5 Months

Our little Ashi-poo is 5 months old today! Part of me can't believe the last 5 months have gone by so quickly; it seems like he should still be a tiny newborn, instead of a good-sized baby! Some 5 month milestones include rolling over both ways, pushing up to his knees and rocking back and forth, creeping by pushing off on his toes, blowing raspberries, grinning and laughing, and just being darn cute! He is SUCH a good-natured baby, smiles at everyone he sees and rarely fusses. He loves to be held and snuggled, when you pick him up he just lays his head on your shoulder and snuggles in.

Asher and Annabel are crazy about each other! I always have to get on her for trying to pick him up or laying on top of him (riding him), but secretly I think he likes it. He loves ANY attention from his big sister, and she's often the one to be able to get him laughing! It's nice, too, because when he's awake, I don't have to worry about entertaining her :) What a sweet addition he's been to our family ♥

Halloween 2010

Ugh, I've been so uninspired to blog lately. And the longer I go, the more overwhelming it gets, b/c I don't even know where to start. So tonight I"m going to start small, and show our fun Halloween pics. I had planned on Annabel going as a "princess," b/c her cousin Abby gave her a princess dress. Unfortunately... we didn't try it on until that day and it was waaaay too big- d'oh!

Soooo, we improvised and went as Fancy Nancy, haha. Pretty easy, when you consider all fancy Nancy wears is dress-up clothes! So we raided the dress-up basket, and did her hair very "fancy," with lots of curls and bows! Unfortunately... a coat doesn't look very "fancy," so we didn't last too long at the outdoor festivities, haha.

And Asher was a frog, because, well- that's what I had in the closet ;)

We went to a carnival at our church which was fun. Annabel loved the games and cotton candy!!

I know some people think Halloween is an abomination straight from the devil, but we enjoy it here ;)

First Haircut and More

Annabel got her first haircut! I wasn't sure how we would know when she needed her first haircut, but it definitely got to the point where the ends were so straggled and weak it was hard to brush. She did pretty well. There was some drama at first, but after a disastrous trip to the dentist the week before mommy was prepared with some bribery ;)

I imagine I'll be able to cut her hair myself for the most part, but I wanted her to have the special experience of going to see Miss Megan at the beauty salon! She kept telling me, "I'm like Fancy Nancy, at the Oh La La Beauty Day!" Haha. Her hair is much nicer to comb through, now.

Asher is a big boy! Yesterday he weighed in at 16+ lbs! I guess that means it's time to bring out the medium diapers, sigh. I thought I would get at least 5 months out of his smalls. He rolls over regularly, and loves his tummy time. He just props himself up on his elbow and looks around for 15-20 minutes at a time! He loves his big sister, and the feeling is mutual. She is forever laying by him, bringing him toys, "helping" him kick his feet... luckily he has a good sense of humor and tolerates her pretty well :)

I made the kids their hats for winter this year. Annabel got some fingerless gloves, too. Hopefully I'll get around to a scarf, too, but I have a lot of things in my queue before I can start on that! I love knitting so much :)

This was an outfit that Derek's grandma sent us that belonged to one of her boys. Though it was a bit too small already, I had to humor her by getting a picture of him in it! Pretty cute, for being 50 years old!

We've had to get really disciplined to get Annabel on a routine schedule. Derek and I are definitely not routine OR schedule people, so it's not easy for us. But it's important for our little 3-year-old! Bedtime routine has been the hardest, but the most rewarding. She now willingly puts herself to sleep every night, rather than me having to rock, sing and lay with her. This is how we find her most nights-

Haha! And yes, that's Asher's pacie... I swear she hides it until we go downstairs- she's nothing if not clever!

Gymbucks Giveaway

For those of you who aren't friends with my on facebook, I'm currently doing a giveaway for $50 in Gymbucks. These are a coupon for $50 a minimum purchase of $100 at Gymboree. I think you can also use them as $25 off a min $50 purchase. They expire on Oct 10. Leave a comment on this blog post by midnight tonight (Saturday 10/2) and I'll put you're name in to win! I can mail them out to you on Monday or email you the UPC code to use online. Good luck!

A County Fair Birthday

Sunday was an awesome day for a birthday party! When we got up, the sky was pretty gray and I was worried it might rain... but alas the sun came out and it was a beautiful afternoon! We really couldn't have asked for better weather. The theme for the party was "county fair," so I served fried chicken, corn on the cob, watermelon, caramel apples, popcorn, lemon shake-ups and whoopie pies filled with ice cream for dessert. I try to challenge myself to throw a great party on a budget, so I designed the above invitations myself on Adobe Illustrator. As complicated as that program was to learn, I was really proud of myself for how they turned out! They looked even better printed out on card stock, which I basically did for free at the school I work at! There are definite benefits to working somewhere with a technology lab and a print shop. :)

Before the party started, there was all the food to prepare. Annabel wanted to help assemble the whoopie pies :)


Annabel had been talking about her bounce house for MONTHS. She was so stinkin' excited about it. I underestimated how difficult it was to transport and set up, though, and for a few minutes I thought it might not actually happen. I was going to let daddy explain that one ;) However, they got it set up and the kids had an amazing time bouncing the afternoon away!









Asher had fun at the party, too!


This picture is the epitome of Asher's personality. He is always smiling, cooing, or flirting!


Poor kid got stuck in his car seat while we were setting up, but he was quite amused by these balloons!! He kept laughing as they would blow close to his face!


Spending some quality time with grammy


After eating, it was time for games and face painting. The kids waffled between pirates, butterflies and toy story paints :) This is my sweet cousin Abby, who while quite a bit older than the rest of the kids, kept them entertained and seemed to enjoy herself quite a bit!



After Annabel's face paint wore off, she just looked dirty ;) Actually, I think it's probably fair to say that she WAS pretty dirty by this point!

Then, FINALLY, time to open presents!! Oh, the joy!


A new umbrella! How fun!




A Bambi purse and some books


The hat mommy made her

She got so many lovely and fun presents! She got lots of books, including 3 new Fancy Nancy books, which she loves, lots of new craft stuff and a play-do factory! She also got a really cool princess dress, which I think she's going to wear for Halloween this year.

Sneaking some popcorn .... oh well, it's only your birthday once a year!

Milling about...

This gives you a closer look at the pennant banner I made for the party. I love the colors and the way it turned out!

After presents we amused ourselves by reading Fancy Nancy aloud. :) It's pretty amusing stuff.

Ashi thinks Fancy Nancy is pretty silly.

And after the party:

Both kiddos, completely zonked out!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MY LITTLE FANCY ANNABELLA!

Is it September already?!

This week has been my first week back to work after being off all summer. I won't lie, it's been a hard adjustment. I'm only working 3 days a week, but it just seems like we're so busy now. The night's are hectic because Annabel naps at daycare so getting her down for bed is a bear. And there's milk to prepare, bottles and pump parts to wash, lunch to pack, supper to make and baths to take, all while trying to sneak in some snuggles and fun. I find myself really missing the uncomplicated days of summer when we relaxed at home all day and got the little girl to sleep by 7 *sigh.* And to make it worse, it's been really hard sending Asher to daycare when he's still so young. I'm not super-comfortable with our daycare right now (just little things - or maybe not so little since I can't get them off my mind...) so I'm not really sure what to do about that. I need to work- obviously for financial reasons but also for licensing purposes, and we don't have a lot of options child-care-wise. So I guess I'm just praying and trusting that God will answer and provide.

On another note, I've started volunteering in the church nursery. I work every 4th Sunday as a "team leader." That basically just means I'm in charge of changing all diapers and doing the snack/story for the different classes :) Annabel likes to stay with me on those days instead of going to her class- she is my little helper!

Ashi's getting so big and fun. He is SUCH a happy, easy baby. I don't know how many people have commented on just how "good" he is (I have contention with that- I know, I know, ME? contention? Never!) but anyway he is just the sweetest little thing. And soooo cute- I could just sit and stare at him for hours!

Annabel still loves to help with him :)

Look at how big he is! He is well over 13 lbs now- at 10 weeks! He's already grown out of most of his 3 mo clothes and is well into 6 mo stuff.

I've been knitting up a storm this summer. I have made several sets of hats/booties or just hats for all my friends having babies. I've made at least 5 hats and 2 sets of booties! And I finally finished these pants for Asher that I've been working on for a while now. Cute!

Last weekend we helped our high school youth group with their "Amazing Race." Well, Derek helped with it while Annabel and I swam ;) Haha. Anyway, we had a really fun day and it was nice to get to know some people from the church better.

Derek and I both have 4 days off this weekend (well, I always have 4 day weekends, but he usually doesn't!) Yesterday we went to a community yard sale to walk around and have some fun. I gave Annabel a dollar to buy what ever she wanted (hoping, praying she wouldn't want a stuffed animal or a toy with batteries!) She picked these mix-n-match donuts, which have actually turned out to be pretty fun! These were $0.50, and with her other $0.50 she bought a pair of tennis shoes ;) They are two sizes too big, but it became quickly clear that we weren't leaving without those tennis shoes! At least they are decent, clean Nikes rather than something nasty and stinky, haha. She's been wearing them ever since, even though they are clearly too big!