Ainsley is SIX!!!

We noticed that the last time we posted was when Aubrey, nearly 8, turned 6. So, I guess it is fairly apropos to start back up when Ainsley turned six.

I thought it was a horrible nightmare that I had, but my youngest little munch confirmed this morning that it had NOT been a bad dream...that she truly had turned six. AHHHH!

I love this kid SO much. She constantly cracks me up with her awesome and quirky sense of humor and facial expressions. She uses words well beyond her years...sometimes correctly. Example: we were at breakfast for her birthday yesterday and we asked her what was next for the day. She says, (in a very professor like voice), "Well, according to my chart (made all the funnier because of her difficulty in saying 'r's), we are going back and having a dance party before swim lessons." She always wants to be the one to pray at meals and is so caring with her friends and strangers alike.

Happy Birthday Ainsley! Maybe when you turn 7, you will know how to blow out candles.

 

Ainsley getting ready to go to her school birthday celebration.

"I'm six and I know it!"

 

We're BACK, baby!

After nearly 2 full years since our last blog post, we are BACK! I blame Facebook! What used to be a really neat way to keep in touch with old and new friends has degraded, in my opinion, to excessive political jargon, repost after repost about some quote that may or may not make sense, and an uber time suck. (Not that I won't still check it)

Mike and Rachel up the Coast of NorCal - 11th anniversary trip

So, this is a "back to the basics" approach to our family life. Rachel and I literally LOL'ed last night rereading some of the posts and stories that we had completely forgotten. I have encouraged her to pick this back up as well, because even if no one checks it, the point is so that our aging forgetful minds have a way to keep hold of the past. So, join us if you want. If not, that's fine too.

Six!!!

Six is my favorite. Well, 0-2 were pretty amazing too, but that seems like a lifetime ago so I am going with six. My little girl is blossoming into a real kid and really coming into her own. She loves arts and crafts, all things princess and Barbie, and playing make believe. In a nutshell, she's awesome! I so desperately want to freeze time, savor it a little longer, but there is no stopping the clock. Aubrey was 6 months when we started this blog and now she is six years and a few weeks. Having kids really makes time mean a little more. I love my first born and am thankful for her every single day.

Four!

Ainsley's fourth Birthday has come and gone and I am in awe of the little lady she has become. I love her to pieces and marvel at her sweet heart. She is a true gift to our family.

snap shot

In a few short weeks we will be celebrating our ninth wedding anniversary. That's pretty cool. The last nine years have brought 2 home purchases with brief apartment stays in-between, 4 car purchases, 2 births, 2 states, a new puppy, and lots of love. We are living life, and it's a great one. Happy New Year!

Sweet Little Bodie

After nearly four years of going back and forth on the issue, we got our first puppy. He is sweet, adorable, cuddly, and so much work. We did loads of research, but can safely say we had no idea what we were signing up for. We've decided that a puppy is actually harder than a baby because a baby doesn't get into trouble for many months. This little guy is always moving, unless he squats to pee! I am head over heals in love with his sweet little face and spend many hours cuddling with him, you know, so I can see that he isn't getting into trouble. We assume, like with infants, he will grow quickly and this puppy stage will be a sweet memory that we romanticize for years until we go for round two! Ha! So if you see me around and I look exhausted, it's because I am. And if you pop by my house to say hello I will probably have to clean the floor once or twice while you are here. So far, it's worth it, and we are loving the joy an animal brings to a family.

Cousins

***Cousin Mary was in the stroller at the time and missed the photo op***

I am very thankful for having family scattered around the greater Denver area. A few weeks ago I met up with my sister in law at the Denver Zoo. The kids had a great time playing around, being goofy, and checking in with the animals from time to time. While we were there we ran into our cousin in law (is that the right term?) too. Before that happened my girls were looking for Mike's other cousin because we have ran into her there before, so they just expected to see her. All this to say that we are so grateful for our kids having local family. We never expected that when we moved and it has been such a blessing.

what do you do for fun?

Sometimes it feels like pursuing fun is a lot of work. I wish it was as easy for me as it is for my kids. All they need is some music, a hand to hold, and to spin, spin, spin. Oh how I envy the carefree days my kids enjoy!

Fall

The season has changed, but our busy schedules have not. Between various school drop offs and pick ups, trips to the library, fitting in a few workouts each week, serving at Bible Study, attending church, and AWANA, visits to the chiropractor three times week, buying groceries, doing something with said groceries... I am pooped! I am still trying to get the feel of this "mom of a school aged kid" thing. Before too long we will be adding swim lessons into the mix too. I'm kinda looking forward to winter and hoping for big storm that cancels all the craziness for a few days and allows us to just rest and enjoy each other. Happy Fall!

Amused

These are pictures of kids on their first Ferris Wheel ride. They loved it. Sadly, Mike was off on a roller coaster so he missed this first. I wanted to wait for him, I really did, but the girls could not take their eyes off this ride and wanted to go on it immediately. And, I am definitely a sucker for these kids!

We had a great time at Elitch Gardens here in Denver. We will definitely need to come better prepared next year (assuming the library foots the bill for half of our party as a reward for reading over the Summer). We really should have packed a cooler and left it in the car. I didn't realize how close the parking area is to the park, but we totally could have packed lunch and saved our money for a funnel cake inside. But the place is perfect for little kids. There were no waits for the little rides. So awesome. I love that we have so many cool places like this so close to where we live. It's been a great Summer of exploring and now we are back in school mode, at least until the weekend!

Happiness is...

bouncing in a new to us inflatable bounce house! Happy Weekend Everyone!!!

Another Tri

On Sunday, I had the privilege of joining 2704 women in a Sprint Triathlon to benefit breast cancer research. This was my second year doing this event and I had a fantastic time. It was so fun to push myself beyond the norm and conquer the mental game of a triathlon. Trust me it is all mental. The swim was easy enough, just a little annoying because I was stuck in a pack of swimmers and was being man handled the whole half mile. Thankfully, I am not fearful in shark free water, so I just pushed myself a little harder trying to get away! I think I cut a little over a minute off of last years swim.

I also have a new road bike and it allowed me to increase my pace from 10 miles an hour last year to 15 miles per hour this year. Yay! The run was still painful, but I still managed to shave 2 minutes off of last years time with a pace of 12 minutes 39 seconds per mile. My quads hated me and did not want to move. I was giving my legs a pep talk coming into the last mile. I think I may have told them to suck it up, and get ready to rock. I was on pace for reaching my goal and was not going to let sore quads take that from me. I came in just under 1 hour 55 minutes and felt great! I am thankful that I was introduced to this sport by Mike's cousin, Tanya. It is so fun and rewarding. I really think you should have a Sprint tri on your bucket list. There is time, there was a 71 year old who did the event in under 2 hours! I'm looking forward to next year and hoping to have a few more friends join in the fun.

My Little Mathletes

I know it is so easy to roll your eyes when parents gush about their kids and how brilliant they are, but seriously, my kids have some mad math skills. Aubrey still gets jumbled with her oral counting skills, but she can rock multi step math problems in her head, assuming you keep the sum or difference under 10. I cannot believe that she is adding and subtracting mentally. Ainsley doesn't want to be left behind so she is asking for problems too and is doing very well. Of course she does complain if her starting number is greater than five. :) I love watching them get it. So cool, even better than watching other people's kids learn!

Summer is racing by!

We only have 5 weeks left of the lazy crazy days of Summer. Where did the time go? Each morning, my sweet girls wake each other up around 6am and start playing Barbies. They have breakfast at 7am while watching Dora. They are great multi-taskers! Then they play, play, play. Riding bikes is one of their favorite after dinner activities. As of today, Ainsley has a big girl bike, just like Aubrey. She is in heaven! I love watching these girls learn new things. Happy Summer Everyone!

Princess Time

We were so excited to be able to take the kids to Disneyland while we were on vacation (thank you Beckers, thank you Dad) and we were most excited about them getting to meet their role models. Hours of every day are spent being a princess, so of course we wanted them to meet the royalty responsible. Here's what I learned, waiting in line for an hour to meet 3 mystery princesses, and then turn a corner, and be expected to be excited about it, just doesn't happen for my kids. The first three princesses were complete flops, even though I know my kids adore them. My kids were NOT happy. Sad. So we went to the parade mid-day so the could see them from afar. Fail. The parade, although totally awesome, did not have one single princess. So, we headed back to the princess area for story time, AND, there were three princesses visiting with kiddos from the conclusion of the previous show. It turns out that my kids get VERY excited if they can see who they are waiting in line to meet. Best. Part. Of. The. Day. The girls got to meet Aurora, Cinderella, and Snow White and were so thrilled! Then Aurora told the kids a story about herself. you may have heard it, it's called Sleeping Beauty. My heart sang! What a fantastic experience for my kiddos. In fact, Ainsley asked if we could go to Disneyland tomorrow when she wakes up. I told her that it's in California and we are not. Then she got all sad and said we need to take her to Disney World for her fifth Birthday. So they had fun, and we need to start saving!

Summer's Here!

Hiking, biking, park hopping... We are loving Summer!

Pretty in Pink

This is such a happy, long awaited day! Aubrey got a room make-over. She went from a twin to a full, lime green walls to pink, bugs to flowers, and has a much bigger closet. We are really spinning it as her Birthday gift because room make-overs do not come cheap, but to be honest it is so much more. Aubrey has struggled with night time dryness for the last two and a half years (and nap time dryness too). It never "clicked" like it does for most kids. She is such a heavy sleeper that waking her is near impossible and we have carried her to the bathroom, sat her on the potty, and had her still be dead asleep. Heck, I even completely changed her clothes for swim lessons a few weeks ago without waking her. So, the normal strategies didn't work for her since we can't wake her up. About a year ago, I told her that she could pick out new bedding and a new wall color when she could wear underwear to bed and stay dry on a regular basis. It has been a long journey, but the last six months have been very promising and she has had fewer and fewer accidents. So today we are celebrating a new season in her life and a overcoming something that is been a huge obstacle for her in her short life! She loves it and is so proud of her new room!

The graduate

Sorry for the poor picture quality. The church was not well lit. Highlight of the ceremony. "Next is Aubrey, she will be going on to Kindergarten in the Fall where she will continue working towards being a princess." Another boy in her class aspires to be Spider Man. There were also a few ice skaters and ballerinas in the mix. Then the level headed kids who would like to be veterinarian, teachers, and fire fighters. Totally adorable!

Almost Five

I have so much to say about this little girl. She has really bloomed in the last year and I keep finding myself pleasantly surprised with the girl she is turning out to be. Here are just a few of the things that have made me beam in the last few months.

*at her conference, her teacher referred to her as an angel.

*while out shopping for new sandals, she picked a pair that was too expensive. I explained to her that they were more than we could spend on sandals, but I would help her find a pair in our budget. She asked me "how many dollars too much" they were. When I told her, she offered to pay the difference out of her money. How mature. So she got the sandals she wanted and even helped pay for them instead of wasting her money on junk in the dollar section.

*she is really learning how to be flexible when plans change. This is still a struggle, but there has been huge growth in this area in the last six months or so.

*she now eats burritos. This one makes me very happy.

*she asks how to spell words.

*she is very affirming.

Tomorrow is our last day of pre-school and I am so excited to watch my darling daughter graduate. She will be moving on to kinder in a few short months and growing up faster than I could have ever believed possible.

Happy Friday

Fully Rested

I felt bad having a pic of my angel looking so tired. Here she is rested and happy at The Wildlife Experience on Mother's Day weekend.

to nap or not to nap

Ah man! My too young to stop napping three year old is out growing her nap. Well, not really, she needs a nap, she just doesn't want to stop playing to take one. I am trying to figure out how hard I want to fight on this one, having two kids not napping has its advantages. The picture above is what she looks like at dinner if she misses her nap. Exhausted. I wonder how this will all turn out?

day 2

Aubrey's new request is to have her hair in braids. Not just one, but two. And I need to do it when her hair is wet, not dry. Why? Wet hair and double braids mean more wavy hair. She loves it. I'm thinking of buying some sponge rollers and seeing if she can sleep in them. I know she would love it really curly.

How my kids are spending the day

one is in bed trying to kick the stomach flu and the other is exploring. She just learned that light reflects off of some things, but not others.

THREE!!!

Where does the time go?

One Happy Mommy

I love it when one of my girls asks me to do her hair. I love it even more when they both want me to do it. Being a mother to two little ladies is a lot of work, but with a lot of rewards thrown in.

Easter 2010

We had a nice Easter celebration with Mike's parents, brother and wife, and of course all our kids. I love that our kids all play so well together and enjoy seeing each other. Our day started with church, then we did baskets and an egg hunt (hard boiled, not candy filled, which totally perplexed Ainsley to no end). And then we prepared for our guests. It was another fun, family-filled holiday.

Their Gym

My kiddos know that you can play differently with Daddy and Grandpa then you can with Mommy and Grandma. They definitely took advantage of having two willing jungle gyms in the house this past weekend!

Sink or Swim

We have avoided it long enough. It's time to get these kids swimming. Now that we live in a land locked state it would be easy to overlook this life saving skill, but I love the water, and I want my kids to love it too. Besides, none of our public pools allow flotation devices anymore which scares the snot out of me. I also plan on spending a great deal of time at Reservoirs this summer so I need my kids to have some basic survival skills in place. And let's not forget our desire to get back to the coast of North Carolina to enjoy a very warm ocean with a rental house feet from it and great times with great friends. So yes, we are learning to swim one way or another. This photo shows the girls learning to inch across the pool edge until they find a foothold to climb out. We have three more group lessons and then the girls will be in the pool without parents in a more traditional class setting. I have my fingers crossed that I will have at least one swimmer by the end of summer!

First Zoo trip in over a year

Yesterday we headed over to the Denver Zoo with my Mom. It was a great weather day for winter, and it was the third great day in a row which really kept the crowds down. It occurred to me that Ainsley most likely has little memory of being at the zoo since she hasn't been since she was one. She kept asking to see the puppies and kitties. Apparently her most recent experience with a "zoo" was the pet store in the mall. :) We had a nice family day and I was thankful that I brought my sit and stand stroller. The girls are not quite ready to heal toe it for hours and hours like their Mom.

Side Pony Blossom

Aubrey asked for princess hair yesterday. What can a Mom say? So I set to work. I gave her pigtails, braided one pigtail and pulled it across to join the other to make a side pony. I thought I was done, but she assured me that she did not look like a princess yet. So I got out my pins and gave her a blossom by doing four large pin curls. I sprayed it and assured her that it would fall out with any rough play. Sure enough, the trampoline at her cousins house did her hair in, but I salvaged it and she sported the side pony I originally aimed for. I am really enjoying having a girlie girl for my first born. I need to learn to do tighter french braids and inverted french braids, that would really open up our possibilities.