Samantha

Samantha finally got to start ballet. I told her when she was 2 that she could do it when she turned 3...somehow that didn't happen, and it took a little longer but even at 4 1/2 she loves it. She just wishes she could go everyday.




Sam also got a hair cut yesterday. It's cute. I'm still not sure about the bangs (she loves them though), but they'll grow!

Trouble

If only you could hear Alli say "trouble". That's exactly what she was when I found her in the bathroom the other day...


Obviously not happy about the preserving of this memory...


Here she is sporting mascara. I think this is a new hobby of hers, she did it again the next day at Konrad's parents house. She also decided to check out the toothpaste there!
What's funny is she did get some on her eyelashes, as she cried it ran down her face. I guess she'll need to buy waterproof! I'm not to sure about the black streaks in the hair though...

Preschool Anyone?

As most of you know I am going to teach preschool, out of my home, starting in September. I am really excited about it and just started filling out all my paper work for my business license and all that jazz. The only problem is that I can't decide what to name it.

Any ideas????

Something easy to remember and not too long (so you can all fit it on your checks when you write them to me :) )...

You would think that I could have come up with something. I've been trying to for 5 years now...I just can't come up with something I LOVE.

So I'm leaving it up to everyone out there...help me out, okay?

Also, I'm hoping to get registration forms made up within the next week or so...let me know if you want one. (I figure I should take advantage of your attention and do some advertising...what a great business woman I'll be :))

Email me and I can answer all your questions - ashcrab@gmail.com

A.A. for Dora????

Okay so it really wouldn't be called A.A. more like A.t.D.A. but still we have a problem. Allison is addicted. It's all she wants to do and she throws huge fits when we don't let her. I try to not be the mom who ignores her kids all day...well maybe I don't try very hard (somedays I realize I was on the computer most the day...oops), but I definitely try to keep the TV turned off for most the day.

Kimber watched TV all day long when she was little (up to age 3)....she would turn into a complete grouch when she had watched too long. Sam never liked TV until she was 3, so I didn't have to worry about her. Now Alli want's to follow in Kimber's footsteps and turn into a couch potato...is that okay?

Up until the last few months my girls were allowed a 1/2 hour a day, an hour at the most. I know that's not typical and some people have their TV on all day...but I swear it makes my kids crazy. But then to try and lessen the amount of time zoning in front of it, turns them into monsters. Which is worse...crazy or little monsters????

What do I do?????

I guess she is learning something...she often talks in her own made up Spanish (typically mixing the English and Spanish words together), she learned to count, she knows her colors, she could play Dora Bingo with the family the other night b/c she knew all the character's names (so did Konrad...I didn't though), she can even count in Spanish sometimes.

Anyways if anyone hears about an Addicted-to-Dora-Anonymous program, let me know!

Christmas 2007 - the Longest Post Ever

Here are a bunch of pictures from Christmas time...if only I were a die-hard-blogger I would keep this blog up to date...but it looks like my pattern is to post every couple weeks and do 3 or so posts each time. Oh well, at least it gets done!

Girls Night Party!
Thanks everyone for coming...I had a great time, I hope you did too. Who knew that an ornament exchange could ALMOST get contentious!

I didn't get a picture of everyone...BUT...I did get that wonderful picture of Tami!

Christmas Eve/Christmas Day

being lazy and watching cartoons...

Sam showing off her drawing of an angel (she was getting ready to be the angel in the Nativity)

The Nativty (Mary, Joseph, and two of the angels)

Angel Samantha
Making sugar cone "Christmas trees" with Grandma and Great-Grandma Crabtree

Samantha sporting her new ballet clothes (and chef's hat)...she starts ballet in 3 days!!!

Kimber after opening her new sewing machine.

A late night + an early morning= a sleepy Konrad

Our "Littlest Reindeer"

At Kimber's school the 1st and 2nd grader's put on a play call the Littlest Reindeer. It was really cute. Kimber was the 'understudy' for a solo (her best friend Aleigha had the lead). They let her perform at the dress rehearsal so we all went to watch. She was very nervous but did a GREAT job.

And last but not least....Santa Pictures

Alli trying to figure out why she is on this guys lap... Kimber thinking hard about what she wanted....
You will now notice that there is not a picture of Samantha sitting on Santa's lap at our Ward Christmas party. Anyone that was there can tell you she was COMPLETELY FREAKING OUT and refused to even look at him at first (eventually she did peak through a slightly open door to watch). I am not a parent that forces my child to sit on a strange person's lap, so we left the room. Tami and Heather were really nice and told Santa what she wanted for Christmas and then gave her a candy cane. We thought she'd sit on his lap this year but I guess not.

BUT WAIT...Darcy, Jenn, Stephanie, and I took our kids to Southcenter to participate in Story Time with Santa. Do you see what I see in these pictures?

That's right, Samantha is not only in the same room as Santa but is sitting less then 3 feet away from him. Then she did the hokey pokey with him. Later she gave him a high five (I didn't catch that moment b/c some little girl walked infront of me...oh well)! The Ward party was only 5 nights before when she couldn't even think about Santa without huge screams coming out of her mouth and jumping up and down trying to get away...and look at her now!

Maybe next year she'll actually sit on his lap....

1:00 Church....

Why do they even have 1:00 church?

First off, the morning is WAY to long. I'm second guessing our "no TV on Sunday" rule...obviously we haven't had the 1:00 time slot for awhile!

Second, we leave for church right when Allison normally takes her nap...along with almost every other child in the nursery...which equals a very grumpy Alli! I'm sure many of you witnessed that during nursery. During Sacrament meeting the poor girl kept saying "Mommy we need to go home so I can go night-night" - poor kid! I wonder if I could get her to fall asleep if I bring the ever important binky and blanky???

Third, the Primary kids are done by the time Primary rolls around. They are restless. I'm hoping that will change as they get used to it, but Junior Primary was basically a room full of bouncing-talkative children. Maybe that's b/c my lesson wasn't all that exciting...

I'll have to admit it was nice for the kids to actually get 3 meals on a Sunday. I don't feel like such a bad mom when that happens.

AND bedtime came much quicker...although that doesn't normally matter b/c we're at my parents most Sunday evenings, so that just means we can't hang out as long.

Oh well...I guess we do what we're told, huh?