Ainsley and Her Boyfriends

NOTE: I wrote this post about a week ago, but have been so busy that I never could upload pictures until today. I will post soon about our Thanksgiving Holiday.

Not only did grandma come to visit us this weekend but we got a big surprise when my friend Courtney from Italy and my friend Shanna from the Eastern Shore brought their little boys to play on Saturday! This was our best effort to get the 3 of them together for a picture. We had to bribe a few of them with fruit snacks.

Ainsley just loves playing with other kids. For awhile I thought she might be a loner because anytime we were around other kids she just wanted to play with adults or play by herself. However, now she just loves to take kids to her playroom and play, play, play!

She and Grayson did so well together, better than they've done in the past. We had a much better time sharing and communicating with each other. It's so cute how they have their own little language and seem to understand each other perfectly. We could hear them talking in the playroom, back and forth just like adults. They're such mini grown ups!

Last time Grayson and Ainsley played, Grayson taught her to jump off the ottoman. This time, Ainsley taught him to escape the baby gate and climb into her crib and jump on the mattress. Shanna, I apologize if Grayson starts climbing out of his crib. They seem to like to share their rotten little habits with one another.

Otherwise, it was a very busy weekend. I had 2 jewelry shows and Clif went to visit some friends. We are all looking forward to a 4 day weekend this coming week!

I Love Rock N Roll!

Recently Ainsley has discovered the iPod and the headphones. She loves to wear the headphones, turn the music on and dance around the room. Here are some pictures...

The kid loves to dance. Two funny things she does with dancing...both related to movies she's seen. I am a terrible parent for allowing my child to watch so much TV.

1 - She says "Let's go to the movies mommy!" That means she wants me to get up and dance with her and she tries to imitate the characters Grace and Annie from the movie Annie. If you can remember back, or if you have a 2 year old that is obsessed with that movie, you'll remember the scene before they go to the movies where Grace and Annie dance around as they're getting ready singing "Let's go to the movies, Let's go see the stars..." If you can't remember, here's the clip. It's pretty long, I could only find the whole song, but if you just watch the first minute or so you'll get the idea.



Ainsley will position herself on the ottoman or couch or chair and hang upside down until she falls on her head.

2 - She says "Mommy, my dance with Pince!" That means she wants to dance like Cinderella and the Prince at the ball. With one hand she will hold my hand and we'll sway back and forth. The other hand is strictly reserved for holding her "petty dess" like Cinderella does.



On a side note...Happy 1st Birthday Brinkley!!!

Introducing our newest addition...

I guess it's time that I start including our newest addition in the blog. Here are some ultrasound pictures of Ainsley's little brother...

I'm also thinking I'll have to change the name of the blog so he doesn't feel left out as he gets older. That will take some thinking on my part. We are very excited to be welcoming a baby boy into the mix, but I must admit that it will take some getting used to on my part. I have the hardest time picturing myself with a boy...and Ainsley is so girlie, that we'll have to do some serious shopping for the little guy if he doesn't want to wear pink dresses and play with baby dolls.

Ainsley went to the ultrasound and doctor's appointment with us. She was very excited to "See baby on a teevee" but then just played with the toys in the office. My doctor is the same one that delivered Ainsley, and the two of them seem to really like one another. Ainsley will just randomly interject a comment like "Baby bruder in mommy belly" while the doctor is asking me the standard questions. She's a great doctor and always acknowledges Ainsley's comments and always gushes about how cute and well behaved she is.

We are also in the process of going through toys and Ainsley, at this point, is more than willing to give things up for "baby bruder." We'll see if that's still the case in a year or so.

Ainsley and Brinkley are BFF's

Ainsley has always loved her puppies. However, recently she and Brinkley have really bonded. She loves Gatsby, but Gatsby doesn't play with her like Brinkley does and Gatsby doesn't like to cuddle.

Most nights while Clif and I are cleaning up or making dinner you will find Ainsley running from one end of the house to the other with Brinkley chasing her...and Gatsby just kind of watches.

This weekend, Ainsley spent a good portion of Sunday in the crate with Brinkley. She was showing him her Disney Princess magnets.

The great thing about Brinkley is that Ainsley can sit on him, grab him, hug him, kiss him, whatever and he just lays there and allows her. Most of the time that tail is just wagging like crazy.

I'm glad they get to grow up together.

Beauty Treatment?

The other night we bought Ainsley a little Disney Princess wipe off board out of the dollar section at Target. She loved it. Played with it for a solid hour...which is really rare for her. She also did really well with it, and anytime she has a pen she'll say "Only on paper!" So she's a good girl about that.

However, I came home to these pictures yesterday. Ainsley had colored her little finger and toe nails black with the dry erase marker. Her poor little toenails still look a bit gray.

I asked her why she did it and she said "Petty donails mommy!" Well, I guess that explains it.

Story Time with Ainsley

This video is kind of long, but it's pretty funny. Ainsley sometimes likes to tell us stories after dinner...

Ainsley's Big Weekend

Ainsley had a BIG weekend these last couple of days.

Yesterday was Halloween, of course, and before putting on her costume to trick or treat, we went over to a neighbor's house and painted pumpkins. Ainsley had a blast doing this.

After getting our pumpkin, hands and faces painted up we threw Ainsley in the tub for a quick bath and then it was time to dress as a little fairy.

While getting dressed, Ainsley looked at Poppa and said "My wins, so my can fyyyy!" (My wings, so I can fly!)

She was really just too cute for words. We only went to about 10 houses, but that was enough. By the last few she wanted to be carried, so she was kind of over it. She didn't quite get the "Trick or Treat" greeting down, but she left ever door saying "Tank ew sooo much!"

After a good nights rest (and a needed extra hour of sleep) we woke up and got ready to go see Nemo on Ice in Charlottesville. We splurged for the good seats. We really can't afford them, but figured if we were going to go we should go all out. We knew if we got the cheap seats Ainsley wouldn't be able to see and she'd be over it fast. So we ended up right on the ice. And I mean it was us, a walk way and then the ice! I've never been to anything like that, and I certainly never get such great seats, so it was a lot of fun for all of us.

Ainsley was completely in awe of the skaters in their fish costumes. She sat and watched for awhile and then she decided that she should dance on the ice with them. Literally I had to hold her back. She really wanted to get up there with them.

She got a high five from one of the baby turtles...unfortunately it happened so fast that we couldn't snap a picture. But that was great for her, she was so excited.

I did catch her dancing in the aisle with daddy on video...

At the end of the show Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy came out to say goodbye to the crowd. Not kidding, I had to use all my weight to keep her from jumping on to the ice to see Minnie. Then, my heart totally broke when they left the ice and she turned around head down, pouting. I felt so bad for her to be so close to one of her best friends, Minnie Mouse, and not be able to hug her and say hi. Poor little girl. I literally almost started crying...I'm sure pregnancy hormones had something to do with it. But she was so pathetic.

Now we're home and have to go back to real life tomorrow. It's always fun to have a weekend full of make believe.