Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Tiny Prints Christmas Cards

How adorable are these Christmas Cards!  I love the idea of being able to hang them up!  I can't believe it is Christmas card time already, but here we are!  Tiny Prints has some really cute designs if you're in the market!  http://www.tinyprints.com/shop/picture-christmas-cards.htm


Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Clean Mama

Anyone who has ever known me has known pretty quickly that I'm a little on the side of OCD...and I LOVE lists!  Crossing a line through an item on a list gives me such a feeling of accomplishment!  It multiplies the enjoyment of finishing an item when I can look back at the list and see all the items crossed off.  You don't need to tell me....I already know I'm weird!  Honestly, I mostly have all these checklists because I'm terrible at remembering.  I'm a posti-note freak too!  :)  I came across Clean Mama's Blog a while back and have really enjoyed the great ideas she has about cleaning and organization!  I am addicted to Word and Excel, (have been for years!) so I've had several checklists going for a really long time, but they aren't nearly as pretty as the ones that Clean Mama has available in her Clean Mama Printables Etsy Shop.  People have commented about how they "need a checklist like that one" to me before, so if your interested, here is your chance to purchase an even better document than I've ever created.  You can print them out as many times as you need to and she even has editable documents available!  Happy Organizing!

Monday, November 28, 2011

Fun Filled Weekend

We had a full, fun filled Thanksgiving weekend!  We visited with family, ate lots of yummy food, enjoyed our quality time together and had tons of sunshine until Sunday!
I embellished Ashlyn's little t-shirt for Thanksgiving.  I haven't figured out how to do much more than letters on the embroidery machine, so I just used it to embroider her name and then I hand embroidered the outlines of a little turkey for her Happy Turkey Day outfit.  I thought about trying to find or make a dress, but at this point in her life, she's a blue jeans and t-shirt kind of gal.  She is so active and playful!  Quite the difference from just one year ago.
Thursday night I decided to try out Black Friday shopping.  I LOVED it!  I am almost completely done Christmas shopping and it's not even December!  I got home around 4:30am and slept a few hours, then took a long nap Friday afternoon while the boys were watching the football game.  I will definitely plan on shopping again next year if I can.

Saturday, Ashlyn and I got to visit with my sister and my neices and nephew!!!!  We had tons of fun!  We went to the Birmingham Zoo and to Chuck-e-Cheese's!  I love the kids in the picture above so much!!!!  They are all the most amazing, kind, sweet, smart, fun little people and I truly and honestly enjoy spending time with them.  One of my favorite things in the world is when Autumn, Shelby and Hayden all three try to tell me something at one time.  I don't hear a single thing they say, but it feels so good to have them all want my attention at the same time. :)  They have so much fun playing with Ashlyn and showing her new things!  She loves running after them too!
















Last, but not least...it's officially Christmas time now!  My house is decorated and Christmas movies are playing on tv!  The Nativity has now taken it's special place above the fireplace.  My child wore her Christmas footie jammies to bed on Thanksgiving night and she wore the cute little outfit below that Aunt Reesie made to church on Sunday.  She is so precious she could pull off wearing a burlap sack, but I think her little snowman outfit is beyond adorable!

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Happy Turkey Day!

Happy Thanksgiving!  I am so thankful for so many things this year!  I am so very blessed in so many ways!  I am so grateful that God has trusted me and David with this little person!  She has filled a hole in our lives that we didn't even know was there!  She is amazing in so many ways and has brought us all into this tight, little circle of family that is so wonderful I can't even describe it.  I pray that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving Day and that God reveals the many ways he has blessed us with family, jobs, health, and happiness.  I am planning to get lots of great pictures today...but in the meantime...Ashlyn had THREE firsts in ONE week last week!  Monday, the 14th, she decided she didn't want Mommy to feed her with the spoon.  She decided to do it all by herself!  She dipped the spoon in the jar of fruit and then put it in her mouth.  She did it several times in a row.  STOP GROWING UP SO FAST LITTLE GIRL!  Thursday, Aunt Reesie gave Ashlyn her VERY FIRST haircut!  She needed it so badly!  She was sporting kind of a "shaggy dog" look, so it was definitely time.  She did SO well!  She played with the spray bottle.  The hardest part was when she kept trying to look at was Teresa was doing...so she kept turning her head back and forth.

 We had just taken her hairbow out in this picture...but this is pretty much what she looks like when she firsts wakes up too. :)
 Before.
 During.


 After.  Look at that smile!
 Daddy insisted on coming along!  He adores his baby girl!

Saturday, the 19th, we took Ashlyn to her VERY 1st Alabama Football Game.  I was worried that we would walk into the stadium and she would have an immediate meltdown, but she did really well.  You could tell she was a little overwhelmed at first, but she settled right in.  She even started clapping!  She made it to right about the 2nd quarter - then she was out like a light!  

 Before the game - outside the sorority house that David's company works with.
 This picture is mostly for GrandMary - oh yeah...we were REALLY high and she is looking over the edge.  She loved it!
 Kickoff UA vs Georgia Southern!


 Just minutes before she gave out and fell asleep.
 Roll Tide!
 We tried to take pictures outside the stadium after we left, but Ashlyn was a bit preoccupied...






 This is what happens when we take her away from her play toy...



All happy and sweet again!  The joys of life with a One Year Old!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Halloween 2011

This year we decided to participate in the Sorority Row Trick or Treating.  I'm so glad we did, first of all because it was fun and we enjoyed watching Ashlyn!  She didn't know what to think of the crowd at first, but she warmed up VERY quickly!  Secondly, because the next day she came down with some nasty bug and we had to forego all the other Halloween festivities this year. :(  She developed a low grade fever Tuesday that came and went until Saturday when it spiked to 103.  I decided to take her to the doc in the box down the street.  He prescribed her very first round of antibiotics.  We tried to keep her dosed up on Tylenol and Advil to keep her comfortable and I am happy to announce she was FINALLY back at school today. :)  She's not sick often, but it seems like when she gets sick...she does it all out.  Other than a couple snotty noses and colds, she's only really been sick three times - once she was hospitalized for RSV, a couple months later she spent three days with a 103-105 fever, and then this little escapade which wasn't nearly as scary as the prior two incidences.  I am so glad she is feeling better now.  She is so pitiful when she doesn't feel well.  













We did not go Trick or Treating in the neighborhood this year, but Ashlyn helped us give out candy at the door. She had so much fun! She would say "Hello" and "Bye"...mostly just "Bye" and she would wave bye bye though. She would get kind of upset when we had to shut the door some of the times. I think she wanted to play with the people who "came to visit". She was out like a light before the last of the trick or treaters had even come. She was one tuckered out "Little, Black Kitty Cat".




Here's a picture of my poor hubby with his broken arm. :(