Lifesong

A Beautiful Monday

Today we enjoyed a morning outside - Ansley in her pool, happily playing, pouring water over her head and back and forth in buckets, and me in the shade under the deck. :) She had a great time. It's nice to finally be able to DO things, instead of feeling all this pressure to unpack and get organized. Not that we're unpacked and organized, of course, but we're to a point where I can pretty much wait until the evenings and weekends to get the rest done (basement and garage). Now, of course, I just wish I had some friends to hang out with! While I do love spending my days with Ansley, I definitely miss the constant interaction with friends and playmates for Ansley that we had in Atlanta. I know it will take time, I'm not having a pity party, but it is quite an adjustment for me.

I added a photo album called Emerson Park to the left with a few photos of our home. We still have pictures to hang, curtains to make, and some organizing, but it's getting there. I will try and add some as we get the rooms looking mostly put together. :) But no kitchen pictures until after the remodel! :)

And as for the requests for belly pictures, we'll have to see. Stay tuned. :)

Weekend's End

I got Ansley a Slip 'N Slide at Target today (on clearance for $7 even!) and we set it up this evening for her. She had a blast.

A nice way to end the weekend.

The Little Girl Who Screamed "Fairy Panties!" and Other Adventures

I thought 'Friday' sounded like too boring of a title.

Today we ventured to the mall. I am showing sooo quickly, and while I thought I would be happy with my previous maternity clothes, I'm not. They all seem too frumpy. I liked them three years ago, but now, not so much. So I wanted to get at least one cute outfit so I can feel better, and less frump-like (which I did, and I'm wearing now, feeling much better:)).

But first, we made a stop in Gymboree, where I saw there was a BIG SALE :) going on, with GymBucks. Can't resist the GymBucks. Shopping with Ansley these days is interesting, to say the least. She does pretty well, but she enjoys the whole shopping experience now. She's no longer content to sit in her stroller and let me shop. So she wants to walk around Gymboree with me and pick out some clothes. We're walking around, she's pointing things out "Oooh, this is cute!" "Can I take this home?" "That'd look sweet!" (I don't know where she gets these phrases) and then we come upon THE item. It was apparently SUCH a find in her almost three year old world, that she was never the same after she saw it:

She picks them up, holds them in both hands and starts twirling around the store, screaming (and I'm not exaggerating here) "FAIRY PANTIES!!! I'VE ALWAYS WANTED FAIRY PANTIES!!" Since when? I'm not sure. I thought we might have to leave the store, but there were only a few people in there, and they were all chuckling. We add them to our stash and then go and get some lunch, but Ansley does not stop talking about the fairy panties. In hindsight, it was really quite humorous. And if fairy panties are all it takes to potty train her, then I'm all for them. :)

I made a small mistake of promising her a ride on the horsies if she was a good shopper. Don't all malls have carousels? Apparently not this one. Oops. And she was such a good shopper, and I felt so bad, so I got her an M&M cookie instead, and she was happy with that.

We also got this adorable outfit. It's kind of hard to tell, but they are Bermuda shorts, and the headband is my absolute favorite. It is SO cute on her! :) And she loves it, which is key. I figure I better enjoy all this picking out stuff for her while I can, since it seems we are headed to the "I like that" vs "I don't like that" stage quickly.

So today was a better day. :) At 3:00 our neighbor, Grace, is coming over to watch Ansley for a couple of hours so John and I can pick out some stuff for the new kitchen. It is getting underway, so we are excited. The cabinets still take 3-4 weeks to come in, but at least we've started the process.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

The Many Moods of Ansley (ahem, and Me)

This is today's dress of choice - one of mine when I was young, but I imagine since it looks like a nightgown on her, I probably wore it when I was a little older than Ansley is. But, nevertheless, she decided she wanted to wear it today, and I thought she looked pretty cute in it. She's napping in it now, as a matter of fact. :)

Today was a rather frustrating day. We got up, got Ansley all ready and pumped up about going to gymnastics, drove all the way there to discover it was closed this week. Grrrrrr. I felt like a big idiot, but the other mom I met last week, Amy, was pulling up the same time I did. I guess they neglect to tell the newbies when they are closed. So, I thought we'd go to the local library and let Ansley pick out some books, since she's so into books lately. We get there, and Ansley is so excited - looking at all the books, taking it in, carefully picking out which ones she wants. We go up to check them out, and to get a library card, you have to have proof of a local address. We just moved here! I don't have anything with our address on it, except mail, which of course I don't happen to keep in my purse. We get back in the car, and Ansley says "Where's my books Mommy?" Decide we've had enough strikes for one day, so we head home.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. :)

All Things Girlie

My little girl has turned into an official girlie-girl. I'd hear people talk about their daughters and how they had to wear this or have this a certain way, and I'd think, hmm, guess Ansley isn't going to be opinionated like that. Ha! It just took getting to almost three. She loves, loves dresses these days, and would wear a dress every day if she could. She loves playing dress up, especially with Mommy's stuff, "fixing" hair, dancing, having her nails painted, and wearing pink. Could she be any more girlie? I'm loving every minute though. :)

Here she is this morning, after finally deciding THIS was the dress she was going to wear today. She's dancing, as you can tell, in her room (yes, I should have moved the clothes, but it was too cute of a shot to pass up). She also fixed her hair all by herself this morning. There is still a little work to do yet in her room - some wainscoting, trimwork, curtains, and then hanging up all her pictures. She's very excited to have her room "worked on!" This room is much bigger than her previous room, and on most days at the end of her nap I know she is awake by the stomping I hear from downstairs. I go in, and she is dancing in the big open space by her bed. Twirling, jumping, swaying...and usually singing. :)

Our neighbors, Grace, who is 14, and Natalie, 11, stopped by yesterday afternoon to say hey and see Ansley. They are such super sweet girls. They stayed for over an hour, and Grace and I chatted and Natalie and Ansley played together. When they left, as they were walking down the sidewalk, Ansley yelled "Hug!" So they came back and gave her a hug, then as she started to leave Ansley yelled "Kiss!" So they came back for a kiss. So cute. We are thrilled to have such sweet girls next door, and I have a feeling Ansley will really enjoy having Grace (and probably sometimes Natalie) babysit and play.

We're excited to try out Fellowship Church this Sunday - it seems everyone we meet attends there, so it will be nice to get plugged into a church family again.

Hope you all are having a great Wednesday!

Weekend

We had a fun "Fourth of July" weekend, even though the Fourth hasn't officially arrived yet. Ansley had a blast with JonJon, as she calls him, and Missy. I think everything in life is more fun to her when JonJon is around. Playing chase, going down slides, or riding her bike have her in shrieking fits of laughter; when we do those same things, they are fun, but not hysterically so. It's very cute to see them interact though. We went to the park, had lots of playing, and celebrated Jonathan's birthday while they were here. Ansley helped make the cake, and of course blew out the candle (I had trouble finding even one candle in the Land of Boxes).

One of the first meals in our new home was fondue. This was Ansley's first experience with it, and it was a big hit. We had a cheese fondue first with bread, veggies, and cornbread, and then chocolate fondue with strawberries, bananas, pineapples and apple wedges, which was the overwhelming favorite. :) Here are a few cute pictures from this fun, but messy, experience:

We had a fun time. Thanks for a fun weekend, Jonathan and Missy! We look forward to many more, since we are now just over two hours drive apart.

John is off tomorrow as well, so it has been a nice long weekend.

Hope you all are having a fun weekend as well. Thanks for all the comments! :)