A Momentous Occasion

Allison is still not feeling all that great - sore throat and runny nose.

Regarding the runny nose. . . . I grabbed a tissue, held it up to her nose, and said "blow". As I was holding the tissue to her nose I noticed something - she was actually blowing OUT. To most of you that probably doesn't seem that exciting. What you don't realize is that my cute little girl has NEVER been able to blow out of her nose. We have tried different tactics to get her to do it, nothing ever worked.

But today she blew her nose.

When I realized she was blowing I said "Alli, you are blowing your nose!"

She looked at me and said "That's because I'm four now!"

Yeah for being 4!!!!

Happy 4th Birthday Allison

Today Miss Allison turned 4. Really? My baby is 4?

She had her birthday party last Saturday (sorry to all those we couldn't invite - we know WAY too many 3-5 year olds, I just couldn't have 23+ kids here! (and those would just be the Sunbeam class and Preschool Class, let alone all the other friends out there!)

I was feeling bad that I hadn't offered to make Alli a character cake (I think she's only had 1, whereas her sisters have had at least 5 years of them). So offered to make her a Care Bear cake (the easiest one - it was a busy Saturday) but she said "Nope, I just want white frosting and pink letters" - that's my girl! Nice and easy.

I seriously love the face she makes while blowing!

All the crazy kids at the party:

Here she is today at preschool. She wanted GIANT chocolate chip cookies for her birthday snack. Most the kids couldn't finish theirs so I think they must have been GIANT enough.
Opening presents from gma Leanne and gpa Clay, who stopped by after preschool to wish her happy birthday:

We were supposed to go swimming tonight, but unfortunately Alli's "mouth" (I'm thinking throat) started hurting. So she decided she'd rather just go home and open presents and go to bed. Poor girl! Sick on her birthday. She had enough energy to open presents though:

She chose to have some ice cream with sprinkles for her birthday treat (b/c anything else would have hurt to swallow). Once again a cute blowing-out-the-candles picture:

I'm hoping she'll feel better in the morning, but we'll see.

For journaling purposes:

*Alli weighs 30 lbs.

*Is about 39-40 inches tall (just tall enough to ride the rides at the fair :) )

*She loves babies (real and dolls), dress up, make-up (especially chap stick - I think she got 10 tubes of chap stick for her birthday!!!), singing, dancing, playing with her sisters, riding her princess scooter, swinging at the park, playing with her friends, going to aerobics with mom - and doing some exercising (especially jumping jacks), preschool, writing, and reading stories.

*She asks me how to spell things all the time and knows all the letters and can write them all on her own.

*She loves to sing songs and learns the words really quickly. Kimberlynn was/is the same way.

*She loves dipping goldfish crackers in vanilla yogurt.

*She hates eating crust, but I told her once she turned 4 she had to eat it - I think she debated whether it was worth it to turn 4 today!

*Her favorite thing to watch on TV are any of the Barbie Princess Movies

*When asked what she wanted for her birthday dinner she said Panacakes - no that isn't a typo - she calls them pan-a-cakes. I hope that never goes away!

*She calls clouds - clowns. Lines - lions. Sneezing - blessing.

Happy Birthday Alli-girl! We love you!

Introducing. . . . . . .

My new niece. I forgot to ask how they were going to spell her name, so I'll do my best. I may have to come back and fix it later :) (I got smart and went and looked on their blog at their "what should we name the baby poll" - I originally left out the 'c', pretty close though :) )

Mackenzie Dance

I can not believe all the dark hair - looks like she should be my other sister Michelle's baby! :) She is pretty darn cute. Kimberlynn is absolutely excited and is already talking about babysitting her!

Time for an Update

Things are going great here in the Crabtree house.

Preschool is going well. Alli loves having her friends here everyday again. She asked almost every day during the summer when preschool would start again. I am loving teaching again. It is weird to be teaching in the afternoon, but I'm adjusting. "My" kids are all happy and get along pretty well. They are getting the routine down and I am finding myself explaining the rules less and less, which is always nice.

A unit in our 4-plex had a grease fire yesterday. The kitchen has to be replaced. Luckily it's insured.

We found out about the grease fire on the way into the EQ Pinewood Derby activity. So Konrad had to abandon his car into my hands to go talk with the fire chief. I ended up handing his car over to other men in attendance to race, b/c I wasn't about to cause the CO2 tank to explode (using a hammer and a screw driver) - causing it to shoot down the track, hit the finish line, and send the CO2 tank, the wheels, and nails that hold the wheels flying into the bystanders. Can we say DANGEROUS! Needless to say the kids were impressed, the men laughed, and the women gathered their children and ran for cover. :) Had it been able to stay on the track the car would have won - staying on the track is so over-rated! :)

I should be getting a new niece this week - Go Steph! (as well as two other friends having their babies - Go Mel and Melody!) Good luck ladies!

Oh I have a question for everyone out there. Anyone have any good play-dough recipes. I just can't find the one and it is driving me crazy! Any old 322's or BYU Preschool Student Teachers have the recipe we used there? I need something that isn't oily but isn't too dry or too sticky. See, it needs to be the ONE!

Very important stuff you just read, huh??? :) Have a good day!

First Day of School

Allison's first day of preschool:
Samantha's first day of 1st grade:

outside her classroom, she is making her "I'm slightly nervous and embarrassed face"

Kimber's (not to be confused with Kimberlynn - she has decided she is Kimber - NOT Kimberlynn) first day of 3rd grade:

In her classroom:

They are happier and happier with school every day. My social girls are glad to be back at school.

Sam is excited to be at school all day b/c "she gets to learn more and have more recesses".

Kimber is just happy to be busy again! Friends, learning, reading, and a great teacher! Life doesn't get better.

Oh and of course Alli LOVES her preschool teacher - but who wouldn't? :)

What They Did During the Strike

• Built huge block towers:

• Kimber started soccer, Go Green Snakes (or is it lizards??? :))

• They went hiking with friends:

and actually got to play in the water this time.....

I'm thinking Ariel???

And Ariel again....

• Went to the Puyallup Fair (twice):

(I tried convincing Alli those socks, see above pic, were a bad idea)

Not a bad way to spend 2 weeks! :)

(not pictured: helping with preschool, going to the library, playing at various parks, Sam at swim lessons, spending the night at Aunt Stephi's, playing with many many many friends, watching movies, etc.)

They are MORE than HAPPY to be back in SCHOOL though. We LOVE school!

Mariner's Game

A few weeks ago I went to a Seattle Mariner's game with some friends. We even made a "Rally Fry" sign - we didn't win the real rally fries, but some guy bought us some anyways b/c he thought we should have won. We had great seats - 4 rows up from the M's dugout - any time there was a lefty up to bat we were on TV!

Here are some pictures Korrin took:

Our sign (the 2nd poster has pictures of our crying grumpy kids (I used the same picture I used for my Price is Right shirt))

Eating our yummy non-garlic fries (we were hoping to win the rally fries, which are garlic fries, but had decided we really just wanted regular fries - we lucked out, they were out of garlic fries so we just got plain ones! Yum!) Not only did we get free tickets, free fries, and free TV time - we also made it on the big TV (jumbo tron???) at the stadium 5 times!!!! 5 times in one night. Pretty impressive, huh?

Hopefully we can do it again ladies!

Random Stuff

*Alli and Haden doing a "cheer dance" - at least he is wearing a pirate costume (rather than a princess one)! :)
*Camping at Mossyrock:
Our favorite place let us down - it rained. It rained enough that I called it quits and we left Saturday night. It really wasn't that horrible - but when we are at Mossyrock we swim and jet ski all day - besides that there isn't much to do! I think part of the reason we left is that we had a feeling something "big" was happening at church and we (I) didn't want to miss it. We were right -- we got a new Bishopric.

Anyways, here are some pics from camping:

There were 5 families - 10 adults and 12 kids - we had a ton of stuff in those camp sites!
The girls love riding bikes while we are camping - they especially loved all the hills around our campsites

Alli and Gavin on an adventure

*The other day Sam found a frog in the back yard - she LOVES frogs. Loves them enough to wear them:

* Tonight I did my first big couponing adventure. This is a list of what I got:

7 boxes of cereal

toothpaste

creamer

feminine products

Cold and Sinus medicine

2 boxes of jello

All of that for $8.20!!!!

Whoo-hoo. Pretty exciting, huh? It's still overwhelming to me b/c there is so much info being thrown at me from the 2 blogs I follow (10+ posts a day) so I have to figure out what deals I want to worry about, but hopefully it will get easier. Anyone not using their Sunday coupons that wants to pass them on, I'll gladly take them :)

*I'm trying to get ready for preschool - I've got a parents meeting tomorrow, the kids are coming in for a short time on Thursday, and school starts next Tuesday. It will be nice to be teaching again - all though it will be interesting having two extra "helpers" (Kimber and Sam) until the strike is over. They are excited to "help" though. :)

*Kimber started soccer tonight - it was decent weather, I hope it stays that way. Sam will start swimming lessons next week. I was going to sign Alli up for ballet, with a bunch of girls from church, but she said "I have to get bigger first" - luckily I asked her first. I'm not about to spend money on something and have her scream her head off about going! We are probably going to put Kimber in piano lessons as well - we'll see though, time is already disappearing!

*Yeah for almost being "back on schedule" - eventually the strike will end, right? If it's still going on next Friday (11th) we all need to go to the Puyallup Fair - it's free admission before noon that day. We are also planning on going on the 14th when the rides are $1.50 each.