A few months in Pictures....

I am so behind on our blog a.k.a. family journal......so since a picture is worth a thousand words, thank goodness I took a few!  So here's Christmas, Ashlynn's birthday, and random in between shots all rolled into one post. 

Christmas Eve dinner with my brother and his family

Of course, we had to do the nativity with all the little kids.

Mary and Joseph, of course

Our little Cow

Mad Cow

Christmas Eve - after opening 1 present and their Christmas P.J.s

Ashlynn making sure the cookies are yummy enough to leave out for Santa

January -- Ready to play in the snow

This is how we found Mikayla one night.  Yep, made a bed in her closet.  

Ashlynn's 2nd birthday! Here she's mad because she wants to eat her pizza dinner. She LOVES pizza.

And now she's a happy girl

Dancing to "Old McDonald Had a Farm" - the theme for her birthday, since she was obsessed with farm animals AND that song.  Kraig had to sing it to her every night for months when he put her to bed.

Farm Cake....."Perfectly Chocolate" cake with cream cheese frosting and dyed green coconut for grass

Ashlynn had a great time!  I didn't get a good picture of it since we were Face-Timing with both Grandparents, but she had the biggest smile on her face while we sang Happy Birthday to her.  She is definitely a two-year old!  Some funny things she is doing right now:

1. Strips herself naked whenever she is in her crib, and usually wets the bed.  So we safety-pin her up in sleeper jammies, even for nap time.  (Thanks for the idea, Steven and Kathy!....apparently exhibitionism runs in the family...)

2. Can usually be found carrying around two little squeaky rubber duckies or little barbie dolls in her hands

3. Gives us the biggest kisses and cuddles

4. Can't sit still through a book or movie for more than about 5 minutes

5.  Yells, "You're in CHUBBO!!! (trouble) Time out!!!" to her toys, to Mikayla, and even to us (and it's hard not to laugh)

6. Every morning after breakfast, she heads to the dog food rubber maid and has to give Miko two scoops of food, then drag a stool over to the window in the door to watch her eat.  She loves her dog.

7. If Miko barks a lot, she yells, "NO BARKING, MIKO!"

8. Favorite Movies right now: Dumbo and Cinderella

9.  From the Cinerella movie she sings, "Sing, sweet Nightingale, ahahahahah -aiy-aiy-aiy-aiy-aiy!" (You know the part I'm talking about, when the ugly stepsisters are having their music lessons and Anastasia's finger gets stuck in the flute and they start to fight? That part)

10. Quick to anger, quick to forgive and forget.  That's our Ashy right now.

11. She's energetic and rambunctious at home with just our family, mellow and sweet outside our home or around others.....We have a dual personality here.

12.  If I ever leave her alone for longer than a few minutes, she is usually getting into make-up, lotion, Vaseline, markers, or making a water mess.

13.  She loves to wear dresses and skirts!  Even over her PJ's sometimes.

We love our little sassy and sweet monkey!

Catch-up

Aaaah, so much has happened since I last posted!  I kind of forgot about blogging for a while....I guess that's what happens when other things take up your time and attention for a while.  Now I will attempt to backtrack and document our last several months.  Starting with Thanksgiving!!!

We went out to my parents' for the holiday, which is always lots of fun.  My girls LOVE to visit their grandparents' and are SOOO much better behaved there than at home.  So seriously. my mom thinks I have angelic kids because when we are there they ARE angels.  They don't have tantrums, they sleep all night every night, they obey, they are HAPPY all the time....what is up with that?  I mean, I am really glad they are so happy there but it makes me feel like 1) a liar (since it's hard for my mom to believe Ashlynn is a little terror at home and 2) like I am doing something wrong at home.  It must be the trampoline.....or the drums......or all the attention they get....hmmmm...we need to get a trampoline.

 But anyway, we had a wonderful time! My poor dad broke his foot just a week prior to us coming so it was good to see him and cheer him up a little.  He fell down the stairs whilst carrying a big box and landed on it wrong, dislocating it and breaking it in a few places.  Ewww, talk about painful!!!!  I have never seen my Dad laid-up so it was strange to see him just sitting around.

While we were there we recruited Stew and Dave to photograph our family while my mom made faces and got pretty silly.  Also, Kraig got me photo Shop (yipppeeeee!) and so I have been playing around with editing. Here's how some of our faves turned out:

This is literally in my parents' back yard!  That fence above is their property line.  Don't they live in a beautiful place?

And they get quite a lot of antlered (or not antlered) four-legged friends parading around their front and back yard.

So that was our Thanksgiving photo shoot!

We had a delicious traditional meal with my parents and two younger brothers, Dave and Stew, and with my aunt and uncle and their 5 (grown-up) kids.  It was big, noisy, slightly chaotic.....just the way it should be with huge family gatherings.  And afterwards, we had that what-are-you-grateful-for tradition that my mom always insists on doing, and it was a memorable, meaningful time as we reflected on life and all of our blessings.  Especially the blessing of health and loved ones.  My awesome cousin, Kasey, broke her jaw right before Thanksgiving, too.  So she had a miserable time sucking her dinner through a straw, but we were all feeling so grateful that it wasn't more serious. And then my Dad, of course, was feeling a special appreciation for the ability to walk on two legs. Life and health is so precious, and so fleeting sometimes.

Now he is pretty much all healed up!  So, as you walk away from your computer today, be grateful for your two legs and feet.  I know my Dad is.