Yuck!!

Well, I think the stomach flu has hit our house. We've all been battling cold flu stuff off and on for a while, I think we just keep passing it around. Ainsleigh and Brody have both had bad coughs and congestion for a while, but there has been a stomach flu going around both at church and at daycare. I have been not so eagerly awaiting it, but expecting it none the less. This morning as I was doing the last few things to get myself ready to run errands - still had to get her ready, I heard the very distinct sound of puking. I ran out to the stairwell, and there she was, new robe on, and looking very distraught over what had happened. She threw up 3 more time in the next 2 minutes, in a way I knew wasn't just from coughing. So, we scrapped the plan for going out, and have hung out here today. Her newest obsession is Dora & Diego, i've got to get a video clip of some of the words & sayings from that. The rest of the morning was spent chilling on the couch wrapped up in blankets. She has still been drinking well, and only thrown up once since the first episode, so maybe we got a quick run through of it :). I couldn't resist a picture of her all curled up on the couch, and she was happy enough to say cheese for me, only after each picture was taken. She's been asleep for 3 1/2 hours now, so i'm sure that will help, and I sure have been able to get a lot more done around here. Well, I best be going i've got fold all the laundry i've been putting in while cleaning the house up. Have a great day everyone, hopefully mine remains the same.

new robe

It's hard to find robes for little ones Ainsleigh's size, so I decided to make her one. She likes to cuddle in her towel after her baths, but she wiggles so much she's hardly covered up and gets cold. I didn't like the patterns I found on the internet, so I thought about it a lot until I came up with how to do one myself using a regular size bath towel and a hand towel. It is still really big, bigger than I thought it would end up, but she seems to like it and it will keep her warm. I suppose this way she can grow into it. I think she can walk in it and not trip over it, but just barely. As you can see, she's not just out of the bath in these photos, but I had just finished it (it's been an ongoing project for well over a month), and wanted to see how it fit.

cake decorating

Last month for enrichment we decorated cakes - I learned a little, the person who was going to teach it couldn't make it because her child was sick. But, there were other who knew some things and some instructions, so I tried. The greatest thing I learned is that if you have cool tips, you can do some decent decorating without being a pro. I totally forgot I had taken these pictures until I went to copy some others from my camera. As you can see, I didn't think to take any pictures until it was cut, but I thought it turned out decently for my first time even doing it. I get to try again for Ainsleigh's birthday party next weekend, and it will be a bit harder, so we'll see. I'll for sure take pictures of that.

nothing new

Well, I hadn't posted in a while, but i'm used to posting with new pictures, and I haven't taken too many lately. Ainsleigh continues to be a joy every day. She is counting and practicing her alphabet constantly. I'll try to catch it on video, it's pretty entertaining. She also actually jumped, both feet off at the same time, the bottom stair and then the couch on Wednesday!! She also loves marching, stomping her feet while saying, "stomp your feet", requesting that you do it as well. She learned these at "school", as well as "shake your body" - which she regularly does in her crib when I get her up in the morning. She loves school, or anywhere else that she gets to play with other kids. This morning at church she rather loudly said "yeah nerfwy!!" at the beginning of the opening, imtermediate, and closing songs in church. It was pretty hilarious. Not much else is new here. I'm doing the same old. I get to go to YW more with my lessened work schedule, and just overall feel like I have a lot more of a handle on being a wife, mother, and me. Brody continues to work quite a bit, do church stuff, and ski when he can. He's been playing church ball and enjoys that. The cold virus is making it's way through our famiy for what seems like the millionth time this winter and is hitting Brody hard, hopefully he can get over it quickly. Hope this finds everyone doing well. I'll try to some new/interesting photos this week, and if not before then Ainsleigh turns 2 in 1 1/2 weeks on March 3rd!!! We'll be having a family party the saturday after that (the 8th), and i'm sure i'll get some good pics there. Take care and keep in touch.

The weather has been very nice here lately (i'm actually posting this on Sunday Feb 24th). We've really been enjoying it. It's been sunny and mostly in the mid-high 50's (still chilly, but plenty warm enough to be outside as long as you have a jacket on). I've tried to spend as much time outside as possible, Ainsleigh loves it, and you never know when it's going to start raining again.

She's on her bike more, but still can't seem to get pedaling down, I think seeing other kids riding their bikes will help as there are more in the neighborhood, maybe her cousins can teach her also.




Having fun at the park. She picked up on going down the slide by herself right away - it was so much fun to watch.


This is her going up the stairs and down the "little" slide - she does it very proficiently, this took all summer to get down last year.

I talked her into going down the big slide, and she loved it, she kept running around and climbing up and going down it again. But, I discovered filming this clip that she has to be caught at the bottom. She doesn't weight enough I guess. So, I caught her every time before and definetily after this!! She was fine, got a little mud on her pants, then jumped right back up and ran around to do it again, requesting that I follow and do it with her. Needless to say, we had a lot of fun.

Daddy's shorts

Saturday night we had been folding clothes, and in the process of getting her ready for bed Ainsleigh was only in a diaper when she decided it would be great to put on daddy's shorts. We had a really hard time getting a good picture of it, she would move and they would fall down, and then often she would fall down, but you get the idea. She had both legs through one leg also, which didn't help the whole running with them on idea.

playgroup

Macy, Eliana, Isaac, Jacob, Ainsleigh, Kenzie


A few weeks ago at playgroup I was trying to catch Ainsleigh and Jacob (jay-bob per Ainsleigh) doing ring around the rosy. As soon as I pulled out the camera they all started saying picture picture rather loudly and lined up for the shoot. Neither one is amazing of everyone, but it's totally cute just the same.

Dancing with daddy

while I was at work last weekend, Brody and Ainsleigh were dancing in our bedroom, now she want music so we can dance almost anytime we're in the bedroom, it's pretty funny.

Snow Much Fun

looking at our place from across the street, the snow on the cars is from less than 2 hours of snowing.

Ains all bundled up - isn't she just the cutest :)

neighbor frind Zane (Zank as Ainsleigh says it)

looking down the street.

January 29th it snowed here!! We went outside and played in it with Zane, the neighbor across the street. It was snowing really hard, we got a couple inches REALLY fast. Here's some pics and video from that night. It stuck well, and stayed all night, but was gone by the next afternoon.

Nana & Camrie's visit

kissing is serious business for Ainsleigh!!



While Brody and I were in Seattle, Nana came and brought Camrie with her. Ainsleigh was beside herself with excitment. I had told her for a while that Nana was coming, but Camrie was a surprise. The girls had an absolute blast together. Ainsleigh was so enthralled she hardly even noticed Brody and I were gone. The girls played a ton, and ran around the house constantly. At the end of each day, they were really tired. Camrie left on Monday (they came Thursday afternoon), and Nana stayed until the following Sunday so Ainsleigh got time just with her as well.

Seattle Anniversary Trip

Pike's fish market - a classic Seattle spot

These are the view from the space needle - talk about an amazing day weather wise, especially for Seattle!!


This shows our hotel from the Space needle - it's the one with big blocks of beige, green and dark brown on the side - i'll try to figure out a way to point to our room and upload a new pic with it.

At the Space Needle.

In the butterfly room at the Pacific Science Center - it was very cool!!

The view of the Space Needle from our hotel room balcony - our hotel was in the perfect spot for us!!




some construction on the opposite side of our hotel from the space needle, there was a lot of construction - building new condo buildings. I guess gas prices have made people want to move into the city.




A few weeks ago Brody and I went to Seattle for our 7th anniversary! We had a great time. My mom came to take care of Ainsleigh, and brought my 3 1/2 year old niece Camrie as a HUGE bonus for Ains. Brody and I walked nearly everywhere and went to Pike's Market, the Space Needle, the Seattle Center, to a U2 3D movie, to a nice restaurant for dinner, and to the greatest REI we've seen yet. It was wonderful to have some time for us, enjoy being together, and discover new places together.

We happened to be at the fish market the same time as a guy shooting video for last comic standing or one of those shows - it was pretty funny, he was pretty funny, don't know if you'll be able to get it from the video, but we thought it was cool.

Christmas Craze

Here's a slide show of Christmas time in Southern Oregon. There's Ainsleigh with cousins, opening gifts at my mom's house, her "big gift" - a bike, and the craziness of all the cousins opening presents at once at my dad's house. The one of her in the chair is just a funny one, no one else fits in the chair- just teddy bears, Ains loved it because it was just her size!!

random funny photos

These are just funny photos of Ainsleigh an dher love of winter hats. The red is jammies day at school (daycare), with her awesome striped hat. The other is her all bundled up at the park by our house.

singing

Since mid December Ainsleigh has loved singing, she has gotten better, but it's hard (as you can tell from this video) to catch her, so i'll try this coming week. I'ts pretty funny, and sometimes I notice her singing to her babies and such. She is also loving to count (she can get to 6 really well), and singing the alphabet, it's a riot.

playing with Abby

Just before Christmas we went to Abby's to play (and so the moms could visit). The girls had fun, as always, and them playing with these giant bags was too cute to pass up.

chapstick fun

On the way to the airport to leave Florida Ainsleigh was tired of being in the car, I gave her my chapstick to occupy her. She often uses some chapstick when I do, but I had no idea she would end up like this... All I could do was laugh at her, and clean her up once we stopped.