Allie Needed a "New" Profile Photo

Miss Kewl Kreative Brain comes to me one day and says "I need a new profile photo for my blog." She is dressed in black and white, and her hair is curled and all. I couldn't refuse. So I did a quick photo shoot in our school room. Here are a few of my favorites. Not bad for a 10 minute shoot, she's a great model. I think I just need to brush up on the photography skills :) - haven't had a lot of practice lately. Good thing we've got someone in the house needing A NEW PROFILE PHOTO. She's hilarious.

Our New Child

At 21 months and a half, Miss Maddie, I think, has turned into a little silly, "I think I can do it so I will even though you don't want me to" kid overnight. Sweet isn't the word to describe her recent actions. Last night we put her to bed at a rather later time than normal (we have Grandma Beth and Pappi in town from the Bahamas). She apparently did not want to go to bed quite yet, so she kept screaming for a while (really loud, which she usually does not do even when she doesn't want to go to bed) and then the screaming stopped. I thought she finally went to bed - only to hear from Allie that she had CLIMBED OUT of her crib *with the rails still up* and went thru the jack-and-jill bath and knocked on Allie's door. Allie went to check the door out - and Maddie is standing there with a big grin on her face and a book in her hand. She wanted a story. So Allie read her the book.

After that she decided she wanted to go in our bedroom and talk in a really loud voice. She got a kick out of me telling her "Shh". Then she went in my bathtub with her blanket and pretended to sleep IN there and talking loudly *I could tell she was doing it on purpose, as she made her voice louder when I looked at her* (she's never done that before!). All this while I was ironing Kevin's shirt for work.

When I was done ironing and was washing my face she pulled the ironed shirt off the hanger and mashed it all up in a ball, and that's when I stopped brushing my teeth and put her in time out. She cried and cried but thankfully stayed in the same spot until time-out was done. She arched her back as I carried her to her room (another new thing she does when she's mad), and soon quieted down to "Rock a Bye Baby". She's loved that lullaby ever since she was a little baby. A little crying and she was out. Poor girl was so tired she probably didn't know how to quiet down. Especially without her pacifier, which I am proud to say is GONE. It got lost one day and Maddie had to let go cold-turkey. She hasn't asked for it though. She has been PACI-FREE for over a week now.

It used to frazzle me when this type thing used to happen (with Allie) but this time, it didn't. I was somewhat curious to know what she's thinking and somewhat sad that she's growing and now entering a new phase - and my inner teacher wants to teach her new things. Hope that was just a one-time show. Or it may be time to move to a toddler bed.

Loving the Coupons

I got awesome deals at Fry's today. I only spent a total of $30 and got the following:

14 Pillsbury Crescent Rolls, Grands Biscuits, Orange Sweet Rolls
2 packs of Go-gurt
6 Yoplait yogurt
4 2-liter Mug rootbeer
1 dozen eggs
3 lbs Organic red grapes
2 tomato and avocado ($2.00)
1 pkg rolls ($2.50)
8 pkgs Betty Crocker cookie mixes
6 pkgs Reese's peanut butter cups (2-pack and 8-pack)
2 gals milk
1 big bag Nana's chips

I kept adding in my head how much I would have paid at Walmart with the coupons, and the total didn't even come close to beating my Fry's price (Fry's is currently quadrupling and accepting competitor's coupons on top of the buy 10 get $5 off promo). So 50 items for $30, that is an average of 60 cents per item or lb. A very good deal no matter how you look at it.

Allie's New Blog Addresses

For those of you SUDDENLY not able to read Allie's plethora of blogs:

I was checking my blog lists and lo and behold I found that Allie had created more new blogs. I can't remember how many. There was one called sweetsurprisesbakeryusa. Another recipe blog. And then I found alliesapple doesn't NOT exist anymore. She figured out how to export her blog entries to a different new blog address. And Princess Pastry does NOT exist anymore either.

Here are the new addresses:

Kewl Kreative Brain: **see update below.
Princess Pastry (Mom's Cookbook) is now: zelittlechef.blogspot.com

I went and deleted 6 of her blogs. She is grounded from the computer this weekend. :)

*** Update: Little girl got on a computer and changed it from kewlkreativebrain.blogspot.com back to alliesapple.blogspot.com after I told her that changing addresses weren't very convenient for people reading her blog - as in - "they can't find it anymore!". I spoke too soon! I just found out that she restored alliesapple.blogspot.com and even changed the page backgrounds and all, SO LEAVE YOUR LINKS THE WAY IT IS. It's good she is tech-savvy and creative, but man, it's a bit much sometimes.

My 202nd Post - What's New?

So I looked on my dashboard and saw that my post titled "If I don't post..." was my 200th post! I have a bazillion pictures on my memory card of the kids and preschool, but haven't uploaded them so here's a brief update since I posted two weeks ago (has it been that long?) before I forget what happened this week:

- Allie started ballet on Monday. I have been telling her we would go to try the class out at SAS and see how she likes it. So on Monday we went and she loved the class. She took ballet from an awesome studio in Utah and wanted to start dancing again this year. She looked so pretty in her usual ballet attire (I forgot how ballerina-like she is!). We both thought the Academy of Ballet in Utah is WAY better - Owner/Teacher Lynne Thompson is amazing, but since the best ballet place is supposedly in Tempe, SAS will have to do.

After we got home from dance, we did FHE. Starting next week, Collin will have soccer practice right before Allie's dance class.

- Collin's first soccer practice was Wednesday night. He was so excited to go and loved his cleats, shinguards and knee socks (which he made fun of before we signed up for soccer). My brother Archie is a big-time soccer player (he played in a competitive league in the Bahamas) and was so excited to hear Collin is doing soccer this fall. Collin's coach is nice and fun, couldn't believe he warmed right up to him and his teammates at first meeting.

- Piano for Allie starts in a week or so.
- Maddie has a thing for writing and scribbling on things like walls.
- Kevin is in a painting phase. He rolls on the paint, I cut in. We painted our master and guest bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. It is nice to see the white walls disappear.
- Preschool is going well. I think my two classes are acclimating to the routine. Everyone works hard and 2 hours seems like it gets over fast.
- Allie wants jumping beans for pets. We made a deal - she'll get them if she did chores on time for two weeks. She always makes deals with me.

I'll update with photos when I get them uploaded.

Nostalgia Night

I couldn't be there to help in person, so I volunteered to donate my time in putting together a ticket design for the evening (and do some online publicity). A little something from their class president :). Who knew you could be here in Arizona and help plan an event via email, facebook, and blogging - with other alumni who are in India and the Bahamas? Wouldn't have been possible 13 years ago. But I'm hoping the rest of the team will approve. (yup, our school color was aqua and I wore an aqua uniform with a white belt and cravat every day to school).

first draft only

If I don't post...

that means I am just really busy getting into the swing of school things. The kids started school last Wednesday and this week, we started our preschool classes at home. I have 8 kids in my preschool, split into two classes that meet M/W and T/Th, for 2 hours each time. I am pretty much booked until 2:45 every day of week except for Friday. I also have enough kids on my waiting list to form 3 classes for next fall - and I am trying to picture what that would be like :), seeing this is how my schedule goes now with only two classes:

6:30 wake up and get the kids up (except Maddie)
7:00 help the kids get ready for school, go downstairs and get Allie's lunch ready, get the kids' breakfast
7:40 breakfast is done, kids are ready to go in the car
7:45 carpool picks my kids up
8:30 I'm ready (clothes + makeup + ponytail, or flat-ironed my hair), Maddie is up, feed her breakfast
9:00 -10:00 make bed, pickup countertops, clean kitchen while Maddie plays and makes more messes
10:00 - check email, get preschool snacks ready to go, go run errands (grocery store, paint store, whatever, as long as it takes less than 40 minutes)
10:45 - be at Collin's school to pick him up
11:00 - home again, feed Collin and Maddie lunch
11:20 - Put maddie down for a nap
11:30 - 1:30 PRESCHOOL
1:40 - 2:10 kids are finally all picked up, I have some FREE time to do whatever (ok, that really means clearing kitchen from lunch, feeding Maddie, etc)
2:15 - pick up Allie from school
2:45 - back home for the day. Kids eat, do homework. Piano classes for both Allie and Collin.
5:00 - Kevin is home, time to get dinner on the table
6:00 - 7:00 - Dinner, Clean up (sometimes it doesn't really happen at this hour!)
7:00 - FHE on Mondays, Mutual for me and Activity Days for Allie on Wednesdays.
8:00 p.m. - hang out with the family in our room, put Maddie to bed.
9 p.m. - last of bath time, brushing, prayers, etc.
9:30 I want the rugrats out of my room! I'm sleepy at this point.
10 p.m. - I should be sleeping but still awake to get prepared for the next day!

Whew! So if I don't have any new posts for a while, you know what I'm up to.

Ashes Ashes

Miss Maddie's favorite song to sing is Ring Around the Rosie. She sings, "Ashesh, ashesh, down!" It's so cute! She also likes to name and point to body parts, including eyes, nose, "earsh", "peet", belly, button (for bellybutton), "moush" (mouth), head, hands, "hur" (hair), pace (face). She says "Money" or "Mantie" when we practice saying "Maddie". She babbles likes crazy!

First Day of School

at home; right before opening ceremonies

at home; right outside his classroom

Today is Collin's first day in Kindergarten and Allie's first day in 4th Grade at the American Leadership Academy (ALA)! Last night we did a Back to School FHE and Kevin gave both of them father's blessings (which he does every year before school starts). I think both Kevin and I were feeling a little nostalgic just thinking about how fast time has gone by (AGAIN!) and how much the kids have grown, even just this summer.

The kids woke up on time today and got themselves dressed fast. Collin thought having his shirt tucked in was "dorky" but Allie and I quickly reminded him it was a school rule, and everyone's shirts will be tucked in at school. Collin was so excited to find little notes for everyone from Kevin on the countertop, and felt very special to get a little something from Dad. What a nice surprise!

Allie with her class at opening ceremonies

I juggled my DSLR and mino and Maddie in a stroller at their school. I took Collin in to his classroom while Allie waited with Maddie. Collin quickly found his desk and was happy to see that the desk he picked was still his desk! (we saw some that got moved).

at his desk; telling me not to use the flash!

I was videotaping and taking pictures at the same time, and since I had to use my flash, Collin told me to "STOP taking pictures with a FLASH". Pretty funny! No, I wasn't the only one with a big DLSR - can't miss the excitement of the very first day at school, you know?

Anyhow, when I got out of the classroom, somehow my fingers managed to press just the right buttons to delete all the videos on my mino, so I had to go back in the classroom to re-tape the whole first day experience! Whew, with five minutes to spare to take Allie over to the opening ceremonies.

Wow, I hadn't seen a first day of school opening ceremony with uniformed young men bearing the colors/flag. It was neat and very patriotic!

Now I am sitting here blogging and actually got all the photos off the memory card to post here, while Maddie naps. The quiet house is nice, but I miss the other little voices. But like I said time flies, only half an hour more and I will be going to pick Collin up from school! Time to get the upstairs straightened up.

Adding to my year supply of cereal for $7!

I got 20 boxes of Kellogg's cereal today - they are on sale at Basha's for $2 each. I had them price-matched at Walmart, and paid only $27 total after using $13 worth of clipped coupons (online and the Sunday paper). Kelloggs also happens to have a $10 rebate offer going on right now if you buy any 10 Kellogg's participating items in a single transaction.

After my rebates, the final price for 20 boxes of cereal will be *drumroll please*

$7 or 35 cents per box!

If you think that's awesome, I have a friend who is getting the same deal for a whopping

20 cents per box.