May goodness!

Pearl overload!

I took way more pictures of Pearl than I did of my other kids in May. Sorry, other kids. Just check out these cute little cheeks. She's already lost that newborn look that she had at the beginning of the month.

I love love love this picture of my snugglebug. She has very blond eyebrows and strawberry blond hair and you can really see it in this picture!

First sink bath after her belly button healed! She has an outie!!

 Moms and Muffins in first grade

I got to visit Tempe's classroom for their special Mother's Day program. I haven't spent much time in her class this year, so it was fun to be with her!

Mother's Day

My four girls and me on Mother's Day! New favorite picture ever.

Measuring and tracing practice with Juno

Juno loves to do projects with me and I do my best to come up with something several times a week. For this one, I traced her and Pearl on butcher paper (and she traced Ah Ah, her toy monkey, shown above) and then we measured with a few different measuring tapes and block towers.

Helena can't keep her hands off Pearl!

Sidewalk chalk festival

We go to the sidewalk chalk festival in Bountiful every year and the girls love finding a favorite drawing to pose with.

Helena's new talent

She can cross her eyes super crazy and also turn one eye in while looking straight ahead with the other. Don't worry, I asked the pediatrician and she said as long as she is controlling it, it's nothing to worry about.

and now a beautiful smile from a beautiful girl!

and one from Juno, too!

Kindergarten graduation

Helena graduated from kindergarten and is first grade bound!

Tossing her graduation cap in the air!

Helena and her wonderful kindergarten teacher!

Welcome summer!

We are so ready for summer (I'm so ready for summer). I made this banner for the girls to burst through when they got home from school, a tradition we started last year.

Quick trip to Tennessee

I took Juno and Pearl to Tennessee to visit my parents over Memorial Day weekend. It was a quick trip and it was really fun. Flying alone with 2 kids isn't the most fun, but it wasn't awful (no one threw up on me this time) and I'm so glad I took Juno! My family rarely sees her without her older sisters overshadowing her and she really got a chance to shine this trip. My brother Josh took these sweet pictures of her (plus about a hundred more).

The Allan family in front of the Nashville Temple!

Birthday date

For my birthday date this year, Jason and I had a picnic on the roof of the SLC library (main branch) and then explored the library, one of my favorite places in SLC!

Jiggly, giggly after school fun!

Now that I have a sweet little baby in my belly, I have been really slacking on doing fun stuff with my kids! October is usually filled with fall baking projects, beautiful field trips, and lots of outdoor fun, but this month has been rough on us. But this week I was able to pull myself together and put together a fun little monster-themed snack and activity for my kids.
I try to have a special after school snack for my kids every day--it's not always something really fancy or special, but it gives us a chance to sit down together and talk about our day. It's a tradition I love dearly and hope the girls will appreciate as they grow older!

This little monster themed snack starts out with good ol' JELL-O. You can't really go wrong with flavors, but I decided to use Lime and Grape. I loved all of the Halloween recipes on Jello.com (like the creepy but oh-so-sweet Creepy Crawly JIGGLERS) but I have a huge pack of candy eyeballs that I really wanted to incorporate, so I decided to make spiky monster JIGGLERS instead. I did one layer of Lime JELL-O, let it set up, and then added a layer of Grape JELL-O. When it was set, I used a spiky cookie cutter to cut out JIGGLERS and added a bunch of little eyeballs. The monster plate was the perfect touch!

Yum, yum! They dug right in!

To go with our after school snack, I printed out some mix and match monsters to make flip books. So fun! Tempe, Helena, and Juno all loved creating different monsters on each page of their books.

Speaking of monsters, why is Juno suddenly waking up at 6 am and not taking a nap??

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

{happy summer}

Welcome to summer!!
School is officially out and I sure am glad. While it was nice having some alone time this year while the girls were at school, I sure love having them with me and I am looking forward to a fun summer spent all together.
Even though today was the last day, Tempe had her kindergarten graduation yesterday. They even marched in to Pomp and Circumstance. The look on Tempe's face was priceless. You could tell that she was so proud of herself! She was a little nervous to do her part of the program, but she did a great job.

Official kindergarten graduate!!

Tempe loved her kindergarten teacher. She's moving up to first grade, so who knows, maybe Tempe will have her two years in a row!

I saw this idea floating around the internet last year (on this Tip Junkie post--#15--and incidentally, #4 is from me and #13 is from a lady that lived in my mom's ward in TN about 10 years ago!) The banner said "happy summer" and was really cute, but you can't read it in this picture. I put it up while Tempe was at school for a surprise, but next year I think I'll put it up the night before the last day of school so they can see it all morning before school!

And here she is crashing through it to officially start her summer break!
I have a lot of ideas to make this the best summer ever. I mean, a lot, everything from fun outings to take every week, to how to manage our daily routine, to a brand new chore/allowance system I am going to break out this month. Lots of good intentions, we'll see how long it lasts!

Best ever PB chocolate chip cookies

One of our new after school traditions this year is having a snack together every afternoon. I usually have something relatively healthy--frozen yogurt bananas, or yogurt and granola, or apple slices and PB, or carrots, stuff like that. But on Friday afternoons, we celebrate the beginning of the weekend with cookies.
Today I want to share my favorite cookie recipe with you. It comes from a Nestle "Best-Loved Cookies" cookbook. 

Chunky Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup PB
1 egg
1 t vanilla
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup dry roasted peanuts

1. Cream together butter, sugars, and PB. Add egg and vanilla and beat to combine. Add baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and peanuts. Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.
2. Bake at 375 for 7-10 minutes. Allow to stand for 5 minutes and then remove from cookie sheet and cool completely.
3. Serve with a tall glass of milk and listen to your kids tell you about their day at school!

learning to read

My darling Tempe Joann has been in kindergarten for two months now. She loves going to school. In fact, I don't think she's made a single negative comment about school yet!

She also actually loves doing her homework. I know, I know, it won't last so I'm enjoying it now. We try to make it fun by having "Homework Club" every night: one parent takes Juno upstairs to play and get ready for bed, and the other parent supervises Homework Club. The big girls do their homework (Helena colors or something) while listening to their favorite songs (Gangnum Style, anyone??) and eating snacks. It's fun.

Tempe is especially thrilled to be learning to read. Her teacher sends a beginning reader book home every day and Tempe is always so excited to sit down and read them!

I can't wait until she can really read on her own. Tempe is really going to love being able to flop down with a good book whenever she wants--just like her mom and dad do!

kindergartener

A few weeks ago was one of the most important days of the school year:

Picture day.

Tempe and I spent a little longer picking out her outfit that morning. It was down to the outfit she wore in our family picture (see above) and a more fall schoolchild outfit, which eventually won the debate.

We talked about smiling at the camera, not being silly, and listening to the photographer. Tempe sometimes has a hard time smiling naturally for the camera and then goofs off to compensate. We practiced what it would be like.

When she came home from school, I asked her how it went and she said "Great! I smiled really big and I got to take pictures wherever I wanted, so I chose the playground!" I thought that was kind of strange, but she often mixes up her imagination and reality when she's telling me about school.

Recently, I opened her backpack up after school and found a school pictures envelope. Which was strange, because I didn't actually order any pictures! I was excited and even more thrilled when I opened the envelope and found this:

It's great, isn't it? She nailed the natural smile! It sure looks like my little Tempe.

hey kid!

Dear Tempe,
Six years ago, I was getting ready to have you. I was excited to hold my baby in my arms after nine long months, but nervous about becoming a mother.
Now my little "baby" has grown up and I'm getting ready to send you off to school. I'm excited to watch you grow and mature, gain knowledge and make friends, but all of this makes me nervous as well. You've always spent almost all of your time with me; you've always looked up to me, taken my word for everything, trusted me. Now I am going to step back and watch my big girl leave me. We'll have less time together and I'll have to trust that you are ready for it. What if your teacher doesn't understand you? What if the other kids tease you? What if you are lonely and miss your mom? Will I still be the biggest influence on your life? Will we still be able to pick up and go do fun things as a family?
I know that letting you go to school is right; I know that you are ready. I also know that after next Tuesday, our lives will never be the same. I will never have all of my little girls home with me all the time again. And I will miss you.
Love, Mom

Party plans: Pencil Exchange!

I have always loved back-to-school time.It's such a fun time of year! I think buying school supplies ranked in the top 3 of things-to-look-forward-to as a kid.
Today I want to share an idea for a party I've been mulling over for a while now: a pencil exchange.
(It's not as nerdy as it sounds)
This would be a great party to celebrate an early fall birthday or just as a fun back-to-school celebration!
The inspiration behind this is everything that makes you think of going back to school: apples, pencils, notebook paper.

To throw this party, you would want an even dozen party guests, including your own children. On the invitation, ask each guest to bring 12 pencils of their choice to share. The dollar spot at Target is a great place to find packs of cute pencils--glitter, rainbow, all kinds of patterns. Jason thinks I'm a nerd because I always want to buy them.
Once all the guests have arrived, have everyone exchange their pencils. At the end of the exchange, everyone should have a dozen different cute pencils to use at school!
Here are some other fun back-to-school activities you could do at this party.

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I hope I've gotten some ideas rolling for some fun back-to-school celebration! I'm gonna give my girls a few more years before I really start pushing the pencil exchange :)
How do you celebrate a new school year?