Christmas at the beach

On Christmas day we went with my side of the family down to St.Simon's Island for the weekend. We stayed in a GORGEOUS house and enjoyed each others' company and the beautiful weather.
Here are the stats from the weekend:
-3 boys brushed their teeth with hydro cortisone cream
-$200 poorer for pushing cousin Parker in the pool with his camera and phone
-20 people in a 4 bedroom house. In consequence.....
-3 nights of no sleep
-6 people squeezing on a bike
-15 people squeezing in a tree
-2-Jake Hutchings winning American Idol twice (once I was the runner up...YEAH!). We didn't even know he sang. He does. On a side note I would like to say Jason has since claimed the title of American Idol. He scored 85,000 points on "Come Sail Away" by Styx.
-3...the number of times we watched "Mama Mia"
-2- our two kids slept in Grandma and Grandpa's room. THANK YOU!!!!
J and Link strolling along the beach.
Family picture after the hot tub.
Ella's playmates of the week- her cousins, the twins, Sophia and Lillian.

Link has a secret love for Beau. He just chooses to show it by screaming at him and telling him to go to time-out.
Ella making a sand angel. It's as close as we get in GA to making snow angels.
Ella looking classy as ever.


We were so lucky no one fell out. It was VERY crowded.
We look thrilled. I know. Maybe it's because we are very close to the beach's shark infested waters. Seriously, St.Simon's Is. has some of the most shark infested waters. You couldn't pay me to stick my toe in that water. People fish for sharks off the pier. Ew.
We had SO much fun renting these bikes. Ella and Link couldn't get enough.

Lincoln's totally ineffective helmet. He would NOT put it on correctly and he refused to take it off. He was trying to make a fashion statement.

Squeezing into Emily's van on the way to renting bikes. Safe, I assure you. I think we squeezed about 12 people in there. Four in the trunk alone. It was a good excuse to cuddle.

Ella enjoying the pool. When she got out she was purple for about an hour. It was kind of cold to be swimming on Friday.
Link being the terror that he is throwing water on people. He even had the audacity to sneak up on Grandma and pour a bucket of chilly water down her clothed back. Sorry!
This is Jason's idea of a vacation. Mine too I guess. But someone's gotta make sure the kids don't drown. J works so hard...he deserves it. We had so much fun. Thanks for taking us Poppy and Grandma Becky!

Christmas

This is Ella's new kitchen. She makes a mean lunch!


This is Lincoln's Thomas the train tent. When I put it on the list for Grandma and Grandpa Allred I had no idea we would have to build an addition to our house to fit it inside. OOPS!!

One of Lincoln's favorite toys. This was a tool box from Santa. It's awesome b/c the tool box actually looks a lot like Jason's. Link hasn't put it down since and the goggles....well, they don't come off the head.
Ella's Christmas loot from Santa. This year we celebrated Santa at Poppy and Grandma Jewkes' house. Santa knew we were there. Smart guy.
Link's loot.
The classic stair photo.
Allred Family getting ready to see what Santa brought.

Christmas...another one has flown by. This year I have to say it lacked a little bit of the Christmas spirit for me. Maybe it's because we weren't able to give as much as usual with the economy the way it was. We received a ton. I believe the age-old adage, "'tis far better to receive than to give". Yes, yes, it's true. We were the "Kranks" this year. SORRY!!!! It was so fun to see the kids rip open their presents. They were excited for about the first ten, then when Ella started saying, "I don't want that"...I knew it was too much. UGH. Maybe it was because almost everything I got her was from a garage sale. I take pride in that by the way. Here's my re-cap:
Sounds of Christmas
"Mommy....open!"
"I don't want THAT"
"When do we open more presents?"
"Can I have this candy?"
"That's mine!"
and
"Thank you" preceded by a , "_______ , say thank you".

Rock n' roll baby

Last weekend our friends hosted a rock band party. Jason was the star in my book. His falsetto is amazing. He can rock some "Journey" or "Styx". I am your biggest FAN!!!

First and foremost, my best friend and roommate from college came to visit me. It was a gift to her from her generous husband, Dustin. Thanks Dustin! We had so much fun just being giggly girls and reminiscing. Alicia is such a good mommy and was a great example to me of how to have joy in motherhood.


How much does Jason look like Colonel Sanders from KFC? A lot...I know. We had so much fun making ginger bread houses for FHE. Jason was a great sport and let me put icing on his face. I think he'll age well...the white looks good on him!
Link on Grandma and Grandpa's tire swing. This is the look of pure joy.



Last week the city of Hampton (where Jason manages the dental office) had a parade. The kids were ecstatic to see real reindeer. They were fearless when it came to riding on the float too. The picture of Lincoln and Jason is from the float.

O Christmas Tree...

We did it again....we managed to get the most beautiful Christmas tree at an amazing price, while having an old fashioned experience. What more could you ask for? There is the GREATEST tree farm in Griffin. This is our 2nd year going to this farm....and it did not disappoint. We found this voluptuous beauty right away for meager $36 and some sweat on Jason's part. Call it love at first sight. We knew it would fit perfectly in our dining room window. Jason got down and cut down the tree like a real man. GRRRR.

VICTORY.......VICTORY!!!! You're so strong!!!

The following pictures slightly capture the excitement Ella has for Christmas trees, presents, candy canes, and all things festive. I have never seen her so excited for something. And, to my excitement and advantage, this is the first year we have been able to use this line, "Ella, you need to be a good girl so Santa will bring you presents.". IT WORKS!! I've been waiting for this year to come...when I could milk that line for all it's worth. When does that line take effect for the following year? February? Let me know.

Ella's idea of how to decorate a Christmas tree. All the decorations go on one branch, right mom?
Ready for church on Sunday.

The finished product...with lights only.

Day of Gluttony

Jason giving Link some golfing tips. We had so much fun at this park in the batting cage and on the driving range.

Jason and Jake trimmed the turkey and then chewed on some bones. Men are dogs, right? :)

My dead sexy husband who has an affinity for Hugh Jackman. Who wouldn't? We saw Australia over the weekend and we were all a little obsessed with him after.

Ella is auditioning to be in "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". I think she's mastered the look. We were hoping for a Christmas card winner (ao we took about a millions pictures)....no winners yet.

Ella and Jason building a domino train to knock down. This was Jason's idea of fun on Thanksgiving. He's such a kid at heart.

Initially we were going to Augusta for T-giving. Our nephew is immune suppressed due to chemo (he has childhood leukemia) and since Link was protruding green snot.....we didn't want to pass the love to T-bone. As you can see, it was a good choice. Link has woken up everyday with this green love juice coming out of his nose.

The kids loved playing in the pile of leaves. It was so fun for them and for me to watch. So cute!! Again no family pictures that we really loved. Maybe we should hire a pro. No....I'm too cheap. We'll go for round two soon.

.

THE NEXT MONET

So I think Ella has some serious talent and I have NO idea where she got it from. I don't believe that I am looking at this subjectively, because I am fully aware that my children do NOT succeed at everything....believe me. Anyhow...I was totally surprised/impressed when Ella showed me this picture that she drew. When I asked her what it was she said it was a monkey. Ella is THREE. Am I being biased? I don't think so.....let me know if I am. I think we have a little artist on our hands. So cute!



This past weekend Emily and threw a Murder mystery dinner/party with a Halloween theme. I know...a little delayed. We had it scheduled a while back but it got cancelled. It was so fun. Everyone got into their characters and the night was a success. Here are some pics form the evening. Jason is obviously a dead sexy vampire and I am a pig looking pumpkin. It was a creepy mask but I cut off the bottom so i could do my favorite thing- EAT!

Enjoying a play date with Riley at our local library. The kiddos got to go in the fire truck. Link was actually scared, but Ella loved it.

Two weekends ago I got to go with Emily and our good friend Meredith to Time Out for Women in Nashville. Although I was drugged up on Lortab (thanks to dry sockets from my wisdom teeth....yes, I am eating humble pie. I know in a recent post I talked about how painless getting wisdom teeth out was. It was ...until I developed dry sockets...ugh)I vaguely remember aprts of the trip! :) Just kidding. We had so much fun just being together and being girls. Jason wins the dad on the month award. He not only had the kids and took exquisite care of them for almost three days, but he actually took them to a fun indoor park thing and cleaned the house so I could prepare for a guest.

The night we got home from Time out for Women, one of my best friends and cousin, Katie flew in from MN to visit for a week. I have had two friendships in life like this...the kind where you know what each other is thinking and you just get each other. Katie is one of those. It was soo fun to be together. This pic is taken at our favorite local BBQ restaurant, Cafe Pig. Delicious!!!
On a rather small sidenote...I would just like to say that Twilight was one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Katie and I almost couldn't sit through it. UGH. The music, the development of relationships, the lack of digital enhancements....ugh. These were the top three worst moments of teh movie for me:
1) When Edward said to Bella, "come one little spider monkey"....Kaite and I busrt out laughing.
2) When Bella learns that Edward can practically fly and climb up trees, they aer on top of this tree adn she is climbing around on it like a circus act. Mr.Overprotective Edward would have never let her do that.
3) When Edward tells Bella that she is his life...I felt juvenile for participating in such a ridiculous movie. Seriously, Mr. Movie editor??? They have had about one conversation and one kiss. There was no chemistry and no relationship to the viewer at this point. I cringed when he said it.
4) When Edward and James are fighting in Ballet hall, Carlisle says, "remember who you are". Another cringe. Was that Stephenie Meyer's idea? CHEESE.
5) All in all, I could deal with the innaccuracies and loose interpretaions of the book (like the Cullen's house being this modern mansion when it's supposed to be this white plantation style home) but the part that was so bothersome to me and seriously lacking, was the character and relationship development.
Oh, I said three thins that bothered me didn't I? I guess I got off on a tangent. Sorry to all you die hard fans. It was entertaining, I will give say that. It just felt like a low-budget made for TV movie.