What can you fit on a twin sized bed??

This morning I went in to straighten up the girls room and I noticed that there was a pillow out of it's case, so I went up on Hailey's bed (the top bunk) and this is what I found on top of her comforter:

21 Stuffed Animals

33 cookie cutters

4 purses

18 copied mini-books from school

10 sheets of stationary

2 cards

2 sticker sheets

3 nail polishes

4 felt toys

DVD case

3 books

birthday crown

size 24 mos. Tinkerbell outfit

frisbee

fork

cup

doll shirt

doll shorts

doll shoes

Pioneer Barbie

Barbie's picnic basket

baby bottle

playdoh sissors

dental mirror pencil topper

scooper

empty playdoh container

brush

comb

bike reflector

pink plastic tube

2 pillows with cases

1 extra pillow case

1 quilt

I do have to note that all of these things were toys, so not anything that I was missing. Also, I spread everything out to take the picture, mostly everything was hidden under the stuffed animals or inside pillowcases. I should have taken a before picture. She is such a funny girl.

I am so mean!

Allan's Mom has this Santa doll that sits on her front porch and starts to sing when you walk past it. Natalie was freaked out by it. So then we were at our ward Christmas party and waiting to see Santa when she just started crying and I said, "don't you want to tell Santa what to bring you for Christmas?" and she told me she didn't want toys, so I told Allan to go ahead and take her away.

That night after the party we found her like this:

We just thought it was a funny place to fall asleep and took her picture. After that she started sitting in front of the front door on a regular basis and when we asked her about it she told us that she doesn't want Santa to come in. I thought this was pretty funny how terrified she is, so now I sometimes yell out to my children, "Who wants Santa to come?" and poor Natalie freaks out and runs to the front door to hold her post. I better watch out or I am going to be on Santa's bad list this year!

Christmas Letter

I really need to do some catching up on my blogging, but today I wrote our Christmas letter and I thought I would go ahead and throw it on here too. If you haven't sent me your address yet, please do.

Merry Christmas Family and Friends,

As this Christmas season approaches, our thoughts are often with those who have touched our lives, especially those who are far away. We have been so blessed over the years with wonderful friends and family and we wish that we could spend time with you all this year too.

This year we have started settling into our wonderful home here in Idaho Falls. It has been fun to be back in the West and close to lots of family. We absolutely love our neighborhood because it is the perfect spot to raise a young family. The kids made a ton of friends very quickly, which was easy considering there are over 30 elementary aged and younger children on our street alone.

After Allan finished dental school last year we knew that this was where we wanted to be and we built a house on the faith that we would find a job. Allan started working for Indian Health Services on a reservation about 45 minutes south of here. When he got the job we were happy to have something, but not sure that this was what we wanted to be doing long term, but as the economy has become unsteady, we have been very grateful to have a steady job with great benefits and know that this was all for the best.

Hailey is now in first grade and she loves school. This year she has really become an excellent reader and will read about anything that she sets her eyes on. She is also very excited about math and her teacher has nothing but wonderful things to say about her. She is very creative and says that her favorite part of school is when they get to do art. Hailey has a great group of girl friends in her class that all live right here in our neighborhood, and I have often said that I would love for all of their families to never move so that they can stay friends. This year Hailey has enjoyed being involved in Ballet, Soccer, and T-Ball. She also cut her hair and donated 13½ inches to Locks of Love.

Ally started pre-school this year. She is as fun and outgoing as ever and makes friends with everyone she meets young and old. She will be 5 next month and knows almost all of her letters and loves writing them. She is actually going to two pre-schools, one that the district here runs 3 days a week and a neighborhood one that the moms are doing two days a week. Ally is so smart and she amazes people with her abilities. Her favorite thing to do at school is to paint and around home she loves to color and cut pictures. Ally also did ballet and T-ball this year and she has been so excited to finally be old enough to do some of the things Hailey has been involved in. Ally also cut her hair and gave 12 inches to Locks of Love.

Natalie has a spitfire little personality. She knows she is cute and she milks it for everything it is worth. Natalie knows what she wants and she doesn’t accept anything else. Natalie will be 3 next month and was our earliest yet to potty train, mostly because she has been motivated by the family Disney Cruise that we will be going on two days after her birthday. She actually did really well right after her second birthday but then reverted back to diapers when Lilly was born. After the summer we started again and she has been doing great. This year she is completely anti-Santa Claus, and has told us that she doesn’t want toys and she sits in front of the door and guards it from Santa!

Lilly was born on April 17th and she weighed 7 lbs. 15 oz. She has been our hardest baby, which according to Allan is not saying much (easy for him to say). Until she was seven months old she insisted on eating every 2 hours day and night. Then one day I decided enough was enough I had to stay up with her most of the night for three or four nights, but she is now only getting up once in the night so I am glad for that. She is very determined to get places, and started rolling and sitting and crawling very early. At her six month appointment the doctor said that she moved like a nine month old. She is a very sweet little baby and we are grateful to have her in our family.

I (Kristy) have been very busy keeping our family going, doing the day to day stuff, as well as being Hailey’s room mom this year and last, volunteering in schools, sports, and other activities, and also going back to school. I have been taking one class a semester towards my degree, which I changed to Home, Family, and Consumer Science (a fancy way to say Home Ec.). I also started a blog for our family at drstakerfamily.blogspot.com. Life with four kids never seems to slow down, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

As this year comes to a close we are thankful for the knowledge of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and the chance to celebrate His birth. As we have put our trust in Him we have been blessed immeasurably. We want to send our best wishes for a happy holiday season and a great year to come.

With Love,

Allan, Kristy, Hailey, Ally, Natalie and Lilly Staker

6 Tag

I seem to get tagged more often than I post, so some I do and some I don't because I really don't want this just to be all tags, but this looked like a fun one so here goes....

6 TV shows:

I should really call these 6 guilty pleasures, I picked the one's I would still watch if Allan wasn't with me, we have lot's of shows we watch together but these ones are for me.

Greys Anatomy
Desperate Houswives
Brothers and Sisters
One Tree Hill
Private Practice
Dirty Sexy Money

6 Favorite Restaurants: I am going to name 6 restaurants in 6 different city's in the order I discovered them...yum yum

Wharehouse Pizza and Tasty's Bagel (sorry had to put 2)- La Verne, CA
The Hat- Glendora, CA
Brick Oven- Provo, UT
Canton's- Idaho Falls
Pot Belly's- Chicago, IL
Sonny's BBQ- Davie, FL

6 Things that happened today:

Made Allan Lunch
Made Kid's Breakfast
Sent Hailey to school
Called Countrywide and WellsFargo because I accidentally paid my mortgage twice online.
Took Ally to school
Went to Robin's to work out

6 Things I am looking forward to:

Lilly sleeping through the night
Finishing Twilight...that's right the first book in the series that EVERYONE on the Earth including my husband has already read, I remember before I had 4 kids and I actually could read once in a while.
Going to Utah this weekend and the last BYU home game Saturday
Disney Land and Sea Vacation in January with the Family
Being done having children so I can hopefully stop gaining and loosing 30+ pounds a year!
Having our student loans all paid off

6 Things on my wish list:

House Decorations...Large Art Work, Furniture, Paint, Knick Knacks, Etc.
Finished Basement
Deep Freezer
Food Storage Shelves
Haircut and Perm
Super Speed or More Time

I am skipping the 6 people to Tag, do it if you want to don't if you don't.

P.S. I really like tags, I just wish I had that super speed or more time so I could post more often!

Funny Girl

Ally was going over to her friend Caleb's house after preschool on Thursday. Caleb's Uncle who Ally has never met before was going to be coming over. Ally says to Caleb's Mom, "When Caleb's Uncle get's here he is going to say, 'Wow, what a cute little girl!'" Obviously she get's told that a lot!

What Natalie should have been for Halloween...

I was just looking back at some things that I need to blog about when I get a chance, and I came across these awesome pictures of Natalie from about a month ago. It's kind of Tinkerbell meets Terminator...The Tinkinator!

Discovery Elementary Spook Alley

I volunteered to be in charge of the Spook Alley at Hailey's School. It turned out so great! This had to do a lot with all of the wonderful help that I received. I will now take you on a little picture tour of the whole thing:

The Spook Alley
The people would come in and sit on a park bench and there was this bum by the trash can.Then this guy would jump out of the trash can and the bum would chase them out of the park. These were two of the Middle School Student Gavernment Kids who came to help out.

Next came my wonderful husband Allan in Dracula's Lair. If you look closely, he made himself some clip on fangs. He didn't think he was too scary, but I think you can tell by this picture that he was!

They then crawled through a tunnel with spiders and spiderwebs and there were people grabbing them from the outside of the tunnel, (I didn't get a picture of the tunnel) and into a Zombie Classroom.

The Zombies were compliments of the Bonneville Drama Department and they did an amazing job.

The zombies kind of chased everyone around the room and then back out into the hallway.

Where they would come to my Dear Friend Susan dressed up like this. (actually the first time they saw her was when they came out of the tunnel and she scared a ton of people including adults)

Now it is time to give props where props are due. Susan helpped me so very much with this night. She and I came up with all of the rooms and decorations for the Spook Alley and transformed the second grade hallway and later returned it back to the way it was in a matter of hours with the help of a few others (Natalie, Zoe, Sonya, another Natalie and others I am sure I am forgetting, sorry)

Next they entered the graveyard where there were a few more kids from the Middle School to jump out and scare them before they exited.

We also planned a not so scary Mad Scientists Lab and I basically told a few of my ideas to some other great friends Krista and Arin and they took over. The details in their room were amazing! They were luckily up on the stage so they were able to go in at 9:00 a.m. and start setting up. It took them all day but the results were well worth their time!

The Mad Scientists Lab

The witch and her Cauldren (Krista and Arin each took the witches post for an hour)

Then the Mad Scientist (Krista's husband Josh and Zoe's husband Steve) would take them on a tour of his lab full of fun things to touch and see. This was where it came in handy to have a Dentist as a husband because they used a lot of his tools and teeth and anatomy books and other things that I found in his boxes of stuff in the basement to decorate. As well as some of my canning supplies and kitchen tools!

Right before they left the lab Frankenstein (my friend Sara's husband Jeremy and then Arin's brother-in-law) would be laying on the table and come to life, it was great!

The teachers helped a lot too, they got the local beauty school to send over some face painters.

Another little plug for AWESOME people here...Allan's parents came to the school and took my girls around so that they got to enjoy it all while we were busy. And Robin held Lilly basically the whole night so that was a big help too!

Hailey, Ally, and Natalie all had a great time. Lilly was not as impressed, but she was a trooper!

The teachers also had a Fishing Pond where the kids could get prizes.

And a couple of them dressed up and read the kids palms.

There was also a Candy Bar Walk and a pumpkin carving contest and a Giant Pumpkin Lady giving out candy.

The amazing thing was that the principal wanted this to be a fun and free activity for families so everything above was absolutely free! We did sell dinner (Hot Dogs, Chips, and Drinks) for basically cost, and had a Bake Sale. Felicia the PTO President took care of the food and I got some mom's to come in and help sell it, and Allison helped get people for the bake sale. So there you have it, I am so glat that it is over, but it was also a lot of fun.

Disclaimer: Do not read further if you don't want to hear me whine~

So here is my one little annoyance with the whole thing and basically PTO in general. I am upset that there are not more people involved. Basically there are a few handfulls of people who are always willing to volunteer and help, but then everyone is happy to come and enjoy their hard work. There were hundreds of people who came to this activity, the lines were incredibly long. I just don't see why more people are not willing to give their support. I had a planning meeting that I sent home flyers with every student, sent out e-mails to many of the parents, and put in the school newsletter that I needed volunteers and still had very few people respond. I am truly grateful to everyone who was willing to help, and I understand that there are scheduling conflicts and not everyone can help with everything, but if everyone would just take their turn, the work wouldn't end up on the same people every time!

Baby Bear

Lilly is now 6 months old, I can not believe that half a year has passed already. I took her in for her appointment and she now weighs 14 lbs and is 25 inches long. The doctor was so impressed with her, he said that she sits and moves and grabs things like a 9 month old. It was kind of funny because he walked in and saw her sitting on the table playing with the paper and asked if we were there for her 6 month appointment, and when I said yes, he asked how old is she and checked his chart because he thought she had to be older than that.

Some things that Little Lilly is up to these days are...

Still eating every 2 hours day and night

Cat napping...this girl has not heard of a 2 hour nap!

Sitting up on her own from lying down

Getting up on her hands and knees but not going anywhere on them

Climbing up small objects like pillows and climbing out of her carseat if not buckled

Standing with support

Rolling or scooting to everything that she sees

Puting said objects into her mouth as quickly as possible

Eating sister's homework

Getting excited when she sees Mom and sad when she doesn't

Having stranger anxiety just a little bit

Growling...she loves to growl

Aside from the not sleeping, and wanting to eat all the time, she really is a pleasant and happy baby. She just wants what she wants when she wants it, but I guess that is just what being a baby is all about. Last week I left her alone for the first time with my mom because we were going to a football game and it was going to be very cold, she took a bottle like a champ, (and while I was glad, I was also a little sad, like she didn't really need me as much anymore.) I can not believe how fast my baby is growing up!

Calling all friends!

I have never been good at sending out Christmas cards or thank you cards, or really anything of the sort. I started to realize a couple of things:

1. I really am an adult now, we are no longer in school, Allan has a real job and we have a real home. It is time to start acting like it.

2. We have made a lot of friends and it is hard to keep in touch with them all. Between people that we knew before we got married, while we were living in Provo, Fort Lauderdale, and now here, there are so many people that I love and miss and don't keep in touch with.

3. This one isn't a realization so much as a fact, I am a social person, and I love visiting with old friends and making new friends and if I don't know where my friends are it is hard to do this.

So as a result, I have set a goal to find as many friends and family as possible and make a list of their addresses and send them out a Christmas Letter or something. So here is what I need you to do...send me your address and information so that I can make my goal a reality. If you don't comply, I will come looking for you but I am asking for your help so my e-mail address is kristystaker@yahoo.com and I will be waiting for your note.

More Family Pictures Up!

Family Pictures

Lilly 5 Months...a little late!

A couple of weeks ago, I took Lilly in for her 4 month check up and shots, of course, at the time she was 5 months old, but who's really counting?

At 5 months old, she weighs 12 lbs 14 oz. and 24 in. She is into everything, she amazes me because she already gets up on her hands and knees, but she hasn't figured out crawling quite yet. That doesn't stop her though because she either rolls or does this strange crawl with her head. She has calmed down a lot, and is a very good baby, but she still eats every couple of hours. She is starting to babble all the time and loves to play with her sisters. Allan says we know she is beautiful (not that we needed any help) because random people that we walk by comment on her all the time.

Bloggy Awards

My dear friend Emily nominated me for a bloggy award. I thought it was fun to be given an award! Emily is my idol. I think she is such an amazing mother, and she is always thinking of others. She also taught Hailey to ride a 2-wheeler so she is my hero on top of everything else.

First of all, here are Rules:

1.The winner puts logo on her/his blog.

2.Link the person you received your award from.

3.Nominate 7 other blogs.

4.Put links of those blogs on yours.

5.Leave a message on the blogs of those you’ve chosen.

My favorite blogs to read are what I will catagorize as "mommy blogs" It is hard to narrow it down to just seven because I really enjoy reading about all of your experiences but rules are rules so-

The nominees for best mommy blogs are:

1. The Nat Pack- Natalie is the most creative blogger I know. She has a great optimism and sense of humor towards motherhood. If you want a good laugh, spend some time reading her blog.

2. Petersen 1/2 Acre- My sweet, clean, self proclaimed germ-a-phobe friend Jodi and her experiences living with a house full of dirt loving boys.

3. Pumpkin-on-board- Meghan and I have been friends since high school and although many years and many miles have spanned between us, I still think of her as a close friend. Her blog is about her experience getting pregnant after a heart-breaking miscarriage, her pregnancy, having a premie, and now bringing her baby home from the hospital.

4. Pettingill Family- Zoe is probably my closest friend outside of family here in Idaho. She has 4 kids close to my kids age, our husbands went to school together as kids, and I just really click well with her. Life has been so busy since I have had Lilly that I haven't been doing enough with her, I think it's time for another game night with the Pettingills!

5. Castillo Family Blog- Jamie and I worked together right after I graduated from High School. I admire her strength. Now she is a mother of 2 with strong family values living in California, where in my opinion it is hard to keep a family together because traditional families are deffinetly in the minority.

6. We Love This Crazy Life!- These are some of our friends from Dental School. They have twin girls and a little boy and are expecting their 4th child, a little girl soon. Karen also has a great humor about life.

7. The Olsen Family- My college roommate who now has a little girl, and a little boy on the way. She has also started her own business from home selling binky clips and diaper bags and bracelets and bows for little ones.

Still Alive...

So I have wanted to blog about so many things over the past however long it has been since I last posted, but life has been so crazy I just haven't had time. Here are some of the events of the last little bit...

1. My Washer is not working, this actually happened on Saturday 2 weeks ago, but anyway, here's what happened: woke up and put a load in and then, F-20 Water intake problem, tried to fix it myself, called a repair guy, diagnosed it, didn't have the right part, ordered it, did some laundry at my cute sister-in-law's house, waited, came and fixed it 13 days after initial problem, put another load in worked fine, 2nd load...F-20, called repair guy said he couldn't come back until he had another work order, called company for work order, said they couldn't do anything till the old order cleared out of the system and to call back in 24 hours, got mad, left for Utah, am back now, still no washer :(

2. Went to 3 BYU games in wich we DISTROYED the other teams. Okay, technically the first one was in August, but you get the point. The last two Saturday's we have had back to back shut outs against UCLA and Wyoming. Allan and I have awesome tickets, we sit at about the 45 yard line and in the last row of the bottom bowl. Allan's family has 8 tickets together right there. We love these seats, we are high enough to have a great view of the field and are on the back row so we don't have people climbing over us constantly. Now for the kicker, each game we have unlimited access to an air-conditioned tent for a huge buffet before the game with a different featured item each game, salads, carved meats, drinks, ice cream, and desserts...oooohhhhh the desserts...white and dark chocolate fountains with strawberries and bananas and pineapple and marshmallows and pretzels, fudge, chocolate and sugar cookies with white chocolate/creamcheese and fruit topping, then at our seats we get a little bag with water and snacks and a free drink coupon, then at half-time, we go back to the tent for hot dogs, brats, popcorn, and more chocolate fountain and desserts, then durring the third quarter they bring us ice cream to our seats, then after the game we cam go to the tent for veggies and dip and cookies and brownies and milk. The tent also has big screen tv's throughout so we can watch the game, other games, and the post game. We take Lilly to the games and the older kids get to hang out with my parent's who live in Lehi.

3. Ally started a neighborhood preschool and last week it was at my house. We are rotating each week so for 5 of the weeks she goes to another house. The theme was language and we did lots of fun things like make pictures of the kids and had them practice telling about themselves, did rhyming and nursery rhymes, practiced folowing directions and had a treasure hunt, catagorized different things by color and type of things and more, and now I am just happy it will not be here for 6 more weeks because it was a lot of work.

4. Started a foods class at BYU-I. My education has been a really interesting journey. I started off as a ElEd major and then after a year and a half took a 7 year hiatus. When I went back I decided to do PPE (preschool) but then decided I didn't want to do that either, and changed to Family and Consumer Science Education Composite (a fancy way to say Home Ec) Anyway, I have been taking 1 class a semester and in about 20 years I may have a degree.

5. Hailey lost her first tooth. Funny story: She lost her tooth at school, and the teacher put it in a baggie that she insisted on carrying around with her all over the place. Her and Ally were out swinging and Hailey dropped the baggie and told Ally to pick it up. Ally held it upside-down and said tooth fell out. Much crying. That night I helped her write a note to the tooth fairy and we put it under her pillow. So in the morning I went in to wake her up for school and told her to check and see if the tooth fairy came. She found a dollar, and kept looking through the blankets and sheets and asked me to look on the floor and see if anything fell down there. I assured her that the tooth fairy probably only left a dollar. It was the funniest response.

6. I canned more green beans and tomatoes. We have now gotten about 30 quarts of green beans and 25 quarts of tomatoes from our garden.

So anyway, between being mom and school and preschool and trips to Provo, it has been a crazy couple of weeks. This week my goal is to re-potty-train Nataile. We will see how that goes. I also have to help out in Hailey's and Ally's classes.

Where were you?

20 Years Ago…

1. It was 1988 and I was in the 2nd grade and was always getting in trouble for talking too much in Mrs. Wilke's class.

2. Marci V. was my best friend.

3. Mrs. Wilke would read us books while one of the students rubbed her shoulders.


10 Years Ago…

1. I was a senior in High School at Bonita High School.

2. I was a Varsity Song Leader (cheer) for the second year.

3. I was a peer coach, instructional aide, and did statistics for the freshman basketball team.

5 years ago…

1. I was pregnant with our 2nd baby, Ally.

2. We had just moved to Fort Lauderdale so Allan could go to Dental School.

3. I was praying for a friend.

3 years ago…

1. I was pregnant with our 3rd baby, Natalie.

2. I spent almost everyday with Amber, my best friend and answer to my prayer. (BTW, she
moved to Fort Lauderdale 4 months after us, I believe I prayed her and her family there, they left a year before us)

3. I had just got called to teach the CTR 6-7 and 7-8 year olds.

1 year ago…

1. I was pregnant with our 4th baby, Lilly. (anyone noticing a pattern here)

2. We had just moved into our house, here, in Idaho Falls and Allan started working for Indian Health Services.

3. Hailey started Kindergarten, and I was her room mother.

This year so far…

1. I went back to school and changed my major twice.

2. I started blogging .

3. Hailey started going to school all day, I am her room mother again, Ally is going to 2 preschools, Natalie was potty trained and now isn't, but I have to start that again, and Lilly is getting bigger and starting to play more.

Yesterday…

1. Was Ally's first day of Joy School.

2. I went shopping and got 2 new pairs of Jeans.

3 We took family pictures.


Today…

1. I have 2 kids throwing up.

2. I have got to go make my car payment and take Lilly for her 4 month check up.

3. I need to clean my house after having lots of company for the last week. (My Aunt Valli and her daughter Kristina who started at BYU-I this week-Thursday and Friday, My Niece Anna and Nephew Asa-Saturday and Sunday (and the bulk of the reason I need to clean my house) and my Parents-from Sunday until they left this morning.)

Tomorrow…
1. Let's be honest, probably still cleaning my house, especially because of the extra laundry from house guests and throw up.

2. Hopefully Robin and I will go for a walk since we weren't able to today and it got cut short yesterday!

3. Maybe I will can some Tomatoes.

Next Year…

1. We're going to DISNEY WORLD!

2. I probably will get pregnant

3. Either we will have gotten loan re-payment and/or a raise, or Allan will get a new job.


I tag…

1. Natalie

2. Kristen

3. Really, all of you. This was fun to think back on, even if just for myself.

A NOT So Lovely Morning

The Scene: My Bedroom
The Time: 4:30 am
I am already up, feeding the baby for the 2nd or 3rd time, (I have stopped keeping track for my own sanity)
Hailey shows up at the door. I say, "come on in and lie down." I keep feeding the baby, but am thinking, "man, this kid smells like pulled pork (dinner) did we not wash her up after dinner or what?" I get up and put the baby back in bed and Hailey drops the bomb.
"Mom, I threw up in my bed."
I think, "This is information I could have used before I asked you to lie down in my bed," but I say, "okay, I'll go check it out, why don't you go change your jammies and get a drink of water."
I go into their room, Natalie is asleep on the floor, I am not quite sure why, Ally is asleep in the bottom bunk, I look to see if Hailey had been sleeping with Ally or on the top bunk. She was on the top bunk. I assess the damage.
Hailey had thrown up twice, once down the side of the bed and the other time right in the middle of her bed. There is throw up on 3 sheets, 2 mattresses, down the wall, 1 pillow, one blanket, one turtle and all of it's clothes, and in the bed rails. Ally is crying, and I ask her what's wrong.
"My tummy hurts"
"Are you going to throw up?"
"No"
"What's wrong?"
"I'm thirsty"
Okay, that is fixable, I go and get her a drink, and she is back asleep.
I move Ally to Natalie's bed and leave Natalie on the floor. Took off all of the sheets and blankets and threw them in the bath tub. Wipe up all of the excess throw up with dry paper towels, get some wet rags and scrub the mattresses and walls and bed rails, rinse out the sheets and start the washer, and clean out the bath tub.
Well, I am up now, I look at the clock: 6:00, what a wonderful start to my day...Now that I am done bloging about it (in not nearly as creative a way as Nat of The Nat Pack could do) I am going to go get my family breakfast and start on the rest of the day. Wish me luck!

Hair Bow Give Away!

My college roommate started her own company of hair bows and pacifier clips etc. She is doing a give away. Go here http://www.polkadotsnpacifiers.com/ and see.

Ally's First Day of Preschool!

The long awaited day has finally come! Ally has been wanting to go to school ever since Hailey's first day of preschool 2 years ago. I would have concidered puting her in a 3 year old pre-school last year, but we moved into our house in August, and all of the neighborhood groups were full and I guess I just didn't really want to tote her clear into town. She will be attending Early Intervention Teaching Center for district 93. This is just across the street from our neighborhood, so it won't be too bad taking her over there three days a week.

Ally is a very special girl. She is very different from her sister Hailey. Ally is not shy at all and she started talking at 9 months old and hasn't stopped since. She is always willing to give her opinion, and let you know how it is. When Natalie was born, Ally informed me that she "speaks baby" and that she could let me know what her sister wanted, and pretty much to this day if I can't figure it out I ask Ally.

She is a VERY affectionate and loving child. She is quick to trust and to get attached. She loves to cuddle up to just about anyone. Ally always knows how to make someone feel special. Allan's great-aunt Dot loves Ally because she is always excited to see her and will give her lots of attention. She will remember any little act of kindness you show her and be your best friend for it. (this is a trait I love, but it also scares me to death) She is also very sensitive, sometimes she will be crying and saying "oowwwee" and when I ask her what is wrong she tells me her feelings are hurt, but she is also very quick to forgive.

Ally LOVES her sisters. She looks up to Hailey, and mothers Natalie, and absolutely can not stay away from Lilly. It is like she has a magnetic force that draws her to babies, without even realizing it she will be touching them. Sometimes we ask her to leave Lilly alone, for whatever reason, usually because she is sleeping, and within 30 seconds she is right back there loving on her sister. Someday she will be a wonderful mother, one of those sentimental ones who cries when her children start school.

Ally is also so smart. I think it is because she spends so much time with Hailey. It seems like she learns everything long before her time. She started writing her letters at 2 1/2 when Hailey started school, when she went in for her 4 year old check up the doctor was surprised when she counted to 20 without missing any of the teens. She is great at puzzles and can just see how things go together. Ally has a lot of friends who started Kindergarten this year, and part of me thought about working really hard with her this year and testing her into first grade next year, but I decided in the long run she will be better off with the kids her age.