Family Pics

Easter has always been our unofficial family picure time. I think we have only missed one year since we have had kids, so I was not about to miss this year. I have to tell you though, a family pic with 5 kids and a timer....not so easy. We took lots of pictures to try and get a "decent" one. This year Mique was cracking me up. It is hilarious (at least to me) to see the progression of her expressions. Always an adventure in our house!

It was a wonderful Easter and happiness (true happiness) in the Allred home!

You better guard your cupcakes

You better guard your cupcakes or......

This little sneak will snatch them away and leave behind a path of destruction

!

Discipline

If discipline is not one of the most difficult aspects of parenting, then I do not know what is. I am not sure if it is finding the right consequence to fit the action without letting emotion rage, or if it is the consistency and follow-thru, or the fact that due to the nature of being a stay at home mom I am the one that does most of the disciplining....but it all just wears on me. I swear the kids have tuned out the tone and pitch in which my voice resides (Grant says I do the same to the kids, which when other adults are around I do....I just want to hear and talk to someone other than them, so yes I am guilty.) Today Asher was royally pushing it with me, so I resorted to something I never do...I called Grant. I think I just needed a calm voice to make sure I did not raise mine. He talked to Asher, and Asher realized that dad would not save him and what mom says goes...it did not make Asher behave, but it sure made me behave and not lose it. I guess I need to call on my better half more often if nothing more than to back me up and let the kids know mom and dad are in this together.

Have you ever...

Have you ever been in the thick of the storms of life when things seem overwhelming, frustrating, endless, broken, impossible.........then you lock eyes with you sweetheart and in a whisper almost inaudible he says, "I Love you!" and just for a moment the noise ceases, the storm calms and your heart swells. Well I have, and I tell you what, it is as close to magic as possible!

Siblings are forever

Today the kids wanted to run home from aunt Christi's house. They all took off and Asher almost immediately took a dive. I was in the car and watched him go down and his face snap into the sidewalk. I threw the car in park and watched Jamison and Caleb instantly turn around and run back to their brother. He was crying of coarse, his teeth nicked his upper lip and was bleeding a bit. I asked him if he wanted to get in the car, and through tears he said, "No I am still going to run." He popped up after a minute and was off again. When we almost got home he was out of gas. The two older kids were basically to the driveway and Asher was back a ways at a stand still, upset. I watched as the two older kids stopped, turned around, ran to Asher and walked side by side with him until they were all home. This was such a good moment for mom. We tell the kids all the time that friends will come and go, but they will always have their brothers and sisters. They need to watch out for each other. We have had several experiences as of late where that has been manifest, whether they know it or not. Today I was able to witness the love of siblings in my own kids and it was a sweet sweet moment!

Lunch at Dadda's work

Yesterday we took lunch to Grant at work and ate with him. Asher was eating chicken nuggets and the following transpired:

Me: Asher, be careful you are getting crumbs everywhere.

Asher: Well I am sorry, but that happens, it just comes with eating.

(Well there you go...........where on earth did we get this kid?)

I had no clue

When I put her in a basket for the first time, I had no clue what I was starting. She obviously loved it.

It became a place to color.

A place she felt safe.

And it is still a place for her to read.

I am not sure what the fascination is with the baskets, but the kids love them. They are their hiding places, their beds, their cars, their boats...a tool of their imagination. I love it!