All in August!

Today is September 11th...my baby girl is officially 2 1/2 today. Wow!

Ashley and I joined our girlfriends for our annual day at the beach earlier in August. The day started out chilly but by mid afternoon it was warm enough for swimming.

Violet, Ashley and Maddy. Here the girls are getting their dry clothes on to go up to play at the park.

Ashley loved playing at the park. Our friends had all gone home but she made new friends with the kids playing at the park. Ashley loves slides and loves to play chase.

Our summer weekends have been filled with camping, cabins, fairs etc. Here Ashley and Matt soak up some sun at Rose's cabin. Although Matt and I were suffering from sore throats (which turned into strep for both of us) we really enjoyed our stay. The cabin is on an island so you have to boat out to it! The cabin was amazing! Kevin built it himself, bringing the materials over by boat or over the lake in the winter. It's really an amazing place. We got to stay in the guest cabin. Ashley had a wonderful time with the rest of our friends kiddo's and loved spending time with Rose. (Rose is also one of Ashley's teachers at daycare)

Here is a picture of Ashley's first canoe ride. We loaded all of our camping gear, the three of us and our dog Ruby and we went camping on the St. Croix with the Brooks family. We had wonderful weather during the day but we had to cut our campfire short due to the down pour of rain. It rained so hard and so much I thought we were going to be stuck in the tent with a wide awake little girl, but she slept right through it!

Ashley had a great time swimming in the river. She learned how to float on her tummy and kick her legs. She loved running in and out of the water and playing with the sand toys.

Here's Ashley sound asleep on her little cot in the tent.

Another fun thing to do...go in and out of the tent.

Ah yes... our biggest news of the month is that Ashley is out of diapers (except for at night)!!! As I've mentioned before, we've been working on potty training at home and at daycare. Daycare told me I could send pull ups or undies and they would start allowing her to be a little more independent with the potty training. So on 8/12 I had sent undies to daycare and they put them on her right after breakfast and she's been in undies ever since without any accidents! For the next two weeks, we'd put her in diapers during her naps but she'd stay dry through nap time as well so now she just wears a diaper at night.

Family photo snapped quickly at Elsa's 3rd birthday party. It's not often we get pictures of all three of us together.

Me and AJ

Ashley Jane swinging at my cousin Megan's 30th birthday party.

I know I've mentioned how much I love this age but let me tell you just another reason why. Well, on the very rare occasion that I get to go shopping and by new clothes, I like to get home and show Matt what I've bought. As you can probably imagine, he usually manages to sit through the display but I get the feeling he'd rather chew his arm off than look at my purchases. Anyhow, now I finally have someone with a true interest in checking out my new gear - Ashley! I showed her my stuff and she acted very interested. Then I gave her the new underwear that I had bought for her. I bought two kinds of underwear for her - some with mickey mouse characters and others with fairies. The video above is of her showing me her new underwear. She sure caught on quick!

What else is new? Ashley LOVES Mickey Mouse. We have a Mickey Mouse Club House DVD and she watches it every night now before she goes to bed. She loves to crawl into mommy & daddy's bed and sit and watch her movie while relaxing. She just loves MM! It's amazing how quickly things change. A month ago, she wouldn't sit still to watch a movie for more than 6 minutes. Now, she'd watch it over and over again if we'd let her. She also likes to sing. Her current favorites to sing are Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes and Picking Up My Baby Bumble Bee.

Daycare has sent home a few notes during the month that I must share. Her communication skills continue to blow me away. I just love being able to talk to her. On 8/11 the notes are AJ's funny sayings of the day. "My soda (water) is sour. Drink it to cool down!" and "My tummy hurts, when I eat food my tummy feels better." On 8/28 the notes are Ashley's quote of the day: "My daddy lazy bum!" The daycare teachers gasped and laughed hysterically at that one. I have NO idea where she picked up that quote. :o)