Summer Time = Relaxation?

NOT IN THIS HOUSE! This summer has been busy busy busy! We've had quite a few projects that have been sitting on a to do list for over a year now - so we've taken this summer to get to it and start checking them off one by one ;) Here's some of what we've been working on...

1) Removal of two HUGE Willow Trees that were tapping into our sprinkler lines and were wrecking havoc on our foundation. It was sad to see these trees go because they were so large and were one of the selling points when we purchased this house almost two years ago - but after living with them and their consequences for two years - we made the decision to say adios to them! Eric planted a live oak in place of the one out front - maybe in 20 years it will be big too :) You will notice in the first picture (the one that was in the backyard) that our neighbor took the liberty of whacking half of it off last summer at the fence line - gotta love that! {sarcasm!} Hope they don't read this blog!! But honestly, this tree was a pain - so I sort of understand...

2) Granken is building Ashley a playhouse in the backyard - he is doing an AMAZING job and she is one lucky little girl. She has loved taking him water every weekend while he works on it - and says, "Granken build Asheee house and Daddy paint it". It is really cute to watch her play in it - she loves it already! There are still a few more things to do to the outside - install the windows, doors and shutters, window boxes and few other little things - and then I think we'll hold off on finishing out the inside until Fall when it's cooler - POOR GRANKEN - it's way too hot out there for this!! He sure does love his little granddaughter! Thanks Dad ~ you're the best! And sorry to all our friends out there - he is not accepting orders :)

3) Replacing all the gold in our house - we started with the door knobs and will soon move on to the fans - so one by one Mommy and Ashley have been taking off the gold knobs and replacing them with the pretty rustic bronze ones...Ashley is great with a screwdriver...just keep her away from the drill...

4) Painting the exterior of the house - ok - so we did not tackle this one on our own - we hired Premier Painting - and they did a FABULOUS job! If you need a good painter - call them!

After - they did such a great job!

5) Organizing Mommy's Craft Room

before = big MESS

after = organized BLISS :)

Happy Father's Day & VBS

We had a great Father's Day - went to church, then over to Granken & Gigi's house for lunch - after a quick nap we headed over to Pops & Nana's house for dinner. It was great to hang out with family --- but the day went by much too quickly!

Ashley painted some pottery for her Daddy and gave it to him - he loved it - especially because Ashley made it for him and even put her handprint on it. In all the rush of the morning getting ready for church and all, Mommy forgot to wrap the heart that Ashley painted for Daddy - so after he opened the football chip & dip platter she painted him - Ashley ran to the kitchen and started saying "ashley paint heart" - and Mommy said WHOOPS! forgot about that one :) So Mommy & Ash ran into Mommy's closet and came back out with the heart Ashley had painted for Daddy. Of course he loved the heart too. Ashley has the best little memory (and maybe all kids do - but seriously, she remembered that she also painted a heart for Daddy about 3 weeks ago). Smart little Cookie :)


Today was Ashley's first day of Vacation Bible School - here's a quick shot we took this morning before heading up to church. Ashley had a blast - she told me she played and had fun - she also told me that Jesus helps boo-boos :) So sweet :) I love our church and love that they have this wonderful week long outreach! There were thousands of kids there today and I pray that many of them will be forever changed by this experience. I'm so thankful that I'm able to help out this year as well - this is something that I've been wanting to do for the past 5 years - but since I had always had a job before it was difficult to do. I had thought about taking a week of vacation last year to help out - but ultimately decided not to. So I'm so thankful that this year I can help out. I have a wonderful class of just turned 3 years olds. They are all so sweet and truly a blessing to love on this week.

It's A Small World After All...

it's a small world after all...it's a small small small world....I know you are all saying thank-you to me right about now.

That has got to be the all time most "get stuck in your head" song of all time. But I didn't post that just to be mean :) We went to Disney World a little over a week ago with Nana & Pops, Tiff, Larry and Alex and Sam. We had a BLAST! I was so amazed at how much Ashley was able to do at 2 yrs old. She rode tons of rides, ate all the food, met all the characters and loved them all and got to see some really cool parades. We had so much fun! We spent 5 days in the parks and then 4 days on the Disney Cruise. I must say that I was a little nervous about taking a 2 year old on a cruise ship...but Disney had it covered! SO SAFE! I wasn't worried about her going overboard at all once we got there! If you're planning a vacation, I'd HIGHLY recommend this cruise! Anyways! on to the pictures! We have a little over 400 - sooooooo I'm going to pick the top 10 for the blog....

We spent 3 days at Magic Kingdom, 1 day at Hollywood Studios, and 1 day at Animal Kingdom. All the kids loved each of the parks. Here is our first picture - with the castle in the background. Everytime Ashley would come in sight of this - she would get all excited, point at it and say "castle" in her sweet little voice.

Here's a pic we snapped outside our hotel on the second day before heading to Magic Kingdom - the grounds were really pretty, so we took advantage for a little family photo op.

This is a pic of Ashley inside the Honey I shrunk the Kids playground. I was a little surprised to see that they still had this, being that it was a movie that has long since come and gone - I remember it from when I was younger (ok, maybe I wasn't that young...but anyways)...Ashley loved it and so did Alex! I think they spent a good hour in there while Sam napped happily in the stroller.

Here is Ashley with some of her "loot" - perhaps we spoiled the little toot on this vacation...but come on....it's DISNEY WORLD!
Another family shot - Disney has some great flower/bush/gardening photo opportunities.
Here is Ashley with some of her favorite characters - the Chipmunks are a close second to Minnie. Ashley absolutely LOVED getting to meet them! I'm pretty sure that she thought they were Alvin, Simon and Theodore though - b/c she has been watching that movie lately - but she didn't seem to notice there were only two of these --- and since they can't talk --- they didn't tell her their names were Chip & Dale :) Works for us! She loves her "munkmunks" as she calls them.
Daddy and Ashley flying the skies on Dumbo - we rode this one a few times b/c Ashley requested it!
Another one of those cool garden/flower things that I was talking about.

Meeting Mickey & Minnie for the first time. This picture isn't the best - she really did like them ( I promise) she even gave them both a hug and a kiss before leaving. It was precious...hopefully it's on the video we took!
We headed to downtown disney one night - our hotel had a little boat that would shuttle you down the river to it - so fun! Here are Ashley and Alex playing around with a statue of Mickey and Minnie. And yes, this is photo #10 - but I can't stop! It's too hard...so here's some more.
And yet another of the great garden photo ops!
She met apprentice Mickey at Hollywood Studios and also loved him! You can see her cute little smile in this one - sorry for the blurry shot! I need to go to photography school apparently!

Here is Ashley standing on the window sill in our room on the Disney Wonder. We had a really nice room with plenty of room for the pack-n-play.

Here are Ashley and I sporting our oh so cute bright orange life preservers getting ready for the drill before setting sail. I thought Ashley looked adorable in hers - it was a little one that fit her just right...too cute - thankful this was the only time we had to put them on though!

And here is a shot of us right before we set sail.

One night on the ship was the "Pirate Party" very fun. So here are Daddy and Ashley in their pirate gear.

You can't go on a cruise and not be impressed by the towel animals...Ashley certainly was!

Ashley with Belle, the boat had all the characters aboard...it was great!

Ashley enjoying her breakfast before we docked for Disney Cay (Disney Island).

In line waiting to see Daisy!

and seeing Daisy on Disney Island.
Fun in the SUN!

They had these cute bouyees (however you spell that!) so we had to take a family picture by them!
And Ashley absolutely EXHAUSTED from the day at the beach - and perhaps the entire trip starting to take its tole on her...

Ashley with her FAVORITE minnie - on the cruise. Minnie and Mickey got all decked out for the last night of the cruise. Ashley absolutely loves MINNIE! It was a great vacation. It was just so much fun to see how excited Ashley was about each and everything we did and saw.

The Next Top Fashion Plate?

...perhaps...perhaps not....

Ashley and I layed low last Friday so I let her dress herself. I usually give her a choice between two outfits that I have picked out (that match) - but today, since we were staying around the house I let her go in her closet and pick something out. At first she just got the purple shirt and pink shorts - ok, I guess - not all that matchy....but not awful. So we started out the day in that....but then she disappeared upstairs for awhile (yes, she now goes up and down as she pleases - which at first scared me to death....but she does pretty good and goes slow - so I let her), but anyways - she came down w/ some socks and a pastel colored bracelet - socks are pink and lime green with little froggies on them - ok...not what I would have picked to coordinate with the pink shorts and purple shirt...but whatever, right? and then about an hour later she again disappeared again and came back down with her black patent leather shoes and a red bow....and a pink and black plaid purse....I put the bow in her hair and she put on her shoes...and here she is....I guess this is what you get when you let an almost 2 year old choose her own outfit. As I sat there looking at her outfit - I giggled to myself - well, I guess she won't be the next top clothing designer ---- but then I started recalling the runway shows I've seen ---- and honestly Ashley's outfit looks very much like what you see on the runways (CRAZINESS and never something that I would choose) - so maybe she does have a career in fashion design afterall. We'll see :)

In Recent Days...and not so recent days!

Ashley has been busy lately - she went to a Rough Riders game a few weeks ago and had a blast! She loved watching the ball - and would say "nope" each time the batter didn't hit the ball...and would clap when they did (we haven't quite gotten the two different team concept down yet, but we're just excited that she likes to watch the game). She also got to spend some time with Duece and got a balloon puppy dog made.

We've also been taking advantage of the super cool spring weather this year - lots of lunch dates at the park. Ashley LOVES to play outside!

Today we went to the Butterfly Festival where Ashley got to "play" with the butterflies. Here's a pic of her with one of her new friends. She absolutely loved the butterfly festival. After the festival we stopped by a store and Ashley got a Vet Kit - here she is performing an exam on her new puppy. Very cute ;)

And these pictures were taken with my iPhone - however, I just figured out how to get the pictures off the camera - yes, they are from before Christmas! Well, I guess I should rephrase that - Eric got the pictures off for me :) I'm sure it's not hard, but I just haven't figured it out yet. So one day before Christmas we forgot to take Ashley's stroller to the mall w/ us - so she got to drive her first car...she thought it was great. And then she got to ride the carousel with Daddy - again, super fun!

Who needs a chair?

So yesterday Ashley was being really really fussy and extremely needy (like the ENTIRE day - which is soooo out of character for her!!) - and I needed to do some laundry - so I set her up in her catepillar chair with my favorite soft blanket - got her a sippy full of milk - got her her baby and then put on her favorite movie for her to watch for awhile - Ratatouille.

I went into the laundry room - got the load switched from the washing machine to the dryer and got another load started in the washer - came back out and this is what I saw - I just had to snap a pic!

Apparently, Ashley did not care that I had just spent 15 minutes making her the most pampered and comfortable 22 month old on the block - she had taken the box we got at Costco earlier in the day and brought it into the family room - placed it in front of the tv...and apparently proceeded to settle in to watch her movie from the coziness of this tiny olive oil box :)

HUGE GIVEAWAY!!!

If you haven't yet heard about this.... CHECK IT OUT! There are currently over 400 sites giving aways free items - like giftcards, baby gear, cookbooks, all kinds of stuff...worth your while to check it out....

The BOX!

Ashley got a sandbox a few weeks ago and has LOVED playing in it each & every day (that it hasn't hailed or rained!) She refers to it as "the box" - pretty cute :) She loves to pour the sand and use her shovel to dig around and fill up her buckets that Memaw & Papaw got her for Easter. She is our little tan monkey! Ash LOVES playing outside and would much rather spend every waking hour outdoors than indoors. I'm not sure how she got so tan - b/c I'm definitely still white as can be and I've been outside w/ her every time. Guess she's one of those lucky girls ;) like my sister!



Here are Ash and Daddy reading the instructions on how to set up the sandbox and adjoining table. As you can see here, Ash was a big helper!

And here she is enjoying her sand box. I love it that it came w/ it's own little umbrella - perfect to keep her out of the hot sun! I'm sure many more fun times will be had by all in this "box".

The Results are in....and there's no more denying it!

Ashley officially looks more like her mother than her father. See below for the 100% error proof test that was performed by the Look-a-Like Meter.

Here Comes the Bride!

We woke up early Friday morning to hop on a plane to Arizona so that we could be a part of Katy's wedding (my best friend from high school). We had a great time and Katy's wedding was amazing! She had an outdoor ceremony on a PERFECT 70 degree day and then a nighttime reception under a beautiful white tent with get this....super cool wrought iron chandeliers hanging from the tent and a candy bar (I soooooo wish I had a picture of this - it was so cool!!!).
Here's the bride getting ready! Katy was a beautiful bride (she's absolutely gorgeous anyways...but she looked stunning on her big day). Eric and Ash spent Saturday at the zoo while I hung out w/ Katy and the other bridesmaids getting our makeup and hair done...it was super fun! and made me realize how much Katy and I are so alike!!! I miss that girl...and wish we didn't live in two different states!

Ashley and Daddy at the reception. Ashley did so great the entire weekend - we are very proud of our little daughter - she was up early, out really late and on the go go go the whole weekend and with two plane rides crammed in there we were shocked at how great she did :) YEA!!!!

Here are some shots from our hotel - it had a really pretty courtyard and amazing flowers --- but then again most of Phoenix had really big beautiful flowers!