For your veiwing pleasure

Of course these are all on here on reverse order. I don't get why blogger does that. It's annoying.Anyway, we've had a very eventful past two weeks. I am aware that this is Allred overload. Sorry. And I posted another one below this post.

The Easter egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa Allred's was so much fun. The kids raked in plenty of candy for me! :) And the tradition of putting jelly beans on the trampoline was Link's favorite part.

Baby Quincy not a fan of the tramp/. I would just like to note that he and I are both balding. UGH. There is gobs of hair in my shower daily and in his crib. Sad. The sepia pic is just a reminder of how plentiful his hair was.
Handsome Mr. Allred.


Grandma Jewkes took Ella out on a date to cousin Kailey's ballet recital and then to ice cream.
We took a last minute trip down to St. Simon's Island last week.
.
All the monkeys. To think we all jammed into a 12 passenger van to go down. There were four kids in the back row, three in the next row, then three adults in the next and then two adults in the front. It was kind of loud. Kind of.
I can't get them to dress alike that often. This was the best pic I could get.
This huge pelican must've been a 40 lb. creature. It was HUGE and we just walked right up to it on the pier.

We had way too much with the jet bath. All we had to do was add a little dish soap and the jets did all the work.
Just a little cute crack.




We like crack.
Lukey in goggle is for some reason hilarious. Look at his ears. So cute.



At home in the bath with Quincy. This is their first bath together. Are you supposed to put the bumbo in the bath? Probably not.

Finally, this Easter egg hunt was on the 27th or March at a local neighborhood. It was FREEZING. I would just like to note that today it is 90 degrees. UGH. Way too hot for April.

Country Living

These pictures should make you jealous! :) Although it can be quite frustrating to live so far out.....there is unprecedented beauty. I took these a couple weeks ago. It had been a dark rainy day and then out of no where the sun came out. Along with sun were two very vivid rainbows. All the while it was still raining. Take into consideration that these were taken by a VERY unskilled photographer- me- and with my little canon. Imagine if I had real skills! We got to witness and once a year beautiful moment- the Japanese magnolias. This was not my tree. Oh, how I wish it were. They only last about a week and the blossoms are majestic.

THIS is what's wrong with Americans....

I am a creature of habit. Many of us Jewkes ladies are. I can pretty much tell you what I am doing on any given day of the week. On Thursdays I go to the gym and run. Then I go to the office in Hampton to use the internet and print off my coupons and shopping list off of my favorite website that saves me bumloads of money- southernsavers.com. It helps that the "chilrens" get to see their daddy while I am occupied on the internet. Then I go to McDonald's in Lovejoy and let Lincoln run around the playplace whilst I cut and clip my coupons for the week, saving me $100 this week alone. YEAH! Meanwhile eating lunch and feeding baby love Quincy. I go to get Lincoln some much needed ketchup I push the pump down only to be squirted by what smelled like rotten ketchup. I am convinced it was sour becasue it was orange, not red. Ew. It spewed EVERYWHERE. There were two innocent and unharmed bystanders. One was a very well-dressed middle-aged man. As soon as it happened I looked around (with ketchup spotted all over me) hoping someone at McDonald's would offer an apology and perhaps fix the problem (and maybe give me some complimentary ice cream or something). The middle-aged man immediately pounced on the situation and this was the foloowing conversation:
Man: Mam, are you ok?
Me: I am fine.....I just have ketchup all over me.
Man: Are you hurt?
Me: (I look at him incredulously) Hurt? No, I fine.
Man: Yes you are. You are hurt. Here's my card. You should sue.
Me: Are you serious?
Man: Yes. You should sue. You ARE hurt.
Me: Seriously? (I could not beleive this man)
Man: Yes. Here, take my card.
Me: Sir, I don't beleive in that. That's the reason why things are overpriced. Because of needless lawsuits.
Man: Ok. But I just won a man $10,000 for getting coffee spilt on him. In my opinion McDonalds needs to take a page out of the Chick-fil-a handbook.

TOUCHE! They certainly do. But really? A lawsuit for ketchup? RIDICULOUS. THAT'S what's wrong with Americans. Oh, and the new healthcare bill paying for abortions. That too.

Now....on to my routine-filled week.

St.Thomas

We went on a "business trip" to St. Thomas (in the US Virgin Islands) last weekend with my mother and father-in-law. We talked at LOT of business. :) Here are some pics.
Bob and Jason para-sailing.

Para-sailing was so much fun and so much more relaxing than I had ever thought. Bob took a picture of the rope to scare me into thinking it might snap. We were flying high above St.Thomas at 600 feet.

The beach that was laid at right outside our hotel unbelievable.

Jason and Bob's favorite thing to do- catch iguanas. These things were very fierce looking and the size of dogs.
No explanation needed.
Bob becoming an islander.


This man was trying to earn a few bucks from the tourists riding by with his goat Madonna. Yes, we got succored in. It was a cute goat.


This beach is called Magen's Bay. It was rated one of the top ten beaches in the world by National Geographic. BEAUTIFUL.

The harbor.
On the balcony of our hotel.
The outdoor taxi that we took from our airport to our hotel. Perfectly safe, I assure you.
We had so much fun. Thank you Bob and Julie! Quincy was the perfect traveling companion and I was reminded how much easier it is to have a little baby than a toddler on vacation.

The Boys

I don't know what is up with this first pic. It looks like I took it with my camera phone. Anyway, this was Lincoln attempting to take of his shirt the wrong way.

Quincy falling asleep in his favorite place- in his daddy's lap.
Their night time routine. Quincy and Jason enjoy Bill O'Reilly nightly.
This is soooo stinking cute. And big. We know where he gets that from. In fact, when I was pregnant I was told my several different midwifes that Quincy was breech. They finally did an ultrasound to double check and they determined that he was not breech but just had a really big bum!
My little snuggle bunny. He is such a momma's boy.

While I was out

Ella's pillowcase dress that she absolutely loves!

About three weeks ago I took off to Minnesota to visit one of my best friends and cousin- Katie. Who goes to Minnesota in February? I do. As long as there is an understanding that I will-under no circumstances- NOT go outside, get out of slippers, drink a lot of hot chocolate and have my own space heater. The terms were agreed to and so I went with Quincy in toe. Katie was the best hostess...she let me use and abuse her embroidery/applique machine. Here are some of the things that we (and I when I say "we" I mean "she" as in Katie) made.
Thank you to all of those who supported me in my endeavors to hone my sewing skills- Grandma Allred, Grandma Jewkes, Emily and my sweet husband who held the fort together.
And thanks Katie for having me!

So, while I was away freezing my buns off so were my kids! They had snow....again. Unbelievable. School was canceled for Ella and the kids and Jason built snowmen, made snow angels, were pulled on a sled behind a four wheeler, and rode snowboards down a hill.
I can't help but wonder what Emily and Ella were doing in the first picture. The robot? :) And I can't help but notice that poor baby Ella has no gloves on!!! Mom was NOT around. Good thing they had so much fun though!

Cute story of the year right here folks: So last night I was bathing the kids and doing the usual lather-them-up-and-down-with-lotion routine end Ella and pretty much crying with every body part I touched complaining that she had "owies" all over. By the way, this is the point of the night where we are ALL ready for bed. She was whining and complaining about her unseen owies and then specifically mentioned one on her hand. I looked. Nothing. Then she says with an overly dramatic sob, "I am getting soooo old". I about peed my pants. I guess all this talk of her turning five and being older and bigger has really gone to her head.

Let the birthday games begin

Is there anyone else out there that feels like every time their kid's birthday rolls around they throw about five different parties with five different cakes? it's a little exhausting....nonetheless, I love celebrating my little ones' day. Ella just turned five on Thursday. We celebrated with my fam on Sunday because a lot of people were going out of town. Exhibit #1:


Then on her actual birthday Jason decorated the house complete with a "red carpet" running down the stairs. I made he favorite breakfast of crumb cake and eggs adn then dropped her at school with a tray of homemade cupcakes. I should mention that my time-bake did not work on my oven so in actuality I made the cupcakes twice- the first ones being burned. Exhibit #2:


Notice the red carpet and Ella looking as glamorous as ever! Work it Ella!

Then today we actually had a party of sorts. Jason took the two older kids to a mega maze while Quincy and I were "up in the gym working on my fitness". Then we had some choice people over to have Ella's long awaited castle cake and hot dogs and presents. Exhibit #3:

It never hurts to have a little pink bling on your ice cream cone. Ella thought it was the coolest thing ever. A little karo syrup and pink cake decorating crystals is all.
All in all, I think we made Ella's day turned into week pretty special and that's what counts. My baby girl is five! Happy Birthday Ella Moe!

PS- Yes, there is a slight change in my appearance.....I went darkish reddish. But not by choice. I was the victim of a major chemical spill of bleach, thus forcing my hand into becoming a red head....it's actually growing on me. I cut it too....mullet style.

We Be Rockin that BEAT!!!

There she is...Fergie Ferg...you see that tiny dot?? :)

Some girls from the dental office and I went out to the Black Eyed Peas concert on Thursday night. LMFAO and Ludacris opened up. It was so much fun. They are GREAT performers and good singers to. I have many a few concerts where I left wondering how they ever got a contract.

PS- The duck tape on Lincoln's doorknob worked!!! Now I just have to deal with new issues. Like for instance- the fact that my son is a kleptomaniac. He stole from Joann's fabric's the other day. I guess he thought the ring pop was NOT worth jail time b/c when I told him he could go to jail for stealing (nothing like scare tactics) he wanted to return it.

How do you solve a problem like Lincoln????

I have been going around singing that tune for a while these days. Here's the latest problem that needs solving:
In order for me to be a good mom I need to be a good Claire. That involves me putting the kids in seclusion for about an hour or two everyday for "quiet" time. They have fully outgrown naps. The only solution for Link's devious nature is for me to lock him in his room. So I went to the trouble of turning around his doorknob in hopes of having a peaceful quiet time. I know, I sound abusive...but I promise, it's for his own good and really was the lest resort. I have tried EVERYTHING. The first time Link got out of his locked room I was completely in shock. I ran through my memory just to make sure that I did indeed lock the door. How could a three year old get out of a locked room?? Thank goodness for his honesty because I simply asked him how he got out and he told me he used money. He had some pennies lying around in his room that fit perfectly into the horizontal indentation of the lock. All he had to do was put the penny into the indentation and turn it and it came unlocked. The ingenuity! I was really annoyed but at the same time couldn't help but think that he was quite smart....or mischievous...whatever you wanna call it.
I thought I was smarter than him and so the next day I strip-searched him and gave him the pat down and removed all contraband from his room. About an hour later I saw him lurking about....again! I was really kind of annoyed at this point. This time he said he used the hard corner of his blanket. What three year old thinks of these things????? Next thing I know he's going to be making a shiv out of legos! We have a McGyver on our hands.

My next move: I will put duck tape on the lock so he'll have to use a lot of force and I don't think his blanket can handle that kind of job. I will keep you posted.
CAUTION: OBJECT IN PICTURE IS SMARTER THAN HE APPEARS.