Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Over the river and through the woods....

to mammy and papa's house we go! The day after Christmas we headed out to my parents house in KS. About 20 minutes outside of Topeka it started raining so hard we could barely see! Luckily, we didn't have much farther to go and arrived safely at my parents house. The next morning we woke up to the most beautiful site! The rain had frozen and everything was covered with a thin layer of ice! With the sun shining it looked like the trees were covered in diamonds! I tried to capture the beauty but this picture doesn't do it justice.

Our visit was 2 fold, to go to my cousin Matt's wedding and my uncle's funeral. The wedding was so beautiful (and BIG, I think there were around 250 people there!) but I couldn't help but think of my Uncle Fox who was not there. Matt's dad (Uncle Fox) died of cancer just 6 days before his wedding. We all knew he was watching, smiling, maybe even dancing, from above. We miss him already.

Dale in a suit and me in a dress? Take a look people because it doesn't happen often!

My princess all dressed up with everywhere to go!

Ashlee and Zach wrestled and rolled around on the floor most of the wedding reception. Oh, to be young again!
Now those are some good lookin' grandparents!

Ashlee and cousins Zach and Addison.

Ashlee trying on her new heels!

Dada and Ashlee checking out the cows at great grandpa and grandma's house.

So this is what Christmas is really about...

This year I realized that I have never REALLY, TRULY experienced Christmas before. I thought I had... all those years of receiving wonderful gifts, putting up decorations, baking cookies, driving around looking at lights, spending time with family, etc. Oh no, this year I realized that one does not truly enjoy Christmas until you see it through your child's eyes. See the smile their face as they watch the Christmas tree go up for the first time, cry when they are told to sit on Santa's lap, get dough all over their face as they "help" you bake Christmas cookies, and shout with glee as they unwrap their Christmas presents. Now THAT, is what Christmas is all about!

Just the 3 of us...

Cousins Kira, MacKenzie, Ashlee and Kaylie
Now that is one happy little girl!

Cousin Kaylie putting makeup on her, Ashlee LOVED it!

Ashlee with all her new baby doll "gear". It was a very baby/pony themed Christmas!

She's almost got the hang of her new tricycle...

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Butterfly Pavillion

Today we visited the Butterfly Pavillion with our good friends Tyler, Austin and Carson (and their mom's of course)! The kids loved all the different bugs and beautiful butterflies, they even got to sit in on a "buggy" story time. They also enjoyed the fun activities at the end, mostly climbing on things! My friend Sarah (Austin and Carson's mom) got a new Nikon camera that takes WONDERFUL pictures. She provided the pictures you see on here...thanks Sarah (you can check out her photography blog on my favs)!






Thursday, December 11, 2008

Sharing with dada

Ashlee and Dale having their nighttime cookie together!

Thursday, December 4, 2008

ABCs

Ashlee saying her ABCs. I just love this video.

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Here comes Santa Claus...




At least we thought Ashlee would get to visit with Santa today, but she had a different plan! These are the only pics I got of our Santa visit because she had no interest in getting near him! When Ashlee saw Santa, she looked at us and said "no"! Well, maybe next year!