Happy Birthday!

Happy 3rd Birthday sweet Ashlyn! I can't believe how much you have grown this year. You are growing into a sweet little girl right before my eyes.

You are very independent and know what you want. I see so much of myself in you. You are quiet but a strong spirited girl. You need to observe and take in your surroundings before you feel comfortable. You are shy and take a while to warm up and talk to people. You are very head strong and have the need to do everything yourself. Which often becomes quite the battle during the day since I am also head strong and feel the need to do everything. You are also extremely tender hearted and want to take care of people. You are often concerned if you think someone is sick or hurt. You are such a sweet heart and make mine and Daddy's heart melt!

You can dress yourself and put your shoes and socks on. You are also very opinionated in what you want to wear each day, you have developed quite the style. A style in which I often wince at if you are going to be seen in public that day! You also love to play dress up! It is not an unusual site to see you at the dinner table in a ballerina tutu or princess dress.


You also started using the potty this year. In true Ashlyn fashion you did it by yourself and in your own time. I started the potty training process and after a couple days of sitting on the potty you decided it was for the birds and refused to sit on your potty seat. So, back to diapers we went. Then several weeks later I was in the kitchen washing supper dishes and you came around the corner with the bucket from your potty seat in your hands and a proud grin on your face. I was thrilled to death but wasn't up for the potty training challenge again since Daddy was out of town for work. But the next day you refused to wear your diaper and stayed dry the entire day.


One of the biggest milestones in your life was becoming a big sister. You were so excited to have a baby sister! You would put cheerios in my belly button so your baby could share your snack. One of your favorite things to do was go to my OB appointments and hear your sisters heart beat. You would come home and have Daddy and I play doctor and listen to the baby in your tummy. You are such a sweet big sister and a big helper to Mommy!


Ashlyn, I love you more than you will ever know. I know that God has big plans for your life and I can't wait to see you grow and develop into a wonderful Christian young lady. I will never stop loving you!

Christmas 2009

We enjoyed Christmas day at home, just the four of us. We spent an early Christmas with my family and will have a late Christmas with Phillip's family. It was so much fun being at home and be able to establish our own little traditions.

On Christmas eve we went to church and had a wonderful Candle Light Service. A nasty storm was blowing in but we were able to make it back home before it started to get too bad. After dinner Ashlyn and I finished up the cookies for Santa and poured a glass of milk. Ashlyn thought Santa would rather have orange juice with his cookies but we were out of OJ, I'm sure Santa was not too disappointed about that.


Ashlyn also wrote her letter to Santa, well she dictated while I wrote it out for her.


In case you can't read what the letter says:
Dear Santa,
Thank you for coming to my house. Please bring me a puppy dog. My sister Aubrey wants a piano.
Love,
Ashlyn


I kid you not, she kept asking for Santa to bring her a puppy dog all month. We tried to explain to her that Santa only brought toys, not pets, hoping her first real memory of Santa wouldn't be destroyed since she didn't get what she asked for.

I think she forgot all about the puppy she was hoping for Christmas morning when she got busy playing with her new kitchen.

Aubrey enjoyed Christmas morning also. Santa brought her a book and toy storage unit that I am going to make a cushion for and use as a window seat. Isn't Santa practical!


Half way through opening gifts Aubrey crashed and was ready for her morning nap. Opening presents is hard work for such a sweet baby!


After we opened gifts and played with our new toys, I made lunch while Phillip painted Ashlyn's fingernails with her new polish that was in her stocking. He is such a good Daddy!

No, I did not pick out Ashlyn's wardrobe. But hey, at least she isn't in her dress up clothes! And don't even ask why Phillip is in his winter coat, we do have central heat in our house.

The storm that blew in the night before brought us beautiful snow! So, after nap time we ventured out and played a little bit. Aubrey and I only stayed out long enough to take a picture of our white Christmas.

I have enjoyed Christmas more and more over the past three years. It is so much fun watching your children enjoy Christmas!

3 Months Old

Aubrey you are three months old! It's getting hard to remember what life was like without you. You are my smiley little sweetheart!


You want to sit up and look around. You fuss at us if we try to lay you back in our arms.
You still get up once during the night to eat and take good naps during the day.
You absolutely love Ashlyn. Your face lights up when she plays with you.
You had your 2 month shots and did great. It broke my heart to hear you cry when you got stuck.
You weigh 10lbs 10oz and are 23 1/2 inches long. Which puts you in the 23% for your weight and 70% for your height.
You wear size 0-3 months clothes but you are just about to outgrow some of your outfits. I bet you will be in 3-6 months clothes soon.
You are in between size 1 and 2 diapers.
You had your first over night stay at Grandpa & Grandma's house for Thanksgiving and Pawpaw & Nana's for an early Christmas. You were such a trooper on our 14 hour trip to Texas. Although it used to only take Daddy and I 10 hours. ;)

You are such a special blessing to Daddy and I. We love you more than words can express!

Deep in the heart of Texas

We just got back from visiting my family in Texas. We had a wonderful time! My Grandparents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary this month so all 5 children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren came in to honor them. Everyone except two people were able to come in. Last year on Christmas eve my Grandma had a stroke and this was the first time I've seen her since she was in the hospital. It was a night and day difference from my last visit. Her speech was affected so her speech is just random words and she calls everyone by a different name. My given name was Ginger. She seems to be in good physical health considering her age and past medical problems. Before her stroke she used a motorized wheelchair but is now in a manual wheelchair and uses her feet to pull herself around the house.

My Grandparents

This will always be a cherished picture. Not many people are able to have a four generation picture.

No, we were not super models with fans blowing our sexy hair.
It really was that windy.

Phillip's grandparents and a few other relatives are also in South Texas, only a short drive from my parents, so we were able to see them as well. Phillip's Grandma is mentally going down hill. She has not been clinically diagnosed with alzheimers but is showing all the signs and symptoms. She is not able to remember things for long stretches of time anymore. She asked me three different times who Aubrey belonged to. It breaks my heart to see our Grandparents going down hill. I still think they should be the same as they were when I was 10.

My brother was there the entire time we were so we enjoyed catching up with him. It had been almost a year and a half since we had seen each other. He brought his girlfriend, Kristine, with him to meet everyone. She has met my parents and a few other relatives but she was thrown into the fire this weekend! I can't think of anything more nerve wracking for a girlfriend than spending the entire weekend with twenty something members of your boyfriends family. She is very sweet and down to earth. Kristine is about to move to Austin to start grad school so her and Aaron are about to start a long distance relationship. Distance is usually the true test of a relationship.

Aaron and Kristine

I wish we were able to spend a bit more time visiting with my parents. We didn't have much down time to just chat. Things are always so crazy with food prep and clean up and activities when there is such a large crowd. Mom and I spent a lot of time in the kitchen cooking together which was fun for both of us. Aubrey loved the attention from everyone and Ashlyn and Phillip always enjoy being outside doing a little "ranching chores" while we are in Texas. Ashlyn absolutely loves going out on the tractor and ATV with Pawpaw and I'm pretty sure Pawpaw enjoys taking her out just as much. About a month or so ago my parents had a calf that was rejected by it's mother. Under normal circumstances if another cow doesn't adopt the calf they take it to the sales barn. Well, since Ashlyn was coming to visit soon my dad decided they needed to keep it and bottle feed it so that Ashlyn could feed it while she was here. My poor mom was such a trooper, she went out every morning while my dad was at work to feed it. I'm sure my parents loaded the crazy calf up in the trailer and headed to the sales barn as soon as they saw the back of our van disappear! What Pawpaw and Nana won't do to make their granddaughters happy!

Look who sweet talked Pawpaw into playing with her new castle and watching cartoons on the floor!

Ashlyn loved watching cartoons in Pawpaw and Nana's bed

Opening Christmas Gifts

When I was young I always loved going to my grandparents house to be loved on and spoiled. I am so thankful for parents that do the same for my girls. When we were driving away I was teary eyed and Ashlyn asked me what was wrong, I told her that I was ok I just miss Nana and Pawpaw sometimes and she said "I miss Nana and Pawpaw too".

Busy, busy, busy

My goodness I have been so busy! I'm not sure who was the instigator but both of our families decided to have Christmas early!! Not everyone in Phillip's family was able to all get together on one weekend so we are having to do Christmas in "shifts" this year. Two of the siblings were able to get together this past weekend and the other two of us will get together New Years weekend. So I had to get all the gifts and stocking stuffers mailed to my in-laws this week. My Grandparents are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary this month so all of my Mom's family is getting together to honor them and will also have an early Christmas together. So now I am concentrating on our trip to Texas to see my family and Ashlyn's birthday party on the 29th.

I'm pretty sure this trip to Texas will be one for the record books. Before we had children Phillip and I would hop in the car and only stop for gas in which you also took a potty break and we ate in the car. This would take us about 10 hours. Then we had Ashlyn and we had to stop and change diapers and eat inside the fast food joint because I refuse to let my kids eat in the car and grind fries into their seats and carpet. It then took us 12 hours. (Her and I flew to Texas during her first year, so no car trips) Now we have a two month old along for this trip who eats every three hours. So if we leave right after her first morning feeding at 7am we may make it to Texas by midnight.

Last night we went to see Santa at the mall. Ashlyn was sooo excited. She didn't sleep during nap time and when she came out of her room "after her nap" she was wearing her outfit for her picture and went into Aubrey's room and was waking her up so they could go see Santa. When we got there she hopped right up on Santa's knee and told him what her and her sister's name was but when it came time to the picture she refused to smile. When we asked her later why she didn't smile she told us "because I had my mouth closed". He is a pretty authentic looking Santa if you ask me. I asked Ashlyn what color his beard was and she said "orange"! (His beard is real and was a little yellowed)


One of our favorite things to do is read books in bed. My brother and I loved reading in bed with my mom when we were young so this was something I wanted to do with my children. Aubrey kicks her feet and coos and grunts the entire time we are reading. The first couple times I thought she didn't like it because she is so squirmy but when you look at her face, it is completely lit up! On this particular night she was very tired and ready to get in her pajamas and go to bed. She was crying and carrying on but as soon as I laid her down and picked up the book she stopped crying and started kicking her feet with excitement.

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I have so much to be Thankful for, God has truly blessed our lives!

Our week started out with Aubrey turning 2 months old on the 22nd. I am so thankful for my sweet baby! She brings such joy to our family! She is still waking up only once at night and naps great. She is starting to hold her head up really well on her own and loves to smile and coo. It's so cute watching her concentrate so hard to coo and try to communicate! She has her well baby appointment on Friday, I'm anxious to see how much she weighs. I'm wondering if she is going to be tiny and petite like her sister.


Wednesday I had to go back to the dentist to have some cavities filled. This was something I was not too thankful for this week! I went while I was pregnant for my annual cleaning but wasn't able to have x-rays and the fillings done until after Aubrey was born. Phillip had the day off so he was able to keep the girls for me. After they did x-rays they found a couple more cavities. So in total I had 5 cavities and one filling that was coming off! Geez, I felt like a 10 year old boy with bad hygiene! Apparently my pregnancies did a number on my teeth! They only filled half of them so I have to go back and get the other half done. I begged the dentist to do them all at once since Phillip had the girls but they wouldn't numb my whole mouth. I hate having to ask people to keep my girls!

After my appointment we drove to Phillip's parents for the weekend. Heather, Jonathan, and Madelyn were there from Dallas so we enjoyed hanging out with them. Ashlyn had a blast playing with Madelyn! Little girls are so giggly and silly! Phillip and Jonathan took Jonathan's canoe out on the river Friday and Saturday. Saturday they got up early and canoed an 11 mile stretch. About half way through their float they were dumped into the water! You can only imagine how cold the river is in November! They were able to get turned back over easily but unfortunately Phillip lost a ring and Jonathan had water damage to his phone. It made for fun memories though! On Friday Phillip's oldest sister, Dana, and her family stayed the night on their way back to Texas. We always have so much fun laughing and joking around when everyone gets there! I am so thankful for in-laws that love and accept me like their own daughter. I can't believe I forgot to take pictures while we were there!

Phillip is off until Tuesday so we are going to enjoy a day together as a family. This may be the last quiet day for a while. December is always filled with activities and busy days getting ready for Christmas. I am hoping for beautiful weather so we can get out and have fun outside! We are also going to get the Christmas decorations out this afternoon and set up the tree. Ashlyn is so excited about putting the tree up! It's going to be fun watching her this year since she will really understand what is going on. She got so excited last week when she saw some wrapped Christmas presents. She squealed with excitement "these are for Jesus' birthday!", how sweet is that!

Time flies when you're having fun

They say time moves faster when you get older, I'm not quite to that "older" stage but I know it sure moves fast when you have two kids! I am enjoying my days at home with the girls. I feel like I am finally one to two steps ahead of them not half a step behind and am trying to catch up. We have our little routine down and I can get dinner on the table with a smile still on my face. I love the life God has blessed me with!

Ashlyn and Aubrey are so much fun! Aubrey is starting to smile at us but even more so at Ashlyn. She loves it when Ashlyn gets down in her face and acts silly. She just grins and kicks her feet.

I have learned the second child can sleep through anything, even pushes in the swing!

This picture reminds me of the children's song "Rollover", you know... there were six in the bed and the little one said rollover rollover...

For the past couple weeks I have been trying to figure out how to explain to Ashlyn what Thanksgiving is and how to make her understand that being thankful is more than saying thank you when mommy hands you a cup of apple juice. So we made a "Thank You Tree" to hang on her door. Each day we have been writing things down on paper leaves that she wants to tell God thank you for and then hang it on the tree. So far she is thankful for Daddy, Mommy, Aubrey, and her toys.


Just a little FYI, these past three pictures were NOT taken on the same day. She wears her dress up clothes everyday! Thank goodness it has not been a struggle to get her to wear normal clothes when we leave the house. If you ask her if she is a princess or ballerina she says "no, I'm Ash-wen". Duh mommy!

Aubrey had her first big girl bath a couple weeks ago and Ashlyn wanted so badly to bathe with her, so I agreed. Not even a minute into the bath Aubrey poops in the water! Ashlyn starts crying and screaming at the top of her lungs "she pooped on me, she pooped on me". So everyone was evicted while I drained and cleaned the tub. Aubrey laid on a towel on the floor mad as a hornet and Ashlyn stood in the far corner still hollering about the poop. My ears were ringing by the time the baths was over! Sheesh, it can get crazy fast around here!

This is pre-poop!

Phillip and I were looking through old pictures the other day and were blown away at how much the girls look alike at the same age! Can you tell who is who?

Candy Treat

We had a great time as a family last night at our church's Trunk or Treat. We tried on the way there to get Ashlyn to say Trick or Treat, but she liked her version of "Candy Treat" better. Ashlyn and Aubrey were little ballerinas. Ashlyn dances almost daily like a ballerina to classical music (no I don't listen to classical music she asks for it) so she was absolutely thrilled to wear her "big girl tutu", "swippers", and "rea-tard" like real ballerinas do. I think I need to start coming up with warmer costumes for the girls since it is always so cold. Ashlyn had to wear her coat over her leotard and Aubrey had to trade in her tutu for pants and layers of blankets. Maybe next year they can be Eskimos.

I love this picture, Ashlyn is very motherly and loves to take care of her sister. She told me yesterday "this is Aubrey, she's my best friend".

Ashlyn had the best time at the church! She really loves our new church and has started to open up tremendously to the people there, she was very talkative and excited the whole time. They had different booths set up in the parking lot, each booth having some type of biblical reference. For example, she got to throw marshmallows at a man with a long gown on standing on a really tall ladder (David and Goliath).

Making a crown like Queen Esther's

Getting her face painted

Admiring the flower when we got home. She was not pleased that she had to wash it off before bed!

One Month

Today my sweet Aubrey girl you are one month old! I can't believe how quickly this time has passed. It seems like a couple days ago I was laying in bed feeling you wiggle and squirm while I was going to sleep.


Aubrey you are such a sweet and content baby. You only cry when you are hungry or tired. You love to nap and do so well at night. You get up twice at night to eat and always go right back to sleep. I consider it a blessing from God. I remember how hard a fussy baby can be and am so grateful that your contentment has made the transition to two children as smooth as it can be.

Your big sister loves you to pieces and you are so sweet to let her kiss and hug all over you! All that to say you can put up a good fight grunting and swinging your arms when you have had your fair share of loving! You are starting to look at Ashlyn and react to her when she talks to you. I think you two are going to be best friends!


You are growing so fast! You now weigh 8lbs 13oz. You have outgrown several of your outfits and I have started to put you in several 0-3 month outfits. I also had to buy a different brand of diapers because you outgrew your current newborn diapers but the size 1 were too big.


I love you dearly sweet girl!

Pumpkin Patch

This afternoon we went to the Pumpkin Patch. We went to the same place last year and it was so much fun. They have a huge area for the kids to walk out and pick their own pumpkins and also a hay ride. Ashlyn got to pick out four pumpkins, one for each of us. So we got a big daddy pumpkin, a smaller mommy one, a little Ashlyn one, and a tiny Aubrey one. She was so proud of her pumpkins. They have wagons to pull your pumpkins around in and she insisted on pulling the wagon by herself! Mind you the wagon has four pumpkins in it and it has rained like crazy around here so there are lots of ruts in the ground, definitely not an easy task but she was determined. If I tried to help or even touch the wagon she would tell me "don't do that, I do it myself". We have a short video of it, it makes me laugh. (I'm sure it will give my mother flashbacks when she watches it) If you are on Facebook you can hop over there and check it out. It takes sooo long to upload videos on here and time is not something I have an abundance of any more!


I don't think Aubrey even knew she was at the pumpkin patch. She was so snuggled up and cozy in her carrier!


Look at these pictures of Ashlyn last year and this year sitting on a pumpkin. That is enough to make a mommy cry!