12 months old

Facts about our girl at 12 months...

*wearing 12-18 month clothes

* has wide little feet, wearing 4-1/2 from Stride Rite

*loves to snuggle and give hugs

*is really busy...moves non stop

*like to play pat a cake, soo big

*likes to dance by wiggline her little bum up and down

*weighs 22 pounds 6 oz.

* 301/4 inches tall

*says, mommy, bye bye, hi, ball, and lots of other jibber jabber

*signs more by clapping hands together

*holds her hands out to say all gone or all done

*loves songs and music

*still isn't sleeping through the night without eating a couple times

*sleeps in our bed and hates her crib

*loves drinking water from a sippy cup

*still loves the Pablo stuffed animal

*plays peek a boo with a blanket

*walks...practically running all over

*can point to my nose and sometimes hers

*speaking of noses, she has begun sticking her fingers in hers...yuck! (good thing she looks so cute)

*loves stuffed animals

*hugs her baby dolls

*doesn't give kisses yet

*hardly smiles for the camera or will even look at me when I'm taking a picture

*takes almost all her naps either on the couch or in the car

*loves pounding on the computer

*loves the telephone and tv remote

*hates being fed baby food, and still isn't big into eating too much other than snack type foods. she will eat some fruits and a little bit of veggies. she does love kraft mac and cheese though!

*loves being around her brothers and sister....they make her laugh(and cry)

*loves playing outside

*loves her baths

*hates getting her diaper changed and getting dressed

*loves the wii remote too

*likes pretzels, cheerios, gerber puffs, freeze dried fruit

*thinks it's funny to get her nose sucked out when she has a cold

*fascinated by daddy chewing gum

*loves other people but is so shy at first and hides her head

*tries to bite my toes and thinks it's funny

*likes to take her clothes and put them on her head or also pretends to put them on

More to come....

Look who turned one!!

The last 12 months have gone by super fast. I keep wondering where the time has gone. Ashlyn turned one this last week (birthday post to come). In some ways I feel like it snuck up on me. It feels like yesterday I just found out I was pregnant with her. Pictures of her just don't display how sweet she really is. We are so blessed by the sweet spirit she has brought into our home. While I miss her sweet newborn smell, and just holding her in my arms for hours....the little toddler she is becoming is so much fun and brings so much joy.

I have to add about this silly bear that I got to take her picture by each month. I thought it was the cutest and decided I would take her picture every 2 weeks by it. By the time she was 6 months old, I said no more 2 week pictures, just month by month. I did a horrible job remembering to do it. I am pretty sure I missed a month or so in there. The more mobile Ashlyn got, the harder it was to take the picture. When I got the bear out today to take her last picture, she was just laughing at the funny bear she had to sit by. She couldn't stop laughing at him and trying to pat his face. After the pictures, I put her down on the ground with the bear, and she picked him up and carried him around. It shows how much she really has changed in the last 12 months. What a cutie.

Flashback...silly Ethan

As I said in my last post, I have been looking through pictures of the last year. While doing so, I found these silly pictures of Ethan. Getting trumped by a new baby in the house is no easy thing. I am glad to see that he still had an awesome sense of humor. This sweet boy of ours causes us to want to pull our hair out, but he also is such a source of joy. He often makes us laugh. In these funny pictures, he had put on my sister Linda's earrings and glasses. We all just laughed and laughed. Isn't he the cutest!

Funny pictures

(Click on picture to make it bigger)

I have been reflecting lately about the last year of my life, and how much it has changed. It has been a change for good. I have been greatly blessed by this little girl who came into our family almost one year ago. I have said it before and I will probably say it again, but she has been a joy and delight in my life. Lately, she has been showing her sweet little personality...it is pretty funny. She makes us all laugh. I thought I would show some of the funny pictues of our sweet little girl over the last year.

I'm really thankful to live in a country where I have the freedom to vote.

Halloween 2008 part 2

Ashlyn was the cutest little butterfly this year. I found her costume just a few days before Halloween. I wasn't sure what I wanted her to be, I just knew I wanted it to be girly. (notice the piece of candy stuck to her bum)

She was fascinated by Ethan's candy. She kept picking it up and playing with it all. I am not sure she really knew it was something to eat. She was so funny though. She was so excited about the candy on the floor. Ethan didn't seem to mind either that she was touching his candy. :)

Zach was lucky and got to go trick or treating twice. Another friend of his came by after we got home and he went back out with him. He was loaded up on candy!

This barrel was full of the halloween pretzels that we give away each year. I dumped all of the kids candy in it and it filled it to the brim and then some. I think we have enough candy to last us a couple of years. It was such a fun halloween season for us. It's hard to believe that in just about 7 weeks it will be Christmas. Yikes....

Halloween 2008 part 1

This is the first year that Hannah didn't go trick or treating with the rest of the family. She has been so awesome about always being the only big girl when we have gone out with our friends. This year I wanted her to get to trick or treat with one of her friends. She had a such a fun night and I am so happy that she got to be with one of her good friends.

Zach and Ethan went trick ot treating with their buddies that live in our neighborhood. They love to trick or treat with each other. They brought home so much candy. I was shocked!! There is a great house in our neighborhood that gives away full size cans of pop and full size candy bars. My kids love going to that house!

My cute trick or treaters who aren't so little anymore.
While the big kids were out trick or treating, my little butterfly was sleeping. She didn't miss out for too long though. She woke up with plenty of time to hang out with her brothers.

Pumpkin carving

We have been really busy this month and pumpkin carving had been pushed to the back burner. While Zach and Ethan never asked about carving their pumpkins, Hannah reminded us often that we needed to do it. So, this year we carved our pumpkins on Halloween night. We had just an hour or so before Trick or Treating and Mark and the kids carved the pumpkins.

Thank goodness for such a beautiful day so that we could carve them outside. It was awesome for clean up and less mess in the house. They all turned out pretty cute. We didn't carve the really BIG pumpkin, but we have plans for that. I hope to show that at a later date.