Tia Allred Blog

Brett is the hairstylist for the boys in our family.  Tonight for Family Home Evening, he gave Landon and himself a haircut.


Vivienne kept herself occupied as well, which was very much appreciated by all of us.




Then I gave them both a package of Smarties candies, for a "treat".

After baths, we read "The Little Red Hen" and told them how important it is to work hard and to be helpful.  Then Landon said prayers, and they went to bed.  Really easygoing and sweet little FHE.

I picked some of these pretty little blooms from my garden this week.  They've been making my window sill happy.  I'm planning on snipping some of my mammoth sunflowers off of their stems this weekend.  They are huge, I'll only need a few!  Can't wait!  They will look great with my patriotic flags.  And I just generally love sunflowers.

Landon is such a little caretaker.  Of course, I'm sure it's because Vivienne is around and he gets lots of practice helping out.  But I know some of it is in his nature, he is so nurturing and sweet.  I took all of these photos just within a few days of each other...

I looked up from my meal to see him feeding her bites...

Always insisting on pushing her in the stroller or wagon...

Volunteering to push her on the swing...

Their relationship is adorable.  She usually accepts his help with eagerness.  If not, she pinches him or pushes his arm.  And then he does it back to her.  It's a work in progress!

This year for Father's Day, I got Brett a personalized tie with a photo of him and the kids on it, to wear to church.  Is it beyond cheesy?  Yes.  Did I love it so much and smile every time I saw him wearing it?  Yes!  I plan on doing it every year for him.  It will be so fun to see the collection of ties over the years, and maybe I will make a pillow or lap quilt with them once I have enough.

We all sure love Brett.  He is an outstanding father to his babies.  They adore him.  They bolt for him the second he walks through the door from work.  They smother him and beg for "horsie" rides and "helicopter" rides and he always grants those wishes.  Landon is always invited to help him drive the tractor when he mows the lawn, and he plants kisses almost constantly on Vivienne when he is holding her.  We are so grateful for him!

Landon and Vivienne are obsessed with animals.

Landon about died from excitement when he got to ride the tiger on the carousel at the mall.



It's the little things.

When we were in Mesa, I suggested we take the kids to the Children's Museum in Phoenix.  Luckily, Brett thought it sounded fun, so we decided to go.  We had such a great time with the kids!

Not to mention, that it is amazing to be in a space, that is truly geared for children--pretty much anything can be touched, moved, and is nearly indestructible.  There are places for running, climbing, crawling, inspecting, and my favorite--lots of opportunity for role and pretend play.  I am hoping to try to make my home more like this.  More "lived in".  More conducive to babies and toddlers and kids.  It's a work in progress.

It is one of my favorite things to watch my kids concentrate, to watch them figure things out, and to make all these little connections in their brains.  I think some of that is just because I'm their mom, but I also learned a lot about this sort of thing in college studying for my degree--recreational therapy, so it makes sense that I'm intrigued and happy about it all.

One perk of Landon and Vivienne being so close in age, is that they enjoyed a lot of the same things at the museum.


All sorts of balls to touch and drop and see how they fall and effect things.

A fan to stand on...


Practicing his balance on this animal

I was being a peeping/stalking mom and watching Landon through the window of the playhouse.  Doing dishes, feeding the babies, snuggling them on his shoulder and patting their back while walking through the house to put them down for a nap.  Seriously, he is such a nurturing sweet little boy.

The Market was incredible.  Drawers to pull out and smell different spices.  Dried split peas that could be scooped up into a weight.  All sorts of food they could buy.  I loved how realistic the produce looked--a lot of it even had a realistic weight and density to it.  There were "checkouts" with a conveyor belt and register.  It was so neat to see the older children there, helping the younger kids "buy" their groceries.  There was a small "work room" that the purchased groceries went to, and the older kids threw them into large linen baskets on casters to restock the shelves.  It was incredible to see how well these kids that didn't know each other, were so helpful and cooperative and fell into different roles to work together.


We went smack-dab in the middle of lunch time and nap time.  The kids did amazing and probably could have stayed to play and explore longer.  Not to mention, I forgot to pack snacks!  And even without that safety net, the kids were fantastic.



We decided to stop by In-n-Out on the way home, so the kids could get full and take a nice long nap.  Vivienne kept dozing off on the way, so I kept tickling her.  She played a game back with me--keeping her eyes closed and just smiling really big.  What a funny little stinker.

Brett and I were at the mutual swimming party, and I challenged him to a race.  We swam the length of the pool, a 50.  I won!  I was so excited!  I'm sure with just a little practice, Brett would beat me in a heartbeat.  I have the advantage of having done swim team several years growing up.  But, I will take the bragging rights every chance I get.  I'm glad Brett is such a good sport.

Sunday after church, we grilled up some dinner and ate outside.  I love eating outside, it's one of my favorite things to do.  After dinner, we churned up some homemade ice cream.

Since we live in the boonies, going out on a regular date night can be hard.  Not only are babysitters often hard to come by, we have to travel a significant distance just to get almost anywhere.  So we have had to get creative, which usually means we do date-nights-in pretty frequently.

Landon and Vivienne are obsessed with the sunglasses the Easter Bunny gave them in their Easter baskets.  It's pretty amazing to see such tiny little people leave sunglasses on their faces for such extended periods of time.  It's also so cute.  They both fell asleep in their carseats wearing their sunglasses, and I couldn't help but snap a picture before trying to move them to their beds to nap (and praying they would)!  I also love that they have matching carseats.  I'm a sucker for matching and all things that are cheesy.

Summertime  means a lot of time outdoors--which means a lot of dirt and a lot of grass all over the babies.

They usually have 2-3 baths per day due to this glorious "predicament".

I love summertime.