Ashyn's First Race

       One of the things I always hoped my running would do, would be to teach my children how important an active and healthy lifestyle is.  I want my children to grow up being active and making a conscious effort to eat healthy and take good care of their bodies.  Well, a couple of weeks ago my brother was at our house.  He casually asked Ashlyn if she had any interest in running in a pumpkin race.  She immediately started jumping up and down and said enthusiastically, "Yes!"  We told her that she could definitely do it if it sounded like fun to her.  The next morning, I heard her get up and start getting dressed.  I went in her room and asked her what she was doing.  She told me she was getting ready for her race.  (She thought it was happening right away).  I explained to her that the race wouldn't be for a couple of weeks.  Leading up to the race we talked about it a lot.  She was so excited for it.  I went out and bought her her first pair of running Nikes to run in.  She was all set to go!

        On Saturday, we woke up bright and early and got ready for the race.  We were blessed with absolutely perfect weather for her first race.  We eat breakfast and we talked about the importance of eating healthy food to give us fuel for activities like running.  My mom and sister came to come to the race with us.  The race was at the pumpkin farm where I used to go every year in elementary school to get a pumpkin.  We met my brother there who had run a 5k earlier that morning there.  Ashlyn got her bib was ready to go.  They gathered all of the kids and had them do a group warm-up with a Halloween theme.  The race was 400 meters.  I decided that it would probably be best if I ran with her so she would know which way to go and keep going.  She also wanted my brother to run with her to.  They said, "Go" and she took off like a pro.  She is one fast little girl!  She did an amazing job.  Towards the end, she started slowing down a bit, but I told her to keep running and she did.  When she crossed the finish line, she got her ribbon and she was so proud of herself.  I was so proud of her too.  All the kids got to pick a pumpkin.  The only rule was that they had to be able to carry it themselves.  She took such pride in picking her pumpkin and carrying to the car like the other kids.  It was too cute! 

      I am proud of Ashlyn for doing her first race. She told me she really wants to do it again and I am already thinking of some good ones for her to do.  I hope she continues to be athletic and make healthy choices. 

Ashlyn and Mommy before the race.  She had to do her silly face. 

They love each other so much!

In her movie start glasses. 

Doing some warm-ups before the race started. 

And she was off!

Look at that girl go!!!

She was really having an great time.

We held her hand at the end.

So proud of our girl!

At the finish line getting her ribbon.

Showing off her ribbon. 

Picking which pumpkin she wanted. 

She was so proud to get to carry it to the car.

Dawson checking out her prize.  One day soon he will be out there too!

8 Months Old

        Our sweet, sweet little man turned 8 months old on Thursday.  I am a little late blogging about it because we have been super busy the last few days.  At 8 months old Dawson continues to be such a delight.  He is thriving and continues to do so well.  He loves to explore and is in the stage where he gets into everything and everything goes into his mouth.  I love to watch him crawl around and just explore his world.  He likes to inspect and look at everything.  I do have to keep a very close eye on him because he can get something in his mouth with such a quickness. 

          Dawson continues to be very mobile.  He is a crawling master and can crawl very quickly.  He also loves tackling the stairs.  We have a very long, steep main staircase.  It is secured with a baby gate.  Sometimes, I let him crawl up the stairs with me right behind him.  He loves it and it so quick at making it up the stairs.  He is pulling himself up constantly and now even moves along furniture.  I also saw him move between two pieces of furniture the other day.  He was holding on the whole time, but I know that's a sign that walking may be coming soon.  I'm in no hurry for him to walk because I know the challenges that walking will present.  I just want for him to stay a baby for as long as possible. 

            Dawson is a great little eater.  He can never seem to get enough food.  I will put cheerios on his tray and I'm always shocked how quickly they disappear.  He hasn't tried a single food yet that he hasn't liked. 

           Dawson is also communicating a great deal more.  He now can wave although its more of him putting his entire hand up and down, he is still waving.  He talks and babbles like crazy.  I fear one day between Ashlyn and Dawson, Joey and I will have a lot of talking to listen to.  He says "mama" which I absolutely love. 

        Dawson still struggles with sleep at night.  Some nights are so much better than others.  The problem is that there has been a lot of sickness going around everywhere.  He has been battling a lot of colds.  It seems that when he isn't feeling up to par it really messes up his sleep patterns.  I just keep telling myself that one day it will get better.  I really have become so used to waking up in the middle of the night that it doesn't bother me one bit.  I'm just enjoying having a baby too much to care.  Before I know it he will be a toddler bouncing around.  I'm trying to take in all of these amazing moments before they are gone. 

      As usual, I took a bunch of pictures of him the day he turned 8 months old.  I think I'm going to do a neat photo project with all the pictures of him each month for his first birthday.  

Seriously, the cutest smile in the world!

This is my new favorite of him.  Such a wonderful picture. 

He loves his cars.

He just stands up any chance he can get.  Bath time has become a lot harder!

Just hanging out.  He has gotten very good at balancing himself.

I love him so much.  What a blessing he is. 

North Pole

We have been meaning to get to the North Pole for our yearly visit for some time.  Now that I'm working part time and have some weekdays off, we decided it would be best to go when school started again.  It can get quite crowded during summer and on weekends.  We decided that we needed to take advantage of the beautiful weather and make a trip up there today.  To make it more fun for Ashlyn, we invited her friend Josh to come to with his grandparents.  Josh and Ashlyn have been playing together once a week for years and they are great friends.  They had a blast there today.    The weather was perfect.  It was just beautiful up there.  There was hardly anyone else there.  They kids loved it because they could ride the same ride over and over if they wanted to without getting off.  There wasn't much for Ella and Dawson to ride, but maybe next year they can get in on some of the fun.  Ashlyn had a smile on her face the whole day.  We definitely decided that we will be making another trip to the North Pole again soon.  

*I will be posting some exciting posts this week.  Dawson turns 8 months this week, so I will post about that.  Ashlyn is going to run in her first race and she is beyond excited for it.  She has been counting down the days.  I am so excited about it for her.  I can't wait to get some great pictures to post!

They rode the motorcycles first, and had a great time as you can tell.

Such silly kids

Ashlyn wanted to try her own bike.

Next, they rode the horse and buggies. 

This pole is really neat.  It is covered in ice.  The kids got a kick out of it. 

Love this picture because you can see the fun being had. 

Priceless!!!

They couldn't get enough motorcycle rides. 

Poor Ella could only watch this time. 

Driving the North Pole bus

The boats that they loved and rode a lot.

The ladybugs were another favorite. 

Look at those speed racers.

Ashlyn is such a brave child.  Josh was a little scared about a lot of the rides and didn't want to ride some of them.  Ashlyn wasn't scared of a single ride.  She rode everything.  I think after riding Splash Mountain, she's not afraid of any ride!

Look how high up she was.

She said the slide was her favorite ride. 

She looks too stinking cute!!!

We always take a picture of Ashlyn on the North Pole sleigh.  Too bad Dawson was asleep because I really wanted him in the picture. 

Chinese Program

I have mentioned it a lot here before, but I absolutely LOVE Ashlyn's new school.  We have been so pleased with it this far.  It is so different from her old school in many positive ways.  She loves going there and has made a lot of new friends there.  This Friday she had her first school program.  I was so excited because they never did anything like that at her old school.  They have been learning about China, so the presentation was all about China.  Ashlyn wasn't shy at all and was quite the little performer.  Some kids were too embarrassed to go up and perform or didn't want to do it.  Not our little star.  She did an awesome job of doing exactly what she was supposed to do.  We are so proud of our princess.  I just can't believe she is already old enough to be in school programs.  Where did my baby go???

They started the program by singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star"

They then sang "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" in Chinese.  I was very impressed with their ability to sing it in Chinese at their age. 

Next they did a very neat dragon dance. 

The kids held onto the paper dragon and moved it up and down.

Ashlyn totally rocked at this.

Look at her go!

After the presentation, it was time to eat.  Her teacher did an amazing job of creating a Chinese feast.  She bought all sorts of authentic Chinese foods for the kids and parents to try.  It was a lot of fun.

The kids made this Chinese soup that was called Ugly Soup.  It was actually pretty tasty. 

Trying a Chinese moon cookie.

It wouldn't be a Chinese feast without a fortune cookie.