Balloon Fest/Double Ear Infection/Jr. League/Bible Study

Whew, what a week we've had!!!

I've been pretty busy with the Jr. League with all of our provisional meetings, regular meetings, and special project meetings. Our provisional group chose to put on a Fall Festival for an organization called Friday Nite Friends. Friday Nite Friends is a really neat organization - they provide care for special needs children and their siblings twice a month so that their parents can enjoy a night together without worrying about their children. Anyways...we are going to put on a Fall Festival for the kids (games, food, prizes, the whole works). We are expecting to have nearly 60 kids - pretty exciting.

We went to the Plano Balloon Festival on Friday evening w/ Gigi, Granken, Uncle Michael and his girlfriend Emily (they were in town from OU). It was a lot of fun...Ash got a corny dog and loved looking at the balloons. Granken bought her a glow necklace that she absolutely LOVED! We started noticing some green guck coming from Ashley's eyes as we were leaving so we decided to go ahead and take her into AcuteKids (if you ever need a dr. at night or on the weekend....we definitely recommend this place). They are always super helpful and very QUICK....which is always a blessing w/ a sick child. The dr. said she had a double ear infection (again!!) and that it was really really really really bad - so bad that her poor little sinuses had filled up so high that it was causing the guck to come out her eyes...poor thing! So we got some antibiotics and eye drops and home we went. It's Wednesday now, and Ash still isn't feeling that well. I just pray that someday she will stop getting so sick all the time. It really is pitiful!

Last night I went to our class Women's Bible Study. We are studying Ephesians. I confessed to my small group last night that I hadn't had much time this week to do my study and that I had actually done it all the day of our meeting. I feel really convicted about this....I need to make time each day for this. Sometimes I let what is the most important thing slide in my life because I am so busy with everything else, Work, Ashley, Ashley being sick, Jr. League, Friends, Housework, Errands, Eric's side business, The Trendy Mommy, etc. So I am making a committment now to wake up earlier each morning and spend some time in the Word of God. Thanks to Sally for encouraging me last night :) She wakes up at 5 to get it all done - I'm going to shoot for 6:15.

Mi Cocina and the Cowboys...what a great weekend!

We had a pretty fun weekend...with none of us being sick..YEA! On Saturday morning we went to Arbor Hills and Ashley played on the playground for a while. She loves to swing and slide down the slides. They have so many there! Then later that afternoon we went swimming with Gigi and Granken...Mommy and Daddy got a little sunburned...but Ash didn't get any because she stayed in her float with a canopy most of the afternon. We went to Mi Cocina on Saturday night...YUM! I think this is our favorite Mexican food restaurant...here is a pic we took from the evening.

Ashley loves to push her stroller around...it is kind of funny...it is so big compared to her. Maybe we need to buy her a toy stroller.

Sunday morning was buy with Mommy packing to get ready for her trip to Atlanta. We hurried off to church and then grabbed some McDonalds on the way home. After weeks of searching for a pink Cowboys shirt that would fit Ashley and having no luck, I decided to make her one...It turned out really cute..and only cost $8...thanks to a pink shirt on clearance at Target and letters and a star from Hobby Lobby. GO COWBOYS!

Here is Ash practicing touchdown...getting ready for the game where she will be able to show Nana and Pops her touchdown and high five skills :)

The Attack of Nasty Mr. Strep Throat

Ashley wasn't feeling very well on and off last weekend - I knew that by Monday night when she would cough and immediately start crying in her sleep that something was wrong. The weird thing was that she never ran a fever the entire time! I snapped a few pictures of her awful week. If you know Ashley very well you can tell by these pictures how bad she was feeling...the child (when feeling well) NEVER sits still...so for her to lay like this on a pallet on the floor for hours at a time with a wet wash rag on her forehead definitely says something!

We took her to her peditrician on Tuesday and sure enough Ashley had strep. YUCK! Daddy got it too...so mommy got to play doctor all week to two sickos :) It must have been a really bad strain of strep because Ashley didn't truly start to feel better until yesterday (Sunday). Poor little thing!!! She is doing better now though and we celebrated by taking her to what we thought would be a fun outing....The Wiggly Play Center in Frisco. Not so much! I'm sorry to anyone who reads this blog if they actually like this place, and maybe it is fun for some kids...but since we paid $9 to get in, I expected that they would have actually had some stuff for Ashley to play with/on. I even asked the lady when we got there if there would be stuff for a 14 month old to do inside...she was like oh yes, tons to do...there is a stage where they can get up on and sing/dance, a climbing area with slides, tubes, tunnels and blocks to climb on, a bounce house that she can go in if there aren't too many big kids in it. So we thought that sounded good enough, paid the $$ and in we went...we stayed MAYBE 30 minutes. Here are some photos that we took of Ashley while she was there...I do think she had a good time...but she has a BLAST at the Willow Bend Mall play area...and it's free....in hindsight we should have just gone there.



Yes, this is me...I climbed inside the bounce house - with all the other mothers and fathers gasping in horror that I crawled in....but the lady at the front desk told me I could...and I was desperatley trying to get $9 worth of fun out of this place for Ashley...so I did it...and she did have fun until a girl almost landed on her and I decided it was time to crawl back out that tiny hole!
One other complaint about this place...see that boy that is at least 5 or 6 - why is he in the "toddler only" area? And to make things worse...this kid was a bully! Did you see above how Ashley carried the blocks to me...and I made a thing for her to walk under out of them...well, before she even got to walk under them...bully boy comes running over almost knocking her down...and then proceeds to knock down what we just built. We tried rebuilding it, but by the third time when bully boy knocked it down just as I put on the top piece - I said forget it...let's go!

I tried Ashley out in the big bathtub a could of months ago and was so terrified by the whole event that I decided to keep on using the small blue tub. But as Ashley continues to grow I must face the reality that I can't keep her in the little tub forever sheltering her from sliding and bumping her head in the big bath tub any longer. Thankfully I was able to find a bath mat that suctions to the tub and provides a no-slip surface for her. So here she is LOVING her new found bathtime freedom.

Here is a cute pic I snapped of Ash in the car on the way home from the Wiggly Play Center...she loves to cross her legs and read books in the car :) What a sweetie!

MIA??

Missing in Action?!?! Perhaps...sorry for the lack of posts lately! We have been a very busy little family. Eric started a new job about a month ago. He is really enjoying it and although he will probably have to travel some, we are really excited about this opportunity for him. Ashley is doing well at her school. We have been really happy with the montessori school that she attends. Her teachers are great and everyone there is so friendly and nurturing.

Ashley has learned to do touchdown (we say touchdown and she throws both arms straight up in the air and smiles really big). Just in time for Pre-season games. She has also learned to do the hokey pokey - it is really cute...she puts her right arm out and then starts spinning around in circles (until she gets so dizzy that she falls over). We are still working on putting the left arm in, etc...so far we only do the right arm no matter what the song sings :)

Ashley went to her first Rough Riders game a few weeks ago. She loved it...she is going to be daddy's little sports fan. She kept eyeing the cotton candy...I don't think she quite understood what it was....but I do think she knew it was something to be desired. We did not get her any...hoping to push that off until she's at least three.

Eric celebrated a birthday this past weekend, which of course Ashley loved because that meant that she got cake...we have quite the sugar monster on our hands! She absolutely LOVES cake!

Ashley has been keeping us very busy going in and out the doors of our house. Between playing with her water table in the backyard and 'hunting' bunnies in the front yard - she keeps us hoppin'. Our neighborhood is full of bunnies and Ashley just LOVES to 'find' them. So her new favorite thing to do is go to the front door and point and say huh, huh, huh, huh, huh until we go outside. I hope we're not spoiling her too much by letting her tell us what to do all the time :) I don't have any pics of Ash looking for bunnies...but here is one of her helping plant some flowers in a pot in the backyard.

Ashley's 1st Birthday Party

Ashley had a blast at her first birthday party. She loved the petting zoo and I think her little friends did too. She also loved her farm animal cupcakes and opening presents. It is hard to believe her first birthday has come and gone! She is such a little ham and brings so much joy to her parents lives! We love you Ashley!!!

Giving back...

I am so grateful to my mom for instilling in me at such a young age the importance of thinking of others and giving back to the community. When we (my sister and I) were younger, my mom was always encouraging us to help others. I can think back on so many neat experiences that helped in some small way touch the lives of others in need, from making easter cookies to take the the nursing home to hand out to residents, to volunteering at the Ronald McDonald house, to serving food at a shelter downtown, to making and delivering 350 care packages to the men and women in the Corps at A&M when bonfire fell, to gathering up old clothes and toys and donating them, to cleaning up trash and helping to make the outside of an elderly persons home pretty again, to going out and shopping like crazy at the dollar store and 99cents store for shampoo, soap, toys, clothes, shoes and anything else that the victims of Katrina might need, to filling one, two or three shoe boxes every year for operation Christmas Child and so many others. When I was at Baylor I was involved in a service organization that allowed me to continue to serve and help others, Baylor Women's League. I loved BWL and the opportunities I had to give back as well as the many great friendships I made in this organization. I have missed this aspect of my life, the friendships and the bonds made while serving others...and have decided to join the Junior League of Plano. I went to the informational meeting last week and got to meet a lot of neat women who all had a desire to help the community in one form or another. I am excited to enter my provisional year with the JLP and hope to be able to serve greatly. A lot of people know the JLP for their annual christmas boutique sale, Neath the Wreath, but the JLP does so much more than that! It is a group of 900 women from all over Collin County who serve in TONS of different ways. Check out their website if you want to see more of what they do, Junior League of Plano. I'm excited to join this great organization and excited to once again make an impact in the community.

Happy Independence Day!

Ashley celebrated her 2nd Independence Day this week. It sounds so weird to say her 2nd anything, because up until this event everything has been her first! She got to see fireworks on both the third and the fourth and loved them. She clapped for them...it was cute! She also go to see her cousin, Alex, in his 1st 4th of July parade. Alex decorated a wagon with red, white and blue crepe paper and balloons and pulled it behind him in the parade. It was a fun day, we definitely enjoyed the day off and the three of us had a blast hanging out as a family!

Happy 1st Birthday Ashley!

Ashley celebrated her first birthday today! Today as I reflected back on her first year, I kept thinking to myself how lucky I am to have been blessed with such a sweet, wonderful, loving, vivacious, innocent, explorative, smart, healthy, rambuncous (at times), inquisitive, world embrassing, friendly, intelligent, silly, beautiful little girl who loves to show you things and share with you. God is amazing. I sometimes wonder to myself why he trusted me to raise her, but I selfishly am so glad that he did. She truly is a blessing, she is my JOY! And she is ONE today! We, like any other crazy parents, gave her her very own cake. Be forewarned...about 1 million pictures follow this post. I couldn't help myself...I just had to capture every second of this precious moment!

Ashley's 11th Month

I can't belive it, my little baby is almost a year old. This year has flown by so quickly. It is amazing to think back to when Ashley was first born and how much she depended on Mommy and Daddy to help her do everything. It is amazing to see how much she has changed and grown and how much she can do for herself now. Here are some photos from her 11th month.



She will watch TV sometimes...but only if it is Barney, Finding Nemo, or Johnny and the Sprites.



She loves to read. I think we could give away all her toys and she'd be just fine as long as she had her books to read.




She likes to put things in her bus and then push them around. She is a smart little thing...the other day she pushed her bus up to the couch and climbed on top of her bus and then onto the couch...YIKES!!!

Father's Day

Ashley and Eric celebrated their 1st Father's Day. Ashley loves her daddy so much! When he gets home from work she sprints to him as fast as she can with the biggest smile on her face...it's really cute! She definitely knows who her daddy is...you can ask her, "Where's Daddy?" and she'll point to him....TOO CUTE!