Allison is 5!

We've spent the past 4 days celebrating Miss Allison's birthday and there is proof of that in this post of many pictures :)

It all started last Saturday with her friend-party. I had seen on a friends blog that she did a Pinkalicious party for her daughter and I thought it would be perfect for Allison - so thanks Emily for the idea :)

Here are the cupcakes:
All dressed in pink:

Pin the cherry on the cupcake:

Musical Pink Construction Papers :)

Check out all the pink!

What does it say Mom?

First of many birthday treats:

Sisters and friends and pink treats:

Extra time at the party = a trip to the park :)

On Sunday we had her family party - Grandma and Grandpa Riding, Grandma and Grandpa Crabtree, Great Grandma Crabtree, and the Dances were all here.

Waiting to open the presents:

Yes! I got a puppy in a purse (in fact, I got two - that green and pink package to the side of me is the exact same one - I exchanged it for a Princess Fairy Barbie...)!

I wonder what it is?

Sister's helping open up the toys:

Next cake please....this is a "grandma cake" - which my girls have named white cake with chocolate frosting. That is the kind of cake my mom makes all the time. The girls LOVE Grandma Cake!

Grandma Crabtree, Allison, matching baby, and Great Grandma Crabtree

The actual day (Tuesday the 28th). She is finally really 5!!!!

Morning preschool birthday cookie:

Afternoon preschool birthday cookie...she is saying "it burned my hair!"

That night she finally got to open her presents from mom and dad. (just ignore Konrad's use of Christmas paper - we are seriously lacking in the birthday wrapping paper department!)

Yes! A two wheel scooter!

And she can even take her Barbies for a ride....(also ignore her addition of white socks to her outfit - not sure why they had to be pulled over her pants :))

About Allison:

*She loves Barbies

*She loves Barbie movies and Princess movies

*She loves riding scooters

*She loves painting and making art projects

*She enjoys preschool - but isn't a huge fan of having to go in the morning and afternoon - all though she enjoys playing with friends both times and I'm sure eating two birthday treats was a plus!

*She loves to dance and is taking tap and ballet

*She doesn't like crust and still throws gigantic fits if you try to make her eat it (which mean old dad does....mom knows it's not worth it :))

*She loves to play with friends

*She misses her sisters when they are at school

*She can't wait to go to school with them

*She is excited to be a big sister and constantly asks how big the baby is now and likes to make comparisons to fishy crackers, fruit loops, etc.

*She likes to do Zumba with me on Monday's and does really well

*She also helps me teach aerobics sometimes and pretends to teach Step Aerobics at home

*She loves to have stories read to her and read the ones she knows to us

*Her favorite Primary songs are "I like to look for rainbows" and "I Lived in Heaven" - we sing one of those to her each night before she goes to bed

*She loves all types of cereal

*She loves to sing

We are really glad Allison is in our family. It's fun to watch her learn and grow each day. Can't wait to see what this year brings!

Happy Birthday Al!

Nothing of Importance

Nothing too exciting has been going on around here....just normal everyday life.

I took Sam to her post-op appointment yesterday. Looks like the surgery did it's trick. We're taking her off her antibiotics and we'll see how things go. Hopefully no more UTI's in the near future. Otherwise we're back to square one.

My almost 10 year old is going to be the end of a very tired, grumpy, pregnant me. Everything is a battle. If it's not piano, it's what she is wearing (why is she so determined to not match? to wear the most random outfits?), what she's eating, or what she's not doing (playing with friends, reading, etc). I love her to death, but it's going to be a long few years I think. Back to the clothes thing - do I let her leave the house in non-matching weird outfits? Or do I stifle her creativeness for my own sanity? I can't decide if it's a battle that should be worth fighting. Also - we fight over the use of her DS - no, she doesn't want to play games on it - she wants to use it late at night as a night-light to read with. We have to confiscate it each night for this reason. She even tries to claim she only needs it so it can charge - yeah right, charge while it's being used as a secret-read-under-the-covers-light!

It's almost birthday time in our house again. Allison has her Pinkalicious party this weekend, her real birthday next week. Kimber's will be two weeks later. Fun times!

I have a dilemma. I am currently playing volleyball on a rec team. I love playing volleyball. BUT the games are at 9:00 at night. That is my new bed time. I literally have to force myself off the couch to get ready to go. Do I keep playing or just say - I'm done. But, what if I start getting some energy back in two weeks and then I gave it up for nothing....ahhh what to do? Plus, I'll be off the team for next season anyways - should I just bail now? Also, being the low man on the totem pole, I know the team won't miss me - well they might miss me, but not my volleyball skills :).....once I'm done being pregnant I am putting together a team to play in the non-competitive league - who wants to play? It will be next fall...I need 5-6 other volleyball lovers to play with me!!! It costs about $50 a person....not horrible, but not cheap, but it is SOOOOO much fun, so it's worth it! Anyways, what to do about this season????

Okay - I've rambled long enough - time to get some lunch and figure out what to do for preschool since it's raining and I can't do what I had originally planned. Yeah for Fall :(

School has Started

The big girls started school last week. Here they are, minus backpacks b/c they were so heavy with all the supplies in them :), right before we left.

Kimber, friend we watch before and after school, and Sam
Kimber is in 4th grade

Don't you love the super-skinny jeans and high-top "converse" (if you know me, you know they are knock-off's not real :)).

Sam is in 2nd grade:

Kimber is finally in class with 2 of her oldest friends (from good old Kindergarten days) - they've never all been in the same class, though, so they were pretty excited about this year. Hopefully their teacher can handle their super-strong-super-similar-personalities this year! Us parents thought of warning the teacher, but we figured she'd figure it out on her own. Actually, I am hoping now that they are older there will be less drama. We'll see!

Sam and a friend standing in line waiting to go into class.

Both girls love their classes. They seem to enjoy their teachers and the things they are learning. Hopefully that continues!

Allison, and I :), started preschool this week. I am doing 2 classes - one 4 day afternoon class and one 2 day morning class. Yesterday we had both morning and afternoon. Allison thought it was weird that she did the same thing twice, but I don't think she really minded. She doesn't have anyone that she really knows in the younger class yet, but once she gets to know them, I'm sure she'll be as excited about that class as she is about the afternoon one.

Here she is strutting her stuff...

I should have taken a picture of me on my first day - if it was taken at the beginning I would have been alert and awake (well mostly :)). At the end of the day you could see me sleeping on the couch :) This pregnancy is a killer. Someone tell me I'll get my energy back soon - this napping everyday is starting to get irritating!

Both classes have great kids in them. They are still really quiet, b/c it's all so new. Parents have been surprised how quiet they are - I tell them to wait and see, in 2-3 weeks when they get to know each other well - it will be a different story :)

Last year I didn't have many "new" students, I had mostly returners. This year out of my 21 kids - only 4 of them are returners. It makes for lot's of routine and rule teaching. My favorite was asking my 2 day class to line up (they are mostly young 3's with a 4 year old or two) - they had no idea what to do. Loved it! They are so fun and cute. It's weird for me not to see them everyday, like I do my afternoon class. I've never done a 2 day class before, so it will take some getting used to on my part.

Other than that we have a pretty laid back fall happening. Kimber is in our Stake's production of the Music Man. So she has practice at least once a week for that. Samantha is playing soccer - Go Sounders! Allison was signed up for a Cheer and Trampoline class - which she was really excited for, but they called me today and said they were canceling the class. Now she is going to be doing Tap and Ballet again. So in the winter, if you see the Cheer and Trampoline class through the parks and rec program, sign up for it so Allison can take it too! :) Anyone else doing tap and ballet on Monday mornings?

I am playing volleyball - ward and rec team. Yeah for volleyball. Boo for being so tired when I'm playing. Again, will I ever get my energy back???

I go to the doctor for the first time on Friday - hopefully all is well with the baby. I'm also secretly hoping that they will check my thyroid levels and up my medicine - that could kick my sleepiness! I can hope right?

Oh, one other thing we've doing around here - canning, lots and lots of canning. I still have one more batch of peaches (why, oh, why can't they all ripen at the same time?). This year my sister and I did pears and applesauce and my mom, sister, and I did peaches. I'm not 100% sold on the applesauce, only b/c of the time it took (we ran into a few problems which made it longer than it probably should have been), but I think if I find really cheap apples, or even better, free ones then I could be convinced to do it again next year. Especially b/c we had an awesome applesaucer to work with - that machine is magic, really it's fascinating! :)

Okay, time to make dinner. This month I finally got back into menu planning. It is soooo nice. Plus we've been trying new recipes and they've all been good so far. I also bought all ingredients (besides produce) at the beginning of the month so my shopping trips will be fewer, which equals less money being spent. As well as more time I can lay on the couch and be lazy :), which really is what it's all about at this point!