Ashlee's first sleepover

Saturday was a big day for Ash. She saw her first movie on the big screen AND had her first sleepover! We took her to see Disney's new movie, Earth. I thought "its a movie about animals, of course she'll LOVE it"! Well, about 10 minutes into the movie she looked at me and said "all done"! Dale and I just looked at each other and laughed! In the end (2 trips to the potty and 1 to the snack bar later) we saw about 1 hour and 10 minutes of the movie. Not bad if you ask me, but now I realize we should wait awhile before we take her to see another movie.

Then, Saturday night she spent the night (that's right, SLEPT OVER) at her cousins Camden and Kira's house. I was a little nervous about how she would do. I didn't know if she would get upset come bedtime that I wasn't there and she wasn't in her bed, or if she would be in heaven with her new surroundings. Well, it turned out to be the latter of the two! Apparently my little princess did not go to bed until midnight because she was rolling around on the bed, laughing and talking up a storm! More good news, she only had one accident! The next day Kira told me how tired she was because she had to watch Ashlee ALL day and night. I couldn't help but laugh because I know exactly how she feels! Ashlee is so lucky to have such wonderful cousins, and of course a very special Aunt and Uncle (thank you Steven and Jen)!

Camden, Ashlee and Kira

We love the zoo!

The weather was sooo wonderful on Friday, so we took another trip to the zoo! (I must say, the $60 I spend yearly on a zoo pass is $60 WELL spent!) Ashlee loves the zoo, and I never tire of taking her there...its so fun to stroll around, talk about all the animals, have a picnic lunch, ride the train or carousel and take our time because we know we will be back! On Friday we went with Brooke and Lexi (it was Lexi's first trip to the zoo) and we had a great time! I was so happy the Lorakeet exhibit is back up for the summer, Ashlee and I just love those little birds!

Major breakthrough!

I would like to preface this with I hope I am not oversharing. I'm not sure what's proper blog ettiquette!!

I must say, the potty training has gone quite well. We had a setback a few days ago because we were out on the road ALL day, but its been great since then. Well, except for big ol' #2! Poor little Ash refused to do it on the potty, making herself all plugged up. Then today, out of the blue, she did it twice on the potty! Here's another big one...while we were out at Kohl's she TOLD ME she had to go peepee on the potty.

Major milestones....we are well on our way to NO MORE DIAPERS!

Potty training 101...

I never took this class, so I've been putting the big PT off for months (even though I've known Ashlee has been ready). Then yesterday we went to Children's Place with my friend Brooke. Brooke has been bugging me for months to potty train Ashlee, and every time I just grumble "I know, I know". Well, when we were in the checkout lane a little plastic "purse" caught Ashlee's eye and she showed it to Aunt Brookey. It happened to be filled with 7 pairs of cute little panties (one for each day of the week). Good ol' Brookey took the bull by the horns and said, "Oh Ashlee, aren't those panties so cute? Do you want to be a big girl and wear BIG girl panties? Do you want to go peepee on the POTTY?" Well Ashlee was delighted with this idea and exclaimed "YES"! Then brought them over to me and basically told me she wanted to wear the panties.

To make a long story even longer, I bought the panties and as of last night we have begun potty training 101. I have to say, so far it is going much better than I thought it would! Ashlee is a pro and goes peepee on the potty pretty much every time I put her on it.  She just doesn't know to TELL us she needs to go yet. Oh, and how you get them to go #2 on there is a mystery to me! :) In due time I'm sure, in due time!

I'm pretty excited at how much money this is going to save me! :) Maybe I can finally buy that sectional I've had my eye on for MONTHS! HAHAHA!

Easter in Kansas

Here it is...

I am totally sending this in to the Ellen DeGeneres show.

Oh no, NOT the Easter Bunny!

You would think by now I would understand that 2 year olds and things like cups of water, a tube of toothpaste, scissors and hair, and Santa Clause just don't mix, right? Oh no! I kept insisting that THIS is the year Ashlee will sit on the Easter bunny's lap and actually smile! Was I right???? NO! All day long we talked about Mr. Bunny; how cute he is, how soft he is, how she was going to sit on his lap with baby Lexi and say "cheese"...oh yeah, she was all about it! Well, I was feeling pretty confident as we walked up to greet the big guy. Then Ashlee SAW Mr. Bunnyand said "NO"! But then, for one second she reached for him to see how soft he was and I thought "this is it, this is the year". Then she realized that he was 6 feet tall with ears bigger than her and 2 HUGE teeth that were ready to EAT her and FREAKED OUT! Being stubborn like I am, I decided to go ahead and plop her right next to him (I was bound and determined to get a picture), put Lexi on his lap and had them snap a picture. The result? One happy little baby in Mr. Bunny's lap with one screaming, red faced, 2 year old next to him. It was hilarious! I still have to scan in the picture so I can post it, but here are some "before" pics.