lot of comfort from letting Lincoln sleep with me. He protected me last night. Thank you Lincoln for your bravery, smelly toots, kicks, talking, etc. I actually did sleep better.

My fearless protector.

See how strong he is?

Why do I have pictures of combat and candy and cheese, etc? Well, it's not to display our ant problem. I got all of this stuff for $27 last week. It's value was $98. In case you can't see everything there are ten bags of nestle candy, six bags of Kraft cheese, two bags of green giant veggies, 3 jars of Newman's own pasta sauce....ok, now I am bragging. I will stop. You can see. I would just like to point out though that the combat alone worth around $18. Oh, and the grapes were not on sale. I payed full price. Which was about 3 or 4 dollars. WOW!!!! Good times at Publix.

No longer an angel

2010-09-01T16:08:00.000-04:00

I think my little Quincy is channeling a little AC/DC behavior- rebellion. Whatever it is...he has definitely turned over a new leaf. Although I am of course still crazy about the kid, my expressions of "Quincy, NO!" are already getting more and more frequent.
First of all, he has discovered not only how to open cupbaords but has discovered this specific cupboard which I desperately need to get clips on. There are a million tiny peices in this thing. It used to be Link's favorite play spot. He would pull out everything, several times a day. I am bracing for that. Or, I could be smart and just buy a clip from Wal-mart. But where's the fun in that?

My brother-in-law Billy was here about a week ago and he said the funniest, true-est thing about Quincy. He said Quincy has "dandelion" hair and he felt like if he just blew it and made a wish that wish would come true. So accurate of his little blond duck fuzz.

This is his most recent facial expression. He makes this when he is really excited. Which, bless his sweet little heart, is really often. He will flex all the muscles in his tiny adorable body and scream "AH!" and make this face.

He loves to stand on things now, wriggle out of my lap only to escape onto some filthy floor and crawl around. He loves to rip the floor guard fuzzy things off the bottoms of our kitchen stools and suck on them. Loves to suck on the shopping cart or movie theater seat. He is showing an increasing amount of interest in the stairs and he loves love loves to hit the spoon of baby food right out of my hands so it splatters artistically. FUN FUN. Oh, and play in the ashes of my fireplace. Oh, and now he cries when he goes to sleep (just for a minute or two) hoping that Daddy will come back. And he usually does.

But we love him.

Especially his adorable blue eyes and perma grin.

Lucky Numero Seven

2010-08-17T08:29:00.000-04:00

When we started out on our trip to celebrate our seven year anniversary, this was how happy we were. We headed up to South Carolina upcountry to The Red Horse Inn.

It was fine details like as simple as this gold vent cover that made our little cottage a piece of homely heaven. Beautiful finishings on these cottages, that were finished by hand by two hopeless romantics, kept me in awe. There hand written notes, rose petals, ribbons wrapped on wash cloths....etc.
Our private cottage, "Carriage Bay".

From this ten foot handmade door with antique hooks.....

To the self-designed main house that had constant angel-like music playing from ....the mountains for all I know. Was it my imagination?

To the breakfast placed carefully in our fridge for us to eat at our convenience...with freshly squeezed orange juice and creme fraische for our grapes and granola. YUM.

To the amazingly immaculately kept grounds.

Jason and I made sure to take time to enjoy the simple beauties and make adventure for ourselves.

We took a walk down an unmarked trail through the woods and even found remains of.....??? And turkey feathers....

We enjoyed the beautiful surroundings, complete with ferns everywhere.

We ventured out to some local land marks. This is South Carolina's only remaining historical covered bridge built in 1909??? Does this not remind you of the covered bridge in "Beetle Juice"? Perhaps it was...

Thought it looked cool in B&W.

Then we set off on another adventure to find another historical landmark- "Poinsett Bridge". This was built in 1820. It was part of the main road from Greenville, SC to Asheville, NC.

There were HUGE beautiful monarch butterflies everywhere.

Another covered bridge. This was was cool but not as historical. Ballenger's Mill Bridge.

The restored Ballenger's grist mill.

Then on our way out of the Ballenger's Mill compound we stumbled across this house. I have always wanted to go into old houses, but never had the moment to....

So, we seized the moment...It was unlocked!

This was fireplace. We are assuming it was really inefficient once the house was updated and got heating and air and so they covered the fireplace with stone.

I wanted to take this fixture with me...no one is using it. I resisted. Jason's head almost touched the ceiling. And the house was so uneven (the ceiling, floor, walls, etc.) that I literally had vertigo just walking through it. You know those "Fun houses" at fair where the mirrored walls move and so you feel like you are moving??? That's what I felt like. Like the house was moving.

CREEPY.

We spent a lot of time walking through antique stores. Jason was admiring and trying on this....underwater gear??? We did make a few AWESOME purchases. Jason found a suit for $10....just his size. I found Q a rockin AC/DC shirt. And for myself I got this circa 1985 puma sweatshirt.....TBC later on that....:)

What I was trying to capture was.....

THIS. There were wild turkeys everywhere. These were right behind Jason's head in the above picture. Right outside our door.

The garden at the main house. With a lily pond.