3A's: Annie, ALA Carnival, and Allie's Music Concert

I'm behind on blogging again!  Anyway, this past weekend was such a fun and busy one!  I didn't take photos at the carnival or Annie - I can't believe I forgot to slip that chunky camera back in my purse.  So our past weekend started with a fun morning - the kids rushing to finish their chores so we could all go to their school's spring carnival (just like Provo Rock Canyon's Extravaganza!). Kevin started mowing the lawns and wasn't done, so he decided to stay home and finish all the yards, while I and the kids went.  They had big blow-up bounce houses and slides.  Maddie was just so excited to go on them, more than Allie and Collin even.  Maddie went on all 3 houses and slides.

One was the "Blue Crush", a 30-foot bouncy slide that Maddie wanted to try (just like the one above).  She was so excited about going on that (and I, a little nervous) so Allie went with her and was behind her the whole time.  That's when I should have had my camera snapping, or videotaping, because little Miss Maddie climbed the whole way up and then just went on the tall, tall slide all by herself.  She looked like a little doll coming down that slide (she looked too small!), but man, oh man, she was laughing the entire time and wanted to do it again.

The favorite was the long obstacle course with a slide.  Both Collin and Allie went on that 3 times each.   Collin was disappointed there wasn't a hot air balloon ride.  He was really looking forward to that.   After the bounce houses, we split up and Allie went with her friend Helen, and we went to get some yummy (but really laden with fat) chili and cheese fries (they were cooking them in cast iron dutch ovens and pots).  Anyway, the 3 of us ate lunch and spent the rest of our tickets on cookies and soft-serve ice cream.  Allie played the fish game two times hoping to get a real fish (they were prizes) but ended up with a rubber duckie and something else she didn't want instead.  She wasn't too happy about that!

Then it was time to go to Annie.  Collin decided he was going to stay home with Kevin, so we invited our good friends Carrie and Macey to go with us instead.  It was such a fun show!  and we had a couple kids from our ward perform in it too.   Again, too bad I didn't get a photo of us, or the girls!

I did Megan and Chad's photo shoot after that.  So, busy Saturday!!!

And the last of the 3A's: Allie's music concert.  I totally spaced this one out and didn't remember until my friend Alisyn asked me about it.  Yikes.  I have been fighting off allergies (so it doesn't turn into a full on head cold, which somehow always happens) and Kevin really ended up with an allergy turned flu - so needless to say,  I wasn't even thinking about it.  And as you know, Tuesdays are very busy at my house.  We had piano, music class, tennis, then the music concert, starting at 3 p.m. (all in a row!).  Anyway, we made it to the music concert, just Allie and I (Kevin was still sick).

What Maddie likes to do (get candy down - she knows where we keep them ).  Kevin caught her while Allie and I were gone to the concert

It was great! ALA has a new music teacher, Ms Walker, who was just really good with the kids, and was so professional. She had great control over the crowd, and expected concert etiquette so the kids were all behaved and the crowd was too. Anyway, Allie and the 4th graders sang "Yellow Rose of Texas" and "Waltzing Matilda". We left right after their last song (I was feeling a bit under the weather myself), and Allie decided to go to McDonalds (of all the places she could have picked!) for her treat after the concert.

Allie and Alexa

Realized I was taking a photo and so she flashes me a smile!

For Megster

I took these guys on a photo shoot today, and learned that waiting for good light was worth the wait.  I didn't actually get a bad case of "trigger finger" (sometimes I get antsy!).

 And one out-take, that's not technically perfect, but a perfect capture of Megs and Chad's family. Cute huh?

Lose With hCG!

As if life was not busy enough, I took on a fairly big project last month (that's why I've been EXTRA busy!)

I have been building an e-commerce web site and now it is finally LIVE!  I am pretty happy with the way it turned out (and so is my client!).  It is my first e-commerce web project since my stint as an Internet Technologies Consultant 10 years ago.   I did the web template (overall design and layout), graphic design (logos, etc), product photography and product literature/booklet, and all back-end setup and admin (a one-stop shop!).   The shopping cart features 256-bit SSL encryption, and will soon include a custom wordpress blog hosted on the site's own domain (not wordpress.com).  Be assured that you can shop the store safely online!

Technology has definitely gotten more robust (lots of changes!) since I worked professionally in the IT field.  I love working and dabbling in web programming and design, so if you need some help getting a small shop up online, email me! Also if something seems off or you come across a bug, shoot me an email.  I tested the look and feel on Firefox, IE, and Opera, so if you are using some other type of browser and it just looks off, I would appreciate the extra eyes - but most of all, check out the store and help spread the word!

Check out the Lose With HCG online store!
My other website project (html only)

Grandma and Pappi + Mary Poppins

My parents were in town for a short 3 days, and we had so much fun while they were here.  They only get to come 2 times a year, and have to divide their vacation time between all of us 6 kids who live in 3 different states.  They flew in from Utah (after being there only 3 days) on Wednesday night and flew out to California to see my other sister Abby and husband Jake.  From there they will fly in to Las Vegas and then head back to the Bahamas for another six months or so.  While they were here, they went shopping and we ate out at their favorite AZ restaurants (yep, not to be found in the Bahamas).

 Collin and Coach Tom

Today, they came with us to Collin's last basketball game of the season, which was a treat for them, because they never have that option where they live.  They were just so excited to see all the kids running around on the court.  Grandma and Pop came and watched too.  It was a fun game, and Collin was a great guard!  He was lucky to have both sets of grandparents there for his last game.  After that it was close enough to lunch, so we all went to Gecko Grill.  Yum!

Then it was time to head the Gammage to watch the Mary Poppins Broadway musical (minus Maddie).  It was the kids' first time to watch a Broadway musical on stage!  We left Maddie with my parents, then Grandma Lorraine after they left to go home.

This stage production had award-winning actors who performed the London production of Mary Poppins, so we have no other words to describe than it was such a great, spectacular show, with awesome light and stage effects. Collin and Allie were blown away with all the magical things Mary Poppins did on the stage.  I was impressed!  Every time Mary Poppins was on stage, I was watching really closely to see if anything "magical" would happen, and the show didn't disappoint!

We all liked the big purse Mary had, out of which she pulled out a coat rack/hanger, a 4-ft plant, a wall mirror, pillows, blankets, and a table lamp, of all things.  Then the kids liked how the drawers turned into a bed, Mary Poppins sliding up the stairs, flying around the stage, and the chimney sweep Bert walking around the perimeter of the stage, 90 degrees sideways, upside down, and then back upright again. 

It was the coolest thing I have ever seen (probably even more than Mary Poppins' flying).  Then there were little things like the cake frosting itself and growing twice its height, and shelves and kitchen table "un-breaking" and straightening themselves out.  Or the bird that flew out of Mary Poppins hand and into the audience, the stars flying out of the stage into the audience, simulated rain, or Corry's shop that had the magical jar of letters.  Of course, their rendition of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious was spectacular!  Collin wants to watch the movie again now that he's seen the real musical, and we all do too.   I think the next time the show comes on tour, we will all definitely watch it again!

100 Readers!

I have 100 readers and can't invite anymore :) unless I remove readers from my list.  Does this mean I have to go public?

To celebrate my 100th readership,  here's a funny email sent by Allie to her friend Ashlyn that I found today, written on the 10th of August 2009, fortunately saved in the outbox.  I laughed my head off!  And how do you like the fancy font?

Hi Ashlyn!

I'm having so much fun at my new school. Hey, have you ever heard of the guy named Quigley? It was in one of my textbooks. We learn spanish from a really nice teacher who wants to be called Senora Weller. She's mormon, by the way. And we have to learn and memorize all the 7 habits by the end of the year when I already did and it's only the 4th day of school. The 7 habits are: 1. Be proactive 2. Begin with the end in mind 3. put first things first 4. synergize 5. Seek fist to understand, then to be understood 6. sharpen the saw 7. think win-win. But I'm not gonna let them brainwash me with that weird stuff. I'm going to stay fine. And Spalding handwriting is very hard. Well, not how the letters are, but the way you hold your pencil is VERY hard. Ethan made this class poem that is so cool that they might give it to Mr. Sinclaire (the school director) and let Ethan sign it. Crazy right? And I got a planner to write in on the 2nd day of school!

Bye!

Allie

Yes, she definitely is doing fine! And such a great little 4th grader with a mouthful to say.  As in the other day, the "un-brainwashed" Allie and I had this conversation.

Me (as I plop on the couch to watch the Olympics with her and Collin):  Oh I should be working right now instead of watching the Olympics.
Allie:  You need to sharpen your saw, Mom.
Me: What do you mean?
Allie: Take a break and stop working for a minute so you won't be crabby.
Collin: That's not sharpening the saw.  That's more like working and then you sharpen your saw because your saw gets dull and stuff.
Me (still digesting the sharpen the saw deal): Hm.

See my kids are digesting this good stuff really well.

And for memories' sake, here's another one to Ashlyn.

Awesome

So Cool

Hey You're Funny

Likes To Have Fun

Ya. You're Cool.

No, You Don't Do Weird Stuff

You are soooooo awesome!

Love,

Allie

P.S.

Did you notice the new e'mail adress? I just got my one yesterday after F.H.E. We talked about being safe, and to have fun at the same time so I asked for an e-mail and my mom said, "Only if you remember to be safe and have fun! So....... Yahoo! I finally got my own e-mail!

I don't remember saying that at all, but she insists I did.  Do you really actually believe I would say that?  So that's why she created this email account on our windows mail, but of course her smart mother didn't set up the mail system, so the email doesn't work and just saves them in the outbox.  I love this girl!

Some old forgotten "should have posted's"

Yes, I am on my computer A LOT recently.  And came across a bunch of photos whose stories I haven't told.  So I better do it, I thought, before they're all forgotten.

 

The above picture is a little gross, I know, but I promise it's a clean toilet.  On a usual morning in January, I replaced the roll of toilet paper in this hall bath. Maddie wanted to blow her nose and so I gave her some and went on my merry way,  A few minutes later Maddie came to me and says "I can't do it, Mom.  It's not working."  Uh-oh.  She usually likes to flush the toilet after she "blows her nose" so I knew something was up since I hadn't heard the toilet flush.  I followed her to the bathroom and there it was.  The whole new roll of toilet paper in the toilet.  Yep, I had to use my hands (wrapped in plastic of course) to fish out all this wet toilet paper before I could flush it.  Luckily like I said the toilet was pretty clean or I'd like to think it was.

This is Allie's pet fish Squirt which she got back in January. Today she reminded me that I still haven't posted a photo of him on her blog or mine, and when she saw the photo I took when he was brand-new, she told me she's thinking of renaming him. He's a red betta and Allie paid $13 and some change for him and all that he needs to live from Petco.  She had researched all the possible pets she could have, and this one was one she could afford - I wish I took a photo of the paper she took with her to the store. It was a print-out with the item name, picture and in her handwriting, the cost of each item plus tax.

Kevin tried to talk Allie in getting some cheaper gold fish but the lady told Allie she would probably need to get a filter if she wanted them to live long.  That was out of her budget, so she went back to her original plan of getting a betta and the bowl kit she had found online.  

The first betta she found was a really nice looking crown betta, but that rang up $6.99 (it was not marked when she picked it out).  The guy at the register was nice to let her "hold" the rest of the items while she and I went back to choose one that was $3.99 or under.  She was so excited to finally be able to buy the fish she had been talking about getting for so long! Squirt's been around our house for over a month now (lived way past Kevin's estimate of when it was going to die) and Allie's been taking pretty good care of him, including maybe even giving him a new name.

This was the day I took them to Desert Schools to open up their savings accounts.  As you can see from their faces, they were feeling pretty important that day.

This was girls' night out with some of my good friends from our ward.  I am one of those who feels a little weird to be away from home.  I'm definitely a home body, you know? Since I started doing preschool daily, and well, on top of other stuff I find myself doing, there never really is a good time for me to go out with friends.  I mean, did I really have time to do this?  Not really...but I was glad I went because it made me relax when relaxation looked like it was not an option.  We carpooled and went out to eat at BJ's  (Alisyn and I split a big ol' calzone) and watched Dear John.  It was a fun night, thanks to some good friends who got me to go out and Kevin who was so good and told me I could stay out as long as I needed to. :)

Same week as above - my most recent shopping trip that cost me $69 -  for 73 items - which included 15 or so bags of cheese (Sargento/Kraft), 10 boxes of Toaster Strudel, 13 Boxes of Nabisco Crackers (big boxes of Ritz, goldfish, etc), 4 10-packs of Capri Sun, 5 or 6 bags of frozen vegetables, a big pack of Brawny, boxes of granola bars, 2 packs of garlic bread (that I paid $10 for a pack of 3 at Costco the week before), Lunchables (the big packs), chips, margarine, mustard, hot sauce, water, chips, plates, cups, toothpaste, and Nutripals.  70% savings, I used $50 worth of clipped coupons. I love paper money!  And the rush of getting a bunch of stuff for practically free.  In fact Kevin called me the other day and asked me if he should get more Toaster Strudels at Walmart for $1.99 (on sale) - and I told him that was not that great of a price because I had just paid around 50 cents a box recently.

Collin is so funny with my couponing.  He gets excited and wants to see how long my receipt is whenever I go coupon-shopping.  He asked to take this picture just to see how tall he is compared to the receipt.

Collin - preparing his Valentines.  He insisted on writing them out because he "knows how to spell all of them".  He was so cute about giving valentines out to the "mom helpers".   He addressed one to "Lily's Mom".  Lily's Mom is a "mom helper" who helps regularly.  She was floored that Collin thought of her and gave her a valentine. Unexpectedly sweet.

 Collin giving "Lily's Mom" a valentine (Lily to the right)

Allie "remodeling" her Valentine robot.  I was glad she was going to reuse the same box, but she wanted to make it better.  It took us a while to get her all done up the way she wanted.  Miss Crafty at work.

This was the same week (before Valentine's)- party week. Literally.  I had 2 preschool parties to carry out, and then Friday was of course the kids' V-day parties at school.  I helped in Collin's class, which I wish I could do more often, because Collin just loves when I come.  Well, before we left to go home I dropped off cookies for Allie's party, so while I was there she asked if I could come to hers too. So I did. They really didn't need too much of my help, but I ended up meeting a parent that just moved from Utah, and Allie was glad to have me around until it was time to go home. 

Maddie came with me and was not much trouble.  She wanted to decorate her own cookie too, and they had extras, so they let her have her own.

Collin's kindergarten class

Allie with her newly spruced up Valentine robot.

danette's sneak peek

I think Ms. Morgan should be a model!

Collin's 1st Basket

1st Basket at an official basketball game!  The season is almost over, and Collin did it today!  All season long he's been good at passing the ball and wouldn't even think of making a shot!  His coach always tells them to pass the ball so Collin's been doing that and I don't think it ever occurred to him that he can make a shot if he was close enough to the basket.

Today it was so fun to see him make the run for it three times, and on the third try, he made that basket.  Kevin and I were so excited, and so were his coaches.  I think he's learned how to be more aggressive on the court and has made some good friends along the way.  Next week is his last game.  Collin chose to play soccer again this spring - so until next winter!

Tooth Fairy! and other things about Miss Allie

Boy I haven't blogged about Miss Allie for a while now.  So I was thinking of her and all the things she's busy with lately, and I realized I hadn't written about those important things!  Like for example, her latest lost tooth - can't forget that!

Allie's tooth had been wiggly for a while now.  On Tuesday last week, she and her friend Macey tried to pull it out before we left for tennis.  It was wiggly alright, but the tooth was holding on like crazy.  On our way to pick up Ellie and Emma, Allie's tooth fell out!  She was so glad.  We were in Grandma's neighborhood so she went in and rinsed her mouth and little tooth.  That night I had gone out with some friends to dinner/movie and when I got back home, she had her tooth in her tooth box, all ready for the tooth fairy to come and get.  I stole it to take pictures of the tooth.

Then in the morning she discovered $1 for the tooth and said someone at school got $5 lately for a tooth!  (What's going on with the going rate for lost teeth?  Our tooth fairy only gives $1 tops.)  I told her $1 was awesome for a tooth, after all, that was a lot considering that it took a bunch of chores to make $1.

Speaking of chores...the improved family economy is working still, and Miss Allie has earned a few $$.  She now knows how to enter transactions in a check register! 

One day she was at Fry's with me and wanted to buy something extra with her money (not good food), so I asked if she brought her checkbook with her.  She said no, she didn't have time to grab it, but that I can pay for it and she can pay me back.  Sounds good right?

But the plan is to teach them responsibility and definitely not encourage impulse buying.  So I told her next time she needs to remember to bring her checkbook if she wants to spend her money.  Arrgg! was her reply, but I bet you she'll remember next time. :) She's a little nervous about writing a check too, she said.  That's a good thing, I guess!

Here's Allie at tennis.  She loves tennis practice with all the girls!  It was a fun thing to watch, those girls and the tennis ball.  Maddie calls tennis "hooper ball" and the racquet a "hooper".  

Dear Allie has gotten so much better at remembering her list of to-do's.

And getting really good at playing the piano.  Last Christmas, she memorized Carol of the Bells (which I, with my limited piano abilities, found a little tricky to play the first time and still haven't memorized).   Now she can play quite a few good songs and started playing from the hymnbook.  She is good with practicing without my help and loves her teacher, Mr. Heck, who comes to our home every Tuesday and has taught her some good techniques.  I got her on video playing the piano, but somehow that video (although 2 months old now) hasn't made it from the mino to my computer.

Allie loves a great playdate with her girl friends, and today one of the videos they made around last Christmas cracked me up.   She is growing up way too fast!  Sometimes she tells me she wants to be 9 all the time, and doesn't want to get older, and I wish time won't go so fast and she'll always be 9 too (sweet age!).  But what's to come is probably going to be fun ride.

Collin hit his head...

and tells me it hurts.

Just a second ago, he asked:

Mom, do you have a cold piece of steak?

me: no, why?

Collin: that usually makes it feel better.

I think I remember this scene from a movie we watched recently,  just can't recall at the moment.  Had to take a break from website testing to write this up before I forget.  Funny.