Back in November

Back in November...

Daddy took Ashley on her first adventure walk. She even got to use and carry the GPS. They walked the lake shore all the way from our house to the bridge on Hwy 8. They both had a great time. I stayed back and sat outside and read My Sisters Keeper. It was a beautiful sunny November day.

We took Ashley to the Osceola water tower. It's a great place for adventure walking and it was covered with leaves. Ashley enjoyed running and burying us in the leaves.

We found a hole and buried ourselves and then set the timer on the camera to take our picture.

Ashley on Thanksgiving.

After a few weeks of looking through ads and searching Craigslist, we found Ashley a new bedroom set. We still need to buy the mattress for her twin size bed but we have just about everything else to move her into her new room. Her new room will be Mickey Mouse themed.

What else happened in November? The H1N1 hit our house and Ashley was down for the count for about a week with a high fever, terrible cough and an ear infection. On 11/6 Ashley insisted on going to bed without wearing a diaper. I told her if she had to go potty to just call for momma and I'd come get her. Well, since then she has been diaper free and hasn't had any accidents! She did so great with potty training! Ashley has also started to chew gum and asks for a piece just about every time we get in the car. My favorite quotes this month: On the way home from daycare, Ashley is in her car seat and says " Ohhhh Mom, I gotta take off these work shoes" and then I felt two thumps as her shoes were kicked off against the back of my seat. In late November as people started to turn on their Christmas lights Ashley says "Oh beautiful" to the Christmas lights. Then I said, oh yes, oh beautiful and she said, NO Mom, you can't say that! Here are favorite quotes told to me by Tiffany (Ashley's teacher): On 11/17 Ashley informed Tiffany that she just can't say "ewww" she had to move her jaw back and forth when she said it! And Ashley wanted to know why she should eat her fruit at lunch and Tiffany told her because it was delicious. That answer wasn't good enough so Tiffany said because it was good for her. THAT answer wasn't good enough to Tiffany broke our the old "because I said so" and Ashley started to crack up laughing and said "my mom says that too!".

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.