It's kinda quiet!

Yesterday afternoon Ashlyn and I packed her a little suitcase and she went to spend the weekend with Grandpa and Grandma. My sister-in-law has two kids the same age as mine and her little boy is turning one this week. So, Ashlyn got to go on a road trip with Grandpa and Grandma to Dallas for the birthday party. She was so excited to spend time with them and her cousin, Madelyn. Some of my fondest memories as a child were spending time with my Grandparents. There is just something about being at your Grandparents without your parents.

I had plans to get out and about today since it was just Aubrey and I. My plans kinda changed when I realized Aubrey is working on her molars and was not feeling so well. I can feel her top one year molars pushing their way through. Bless her heart! I remember Ashlyn would roll around on the floor out of pain and frustration with her molars. So, I'm sure today was just a glimpse of what's to come.

Aubrey did sleep in until 8 so I was able to drink a cup of coffee and watch a little bit of Good Morning America, which was nice! After breakfast I worked on getting Ashlyn's room under control. I like to rotate her toys through the year. I'll put up some toys and in a couple months take them back out and put some others away. I can't do it while she is home without a mini meltdown, so this morning was the perfect opportunity. She will periodically ask me where a certain toy is then put her hands on her hips and say "is it in the trash in the shed?". I made the mistake of putting some of her toys in trash bags to store. Ha!

I don't think Aubrey really noticed Ashlyn was gone. I'm wondering if tomorrow or Sunday she will realize Ashlyn still isn't home. She did get bored very easy today! I didn't realize how much the girls play together until Aubrey kept tugging on my leg. I also didn't realize how much Ashlyn chats throughout the day! I always tell Phillip that I'm constantly talking and answering questions and he thinks I'm exaggerating. I can now say, I am not exaggerating! Ha! I have to admit though I really started to miss her half way through the day.

After a much needed nap Aubrey and I headed outside to enjoy the beautiful weather. It was unseasonably warm today! It was wonderful!

At first Aubrey was not enjoying the back yard. The uneven lawn combined with her tiny little size 3 feet made it hard to keep her balance.


She eventually got the hang of it and started to enjoy it a little more.


Then we went to the front so she would have a larger area of concrete to walk on. She thought she was big stuff!


So sassy!

After dinner Daddy put her to bed early. We're hoping she is feeling better tomorrow so we can get out and enjoy another beautiful day.

Snow!

What do you do when there is several inches of snow on the ground and Mother's Day Out is canceled...

Play baby dolls in your pajamas


Read lots of books


Put on lots of clothes to stay warm


Wear your jeans outside your boots like Pawpaw


Play in the snow


Watch your sister play in the snow because it's too cold outside


Beg to come inside where it's warm


Eat snow off your sister's clothes while they lay out to dry


Drink hot chocolate through a straw?


Practice walking from room to room


Then end the day with popcorn and American Idol

Wednesday Randomness

*It seems everyday the girls start to play better together. Except on the days Aubrey is obsessed with Ashlyn's hair. The mischievous grin on Aubrey's face tells me the hair pulling isn't quite so innocent any more.

*Ashlyn loves to pretend she is a cat, dog, mommy, baby... you name it, she's been it. Aubrey has picked up on pretending to be a cat. She will crawl on her hands and bottoms of her feet and meow like a cat. She will come up to my leg, meow in her little high pitch squeal, and then LICK me. It cracks me up!


*Aubrey got a little riding horse for Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa. Aubrey will walk it around the house and Ashlyn likes to push Aubrey around.

I'm just waiting for the big crash and burn!

*Ashlyn's kitchen has been the hot spot for months now. The girls love to play kitchen, especially Aubrey. Pretty much everyday I will find her in Ashlyn's room by herself playing kitchen. And of course they have to use every kitchen item they own.


*Aubrey is starting to transition out of her morning nap. If she needs a nap in the morning I will only let her take a little cat nap or else she won't sleep during afternoon nap time. And good gracious, we will all take naps at the same time in this house, period!

*I'm pretty much done with winter. The sweaters and hats are cute and all but I'm ready to pack them up!

*I was able to get out of the house last night and meet some sweet friends for dinner. It's so nice to be able to dress up nice and have some uninterrupted adult conversation every once in a while!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

We had our first official snow of the year, or season rather. Ashlyn has been wanting snow bad. She is still quite bitter that we didn't get snow on Christmas day. We had snow on Christmas day last year so I guess she just assumes it snows each Christmas.

Aubrey was quite excited to see snow outside. She gets excited over anything out of the ordinary. I love that stage!


After we ate our banana muffins and I got a couple things done around the house we headed outside. We got all bundled up in layers to fight off the 28' weather. Aubrey was about to panic by time we headed out. She wasn't able to move around and was having none of it!

I put Aubrey in her Bumbo since she can't steadily walk far on her own yet and I didn't want her crawling around in it. She just hung out watching Ashlyn play then decided she wanted to walk around too.


I love their hats this year!



Ashlyn looks so old in this picture! I'm not quite sure I like it. ;)


After our toes and fingers were cold from the wet snow we headed inside for a mug of hot chocolate, rather room temperature Ovaltine in sippy cups, and sandwiches.

Food Products

Do you ever wonder what other people eat, what food brands they like, and what they snack on? Maybe I'm the only one. I'm always on the look out for healthy snacks and quick healthy lunches.

One of the most requested lunch items from Ashlyn is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. We used to use Jiff until I took a step back and realized how much peanut butter Ashlyn consumed on a regular basis and wanted to switch to something healthier. We like Smucker's Natural Peanut Butter, in creamy of course. This peanut butter has only two ingredients, peanuts and salt. Unlike what we were using before which had hydrogenated vegetable oils, mono and diglycerides, and sugar.


We also eat a lot of jelly. All of us like toast or biscuits and jelly in the morning and then of course pb&j. So, many days you can easily eat two meals with jelly in it. The top ingredient in 90% of the jellies on the grocery store shelf is high fructose corn syrup. Which means too much HFCS in your body! We really like Smucker's Simply Fruit. Yes, it does cost more but I am willing to "splurge" on healthy choices for my family. And you will be amazed at how much better it tastes! You can actually taste the fruit.


Dry cereal is an easy, low mess take along snack. The girls get tired of Cheerios all the time so I like to give them a variety to choose from. Two of our favorites are Kashi Honey Sunshine and Kashi Heart to Heart. They are both low in sugar, high in fiber, and full of whole grains and other goodness. Both girls love them dry and Ashlyn enjoys them in a bowl of milk sometimes for breakfast or a snack.



I recently discovered these Apple Straws. They are probably not the healthiest snack out there but they are a fun treat, better than candy or a cookie. They are all natural, which means no HFCS. Both girls gobble them up. Aubrey thinks they are the best thing she has put in her mouth and they dissolve and crumble well enough for her to easily eat! They actually taste like fried apple pies. Yum! They also make veggie chips and veggie straws so I am anxious to try them out as a side with our sandwiches.


I'm not a big fan of jarred spaghetti sauce. Too much sugar and sodium and not the best flavor. During my grocery trip this week I had both girls with me and it was lunch time. I picked up a jar of Prego Veggie Smart and some ravioli in the deli section for our lunch, something quick and easy that could be cooking while I put up the cold groceries when we got home. It actually turned out much better than I expected. The girls loved it and it was good for them! This has 2 servings of veggies in every 1/2 cup of sauce, 25% less sodium, and no sugar.


What are some of your favorite healthy food items?

Party, party, we like to party!

This year Ashlyn had an Ice Cream themed birthday party. It was so much fun!


We had hot dogs, chips, and apples with apple dip for lunch.


Then made ice cream sundaes. Everyone had a choice of mini m&m's, peanuts, sprinkles, cherries, chocolate chip cookie crumbles, chocolate syrup, and whip cream for their ice cream.





After eating our ice cream Ashlyn got to open her gifts. She got so many fun toys! She is so blessed to have so many sweet friends her age!

Many of her friends at her party she has known since they were all crawling and in diapers. It's so fun to see how much they have grown and changed. A couple of her friends signed their own names on their birthday card to her. I love seeing the large imperfect letters kids write, so sweet!


All of Ashlyn's little guests got a little ice cream bowl with a spoon for their party favor.


This little sister loved the party too. She was so good! She is starting to outgrow her morning nap and didn't take a nap that morning. She literally played all morning while I got everything set up. Then during the party she just hug out, mostly in her high chair. She was perfectly content watching all the commotion.


Ashlyn had a blast at her party! I am so thankful for so many sweet friends that are in the same stage of life I'm in. I love that they took time out of their day to help celebrate my sweet big girl!

Steps in the right direction

Aubrey is a pretty easy going baby, most of the time.

She will hang out and snuggle forever. She is always so good out in public, even when it's way past her bedtime. She will play forever in Ashlyn's room by herself or with Ashlyn. She naps and sleeps like a dream. The nursery workers at church always comment on how sweet and good she is.

But, it's her way or the highway! (Let's not discuss which gene pool that came from) When she was an infant she only rolled over twice, enough to let us know she could physically master that milestone, then that was it. When put on her tummy she would scream bloody murder until she was beet red and snot was everywhere. She refused! When it comes to meal times she will only eat what SHE wants to eat. She loves carrots today, tomorrow she will hate them. She doesn't want to walk, why bother, crawling and being carried suits her just fine. When we try to get her to practice and she doesn't want to she will pick up her legs and holler "no, no". That's not what SHE wants to do.

Well, today I guess SHE wanted to start walking. She was taking 5-6 consecutive steps on her own! I hurried and grabbed my camera, set it on the table, and set the timer. It took a couple rounds but I finally got a decent picture to e-mail to daddy while he was at work.


There are puffs on the ottoman that she's going for. Maybe we should have used dog training techniques months ago! ;)

Random bits about our week

The past week we've been unpacking, washing clothes, putting up the Christmas decorations, and enjoying the extra time off and lax schedule Phillip has had at work. This week I have some decorations to put together as well as cleaning for Ashlyn's party Friday.
Here's just a bit of random stuff from our week because honestly, it was just a random week.

*Dinner time at our house is not quiet. It is mostly filled with random chatter from Ashlyn and fussing from Aubrey because she doesn't like what's for dinner. The other night Aubrey started throwing her food on the floor. She was scolded for doing so and got her feelings hurt then started bawling her eyes out. Ashlyn huffed, plopped her elbow on the table, put her chin in the palm of her hand and mumbled "This is a noisy house!". We died laughing, seems like Daddy and I started saying the same thing a few years ago!

*Ashlyn has been asking a lot of questions about Jesus, heaven, and Jesus living in our hearts. (I love how God is already working in her heart at such a young age) At dinner Saturday she asked if the food we ate sits on Jesus head when we swallow since he lives in our heart. So cute!

*Ashlyn got dress up shoes from Uncle Aaron for Christmas. Aubrey loves them too. She will sit and put them on her feet. She often comes out of Ashlyn's room like this...

I guess two shoes would be too hard to manage. High heels take practice!

*I was putting a roast in the crock pot this morning and accidently dripped blood from the raw meat on the floor. I asked Ashlyn to keep Aubrey in the living room so she wouldn't get into it and the bleach while I was cleaning it up.
This is what I saw a couple minutes later...

Aubs was prefectly content watching cartoons!

*A lady at Walmart told me I should start potty training Aubrey. Aubrey was babbling away in the shopping cart and the lady told me that she was smart and probably ready to potty train. Yes, my daughter is very smart but I guess I always equated her abundant incoherent babbling to be a sign of a non-stop talker in the making rather than a future Harvard student.
Thanks for the compliment but I think I'll continue to pay $30 a month for diapers for another year!

*And lastly, I just wanna squeeze these two cuties!

Christmas Part Three

On Christmas eve we headed to Central Arkansas to spend time with Phillip's family. This year his parents rented rooms for the whole family at a beautiful cabin on Mt Magazine. We had an absolute blast! And such a relaxing time for the women since there wasn't any cooking and cleaning for all 19 of us.





My in-laws had a suite so we were all able to hang out together in there. We stayed up late playing cards while the babies slept temporarily in the bedroom area and the bigger kids watched movies. After each family gathering I go home wondering if all other families use each other as the butt of all the jokes. It never fails, every year someone does something and it becomes the joke of the weekend. Needless to say, we always laugh until we cry!


Opening gifts with 19 people in a little sitting area was absolute chaos! There was wrapping paper and boxes everywhere, SO much fun! This was round three for Aubrey and she totally knew what was going on. She didn't mess with a single gift under the tree this year, probably because she didn't know what to do with them, but by Christmas morning she was digging in!


Ashlyn had a blast playing with her cousins. The older ones are always so sweet to the younger ones and I think even enjoy mothering them. They all especially enjoyed the indoor pool! They thought it was awesome being able to swim in the middle of winter! The first day I believe they forgot to heat the pool properly so Aubrey and I didn't stay in for long. Ashlyn was shaking so hard I thought she was going to fall over but tried to stick it out as long as possible.


Both Phillip and his brother play the guitar. The past couple months Phillip has been teaching our second oldest nephew to play the guitar via Skype. So, the guys brought their guitars and we enjoyed singing carols together. Benjamin had been working on the carols for a couple months and was thrilled to play along. He did such a good job, it was neat to watch him play with his uncles!


Benjamin turned one a couple days before Phillip and I got married almost 10 years ago. It hurts my heart to see how big he is getting!


I am so blessed to have married into this family. I loved Phillip's family almost as much as I loved him when we married. I can't describe the feeling of being loved by your husbands family like you are by your own family, I'm so grateful!