Lifesong

Happy Halloween!

What fun! We have been practicing "trick or treat" for several weeks now. After dinner, we went upstairs to put Ansley's costume on, and she proceeded to scream "No costume! I want off!" We were laughing, but thinking that the night might not go well. However, once we got outside and gave her her pumpkin, and pumped her up about going "trick or treating" and getting lots of candy, she was ready to  go! She kept saying "I want trick or treat!" So off we went to about a dozen or so of our neighbors homes (thankfully it's a chilly night here in Atlanta!). She was much more into it than I thought she would be! She would walk right up to the house, ring the doorbell (with a li ttle help) and when the door opened, she'd say "trick or treat!"  She was very pleased with all the candy, and learned quickly to hold her pumpkin out. We pulled her in the wagon, and after the second house or so, we saw that she was diving into her candy all on her own, wrapper and all! We had a fun evening. Halloween was never this much fun when it was just me and John! :) After trick or treating, we sat on the front porch swing and gave out candy. Ansley enjoyed seeing all the costumes, and of course, eating her candy. We hope you all had a Happy Halloween!

Decorating Cookies

This morning we had a Halloween get together and invited our neighbor, Kelly, and her children, McKane and Riese, over to decorate Halloween cookies. Ansley was so excited all morning, and kept running to the door, looking for them. We get together fairly often, so she knows them pretty well. McKane is 6 months older than Ansley, and Riese is 6 months younger than Ansley, so they are perfect playmates. All morning, Ansley kept saying "Mommy! Where's Kane? Where's Riesie?" It was so cute. She was watching out the window when she saw them coming (they live two doors down) and she jumped up and started screaming "Mommy! I see Kane and Riesie!" When they came to the door, she brought them in and showed them the cookie stash. They sat at Ansley's little table in the kitchen and decorated pumpkin, ghost, bat and cat cookies with icing, gel tubes and sprinkles. Afterwards, they all played in the playroom with the kitchen, Little People animals, and the Elefun game Ansley got for her birthday (thanks Shawn and Christina!). It was quite a fun Halloween morning for everyone!

Pumpkin Carving

We have had a fun weekend, and ended it with our annual pumpkin carving. Ok, so it's really only been two years that we've done this family pumpkin carving, but still, it's a tradition now. I can remember last year so well. We had Ansley sitting on the counter, just like this year, but she would just watch and wasn't quite as excited as we thought she'd be. How things change in a year! This year she sat on the counter, too, but everything we did, she wanted to be involved in. She wanted to scoop and pull the "guts" out, which she did and proclaimed them "squishy". I love the picture of her looking at the guts John is pulling out, mesmerized. I can see how this experience would be quite intriguing to a two year old! We carved our commemorative "Ansley pumpkin" and wrote Boo o n the front (if you don't know, Boo has been Ansley's nickname since she was about 2 days old) and drilled some holes in it, which she also found intriguing. Holidays just aren't the same anymore. They are so much more meaningful, exciting and rewarding when experienced through the eyes of my child. How fun these days are!

I'll be posting pictures of Ansley's Halloween tomorrow night or Tuesday morning. We can't wait! Happy Halloween! :)

I {Heart} Ponchos.

On Ansley anyway! I  just love ponchos on this little girl of mine. I think she looks so cute in them! Since it's been so cold here, I tell her that we have to put on a sweater (or poncho) when we go out and put the hood over her head. I tell her when she does this, she's my "snuggle bunny." So now everytime we start to go outside, she has to pull the hood up and she shouts "Nuggel Bunny!" (that's snuggle bunny). It's so cute. I took this yesterday when we were playing outside after she woke up from her nap. Play-dough on her shirt and all, it still makes a cute picture.

Today we went to the mall and met John for lunch. It was actually, seriously, the first time I've been to the mall in quite a while. Quite a while for me means about 2 weeks or so. : ) It was fun - did a little shopping, but more looking, and Ansley rode the carousel. She loves the carousel! I'm thinking that could be a good option for me in the future, once she understands, that we shop and if she listens and doesn't have any tantrums, we can ride the carousel before we leave. How she loves that thing!

Excited that it's the weekend - TGIF! Hope you all have a wonderful weekend as well!

Animals and Packages

We ran some errands this morning, one of them PetSmart. Ansley loves to see all the animals and always has a fun time here.  We saw birds, fish, cats and dogs, and even lizards! In this picture, Ansley was squealing in delight and running back and forth while this cat was chasing her. She was a spunky cat! I could have taken all of these cats home with me. I think a few people wondered why I had a camera in PetSmart, but the new "bloggess" in me didn't care! I'll go to any lengths to share with all of you how we spend our days. :)

When we arrived home, there was a package on our porch. Ansley loves to get mail, especially packages, so as soon as we got in the door, she ran to the front door, shouting "Mommy, package!" I brought it in and she was so excited to pull everything out. It was a fun holiday package from my Mom and Dad, Ansley's Mimi and PopPop (you may be thinking holiday as in Halloween, but oh no - my mom is on top of things! This was a holiday package = Christmas!). Ansley got some cute Christmas tops and socks, and I had to take a picture to show you the adorable Christmas sweatshirt my Mom made. Isn't that so cute? (Click on the picture to enlarge it.) It's a Christmas tree made out of ribbons with beads sewn on. Ansley has seen a lot of Christmas trees lately in stores (amazingly!) so she recognized it right away. She pointed out the "orments" (ornaments) and the stars. What a fun sweatshirt! I think she can start wearing it in November! :)

Eating Life

Ansley's absolute favorite thing in the whole world to have for breakfast is Life cereal. Every single morning I ask her what she wants for breakfast, and she'll say "I want milk beihl please Mommy" (beihl = cereal). Most mornings she gets her Life, but we do have some variety. She likes eggs, pancakes, and french toast, too, but not nearly as much as plain old "beihl". Here she is this morning (sorry for the small pic - I am having some problems with TypePad today) eating her milk and cereal and watching Sesame Street, another morning-time ritual. Our mornings are pretty predictable!

My mother-in-law, Tiana, and father-in-law, Joe, came by Monday and spent the night. We had a fun visit, and was especially nice on Tuesday morning because Tiana got up with Ansley and played, so I got to sleep in.  They also played with her all morning while I ran some errands and went to Target. It felt like a mini vacation! (Maybe I need to get out more?! :)) Other than that, we have spent our week so far playing indoors, since they weather has turned quite chilly! :) Ansley is especially enjoying painting these days, so we have been doing a lot of that! I'm trying to brainstorm for some indoor activities for Ansley now that we can't play outside as much. We'll see what I come up with!

Hope you all are enjoying these great fall days! Hard to believe it's almost November! 

Weekend Life

We have had a fun weekend. They just go by so quickly! On Saturday, we went to a birthday party for Ansley's friends Tayler and Aaron. It was an Art Party, so Ansley got to paint a watercolor and use markers. She had a very fun time. Happy Birthday Tayler and Aaron!

Afterwards, we met our friends Chris and Kimberly at Kinsey's Farm. They had pumpkins and lots of Christmas trees that will be ready to cut in December. We went on a hayride, where Ansley got to feed the fish, and then Ansley got a small pumpkin to take home. This is a picture of my friend Kimberly and me (wow, and it doesn't even have Ansley in it! Bet you never thought you'd see that.:)) at the Kinsey Farm.

The weather is finally getting cool here, so I am happy. Very, very happy. I love this time of year, and I have been SO ready for the days to start getting cooler. Here is a  picture of Ansley today, finally enjoying being able to play outside and not sweat! She loves playing outside, so the weather is such a welcome change.

Congrats to my long-time friend, Alicia, and her husband Scott on the birth of their first child, Corrie Faith. Can't wait to see what she looks like!

We hope you all have had a wonderful weekend as well!

A little ladybug....

Today was Costume Day at gymnastics. The weather is still a little warm for Ansley's costume (I've got to stop complaining about that!) but I put it on her anyway. (We are both feeling much better. Ansley's cold hasn't even phased her, and I  am certainly much better.) It was so cute to see all the 2 year olds in Ansley's class in their costumes. There were 3 ladybugs, 3 pumpkins, and a Minnie Mouse. Ansley decided that she didn't want a group picture, so yes, those are my legs and hand in the picture, trying to hold her in place. This was the best I could do. Then, Ansley's friend Madeline has on the same exact costume as Ansley, so we thought a picture of them together would be so cute. Try not to laugh at my photography skills, but this is the best picture I could get. Ansley did not want her picture taken today. Next to Ansley in the group photograph is Aiden, my friend Angie's son. Brad and Angie had their 2nd child (a girl) yesterday. Congrats to them! This was the last class for this 6 week session, but I signed Ansley up again, so in two weeks we will start up again. So fun! Got me ready for Halloween. Now if only this weather would start cooling off......

It's official.....

We're all sick. And it sucks. I can't tell you how much colds irritate me. John got it last week, then Ansley got it, and now of course, me. Nevermind the fact that I have been fanatical (think obsessive compulsive) about not catching it. I've Lysoled our house at least twice a day, washed by hands til they're cracked, haven't even touched my face, stayed a good two feet away from John. I was feeling so confident - and yet, still, I get it. I don't understand it!! I'd do anything to figure out how to avoid colds. It's not only the fact that you feel crummy and don't want to do anything, but it puts a damper on all socialization, because no one wants to expose their kids to sick people (which I completely understand). Does anyone have any suggestions on avoiding colds? I'm up for anything. Has anyone actually had their child (a walking, touch everything toddler, preferably) sick and not caught it themselves? Or their husband, and not caught it? Tell me, how do you do that???

On a different note, Ansley and I spent the morning cheering ourselves up and making ghosts for what Ansley is calling the "Boo Tree" (took me awhile to figure this one out) on our front porch. Remember doing this when you were little? It brought back such fun memories for me. And let me just say, Ansley TOTALLY enjoyed doing this. You would have thought it was something huge. She was squealing with delight when I made the little ghost eyes, and she would hand each one to me so I could tie them on the tree, then flip them around to get them just right. So fun! I figure, if it doesn't feel like fall around here, I'll at least pretend it does and get festive. Made us both feel better. Now I think I'll go take a nap!

Birthdays and Pumpkins

We have had a busy Saturday! This morning we went to Ansley's friend Kaitlyn's first birthday party. Ansley had a lot of fun, and  got to paint a pumpkin, eat cake, of course, and taste candy corn for the first time (a big hit!). Happy Birthday, Kaitlyn!

This afternoon, we went to Burt's Pumpkin Farm with our friends Shawn, Christina and Alex. We went there last year with them as well, so it's such fun to have a tradition where we can laugh and talk about the previous year. Now Ansley and Alex are so much bigger, of course, so it was a lot of fun to see them getting excited about the pumpkins. There are so many pumpkins at Burt's - rows and rows and rows - from huge ones to baby pumpkins, as Ansley likes to call them. Ansley loved patting the pumpkins, and trying to pick them up. She and Alex enjoyed putting mulch on  top of the pumpkins, and then brushing it off. Ansley always loves to dance, and there was banjo music, so she was really into it. We also went on a hayride around the farm, where, just as last year, Ansley loved watching the scenery go by from the tractor. My only complaint was - the weather! It is still so hot here! Ok, I guess I shouldn't say hot, because July in Georgia is hot, but it's just so not fall like. As you can see, Ansley wore a skirt, so that tells you that it was definitely not fall weather. I keep waiting for it - guess I'll have to wait a little longer. But, we still had a great time, made better by the fact that we could enjoy it with friends.