"I love you like 20"

We have explained to Ashley that you can't put a number with how much you love someone. But she insists on saying things such as, "I love AJ like 20 hundreds".

Tonight as we walked out of her room after tucking her in I was closing her door and I said. "I love you" and she yells out "I love you like 20".

I think from now on I won't try to explain that you can't describe the depth of your love with a number I will take it like it is, because to her it means she loves us more than just saying "I love you!"

Happy Birthday Great Grandma Waples

Great Grandma Waples turned 86 years young last week and so it was time to celebrate. You would never know this woman was a day over 50 years old! If she is not on the floor playing blocks with the kids she is chasing them around the house.

I just asked Ashley what her favorite thing is to do with Grandma Waples, and not to my surprise she said "having tea parties and eating candy!" Ashley has it all figured out whenever we go over there, she starts with a Popsicle and then she has a cookie, or two and then she ends the visit with M&M's and always takes some for the road. We think Grandpa Waples enjoys the benefits of having someone there to get all the goodies out!

We are thankful that they live so close and we enjoyed spending the afternoon with them for her birthday.

Weeeeee!

He has no fear, he could have tumbled down the slide and would have still cracked up.

There she goes....

About 5 months ago Ashley asked her daddy to take the training wheels off her bike. So, he took them off but it wasn't even 1/2 hour and many tears before they went back on...She wasn't quite ready.

Today, we were out front playing and Ashley asked again if she could try riding without training wheels. So, off they came and off she went!

She can only ride in a straight line for now but I am sure it won't be long before she figures it all out. She has been out there most of the afternoon practicing with Allen, and even needed to take a break to jump in the pool...after all it is 78 degrees outside today!

I'm a BIG kid now...

Who says I can't use a spoon? I sure can, and look at what a mess I can make. I love yogurt, just wait until I learn that there is more to yogurt than plain, unflavored yogurt!

Happy Birthday Aiden!

It is hard to believe a year ago today, we were in a hospital room with a brand new baby. We had no idea how much joy he would bring to us throughout this past year.

Happy Birthday Aiden!

Ashley's New Shoes

Ashley said, " I bet I could jump over a little mountain with these shoes".

Tell me about your picture.....

Ashley painted this lovely picture the other day and when she was finished I asked her to tell me about it. Not sure what to expect, and expecting the worst. I anxiously waited for her answer....

"They are Kabloons (balloons) with balls on the bottom so they won't float away"

Pheewww!

Then it all made perfect sense as I looked in the hallway and saw a balloon with a ball on the bottom so it won't float away...geeze mommy, get your head out of the gutter!


**For some reason she has always called balloons, Kabloons. I think it is funny because she knows how to say balloons but she thinks that they should be called Kabloons instead.**

Makes perfect sense....

Ashley was looking through one of her picture books and said..."This is my facebook."

**************************

The other night when we were eating dinner, I asked if she wanted anything on her pasta and she said, "dump cheese".

"Excuse me?"

Ashley says with irritation, "You know the kind of cheese you dump out of the can"

...Ooohhh, I get it....Parmesan cheese.

Now, that makes perfect sense.

The leaves are finally falling....

and the neighborhood kids worked so hard to rake them up into a pile just to jump in and throw them on eachother. What fun!

What are little boys made of? Snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails

Last night, I found A.J. eating dog food. I pulled it out of his mouth, washed his hands and picked up the dog food he had spilled from Callie's dog food dish. This wasn't the first time this had happened but something about it made me think he was enjoying the dog food. Then I realized maybe he was hungry so, I fed him dinner. About 15 minutes after he ate a good dinner I found him with 3 pieces of it in his mouth and he was walking around the house with a whole handful of dog food. I went to take it out of his mouth and he was trying to get more of it in his mouth from the handful that he had. THIS IS WHEN I REALIZED, I think he really LIKES it!! We keep cheerios on his table for him to reach almost all the time and that is the other clue that led me to believe he is choosing to eat this instead of his food. CAN THIS POSSIBLY BE TRUE?

Moving on to PLAN B: Only feed the dog after he is in bed.

Update

My mom's surgery went great!! They were able to remove the tumor, successfully. She is still recovering in ICU but is progressing really well.

The tumor was much larger than originally estimated. It was 5cm around, and it was removed from her left atrium.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. She is on her way to recovery.

Please Say a Prayer

Please say a prayer for my sweet mom, she will be having heart surgery tomorrow to remove a tumor that was found today.

UPDATE: As of tonight, it looks like her surgery will not be scheduled until Friday.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Love,

The Waples

And he's off to the races....

On Thanksgiving day AJ took is first consecutive steps and since then he hasn't stopped. He has it all figured out now and is cruising all over. How does it all go so fast?

1st visit to the dentist for Ashley

Today, Ashley had her first visit to the dentist. She did so well, we are very proud of her! She sat there so nicely and let them clean her teeth. At the very end of the visit the dentist was poking around and she was getting tired of keeping her mouth open so, she started wiggling and he poked her on accident. She began to cry but it didn't last long once she was reminded that it was time to go pick out her treasure from the treasure chest and pick out her new electric toothbrush!

Good Genes

I just want to eat him up!

Misunderstood

We have clearly misunderstood Ashley's hair. Her hair has always had some curl in it but, when she got a hair cut it became very curly and so cute! It is also much easier to manage when it is curly.

Was Halloween really a month ago?

It is hard to believe that Halloween was already a month ago and that Christmas is less than a month away.... This year, Ashley was really looking forward to carving her pumpkin. So, when it came time to carve it she informed us that she would like to carve a cat on it...WHAT?!?! A cat??? I quickly find out that when she was helping her neighbor-friends carve their pumpkin they carved a bat and a spider on their two pumpkins. So, needless to say there was not going to be a traditional Jack-0-lantern on our front porch this year.

We had the 3rd annual Chili Cook-Off in our cul-de-sac with our neighbors on Halloween night. This year we had more than 10 entries in the cook-off. They were all excellent and it was a close call to determine the winner!


We trick-or-treated with Ashley, as Tinkerbell. Aiden was a giraffe for Halloween. (Just don't tell him that he didn't wear a costume on Halloween) I knew he wouldn't be comfortable and his happiness is directly related to my happiness so, I took pictures of him in it a couple days before Halloween for the baby book!






Aiden & my dad.

Time for Tea

Ma Cheryl Stopped by just in time for a tea party with Ashley.

Pa David played with Aiden while the ladies enjoyed their tea.

Playing at the Park

Today it is 90 degrees, but the other day we were able to enjoy some cooler, fall weather while playing at the park with our friends.

Camping

Our First Camping Trip

Last weekend, we loaded up the truck, and I mean "we really loaded it" (Allen wasn't sure if I was packing for a weekend or a week) and headed up north to Sedona. The weather was beautiful! It was a little chilly at night but we all stayed bundled up. It was so nice to get away. We went with my sister, my brother and his wife and our friend, Mike. We roasted marshmallows, made dinners over the campfire, played at the creek, found bugs, watched ants gather their food, and most of all we just enjoyed the fresh air and good company! The boys found lots of firewood to keep us warm and tended the fire, or "bonfire" at times, very well!

We borrowed my parents old tent, which was the tent I camped in as a child. It was fun to see Ashley and Aiden playing in it. I remember how big the tent felt to me when I was a kid and watching Ashley, I knew she felt the same way. Thanks mom and dad for all the fun camping trips we went on as kids, I am starting to understand all of the work that was put into those great memories!

Ashley's favorite part was "marshing marshmallows at our camp out".

We are looking forward to many more camping trips!

A Perfectly Stocked Refrigerator

Lately, it seems as though whenever one of Ashley's grandparents comes over they bring something for her to eat so, she has been stocking her refrigerator with all sorts of goodies, including:

1. gumballs

2. mini-marshmallows

3. an assortment of chocolate candy

3. Easy-Mac

4. Yummy, vanilla cookies

It is good to know that if we should ever forget to feed her she will be able to survive just fine for quite some time!

What happend to my first sleepover?!?!

Ashley had her two friends spend the night two weeks ago. Terinna and Ryen spent the evening with us while their parents went out for the evening. This was Ashley's first time having friends sleepover. They had fun playing outside, eating dinner, taking a bath and then we all laid on the floor in the living room and watched Ratatouille. At about 9 p.m. they decided it was time for bed. To my surprise, everyone was so relaxed, like it was no big deal. We set up a bed on the floor in Ashley's room but that didn't last long, then we pulled out her trundle bed. Terinna ended up falling asleep on the trundle bed and Ryen and Ashley were laying on her bed. I went into check on them and they were giggling. I asked what they were laughing at and they said they were talking about their dreams. Ashley was the last to fall asleep. I wish I had taken a picture of them all sleeping, they looked so sweet.

When their parents got home we decided to have them take home. Actually, this was the plan from the beginning we just failed to tell Ashley. So, at about 5a.m. Ashley wakes up and starts crying and yelling " Terinna and Ryen are gone!!!" I tried to explain that their mommy and daddy came and got them but she was not very happy about that!

LOVE

Ashley: " I love you AJ......."
"Mommy, I think I love him more than you..."

Ashley: "Aiden is my best baby."

Race for the Cure

We participated in the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure on Sunday. We were there with my Great Aunt Rosie, a breast cancer survivor, my Great Uncle Gil, my grandma, my aunt and my cousins, Mandy and Jenna were all there walking too. The weather was perfect! The walk began at 7:30 a.m. and so, I was supposed to leave my house at 6:15 a.m. Well, when I went in Ashley's room to wake her up, she asked if she could sleep a little bit longer because she was still tired. I felt bad getting her up but then when I told her we were going to the race she smiled and sat up in bed. You can imagine she was picturing an actual race in her head but none the less she got out of bed. Then when I began brushing her hair, I said " wow, there aren't any rats (knots) in your hair today" and she said " that's because I didn't sleep berrrry long". Needless to say we got there a little late.

After the race we went to lunch at Duck & Decanter, a great deli. Then when we came home and I was able to coordinate Ashley and Aiden's nap so, we could all take a nap together...Ahhhhh, I love when that works out!

Did I check my mailbox today?

Ashley received this mailbox for her birthday (thank you, Raney!!) and she loves to make mail and "invitations". Invitations, usually consist of her cutting up a piece of construction paper into as many little pieces as she can, then making sure they all end up on the floor.

But, the fun part is that she started delivering mail to her neighbor friends and now she gets surprised when she checks her mail box and finds mail. One night she even received some candy! It has been fun and gives her a purpose for all the coloring, painting, gluing, cutting and writing that she loves to do everyday!