Camera and Christmas Eve

Right after I blogged the other day about waiting for my camera, it arrived the very next day! I was very happy. They fixed it free of charge too since it was still under warranty. I was very impressed by Sony's customer service. I went out and bought a new memory card today that holds 1200 pictures. I am ready to start snapping away and make up for lost time. (It's been 3 months since I have had a camera!)

Ashlyn continues to say a new word about each day. Yesterday, she said "Alli' for the first time. It is the cutest thing because she really says it. my sister is hoping Auntie is next.

Our Christmas Eve has been going very well. Joey has to work today and left bright and early this morning. Ashlyn and I did a little last minute shopping with my Mom this morning. After we went shopping, we headed up to my parents house. We have been here all day baking and cooking. I made homemade cinnamon rolls. They look really good so far. We shall see tomorrow morning how they taste. Ashlyn did very good this morning not messing with the presents. She barely even looked twice at them. This afternoon, she lost it! She kept sneaking over to gifts and ripping at the paper. It has been rather difficult to keep her away. Luckily, the ones she keeps opening are hers. She should have a lot of fun tomorrow! Ashlyn is napping right now.

We were going to go to church this evening. It is very important to me that we go to church on Christmas Eve. The problem is that we don't regularly attend a church. We were going to go to the candlelight service at a church downtown. I just don't think that Ashlyn is at a very good age for Christmas Eve service. I don't know how she would do if we left her in the nursery since she has never been there before. I don't dare attempt to take her with me to the service because I know that she would not sit that long. I figure next year, I can bring paper and a pen or some little toy to entertain her. So, to make a long story short, we won't be going to church this year.

We are going to a German restaurant for dinner. This restaurant is very special to me. We went there every year on Christmas Eve when I was growing up. (Unless we were in Wyoming.) We would always go with my Grandparents and my Dad's side of the family. This year my parents, Grandma, brother, Aunts, Uncles, and cousins are going. I am looking forward to seeing family I don't often see. Although my Grandparents who started the tradition won't be there, I know that they will be in our thoughts. I am excited for Ashlyn to try their food. We make spaetzel(sp?) at home from time to time. She LOVES it!

I will update some time this week. I plan on taking lots of pictures tonight and tomorrow. We leave for Phoenix on Friday, so I hope to at least update a little before then.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday!!!!! Below are a few pictures I took the last few days.

Running around the house like usual.

Helping Mommy fold laundry.

In the bath. Can you see her teeth? She has 81/2. She is getting her 18 month molars already.

Ashlyn decided last night that she didn't much feel like sleeping in her bed. We let her sleep with us. She crawled right over to her Daddy and cuddle up with him.

The new vest that my Mom bought her. She looks like a stuffed animal!

Sorry, it's on here twice!

It's Been A While

I have not been in the mood to blog much since we still have no camera. I feel horrible because I have taken pictures of Ashlyn almost daily since she has been born. I have not taken a single picture in two weeks. I finally sent in our camera. I hope that it does not take too long to get fixed. The holidays always delay things.

Ashlyn continues to do great. She is as sweet and cute as ever. I am on holiday break for the next two weeks and I am really looking forward to getting to spend a lot of time with her. I am also signing her up for swimming lessons for the month of January. We will go to the classes on Wednesday nights. I am also excited to do something together each week. She is constantly saying "Daddy" all the time. It is the cutest thing. She is such a Daddy's girl.

We are finishing up all of our preparations for Christmas. I keep saying that I am not going to buy Ashlyn another present, and then I see something she just has to have. She is so different then she was last Christmas. She really enjoys toys now and I am excited to see her play with some of the things we got her. The day after Christmas, Joey, Ashlyn, my brother, parents, and me are heading to Phoenix. I am excited to show Joey Phoenix since he has never been. I am also excited to see family and friends out there.

I will be taking pictures on Christmas with my Mom's camera. I will post those as soon as I get a chance. Happy holidays to everyone!!!

Scary Santa

We had a very eventful weekend this week. On Saturday, we headed to the mall bright and early to get Ashlyn's picture taken with Santa. Of course there was a long line. We waited in line for 45 minutes. I was pretty weary of how Ashlyn would react to Santa. I know she is at the age were kids are very afraid of him. We finally got to the front of the line. The woman working there said it would be best to hand her to Santa with her back to him. I handed her over and she did not even notice. She did not smile, but they were able to take two quick pictures. I went over to view the pictures, and the photographer informed me that he ran out of film. The pictures did not take. He had to change the camera or something. Well, while we were waiting, Ashlyn had time to get a good look at Santa. She was not impressed or amused. She started crying. When it was time to take the picture, I tried handing her over and she was screaming and hanging on to me for dear life. They suggested that I get in the picture with her. I was so annoyed with the photographer, that I just agreed. Well, the pictures turned out horrible. We had waited in line so long that I just bought them. I paid $22 for a picture that I do not want anyone to see. It is coincidentally the worse picture of me that I have ever seen. I will tuck it into her baby book and not look at it again. I am so upset that I spent $22 a an hour of my time to get a picture like that. We bought a Santa suit on clearance last year. I am going to talk my brother or Dad into dressing up like Santa. I am going to see if I can get a better picture of Ashlyn with Santa. It could not be any worse than the one we got!

Later that day, we went out to dinner with my family. Today was my Mom's birthday, and we decided to go out Saturday night for dinner. I wanted to go to the Parade of Lights downtown. Well, dinner took longer than expected. By the time we got done and headed downtown, there was thousands of people. We could not find a parking space, there were cars everywhere, and it was just total chaos. We decided to forgo the parade and head to the zoo. The zoo was pretty with all the lights. We rode the new ski lift to the top. The city lights were beautiful! We get in free because I have a membership. So, we did not stay long and decided we would come back again another night. What a day!

Ashlyn is talking like crazy! We still can't understand a majority of what she says, but she is talking constantly. She is now saying "nice", "dog", "banana", "kitty" and a bunch of other jibberish. It is pretty cute!

We spend today over at my brother's house watching football and celebrating my Mom's birthday. It was a great day spent with family. As usual, Ashlyn entertained us all. Ashlyn wanted me to say "Happy Birthday Gram" on her blog!


In front of some of the lights at the zoo.

You can't see the view very well, but it is incredible!

Playing at the park behind her Uncle's house.

Smiling for the camera.

It started to get cold.

She likes to be a big girl and sit in big girl chairs. She REALLY needs another haircut. I am thinking sometime this week.

Ashlyn cuddling with her Uncle. She is very odd and sucks on her arm when she is tired. She was tired in this picture, so that is why she has her arm in her mouth.

Thanksgiving Pics

Here are the Thanksgiving pictures finally. Sorry about the quality. I am making it a big priority this week to send our camera in so we can finally take lots of pictures again!

Ashlyn's first Thanksgiving meal.

Yummy food!

Showing off her pretty dress.

Riding Butterscotch at her Grandparents.

Looking for some toys.

Enjoying football!

2nd Thanksgiving

I have not been great about posting because we continue to have camera problems. We finally found the box to our camera, so we are going to send it in to get repaired. I am crossing my fingers that it is under warranty and free. I did get some pictures of Ashlyn on Thanksgiving, however I took them with my Mom's camera and need her camera cord. As soon as I get the cord, I will update with pictures.

Ashlyn had a great 2nd Thanksgiving. It is amazing the difference between her first Thanksgiving and her second. We started the day bright and early. Ashlyn and I watched the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade. She was not too interested, but she really stopped and watched the Abby Cadabby balloon. After the parade, it was bath time and Ashlyn got dressed in a pretty dress. We headed to the Sunbird to have Thanksgiving brunch. We met my parents, Grandma, brother, sister, and brother-in-law. The food was wonderful! Ashlyn ate lots of watermelon and my brother kept giving her whipped cream. She liked that a lot!

After we ate, we headed up to Buena Vista to eat at Joey's Dad's house. Ashlyn and I had nice, full bellies, so we slept the entire car ride. Ashlyn was very excited to see her Grandparents. We watched football and played with Ashlyn's Butterscotch pony. The food was WONDERFUL as usual. Ashlyn really liked her Grandparents food. She ate lots. We had her practice eating with a spoon which she enjoyed. After we ate it was getting kind of late and it had started snowing in Buena Vista. Ashlyn stayed at her Grandparents house for the weekend. It was hard to leave her, but I am glad we did. The roads we AWFUL on the way back. I am glad Joey was driving. Icy, snow packed roads seem even worse when it is pitch black outside. The other scary thing is there is no cell phone service. Anyway, we survived and made it home safely. I am just glad that Ashlyn was not out on those roads with us.

Joey and I have been enjoying our child-free weekend. We both spent time with friends. We all went to a movie last night, which is something Joey and I never get to do together anymore. Ashlyn is having the time of her life at her Grandparents house. She got to go to a light parade Friday night. She also ate Mexican food for the first time, which I heard she loved! I am also glad that she is at her Grandparents, because I have a nasty viral respiratory infection. I hope since Ashlyn was not exposed too much, she will not get it. That it the update for now. I will try to get the camera cord tomorrow and post pictures then.

Fun Fit

My friend, Kari, gave Ashlyn a session of Fun Fit classes at her dance studio. Unfortunately, the classes are only held in the morning on weekdays. My Mom is able to take her. They went last Tuesday and my Mom said she did wonderful! I was a little worried because she is by far the youngest one in her class. Most of the kids are 2 or 3 years old. My Mom said she just jumped right in. They played with a parachute and Ashlyn was not a bit afraid. They also played a "freeze" game in which they were supposed to "freeze" when the music stopped. Ashlyn has never done anything like this before. My Mom said she was so cute and actually froze when the music stopped with all of the other kids. My Mom said the other Mom's commented on how impressed they were being that she is so young. She gets to go back every Tuesday. I just wish I could go with her! I am going to have my Mom take pictures in one of the next coming weeks and I will post them on here.

We also discovered this week that Ashlyn can drink from a cup on her own. We usually only give it to her when she is in her highchair because it can get messy. She loves it though and is really good at it. We also discovered that she can drink from a straw. That is cute to see.

Ashlyn has also turned into quite the daredevil. She is constantly crawling on her walking stroller. She tries to stand on it. She also has learned to get on the couch. This one scares me because I am afraid that she is going to fall off. She just loves doing it and unfortunately I don't think I can stop her.

Here are some pictures from this week. As usual, they are out of order and I don't know how to remove pictures once I upload them. I wanted to show a progression of shots of her climbing on the couce, but they are backwards.

Sitting on the couch.

Almost there. Notice her toothpaste in her hand. It is hands down one of the favorite toys to carry around.

Getting ready to start the climb.

In her Broncos cheerleader outfit.

Drinking from a cup. She is such a big girl!

First Birthday Party

Ashlyn's birthday party was today. It went really, really well. I chose a pink poodle theme. It turned out pretty cute. We were originally going to have the party at our house. Our main floor is very small. When I started counting guests and realized that more than 30 people were coming, I knew we would have to have it else where. My sister was nice enough to offer our house for the party. It was a nice day and I think everyone had a good time. As usual I made too much food, but I would hate for anyone to go hungry. Ashlyn even had a few kids at her birthday. She seemed to have a wonderful time. She loved interacting with all of the kids. She even helped open some of her presents. She got some really good gifts. She got toys, book, clothes, etc. She is a very loved little girl! She loved her cake. It was pink and she just went to town on it. She was covered with frosting. I finally took it away because I did not want her to get sick. We bought her a new dress for her party. I went to take it off before she ate her cake. The zipper was stuck and refused to move. I just left it on. After the party, everyone tried to get it unstuck. We still could not get it. We finally had to cut the dress. Poor Ashlyn was screaming because she just wanted the thing off of her. I am taking the dress back to store and exchanging it for a new one. So, besides the dress fiasco, her party was filled with good food, great friends, and a lot of fun!

The beverage and cake table. I love this sign that I ordered. I just realized that I did not get a close-up of her cake.

Ashlyn playing with Garrett. They seemed to enjoy each other.

The food table.

Just had to post a picture of Garrett because he is such a cutie!

Everyone singing "Happy Birthday". It was too cute. When everyone was singing she just looked around and smiled.

Everyone watching the birthday girl.

Taking her first bites.

YUM!

Loving the cake.

She couldn't get enough!

Wow! Look at that messy face.

Cleanup was not easy.

The damage when she was done. Keep in mind this was an 8 inch cake.

Present time!

Checking out her new puppy toy.

She loved the tissue paper in the bags.

Looking at the card. The cards were also a huge hit!

Looking at her new princess book.

So curious to see what is in the bag!

Again, enjoying the card.

Garrett and Ashlyn checking out her new toys.

Dancing with Grandpa.

After the VERY traumatic dress experience.