And June is almost gone...

I know I said this in my last post too, but I just can't get over how fast time goes by. Where the heck did June go?

Here Ashley is looking over the kids menu at the Dinnerbel. I just thought she looked so cute, "reading" it over and deciding what to have... it was like she was a pro at eating at restaurants. For me, it was a nice treat to get to eat out and we enjoyed eating out on the patio. Best part about it was I didn't have to do any dishes or clean up any thrown food mess!

Back at the end of May, Ashley's cousin Jacob and Uncle Dennis stopped by for a quick visit. Jacob and Ashley are 17 months apart to the date.

We went over to help Grandpa and Grandma put their pontoon into the lake. The pontoon was completely beached because the water levels have gone down so much but our boat and Matt's determination were able to get it back into the water. We then took our boat to My Burger to get dinner. It's so fun to be able to boat over to a restaurant to eat. Ashley is usually good about taking pictures but this day she was being a stinker and wouldn't look on purpose.

Here Ashley is all dressed up on her way to Maddy's 3rd birthday party. It was princess themed and the kids could come in costume if they had them. We scored her princess dress at a garage sale for $2!

Ashley loved playing dress up and to this date still asks if she can wear her princess dress to Maddy's house.

Ashley enjoying a few of Maddy's toys.

Left to right: Maddy, Ashley, Henry and Gracie posing in front of Maddy's princess cake. YES, that is a real cake, created by Maddy's mom Sheli. It was an amazing cake and a real fairy tale kind of birthday... which was topped off by Maddy receiving a real horse from her Grandpa and Grandma. I've since informed Sheli that their family can continue to come to Ashley's birthday partys but that we could no longer come to Maddys because we can not compete! :o)

Ashley and Daddy at Urgent Care. Ashley had been complaining for a day and a half about her ears hurting so we took her to urgent care. The doc said, "well, she has a low grade fever (99.2) and her ears are blocked with wax so I can't see very well so lets just treat her." I thought about kicking him in the shins and asking if he had children but instead left and decided to wait it out for two days until our scheduled visit with our ENT doc unless her conditions worsened. I was happy we did because the ENT doc said - no ear infection. I asked about her constant runny nose and he said he'd just chalk it up to calling it chronic rhinitis....meaning she has a chronic runny nose but is other wise healthy, growing and happy.

I've taken a few days off from work here and there since the weather has turned nice and we joined our friends at the Big Marine park in Washington County. It cost $5 to get in and it was a blast. The kids loved playing at the beach and in the water and having a picnic lunch and then playing at the play ground. It was a fun day!

Ashley loved this bee at the big park.

Last weekend we were invited out on our friends house boat. Here Ashley and Daddy sit at the table as we were moving down river towards the sandy beach we planned to spend the day at.

Ashley applying her sunscreen.

Violet, Jada and Ashley resting and watching Tinkerbel on the houseboat.

Ashley swinging in the hammock swing at the end of a sun filled day on the beach with a great group of friends.

As you know, Ashley has survived her first two years on hand-me downs. Above is a video of a different kind of hand-me down. A bike! We have had this bike since Ashley was just a little baby and we pulled it out of the rafters this spring as the weather warmed. The first few times we had to help Ashely onto the seat and we would show her how to peddle but her feet could just barely make it around with the peddles. Within a few weeks and only a handful of attempts... this happens. She kicks her leg over, gets situated on her seat and takes off. She was SO proud and so were we! I just happen to have my camera and captured it on video.

Summer days means...corn on the cob! Here Ashley tries her first shot at corn on the cob. She was very excited about the green giant corn cob poker dealios.

She quickly learned the side effects of corn on the cob... corn kernels stuck in her teeth!

Yes we live on the lake but we set up a little pool for Ashley to swim in. It's clean, depth controllable and doesn't contain any rocks or weeds. She loves swimming and splashing.

Ashley posing in an adorable hand-me down outfit.

Ashley Jane - 2 years and 3 months old.

What else is new this month? Well, I am pretty sure that I have mentioned what a change we have seen in Ashley's vocabulary since she turned two. It's just so fun to have conversations with her. Here are a few stories from last month. Story #1- On 5/31 after I gave Ashley a bath, she had to go potty. So, I sat her on the potty stark naked and she did her usual tinkering around before actually doing her business. Because of this lallygagging and her being naked, she started to get cold and got blue lips and then her lips started to quiver. She looked at me with the most puzzled face and said "what lips doin' mama?". I sat for a moment and thought to myself that these are the kind of moments that really make me wish I could record every moment so as not to forget a single memory. Story #2 - 6/1 we took Ashley fishing for her first time (and I didn't have my camera!). She caught her first sunfish and was thrilled. Once we got back to our dock, there were 30+ geese on our neighbors shore. We watched them for a few minutes then I told her to say goodnight to the geese and she said goodnight. Then I told her that the geese said they loved her. Once I got her in bed, I told her mommy loves you, goodnight. She then said something that I didn't understand. She repeated it...she said, "ducks love me?". My reply- yes, the ducks love you too. Her memory is amazing! Story #3 - 6/3 Ashley had been in bed and quiet for at least 20 minutes when all of a sudden I heard her start talking. I listened through her door and this is the conversation I heard: "I want chicken nuggets, please. Go buy some? OK!" Now the funniest thing about this was, she was by herself and and chicken nuggets aren't even something we normally have. Where do they come up with these things? It was so funny.