A Lot of Random Happenings

Two weeks ago we celebrated Mike and Carolyn's engagement with a big party at their house. It was a lot of work but so worth it. Carolyn and Mike really seemed to have a good time and it was a lot of fun seeing them with all their friends.

Ainsley especially loved putting on her "petty dess mommy!" and twirling over and over again. She really is such a little girl. She loves to dress up and watch me put on makeup and play with dolls.

Carolyn's neighbor has a little girl about Ainsley's age and they really took to one another. Kids are very funny, I guess they are just like adults. Some kids Ainsley gets along with so well and others she just doesn't care to play with. Luckily, McKenna and Ainsley loved to play with one another and pose for the camera.

Since then, I've been busy, busy, busy with the jewelry business. So far, it is going very well. I'm not booking parties as fast as I'd like (Shameless plug - if you want to have a party and get FREE jewelry, contact me), but I've had a good month. Mostly because I have awesome friends and family and they've all generously opened their homes and had home shows with me. Thank you to all of those awesome people.

Last weekend we visited with some of Clif's fraternity brothers and their families. I am a horrible picture taker, so I have no pictures of that. Clif is really your man with the camera and he was visiting with old friends...so no pics. But Ainsley had fun playing with the other kids. Another funny thing about kids...put them in their own playroom with all the toys in the world and they will write on the wall or push the TV button on and off for hours. Put them in some other kid's playroom and you can't drag them away from toy dishes. Which, she has, in her own playroom! So strange.

This weekend is kind of relaxed after a busy few weeks. Friday night we made Halloween rice crispy treats.





The chocolate melted and I don't think I put enough orange in, but they were still yummy.

Yesterday, we were supposed to go to the pumpkin patch, but it rained on and off all day so we didn't go. Instead we drove to Fredericksburg to visit with Clif's cousin and his new baby.

They also have a little boy about Ainsley's age and we finally managed to get a couple of pictures of them together.

After getting home we ran up the street to a local church selling pumpkins. We bought a few to carve, even though it was pouring rain - so no pictures from that little adventure.







So this evening, after dinner, we covered the island and carved away. Here are the results...

Cinderella's Slipper





Cinderella's Castle





And a ghost.

Ainsley enjoyed watching for a bit, but did not like the gooey ickiness of the pumpkin guts. She wouldn't touch it voluntarily, so like a good mother, I forced her for the camera.

I can't wait for you all to see Ainsley in her adorable fairy costume! You're going to die from cuteness! But no spoilers, I'll post those next weekend after trick-or-treating.

Baby Belly, Visiting Friends and the State Fair

So I'm not even going to make excuses for my lack of blogging...you know why...

Let's go back a couple of weeks. The last weekend of September Ainsley and I went to visit my good friend Carrie. She just had her second baby. If you've heard me mention Carrie before, you probably remember that her daughter Addie and Ainsley are only 8 days apart in age. So Ainsley talked about visiting Addie for days before hand. I was curious to see how she'd be with a brand new baby. It had been awhile since she was around such a little guy. She did really great. She wanted to hold him all day and she kept petting his little head. She must have like the way his hair felt. She'd kiss him and hug him. It was very cute.

My friend Shanna also brought her son Grayson. Grayson is a couple of months younger than Ainsley and Addie. I have to say the kids played so well together. It's so crazy to see these girls as moms now. The three of us spent a lot of time together in college and even lived together for awhile. It's awesome that we've been able to watch each other grow into motherhood and I love that I get to be around their babies, even if it isn't as often as I'd like.

Of course we never get pictures of the mommies, just the munchkins!

When I was pregnant with Ainsley, Clif took a picture of my belly every week and now we've got about 32 pictures of me getting bigger and bigger. Well, we slacked a bit this time around and didn't get started until about the 13 week mark. But we did start, and no I am not sharing those pictures right now. I just kind of look fat. However, I will share this very funny story. Ainsley of course had to have her turn, so here she is cheesing it up with her belly exposed standing just like mommy.

Too funny. She had us in hysterics. She was so serious about where she stood and how many pictures we took. She's such a little person with a mind all her own.

Finally, last weekend we went to the State Fair. We had never been before and thought that now since we have Ainsley and she's getting bigger we should check it out. We also got free tickets :)

She loved the carousel and the spinning apples.

We also got to see an enormous pig nursing her gazillion babies.

Those little piglets were cute and hungry. Ainsley thought they were funny.

Ainsley was very tired by the end of the day and barely made it through the last ride on the Ferris wheel.

Well that's about it for now. This weekend we head to Raleigh for Carolyn and Mike's engagement party. Should be fun.

Where does the time go...

Alright, so I have been so slack on the blog...but I do have a really good excuse. So on top of working my normal 40+ hour a week job and trying to work on my transcription class, I've now decided to take on a second job to help bring in extra money. I told you a few posts ago about the Premier jewelry. I had my debut show over the weekend and start having my own shows next week. It has been taking up a lot of my time. I am super nervous about presenting in front of a group of people, but if I can just get through my first few shows I know that I'll be fine. Oh and one other thing...I'm pregnant, so I'm tired. Which means I never make it upstairs to dump the camera. Most of you have probably already heard by now. I've sent a few emails and I've posted it to facebook, but for those of you who haven't heard...yes I am having another baby. Ainsley will be a big sister next spring. Our due date is April 1, 2010.

So now that it's out there, let me catch you up on the last couple of weeks...

Last weekend I had to leave my little bug for the whole weekend, which I have never done before and was so very hard. I missed her and Clif so much I could barely stand it. Don't get me wrong, I had a really nice weekend in Maryland with my cousins, but it is tough to go a day without seeing that sweet little face.

While I was gone Ainsley asked to use the potty twice, and actually used it twice. She also mastered climbing out of her crib. I was planning on waiting until the new baby's arrival got closer before switching her to a bed, but I'm thinking we may have to move that up a bit. Not that she ever sleeps these days...so not even sure what it matters. I don't know how she runs on so little sleep.

This past weekend was my debut jewelry party...so now I officially start having my own shows. The party went really well. I had a great time and I thought it was very successful. After the party we ended up having dinner with my friend Julie and her little girl Katherine. It is rare that we're able to snap a picture of the girls. We either forget or one of them is moving, crying, looking away, etc.

Then on Sunday we were very lazy and watched football all day. Ainsley can almost sing "Hail to the Redskins!"

That's about it, things are pretty dull now that we've decided not to travel so much and I'm too tired to do much of anything at night.

I promise to get my butt upstairs on a more regular basis and get updates posted.

Hope all is well and hope every one's weekend gets here quick...especially mine.

Thank You Grandma

Last weekend we went to visit my mom. It was a short trip but it was nice to spend time with her in her new house. We went shopping on Saturday and mom bought Ainsley a pair of Squeak Me Shoes. I had never heard of these shoes, but they squeak when she walks. Ainsley loves these new shoes. She put them on in the mall and proceeded to run in circles in the hallway yelling "Mommy, I yove dis dame!!!!" (Mommy, I love this game!) Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me at the mall, but I did get this video of her a little later so you can get the gist of the shoes.

I told my mom that every pair should be sold with a matching t-shirt that says "Don't blame mommy, my grandmother bought me these shoes."

Last weekend was also Clif's birthday. Ever since Ainsley's birthday, it is just about her favorite thing to sing her version of Happy Birthday to everyone. Here's a clip of her singing to Clif.

Ainsley and I rushed back home to hang up the birthday banner and make Clif a birthday cake.

It's been a crazy month with weddings and out of town travels, so this Labor Day weekend we just stayed home and caught up with friends. Saturday night we took Clif to a Japanese Steak House with some of his friends to officially celebrate his birthday. Then Sunday Nanny, Poppa and Non Non came down to visit for lunch and Ainsley got to ride the train with Nanny.

Today is Poppa's birthday so Ainsley and I made him a berry pie and we got to sing to him as well. Finally last night we had some good friends over that we hadn't seen in awhile. So now it's Monday and we'll probably spend the day running errands and cleaning up the house. It sucks to go back to work tomorrow, but I only have 3 days this week. Next Friday my sister and I are driving to Maryland to spend the weekend with some of our cousins. Very excited to have a girls weekend and get away, but very sad to leave my little bug for a whole weekend.

Everyone have a great, short week.

Busy Busy

So I'm not really sure where the last couple of weeks have gone. Work is getting very busy, so I'm there late almost every night, and weekends are just jam packed right now...so I guess that's my answer.

I have a funny story to tell about Ainsley. It just happened tonight but similar things have happened in the past. We were sitting at dinner and Clif and I were talking like we usually do when we've finished. Lately Ainsley is not really down with the after dinner talk. She starts saying "Mommy, enuff!" or "Daddy, top it!" So she started that and Clif said "Ainsley, I am talking to Mommy, you need to wait." Ainsley then took this opportunity to explain to Clif that "No, daddy, no talk to mommy." Then she would point to me and say "Dat Ainsley Mommy...not you Mommy." She just repeated this every time Clif started talking again.

I swear sometimes it's just impossible not to laugh.

Well the week is just about over...thank goodness. And then just one week before a three day weekend!!! Oh it's the small things in life that make it worthwhile.

Little Miss Cuteness

We got our camera back today and we transferred all the pictures from Denise's camera to a CD at CVS so we were able to load them to the computer. So now I'll have pictures and I have a few cute stories to tell about Ainsley.

This weekend Carolyn and Mike came to babysit Ainsley so Clif and I could go to a wedding. Then we spent the rest of the weekend just hanging out with our visitors and relaxing. Today Ainsley got to ride the train at Short Pump for the first time. She was very excited and immediately asked for "More?!"

So there are a few stories that I haven't thought to write about until this afternoon. They basically just involve Ainsley being totally cute and amazing...what else?

A few weeks ago Clif and I were changing the hinges and handles on our cabinets in the kitchen and we had to stand on chairs to reach the top level. Ainsley was running around doing her own thing and then she'd stop and say "Mommy, what you doning up dere?" (what are you doing up there) and I'd say, "Mommy's fixing the cabinets." She'd look at me, then look at Clif and say "Daddy, what you doning up dere?" and he'd say "We're fixing the cabinets." Then she'd stare at us and finally say, "Nooooo, Mommy, what you doning up there?" and this would just continue until something else caught her attention.

The second story happened today. After sitting in the car, waiting for Clif to get our camera from Best Buy, Ainsley said "Daddy, you back from store?" and he said yes. She got very excited and said "Good job, Daddy!" and Clif laughed and said "Thank you Ainsley." Then she said, "You welcome, Daddy! High fives?" Clif and I were laughing hysterically. I don't know where she comes up with these things.

Finally, while we were at CVS this evening (and we were there for awhile) Ainsley found a pair of toy binoculars. She decided they were actually a camera. So she walked around the store saying things like "Teeese Mommy," "Teeese ball," "Teeese baby," "Teeese purse." Teeese means "Cheese!"

Well, that's about it. Back to work tomorrow. My mom is coming to watch Ainsley this coming weekend so we can go to another wedding. Here's to everyone having a quick week.