2 Second day of school...yeah lots more pictures since this is so new to us ;)

You may be asking yourself ,why am I posting so many picture of the first week of school. The only answer I give is, 'hey, this is my first kid! I promise I won't take so many of Kylie.' Oh, did you notice a theme with Allie's clothing? But it isn't just the clothing, Strawberry Shortcake is the theme of her life.

Allie was very excited to go to school again. In fact Allie & Ray ran so far ahead of Hanne & I (hey, we were pushing strollers) that they had gone inside before we got to BillySue's yard. Now why did we walk them to school? I'm sure they could have made it themselves.

After preschool Allie hitch-hiked home with Alysa & Kinze with Britney pulling. Starting next week Britney, Hanne, & I are going to take turns walking the kids to and from school. It seems silly that all 3 of us had to make the same trek, with the same endpoints, so often.

We also stopped at the little neighborhood park on the way home, again. Darn that sand! The girls' new brown school shoes don't look quite so new anymore.

2 Abracadabra, BOWDABRA!

Look what I've been making:

If you have a little girl, you NEED this product!
It's called the mini-Bowdabra and you can purchase it for about $10 at Walmart or Michael's (use that 40% off coupon). Its not magic, but it is a BIG help making bows to glue to hair alligator clips...especially to make two that look the same. I give it 2 thumbs up!
Click HERE to go to there webpage.

0 Success!

Allie loved her first day of school. She made cookies and played with playdough. Kylie and I walked over to pick her up, so we stopped by our neighborhood park on the way home. What fun!

3 Allie is off to School

Dear Allie,

Today was your very first day of school, preschool. You were so excited about it last night you couldn’t sleep. You kept your sister, Kylie, up till well after 10:30pm. The first thing you asked when you woke up this morning was, “did I miss preschool?” So cute! All morning you were dancing and jigging around the house.

Finally you were able to wear your new school clothes: a cream blouse, jeans, and an olive corduroy jacket all displaying the Strawberry Shortcake logo. They coordinated perfectly with your Strawberry Shortcake tennis shoes and backpack, not to mention your little friend, Strawberry Mouse, tucked in the pack, ready to give you any hugs and kisses you might need at school. We did your hair in two braided pigtails, each topped off with a sparkly pink bow.

Kylie could feel the electricity in the air, too. She was squealing and dancing around with you. I took 25 photos and some video, but I’m afraid none of it looks too good. You just couldn’t sit still!

Daddy left for work a little late so that he could stay home with Kylie and a few minutes before 9am I could drive you around the block to teacher Billy Sue’s home. You dance and jigged all the way to her front door just as confident and excited as could be. I could hardly get you to turn around for a last photo. Then you opened the front door and my heart stopped as you were gone. But quickly you pulled the door back open with wild eyes. ‘I don’t want to go to preschool,’ you said. I forced my voice calm. “Go find Rayden. I love you.” For a heart beat you considered your options before shutting the door. I just about burst into tear. What courage you have.

So that is that. You are now officially in school. It sure feels empty around here, even though you will be back in just over an hour. Somehow it is different knowing you are at school instead of at friend’s house. I know that your life is changing now. Each year I will be less and less of your life. It is exciting and terrifying. I’m excited to see how you tackle life, your successes, but terrified that I can’t be there all the time to witness your greatness or kiss your scrapes. You truly are going to grow up now, a truth that has been easy to ignore as we’ve been safe in out little home. Baby, I love you and can’t wait till you come home and share your day. I can’t wait to hear all the little details your mind is absorbing. I miss you so.

love, Mommy

1 Allie starts Pre-School TOMORROW!

Allie will be attending our neighbor, Billy Sue's, Hooked on Books pre-school this year. She is VERY excited! Her best friends, Allysa & Rayden, will be going with her to the Tues-Thurs 9-11am class.

Last Thursday was parent night, during which Allie got to choose a little mouse and blanket. She didn't hesitate and went right for the pink mouse and pink blanket. Her reasoning: it looks like a strawberry, so it came as no surprise that she named her 'Strawberry Mouse.' Here's the note that came with the mouse:

Hi! I am your new mouse friend! Please take me home with you, give me a new name, and write my name on my name tag. Gring me with you on the first day of school, and we will read the book "If you Take A Mouse To School" together. Before coming to school, have your parents give me lots of hugs and kisses. That way, if you start to miss your family while at school, I can share their hugs and kisses with you!

As part of the school prep, we filled out an 'All About Me' page for Allie.

• My favorite color
• red
• orange
• My favorite food:
  
• strawberries
• bananas
• bologna
  
• My favorite animals:
  
• monkey
• penguin
  
• My favorite books:
  
• Strawberry Shortcake
• Curious George
• I'm a Big Sister
  
• Things I like to do:
  
• play outside/ride bikes
• color/paint/playdough
• swim/boat
• singing & dancing
• Things that frustrate me:
  
• kids/sister taking toys away
• being hungry
• Things that make me happy:
  
• playing with friends/cousins
• being outside
• chatting
• School stuff I already know:
• all the colors & some shapes
• listening to a story
• sharing /taking turns
  
• recognize some uppercase letters: A,B,E,K,L,N,S
• use a mouse on the computer (www.pbskids.org)
  

1 my sister Ellen is now Mrs Davenport

This picture was taken the first time Stoddard saw Ellen in her wedding dress. It was the evening BEFORE the wedding and they were going to a photo shoot. His face was priceless as she came up the stairs. As pure as his joy was in that moment, he looked absolutely crushed when we informed him that Elle had to ride in the BACK seat. Poor fellow.





















All of her little nieces gathered round as we carefully stuffed Ellen's dress into the car. They stared, wide eyed at a living picture from a storybook or movie. Emma asked her mom, 'who is that beautiful princes, mommy?' We laughed and told them it was their Aunti Elle. Katie looked back and forth from her mom to the bride with a look of complete confusion. She wasn't buying it.

1 Big County Fair

We hit the fair last month. Allie has great fun riding the rides with Lexi and Ray, her best buddies across the street. We didn't let the rain dampen our spirits. My camera batteries went dead, so I had Hanne take some pictures of our family. (if your reading this Hanne, can I get those?)

0 Pictures from the Breaking Dawn midnight Release

I attended the midnight release for the last Twilight Saga novel, Breaking Dawn, at Boarders in Idaho Falls with my sisters Maren & Ellen, and a few of their friends. We made these shirts to wear with a 'Bite Me Edward' iron-ons. We checked in with our previously reserved wrist-band and then did some shopping while we waited for the lines to form. It was a crazy-wild crowd. We definitely felt our age as most of fans hadn't graduated high school.

(Sarah, Maren, Ellen)
Maren & I read through most of the night and next day. Click HERE to hear my review.

0 Bitter Sweet news

I am sad to relay the message that Midnight Sun is on hold indefinitely. For the whole scoop, read Stephenie's message HERE.

If there is a silver lining, it is that we can read the first 264 pages that were leaked ... I DID AND I LOVED IT!!!! Click here for : Midnight Sun Partial Draft . I am now left wanting more.

1 First Rexburg Trip of the month

There really is a reason why I've not been posting lately. We've been so busy enjoying our summer, I haven't had a chance to record all the fun we are having.

The girls and I spent about half of August in Rexburg. Our first trip was motivated by the release of the last book in the Twilight Saga; Breaking Dawn, but we stayed several days on either side of the midnight release just to play with the Grandparents and our Stafford cousins. We were only home for a week before we returned to the land of cold and wind. Nate came on our second trip; this one was for Aunt Ellen & Stoddard's wedding.

Highlights of our visit:

#1) Hot dog roast in Grandma & Grandpa's backyard
Allie got board with cooking her dog after about 5 seconds. Kylie was a MESS! She isn't quite the dumpy-do that Allie was at that age, but she managed to cause enough mayhem to stress her cousins.

#2) Grandma Martha's Raspberries w/ vanilla ice cream
The berries were "on", so red and ripe they almost dripping off the vines. Kylie was a huge fan, gorging herself whenever outside. She would get lost in the thick patch and I'd have to rescue her.


#3) Grandpa Paul playing with us @ Porter Park's SplashPark & Merry-go-round
Kylie was fearless in the water. She even tried to step on the fountains like all the big kids. It was so fun to have my Dad there with us, just being a kids with the rest of us.
When I was a kid there was an outdoor city pool and water slide here, but last year they tore out the decepid old thing and replaced it with a free splash park. The carousal was restored, by donations, when I was in school. My sister Abby even worked a summer as the ride attendant.


(Emma, Bailey, Kylie, Kate, Allie)


#4) Just hang'n with the cousins on the porch
My parents' house has a great wrop-around porch. It is nice and shady - just the right spot to enjoy an afternoon Popsicle or Juice box while coloring.


#5) the Johnson reunion at the old homestead in Idaho Falls
(my Dad's mother's family)
I hadn't attended this annual reunion in many years, but it is still going strong with up to 5 generations in attendance. My girls loved playing with the other kids on the see-saw and whirly-gig playground that my sisters and I looked forward to every year when we were kids. Talk about memories. At one point I heard Allie calling my name. She had climbed up this tree all by herself and wanted me to take a picture. How cute!



#6) the beach at Rigby Lake
The sun was hot and the water cool. It was a relaxing afternoon, even for us mommies. The water is quite shallow for a ways in, although the girls seems more interested in making sandcastles and washing the rocks that in swimming.



#7) yummy Square Ice Cream Cones with Grandpa Paul
When I was a kid my Dad would take us on Vet farm calls all over the place. Sometimes on these calls or on other family drives we would pass through a place called Swan Valley. It was a highlight for us because it served special ice cream cones with a SQUARE scoop. Well, my Father was dying to take his granddaughters to the new little gas station in Sugar City since he just discovered it had the same scoops! The girls got a kick out of the unconventional cones, but the cutest thing had to be the way Kylie has completely bonded with my dad. As they were sitting on the sidewalk, she kept reaching over and patting his knee with the biggest grin. Yep, much to my Mom's disappointment, K is a Gpa gal.