Drool, Teeth, & Sitting Solo

Last week was a memorable one for us! Spencer and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary on July 14th! That makes me feel so old! Nine years! Wow! We've been through a lot together and have come out so much stronger because of it! That same day Avery got her ears pierced, and Josh got his first tooth! Three days later he got his second tooth. Needless to say there was a lot of Motrin and Tylenol going through that little lad along with some Baby Orajel to numb those gums. It's gotta hurt!! I was so exhausted from the sleep problems we've been working out that on Sunday Spencer came home exhaused from working a 24 but still took all 4 kids to church and made me go to bed. I was able to catch a 5 hour nap!! We're still working on getting Josh on a better schedule for sleeping and eating.


We're "storing" our friends trampoline until they get into their new house and the kids have had a blast with it! Emily is the one who has the hardest time tearing herself away from it. She is constantly jumping on it; usually first thing in the morning and in the evening since that's when it's coolest.

These are the earrings Avery picked out. She said it didn't hurt- sure it didn't hurt.


Josh's moved on to sitting solo! He loves being able to sit and see everything that goes on around him- and believe there is non-stop action going on here! It wears me out!

He is so much happier now that he has more control and can sit up. When he's not sitting to play he's rolling and grabbing things to put them in his mouth. He's pretty funny and usually always happy! He's starting to enjoy his solids now and I'm getting him on a better schedule that will help his sleeping.

Grumpy Bears and Monsters

Now this was funny. We ALL get grumpy and growly. Well in the Allred home, Mom and Dad become Grumpy Bears. The kids become Monsters, usually. This morning Dad was a Bear, which he usually is because he is NOT a morning person, and got growly with Avery who later became a Monster. Well Spencer was trying to make up for being a Bear with Avery the Monster by playing in this pop up tent with the kids. Emily and Jake loved it! Avery was still a Monster- she needed to be fed because the playing didn't help much. So we fed the Monster and she became Avery again! Oh, happy days!


This is a picture of our Avery as a Monster. She's got that grumpy scowl down. Look at those pouty lips!


Then there's Jake who is loves to carefully kick Papa Bear in the tent. Look at that smile on that face!


Spencer trying to shield himself from the camera with Emily. Sorry buddy, she's a bit smaller than you are! Nice try though! Hey!! Is that the finger I think it is?? What are you teaching our little Emmy??


Now using Jake's head for a shield worked better! Poor Emmy she's getting squished!! I think she was screaming at this time for Jake to get off her! Fun times!!


And Emmy's outta that crazy pop up tent that there is no room in because of Daddy's taking up all the space. It's just for kids Dad! We do love those farmer tan arms though- it shows how hard you are working out in this crazy heat to support your adorable beautiful family. Love you Grumpy Papa Bear! XXOOXX

A HOT HOT Summer

It has been 100+ degrees outside for the past month if not longer and it's been miserable for all of us! The kids go outside to play and are out for maybe 5 minutes if that and come right back inside to get some water and cool off. It's sad! I remember playing outside all the time in the summer, although I wasn't raised in Texas; I grew up in Southern California. We've been trying to find things to do inside if we don't get a chance to go swimming at Grandma & Grandpa's pool. Most of the times the kids play in their rooms or watch a movie or two. Yeah, I know, I'm not the most creative or fun person right now. We had a HSM marathon where we watched a HSM movie every day. During HSM 2 Avery was holding Josh and I was just getting out of the shower when she brought him to me sniffing. I asked her if she was ok. This was her response: "Yeah, I'm ok. It's just the movie." Ok she's seen the HSM movies several times especially HSM 2 so for her to be tearing up when Troy and Gabriella break up knowing that they get back together at the end of the movie is really scary for me. I'm NOT looking forward to when her hormones really kick in- I'm DOOMED!! She must get it from me though, I cry at the end of Cars every time, even if I don't watch the whole movie! What a baby I am! Spence thinks it's hilarious because I hate people seeing me cry and he thinks it's cute. What is cute about red puffy eyes with makeup running down my cheeks?!



Jake, my topless man, asked to hold Josh and I had to take a picture because it was so cute! I think I'm going to have to frame this one for their room. Too cute! My boys!


BROTHERS!! I can feel the love.....


I snuck in on them for this picture. Love these boys. We still have Josh sleeping in our room and Jake is really looking forward to Josh sleeping in with him.


My kids don't take naps anymore but I do have them take quiet time. The summers are more difficult because I have Avery home from school and so sometimes I put her in with one of the other kids. Emily and Avery took this quiet time together and were playing My Little Pony with some of their other toys. They had a pretty cute set up.


Love Avery's big smile!


Emily had the Little People House and Avery had the My Little Pony Castle and I think the ponys went to each others house to play. My kids can be creative if they want to. I love when they use their imaginations! I also love that they play with toys that I used to love playing with. Too bad I can't find more My Little Pony stuff, Rainbow Bright, Care Bears, and Strawberry Shortcake. I loved those!

A Year Ago Things Got A Bit BuSiER!

A year ago my life went from busy to CrAZy BUsY!! I remember that night well I was in my pj's ready for bed and Bishop Martin calls to see if he can stop by for a minute. Of course I said ok. Spencer said, "It's a big calling for you." I said, "No way! I'm 9 weeks prego and just starting to feel better." "Wait and see", he says. Sure enough it was a new calling for me as YW President. I was thinking, "Ahhhhhh..... Ummmmmm" so wanting to say no because I didn't know anything about YW and feeling inadequate for such a big step. I agreed and Spencer has been a great support! It took me a while to go through and really understand the YW program and especially Personal Progress. It's is such an inspired and wonderful program and great for the girls. It's essentially to help the young women come unto Christ and gain a testimony of Him. What could be better than that? The whole church is based on that though- coming unto Christ. Anyways, I accepted the challenge while having three young children, being pregnant with our 4th, having a husband with a busy schedule who is often gone for 24 hours at least twice a week. There are many times when I felt like a single mom; and at times still do. The pregnancy continued and I grew- the baby grew and we found out it was a boy! We were really excited! Two girls and now two boys- perfect!! We continued to live our lives at home but managed to work YW into it as well on Sundays and Wednesday nights. It got busier! Well here come the holidays and then the baby so come January I took some time off and just rested and took care of the other kids. It was busier. Spencer was able to help out a bit more but had to go back to work in February. So anyways, what I'm trying to say is that for the past year on top of it all I finished my Personal Progress!! I am so excited and happy to have it done! Now that I've finished, I need to really work on Josh and getting him to sleep better through the nights. He's still getting me up every three hours at night and after 6 months I'm a bit sleep deprived to say the least. That is my current goal: Get decent sleep and catch up on it!!! We've also been back and forth with the idea of selling our house. We are obviously outgrowing our three bedroom home; we would like one more bedroom, a dining room or study, and a larger back yard; big house= big cleaning, not something I want to spend too much time doing. We had our house on the market four years ago but we've done a lot since- besides adding two more kids! : ) It was so hard having people want to look at the house and having only 5 minutes to straighten up the house with only two kids- and I refuse to do it with four kids! Decisions, decisions, decisions!!!So that is my reasoning for the lack of posting on our family blog. I'll be better about it after I've come close to meeting my goal of more sleep.

Joshua is almost 6 months now!

I can't believe Josh has been with our family for nearly six months now! Time goes by so quickly and kids grow up so fast. He is so loved by ALL of us. He's happiest with Momma but Avery is always eager to pick him up and carry him around to see all the activity with the other kids. It's been a busy time in our family and we've all come together to support eachother and help eachother. I hope that life will slow down just a bit so I can catch my breath, and a nap or two if I'm lucky!



I love this close up of Josh. He's about 4 months in the next few pictures. Look at that face! And those beautiful baby blues!



Josh was just starting to hold his head up pretty well so I gave him some play time on the floor. This is one of his curious looks. I've got his attention.....now what to do with it....Hmmmm


Loving the smile from my little man! So happy! He is such a sweet boy but gives me such a hard time at night- he's still up every 3 hours! That smile just melts my heart! It makes all my sleep deprived nights worth it because I can catch up on sleep but will never get these precious moments back.



So cute- a little out of focus but still adorable!



He loves to look around and see what's going on wherever he is. He usually just smiles at everyone he sees when I'm carrying him on my hip.



Loving the tummy time. Smiling at the carpet- FUN! So in love with this little boy!


This is one of his favorite things to do while I'm busy in the kitchen. He'll jump and jump and bounce. Great exercise for his little legs. The kids love to sit down next to him and play with him and talk to him since it makes them about eye level. He's about 5 1/2 months in the rest of these pictures.


"Huh? What are you taking more pictures of me for?"


Again, I'm melting in those baby blues! Love this little boy!


This is my close up of him in the bath. He loves his bath! He just sees his tub and starts kicking his legs. Once he's sure I'm getting everything ready for his bath he gets so excited kicking and squealing. And man is he a splasher!! I have an inflatable baby tub that I put on our bathroom counter and fill up with a cup and drain into the sink- so easy! I have to wipe down the mirror almost every time because he splashes so much!


Ok so I still don't know how to turn a picture so this is Josh playing on the floor again but at 5 1/2 months he's rolling all over the floor. He's grabbing at the camera at this picture. He loves to reach out and touch and grab everything.


"Gimme that green light on that camera!"


Rolly Polly Olly with a half smile. I caught him while he's trying to catch his balance- he just rolled over from his back to his tummy and he's checking out his new perspective on the tummy.

Things for this Summer

Girl Scouts- from Daisy to Brownie

This is Avery with her Daisy Leader Ms Lettie after she bridged over to Brownies. We put her in Girl Scouts because I remember how much fun I had as a Brownie and Girl Scout. They teach many values and skills that many kids seem to lack these days. They got a late start and only had a few meetings which was great for our busy schedule having a new baby.

This is Avery with her new Brownie star pin.

This is her Daisy troop that bridged over to Brownies. I felt bad for not really getting into all the vest, numbers, and all but I did put her badges onto an apron so she can wear it over again when she helps me in the kitchen. I'll go all out for Brownies with the sash and badges. She'll be a Brownie for two years and will get more badges. It'll be fun to see how much she'll learn and grow. Will she go camping?

I got a cute picture of Emily enjoying watching the girls and playing a bit with them.

Water Fun!

The kids love to take the hose and run around spraying eachother. Avery was making it rain in this picture. My favorite part was when it was my turn with the hose and I got to spray them. It was such a GREAT feeling to shoot them with the hose while in my mind is all the whining, fighting, crying. "Fighting with your sister huh? Take that!! Whining? You better run!" It was great because they thought it was so funny and after I felt better squirting them with water we all ended up laughing. Emily does NOT like being sprayed with water so I avoided her the most but got her a few times too- she deserved it.

This was the funniest! They had the hose on the top of the slide and they would slide down the wet slide onto the grass. They flew down the slide and landed feet away bouncing along the grass; like skipping a rock on water. I should have put it on video it is hillarious!!

Emily was by far the funniest to watch FLY down the slide! It hurt me watching her skip along the grass on her bottom. She would get up and do it again.

Luckily she caught herself before she ate too much grass! Emily is so funny!

I had a beautiful white Persian cat for years. I love the faces on them with the squished nose. I'm so glad Emily didn't come out with a squished nose. This is what she'd look like- not so cute!! She's so silly!

Can you see the look in Jake's eyes? He loves to tease especially Avery, she doesn't fight back as much as Emily. Two seconds after taking this picture of course Jake sprays Avery and she turns around to yell at him, grab the hose, and start to spray him back.

My little Emily! Look at those ears- definitly got that pair from Mom.