Allred Gingerbread Village 2015

We attempted gingerbread houses again this year and I must say, they were a success (for the most part).  Best tip was to use burnt sugar to glue everything together (check it out here).  And as a side note, I'm kinda disgusted with royal icing... raw eggs and sugar?  And then it sits out forever and you still eat it, gag me now. 

Trevor didn't show interest.  Madison was too little.  And Proter would put candy on, only to take it off to eat it.  In the end, it turned out to be a date with a third wheel.  Here's the Allred Gingerbread Village 2015!

Melissa's house:

Steve's house:

Porter's house (you can kinds tell where he had some candy)

Oh Tannebaum

I think our tree looks simply magical all dressed up!  Don't you agree? 

Fat lips, black eyes, and fevers

This past weekend I worked 3 12-hour shifts - Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  That meant that Steve was the parent for the weekend.  This morning, after shift number 2, I come home and Steve was telling me that Madison had been carrying a book and stumbled and hit just below her eye with a corner, leaving a little cut and possibly a black eye.  He also said that Porter ran or fell into the corner of our end table in our family room and also had a mark and possible a black eye from that. 

Then at church, Porter fell asleep and woke up with a fever.  Fun times. So I left early and came home to get some sleep with Porter before work. 

Finally, while at work, I call Steve while on break and he tells me that just after he gave Madison a bottle for bedtime, she turned around to walk, lost her balance and smacked her face on the bottle.  She now has a fat lip.

You sometimes just have to laugh.

2015 Christmas Card

The Griswold (I mean... Allred) Family Christmas tree 2015

See the tree on the right?

That was our tree before we chopped it down.  Some friends in our old ward were getting rid of these trees and I couldn't pass up a free Christmas tree.  We were offered either one and Steve opted to "go big or go home".  (In hindsight, I wish I had photo documented the chopping of the tree, the transporting of the tree, and the initial standing of the tree... it was quite comical.)

After we brought the tree inside, we stood it up initially, and it was probably 13 feet tall.  Mind you, this is after Steve did an initial cut down to make it fit in our house.  You can see (below) Steve cutting off another couple feet just so the tree could fit in the corner where we wanted it.  

Carnage from trim #1

Carnage from trim #2:

It still ended up being really tall.  (Check out my hubby vacuuming!  He's such a stud!)

There were so many Clark Griswold moments.  First off, we showed up with just a dinky hand saw to cut the thing down (did the job though!).  The tree hardly fit in the front door, let alone in the corner.  Steve kept commenting on how much sap was on his hands.  And the frequent spitting to get pine-needles and what not out of his mouth was just hysterical!  Stay tuned for pics of our tree all decorated.  I must say, this will probably be my favorite tree for a really long time!

Kid Portrait Out-takes

This past week, I attempted DIT portraits for our kids for our (somewhat) annual Christmas card.  Here are the ones that didn't make the cut, but were too cute to not show the world...




Trevor... say Cheese.  "Cheese"

"I don't want to sit Mom"

Trying to smile really big...

... and we are starting to be silly...

... REALLY silly...

Porter wasn't thrilled about this experience.  He either...


Screamed...

Refused to look at the camera..

... or just said "No".  We ended up with one that kinda works.  Oh well.

And Madison was just a little busy body and cute. :)

Stay tuned for our family letter  to see the winners!

Thank you, Mr. Target Good Deed!

This past week, I received a coupon in the mail for 10% off my total purchase at Target.  Woot woot!  I decided to go ahead and do my big grocery shopping trip for the month at Target and use the extra savings.  I already use my TargetDebit card, Cartwheel app, and coupons for some savvy savings so this coupon was an added bonus.  I took all three kids and did our usual bag of popcorn to keep them somewhat happy for the majority of the trip. 





When I was just about to check out, my phone died, thus not allowing me to access the Cartwheel app.  I took my grocery cart loaded with groceries to the customer service counter and left it there while I went out to the car and charged my phone for a few minutes.  It was at that moment, that I realized that Porter left his shoes and socks in the car so I had to carry both Porter and Madison while trying to keep Trevor out of traffic.  Trevor was having a meltdown because we left all our stuff in the store.  I get in the car and spent 5 min charging my phone and putting shoes on Porter.  Then I hauled everyone back in (much easier with Porter being able to walk) and retrieved our cart.




We put most everything on the belt at the checkout and waited for our turn.  Porter then had a meltdown because he wants to eat the candy bars, Trevor spilt the last of the popcorn on the floor and was laying on his stomach licking up the kernels, and Madison starts crying because she's just done.  I'm trying to held on to Porter (who is still flailing and crying) while trying to get Trevor to pick up the popcorn and not eat it, when a man approached me and offered me his 20% off total purchase coupon.  He said it expired in a couple days and wasn't going to use it.  "Merry Christmas" he said with a smile and turned and walked away.  I was completely speechless.  Although saving the extra $30 was awesome, I'm grateful that someone was willing to share.  And I guess the mom with loads of groceries, with two crying kids and the third one literally eating off the floor seemed like an appropriate recipient for such a gift.





Thank you, Mr. Target Good Deed, whoever you are!

Pretending, Pointer finger infections, and Pigtails.

Highlights from this week:

• Christmas party is DONE!
• Our family Christmas party on Friday night - I love watching our Nativity grow and grow.
• Lisa came to visit us this weekend and help watch our kids during our Party extravaganza.  We drove up and saw her place and enjoyed catching up and hearing about ❤️Logan❤️.
• Jim came to visit us this Sunday.  It's probably been 6 months since I've seen him.
• Trevor's imagination/pretend blossomed this week... I happened to learn this one day when I asked him to help me find my phone.  "Trevor can you help me find my phone?"  "Here it is Mom!" (Empty hand.  Giggles)  "It's over here Mom!" (Empty spot on the couch.  Giggle.)  "It's in your pocket."  (Nope.  Giggle.)  He was so excited that it was hard to be mad.
• Porter has an infected finger.  Started out as a small red swollen area close to his nail.  Steve and I both tried to lance it with no luck.  He wasn't a fan of wearing bandaids either.  Thursday morning we woke up and his whole finger was red and swollen and was spreading into his hand.  So after a quick trip to see Dr. Alba and a prescription later, he's finger is looking much much better.  (If only I could text the Dr. like I can at work to save on time, energy, and an office visit).
• Madison has started flashing everyone a super cheesy smile lately.  SUPER adorable with her 5 teeth (3 on top, 2 on bottom).  I've also been trying to be more consistent with doing her hair.  She's tolerating it more.
•  Steve told me this week that he has 2 A's and 1 B in his classes.  BEST COLLEGE GRADES EVER for him!  AND he's managed to do that while working as much and as hard as his does, while making time for our family and allowing me to work.  He's such a stud. 

My goal for this week... Decorate our house for Christmas.  :)

#ShareTheGift

This past weekend, Steven​ and I had the opportunity to plan and organize a neighborhood Christmas party.  As you can imagine it stressful to plan food, set-up, decorations, a program, and activities to entertain 200+ people from toddlers to great-grandparents.  We had a ton of help (which we are very grateful and humbled by), but still it was stressful.  Friday night, I was going through and finalizing a few things, one of which was to download the videos that we were planning on showing at the party.  One of the videos was the #ShareTheGift video from last year.  The first 30 seconds illustrated the chaos and stress that is often associated with the Christmas Season.  But then the tone of the video changes.  At that moment, I was no longer stressed about the party because ultimately, it didn't matter how the food turned out or if the decorations were going to all coordinate, or if Steve was going to be able to hang the lights right, or how the table were arranged.  What mattered was that we were coming together as neighbors, as friends, as families to celebrate the birth of our Savior.  There's no greater gift than that of the Savior!

Watch #ShareTheGift here.

 Overall, the party went great.  We started the evening with our Santa scene in one of the church lobbies.  Santa asked each visitor, "What is your gift this Christmas?".  Everyeon then filtered into the gym where we had tables set with coloring pages, programs, and water.  The Young Men were in the kitchen prepping the plates and then took them out to serve to everyone.  It was quite chaotic and hysterical in the kitchen.  The YM were arguing over how to do some trivial thing, but once we got into a groove, things started moving smoother.  I'd even say that they enjoyed it.   Dessert was a hot chocolate bar, that I think was a hit... especially with the kids. 

We also had a simple program including a Primary Nativity and three speakers focusing on God's gift to us, the Savior's gift to us, and finally our gift to the Savior.  We showed the video released but the church this year (see here) and the video above.  Several people commented that they were moved by the videos once again to remember Christ this Christmas. 

Things I learned:  Plan on food for 200, hot chocolate for 400, and marshmellos for 600.  :)