I'm a Proud Mommy :)

Here's Allyson's Kindergarten report card and her score from her recent DIBELS test she took at school ...




I'm sure you can all read the DIBELS score, but in case you can't read the report card, here are her grades:

Homeroom: 100%
Reading: 98.57%
Math: 95.51%

She's in an advanced group for her reading and her math and she still got these awesome grades! She tries so hard and does so well in school. She never complains when it's time to do her homework. She frequently brings her homework to me and says she wants to do it. At the beginning of the year she needed me to help her along til she got the hang of it, but now she reads all of the directions on her worksheets by herself and does it all by herself. I just sit next to her and watch most of the time and occasionally help, when needed. Reading is her favorite. She reads at an advanced 1st grade level and will soon be reading at a beginning 2nd grade level (according to the "Reading A-Z correlation chart" that her school uses).

I'm so proud of my little girl! :')

We went out last Saturday to celebrate. We originally wanted to go to Trafalga, but David got home a lot later from working on the house than expected, so we decided we would probably be better off doing something else that night. I really wanted to do something out of the norm from what we usually do, but was having a really hard time thinking of anything. The only thing I could come up with was Chuck e Cheese's and I was NOT happy about it. I remembered that she asked to go to Chuck e Cheese's several times after we went there for her cousins birthday party a while back. So, despite how much I HATE Chuck e Cheese's, I asked her if she wanted to go and she was super excited about it ... so we went.

Now, let me explain why I hate Chuck e Cheese's.

I've been there twice in my life. The first time was for my niece's birthday party a lot of years ago at the Orem location. My first thought when walking in the doors was, "wow, it's REALLY dark in here." Definitely not the fun, bright, happy place I would expect out of a kids party place. There was a small play area for the kids and a fair amount of arcade games, but not a whole lot. And let's not forget the CREEPIEST LOOKING DANCING/SINGING CHARACTERS I'VE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE!!!! And to top it all off, the mouse (I assume his name is Chuck?) was missing his head!!! It was sitting in a bucket on the floor next to his feet. Now, imagine a bunch of creepy looking characters dancing and singing under poor lighting in a dark dungeon-like place with one of it's creepy friends sitting on stage with them, with it's head sitting in a bucket. Seems like something you'd see in a horror film or a really bad nightmare or something, right?!!! I think I'm lucky I left that place alive that night.

I took the liberty of photo shopping this picture, so you could better envision this frightful sight ...



(That picture was taken at the location by the South Towne Mall, so it doesn't look nearly as creepy as it did that night at the Orem location)

The second time I went to Chuck e Cheese's was for my other niece's birthday party (at the Orem location again). Luckily, all of the character's had their heads attached that time - but still a super creepy place. And Katelyn came off of the play place with her pants soaked from her knees on down from crawling through who-knows-what in the tunnel (I'm sure your imaginations can tell you what it likely could have been ... I know mine was).

So that's why I hate Chuck e Cheese's.

I decided that if we were going to go there to celebrate Allyson's grades, that we had to go to the location by the South Towne Mall. I refused to go to the Orem location. I was hopeful that it would be a little better than the one in Orem, but I certainly didn't expect that it really would be.

To my surprise, it was a BILLION times better than the Orem location!!

It was well lit and bright and cheerful and fun looking and had a much bigger play area and more arcade games and had great pizza and was ALMOST completely not creepy (sorry, those dancing characters have really got to go, IMO). We had a lot of fun and I can honestly say I would take my kids there again - and not just when I have to for someone's birthday party.

Now, I have to brag about Allyson again.

She has INCREDIBLE aim. She was playing this game ...



She kept getting the ball in the 6 point bucket (the highest scoring bucket you can get it in) over and over and over again. Unfortunately, the first time she finished up a round of 6 pointers, she discovered the machine she was using was out of tickets. She wasn't too thrilled about that, lol.

Allyson gets this super serious, concentrated look on her face when she tries to aim when playing anything that requires a ball. Here's that face ...



I seriously think basketball or softball (or both) is going to be her "thing". Last summer we bought a little kids plastic t-ball set to play with at the park with the kids. The first time we pulled it out, we tried to show Allyson how to use it and she REFUSED to hit the ball if it was on the "T". She wanted us to pitch it to her. We told her it would be too hard to do that until she gets some practice hitting the ball on the "T". She still refused to use it. So, thinking I would prove to her how impossible it would be to hit the ball, I pitched it to her. And she hit it!! I thought maybe it was a fluke, so I kept pitching it to her and she kept hitting it!!! And they were really good hits, too!

I think she has some pretty impressive skills going on for a girl who doesn't practice throwing balls in baskets, or hitting balls with bats at home. I'm excited for summer to come so we can practice doing more of that kind of stuff with her.

Here are some more pics from our fun night ...









I looked at Chuck e Cheese's website before we left to see their hours and came across a thing that said they give free tokens to kids with good report cards. So, we brought her report card with us. She was SO excited to show it to EVERYBODY. After we were done eating we pulled out her report card so she could go get her free tokens. She stopped EVERY person on our way up to the register to tell them she got good grades and to show them her report card, lol ... it took us a while to actually make it to the register, haha. :)





We had lots of fun! :)

I've decided that the Easter bunny needs to bring me one of these ...




We lost our point and shoot camera on a vacation a couple summers ago. Since then we've been using my D40 dslr as our "point and shoot". It has an automatic setting and it's a lot smaller and lighter than my REALLY nice camera. I've found that I actually really like using it as a point and shoot. If I knew I could get as nice of pictures out of a smaller, pocket sized camera - I would have gotten one by now, but I have yet to find one that can do as well as my D40. The draw back is that it can't really fit inside my purse, so I have to always carry around a separate camera bag everywhere I go if I want to take nicer pictures than what my camera phone can take. Which is why I want this purse. It gives me the best of both worlds - I can carry all of my purse items in it AND put my camera in it AND have it be well protected AND I don't have to carry around two separate bags.

I'd still like to get a smaller, more pocket sized point and shoot for taking pictures at places that I don't want to carry a purse around with me for (like at the Boyce Avenue Concert in March). Maybe The Easter Bunny, Cupid, The Anniversary Fairy, and the Mother's Day Fairy can combine forces and make something work so I can get my camera purse and a pocket sized point and shoot. (hint, hint) ;)

P.S.
Our door came. We're THRILLED with how it turned out! :)