Good Night, Sweetheart.

When I went to bed last night this is what I found on my pillow:

I love my little Alli. She is so sweet! I am so glad I have her!

She put the lime in the coconut

Hours after Alli came home from school today she remembered something and pulled this out of her backpack:


We searched and searched on Google images until Alli said, "That's IT!"...It's called a Rambutan and she said, "I already ate one at school for snack earlier. It tastes soft and sweet." So I tried a little bit and it was disgusting! I had to spit it out. It wasn't so much as the taste of it, but the texture was so slimy and sick.... I was like "ok? where did you get this again?" .... so gross. Has anyone tried one of those things?

Return to sender, address unknown. No such number, no such zone.

So back in September of 2008, I ordered this princess costume (that lights up!) for Alli online from Costume Express. Then about 2 weeks later, I still didn't have the costume and I was getting a little worried about not having anything for Alli to wear to all the Halloween festivities coming up. So I looked up the tracking number on UPS for the package and I noticed that the last time it was updated on it's current location was over a week ago. Now a little more worried, called up Costume Express and asked them where my package was. They said it was lost. I told them they had to send me a new one then cause I wanted the costume before Halloween otherwise cancel my order. So they sent me a new one. They told me that if I ever received the other package, that I should be so kind as to send it back to them. "Sure thing." A week or so later I got the costume. Halloween came and went and I completely forgot about the "lost package" that still hadn't shown up.

Today I answered the rude, loud pounding on my door (Do any of your UPS guys do that?) to find a package from Costume Express. I was confused and thought, "I didn't order anything from there. Did Chad? Maybe someone sent us a gift for no apparent reason. Yeah. That happens." So I opened it to find I have received a second lovely princess halloween costume. Then it all came back to me. I was annoyed that I had opened it and potentially had to put some money into sending it back. I am fascinated as to where this package was for 7 months and I am touched the person that "found" it went ahead and sent it to me after all this time. Now what do I do with it?

P.S. Happy Birthday, Kathryn! Do you want a princess costume?

Pumpkin, You're Hollow Within

Chad graciously took Alli and Drew to Pack's Pumpkin Patch (where Drew's fieldtrip group went this month.) They had a fun kids hay corn maze, huge pumpkin patch, "scarecrow" picture gallery, and they got to pick their own pumpkin to take home!

Ride on the Magic School Bus

Allison is loving the bus! She asks every morning if we are going to miss the bus or how much time is left til the bus comes. A few days ago we were really late and we missed our bus so I had to take her to a different bus stop cause she was going to be so sad that she didn't get to ride it. She is just so adorable when she gets on everyday, it has even brought me to tears before. She sits down and looks out the window, waves and blows kisses until the bus leaves.

I love my little Alli so much and she's growing up. I am so blessed to have her in my life. She is so helpful around the house and I don't even have to ask. In fact, this morning she organized everyone's shoes in the bench we have by the garage door because Andrew was looking for his other sock. The other day when the kids were having their "quiet time/nap time" she cleaned her room, made her bed, then went into our room and made OUR bed. She is the biggest sweetheart I know. Heavenly Father definitely was blessing me when He sent her to me!

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

We went to the free Pottery Barn Kids Star Wars Promo. We had to stand in line for about an hour but it was worth it. They had Darth Vader, a Stormtrooper and a Jedi dressed up. Vader was so cool, he even had the voice changer thing. When he shook Drew's hand he said, "Greetings, younling. I sense the force is strong with you, Andrew." It was hilarious to see Drew's face and even funnier to see Jeremy's face. As you can tell from the pictures: Jeremy got one look at Darth Vader,
and ran away crying all in a matter of seconds.
Jeremy is now off hiding somewhere safe.

All I need to know I learned in Kindergarten

Allison had her first "official" day of Kindergarten today! She was so excited. Can you tell? She only got to go one day and then they do the assessment testing the rest of the week so she got all ready and has to wait another whole week to actually start. She wanted to ride the bus so bad but I was a bad mom and didn't let her go on the first day. The bus wasn't going to be taking her home so I thought it might confuse her. But she gets to start riding the bus next week. Why do kids love the bus so much anyways?

Alli loves school and is excited to learn. I only cried a tiny bit on the way there, so I was really proud of myself. I thought for sure I would be balling and be a pathetic, embarrasing mom that was begging her not to leave me; but surprisingly I wasn't! Hooray for me! We'll see how I do next week when she rides the bus.

Any way you say it... it means Happy Birthday to you!

Happy Birthday, Allison! Alli turned 5 this year and I decided a while back that I would do birthday parties for all my kids when they turned 5, 8 or 9, 12, and 16. So Alli had a big princess party this year. We sent out "Royal Ball" invitations, and had all the girls dress up in their prettiest princess dress. There were so many girls Alli's age, I would have felt bad not inviting all of them, so there were 15 invited and 12 came! That was a lot of girls and I was a little bit overwhelmed at first but they were very well behaved princesses!

To start off, I read them the "Princess and the Pea" story and had them all try to find the "pea" under pillows by sitting on them. Then, they were proclaimed "Real Princesses" and got Tiaras and Wands. The next game we did was "Pin the Kiss on the Frog." I was going to put lipstick on all of them, but I wasn't sure whether or not all the moms would appreciate that so I made foam lips and a big picture of a frog prince, then blindfolded them and they stuck the lips on. It was pretty funny how far off some of them were. At the end, they all got some lip gloss to take home.


Then we went outside for a game. I had Alli find the hidden Royal Treasure Chest. Then when I opened it, all of the treasure was missing. So I told the girls that the evil Stepmother stole it and hide it and if all the princesses helped me retrieve the royal treasure then I would give them all some of the Royal Jewels as a reward. So they went on their treasure hunt - and they were super fast! Then they all got a necklace, ring, and earrings. We came back inside to do presents and cake (I made it into a Castle and it didn't turn out very well I'm afraid. I almost cried it was so bad, but Alli liked it and didn't care so oh well! Never again! lol)


Then we hurried up and went back outside to do the pinata. That took forever! Poor girls weren't even blindfolded and still missed it. I finally just had my 15 year old brother come and start beating on it. It even took him quite a few hits. Part of the problem was the plastic bat, but there was no way I was going to give little 5 year olds a real bat. Then the girls all played in this Castle I made out of refrigerator boxes, but they didn't get to play in it very long cause we ran out of time at the end and all the parents started showing up. Alli had a blast and I was just glad it was over. That wore me out! I just hope the princesses all came home happy and had a good time.

But we are best friends...right?

Alli and Drew were watching TV with their arms around each other. These moments are too few and far between, so I had to hurry up and capture it before they realized what they were doing! (For the record: most of the time they get along and play really well together. I just had to make this picture moment seem more dramatic!) Please feel free to ignore the mac and cheese all over their faces and the fact that they are STILL in their pjs after lunch!

And while Alli and Drew were doing that, this is what Jeremy was doing. Poor kid! He fell asleep in his chair after lunch.

I never thought that I'd catch this Lovebug again

Looking for roly polys...

Alli has been obsessed with roly polys ever since one of her friends picked one up and held it. Now, that's all she is talking about whenever we are walking outside at all. "Watch out for the roly polys. Don't step on them." She loves to watch them roll up into a ball.

Jump Jump, Kangaroo will make ya, Jump Jump

For the last day of preschool yesterday, Alli's class got to go to Kangaroo Zoo. It's a fun place with lots of inflatable slides, obstacle courses and such. Drew got to come and enjoy the festivities as well! Alli's teacher, Tiffany was such a great teacher and Alli loved her! The class performed some really cute songs for us.

The seed, that with the suns love in the spring becomes the rose.

Alli's preschool class took a fieldtrip to Red Butte Gardens. Even though it sprinkled a bit, we still had a fun time learning about all the different plants and flowers that grow in Utah.

They had their cake and ate it too.

I was in charge of the Spring Celebration Party at Alli's preschool (Leaping Learners). We made cute bird's nests out of yarn and liquid starch. Then we made 3 little chicks to go in the nest out of yellow cotton balls, googly eyes and felt beeks.



For our treat we made butterfly cupcakes for the girls. The boys made cute frogs cupcakes with licorice for the tongues.






Then the kids went outside for an Easter Egg hunt. I had so much fun helping Alli's class! Too bad this was Miss Tiffany's Last year for her Leaping Learners Preschool. Alli learned so much and Tiffany was such a good teacher. She is teaching first grade at the local elementary school starting in the fall.

I'll Be Lovin You a Long Time

Every Valentine's Day, one of the cutest things Chad has always done for Alli is give her a little mini bouquet version of the flowers he gives to me. It's too cute for words how much she beams when she sees those flowers from her dad! My heart melts everytime.

Chad is so thoughtful like that!

Tulips are my favorite and this year Chad did White Tuilips with Purple Irises! Beautiful!

Let it Snow, let it snow, let it snow!

It has been snowing a lot over the past few days... makes me grateful for an SUV! I don't think I would be able to get home some days without it! I decided that since Alli and Drew have been asking me everyday "when they are going to get to play outside in the snow" that I should probably let them...

so... I got them all bundled up (and noticed that Drew's boots no longer fit him anymore. His feet have grown 3 sizes in like 3 months so I put on his regular tennis shoes on and his gloves are not the best for making snowmen with so I had him use Alli's, which was a mistake because he is so uncoordinated at getting mittens on... He bunches his fingers into a fist to make it practically impossible to put the mittens on. Then when you finally do get his fingers in, there is a slot for your thumb to go into and how do you describe to a 2 year old how to get your thumb into this tiny hole that you can't see without it frustrating both of you... which is the complete opposite of what you are trying to do by getting all bundled up in the first place, so you just decide who cares if he has his thumb in the hole and send them to go have fun in the snow...)

The snow is so deep that as soon as Drew steps in it he starts to cry that his feet are cold, and then Alli tells me she has to go to the bathroom, which is really annoying cause you know it takes just as long to get all the stuff off then it does to put it on; so I told Alli she would have to hold it cause We were going to "enjoy" playing in the snow for a few minutes whether they liked it or not! lol So I tried to make even the tiniest snowball to try to start a snowman but none of the snow stuck together whatsoever! Needless to say we gave up, went inside and had some Hot Cocoa and Soup...



Chad took this picture of the trampoline (It had a huge sheet of ice on it and it was weighing down the trampoline so much we thought it was going to rip it, so he went and got all the ice/snow off. A big piece of the ice sheet is still sitting by our back door, so it definately wasn't going anywhere anytime soon!)

Cats and Rats and Elephants, but as sure as you're born, you're never gonna see a Unicorn.

Allison said at dinner Sunday: "Mom, is this chicken from the zoo or the grocery store?" then she continued to ask questions like, "Mom, do we eat little chicks?" and "So we let them grow up big and then eat mommy ones?" Needless to say, I lost my appetite.

This is a big improvement for her considering this was a girl that just last year, while watching Planet Earth episodes, said crying, "No Dad! We don't we don't eat animals! WE EAT MEAT!" and we responded with, "OK, Alli... whatever you say sweetie." Poor Thing. So at least she has come to grips with the fact that we do eat some animals and that in nature, animals have to kill other animals. I never ever thought I would ever even think about becoming a vegetarian until Alli started asking her questions. Luckily she doesn't ask them very often.

I strongly suggest not watching Planet Earth with your kids unless they love to watch animals die. This one clip of the Arctic Fox and the Snow Geese Goslings makes me cry every time I watch it. The poor parents don't realize what has happened to their babies before it is too late. Nature is just mean sometimes. WARNING: This video may prove to be unsuitable for children. Adult supervision required. lol


Planet Earth-Arctic Fox - Watch a funny movie here

All the Things She Said

Allison said the funniest, cutest things the past few days, I thought I would post them....

1) "I am starting to look like Santa!" (she said after eating a big dinner)

2) "Look Mom! I decided to clean my room instead of taking a nap. I organized all my dolls and folded up all my clothes! Aren't you proud of me?" (I don't think I have ever been prouder!)

3) "You will never be able to find me in the best hiding place ever! The shower!" (she said to Sarah while playing Hide and Seek)

Mother, Tell Me the Story that I Love to Hear

This is a story that Allison told to me last Friday and it was so funny I had to write it down; so, here it is:

There was this one girl who met a boy. Then they got married and then they kissed and she died. She came back alive again just like Jesus. Then she ate all the candy corn and lied about it and that was not a good choice. Then she got killed by a monster and then came alive again, again, again and again. Then she asked her mom if she can fly in the robot machine and she said yes so she flew in it and killed the monster that killed her and then she woke up and thought, "Boy, that was a long day!"

It was so funny how she said it too! That same day my son, Drew came downstairs after waking up and said "I am not happy. I am not in a good mood!" and stomped around the house. He has since said either "I am not happy with you mommy." or "I am so happy now" (with a big smile) everyday just about every hour. He definitely has mood swings. He's my little Drama-King! I just can't pinpoint where he gets it from! lol

Building a Mystery...Jenga Tower

Alli and I played Jenga and she did really well. We got up to I think 32 or 33 levels and I thought it was really good; but then I looked in the instructions and it says you are really good when you can get up to 38. So, I guess we aren't THAT good. Drew didn't play the game with us but posed for the picture so I had to post the photo of him too. :)

Over the River and through the woods to... dancing with Grandma we go

Alli's dance class had Grandparent's Day last Friday and both her grandmas were able to go. They got to dance with her and watch her do some awesome dance moves. Alli dances with Virginia Tanner Creative Dance Program. We will get to watch her perform in the spring program and we look forward to it!