1st Day of School

So I'm trying to catch up on some of the events going on in the Allred home. School started 4 days ago and I can't tell you how grateful I am that summer is FINALLY over and the kids are back in school. Well summer isn't actually over but that the kids are in school. This has been a really tough summer for me! But I can actually feel my sanity coming back to me even after only a few days. I love school!

I took this picture of the kids walking down the driveway and off to school. You can see the cars parking along the street to walk their kids to school too. I love. love. love that we are so close to the school!

There has to be a together shot right?! Avery has grown up so much and I can't believe she's in 3rd grade! Jake keeps right up with her and he amazes me. I can hardly believe he's in 1st!

I think he was a little nervous in this picture! I still love it though! My boy's growing up but still attached. When I kissed him goodbye today he said, "Aww Mom! Do you have to kiss me in front of the carpool drop off!" All I could do is smile. He loves it deep down but has to keep up the tough guy image.

Jake did a great job taking this picture! What can I say about my Avery? She already made a new friend, Paige, on this day; I knew she would. I love this girl so much and she will never stop wanting the hugs and kisses! She's my modest, shy, girly girl and I love her to pieces!

Home Improvements

A few weeks ago this is what my bathroom looked like. Luckily it was only for a few hours. Our toilet had a small leak and so being the amazing handy man Spencer got a new toilet and replaced got rid of the old one.

He's great at fixing things in the house. We've just recently had to call out a repairman to fix the downstairs AC- it went out 44 hours ago. Yes, it's hot downstairs and I'm keeping track! I'm currently waiting for the repaiman to get here between now and the next 4 hours!!

This is my wonderful husband displaying all the wonderful new toilet parts on our bed. Nice place to display it all. Oh well at least it was the brand new toilet!

Is this kids for you or what!? Boxes are so much fun to play in- if you fit inside. Jake and Josh had so much fun playing in them.

It kept them busy and out of the way for a while. I actually had to tell them to NOT destroy the box until Dad said it was ok. They can get pretty rough with things- hence the Gorilla Glue that comes out a couple of times a week!

So the toilet was Spencer's home improvement and mine was the front door. We didn't mind it too terribly with the open glass looking straight into the house living on such a quiet cul de sac but at night it makes us a little too uneasy.

We eventually want to replace the whole front door but we're on a tight budget. So in the mean time, I heard about frosted spray paint. So I told Spencer about it and picked some up at Lowe's.

This is the result. I'm not 100% happy with it but at least it gives us some privacy until we can replace the door. I'm terribly picky about how uneaven it came out but what can I say, I'm far from an expert spray painter.

This is what you can see looking in- not a whole lot! My next project might be to paint the door black. I don't think Spencer will let me, and I'm ok with that. I have plenty of other projects to work on.

Emily's Haircut

I'm still not sure how I'm feeling about what I did to Emily's hair about a week ago. Her ends were so. dry. and I knew I had to at least trim them and decided to take a few inches off since it's been so hot here. Well I went a bit shorter- not taking into consideration her curls would make it shorter and that hair shrinks a bit once its dried. I like it though and she LOVES it; so that makes me happy. I just miss the Shirley Temple ringlets she'd get after her hair was wet and just dried naturally.

So this is an older picture, about 5 months ago to give some idea of how LONG it was.

I had her sit and watch a movie while I did the dirty deed. She did great sitting in this hard little chair watching "Thumbelina" I had actually already cut half of her hair before I took this picture but wanted to get a "before" picture.

This is the half I had already cut. Her baby curls! Her baby hair is all gone now so her hair is a lot like Avery's: tons of hair! I think the layers I put in took the longest. I was nervous the whole time though. I've done my boys with the clippers all the time but never a major cut like this on my girls!

I tried to style it a bit after I cut it so I just pulled the middle back a bit.

I think my favorite is the cheesy smile with the messy face. They were eating lunch and it's all over her face.

It's taking me a bit to get used to it but she loves it and she can still walk around with bedhead and get compliments on it. Not that I let her walk around with bedhead on a daily basis.....

Amazing Friends

Dear Emma and Elena,

We really enjoyed the time we were able to spend with you even if it was for a little while. Some fun memories are better than none at all!

This is one of my favorite pictures of the girls together. Yes, I can imagine them together as roommates at BYU.

Avery misses Emma terribly and still talks about her being her best friend even though you moved two hours away three years ago.

These two bring such a smile to my face. I love seeing them together!

Emily loved playing with Emma too. True she doesn't look like it in this picture but she loved having another girl to play with. She didn't want Emma to go home either.

Elena, I wish we didn't live so far apart. Everyone misses your family out here!

We, for sure, will be making visits to your home- soon hopefully!

We are so glad we were able to see you and spend some time with you! We love you and miss you tons!

We love you Robinson family!

With lots of love,

Avery and Robyn

PLEASE Tread with Care!

So my past week consisted of taking care of my oldest daughter. She was hurt badly in an accident on a treadmill at a friends house. I've always told my kids to get off any exercise equipment and I sure hope this will teach them, and others, that treadmills can be dangerous.

Avery was at a friends house and they were in their swimsuits (in Texas, if the weather is stormy it usually clears up within 30 minutes) passing the time playing in the gameroom upstairs. The emergency key was out or found and the girls had it up and running too fast. Avery fell, and since the treadmill was in a corner, she was pinned between the wall and speeding treadmill. Her friend immediately turned it off as quickly as possible but Avery had been hurt badly.

We had to sneak these first few pictures of her leg. She has what looks like road rash from almost the top of her inner thigh that runs down and across to the bottom of her calf. It's just raw and so gross!
This is of her inner thigh going across to the outside of her knee. This was the first night and she hurt A LOT!

She also has this on the outside of her hip.

This is the back of her leg. She was doing a lot better but still hurt a lot! This was day 4. She still would not straighten her leg and cried about anything near it.

This is today, day 6, and it looks so great. She had a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa's house and Grandma got her into the pool and the chlorine can really dry things up and it did a great job on such a nasty wound.

This is her inner thigh again. It looks so much better!! Grandma's are magic and can help heal our babies! She came back my happy Avery: walking normal and just being my happy girl. She had been so ashamed and embarrassed about her leg for days. Thanks Grandma!

It was a good lesson for all of us. Avery, I hope, learned to speak up and be honest about her feelings. I learned patience and distraction moves things forward, kids trust Grandma and Grandpa more than Mom and Dad, and how precious our babies, and life, really is.

I love you so much Avery! I'm so glad you're better and able to walk normal again. I know you won't play on treadmills again I just hope you'll speak up next time. It's ok to ruffle a few feathers, I do it all the time!