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Family Snowfall Holiday

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Like Father Like Daughter.

Ashley's favorite book recently has been Peter Rabbit. Tonight, when mentioning Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail, and Peter Rabbit, we asked her who her favorite was. I fully expected her to say Peter. He's naughty after all, and she has a little bit of that in herself. She can be a little bit mischievious at times. Nope, it wasn't Peter. Cottontail maybe? Nope. Ah, it must have been Flopsy or Mopsy. They have such cute names. That has to be it. Nope. She said, Momma, I don't like Peter. I like him....Mr. McGregor. I see Mike grin. Yes, that's her favorite...Mr. McGregor who chases Peter everywhere with a hoe in his hand. Yes, Ashley is hoping that just once, Mr. McGregor catches Peter and puts him in a pie. This doesn't really surprise me considering who her daddy is. He once ranted for 10 minutes explaining that Robin Hood was not a hero but a thug. I can't wait to read Hansel and Gretel. I can hear both of them now fully justifying the story....They broke in to her house after all. She made Daddy proud. I'm sure he will somehow convince her to root for Tom in the Tom vs. Jerry saga also.

Mystery Solved.

For weeks now, Ashley has insisted on wearing panty hose and a T-shirt. That's right...panty hose and a T-shirt. It has been a struggle to keep my tone even while I explain for the 80th time that we must cover our bottoms when in public. I would finally get her in a dress but the second we would return home, off it would come. I also had conversations with her teacher every day because Ashley would ask her to remove the dress. I could not for the life of me figure out what was going on. I was starting to worry about her future as a stripper or exhibitionist or goodness knows what. Well, last night the mystery was solved. She was putting on a bandaid and said with attitude "Dora has on hose and is not wearing a dress". What? I looked at the bandaid. Ah...the lovely Dora. I should have known. Ashley's amiga was wearing a leotard. I explained what a leotard is and when it would be appropriate. She wants one for her birthday and luckily, she dressed appropriately this morning without complaint.

Growing Taller.

Ashley has just reached the height where she can switch the lightswitch on and off. Sometimes, if she comes at it at a bad angle, she can't quite reach it. This happened recently one night and just as I was about to help her - "Stand with you feet together and legs straight" or "Try again", she looked at me and shrugged and said "No green beans". I realized immediately what she meant and had to hide my laughter. She had been watching a PBS show called "Caillou" and had heard that eating vegetables would help you grow big and strong. That night, at dinner, she had said "No thank you" when I offered her green beans. She assumed that since she had not eaten them, that was the reason why she could not reach the lightswitch. She has not said "No thank you" to a vegetable since that night and has hit a growth spurt. I am going to milk this one for all it's worth :).

Good Parenting.

I can remembering seeing a photo of my brother when he was a toddler drinking from a puddle. I love that picture but then I thought to question how the picture came to be. Shouldn't my parents have told Clay not to drink from the puddle? Instead, they said 'Do it again now that I have the camera ready'. Of course I thought I would do things differently. The other day, I saw Ashley giving Drew his first taste of popsicle. She licked it and then gave some to him and then took it back. Yes, a part of me thought 'Gross...germs' but the part that thought 'How cute, they're sharing' won out and I ran to grab the camera. Man, I am good at this parenting stuff :).

You know you are a big deal when...

Ashley and I have this ritual at bedtime. When I tuck her in bed, I ask her who she is going to think about while she is going to sleep and who she will dream about. Her responses range from Mommy and Daddy to Drew to Caillou (PBS show) to Arthur (another PBS show). Well, her answer since Christmas has been "Aunt B". This is my Aunt Becky who lives in Texas (but was in Covington with us for Christmas). You know you are a big deal when you consistently make this list :).

Christmas

We had a good Christmas in Covington with the Turners. Ashley and Drew enjoyed playing with all of their cousins (Holden, Allie, Hopkins, Ashford, and Nathan) and they loved seeing Uncle Clay. Ashley's highlight was her Dora umbrella. I enjoyed visiting with all my Turner cousins on Christmas Eve. Ashley loved making gingerbread houses with Kim and reindeer food with Liz. Paul Roy brought Santa by the house. Adrian and his new wife Lori were there and I was excited to catch up with Wesley.

We went to visit Uncle Glenn and Aunt Cindy Hensley out in Garland. We had to postpone a visit to my cousin Kim Wright (on the Hensley side) due to illness in her family. Instead, we crashed a party at Nicole and Jan Wade Hensley's house. We got to catch up with lots of cousins. I was so excited to get my cousin Michele's email address...of course now I am having trouble finding it but I'm sure it will turn up.

Trick or Treat

Drew the chicken and Ashley the zebra had lots of fun trick or treating. Ashley had a special bag from Ms. Tiffany and Mr. Tony across the street. Her favorite part was waiting for trick or treaters at our house (we had a picnic on the front porch). Drew's favorite part was taking the chicken outfit off....poor sweaty little boy.

Happy Birthday Yago.

Ashley went to a costume party to celebrate her friend Yago's birthday. There was one issue when Santi (Yago's dad) tried to take the gift from her. She took me literally when I told her to deliver the gift to Yago.

Another outfit

Here is another of Ashley's outfits. The goggle sunglasses were an important addition. She is a big believer in accessories.

Ashley and her clothes...

Ashley loves to dress herself. It is quite difficult to get her to wear anything I want her to...yes, I realize she's two and I'm bigger but we try to not fight her too much on silly things.

This is an outfit she put together. I tried to tell her that it doesn't match. She pointed to the purple stripe on her shirt...and then pointed to a purple flower on her shorts...and said Matches. How do you even argue with that? I think she pulled off the ensemble. May she always have that confidence :).

The After Picture

Here's his photo after the haircut.

Drew's first haircut

Drew had his first haircut this weekend. I had not planned on cutting it for the first year but about 4 or 5 people commented she is so cute at the pumpkin patch in Huntsville. Yes...time for a cut.

Pumpkin Patches

OK...sorry guys. I will try not to go away for so long next time. Things are going fine. We are gearing up for the holiday season...Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas. Ashley is starting to think that pumpkin patches are the place to be. This is Ashley and Drew in a corn bin.

Let me tell you about Ashley.

Ashley gets to go to her friend Sam's birthday party later today. I have been telling her to practice singing him Happy Birthday. Happy Day Happy Happy Day Sammy Sam Sam Sammy Sammy. It's going to be interesting at that point in the party when she tells everyone that they are singing it wrong. And I love that she takes the liberty of nicknaming him. Nice.

So, for those of you who know me really well, you are all aware that I can't dance. At all. Well, if I am extremely comfortable and relaxed, I will dance anyway. I do these silly exaggerated moves around the house. It keeps Mike laughing. Ashley does kind of giggle....but then she says No dance Momma. That confirms it completely. I can't dance.

Random signs

This past weekend, I met my friend Kristie Cross at Big South Fork to go hiking. On the way, I had to drive through many many small towns on back roads. Well...let me just say, I LOVE small towns. Really. I do. I'm from a small town and would move back there in 2 seconds. Why don't I live there, you ask? Mike said I will never live here the first time he visited my hometown. Yes, the first time. I thought it was a little presumptuous myself but I did marry him...so how presumptuous could it have been really? Anyway, Mike and I love driving through small towns. You find the best restaurants that way. We love Big Ed's Pizza. Have you ever been there? There is next to no lighting and the pizza is served on tiny paper plates. Seriously, their overhead has to be close to nothing. Well, once, when we were looking for Big Ed's, we took a wrong turn. While we were trying to find our way, we pass this church sign that said WWJD?..he wouldn't be making meth. Nice. The sign I saw this weekend does not even come close to that...but was amusing nonetheless. It Ain't Hardee's...but it ain't bad. I'm just imagining living somewhere that Hardee's is the best option. And if that is the best thing you can say about your restaurant, I think I'll keep driving. I did keep driving but I immediately called Mike to tell him about it.

He's a big boy...

We took Drew to the doctor for a 3 month follow-up visit. His head is the same size that Ashley's was at 6 months. His weight is going to catch up to Ashley's sooner rather than later.

Ashley's birthday

On the day of Ashley's actual birthday, we took her to the zoo and then to eat at Red Robin. She liked it but got a little scared when they sang to her.

Seriously...who is watching Ashley?

I don't have to tell some of you this...the addition of a second child has been a rude awakening for us. We are not used to not having a free second to relax. This was the source of quite a bit of friction in those first few weeks. Now, I think we are getting the swing of things. Well, the picture is from one night when Uncle Jim (Mike's brother-in-law) was visiting. I was feeding Drew and we were all just chatting. Ashley was in the same room with us and found an ink pen. Not one of us noticed until she came to show me her work.

Nothing too exciting...

Don't tell Ashley but Drew is maybe the best baby in the world. For the most part, he has been a very easy baby. We have been very lucky. He is sleeping through the night. The challenge at the moment is that he gets himself loose from his swaddle blanket and then wakes himself up. I would love for him to sleep on his stomach...but we are supposed to wait until he can roll over. We'll have to practice that.

Ashley turns two on Monday. Cserno put together a Schwinn tricycle for her last night. Yes, that's right...a Schwinn. We didn't go overboard or anything. Cserno wanted actual wheels rather than plastic ones so this is the one that won out after his reviews. You should have seen the warnings on the box...don't ride near the street, near a sloped driveway, near cars. It pretty much covered everything. Hopefully, Ashley will be excited even though it is not pink or purple. I can hear her now..."Ashley's!" which is what she says about our house, about Drew, and everything else...she's possessive.

Drew starts "school" on June 23rd and I am going back to work. I am working for Aspect as a contractor for the next 7 months. My boss is amazing and I love working for her. I will miss keeping Drew at home and surfing the internet during his naps. I've had plenty of days where I'm like...that was it. That is the end of the internet. There is nothing left to look up. Then, we discover Facebook (if you have never looked at that, please get on there...) and I look up all my old friends. Some of my friends on there went to Elementary School with me...Go Bulldogs!