Recipe for FUN!

Recipe for Fun!
You are invited to a cooking party
to celebrate
ALLISON’S 9th BIRTHDAY!
Take one birthday kid.
Add:
Special friends
Clothes that can get messy
A healthy appetite
Mix together on April 30th at:
Allison’s Young Chef Academy
Cook from 5:00-8:00 pm
Please RSVP to Jenny, the Master Chef
The girls all decorated these cute chef hats and looked great in their aprons.

Time to make their own lasagnas!

Each girl filled a small bread tin with sauce, noodles, meat and cheese and put it in the oven. They played games and made their salads while dinner cooked.

Lorien, Reanna, Allison and Amanda...So proud of their masterpieces!

Abby, Grace, Marley and Julia

Julia, Lorien and StephanieTaylor made Allison this cute cake

Allison couldn't wait to open gifts...but we were all shocked when she started crying after reading Taylor's card. It was so sweet!

She loved everything her friends got her...legos, clothes from Justice, a few board games and an adorable scrapbook that Reanna worked so hard to make!

After cake, the girls each got 12 cupcakes to decorate using icing, sprinkles, gel pens and candy.

Allison and Kaylee loved making different colors with the gel pens.

Allison's works of art

Each girl went home with a to-go container filled with a Friendship trail mix and hopefully a lot of fun memories. The girls all seemed to have so much fun and Matt and I are glad we survived. Just wishing now that I could keep my baby 8 forever...

School Celebration

Allison's birthday weekend began today with a school celebration. I have made it a tradition to bring lunch to the girls on their birthday and Allison requested a California burrito from Aztec Tacos. She was the envy of the lunch table, but shared the french fries with her buddies. She even got a special surprise when Matt showed up too!

Allison, Victoria, Lorien, Stephanie and Kaylee

At the end of the day, we were back to the lunch tables with popsicles for the class. Firecracker pops for everyone and a little time on the playground before the bell rang.

Water Polo Clinic

We have been trying to convince the girls to find and try another after-school activity. They love soccer, but I want to make sure they try different things as well. They have tried golf, tennis and softball, but had yet to give water polo a try. So when Chessa told us about this great clinic at the high school, they were excited. Unfortunately, the Monday/Wednesday clinic falls on both of Taylor's soccer nights and with an upcoming tournament, it was tough for her to miss practice. Allison and Lorien were excited to do the clinic together...
and were even more excited that Lorien's older brother Finlay would be one of their coaches.
I arrived a little late to the clinic, but found the girls "all smiles" in the pool with their cute swim caps!

The coaches taught them how to move their legs like egg beaters through the water and how to pass the ball.

Allison had such a fun time and can't wait for Wednesday. She even said she wants to join the swim team!

It was tough to get out of the warm pool on this windy night, but we turned the heater on in the car and Allison jumped into a warm shower at home. I'm just glad the girls had so much fun!

Easter at Petco Park

The kids were up early and quickly downstairs to hunt for all of the candy-filled eggs the Easter Bunny hid in the middle of the night. It didn't take long for them to spot their baskets in the living room. Taylor loved her new phone and iTouch covers, hair clips, Aeropostale shirts and candy.

Allison was thrilled to find Play-doh, an iTouch cover, collectable erasers and some Old Navy outfits.

It took quite a while to unload all of their candy loot into their baskets from the egg hunt. Then it was breakfast burritos for breakfast and then a drive to San Diego.

Nothing says Easter like a day at the ballpark...hot dogs, popcorn and "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." The girls got fielding gloves and they had a cute egg hunt for Kid's Day.

It turned out to be a nice day for a ball game as the drizzly morning turned to sunny skies at game time.

At the ticket counter, the rep convinced us that the All-U-Can-Eat seats were the best deal and we are glad we listened to him. We munched on hot dogs, popcorn, peanuts, soda and water throughout the game for about $5 more per ticket. It was perfect and the seats were actually really good as well.

Unfortunately, the Padres lost 3-1 to the Phillies, but we enjoyed the game and even got a chance to see the Easter Bunny!!

Tie-Dye Egg Decorating

Easter season isn't complete without decorating eggs that we will never eat. Allison chose a tie-dye kit at Target for this carton of eggs and it was actually pretty fun.

The egg was placed in a cheesecloth and then in this plastic egg mold with holes.

Then, the girls used the pipette full of different colored dyes to make a pattern of their choice.

This was one of their many masterpieces. The eggs will continue to smell up our fridge for a few more days before we toss them out, but it sure was a fun craft project and Easter tradition!

Temecula Indian Diarama

Matt is definetely the "Project Guy" at this house, so when Allison brought this project home before Spring Break, it was handed straight to him. He has the creative mind to do this kind of thing.

3rd grade is studying the Temecula Indians and were asked to make either a poster or a diarama representing life in Temecula during the time of the indians. Allison gathered some items from nature and they made a trip to Michael's to get a few things too.

An egg carton was used to make a kish, garbanzo beans were used for acorns, small rocks lined the river and the fire pit and plastic animals were used for both the animals they ate (ducks and fish) and the horse they used for transportation. A drying rack and spear were cut from small vines and the grinding stone was made from playdoh. Each item was labeled with a hole-punch piece of white paper.

The box was decorated with pictures of baskets and tools used by the indians and the key was glued on the side. Matt hopes "his" project is the best in all of 3rd grade and Allison can't wait to show it off to her class today!

Taylor's 1st Job!

Taylor spent the first two days of Spring Break taking a 16 hour referee certification course with some of her friends. She studied hard, passed the exam and got her certification. We purchased the uniform and flags and she was scheduled for her 1st U10 game today.

Taylor and Lauren were scheduled together to both be AR's for the 11:30 game. She had some butterflies this morning, but had a blast!

She checked the team in...checking for proper attire, making sure their numbers were rightand calling for captains to come to the center of the field. She made offsides calls, handled throw-ins and even had to deal with her first penalty kick! She got to ref a 2nd game because someone else didn't show up, so Maylie, Lauren and Taylor all worked 2 games and made their first $22. They can't wait to do it again next week and we told Taylor we would match any money that she saves. She can't wait for her 1st paycheck!

The Mighty Rapids

We missed the first game of the season because of our trip so Allison was excited to take the field today. She is on the Mighty Rapids co-ed U10 team. We were really hoping to have Reanna and Allison play together this season, but it didn't work out. However, they have the same uniform color and they stayed to watch our game!

Allison played the first 3 quarters in goal and didn't let anything go by. She had a few nice punts and did her job well. She plays goalie with such intensity!

She let loose on the field in the fourth quarter as a forward. She didn't score, but is such a bulldozer on the field. Her team scored 4 goals in the 2nd half and looked really strong.

Coach Dan congratulated them on their victory and I see an exciting season ahead!

Goodbye to Paradise

The girls spent the night at the Lebitski's condo so Matt and I used the early morning to get packed up and check out of our place. Very few words were spoken as this is always a tough day...the day we go home:( We love this place so much and feel so comfortable here. Thankfully, the Lebitski's didn't have to check out until 6:00pm so we could spend our last few hours at Kapalua Beach before our redeye flight home.

The girls played in strong waves as a storm was getting ready to hit the island and enjoyed the rain drops that fell as they played.

Matt took shelter under his umbrella and then had a little fun with it before packing up!

We played some games at the condo and all 9 of us took turns showering before dinner and our trip to the airport.

The girls played one last game of War in the airport and we boarded our flight home. The redeye is always a tough flight, but is especially hard when leaving Maui. We had the most amazing trip...full of lifelong memories, wonderful friends and a great time as a family. I will be checking flights every now and then to find a great deal and we look forward to our next visit hopefully very soon!