Ashley's First Garden

I really need to get better at this blogging thing - I guess I don't feel like much exciting has been going on and worth a blog entry!  Last week was just crazy busy - my boss has decided to take a new job out of town and her last day was last Wednesday.  I have been super busy with work since last week! 

Saturday night we got together with the work girls (we usually do fun girl things like Lake Day and take a half day off of work and go shopping and stuff like that).  Every once in awhile we decide to invite the significant others to join and we all got together for dinner and a little going away party for my boss too.  We took Ashley with us and she had so much fun playing with the other kids there - granted most of them were older then her she didn't seem to mind.

On Sunday Ashley helped daddy plant her very own garden!  Daddy found a Mickey Mouse container garden when he was at Home Depot and knew it would be perfect for Ashley.  Here are some pictures of Ashley helping daddy:

Since the only place in the house that gets direct sunlight is the bathroom upstairs and we never use the bathtub we decided that will be our make-shift greenhouse for now. 

Hopefully this year's garden will be better then last years!

Shannon



Ashley's motorcycle

Absolutely love our neighbors - most of them have kids that are a lot older, either in high school, college or on their own.  We do have a family a few doors down that have children in grade school and they have been so kind and handed down quite a few things to Ashley.  Ashley's newest favorite is her "motorcycle" or as most people call it, a scooter.  I guess I can see why she calls it her motorcycle because it does have some sweet flames on it! 

Before, Ashley would ride her motorcyle by placing both feet on the stand and mommy and daddy would push her around the house.  But tonight daddy taught her how to actually ride it!  This might not be that big of a deal for most kids but given Ashley's issues with gross motor development I find it pretty impressive.  Now granted it does have two wheels on the back so it is not officially a big kid scooter it still takes some coordination to ride it.

We were so excited that we had to skype with Gannie and Papaw and show them!  I think she rode it for a solid hour around the kitchen island.  It's a miracle she didn't puke from going in circles.  Here are some action shots.

A little blog catch-up

Been a little lazy with the blog here lately!  Figure I better post something before the grandparents start screaming :)

We have had a pretty busy week since I last posted.  Last Thursday Ashley and I went over to babysit the boys while Aunt Kelly had a meeting.  Kelly had built a fort for the boys before we got there and the kids enjoyed playing for a little while - before Ashley and Kyle destroyed it.  They decided they were going to lay on top of it to watch cartoons.

We ended up staying for dinner with the family - Justin came over after work and Nana and Papaw came too.  We had fun hanging out with everyone.

Ashley likes to do things herself now a days and her newest thing is helping hang up her coat.  Usually she would take it off and give it to me to hang in the coat closet but recently she has taken it upon herself to hang it up on her own. 

Yes, that would be our fireplace she is hanging her coat at.  She has discovered the nails in the fireplace used to hang Christmas stockings and I have to hand it to her for being clever :) 

On Saturday we were having family dinner at Nana and Papaw's and we were supposed to bring a dessert.  For Valentine's we decided we were going to make red velvet cookies and cut them out in heart shapes.  Then I realized I didn't have a heart shaped cookie cutter and I was on a mission.  I think I went to every store I could think of and couldn't find one stinking heart shaped cookie cutter!  Until I went in to the Kroger in the sketchy part of Milford and found one for $.71.  Thank goodness I didn't break the bank because we didn't end up using it - that's another story I won't bore you with!  Anyway, when I came out of Kroger and got in my car I looked up at the car parked in front of me and this is what I see:

That would be an Indian air brushed on a PT Cruiser...  I REALLY wanted to get out of my car and take a close up picture of it because I know the phone on my camera is not doing it justice but I was afraid to find out what type of person drives a car like this...and I doubt they would find me taking a picture of their car funny! 

On Sunday we celebrated my grandparents 70th wedding anniversary with some cake and ice cream at the assisted living facility they are staying at.  Ashley looked so cute when we left the house.  I had her hair up with a pretty headband and bow in her hair.  I turn around in the car to check on her and this is what I find...she is definitely not going to cosmetology school anytime soon!

After celebrating we came home and decided to switch out our ugly brass door knobs throughout the house.  Ashley was watching Justin remove them and Ashley ran in to her playroom and grabbed a spatula from her kitchen and decided to help daddy fix the doors.

Yesterday we babysat Kyle while Kelly went to Nathan's school for his Valentines Day party.   Ashley started with a cough over the weekend but other then that she has been fine.  She decided to take a turn for the worse while we were babysitting and when I got her home she was running a fever of 103.0!  I feel absolutely horrible for having her over at my sisters and I am praying she doesn't get anyone there sick!  Needless to say we had to cancel our dinner plans to celebrate Valentines but it ended up being just as nice.  Justin ran down the street to Shooter's and picked us up some food and we just ate dinner here at home.  After the Tylenol kicked in and Ashley was starting to feel a little better her and daddy made me a Valentines Day card:

I have the cutest Valentines!!  Since Ashley was running a fever they won't let her come to school until she is fever free for 24 hours.  So, miss Ashley is staying home with Mommy today and she is relaxing on the couch watching her favorite Cake Cake moving for the 4,697,113th time while I am getting some work done! 

Shannon

Growing up over night

I'm not sure when Ashley turned in to a little girl but it sure seems like it has happened over night.  She is saying and doing such grown up things now and I am not sure how to feel about it!  It makes me sort of sad that she is growing up so fast and she is going to be 3 in 3 months!

Yesterday we had a fun and busy day.  We went to play at Rec Outlet with the Joseph's and Ashley and Will jumped and played and wore themselves out.  We then stopped by and had lunch with Kelly and the boys.  Ashley was pretty excited that we got to walk Nathan to the bus stop and see him get on the bus. 

While we were there Kyle was upset about something and Ashley said to him "You want to kiss me?" and Kyle walked over to her and gave her a kiss and a hug!  How sweet is that?  They are going to be best friends growing up.

After dinner I went to get my hair cut and Ashley and daddy went to the store.  She got to ride the horse at Meijer's - that always makes her happy :)

Today she went to school and after I picked her up I showed her the new princess book that I bought her at the store.  She was so excited she immediately wanted to put her princess dress on while she read it.  Then she had to show me her princess dancing. 

Shannon

I won the husband lottery

If there were a lottery for husbands then I definitely hit the jackpot.  It just amazes me how something so special can come out of something so bad.  My first job out of college was from HELL!!!  Worst job ever, wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.  But, if I hadn't gotten that job I would never have met Justin and he, along with Ashley are the best things that ever happened to me.

I managed to feel good for about a whole 4 days from my last cold to start all over on Friday night.  I did absolutely nothing all weekend but go from the couch to the bed and Justin was Mr. Mom and I didn't hear a peep out of him - not that I would expect to.  He took care of everything, entertaining Ashley, cooking, grocery shopping, getting me cough drops and Gatorade.  He is the best. 

Today was a rough day, I am feeling better cold wise but we had yet another ultrasound this morning to find out once again that I didn't respond to the fertility medicine.  This has been going on since August, needless to say I had a meltdown in the doctors office.  I'm sure I'm not the first to start bawling in the office and I won't be the last.  Still doesn't help that you feel like a complete moron and you are sitting there telling yourself "PULL IT TOGETHER FOR GOD'S SAKE!!!!"  Justin just grabbed my hand and gave me a big hug - I was very glad to have him there.

After coming home from the doctor he has let me be an emotional basket case all day, go crawl in bed and cry and just be a total pain in the butt.  He took Ashley to the park and didn't say a word when I bit his head off for no reason and let me go to Zumba tonight.

I love this man - he is the best husband and father and I am so lucky to have him in my life.  If you are reading this right now Justin, I love you with all my heart!!

Shannon

Please let the warm weather stay!!!

Ashley and I have been enjoying the warmer weather this week and I think I would be ok if it stuck around!  We have had a fun week so far! We had a play date with Heather, Will and Caroline at Rec Outlet on Tuesday and Ashley and Will jumped on the trampoline forever.  It is so cute to watch the two of them play - they get along great.  After Rec Outlet we went over to Aunt Kelly's to play with the boys and eat lunch with them. 

Wednesday Ashley went to school and when I picked her up this was her art project for the day:

Being a Packer's fan this does not make one happy!  Especially since the Giants knocked the Packers out of the playoffs.  I was afraid if I showed it to Justin he would refuse to let her go back to school there :)  When we got home from school we got the sidewalk chalk out and decorated the driveway for daddy when he got home from work.

I finally got the master bathroom linen closet done and checked off the project list.  I do have to say it makes me smile when I open the door.  I forgot to take a before picture of the closet - need to get better at doing that!  I am loving the colors of it - so bright and cheery.  I bought some new lime green bins at Target and I had some old Rubbermaid bins that were left over from our old house that the owner never bothered to take.  Instead of buying all new bins I decided to be budget-friendly and try out spray painting.  All I can say is "Why have I not discovered spray-painting sooner???"  I think I might be hooked and looking for more things around the house to spray paint.

Here are the ugly bins we had that were in perfectly fine condition.  I already started spraying them with grey primer when I remembered to stop and take a picture.

I picked a turquoise-y blue color to paint them and this is them after I finished.  The pictures don't really do the color much justice:

And here is the finished product - look out Martha Stewart!!

I love it - it makes me happy!  Now I just need to make labels for the bins and it will be all done - but we need to get a color printer first!

Nana and Papaw also came over last night to visit Ashley and took us all out for ice cream at Dairy Queen :)

Today Ashley and I have been taking it easy.  We went for a walk a little while ago - it was a little colder out then I thought so we didn't go for a very long walk. 

I attempted to take some pictures of Ashley after our walk.  I wonder why I don't have that many pictures of Ashley - it seems whenever the camera comes out she stops what she is doing and tries to hide.  Here is an example of what most of the pictures we get of her look like:

This is her new signature elbow move she started recently.  We do this for everything unpleasant, if we try to get her to eat something she doesn't want to, if we try to brush her hair when she doesn't want us to, when we try to clean her face off, you get the idea where I am going with this.  It is usually accompanied by a "Nooooo!" as well.  Clearly she didn't want her picture taken. 

Shannon