PP & FF & BFF

So I'm ignoring my 100 unread emails and having to re-download all my music on iTunes to post more things we've done recently.

Spencer went "camping" at a four star lodge with a group of high school buddies this past weekend. It was a big deal! Four of them flew into town and t-shirts were made. Anyways I flew in my friend to stay with us and it was fun. I was really tired since Josh was getting in his teeth but we went to the Fire Fest and the pumpkin patch for a little while. The kids had a blast and I really like going to the Fire Fest! It had been in the 90s most of the week until Friday hit and it was cool and overcast. The past few Fire Fests we'd been to it was hot and with the fire demostrations they do- man it gets REALLY hot! I feel for the firefighters in their gear putting out the fires!

Two of the ladder crews had a competition to hit the target in the trees - it was pretty cool to watch.

This was new this year, they made a castle and demonstrated a saving of a princess, yes there is a real lady in the tower window! The kids loved that! She was yelling, "Save me! Save me!"

This is a picture of the kids in a firetruck from the airport- they are HUGE! The tires alone are almost 5 feet! ok maybe 4 feet tall, but still this is a monster firetruck! There was a demo with this too. They showed how the firehose pierces the airplane and the water sprays the inside of the plane to put out the fire.



It's always been a challenge for me to get a good picture of my kids. I need to practice more with them. Practice makes perfect right? I also need to get them to lift their chins and smile looking at the camera.

My pumpkin climber!

The boys. I love the sound of that .....

my little blondie
We had such a good time with Aunt Heidi Romer and we were sad to see her go home. Next time I get to take the trip and leave the four children with Spencer. We're hoping and strongly encouraging her to move back. I understand she wants to live near family but we would have so much fun together and it would be so wonderful to have my BFF here! Move back Heidi!!

Constantly trying to ketchup

I feel awful for neglecting our family blog!! I have no excuse except for a busy life and trying to get priorities in order. Although I will say that our pc went out and that's thrown us a bit......I hope we didn't lose all our pictures!

So, for the past three months I've been loving my four babies who seem to grow up every time I look at them and it makes me cherish the time I have with them and that I'm still cool enough to be with (for the moment!). I've cut my hair but have yet to mail off the 10 inches to Locks of Love- this will be done next week. I love my calling in Young Women but it can be overwhelming at times trying to juggle the children with Spencer's work while keeping them on a schedule. I'm adopting the Eyre's parenting methods while reading three of their books in hopes to teach my children responsibility and values. I love the 3 Steps to a Strong Family and we're implementing the first step while I prepare for the next step. I can't say that I've done much else but try to keep up with the house(one reason I'm ecstatic about the 2nd step- chores to EARN allowance!!), keep the children on a routine, and yet still throw in a day at the park or something fun. I know really boring......but I do still love doing my girls hair.

Avery is loving 2nd grade and is doing really well. She and Jake ride the bus together and I love that! She has two boys who "love" her and I've received two texts from one of them. I don't remember having "boyfriends" in 2nd grade!!! That's just too young! She's also taking ballet classes. She's been asking for almost four years now and I'm glad we waited- she loves it and she had a chance to be a kid for a while and just play around. She is still my amazing helper with just about everything and still loves Josh to no end. She will be SO busy when she gets old enough to babysit. She's great with all little kids; she loves them!

Jake has really grown up a lot in the past few months. He's doing amazing in Kindergarten and loves his teacher. He's the best reader and enjoys reading just about any book; I got him a few of the Magic Treehouse books over the summer and he liked it but enjoys a few more pictures in his books still. He's such a good boy and loves having Josh in his room- now it's the boys room! He still is a bundle of energy but has a bit more control over it. He still has his moments when the monster takes over but again he's learning to get over it a lot quicker when he doesn't get attention for it.

Emily was all set for Pre-K this year but I decided to keep her home with me for just one more year. She's still my baby and I wanted some time with her to guide her towards a bit more independence from Jake and Avery. She's labeled the copycat because she does EVERYTHING they do and that's not always a good thing. It's been really great to have her as the big sister and as my helper. She will always be my little fireball and I love her for it.

Josh...Wow! Does time fly! He's doing great. At 9 months he's getting in his 3rd tooth; his bottom two have been in for about a month and his top left tooth is currently breaking through the gum- not fun!He's crawling, well mostly army crawling EVERYWHERE! I've noticed recently that he gets bored with some of his baby toys. He loves the Little People toys and cars! His hair is getting long but not changing color at all- he is by far my fairest, such a blondie!

Spencer is working as a paramedic still at 55s and deals with interesting people who are very familiar with the system and work it. He goes to calls at 3 am which have consisted of: a crying, screaming newborn that hadn't been fed in four hours- Duh!! and this was NOT their first baby. Another call was to a pregnant 14 year old who was in labor and her 16 year old sister due the same day (this was NOT her first child!). Mom was proud! Really?! His latest was to a stabbing. Mom stabbed her son twice for not turning off the tv and doing the dishes. (Glad I'm not in that family!)

He's starting a second job through Baylor at telemetry(sp?). He'll pretty much be the middle man between the hospitals and ambulances. He starts that in a few weeks. With this job we're planning on paying off debt and selling our house in the spring since we're outgrowing our current home. We are all excited about that!

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.