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

Fireproof

Spencer and I had our first date night out and away from the kiddos for a long time. I think it had been almost a month with the hurricane and all other chaos going on! We went out to dinner and then Avery's Open House at her school then to the movies. While getting out of the car I noticed that I didn't have my cell phone with me or in my purse. I couldn't find it but I really didn't care! We proceded to the AMC to see Fireproof. Check out the movie trailer http://www.fireproofyourmarriage.com/. It was really good and I highly recommend it! It wasn't just about firefighters it was about the marriage between a Captain and his wife. Kirk Cameron starred at the Captain and he's done those Left Behind movies that are based on the series. It's a good Christian movie that you don't have to worry about language, violence, or sex.


Another great movie that goes along with those values is The Ultimate Gift. http://www.theultimategift.com/home.php?cid=4294967295&cat=home I can't say much about it but that I hope Santa brings it to me in my stocking! It can be hard to find a good wholesome movie these days and these are two that are amazing! Fireproof is in theatres now and The Ultimate Gift is on video. Check them out! And I did end up leaving my phone in Avery's class- prego moment!

Girly Hair

I've really enjoyed doing the girls hair! It seems like it would take forever to do some of them but it takes only like 10-20 minutes. The funniest thing is when people ask me, "How do you get them to sit still for that long?" That really hasn't been a problem for me. My sister in law would put them in the bathroom sink to sit but Avery is a little big for that! I think she did that when they were little. My girls like to play with the combs and bows. They used to drink out of the waterbottle by spraying it into their mouths but that started to bug me so that stopped. The TV is a good distraction or also while they are eating. It really is fun for me and it takes my mind off other things. It's time with just my daughter and gives me bonding time. Anyways I couldn't do any of these styles if it weren't for the fun hair blogs. This is where I got the idea for Avery's hair http://shedoeshair.blogspot.com/2008/08/braid-flower.html. This is for Emily's http://cute2tryhairdos.blogspot.com/2008/08/double-criss-crossies.html This was the girls hair for church; so fun! It really is a stress reliever for me- that may sound really strange.

The ultrasound

In a previous post I had mentioned that I would be calling three times a day- which I did until I talked to one of the nurses. She said all of the calls are being routed to her home and the power and phones were still out at the office. The call came Monday about 1:45 pm to reschedule the ultrasound. I was thrilled and couldn't turn it down. I frantically called to find a sitter- school was still out so I had all three kiddos but I had my YW too for babysitting! Luckily I was able to get the kids taken care of and called Spencer- they only gave me until 2:30 to call back and my appointment was at 3:15 and it was at least a 25 minute drive with the power out at some intersections. I took some clean clothes to pick up Spencer- he was working on rebuilding a fence with friends, he was dirty and stinky, and raced to the doctors office. We were both so excited to find out what it was! It was strange walking up to the office door, the power was still out but they were using a generator for a few lights, fans, and the ultrasound machine. We had the typical wait for Dr. Hulme but the circumstances were different, there was no air conditioning- I'm so spoiled! Our turn came and we were the last appointment and it was a normal visit just minus the electricity. I went to the ultrasound room and he came in and got started. We got a good look at the baby and he said everything looks good and that the due date is January 24 according to the measurements of the baby. He asked if we wanted to know the sex and of course we were both really excited. The anticipation was killing us for the past few weeks! He got a good look and said there is no doubt that's a boy! He jiggled my tummy with the ultrasound mouse, or whatever it's called, and said, "Oh yeah, there's no doubting that. That's pretty clear!" I started laughing and we were both really excited! I took Spencer back to his fence building and went home. The kids were both really excited and we look forward to welcoming this baby into our family. Avery is just as excited as I am I think. She talks about holding the baby all the time and always talks to my tummy. She says," Love you baby!" before getting on the bus and before going to bed. She's so funny! She's going to be a great helper with this new one. Jake and Emily can just play together and come visit Mom and Avery with the new baby when they get bored with what they are doing.