Spring/Summer

I LOVE Spring and Summer - ok, I love all seasons at some point. But I definitely love when I am able to go out and plant all of my flowers, trim my roses, and of course start my garden. I really have a true passion for growing my own garden and being able to go pull something out and set it on the dinner table! Of course when we moved into to our new house I have had to start completely over - I greatly missed my garden last year and was very sad not to see all of my tulips pop up - but on to bigger and better things. I am happy to report that my wonderful husband has made sure my spots for the garden in the retaining wall were all set up just in time. Yes the poor guy had to carry buckets of dirt up the hill - but he did a great job. I have planted tomatoes - all kinds - big, small, yellow, red - hopefully we will get some before Ashley picks all of them and eats them. I planted 6 of them so hopefully it will be enough. I have peppers, artichokes, eggplant, cucumber, cilantro, radish's, and lettuce - and of course lot's of strawberries. Yahoo!!

For Mother's Day this year I was very spoiled. We went to Lowe's and I got to pick all sorts of new flowers for all of my pots out front and back. It was great!! We also picked up 2 new rose bushes that are doing wonderful!! A really nice white rose with red edges - and a new purple rose bush! I have found a new favorite flower - unfortunately I don't know what the name of it is so I will have to do some research - picture attached for anyone who might know!

And I can't post without adding some pictures of the girls. It has been a rough couple of weeks again. Hailey had an ear infection, Ashley had a small case of croup. Then we had to take Ashley to the ER and she had a beginning case of pneumonia and Hailey caught a cold. I am happy to report that they both are doing better all though Hailey's front top tooth still hasn't popped thru!

Jump-O-Lene

For Ashley's Birthday we got her a Jump-o-lene - a smaller version of a trampoline. Sort of like a blow up pool but for jumping. It has been a big hit with Ashley - and Hailey. Ashley loves it when Larry bounces it and she flies up in the air. Hailey likes to be bounced too - and try to climb up the sides - yes she is our climber!

Ashley is 3 Years Old!!

Ashley has been talking about her birthday for months - not that she actually understood when it was coming - but she loves cake, and the singing and she knows it is a special day. Her special day is May 12th and she is a full 3 fingers!!

We had a party on Saturday for her - decorated while she was taking a nap. This is her seeing the decorations when she got up - she was very surprised!

We had a great time - the weather wasn't very nice so we stayed in side which was fine. Ashley wanted Little Einsteins for her party so we were full of Little Einsteins! She wasn't sure about everyone singing Happy Birthday but she blew out her candles all by herself. For the first time this year she even opened all of her gifts - it took awhile but she did it. Normally she opens one and has to play for awhile and then she will open another one, and on and on. She was stuck on a book and everyone kept having to tell her that she can read it later - let's open more. She is funny!

It's hard to believe that my little girl is 3 years old - I am so proud of her. She is a good person with such a big heart!

1 Binky down - 1 To Go

Both of my girls were comfort suckers from the minute they were born. So binky's are always in reach. We toyed with the idea of working Ashley away from them before Hailey was born - but it was that or potty training - we went with the potty training. I actually worked it out after Hailey was born that she could only have them at night - which was a hard transition but she did it.

Last week she went to bed one night and she was so worried about how many animals and Barbie's and books were in bed with her - that she totally forgot to ask for her binky - Score!!! I took this and ran with it. She has been proud that she can show she is 2 with her fingers so I used that and told her that when you are 2 you aren't supposed to have binkys.

A week later we are going strong - only a few nights of whimpering for her bink - and now she doesn't even ask. Yahoo!!

It's funny that I can feel so accomplished by this one thing - it is totally her accomplishment - but I feel like I was a co-pilot in it all.

Take Your Kid to Work Day

Last week I got the opportunity to take Ashley to work with me. It was a ton of fun!! Did I get any work done - no, not at all - but it was worth it.
For awhile now I have been concerned about Ashley being shy. I was a shy kid and it was hard in school so I really hope that she isn't. I had talked to a couple of people at work about this - and Ashley made a liar out of me. This girl was talking to everyone - running around like she owned the place! Freddie brought her grandson Jonathan who is a year older then Ashley. By the end of the day Ashley was calling Freddie - Grandma, and Jonathan was now Jon. Too busy to call him by his full name!!
It was so much fun to be able to spend a whole day with her - and of course now I get asked every morning if she can go to work with me.