Memories Lost

     What a busy busy busy day it has been! Ashlyn and I have been running since 9 AM. Ashlyn and I started our day off with school. Ashlyn's school is having a yard sale on Friday, and parents were needed to help separate all the belonging the parents brought in to sale. I was very thankful for the yard sale, I had tons of things I have been meaning to get rid of. After school, Ashlyn and I went straight to Trend Designs for a much overdue color and cut! After getting my hair done it was time for us to head to New Washington.
     Last night around 11, I received a phone call from my mom, she was calling to inform me that my cousin Ryan's house was burning down. All together Ryan's house caught fire 3 different times. Fortunately no one was hurt! Ryan and his girlfriend, Shelly, had went to the grocery store and left her 4 children at home with a 19 year old babysitter. The babysitter heard popping and cracking noises and immediately saw the flames. She called 911 and was able to get all the children out of the house. Unfortunately they lost pretty much everything. My Mom, Ashlyn, and I went to my Aunt Sharla's to take the youngest child Ava, who is 6 months old, some of Ashlyn's old belongings. Ashlyn loved helping care for baby Ava, I kinda enjoyed taking care of baby Ava as well.
    After we dropped off Ava's new things, we rode by the house to see the damage. Ashlyn had lots of questions as usual. The house was pretty much burnt to the ground and the smell was horrible. Standing there looking at the house burnt to the ground, it made me realize your life can change within seconds. My family has been extremely lucky and for this I am very fortunate. I couldn't imagine losing all of our personal belongings.
      Ryan put so much time into making his house perfect. His grandparent recently passed away, and Ryan was talented enough to take pieces of their barn and make walls for his house. He had taken his Grandpa's old tools and other belongings and used them for decorations in his house. He had his Grandma's homemade quilts displayed for memories, and all of these things were either destroyed or badly damaged. Many people would say they are just "things" but to him they were much more than "things", they were memories and heirlooms  he can't get back. Shelly had pictures of her children destroyed. The boys had to stand and watch all of their toys, clothes, and bedrooms burn to the grounds. I am sure it is something the children will never forget! I hope this is something no one ever has to experience again. Ryan and Shelly have lots of support and will recover from this tragedy, but not without exhaustion and heartbreak first.
     On to some lighter news, I started selling thirty-one today. I am very excited about this and can't wait to get started. I mostly started to sell it for my own addiction and for my friends at work. We are always buying new stuff at work, and thirty-one is too cute to pass up!
    On Friday Ashlyn went to school and I guess it really wore her out. She went out to eat that night with Josh's mom and she fell asleep with her chin resting of the table, poor thing! Ashlyn went bowling for the first time on Saturday! She went with my mom while Josh and I attended the Stoner-Davidson annual pig roast. My mom said Ashlyn played 4 whole games without wearing out. I am not even sure if I could play four games of bowling. My mom said she got some pictures, so they should be coming soon. Since, I don't have any new pics of Ashlyn I will end the post with some pics from September 29th, 2006- October 1st, 2006! She has gotten so big, I love looking back at her baby pictures.

Where is the Fall Weather?

     Where is the fall weather? I can't believe the weather is still warm enough for Ashlyn to wear her summer clothes. Right after labor day it seemed like it was cooling down, but now the summer weather has returned. I fear that fall will be short, and winter will come early this year. That would be a horrible scenario!
     Nothing too interesting to blog about, we have just been taking it day by day! On Wednesday, we went to Mamaw Joyce's for her birthday. We gave her a Coach purse, she has never owned a Coach purse before! As Ashlyn handed my Grandma her present she shouted "It's a purse." I swear that child can't keep a secret to save her life. I warned my Grandma that Coach purses can be addicting, that would not make my Grandpa very happy.
     Mamaw Joyce cooked Ashlyn and I all of our favorite things for her birthday lunch. We had pork chops, mashed potatoes, peas, and green beans. I know we should have cooked for her, but she would have enjoyed her cooking much better I promise. After lunch, Ashlyn and I went and rode the combine with Uncle Kelly. Ashlyn was not satisfied with the length of time we rode, so Mamaw Joyce told her she would take her another day.
     When we got home, we exercised with John, Laura, and Evan by walking around the neighborhood.  Thursday was a day of relaxation! Ashlyn and I spent all day relaxing. I tried to go shopping but Ashlyn kept saying let just relax mommy. During our relaxation time I recorded Justin Bieber's video music awards performance to show Ashlyn. I knew it would make her excited, but I wasn't aware of how it excited it would make her. After watching the recording 20 different times I told Ashlyn that I was done watching Justin Bieber. Ashlyn looked up at me with sad eyes and said, "Please Mommy one more time, I just can't get Justin Bieber out of my heart." She was so serious, and I couldn't help it I just cracked up laughing.
     On Friday, Ashlyn spent her morning at school. On the car ride home from school I suprised Ashlyn by telling her Mamaw Kris was coming to pick her up . I had to take some pictures of her before she left because she looked super cute. Ashlyn and her American Girl Bitty Twin doll, Kara, wore matching shirts that said "I Love My Best Friends For Ever." Ashlyn was so excited to wear matching shirts with Kara.

      Ashlyn spent most of Saturday with Mamaw Kris, due to it being my weekend to work. Josh surprised Ashlyn on Saturday night with a play date! Jenna and Jessica came over and Josh said they played really good, although at one point I did receive a text at work that said "If we ever had three kids I would kill myself." Sunday I spent the morning sleeping and the afternoon with Ashlyn. Josh spent all day Sunday watching football, I am already over football season. While Josh was watching football, I decided to let Ashlyn go outside and play. I predict not too many more days of outside playing is left.
     Today Ashlyn went to school, and I noticed that Mrs. Erica is no longer needed! Every day Ashlyn would cling to Mrs.Erica and never talk to anyone else, now Ashlyn has a new friend, Hannah, that she can't quit talking about. I am excited she is finally breaking out of her shell.
     I had a dermatologist appointment today and Josh went to the dentist. Josh is on this healthy kick and decided he is ready to see the dentist and doctor on a regular basis. We will see how long this last! Since he has refused to go to the dentist for the past 10 years, the appointment resulted in lots of cavities and lots of money! I learned today how horrible dental insurance is! He will be going to the dentist every 6 months for now on. Ashlyn and I spent the afternoon doing some much needed cleaning. Well I cleaned and Ashlyn played and watched TV, she is not the best at picking up after herself. Now I am off to watch my DVR, it is premier week! I love when all my shows come back on!

Panty War

      Ashlyn was such a lucky girl to spend the day with mommy and daddy today. It is nice when I don't have to work on Tuesdays, cause Josh is always off work. Today I woke up to a nice surprise, Josh had woke up early and glazed our sidewalks with paint.  We have had the paint forever, and finally the weather and timing was perfect to get it done. After the sidewalks were done, we loaded up and went to Meijer.  The intentions were to run in Meijer and let Ashlyn pick out snacks for school, since tomorrow we are in charge of snacks. Unfortunately running into Meijer and buying one thing is never an option for us, in ten minutes we dropped 100 bucks! Everybody always sees something that they need, well not need but want.
      My Mom and Grandma's Birthdays are coming up, so we headed to Bed Bath and Beyond next to buy my mom a birthday present. She has been wanting an eReader, an electronic device were you can purchase books off the Internet and have them directly streamed to your electronic device. It is a really cool device, and I was tempted to keep it for myself. It will be added to my Christmas list. I decided it would be a neat idea to have the eReader all set up for my mom when she got home from work. A little side note most of my ideas never go as planned, and this was one of those ideas. We all loaded up and went to my mom's house to set it up, after spending 30 minutes on the phone with the costumer service rep we discovered we had gotten a defective eReader! That is when we headed back in the car and headed back to Bed Bath and Beyond. The second one we bought was a success and my mom loved the present.

     Tomorrow we are going to give Mamaw Joyce her present, we didn't buy her anything electronic that would never go smoothly! When we finally arrived at home for the evening I got Ashlyn in the bath and ready for bed. I decided to take a couple of pictures of Ashlyn getting ready for bed, so everyone can see what I go through as she is getting dressed.

      I believe all together she tried on 18 pairs of panties before she found a pair she liked. Not to mention the pair she picked out is the first pair she tried on originally. There is one family member I have failed to mention yet, that is our grumpy old cat Princess. Princess was my baby way before Ashlyn. Tonight Ashlyn and Josh pulled Ashlyn's comforter out int he middle of the floor to read books. I was on my way upstairs to clean-up when I found Princess taking full advantage of the comforter left out on the floor. She was too cute to move it so I guess she can use it for the night. Tomorrow is a school day, and then going to spend the afternoon with Mamaw Joyce and maybe a combine ride with Uncle Kelly.

      Blogging was pushed to the side for the past few days, that's what working nights will do to you. Ashlyn was so excited to go to school on Friday, but Mommy was not so excited. It was my first day of working all night, taking her to school, and picking her up from school; all without sleeping. I was not sure I was going to be able to do it, but I survived. I didn't trust myself to go home while Ashlyn was at school. I was afraid I would go home, fall asleep, and forget to pick her up. In order to pass the time I went to my mom's house and cleaned. I am sure my mom is hoping there is more of these days, but I am definitely not going to make a habit of it.
      After school Ashlyn and I went to McDonalds, where Ashlyn got to try the new mini happy meal. It was perfect for her; a bag of sliced apples (with no skin), 3 nuggets, and about 15 french fries.  She was very excited that McDonald's accidentally put apples in her box, it was too cute to tell her that's how they came now. I guess Ashlyn was tired of talking about school, on the way home I asked her if she had fun playing with her friends and her response was, "Mom, can please just forget about it." Ashlyn was so excited when Mamaw Kris came and got her for the night, and so was mommy I needed so time to relax. That evening we relaxed with John and Laura by making homemade ice-cream and Papa Murphy's pizza.
      On Saturday Josh got off early and went to a cookout for Josh's Grandpa Frank's Birthday at Josh's mom's house. We had a delicious meal and Ashlyn showed me how good she could hula hoop. I don't see her winning any contest soon, but she tried. Saturday night ended with some more quality time with the neighbors. I could tell school was catching up to Ashlyn, she went to her room and went to sleep at 9:30 all by herself.

     I could also tell she was already use to getting up early as well, Sunday morning at 8 A.M it was rise and shine time. I took Ashlyn to the bait shop at 1:00, so Mommy could get some sleep for work. Getting up at 8 A.M and going to work all night wasn't on my agenda, I wouldn't be a very nice nurse come 3 A.M. Ashlyn met a new friend on Sunday, her name is Macie and she is also 4. John and Laura are friends with Macie's mommy and daddy. I had to go to work, but by the end of the night I was told Ashlyn and Macie were best friends. Macie goes to a preschool called little devils, I do believe that school might have been meant for Ashlyn. Macie is coming over Wednesday to play again, I will try and get pictures they are both too cute!
     This morning the old Ashlyn was back, I walked in from work and the tears were already flowing. She didn't like the clothes I had picked out for her to wear for school, so we went through a few different outfits till we found one she could settle with. She wasn't happy about the pants because they touched her feet, crazy kid I guess she wants to wear high waters her whole life. She also didn't like the tennis shoes she was wearing, the same shoes that were her absolute favorite on Friday. In Ashlyn's defense she woke with a runny nose, there has got to be something in that school she is allergic to. I feel like she is fine all summer, then as soon as school starts the allergies kick in again. Ms. Erica, Ashlyn's favorite teacher, said there were many runny noses at school this morning.
      Tonight Ashlyn got to experience what it would be like to have a little brother for about an hour. We watched Evan while John and Laura showed a house. Evan was good, but I am not sure Ashlyn liked him having all Mommy's attention. After Evan left Josh asked Ashlyn if she wanted a baby brother, she said ,"No I only want a baby girl, not a boy." Now Ashlyn and I are cuddled up on the couch, and we are going to spend a little mommy and me time.

The First Day of Preschool

      The first day of preschool was a success! Ashlyn woke up with her knees being a little stiff, you would have thought how she was walking that her legs needed to be amputated. It didn't take long for her to make a miraculous recovery, and start getting ready. To my suprise she still liked her outfit we picked out last night. I was a little nervous that it was going to be too cold for shorts, but it felt warm enough this morning.  She was very cooperative with getting dressed, getting her hair done, and getting her teeth brushed. She kept saying, "Hurry up mommy, school is going to close." Despite Ashlyn rushing me along, I was able to get some good pictures before walking out the door. When we got to school Ashlyn was so excited and she walked into the room liked she was an old pro! I was so proud of her! Hopefully school days continue to be this easy.

Last Day Before School Starts

      Today was Ashlyn's last day home before her first day of school. Lucky for her, neither mommy or daddy had to work today! Unfortunately mommy and daddy spent most of the morning cleaning the house. We are trying to get ready for colder weather. I can't believe it is already time to think about colder weather, so depressing! Josh and I finally bought blinds to cover-up our back sliding door. Now I don't have to worry about any peeping tom's looking through our back door, I am sure there was never anybody looking anyways! I also cleaned my windows, my grandma would be so proud of me!

   While Josh and I trimmed the bushes in the front yard, Ashlyn played with two neighborhood children from up the road. It was great to have her occupied while we did yard work, until she wiped out running down the drive-way. I think the child has two left feet, but it's not her fault I do believe she inherited that from me!  The poor kid scraped up both her knees. I guess she won't be wearing pants on her first day of school!  

      To make up for her scraped knees, Laura and I decided to take Ashlyn and Evan and get pedicures while the boys once again went golfing. Of course Evan didn't get his nails or toes done, but he was a perfect angel while we pampered ourselves. Laura and I got pedicures and Ashlyn got to pick out a color to get her nails and toes painted. She originally picked Christmas red with gold sparkles, but Laura and I pointed her in the direction of a more appropriate color. She told me when we got home, "Mommy that place was amazing!" I do believe she might be high maintenance. 

     When we got home Ashlyn fed Evan, which she loves doing, while Laura warmed up some bean soup she had made for supper. The bean soup was delicious! We had to come early tonight so that Ashlyn could get ready for her first day of school. I think she is excited, no complaints about a bath, getting her hair brushed, or brushing her teeth. We quickly picked out her first day of school outfit, which she liked tonight we will see if she still likes it in the morning. Pray for a smooth first day of school! I am going to go to bed now, unfortunately school means I have to get up early too!

Labor Day Weekend

     Labor Day weekend is such a depressing weekend, it means it is time for Ashlyn to start school again. I can remember hating getting up and getting ready for school. I was always so grumpy, and till this day I am still the same way! I can remember my mom and  I would not even speak before leaving the house some mornings. I can remember thinking I will be so glad when I don't have to wake up for school anymore. A word of advice that my mother never passed on to me, If you think getting yourself up for school is rough wait until you have kids it is much worse! On top of me still not being a morning person, Ashlyn isn't a morning person either.
      School mornings typically start with me dressing Ashlyn while she is sleeping. It doesn't take long for her to wake up and jump out of bed, for those who know my daughter best know she HATES changing her clothes and HATES wearing pants. Getting her dressed starts the crying and complaining for the morning! We go through approximately 2 pairs of panties, 5 shirts, 4 pair of pants, and 3 pairs of shoes before she finally finds an outfit she can tolerate. This doesn't mean she is fully satisfied, she will still complain all the way to school. By the time Ashlyn gets to school, I feel like I have already put in a full days work. Last year she only went two days a week, this year she is going three.  This Wednesday is the big first day, wish me luck!
     On Saturday I woke up nice and early to go see Gavin, close friends of our family Robbie and Callita Gullion's son, play football. The little boys were too cute playing flag football, and of course the little cheerleaders were adorable too. After the football game I met up with Kris, Josh's mom, to get Ashlyn from Sawyer's Bait shop, a family business which my husband, his father, and grandfather operate. Ashlyn never wants to leave the bait shop. I personally think it is gross and stinks, but hey who am I to judge what she likes. Against Ashlyn's will, we left the bait shop to quickly go home and shower. We were going to one of my favorite restaurants, Kansai, to eat with a group of my high school friends.
      Ashlyn loves meeting up with " Mommy's friends"! It took me no time to get Ashlyn in the bath and dressed in an adorable brand new baby blue dress. Now it was Mommy's turn to get ready! As I was drying my hair, I realized that I hadn't heard from Ashlyn in a while. This meant either she was sleeping or doing something she wasn't suppose to, neither option sounded good to me. Little to my surprise I found Ashlyn sitting on the floor in her baby blue dress eating a jumbo half melted Reese cup! Of course she thought it was hilarious and that there was nothing wrong with that. Thank goodness I caught her before she coated her new dress in chocolate! Kansai was absolutely delicious and Ashlyn loved using the chop sticks to eat. Getting together with my friends is a good stress reliever and it's always fun to reminisce.

    As we were leaving Kansai, Ashlyn insisted I call Mamaw Ronda, my mother, and see what she was doing. Ashlyn's real plans were to call Mamaw Ronda and see if she could stay the night. I really wanted her to stay with me, but since she doesn't stay with my mom too often I let her go. Sunday was a very boring day, I had to work that night so Ashlyn spent all day with Daddy while Mommy slept. I really didn't want to go to work, but who could resist holiday pay!
   Today was quite a rough day, I woke up at noon after 3 hours of sleep and went to Josh's Grandparent's House for a fish fry. I love homemade hush puppies and fried fish! Ashlyn wanted to stay the night with Mamaw Kris again, but we insisted she come home. I added some pics of Ashlyn and Josh's family from the fish fry. Ignore Ashlyn's clothes I was way too tired to argue with her about her clothes for the day!

      We ended our weekend with John, Laura, and Baby Evan (our favorite neighbors). John and Josh ended their weekend by going to Hidden Creek to hit a few golf balls. Laura, the kids, and I ended our weekend by killing a snake.Yes, I said killing a snake. As I said in my previous post, I am terrified of snakes and of course we saw one tonight. Laura and I decided that Evan, who is 8 months old,  was big enough to ride in Ashlyn's power wheel mustang, as long as we covered him with pillows and put the car in low.

      As Laura and I walked beside the mustang, for Evan's safety, I noticed a funny looking object up ahead. Before I had time to react appropriately,  I shouted "Oh my god, there is a snake." This is when Laura and I began to scream, jump up and down, and run in the opposite direction of our children. As we ran, jumped, and screamed the children ran over the snake and killed him,  I am glad someone took control. I am sure if someone had a video camera we might have won some money.We quickly gained self control and had a good laugh! I was more scared of the snake then Ashlyn, she kept wanting to get closer to it. I guess all my talks aren't doing much good! I posted a pic of the dead snake for visual. Now off to bed for some much needed sleep! I hope everyone else had a great weekend!

The Beginning

      Welcome Family and Friends! I decided to start a blog in hopes that I can keep everyone updated on our life events. Although nothing too exciting ever seems to happen to us, we all know the world according to us revolves around Ashlyn, and she keeps our lives at least semi-exciting. In addition to keeping everyone updated, I am hoping that one day I can possibly turn this blog into a journal for Ashlyn. One day I hope she can realize how loved, lucky, and beautiful she was growing up. In addition to all of those great qualities Ashlyn possesses she  is also sassy, out spoken, and spoiled rotten, so I will be sure to make sure she knows that as well. I wish I would have started blogging for her since day one, but since I didn't I guess now is better than never. So here goes the first Blog:

     First off I want to state that Ashlyn is one lucky little girl! At birth Ashlyn had 2 Great-Great Grandmas( one recently passed), 4 Great Grandmas, 3 Great Grandpas, 2 Grandmas, 2 Grandpas (one is not spoken of but for technical purposes we will count him this once), and 1 Step-Grandma. That is a total of 14 Grandparents, WOW! Today Ashlyn and I got the pleasure of going to the zoo with my Grandma ( Mamaw Joyce). Ashlyn loves doing things with her Mamaw Joyce and Papa Vernon. Papa Vernon, my Grandpa, was not into going to the zoo, so he passed on this experience. Before going to the zoo, Ashlyn insisted we "stop off" and get something to eat. Little did Mamaw Joyce know, that she meant go through the drive-thru and eat in the car. Mamaw Joyce thought eating in the car was an insane idea, I guess that is a newer generation thing. By the time we got to the zoo, Mamaw Joyce had her chicken sandwich from Arbys everywhere. She said she thought she was going to need a bath before she got the whole thing ate! I am guessing that eating in the car again is not in Mamaw Joyce's future anytime soon.

      The first thing we did when we got to the zoo is of course ride the carousel! I added two pics of Ashlyn, one of her on the carousel today and one of her on the carousel two years ago. She is growing up so fast! Ashlyn was so good at the zoo! I contemplated on taking a stroller, but decided that it would cause more pain than gain. Ashlyn surprisingly walked the whole zoo with only a couple of complaints. Her favorite part of the zoo was the snakes. I believe that would be my fault, we talk about snakes all the time at home it is one of my number one fears! She was amazed at how the different snakes looked, I added in a little snake safety as we toured the exhibit for my own comfort. Sometimes I fear that my job makes me be a little over protective of Ashlyn. I always have all these different fears of ways she could get hurt. I am constantly telling her to be careful. The poor kid is going to grow-up scared of everything!

      I was highly surprised that Ashlyn was not afraid to feed the parakeets. My Grandma must have used a product her hair that resembled nectar because all the birds were attracted to her hair. At the end of the zoo trip of course Mamaw Joyce had to spoil Ashlyn with a purse and stuffed animal . Today it is her favorite toy, tomorrow she will put it down and not pick it back up for six months. When Ashlyn and I got home from the zoo, Josh's mom ( Mamaw Kris) came and got Ashlyn. Ashlyn typically spends every Friday night with Mamaw Kris, I do believe if Josh and I would let her she would live there. I am going to end my first blog with a few extra pics from the zoo. Check out the first two pics, one of Ashlyn on the rhino from today and one from her two years ago. She was such a sweet 2 year old! I think my first blog might have been a success!