The Gospel of Ella

Ella is getting very articulate and is talking more and more. She has such a simple mind......it's so cute. I just love that children are told soemthing and they just accept it and then file it in their little brain. Here are some cute things she's said lately:
1) Last Monday we were having FHE and we were talking about Hagoth and how he was obedient to the prophet when buidling his ship and leaving (obscure person in the scrips, I know). So we related it to following our prophet. I asked Ella if she knew who the prophet was and she said no. Oh no, FAILURE!!! So I said, "The prophet is President Monson, can you say that?". She repeats, "President Monster". Yup. Perfect. Don't change a thing you cute little girl!
2) After church on Sunday (which makes me wonder what they are teaching her in nursery) she asked me this:
Ella: "Mommy, are all the Daddys the bosses of all the mommys?"
Me : (thinking in my mind, "heck no!") "No."
Ella: "But Daddy is the boss of you."
Me: "No he isn't." (where is she learning this blaspheme from?)
Ella: "Yes he is".
3) Ella came in last weekend complaining of her leg hurting. I asked her what happened. She said "I pushed Dee-Doo (lincoln)". Immediately, without gathering all the info, I reprimanded her for pushing brother. She looked sad and dropped her head and told me she was pushing him in the stroller. AWWWW. My heart fell apart, I felt so bad!!!! Push on ELLA!

Happy Birthday Lincoln!!!

Sometimes I think these first few birthdays are really for the parents rather than the child. Case in point: Lincoln's birthday was actually the 14th, but we were in CO. Do you think he cared? No. So we celebrated today with Jason and Grandpa and Grandma Allred, and Uncle Jordan and friend. Grandma made him a "CARS" blanket which he couldn't be more thrilled with and is clutching it in bed as I type.
The last picture is my favorite. Here's why: when he first saw the cake I guess he just assumed it was entirely his. In fact, he claimed it with his open mouth and slobber. Oddly enough, the guests still wanted cake. So when I cut it to give them a peice, he pouted for several mintues. OH LINCOLN!! Did you really think you could stomach all that cake. Oh and I must explain the color. It's not a Mary Kary truck. It's supposed to be red but that never happened. It just really wanted to be pink. Oh well. Yeah for trying Mommy!

The Infamous Jewkes Family Reunion

The Jewkes Family Reunion 2008 was something to behold. It was a ten bedroom ranch in Breckenridge, CO. It slept 28, but we had 42. Half of that 42-children. Although it was beautiful scenery, there was a VERY swift, dangerous river 10 feet away from the back porch (notice the pic of me and the kids in front of it...literally a coupld feet from the porch). 24 Adults, all very opinionated. This led to a very fun, lively, reunion. The only one to not make it was my sweet Jason who took one for the Allred team and stayed home for school so he can apply for dental school on time. Way to sacrifice honey! We missed you! We had fun mountain biking, white water rafting, and lincoln enjoyed throwing rocks into the river.

Even wilder west

Had to add these pics. Cooper got on this tricycle after swimming at my Aunt Lori's pool. He was nude.....and really enjoying this ride until Lincoln came along. Then it became really torturous when Ella joined in. I think at this point, he became uncomfortable and nauseous. You can probably understand why. Poor Cooper.

The Wild Wild West

After the funeral, we had a week to do whatever we wanted in Utah while we waited for the Jewkes family reunion to start in CO. We had fun. Ella got a ride with my cousin Charlie on his motorcycle. She looks like a natural huh?

Lincoln rode his machine of choice- a tractor with my cousin-in-law, Brandon. I cannot even express how excited he was.

Ella still has not stopped talking about her horsey, "Prince", How fitting for our little princess to ride a horsey named Prince. She was in heaven. It's the only thing she talks about when telling people about her two week trip out west.

At the petting zoo at Gardner village.

Taking time to smell the roses

Whilst Lincoln was really taking time to smell the roses, we did that in a not so literal sense. We enjoyed celebrating my Grandpa Maurice Heninger's life. It was a beautiful and meaningful time where we got to reunite with family.

Lincoln giving his great grandpa one more hug before he was lowered.


It's a dark pic, but this is Lincolc, Ella and I by the casket.

All eleven of the children made it out to Mom's Dad's funeral. So this pic is ALL of us- Jennefer, Josh, Jessica, Jordan, Emily, Rebecca, Rachel, me, Julie, Jeremiah, and Jacob. PHEW! What a mouthful! The few extras in the pic are relatively local nieces and nephews of mine and a brother-in-law, Jim.

Butty-fly

Meredith Ethington and I got together to scrapbook today and on her way out she found a less than vivacious butty-fly (as Ella calls it) limping around sadly on the drive-way. It was a beautiful Monarch Butterfly. Immediately Ella started talking to it in a very sing-song, high-pitched motherly voice. Telling it it would be ok. She was very concerned and seemd to understand exactly what we were talking about when we said it's wing was injured. She successfully got it on a stick but refused to hold it. I even tried to put it in a jar but her motherly instincts told me that the butty-fly did not want to be in a jar. I am sure she's right. Here are some pics.
ATTN: No animals were hurt in the posting of this blog.

A Meredith inspired scrapbooking page!

Memorial Weekend

You guys wanted to see ALL the pictures from our weekend, right??? :) We went to Lake Lanier with the Allred's on Friday and Saturday. We really shouldn't call it camping seeing that we stayed in their five star RV and ate waffles, eggs, and bacon for breakfast and watched DVD's at night. Roughin it, right??? We had fun. Three memorable things:
1. Georgia red clay...for all you folks familiar with GA, you know exactly what I am talking about. But you guys not familiar, GA is infamous for it's red clay. And it's everywhere. So our campsite was surrounded by the stuff. I gave up on keeping the kids clean after about 5 miniutes. When we were on our way home I looked at Lincoln's fingernails and it appeared as is had been living on a diet of cheetos for years. That's how bad his feet and hands were. I went immediately home and threw everything in the washer.
2. Lincoln took the wheel on the boat.....Jason was helpless. They loved just feeling the wind. On Grandpa's boat there is a bell that they loved ringing. It was so fun to see them have a new experience.
3. We had so much fun on the jet ski together. Ella and Lincoln were expressionless....but we knew they were lovin it. They were just taking it all in.

The THREE little kiddies

My Three little kiddies......Yes, three. Jason can play with the kids like he is one. That's someting that I absolutely love about him. He's still a boy at heart. So to all my blog fans...here's another day at the park with the Allred's. Exciting, huh??

UNEDITED

This post is PG-13, so all you young eyes should look away. Here are the three little boys....sitting on the one-person tricycle. That image alone is kind of funny, but mostly cute. Now for the PG-13 part... At some point during the night Lincoln got spaghetti sauce all over his shorts, thus leaving him shortless and redneck-like. So here he is, in all his splender, strattling the pole with what we all like to call a "camel-toe". We love you Lincoln and hope you were comfortable, but more importantly, we hope you can reproduce someday.

Say, Say my Playmate!

This is Ella and Lincoln, at a local park in Senoia, expelling their energy as I would put it. It was perfect....they did this from 7 until bedtime.... they wore themselves out. And as you can see, it was our kind of fun.

Bugga Bugs

Toy Patterns:
My friend, Annika has opened up her own shop selling children's toy patterns that she created and she wanted to invite you all to take a peak! She's super creative and says she's had tons of fun creating her patterns and will be adding more over the next couple days and weeks. So far she's had really good response and was even featured on craftgossip.com. You can read the article. Go to buggabugs.etsy.com to check out the patterns.

HUSBAND AND WIFE TAG

Husband and Wife Tag


What is his name? Jason, stinky, CEO :)
How long have you been married ? 5 yrs in Aug
How old is he? 31 (I know, how lucky that he got a spring chicken)
Who eats more? ME! Big surprise there. HELLO! Just look st the pics.
Who said I love you first? He did, but I said it right back. During Christmas break.
Who is taller? He is.
Who sings better? We both can naturally sing on pitch. I would have to say I have more training, but i am not very good. He is a natural adn i wish he'd sing more b/c he's really better than he gives himself credit for.
Who is smarter? Jason, definitely. He knows everythign about politics and history and loves to learn. HEY- it keeps him young!
Whose temper is worse? HIM.
Who does the laundry? Yeah right. Me. Why the question, as if to assume.
Who does the dishes? I do, but he helps sometimes.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Right side looking in or laying down? If it's looking in, he's on the right.
Who cooks dinner? I do, mom and emily do too. We dinner share. It's great.
Who drives when you are together? Jason does...I think it's so he can control the radio and listen to talk radio.
Who is more stubborn? He is. But he would probably say I am. I guess that's kind of funny considering the question.
Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? We both do in different situations.
Whose parents do you see the most? Mine, because we live closer to them.
Who has more friends? We both have friends, but he's so busy he doesn't get to keep up with them.....so I would say me. But Jason is a good, loyal friend.
Who has the most siblings? I have ten siblings. YEAH GRANDMA JEWKES!
Who wears the pants in the family? We both have one leg in them. He wears the financial and event pants and I wear the kid pants. Does that mean we have three legs?

7 Things About You Tag:Share seven facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird, whatever you are brave enough to share.~Tag people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.~Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. Here it goes:

1.I love The hills.....Dumbest show on earth. It said if you are brave enough to share. That takes a lot of courage to admit that.
2. My son really stinks right now b/c I didn't wipe him good enough last time he had a poopy diaper. He is standing right behind me in this wingback chair and I can hardly stand it.
3. My husband claims my sense of smell is so strong that I can smell a fart be fore they come out. It's true so don't even try it. Silent but violent...you think it'll be a mystery? I will know.
4. I love booty dancing to "Apple Bottom Jeans". Is that even the name of the song???? Is my Griffin showing?
5. I swear I have a compulsive eating disorder. Honestly, I ate 6 krispie cremes last saturday. It was like a challenge for me to see if I could finish them off.
6. I would really like to lose 20 lbs. Yeah right. Given the above factoid- that's not going to be possible.
7. I have a serious PMS disorder. Stay away around weeks 3-4 of every month. you might get your eyes clawed out. Good thing that mostly girls read my blog.

YOU'VE BEEN TAGGED!!!!!!!!
1. Emily
2. Lindsey
3. Meredith
4. Jenn
5. Rebecca
6. Rachel
7. Michelle
8. Katie

LET ME OUT!!!

Playgroup is for kids right? At least that's what we all tell ourselves. Here's a candid pic of some of the kids yearning to go down to the trampoline. They are practically salivating over the thought. But we just let them dream. This is my playdate goshdarnit! I need friends too and taking you down to the tramp would mean I would have to go.
ps- who's lovely yard is that? Jason's doing a great job at clearing it. Now it just needs grass.

LUKEY LOVE

ES AMORE!! Is that correct Spanish? I don't know. Yes, it is love. Ella is completely in love (in a non incestial way) with her cousin Luke. She tends to his needs whenever he comes over. Always, making sure that he has a blanket (be it 90 degree weather and all). I caught her snuggling up to him on the couch, ,making sure he had part of her blanket on. She loves to talk to him in a very high-pitched sing-song motherly voice. Don't know where she gets that from. I guess techincally it wouldn't be considered incest, since he's adopted. ELLA---- Go for it!!!

Country Life

We are official red-necks. Yes, we live down the street from horses. But no this is not our yard with all the broken down cars in it. It's just around the corner. Don't you love the no-zoning districts?? Ella and Lincoln love to take a walk and feed the horses carrots. They are so fearless. It suprises me. Except this time, Ella claims the horsey bit her (notice the pic of her extending her hand). I'm sure it was just a nibble. We had a funny conversation on the way home tho...here it is
E: Mom, I can smell the horses.
C: really, what do they smell like?
E: Like the cows.
C: What do the cows smell like?
E: like Ella.
C: When Ell's poopy?
E: Yeah, and when Dee Doo's poopy too.

I share the same sentiment about these two animals. Phew!!!

Jason Deere

Our back yard needs serious help. Linds, give a shout-out on what a horrible job the builders do on landscaping (we had the same builder). Anyway, so two years later, we are just now beginning to landscape our backyard. Good thing Jason's Dad has a bobcat. That machine is a little monster for any of you who haven't operated one- tearing up saplings adn all kinds of growth. It's a hog. The kids have LOVED riding with Jason in it. Especially Dee Doo. Hopefully one day, our yard could resemble Hickory Hill Gardens. Yeah right.
Funny little Ella. When Dad couldn't get the hog started, she suggested that it needed new batteries. If only things were that simple. Funny thing is...it did need a new battery.