MS Walk and Mother's Day

On Saturday, we did the walk for MS. All week the weather report was not favorable for Saturday. They were predicting drizzle and cold. I was concerned about taking Ashlyn. Last year, we left her at home because the weather was supposed to be bad. Once we got there, the weather was nice. We decided to brave it this year with Ashlyn. We woke up on Saturday, and it was sunny and there was no rain! The weather could have been warmer, but it turned out to be a decent day. We had a great time! We walked and enjoyed each other's company. Ashlyn had a great time on what will be the first of many, many MS walks that she will be part of. We had about 10 people walking with us. We raised over $1500!!! Thank you again for all of you that donated and walked for such a great cause. As everyone knows, this is a cause that is very near and dear to our family. Words cannot express our gratitude to those that contributed to our walk! Thank you!!!!!

I had a wonderful Mother's Day. I couldn't have asked for a better day. We started the day by going to breakfast with my mom and grandma. After breakfast, I spent the rest of the day doing whatever I felt like. It was great! Joey and Ashlyn got me exactly what I wanted for Mother's Day. I just feel so blessed to be a mother of such a beautiful and amazing little girl. The day always makes me feel so blessed and lucky. I hope all the mothers had a wonderful day as well!

To update on the crib issue, Ashlyn is doing wonderful in her bed. There were a couple of rough nights at first, but she is doing great. We put a gate up in front of her door so we could see her without having to open her door and risk waking her. Well, last night she climbed over the gate! That girl is seriously a daredevil monkey!!!! She wants to climb everything. We have resorted to just shutting her door. We usually hear her playing up there for a few minutes, but when she is tired she puts herself in bed and goes to sleep. So, this far it has not been as bad as we first thought. We are going to Texas in June to see Adam and Jane. When we are there, we are stopping by at IKEA to get Ashlyn a real big girl bed. I can't wait!

I only have 11 more days of school left! I am hoping they go by quickly and smoothly. While it will be bittersweet, I am just grateful to have made it through this year and this teaching experience. I am more than ready to move on to a class that is less challenging! I can honestly say that I am now ready for anything!!!!! The other big event this month is a wedding the last weekend of May. A friend of Joey's is getting married. Joey is actually marrying the couple and Ashlyn is a flower girl. Should be an interesting day!


I had to post pictures of our tulip garden. Joey's Mom's favorite flower was the tulip. When we bought this house, he planted a tulip garden in her memory. This is the first year we have gotten to see them. They have just been beautiful! We have truly enjoyed looking at them each day. I will be sad when they are gone!

Aren't they just gorgeous? I will try to get some better pictures tomorrow.

A group picture before the MS walk started.

Ashlyn sitting in front of Grandma's garden.

Ashlyn pretending a toy was a phone. She is obsessed with phones!!!

She was having a great time!

Riding on her "ATV".

Doing a "trick". This girl is SUCH a daredevil. She has NO fear!

Ashlyn and Mommy on Mother's Day.

I am truly the luckiest mom in the whole world!!!!

18 Months and on the move!!!

I will add some pictures in the next day or two. Joey and I have been kind of lazy about taking pictures this week. We have not done much exciting to take pictures of!

Ashlyn turned 18 months old yesterday. As I say every time, I can't believe she is 18 months old! She is halfway to 2! She has been acting more like she is two lately. Like she has since birth, Ashlyn knows exactly what she wants. If she does not get that, we are starting to see some tantrums. We are working on some ways to handle this. It's hard being a first time mom and not knowing what works. I guess we will learn just like any other first time parents: through trial and error!

The big news for Ashlyn this week at 18 months is that she finally learned how to crawl out of her crib! Joey and I were waiting for this day, and were really hoping it would come later than now. She first did this weekend when we were over at my parents. We put her upstairs in her crib over there to take a nap. We were downstairs, and before we knew it we saw Ashlyn walking around upstairs. We thought it was a fluke since the crib at my parents is older and isn't as low as hers. Well, two days later, Joey had the day off. He put her down for a nap and heard some noise upstairs. He went up there and she was standing in her room. She did it again that night. We looked on the internet and found this contraption http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=6372421

We were both a little unsure if A) it would work and B) if it was even safe. $70.00 is a lot to spend on something that we won't be using for too long. If she had done this at 9 months old, I would have bought it in a heartbeat. We ultimately decided on turning her crib into a bed. We bought a little side rail to go on so she can't roll out. She wasn't very happy to have to sleep in it. I am a fan of Super Nanny, and decided to try her trick. We put her to bed and told her she needed to go to sleep. Every time she got up, we placed her back in bed. It lasted about an hour, but she finally fell asleep in her bed. We are going to do this every night until she goes right to sleep. I know that it will work. She did the same thing when we first moved her into her crib. It just takes some adjusting!

At 18 months Ashlyn is a wild and crazy toddler! She loves to dance and is constantly on the move. She just loves exploring and moving! She continues to use new words everyday. She also continues to put words together.

I thought I would list some of her favorites:

Food- This is a hard one. One day she will eat something, and totally love it. The next day, she will eat it and hate it! She loves yogurt and is a big cheese fan like her Mom!
Book- She loves any book, but really likes "Cat" that Auntie got her.
Show- Ashlyn has very little interest in t.v. She would rather dance to music. She watches less than an hour of t.v. a week. She does watch Elmo every morning when she is eating breakfast.
Toy- She loves her play kitchen. She also likes her lego/block/little people set. She also likes the ATV her uncle got her.
Thing to Do: anything with Mom and Dad and DANCE!!!!
Favorite Pet: her Alli!

Chidlren's Museum and Other Mumblings

As usual, I apologize for the lack of posts. It remains to be very busy around here. The end of the year is just such a crazy time for me. I only have 1 month of school left, and then I get to spend all day with Ashlyn again. Joey's job did a bunch of layoffs last week. Thankfully, he was not included in these layoffs. We continue to pray that he continues to have a job with his company. We are also praying that I am able to find a teaching job this fall. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers! *There is another new post. It is below the technical difficulty one. I started it, and then had problems. It is the first one I wrote, so that is why it is below the other two. Please check it out too!

Ashlyn continues to grow and be a wild and crazy toddler. She is getting to the tantrum stage. They aren't too bad yet, but we definitely know when she is not happy. She also really knows exactly what she wants! She continues to talk up a storm. She says several new words each and every day. She is starting to put words together. Just a few minutes ago, she said "Bye Daddy". It is so fun and exciting to see her literally grow each and every day. She also does something new and adorable each day.

Ashlyn still loves animals to death. Last week she was obsessed with cats or "meow meows". This week, she is really liking birds. She calls them "B's". Whenever she sees a bird or a picture of one she says "B" and gets really excited.

This past weekend, we finally made it to the Children's Museum in Denver. We have been wanting to go up there forever and finally made it. We had a great time. Ashlyn just loved exploring everything. They had lots of fun things for her to do. It was a bit crowded, but we still had a great time! We were going to go to the aquarium as well. It was an overcast, chilly day that day. We drove by the aquarium and there was a line to just buy tickets. We decided to wait for a day this summer during the week.

Joey took a billion pictures like usual. Here are some of my favorites.


Ashlyn in front of the vegetable garden. It was really cute.

Putting on a smock before painting. (I don't know why we bothered, she still got so messy!)

Looking at the easel, a little confused what it was.

This one is on here twice.

This was Ashlyn's first time painting. She really liked it!

Painting is so much fun!

The finish product, including her name that I painted on top.

Ashlyn got to go grocery shopping. She just loves little carts.

Loading up on food

Picking out some produce. She is a natural isn't she?

Looking at something in a tree.

Playing with a "B" in a huge nest.

Looking at some real "B's" out the window. I honestly think it was the highlight of her day!

Putting on a puppet show for dad.

Dancing on the dance floor. I don't know if I have mentioned this yet, but Ashlyn is OBSESSED with dancing. She literally can't get enough. We play music all the time for her and she just dances and dances. I will post a video. My best friend owns a dance studio, and we plan to get her into classes as soon as she is potty trained.

Standing with Dad on the real fire truck.

Driving the fire truck with Mom.

Her first drink from a water fountain.

Walking across the star bridge.

Technical Errors

I have lots of new pictures to post. I am having some technical troubles uploading pictures right now. I am going to have Joey take a look when he gets home. I will post as soon as I can!

Some Odds and Ends Pictures

Here are some random pictures from the last few weeks.

Joey bought Ashlyn some sunglasses. They are way too big for her, but she loves wearing them and they are adorable!

Wearing them like Mom does sometimes.

Acting like a silly girl!

Out front having fun

On the porch swing

Helping Dad water the lawn.

Watching the water fill up the tub. She loves it!

Filling up her teapot. My mom recently bought Ashlyn a tea set for the bath. She absolutely loves that thing. That is the only thing she plays with now in the bath.

What's in the teapot?

Again, with the teapot.

Funny hair

Taking a "drink" of tea.

Every bath is a tea party for Ashlyn!

Easter

Ashlyn had a very good 2nd Easter. It just amazes me how much difference a year makes. Last year, she was so unaware of what was going on. I am sure next year she is going to really go crazy for Easter!

Joey had the day off on Friday and he decided to take Ashlyn to see the Easter bunny. She was not impressed at all! She thought he was just as scary as Santa. Joey said she was very apprehensive and unsure. She was starting to warm-up to him, and then he had to go and stand up to stretch. It was over after that. Joey did manage to get her to sit with him for a picture. It is funny because I am in her Santa picture and Joey is in the Easter bunny picture.

The Easter bunny was very good to Ashyln again this year. He left her a baby Elmo, a My Little Pony, a Mr. Potato head, some sandbox toys, and some books. He also left her a sandbox, but he left that in the garage because it is still too cold for it.

When we awoke Easter morning, we were surprised to see that we had a white Easter. It is kind of sad because we are always wanting a white Christmas and it never happens. The one day everyone would love for it to be sunny and warm, it snows! Joey and I woke up Ashly and told her that the Easter bunny had been there. She crawled down the stairs and was truly surprised. There were eggs everywhere! We showed her her gifts, and she wanted to start the hunt immediately! I thought she would be pretty clueless as to what to do. You would have thought the girl had practiced a hundred times. She was running around and picking up eggs and putting them in her basket like a pro. She did not want to put her basket down. She is obsessed with her eggs and loves putting them in her basket over and over. She even had to take it with her to Gram's today.

After the egg hunt and some playtime, Ashyln took a short nap. We then headed to my Grandma's for Easter lunch. My Grandma made some wonderful food and we had a great time.
We came home and just relaxed the rest of the day. It really was a terrific Easter.

I had bought Ashlyn a dress and planned to dress her all up, but it was really snowing when we left our house. I decided to have her stay in her warm clothes. I am now really regretting that because I don't have any pictures of her in an Easter dress. I was going to make her wear her dress while she looked for eggs, but she was just too excited.

Ashlyn has really been talking a lot more. She is saying lots of sentences, but we just can't quite make out what she is saying. We are picking up more and more words though. Her new favorite is "mow mow". It is what she calls a cat and the sound a cat makes. It is really cute. She is constantly looking for the cat. Too bad the cat is not too fond of her since she perpetually wants to yank on her tail!

Ashlyn also had her first two play dates this week and last week. She gets to play with 2 boys. They are both 6 months to a year older than her. My mom said she was a little shy last week. She did do a lot better today. My mom says she just loves playing with the trucks and trains. I am glad that she is able to socialize a bit more.

Here are the pictures we took. I don't feel that we captured the day well enough, but what can I do?

The loot the Easter bunny left behind.

Ashlyn hearing the news that the Easter bunny had come.

Getting ready to go look. Don't you just love the bedhead?

Finding her first egg

Taking a look at what she got.

There were eggs everywhere!

The Easter bunny left them everywhere!

Look at all the eggs in her basket.

Again, I love the bedhead!

Trying to figure out what is inside.

Giving Elmo his pacifier. Notice the snow outside? It actually snowed a lot more after that.