Halloween

Halloween this year was busy. I think I should have more Halloween decorations for the outside of my house. I had seen a picture of a huge spider that had taken up a large part of a house and there was a huge spider web that went with it. It was pretty cool. I might try that next year. But to get a huge spider..... yuck! I could always use some of the spiders out here, they're HUGE!!
For a while we couldn't decide what Emily would dress up as. Then we found this...Spiderman! She's into all the superheros because of Jake. It fit her well. But since I was going as a witch and Avery wanted to go as a witch also, we decided to put her in a witch costume too. This costume didn't fit as well as the Spiderman one but it worked for the hour we spent at the Trunk or Treat Carnival at our church.
Emily dressing up as Spiderman, or Spidergirl!
I had to put this in. This is her "I'm too cute to get into trouble" smile. Sometimes it works and we end up laughing at her.
Avery and Jake at the Trunk or Treat. Jake was Ironman, if you couldn't tell who was the boy behind the mask.
Emily was already tired by the time we were getting ready to trick or treat.
The three witches. People couldn't tell it was me until they saw my big "shelf".

Fire Fest 2008

For the past three years now we have gone to the Fire Fest. HFD hosts a fun event with booths, food, games, pony rides, and a train ride. The best part is the fire demonstrations that they do. It's at the Academy so all of the fire training stuff is there. The first year we went they did a demo on a mock house fire. It was actually like a huge metal storage container like you would see on a train or shipping dock. It was in flames and Spencer and I both had a child on our shoulders so they could see. The fire gets really hot so we try to stay back a bit. Well the firefighters were in the container and putting out the fire and when one of them came out his helmet was on fire! There were some pretty upset people and kids. Luckily our kids missed that part. Spencer and I walked away pretty quickly. Last year, they had a bunch of those inflatable trampolines. The Life light Helicopter came to land and one of those inflatable trampolines flew up in the air and landed on some of the people. Luckily we were at the vending tables and were far from it but we had some friends that were not so lucky. They were knocked down, not hurt luckily! It was unforgettable! This year was pretty uneventful, as far as firefighters being on fire and inflatable tramps in the air. It was a lot of fun. We did watch some of the fire demonstrations and the one that always gets me is the car fire and extraction. Spencer's truck wasn't on fire but they did use the jaws of life to get him out. Last year it happened to be the same shift of firefighters from the same station that saved his life. It was pretty emotional for me, maybe because Spencer was still using crutches at the time. Even this year it was hard to watch. We had a great time and the kids got to crawl through a smokey house. It was a great day spent as a family!

Jake's First Day of School

Jake had his first day of Pre-K a few weeks ago, I'm just playing catch up. Here are some of those pictures.

This is my trio watching a cartoon just before having to get dressed and eat breakfast. It's perfect because Avery's bus comes about 7:45 and Jake's Pre-K starts at 8:30. This is the first year that Pre-K starts at 8:30. For the past three years it started at 7:30. Needless to say we were usually always late! This new time is SO much better!


Emily wanted to get with Jake and take a picture too. It's been good for Emily and I to have time just the two of us before the baby comes. She'll be a good helper.


The first day is usually busy so we were waiting our turn to get in and get a picture. Jake was excited to start school again, and so was I!

Dove ads are awesome!

Ok I love the Dove ads and commercials. Having two girls myself I worry about their self esteem. I want them to be happy with their bodies and know that they are beautiful no matter what anyone else thinks or says. I explain to Avery and Jake about what's real and what's not especially in some of the movies they watch. We love the Phantom of the Opera and I've shown them the extra footage where they put all the make up on the actor to make him have ugly scary make up on. I tell them that there is make up to make us look pretty also. I hope they get it. But these Dove ads are the best! I have a love hate relationship with the beauty industry. I don't have the confidence to go all natural all the time but for me to feel like I have to look a certain way to be accepted by anyone else is insane! Avery's in 1st grade and already is so aware of others. She notices things that I have become immune to like men jogging without a shirt on. Our children are growing up so much faster and have to deal with a lot more than I did 20 years ago being in elementary school. I am grateful that we have a diverse community around us, it gives another teaching opportunity that Heavenly Father made us all different for a reason whether it be the color of our skin, our body type, even language. Yes my thoughts are really random- I have 50+ things running around lately. I just had to share these videos. You can turn off the music while watching the videos. These two are my favorite! Way to go Dove!

The "shelf"

This was a Saturday when Spencer was working and I was trying to keep my sanity. I let Avery take some pictures because Spencer had been wanting pictures of my tummy, something that a friend had so kindly noticed and said, "I see you got your shelf back." What a way to make a pregnant girl feel good about her growing body! I have noticed more lately that a lot of things seem to rest on "the shelf"...
Avery and her bunny....
it's cleared off there- just Mommy trying to get some rest in Emmy's toddler bed and there is always room for little Emmy

Oh look! Jake can't reach all the way around Mom's shelf, so he decides to go under it.

And there's Spencer he's holding the shelf. It does seem to fall more and gets hard for me to carry the extra 20 pounds that I've already put on.

Here are a few other pictures:

Avery wanted me to take a picture of her and Emily with Harley.

After all the hair do's that I do on the girls Avery wanted to do my hair during quiet time. So I let her. This is how she decided to fix my hair. I enjoyed the brushing the most, her pulling it back into a ponytail was a bit painful!

A Little Break, only for a second or two if I'm lucky!

Ok so to update all the excitement that goes on in the Allred home: I've been working with Emily on potty training and she's doing really well for the past two months, only a few accidents in the beginning. Jake starts pre-school in two days, it was put off an extra week because of the hurricane. Thanks Ike!! We're all excited about that! This is a typical day of Jake and Emily- she's going to miss her big brother while he's at school.
We also went to ITZ for Jake's b-day and took some pictures there. We all had a fun afternoon! Avery and Jake had fun on this bouncy car!
Crazy Silly Avery! Oh how we love her so!
And there's Emmy! She wasn't so sure about being on something alone. She's so used to always having a hand to hold.
Emmy and Dad on the little roller coaster. I had to get in a hair picture too. I enjoy doing this one- it takes a bit longer but lasts for two days! Thanks to Jenn for this style (she has one of the cutest little girls!)http://girlydos.blogspot.com/2008/08/got-time.html

Avery on the other hand went back to school and had picture day coming up. We picked out an outfit and decided on a cute hairstyle and were all ready for the big day, 1st grade pictures! Well the day before picture day she looses one of her front teeth! The one next to it was loose also and with more wiggle room it became more fun to play with and eventually was crooked and looked like it belonged in the middle. It was really crooked and so funny looking! Then came picture day. She got dressed and ready for picture day with her silly crooked tooth. Maybe this is bad but I ordered the smallest picture package- I can't imagine how the picture will turn out! She said she smiled with her mouth closed but I can just see the lone crooked tooth hanging in the middle of her mouth! Well as it turns out she had so much fun playing and wiggling that tooth that it came out the day after picture day! She and I had taken turns wiggling, tapping, twisting, and pulling at that tooth for almost 30 minutes. Well Grandpa came along and gave Avery a dollar to hold and said if you feel anything lift a finger and I'll stop. She was hesitant at first but I told her trust Grandpa, he'll never lie to you. He had that tooth out in less than two minutes. Leave it to Grandpas! They are the best!

Avery losing her front tooth- Thursday night

Avery after losing her second tooth- Saturday afternoon