Computer Whiz

Allie changes her blog settings all the time. I came upon it today and there is just one new little post, but the background changed again. And this one - I really like!

Her blog looks way cool, and she's always got either a new poll, a new background, or a new playlist.  She's pretty handy in Photoshop too - making new headers and banners all the time - if there was an advanced beginner Photoshop class for kids, I will be the first to sign her up!

2 years 9 months

Outfit and hair courtesy of Allie (Allie sew a few headbands last week!)

Miss Maddie is the prayer girl of the house.  Literally.  She wants to say it every single time -- and can say it by herself if she's in the mood.  Because she is insistent on always being the prayer voice, when it is not her turn to say the family prayer, we let say her own prayer then let the person whose turn it is say it next.She never forgets to say her prayers and will remind everyone it is time to pray before she goes off to sleep.

Collin put her in a little plastic tub (their little bus) and pushed her around in it, looking like this.  Maddie of course loved it, and I just had to take a photo (of course).  I just love her smile!


Maddie also loves to dance - and asks me once in a while if I could drop her off at dance sometime.  I told her she will have to wait until she turns 3, and then she can be "dropped off".

Maddie comes to preschool, every Tuesday and Thursday.  She is usually good with the 2.5 hour schedule, but since last Thursday she has asked to nap during the afternoon.  I am so glad about that!

Making her favorite dinner

One of Allie's favorite dinners is Homemade Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup.  So one day when Macey was over, she wanted to make some so I obliged and let these two cute girls make dinner.  They chopped up all the vegetables and sauteed, simmered and tasted the soup!  It turned out really yummy and the homemade noodles were so good!

Of course no play date is complete without a few clothes changes and funky hairdos!

Stake Activity Day for Girls

After Relief Society Meeting night, I got right to work on a presentation for our Stake Activity Day which was held last Saturday.  I got asked to teach a class on Manners during the luncheon.  They gave me a great partner/sister to work with - Beth Martineau.  I found this cool quote (see below) and made it the theme of our presentation.

While Beth was busy running errands to put the forks together, I was busy putting together our Powerpoint and video presentation. 200 girls were in attendance (that includes Allie!), and besides the fact that we shared a wired microphone, it went well and I am glad for the opportunity to do it with Beth.

This was our view!!

Here is Beth and I -- it is getting hard to try to dress my growing belly and next to skinny Beth, I look big!

Build Your 3-Month Supply Meeting

After a month of planning and putting together a wonderful 3-month supply cookbook - our ward held our "Building your 3-month Supply" RS Meeting on Thursday, Aug 19.  It was a lot of brainwork involved (thankfully I had some wonderful teachers (Aimee and Mindy-who was my "other brain") and helpers!) but it was fun to do and we now have a wonderful 3-month supply cookbook that has all my favorite recipes in it, and calculations for each recipe for easy inventory checks in my pantry. 

Using food from our own pantries, Mindy (my assistant) and I put together an actual representation of a 3-month food supply for a family of 5, based on a 7-day menu.  The meals included for this particular display are: Spaghetti and Baguettes, Hawaiian Haystacks and Rice, Texas Black Bean Soup, Mexican Stew, Sweet Chicken Burritos, Bean Burritos, and White Chicken Chili.  The display does not include water needed to cook the items.

We also asked volunteers to make a few of the recipes in the cookbook so the sisters could sample them.  We had good food!  We had 62 sisters in attendance, and I am so grateful for all the help Mindy and I received for putting together this night.

August

So it just seems like yesterday I posted about the first day of school!  August literally just flew by and I can't believe September is here!  Life is busy and good...much too busy this month, but I feel like I've been productive and the whole long list of things to do continues.

24 weeks along this week!
I had my 21.5 week appointment two weeks ago, such a short visit - I was seriously in there for only 2 minutes.  I had no questions for Dr Beck!  I have so far gained 12 pounds, and starting to feel fat.  My jeans still fit thankfully so I haven't gone out and bought anything maternity.  So at 24 weeks, I am feeling good and still able to use both my hands.  Once in a while my right hand feels like it's going to get carpal tunnel again.  I'm just glad I don't have it yet, and making sure I am doing all the projects I can while I can still do it.

Preschool
I started preschool on Aug 17, two sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I am booked from 9 a.m. to 2:30 on those days.  But I love the schedule.  I have amazing preschoolers - all so cute and eager to learn.  Maddie's been coming all 5 hours of preschool.  Lately she's been "tired" and been taking afternoon naps. Hurray for the naps!

Book of Mormon Studies

This year, I also started a formal Book of Mormon Studies course with Allie and Collin, which we do before school in the morning.  We use Kimber Curriculum's Junior Book of Mormon curriculum and so far we like it.  It's based on 10 "hook" dates, and we study the BOM in chronological order, and studying people and their lives/timelines in depth.  We studied 2200 BC and read a few chapters in the Book of Ether and today we started the unit on 600 BC.  I am learning a lot in the process.   What a difference it has made for us to do scriptures together in the mornings, and I know we are blessed with an added measure of the spirit because of it.

More Organization: Chore Charts
To help be more organized, we now have printed laminated versions of their job charts and I just have them check it off and then I go and adjust the points online (myjobchart.com) myself instead of letting them log on.  That saves time.  They take turns doing dishes, clearing the table, organizing shoes, and help make dinner every night.

Their school requires 20 hours of service from each student, so some of their chores go towards that (they don't get points if they choose to classify as ALA service).  Saturday chores are pretty much done before lunch time, and then we go and a family activity later.

The Best Trade Ever
One of the blessings I got this year is a new cleaning lady!  Two weeks before preschool started my new friend Ali wanted to trade me housecleaning for preschool.  I couldn't refuse since I have a hard time keeping up with cleaning the house!  I keep my house uncluttered, but all the deep cleaning, well, let's just say that's gone by the wayside.  As in -- I haven't cleaned my shutters/blinds since we moved in for example.  So since she started cleaning for me, I have been able to organize my closet somewhat, cleared out a couple junk drawers, and I can actually FOCUS better and have time for things like blogging.  She is heaven sent and I am so grateful for her service!

Room Makeover

Our family room got a makeover.  I have been wanting to do this year since last year, but I just didn't have the time to think about it and on our long list of home priorities (landscaping, painting, etc), this one was more like #100, so it didn't get the funding :)! My sister-in-law Megan's mom (Liz Hamilton) is an interior decorator so I snagged her services and had her work on this project.  We were trying to achieve a Restoration Hardware look, intertwined with some traditional elements.  I love it and we all love that the room is comfortable and gets plenty of use now that we have extra storage and furniture in there.  The window pane is NOT done yet, it is supposed to hang, suspended from the alcove's ceiling with thick white chains with a 18 x 30 image behind it.

First Day of School

We were out the door early this morning!  Allie and Collin got themselves ready and Collin even did his own hair (last night he asked if I could do it for him).  Here they are in the same spot as last year.  Allie is in Mrs. Stiltner's 5th grade class, and Collin got his Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Lane.  Collin is in first grade -- it is so weird not to have him at home for the whole day.

Here they are before the morning assembly.  There is a lot of construction going on at ALA this year so today is the only day they are doing the assembly in the "great tent".  After today, the assembly will be done in their own classrooms via the PA system. (The trailer in the background is their temporary office - the old office will be torn down very soon).

I had to get a picture with their big backpacks and lunchboxes.  Collin brought his preserved scorpion for show and tell, and Allie brought in a toy flat iron, book, and 3 other things to help her tell about herself at school today.

I followed Collin to his classroom (I had his backpack and lunch with me) and this is the face he gave me when I snapped a photo of him as he sat down at his desk.  It might be the last year I will be able to do this - from the looks on his face, he's probably thinking what in the world I was still doing there?!  OK, there were other parents there doing the same thing as me!

And here is Maddie - who was so patient at school this morning.  And yes, with yet another new haircut!  She came to me with a cup of bangs (!) in her hands while I was making dinner last night.  The scissors--she found as she rummaged through Collin's carefully-packed school backpack.  What to do with her?

Anyway, back to the school deal - I was sad to leave to go home after I saw them two off to their classrooms.  I was tempted to walk over to Allie's classroom and knock on the door so I could tell her goodbye again and snap a photo of her at her desk.  In the buzz of classes being dismissed from the assembly, her class left before I could get myself over to tell her goodbye officially (don't know why that's such a big deal).  But I thought about the 5th graders and how they would probably think I was weird! :)  so I kept walking towards the parking lot, with my eyes filling with tears.  It is unusually quiet at home now, with just Maddie and me.  And while I like the quiet and the extra time I have to myself, I am glad I still have Maddie and a soon to be here baby to keep me company for a few years more.  I can't imagine when the baby goes to school.  I'll bawl my eyes out I'm sure.

Wrapping up Summer

Last week, my family came to visit - my parents were here for 3 days from the Bahamas, Archie from Las Vegas, and the Dickersons from Kingman.  We had lots of company here it was weird when everyone left because it was so quiet.   All the kids just camped out in the family room for the 3 nights cousins were visiting.  The girls slept like this -- it'd be fun to actually have 4 girls at all times!

We all went to watch Toy Story 3 on Friday (while Archie and Andrea went and watched Charlie St. Cloud).  Here's my parents and all the grandkids:

On Saturday morning us girls went shopping while the guys went swimming, and then in the p.m. we celebrated Jazzy and Dilly's birthdays.  It was the perfect weekend for everyone to come and visit since we got lots of rain and we had fun dining out on our patio in the cooler weather.  The kids had fun on the big water slide (they want one for next summer)!

Monday was school supply shopping day.  Allie had so many school supplies to buy compared to last year.  She is not too excited about Spanish class every day (instead of 2x a week).  She was so excited about getting to pick the cute and girly looking notebooks and binders.  I remember I was the same way back when I was about her age.  School supply shopping was just as fun as clothes shopping.  Collin was easy, he just picked solid colors of everything and his list was so short he was done fast.   

After that, we went to Bounce Jungle with Megan and Kristie and their kids.  Maddie was ready to call it a day after an hour and a half of bouncing!

Tuesday was of course my day to get ready for school to start.  I finally got our laundry/mud room cleaned up and organized, after a year of being a dumping ground for everything.   I had grand plans for that room before summer came, but didn't even get to it.  But it's organized at least, and I am semi-finishing it today - I am installing some hooks and baskets and other things to keep it semi-organized all year.

While I was doing the organizing, I did the kids' uniform laundry while the kids cleaned up upstairs.  It took them about 2 or 3 hours before I finally got tired of them bickering and looking for excuses not to finish their jobs.  When they saw I was mad, they quickly got to work and finished their work in 15 minutes.  They were too distracted by the excitement of school starting!

After that I made some white bread, so they could have homemade bread for their school lunches.  The house smelled good, but after the bread was made and the kids finished a whole loaf, it was time to make dinner.  I opted for easy ground beef tacos.  By the time Kevin got home I was so tired!  He took Maddie and Collin to swimming class while Allie and I relaxed in the living room.  Allie was trying to finish her last chapter book -- she read 4 chapter books this summer and wanted to be able to say she achieved her summer goal.  I didn't realize it but I fell asleep while I was sitting there watching her read.

Allie and Collin packed their lunches before getting ready for bed, then Kevin gave them father's blessings.  The blessings were wonderful, as usual, and I was grateful for a husband who does that for our kids every year.  Just can't start school without a blessing.  The kids camped in our bedroom last night - and right before Collin dozed off he found me and asked me if I could do his hair in the morning.  I felt a little sad, because not too long ago both he and Allie needed lots of help getting ready for school in the morning.  I don't miss the hustle and bustle of trying to get out the door on time, but just a little sad that they're growing up!  Too fast.  Just a couple months ago, I was planning summer activities, and now it's gone!

School Starts Tomorrow!

8/3/2010
So our summer vacation is officially over tonight.  It went by too fast!  It seemed like it was just a short while ago  I was planning summer activities and summer goals.  So how did we do?

Maddie:
took three sessions of swimming classes and now can glide in the water really well. She hates back floats though.  Kevin calls her a water dog.

Collin:
read 13 books, but didn't finish How to Train Your Dragon (it was lost for a while)
learned how to swim and now likes to dive off the diving board and go down the slide

Allie:
read 4 chapter books
took babysitting and cooking classes
learned a few new hair do's

Me:
I read the all 4 Twilight books in one week
I got the entertainment wall painted dark brown
I cleaned the laundry/mud room so it'll be ready for tomorrow
I re-did the kids' chore charts since they have now settled into a good routine and know what's expected of them, so I can now make them a little more concise and not so detailed like the beginning of this year.


Fall Plans/Goals:
I am supplementing the kids' school with a scripture study curriculum starting in a week or two (whenever i get the books in the mail).  I am using Kimber Curriculum's program. Just like early morning seminary!