October Fun

Wow, is it really possible that October has already come and gone?

A few weekends back, Ashley and I went to visit my Grandma. Here we are with Grandma and Ayla. Ayla is Ashley's second cousin. We also stopped at my Grandma's house on Halloween since we were in her neighborhood. Since then, Ashley keeps asking me if we can go back to "new grandma's" house. Grandma made a lasting impression on Ashley by offering her a whole bunch of Halloween candy. :o)


On October 11th we were invited to Sheli's house for a
Halloween party for the kids. We decorated Halloween cookies, played in costumes and even got to take swings at the pinata!

Jessie, Elsa, Maddy, Ashley, Allie, Violet and Julie

Ashley, Maddy, Violet, Elsa and Allie

The latest round of hand-me down shoes!! Just in time too because she has grown out of her shoes.

On October 18th, Ashley, Sheli, Maddy and I went to see Disney Live at the Xcel. Ashley was very excited to see Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald Duck, Tigger etc.

A picture of the stage.

Ashley showing off her new winter hat and a shirt full of sloppy joes! Cheese!

Ashley is now into playing with her "buddies". She likes to wrap them up like babies and talk to them etc. If you'll notice bear is next to the wall...he is on time out. Here is what she said " You (bear) on time out...I'll come get you. You ready to be a good listener?" Oh did I laugh!

Ashley was Minnie Mouse for Halloween. I think she wore her costume just about every day before Halloween and she continues to put it on and play just about every day. She just loves Mickey, Minnie etc.

We went to get pumpkins from Lendt's pumpkin patch. They have a big kids area with fun picture taking opportunities...fun for those families who's kids participate. I managed to capture a few good pictures but we mainly heard the words "no, because I don't want to" come from her mouth.

Daddy showing Ashley how to clean out the pumpkin.

Our pumpkins - a skull, a ghost and Mickey Mouse!

On Halloween, we had a very busy day. We went to my cousin Riley's 6th birthday party at the bowling alley in Shoreview. Ashley really liked bowling. Then once we got home we got her costume on and ready to go tricker treating. I was fairly sure that we would make it to one house and have to convince her to do that...but, she had a blast. After the first house, she said "what next momma" and we continued to go up and down the block at G&G J's house. She would get up to the door and say "trick or treat", then she would say "happy Halloween". Such a big girl! Ashley then got to stay over at Grandma & Grandpa J's and pass out candy to the kids. She really liked that until one of the kids scared her. She told me they had a scary mask with sharp teeth. Matt and I went out to a few different Halloween events.

Here we are at one of the bars. Matt was a shower (like in the movie Karate Kid), I was someone about to take a shower. We also met up with our friends. Brandi and Jesse were cops from Reno 911, Jere was a Shriner and Julie was one of the Roller Girls. It was a fun night.

I captured a few video clips this month. Here Ashley is showing off her somersault skills. She can do them so well! In the middle of November, she is starting gymnastics. She can't wait!

This video is of Ashley dancing like Minnie Mouse. She loves to twirl.

This is a video of Ashley singing "I like to move it, move it". She picked up these lyrics from watching Madagascar. If your not sure what I am talking about- check out this video clip on you tube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x3W6hutEj8

A few more quotes from the last month: on 10/20, I had asked Ashley is she wanted to make cookies. She replied "you (momma) snuggle with me...watch Aristocats...daddy make us cookies". I thought that was a great idea! :o) On 10/25 when Matt was finished with carving Ashley's pumpkin into Mickey Mouse, she ran into the living room and started rummaging through her toy box. She grabbed her phone, came running back into the kitchen, got down on one knee, flipped up the lid on her phone and angled herself just right to take a picture of the pumpkin. She then pressed the button to take the picture, looked right at Matt and I and said "I'll send it to you!". Matt and I just about fell over laughing. You never realize that your children absorb so much from what you say or do. (Matt and I often take Ashley's picture with our cell phones. We tell her, sit still and smile, I'm going to take your picture so we can send it to daddy.) Ashley also got in one of her two year molars. She has one more to go and then she will have all of her baby teeth!

Summer in September

We've waited all summer for weather like we had in September, so we took advantage of it!

It wouldn't be summer without a trip to the Minnesota State Fair. This was Ashley's first time to the fair and with that came her first time eating fair food etc. Here she is enjoying some cheese curds with daddy.

Here we are inside the Butterfly House at the fair. Ashley liked looking at the butterflies but she did not want them to touch her. Definitely worth the few bucks it cost to get in.


Grandma Sue and Grandpa Larry met us at the fair too. We had a great day, with great company and great weather.

Over Labor Day weekend, we headed up to the cabin with the Brooks'. Her Ashley is welcoming us all into the cabin. It was probably the nicest weekend we had all summer. The weather was fantastic, the kids were so well behaved, and the adults got to play and relax too. We went fishing, we had bonfires, we went for bike rides, 4-wheeler rides, swimming etc. Perfect weekend.

Here Ashley waits patiently in her bike cart to go on a bike ride. The daddy's took the little girls for a bike ride.

Ashley and Maddy making crazy faces.

Allie, Maddie and Ashley enjoying one of our many boat rides around the lake.

Three little monkey's hiding in the bed.

Surprise!

The whole crew enjoying ice-cream cones at the best ice-cream shop in the whole wide world.

Me and Ashley out by the bonfire.

The Brooks family sitting around the campfire.

"I love CHOCOLATE!"

Smores

Allie reading the the girls.

Ashley enjoying floating in the lake.

Quite possibly my favorite picture. Just look at the smile on her face. She was SO excited to catch fish. In her words, she was catching "big red gooey fish" which is the kind of fish that Mickey Mouse catches.

We caught enough keeper sun fish to make a meal of them. These sunnys were HUGE! The fishing on the cabin lake is just awesome.

Ashley Jane

This is my favorite video. If your not familiar with the song they are singing, it is called Miami Trick by LMFAO. Allie is standing next to me while I tape the video. At the end of the video, you will see that Maddie gets very sad and crashes down into the pillow because Allie, her big sister, was trying to get her to let Ashley sing too. I could watch this over and over, it makes me laugh so hard.

Bye cabin! We had a great time!

This summer Ashley has mastered the skill of riding her big girl bike.

Towards the end of September, we went camping in Shell Lake, WI with Grandma Sue and Grandpa Larry. It was another great summery weekend.

We were able to get a campsite for the RV that was right on the lake. The lake was clear, sandy and perfect for sitting next to and soaking up some sun.

Ashley swimming around in Shell Lake.

Ashley soaking up the sun at Shell Lake.

We brought our boat up to Shell Lake too. Ashley fell asleep on daddy's lap in the boat.

Ashley Jane

This picture cracks me up...yes Ashley is crying. Why is that funny? Well, I slaved for a few hours making cupcakes and frosting so that once I picked her up from daycare we could decorate the cupcakes and have so much fun. That's how I pictured it anyway. Well...it didn't quite turn out to be as much fun as I had picture and that's all I will say about that. :o)

Decorated cupcakes and Ashley trying to eat another handful of frosting.

Have I mentioned already how much Ashley loves Mickey Mouse? Well, Grandpa set her up watching her Mickey Mouse DVD on his computer. She was in heaven.

Ashley watching more Mickey Mouse. This time in her new hand-me down Dora couch that folds out into a bed with a built in dora sleeping bad! Thanks Riley, Ashley loves her new dora couch/bed!

What else is new this month? Ashley moved up into the next room at daycare. She is now in the Pre 1 room. I think the age range is 2 1/2 to 4. She's learning a lot of new things from the big kids in the class and the great teacher she has. She comes home so exhausted each day that all she wants to do is lay in our bed and watch Mickey Mouse and rest.

Matt and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary on 9/14.

I've had to travel some for work during September and went to St Louis twice during the month. During one of my trips I went to the top of the St Louis Arch. Awesome views from up there.

Our house is still for sale.

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)