Welcome 2009

Here I am at 8 pm all dressed up and ready for our awesome New Year's night on the town! Oh wait, we did nothing, like always! Love you honey...

But hey, at least Reagan had fun. She was so tired from all the rough housing with daddy that she went from wide awake to passed out in under 10 seconds.

Well we have an annual pass to the zoo so we decided to do something fun to make up for the night before. It was such a beautiful day outside that the zoo was the perfect choice. The slow pace and laid back environment make it an anticipated adventure. It is amazing that no matter how often we go it is always fun. 

Let The Festivities Begin!!!

CHRISTMAS EVE

Christmas Eve was spent at Dustin's parents where his Grandma, parents and all his sisters and their families came together. It was alot of people celebrating in one room but the closer we were the better! It is so fun watching everyone enjoy their gifts.
Like every year the kids got more than they needed.


Reagan loved the obnoxious and noisy instrument set that Mama and Papa gave!
But she was just as happy, if not more so, with the loads or tissue paper she got to play with.


And while Ashton was having a great time playing with cousins and all the new toys...

Others lost their patience after about 7 o'clock!


CHRISTMAS


I love Christmas time and all the fun holiday decor you get to put up. Here is a little glimpse of our home Christmas morning.
We figured why bother with much for Reagan. Her stocking was stuffed with all the goodies she likes to eat on a regular basis.

But since she can't peel oranges she decided to not waste her time trying.
She is thrilled with her bath wand and color fizzes.

Ashton on the other hand knows what he likes and we spent a little more time and money picking out his gifts. It was worth it because he loved everything...

ESPECIALLY his "Banshee". If you don't know what that is you are not alone. There is a 7 minute bonus clip on the movie "Cars" called "Mater and the Ghostlight". The last 5 seconds of that clip there is a big mean tractor called the Banshee. So the great people at Mattel wanted to cash in on everything possible by including this $30 toy in their collection. Oh yes, $30! Ashton told everyone about the "Banshee" and just knew Santa would bring it to him. If you happened to strike up a conversation with him between Thanksgiving and Christmas you knew what was on his mind. We even banned it from converstaion after a week or two because he was SOOO persistent in letting everyone know that is what he wanted from Santa. I know Christmas is not about presents and $30 is totally excessive on one toy, but sometimes as a parent you just have to do something to shut your kid up!!! So again, here he is enjoying his new Banshee.
By the way, he has played with it a handful of times, is scared of it in his room and night, and now whats to take it back to get other new toys. Isn't that lovely!

A month in review...about time I know!

or FHE the Monday before Christmas we went to see Santa. Ashton knew just what to do while Reagan just stared. It was a fun night that ended with a lesson on the TRUE meaning of Christmas. Not Santa or presents but our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Reagan is such a cuddly baby. Though she is full of attitude and instantaneous rage, she is also full of love. Her she is in one of her sweet moments, taking in as much daddy time as she can.

The very first movie to catch and hold Ashton's attention the entire time was "Cars". It became a staple in our house for about 6 months. Though he doesn't watch it very often anymore he is still totally into the characters. He has all kinds and sizes of "Cars" paraphernalia but his favorites are the die cast matchbox type that he can carry around and use to reenact scenes. Here he is displaying his collection (which has since grown). He's so proud!

A few days after I put the Christmas tree up I awoke to a little boy fast asleep on the couch. Who knows how long he had been there! It made me a smile though as it brought me back to one of my favorite childhood memories; falling asleep on the couch, after everyone else had gone to bed and the house was quiet, starring at the beautiful glow of the Christmas tree.

Every hard working mom deserves a night away. For me it was karaoke with some of my oldest and dearest friends. Here is Audrey singing her staple song "Strawberry Wine".  We can always count on that. Oh an Renee singing "Summer Lovin' too. It's not Karaoke without those songs.

We missed you Amanda and Natalie!

Dustin and I played host to several of our nieces and nephews. It was a fun night but the favorite part for all was roasting marshmallows in our backyard. You can see that I am the responsible parent here...Reagan walked away with a few close calls but no burns :o)

Every parent thinks their kids are cute but sometime they are just deceiving themselves. Me on the other hand, I have model material kids. :o) At a reception for my friend Angela I asked Ashton to stand by the tree and smile. I kid you not, without placing or posing him these are the shots we ended up with.

Such a cutie!!!

A Wonderful Family

I have been extremely busy these last few weeks and Dustin has become quite the stay at home dad. He loves his children and never considers time with them a chore. He has also been very supportive of me in my work and calling that have had occupied from sun up to sun down. The other day, after being gone for about 11 hours of the day I came home in time find this cake waiting for me. It was such a sweet gesture and also something that I know Ashton loved doing with daddy. And I must say, my hubby has skills! I am grateful for the blessing the Lord has given me in a great husband and beautiful and healthy children! 

Ashton's Moments

I was so impressed with Ashton the other day when he showed me the portrait he drew of himself. It was not because it was a great drawing or because I have some distorted motherly instinct to love anything my son does; it was merely because drawing and coloring are not talents I have ever encouraged or helped him develop. Last time I paid any attention to something he colored it was scribbles and here he is showing me something that has an obvious form to it.

But then he showed me his picture of mommy. My first reaction was horror that he paid that much attention to the female body and particularly mine. But I took a moment to breathe...
I then asked him what those were (referring to the obvious) and he matter of factly told me they were my shoes. I laughed so hard and thanked the heavens my little boy was still so innocent.
He is also very into our camera and I am always finding new and random pictures in the memory. But I must say, we have been quite impressed by his ability, at such a young age, to capture great things. This is a picture that Ashton honest to goodness took just a few days ago.

And I don't have a picture for this story because somethings can't be immortalized but here you go. Last week in nursery Ashton's nursery leader held up 2 fingers and asked him what that was. He said "2". She then held up her pointer and pinky finger trying to be tricky and asked him what that was. Without skipping a beat he said "Rock and Roll". Oh to catch that on video would have been priceless!

Backyard Bonfire

Ashton loves to go camping which is great...but totally inconvenient when we aren't planning a trip! He kept asking if we could go and when we said no and stated our reasons he had a comeback for each one.

"No it is too far" he replied "well we can ride in our truck". 

"No it is too cold" he shoots back "but we can have blankets to be warm". 

"No we don't have time" he says "its ok, we have lots of time.

So being the great daddy that he is, Dustin said "OK, lets go camping" and set up a fire in our fire pit. It didn't even phase Ashton that we were only in our backyard and it only took 20 minutes of our time to make a few more great memories. And now we know that Reagan is very possessive of marshmallows...LOL, oh the things you give the 2nd child that you wouldn't have dared to give your 1st!

Kale's Birthday Party

 Dustin's sister Shiloh had a birthday party for her youngest child Kale. It was cowboy theme complete with horse rides. When it was Ashton's turn we put Reagan on also for a few photos. She decided that she wasn't going to let go and was taking a ride too. We have come to realize that she has a love for furry creatures big and small.