Ainsley the Destroyer

Once upon a time, in a southern, sunny land, was a vacationing little girl named Ainsley. A peanut in size, but mighty in her activities and energy! She had a sweet little voice that gave her the ability to draw anyone in. Seen below with her Daddy who would look at that darling little girl and think she could be a destroyer.






While on vacation she went to the beach with her family. They all decided to build a sandcastle and Ainsley was very helpful. She carried large buckets of water to help make the sand wet and easier to pack.





She pushed the sand together and helped pack it to make the large base for the castle.





She poured water on the sand and helped put shells on for windows.





What a beautiful castle everyone worked so hard together to make. What a great example of teamwork by the family.





Even after Daddy and Kaylee walked back down to the water Ainsley stayed behind to continue decorating the castle. We spent much time and effort on our castle and we were all so proud.





But little Miss Ainsley has an ornery side to her, a destructive side to her. You can see it in her eyes. She's up to something....








Ainsley's Mommy had turned to take a photo of the water and when she turned back around this is what she found. Sweet little Ainsley laying on the castle.

She also decided to sit on the castle. She was like a dragon in medieval times taking over the kingdom. Watch out Russel Crowe your Gladiator has nothing on this little destroyer.

When all was said in done where once stood a beautiful castle now was a large hole. Ainsley the destroyer sat sweetly in the hole and continued to dig. Maybe she thought there was treasure to be found, maybe she was trying to dig her way to China. What her motives were no one can be certain, but what her family does know for certain is that she keeps things interesting and unpredictable. They love their little destroyer, even when she is using her powers for evil.

Snow Day!

Not so long ago, as all you Central Illinoians are aware, we had a SNOW DAY!!! My girls were thrilled to say the least. They have been waiting to play in the snow, up to this point it had been much to cold to brave the outdoors. Brad had to go into work VERY early in the morning for a conference call to determine State Farms plan of action (one thing I'm not going to miss when he starts is LDA in Auto in March). I was up at 5 a.m. waiting for a call from Brad to see what was going to happen. The phone rang, however it wasn't Brad, it was the State Farm line they have set up to call in weather situations, telling me that State Farm would be opening at 10. Now, I was just waiting to see what Kaylee's school would be doing. Once I heard District 87 and U-High were closed I was almost positive Kaylee would be having a snow day too, sure enough I was right. Snow Day for all the Busing girls! Poor Daddy was still stuck at work.


I talked to Brad after his 7:30 conference call, this was to determine if the 10 start time would stay or if they would be closed all together (the 10 start time stuck), and told me it was going to get much colder so if I wanted to get the girls out in the snow to do it within the next 2 hours. I got off the phone and the preparations began!


Ainsley in all her gear ready for some snow fun!


The girls were "snow" excited!!!



I took this photo from the front corner of the house. It was a pretty backyard scene.



Ainsley making a snow angel.


Kaylee making a snow angel.



Abby loves the snow too! She especially loves catching snowballs, as you can see from all the white powder on her face. She was patiently waiting for me to throw another snowball!


Kaylee thought it would be super fun to slide down through all the snow. Not sure what was going on with her hat. It's her hat from last year, her new one was in Brad's truck, she didn't really seem to mind it though.

As with everything else if Kaylee did something Ainsley needs to do it too!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, everyone! It is now the year 2010....still seems hard to believe! I can still remember "partying like it was 1999" when it was 1999. As usual the big party animals we are we really got crazy on New Year's Eve. Not so much :) I have to say I have never been much of a New Years person, I think I just get paranoid thinking of all of the "celebrators" out and about. This year we went up to my Dad's house. The girls had a lot of fun playing with their cousins and it was a relaxing and low key evening.

Grandma helping the kids make their own pizzas.

My Dad and Brad playing Tiger Woods on the Wii.

Of course if we are at Grandpa and Grandmas we must do some hot-tubbing! My Dad will keep it turned down low so the kids can play in it, they think it's a pool.

Getting ready for our 8:30 countdown!!!
Our festive bartender.

Kaylee and Koen playing computer games.

Me and Ainsley

Me and my twin, Kaylee!

We hope you all had a safe New Years and we wish you all a healthy and blessed 2010!

Happy Holidays!

I am sure like ours, your holidays came and went in a hurry! There is always so much excitement in the air and always so much to get done! For me it is because there are so many great traditions I want to maintain and therefore must schedule in. I don't want to start too early resulting in Thanksgiving unnoticed so I'm left with only a few short weeks to get everything in. We are also blessed with a lot of family and thankfully we all still try to get together around the holidays. So with our traditions and family gatherings here are some of the things we fit in post-Thanksgiving to Christmas:

1. My Father-n-law's birthday; November 27th
2. Schelle Christmas (my step-mom's extended side); Saturday after Thanksgiving
3. Putting up Christmas decorations
4. Shopping
5. Toys For Tots
6. State Farm Santa Visit
7. Preschool Holiday Program
8. Duffy Family Christmas (Dad's extended side)
9. Festival of Lights
10. Gingerbread Houses
11. Baking
12. Various getting together with immediate family for Christmas

The magic of the season keeps me jolly through all of it. As the girls have gotten older watching the magic of Christmas is very inspiring and refreshing. I love that they are so good about donating things for others. Kaylee has really started understanding the concept of giving to others. When beginning our advent calendars this year and talking about all of the wonderful things December would hold she mentioned Toys for Tots. This is something I always did and continued with the girls. We go to the store and they each pick out something and we take it to a Toys for Tots box. I have to say they have never once complained that we weren't buying them something. I anticipate it every year, as that would be a natural reaction for a child to have, "why can't I have something too?", but on these Toys for Tots days that hasn't happened. That makes me one proud Mama!

As the years continue I have a feeling my list will get longer. Some things may change out for others, i.e. preschool program for elementary school program, but I don't think I could ever just take away one of our traditions. Do they keep us busy? Yes. Do they leave us with memories to last a lifetime? Absolutely!

We hope that you and yours had a blessed and safe holiday season! Here are some of the photos from the memories we made this year:

Opening a gift at the Schelle Christmas

My Great-Grandma Schelle, she will be 95 next month and is such a doll!

Ainsley writing on her new dry erase board with Grandpa.

Gingerbread house complete!

Ainsley and Santa (and me:)) Kaylee still not a big fan of him in person.

At the State Farm visit they have various "scenes" set up for photo taking. Kaylee opted to participate in this, Ainsley not so much.

Getting ready to leave for Kaylee's Holiday Program.

Doing some arts and crafts at the Duffy Family Christmas. This one was creating your own manger scene with some stickers.

Presents

Collecting candy after the pinata broke.

Baking cookies with Mee-Maw

I saw this in a magazine and thought I would try it out.

Hanging out with Uncle Weezie and Sarah. Like Ainsley's new robe?

She looks like she's ready to box!

Ainsley lovin on her new pillow pet.

Kaylee having a bit of a breakdown at the end of Christmas Eve,

the other grandkids were still in good spirits.

Kaylee and Skyeler playing with some of their new toys.

It's always good to get socks and golf balls for Christmas! Look how happy they are!!

Christmas morning! The girls checking out what Santa left for them.

Christmas is never complete until there is a dance party with Aunt Kristin!