Dress Up and Birthday Party

Since Gram, Grandpa and Aunt Becki won't be here for Ashley's birthday we decided to celebrate early. Ashley got so excited for her party and talked about it all day. I got some birthday hats and a few decorations. It doesn't take much to please this girl! She wanted strawberry cake with chocolate frosting and sprinkles, so that's what she got. Last year she was afraid of the candle, so I wasn't sure what she was going to do this year. We told her about it ahead of time to kind of give her a heads up, but by the time it came to blow out the candles she wanted Papa to do it while she put both hands up to her ears. I think she though it was going to explode or something. Note to self, never use trick candles with her! Funny girl!

3 Years old!

This is why she likes to help Papa bake, she gets the best part, licking the spoon!

We got his plate as a wedding gift to use when we have something special to celebrate. This time it was Ashley's birthday, so she got to have her dinner and cupcake on it. She just woke up from her nap, hence the crazy hair.





She got a shopping cart, a bear with a sleeping bag and...

a play-doh set to make cakes.





Gram made the kids costumes again this year. I think it's going to be an annual thing because she does such a good job! Ashley is a doggy and Isaiah a fire hydrant, I know mean... but funny!

Panda Bear

Isaiah at 9 months

Ashley at 11 months.

This is the costume that Brian's mom made for Ashley for her first Halloween when she was 11 months. We put Isaiah in it last weekend and it fit. Kind of cute to see both kids able to wear it.

9 months!

The months are going by way too fast. Isaiah has been a lot of fun. He is such a happy boy and loves the freedom he thinks he has because he's mobile now. I came home last night and had both kids coming after me for hugs and kisses, definitely helps me forget about the long commute I just had. It's so cute to see him crawling towards me looking for loves. He's been keeping us on our toes now that he's crawling for sure, he's even taking steps while we hold his hands! He finds any small little piece of bark dust that Brody brings into the house and tries to eat it, he's also discovered that Brody's dog food tastes pretty good and persistently goes after it every time we move him away. Now that his tooth is in, he likes to stick out his tongue and move it from side to side. This in combination with his grin makes him look like he's always up to something. I was talking to his teacher Miss Loretta the other day and she said she's having a hard time putting him down for his morning nap because as soon as she puts him down he's up and looking around with a big smile on his face bouncing up and down like it's play time. He's been doing that at home too so we've been putting him down a little later and that seems to work. He eats a ton, almost every hour, but it goes right through him! I took him to the Dr. and he's still in the 10th percentile. They weren't worried because he's still on the same trend, but we thought solids would put a little weight on him. He weighs 17 lb 15 oz, 29 3/4 in. for height (92%), and 80th% for head.










happy and content playing under the table.

"helping" mama with the dishes.

Punkins!

We had our annual pumpkin carving last weekend with Brian's parents and sister. We went to the pumpkin patch near our house and got lucky with no rain. The farm had a tractor hayride that took you out to a grass field where they had pre-picked pumpkins all laid out for you to pick from. It was nice not having to get muddy finding a pumpkin. They also had caramel corn, hot cider, a hay maze and pumpkin bowling! The rest of the weekend was wet and windy, so we stayed in and had a lot of fun with the grandparents and Aunt Becki.























Ashley helped me carve three little ghosts and "BOO"


Brian got out the big guns this year and used his dremmel tool to carve his pumpkin.

First tooth

Isaiah has been cutting his first tooth for about a month now, I swear. Those things take forever to come in. Ashley didn't even take notice when hers first came in, Grammy noticed it when we were camping. But Isaiah's teething has been bothering him and waking him up at night. Some worse than others, but I think it's about to break through, I'm crossing my fingers it's any day now!

On the move

Yep, that's right he's crawling and getting into EVERYTHING so fast! You look away for a second and he's off. We've been working with him on not touching a few things though and replacing them with things he can play with and I think he's catching on. Not that he would choose not to play with things he shouldn't, he just kind of listens when we tell him "no". He's going to keep us on our toes!



So we keep him confined in a box!

Bath Time Little Dude

Bowling with D and Hani

D and Hani came to stay with us last Friday, so we took them bowling Saturday morning before they had to leave. Does it look like we had fun!?



Isaiah's trying to escape!

Picture Day

The kids had picture day at school last week. I can't wait to see how they turned out. Their teachers said they both smiled, so hopefully we'll get some to take home. I've been meaning to get professional pictures done. I wanted to take a picture at home with the both of them, but we were already late, so I just got one of each. Ashley was not happy about her outfit and threw a little bit of a tantrum. As soon as we got downstairs though, I asked her if I could take a picture because she looked so cute. So she sat down on the stairs and gave me a big smile. Stinker was just trying to give me a little challenge that morning.

Children's Museum

We decided to take the kids to the Children's Museum on a rainy day a few weeks ago. We ended up getting a membership because the kids had so much fun. It's perfect for the both of them to explore and see all the exhibits they have. I think Ashley's favorite was the face painting. She made Papa look really silly.







Ashley and Papa playing with real clay.


Isaiah loved this thing. It was a mattress filled with water that the kids could "wobble" on. It's great for building strength, I wish we had one at home. It got a little crazy when the big kids started using it as a trampoline, but he had fun while it lasted.

Big Al's

I had a hair appointment a few weekends ago, so Brian decided to take the kids bowling at Big Al's, which just opened up down the street from us. It was a special treat and they had a ton of fun, I wish I was there.



"take the picture, Papa, this thing is getting heavy!"