The rest of the story

So I got a little update on the "biting" situation yesterday.  Apparently Ashlyn likes to stick her fingers in her friend's mouths!  Can't blame them for biting her.  Maybe she wants to be a dentist when she grows up?  Paul Harvey...good day!

Good news and bad news

I always dread getting phone calls from Ashlyn's day care.  I got one last week because Ms. Lydia accidentally bumped Ashlyn's head with the kitchen door.  I am glad they call me for every little thing...but my heart races waiting to hear the news!  Today I received a phone call from Ms. Tomika.  She had good news and bad news.  The bad news was Ashlyn was playing with one of her friends and he bit her finger!  Didn't break the skin, but badly enough to leave a mark that is still there this evening!  The good news...Ashlyn is walking!!!  My response was, "Like, how many steps?"  Ms. Tomika says, "No, she is walking like she knows what to do!"  Sure enough, as soon as I got there to pick her up she took about 10 steps towards me!  She did it again for Chance this evening!  She still plops down as soon as she realizes she is walking, but this is a huge step (no pun intended:)!  I will do my best to get it on video tomorrow.  Yay Ashlyn!!!

Cousin time!

Ashlyn is pretty crazy about all of her cousins and she got to spend some time with the Abilene crew this weekend.  They were in town for a "sip & see" for Heather and Joseph's new baby, Vivian.  We got to spend time together Saturday night and the kids had a blast playing.  We headed out for brunch Sunday morning...a table for 13 with 6 kids!  Only 3 spilled waters!  Never a dull moment.  I didn't get many pictures from the weekend, but this one is too cute not to post.  Ashlyn thinks Kellan is pretty cool!

Story time at the library

In our quest to find a fun, family activity on the weekends we checked out story time at the Frisco Public Library.  Kally and Cash were able to join in on the fun!  Ashlyn like it better than Kindermusik, but wasn't quite as into it as Gymboree.  She likes to be on the move!  The good news...it's free and requires no contracts!  So we will probably be hitting up story time whenever we are around!

Grapefest

We made it out to Grapefest last weekend with some good friends.  Even though we went in the early evening, it was still pretty hot!  We were only there for a couple of hours and then we grabbed dinner.  Getting a table for 14 with 6 highchairs is quite a request...and they even sat us by the front door!  I am sure we were great for business...at least we tip well!

We showed up around 4:30.  If we waited until 5, we could get in free so we watched the Cowboy game in a sports bar right by the entrance while we waited.

Ready for Grapefest

Ashlyn and Emma

Giving Emma "loves"

Jessi and her girls

Jessi and Emma belling up!

It was pretty hot! 

Ryan getting a taste of beer! 

Ashlyn's foot is on the left.  Emma's is on the right.
They are 9 months apart in age! 

Quick diaper change behind the DJ booth before we hit the festival!

I saw this carousel in the Midway area and thought it would be so much fun for Ashlyn.  Boy was I wrong.  We were both begging to get off!

This was the only time I got her to sit on her horse

Then we were hanging on for dear life!  The carousel went so fast.
 She was scared and I was dizzy!

I was trying to act like it was fun for her...she didn't buy it!

3 of my friends from PT school and our kids!
Jessi with Emma and Ryan, Kally and Cash,
 Me and Ashlyn and Kellie and her twin boys Beckett and Britton

Into everything

I picked Ashlyn up from school today and Ms. Tomika says, "I have to show you this picture of Ashy poo" (yes, that is what she calls her and I love it!).  

She said she was changing a diaper and she looked over and Ashlyn had emptied the shelf and crawled in.  I said, "Let me show YOU a picture of Ashy poo!"

This chick is into everything!

Date night 2011

Okay, so maybe it isn't quite that extreme...but it seems like a long time since Chance and I have enjoyed an evening out!  Aunt Sarah came over to babysit last night and we snuck out to dinner and a movie.  We had a great time, but laughed at dinner when the majority of our conversation revolved around Ashlyn.  We are pretty smitten with that peanut!  We had a wonderful night out, nonetheless.  Thanks Aunt Sarah!

Dinner at Truluck's

Surf and Surf!

Superwoman

I was feeling a little ambitious when I got home from work tonite and the weather was beautiful!  I loaded Ashlyn up in the stroller and leashed up the dogs.  We headed to the dog park across the street from the loft.  I got several comments from onlookers but my favorite was when a guy rolled down his window, honked and yelled, "Look, it's superwoman".  Let's just say I wore the dogs out at the park and the walk home was a little less strenuous.  Oh well, we all enjoyed the fresh air and I am sure the bruises and soreness will subside :)

Ashlyn loved watching Mazzy fetch the ball.  She would laugh and clap as soon as she saw Mazzy retrieve the ball and start heading back in our direction!  Pip spent her time chasing birds and busses.  To each his her own :)

Blowing raspberries

Her latest trick...and she can do it on command!

Shoe shopping with daddy

In the midst of our outdoor fun over the past week, I lost one of Ashlyn's cute new shoes :(  She has a few more pairs, but none of them are very easy to slip on and they slip off very easily (ironic).  Chance stopped on their way to school and got her a new pair of shoes to wear to school.  For some reason I thought this was the cutest picture.  She looks so grown up and I swear she is posing!  She has the tiniest little feet!  She still wears a size 3!

Kindermusik dropout

We had a trial Kindermusik class today.  I will go ahead and say that it wasn't Ashlyn's favorite.  I can't really blame her...it was right after I picked her up from school, close to dinner time, a room FULL of moms and kids and maybe a little too much structure for such an overstimulating environment.  She did pretty well for the first half of the class but was really more interested in the mural on the wall, than the songs we were supposed to be singing.  Since it was our first class, we didn't know any of the words or movements to the songs.  The teacher would put a toy "shaker or mirror"out and just as Ashlyn would get interested in it, she would come around to put them up.  Ashlyn did pretty good "cleaning up", but got a little frustrated when she couldn't have it back.  Thankfully, Chance came with us.  She kept pointing towards to door, saying "bye".  She started crying so Chance stepped out in the hall with her so we didn't disrupt the class.  She would press her face up against the glass door and when he would try and open it, she would start screaming and push the door closed.  She did NOT want to come back in.  They left me in there solo, singing silly songs that I didn't know the words to.  And I didn't have a baby to hide behind!  All she wanted to do was go outside on the playground and slide.  I guess Gymboree is more her thing!

This is what happened every time we walked
near the door to the classroom

This is where she wanted to be

Kindermusik Dropout

The 2 step

Well...not quite, but she did take 2 steps today!  When I picked Ashlyn up from school they told me that she took 2 steps.  Being a little sad that I didn't get to witness her first steps, I quickly put her down and held out my hands for her to walk to me.  I think it may be pushing it to say they were steps, but she did shift her weight from side to side and advance each foot a tiny bit...before plopping on her buns and crawling like mad to me!  When we got home, Chance put her down and he got the same thing, but 3 tiny steps this time!  OF COURSE I DIDN'T HAVE THE CAMERA!  I wouldn't say she is walking...but she is SO CLOSE!!!!

10 years ago today

Remembering 9/11/2001...

I was at work, just like any normal day.  I was heading into a meeting when one of my co-workers said, "a plane flew into a building in NYC."  I thought he meant like a crop duster or some small plane clipped a building.  I had no idea what was going on until after the meeting.  By that time we knew a little more.  We knew it was a terrorist attack and that the 1st tower was on fire.  We all ran down to the lobby of the building and were watching it on TV.  We saw the 2nd plane fly through the other tower and then we saw the towers collapse.  Those are images I will never forget.  There was a little chaos around our office because I was working at the Dallas Infomart at the time.  It was the largest information "hub" in the southwest and housed network operation centers for many large companies.  That, coupled with its proximity to downtown and the Dallas World Trade Center made it a high risk location for  a possible attack.  At this time we had no idea what to expect, as there were reports of several highjacked planes.  The decision came down that they were evacuating our building and moving my company's network operation center (not a small task).  We were all sent home for the day.  I remember walking to my car thinking, "Where do I go?  Where is it safe?"  I made several phone calls as I was leaving, to my parents, my roommate (Kourtny), one of my co-workers and a newly reunited friend (Chance).  I headed home and turned on the news.  I remember laying on our white leather couch just staring at the TV...shock, sadness and utter disbelief.  A couple of my co-workers came over and we just sat, glued to the news.  Kourtny came home a little while later (she worked at Children's Medical Center at the time and they were on alert for any local attacks or transfers from other states).  Chance finished a couple of appointments that he had scheduled and came over too.  He and I had reunited a few days earlier over lunch.  We spent the weekend together and had started hitting it off (even though my initial task was to set him and Kourtny up...oops:)  We all hung out and at about 9 o'clock decided to go to the Hurricane to watch Chance's roommate's band play.  We had mixed feelings about doing so, but we were all feeling pretty down and thought getting out might help.  Being out in public was weird.  It was like time had stopped.  The band was playing, but the news was on the TV's and it was too hard to look away.  The rest of the week is a blur, but I distinctly remember feeling proud to be an American and not wanting to spend another minute apart from Chance!  We have always kind of said 9/11/2001 was when we started dating.  It is a date we will never forget...for many reasons!  10 years later those images are still so vivid...my heart  goes out to those who lost loved ones and to all of the heros among us.  We will never forget!

Grandparent's Day 2011

We had a great weekend and Ashlyn got to see 2/3's of her grandparents!  Saturday afternoon Mimi and PaJ came over to hang out and spend the night.  We had no plans and just enjoyed hanging out, eating good food, drinking good wine, escaping the building for a fire, and watching the sun set over downtown by the pool.  We got up Sunday morning and had a yummy brunch outside at Dream Cafe.  Then we walked around the Farmer's Market.  It was a nice time!

Enjoying Sunday Brunch

Then we decided to surprise Gma and Gpa (and Aunt Sarah) and stop by for a little while!  We just relaxed, ate pizza, watched football and took a NAP!  Sorry, no pictures.  It was a wonderful weekend.  The only thing that would have made it better would have been seeing Nenna and Poppa on Grandparent's Day.  We got to chat with them over the phone and will hopefully will get to see them again very soon.  WE LOVE YOU NENNA, POPPA, GMA, GPA, MIMI & PAJ!  And a special shout out to the great grands...Mimi and Papa and Grandma Sally.  Ashlyn is one lucky little girl :) And to our grandparents who are no longer with us, we miss you everyday!

Gymboree

We tried out Gymboree for the first time this weekend.  Ashlyn had a good time, despite her lingering cold and the fact that is was pushing nap time.  The theme for this class was slides! Not sure if we will join or not.  We are going to try out a few more activities before we decide.  We are trying to find some fun things to do with Ashlyn, but it is a little difficult finding evening stuff!  There are some classes/activities on the weekends but we are often out of town or have other things going on.  We are trying Kindermusik this week!

It was close to nap time and this was an awfully soft blanket!

Towards the end, we all had to raise the parachute really high and then crawl underneath.  I almost had to excuse us.  It was really hot and stuffy under there.  And the song went on and on and on!  

There were about 30 of us underneath there!