Movin' On Up!

Sophia is goin' on to 2nd grade!! Yea!!! I couldn't be happier for her! Let me give you a little backround for this post. Last summer when we moved back to California Sophia entered 1st grade. I had no idea how far behind she was going to be(my bad). When Sophia brought home her first spelling test, I didn't even know what she had written. It was chicken scratch, you could not even read what she had written if you wanted to. Her teacher(who I adore) called me and told me that A LOT needed to happen if she was going to be ready for 2nd grade(telling me that she could very well be doing 1st grade again). I was heartbroken for her. I felt like I had completely dropped the ball with her and I felt terrible. Her teacher had mentioned the word "intervention" and I almost started crying right there in the classroom sitting in those little chairs. Have I mentioned that I felt awful? Well, I went home and sat down with Sophia and told her what was happening. She was ready for the challenge! From that day on, this girl has been working so hard to improve! Monday through Friday we sit together at our kitchen table and do a lot of work. We do 4 pages from her packet, her 4 spelling sentences for the week, and her reading. She has done them every day for the past 9 months! When she first started reading she was at a LEVEL 1. Her teacher told me she needed to be at a LEVEL 18 to be able to move on to 2nd grade. I thought it was hopeless and that my little girl was going to do 1st grade again while all her friends went on to 2nd. Well, these last 9 months have been incredible! AND guess what LEVEL book she brought home today from school?? Any guesses?

The Smile might give it away!
Wait for it, Wait for it, Wait for it

YES! She brought home a LEVEL 18 book! I could not be happier, seriously! I want to cry for her because she has worked so hard and I don't think she even realizes how great this is for her!

Sophia recieved a special award from her teacher this year-MOST IMPROVED! It fits her perfectly and I could not be more proud! I LOVE YOU SWEET SOPHIA!

Up Close and Personal

So this afternoon at the park while I was playing with Molly, Rodger took some great pictures of the girls. Thought I would share them, And give a little update on each one!ABBY

Responsible, caring, softball pitching, piano playing, smart, hardworking, adaptable, strong, good example, loves to sing and dance, almost 10 years old wonderful little girl!
SOPHIA
Creative, question asker, hard worker, softball playing, most improved student in her class award winner, laughing a lot, enjoys being herself, singing and dancing, playdate asking wonderful little girl!

MACEY

Pre-school grad, park loving, playdate asking, TV watching, kindergarten coming, name writing, hot cocoa loving, best hugs and kisses giver wonderful little girl!

MOLLY

Yummy, walking, talking, sippy cup lover, highchair hater, climbing on kitchen table lover, ball throwing, bike riding, opening every cupboard, slepping well inspite of getting teeth wonderful little girl!

Oh how I LOVE my 4 BEAUTIFUL Children!!!!

Super Sunday!

What a great Sunday we had here at the Allen house! We started it off bright and early at 6:30am. We were supposed to be at church by 8am to practice a song we were going to perform in our ward choir, but we ended up at church by 8:25. I think that is good considering 6 people had to be ready! Wow, it's kinda crazy to think that we are a family of 6! How great and perfect that feels! Anyway, church was soo great today, I felt the spirit a ton and Molly was really good during class, so I got to sit and listen and be uplifted! Exactly what I needed! After church while eating lunch, we played Yahtzee with the 3 older girls while Molly napped. We used our time while playing the game to help Sophia do a little math. We had her add up all of our dice almost every time. She enjoyed it and it was great to see her little mind working! After that we just chilled on our couch and did a whole lotta nothin'!

Later on after dinner I thought it might be good for the girls to go to a new and improved park near our home. They had so much fun and(don't mind Molly in the picture,I swear she had fun!) I'm glad we did it! It was a beautiful evening spent together making awesome memories!

Abby, Molly, Sophia and Macey

My 4 BEAUTIFUL Girls
Abby

Macey

Sophia

Molly

Even putting them to bed tonight seemed to be a breeze. Lately Molly has been crying when I put her to sleep, but not tonight! Not even a whine came out of that girl! I heard Sophia reading a book to Macey so I peeked in and saw them laying in Sophias bed together, Sophia sharing her pillow with her little sister. When I went in to snuggle Abby she was ready and waiting for me, wanting to talk to me. I made her promise me that when she is a teenager she will still love me and want to talk to me and want me to snuggle her. She promised me. I'm counting on that!

Anyway, right now I am feeling happy, lucky, blessed and ready for whatever is to come for us! As long as we are together, where ever we are, we will be fine!

What a GREAT Day!

Chocolate Pudding

Abby made chocolate pudding the other day. She left the bowl on the table and Molly took advantage of it! She climbed right up and got as much as she could out of the bowl. I think she may have gotten more on her face and clothes than in her mouth! She loved it and even posed for me! What a stinkin' cutie!

Fun With Friends!

The other day some friends came over for a play date and I thought the pictures turned out pretty cute so I thought I would share!Molly and her new boyfriend, Drew! She really loved him and they played really well together!
Macey, Nadine, Sophia and Drew! I swear every picture I took Drew would not look up!

This is what Abby was doing while the other kids were playing in the water. I guess she didn't want to get wet! I think she may have been watching a recording of American Idol! Either way, she was content to lay right here!

Nadine is shooting Macey with the water gun! Too funny, I think she got her right in the head!

Nadine again attacking my kids with her water gun abilities. She may have had an unfair advantage, Julie do you practice this at home?

This was a very fun day and I enjoyed watching my children have so much fun! Thanks Julie for the chance to watch your sweet kids! And the chocolate you brought me was AMAZING!

Isin't it funny that you could be having a totally hectic day and you could be stressed out, but when you see your kids having fun, laughing and getting along so well, it all seems to go away? Thats how I felt a few days ago. I feel blessed to be able to have my wonderful children in my life. They make everything worth it.

My Dad Came To Visit

Last week my Dad and his wife Peggy came down from Washington on a road trip. They were headed to my sisters house in Arizona and they decided to stop here on the way! I'm so glad they did! They were here just a few days, but we kept them pretty busy! They got to go to Sophias softball game(where she hit 2 balls! They must be good luck!) and also to the Jelly Belly Factory! Macey thought it was pretty fun that she got to go while her older sisters had to go to school! We really had a great visit but I think the girls liked the following activity the best! They invited us to where they were staying so we could go swimmimg. The girls had a blast and I'm so happy that they got to spend some time with grandpa and grandma. Thanks dad and peggy for coming, I really enjoyed you both spending time with us! Love you! Here is sweet Macey
I love this picture of Molly! YUMMY! Both Molly and the chips!

Because I usually take the pictures, I am not in a lot of them! This one I'm glad I'm not in because behind this picture is me in a bathing suit! Ha Ha! This is my dad, peggy and all 4 of my beautiful children!

Abby and Sophia playing in the pool

Molly and Macey taking a break from swimming

Thanks again Dad and Peggy for coming to see us, it was a lot of fun!

2 Things I am Totally Into

So, I have a friend with a few health issues and can't drive for a while. She called me up a few days ago and asked if I needed to go to Target or Wal-Mart any time soon cause she needed to get a few things and wondered if I could drive. Well, how can you pass up a trip to go wonder around Target? I cannot resist! So off we went to Target! All I really needed was toilet paper, but my friend eyed these darling shoes and I just could not pass them up! What was even better was the price! They ended up being $3.24!! Yes, just a little over 3 bucks! I couldn't believe it and since they were such a great deal, I picked up the size bigger so when Molly outgrows these, I have another pair! Seriously, I just can't get enough of them! Molly can't either! She wears them all around house and even wears them with her pajamas on! I will try to post pictures of that a little later! Needless to say, I am Totally into these shoes!
The second thing that I am totally into right now(my whole family included)is making mini muffins. We just LOVE them around the Allen house! They are super easy and quick to make. We eat them for breakfast and snacks mostly and it is a great after school treat! I use The Pampered Chef mini muffin pan and it works great! You can use any muffin mix. My children love them and my baby especially loves them!

Tonight I made Blueberry and Cinnamon muffins. I am sitting right now basking in the sweet aroma of these delicious muffins!

So there you have it! I have probably officially lost it, now that I have blogged about baby shoes and muffins. But what might be worse is that I blogged about them in the same blog! Hopefully theres no rule about that!

Swimming At The Stilsons

On Mothers Day I awoke to my husband and children at my bedside with breakfast in bed. They were so very sweet and had to wake early to get the breakfast to me and get ready for church in time. Church starts at 9am, so they were up early! Rodger had written me a poem that I will forever cherish. Yes, you did read that right, Rodger wrote me a poem!!!

We then went to church where we had several mini talks from various people on how their mothers helped them cultivate the gospel in their lives growing up. Some people grew up in the church and some did not. It was very interesting to listen to different perspectives, but all ended with how much they loved their mothers. I know that I am very thankful for my mom and am lucky to have her in my life.

After church we were invited to go to some friends of ours house for a Mothers Day brunch. We swam in their pool and had a wonderful lunch! Thanks to my sweet friends who I don't know what I would do without!

Molly had just woken up from her nap, but still wanted to go swimming! I think this is a great picture of Rodger and Molly together.
Macey playing inside with a little car. She did go in the pool(notice the wet hair)and I was super proud of her for that. Normally she hates getting water in her eyes in the bathtub, so the pool was huge!

Abby and Sophia just relaxing in the water, being good sisters to eachother! I love it when that happens!

Abby and Sophia

Yes I know, it's Mothers Day and I don't have any pictures of me! Well, someone had to take the pictures and remember the whole swimming pool thing? I did go swimming and yes, I did wear a bathing suit, but listen, do I have to take a picture of it? No, I think these pictures sum up my day pretty nicely. If they are smiling and happy, so am I!

2009 Primary Talent Show!

Last Saturday our girls were able to participate in a talent show at our church for the kids. They did so well and had so much fun doing it! All of my children LOVE to be on stage, so they all felt at home, even Molly!Abby,Sophia and their friend Nadine had been practicing a routine to Hannah Montanas "HoeDown Throwdown". I think thats what the song is called! They made up the whole routine and did such a great job, the whole crowd was clapping their hands and into their performance. It really was fun to watch!

Macey wanted to sing a song for her talent. She had been singing the primary song, Baby in a Manger all week so we figured that would be the song she sang. But Saturday morning came around and we asked her what song she wanted to sing and if she wanted to practice for us, but she said "no,it's going to be a surprise". For all of you who don't know macey, this is Macey's style! She walked up on stage just so sure of herself and sang Baby in a Manger in her sweetest voice. She did such an amazing job!

Molly just hung out with us, but I know before long she will be up on stage with her sisters!

We had a great time at the talent show and watching all of the children, but ours were the best of course! Our primary has some very talented children in our ward, and we are lucky to be a part of it and to know all of these great little people!



Nadine,Abby and Sophia just before they took the stage!
Here they are during their dance, totally rockin' it!
My sweet Macey Dee!
She was so brave to get up there by herself, but she really wanted to and did a fantastic job!
My Molly just being her sweet little self!

Womens Conference 2009

Just wanted to share a few photos from Women's Conference this past weekend in Utah. I had the chance to go with a few friends, Sarah and Karen, and we really had a wonderful time! We were able to hear some really great talks and eat some really yummy mint brownies! YUM! Seriously though, it was a great time for me to refocus and gain some great perspective. What an amazing feeling it was when all the 16,000 women who attended met together in the Marriott Center where we sang hymns and were able to hear the Relief Society General President speak and also L Tom Perry speak. What an incredible spirit that was felt there. I think I cried each time we met!

I just want to share my testimony. I am so thankful for a loving Heavenly Father and for sending His Son, Jesus Christ, for me. I am thankful for the atonement, for repentance and for forgiveness. I am so thankful to be surrounded by wonderful women in my life, including my mom, sisters and extended family and also my amazing friends, who always pick me up when I am down. I am eternally grateful for my eternal family. What a great blessing they are in my life! I am thankful for my amazing husband and my beautiful children. I am one lucky girl! I am so grateful to know that there is a plan for me!

Sorry to get all gooey on you, just thought that this was a good post to share that! Sooo, in the end I am glad that I went and will do it again next year for sure!(Alright Mom,Amy,Lisa we should go together!)



Me,Karen and Sarah
Here I am next to the beautiful tulips!
Karen and I in-between classes
Sarah and I on the airplane on our way to Utah! We were so excited!
Here we are on the last day in front of the bell tower on campus. We were sad to go, but excited to go back to our families!

Not Me Mondays

So, you all know that I am a little bit of a blog stalker but I found an awesome blog! Mckmama has an incredible blog and if I did this right, you can be linked to her from my blog. Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to http://www.mycharmingkids.net">her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.



Ok, so here goes! On mondays she does a thing where you blog about all the things that you would never do, or maybe sometimes do, ok lets get real I do these things all the time! It's a good way to just clear the air!



I would never drive my kids to school in my pjs and no shoes. I would never allow my kids to have popcorn and dump it all over my floor, and better yet, wait an hour before picking it up. I would never find my little one playing in the toilet, and for sure, not freak out. I would never screen my phone calls because I was watching The Biggest Loser in the middle of the day while eating handfuls of skittles. I would for sure never freak out when my husband tells me his dad is coming, an hour before he arrives! Love you Buddy! And last but not least, I would never sit down at 9:30 pm to have dinner, spaghetti. That should sit well in my tummy!





There you have it! I would never do any of those things!