Family Photos 2011

We had our annual Family photos taken a couple weeks ago. In the past we have always gone to Portrait Innovations, but this year I wanted to mix things up a bit. I had Laura take our photos. She took some photos of my Mom, me and the girls last fall and I loved them. She is so sweet and so reasonable! Her fee includes your CD and the rights to the pictures. She gives you an hour of her time and will do them either indoor or outdoor. After her fee and ordering my pics I still spent less than what I have in the past at Portrait. I'm sure we will be back at Portrait sometime, but it was nice to do something different this year!

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Dear Mom

Dear Mom,

Happy Mother's Day 2011!! I've said this many times to many people, you are one of the strongest people I have ever known. While I have always known this I don't know that I truly understood my own words until I became a Mom too.

I am so blessed to be a Mom and even more so to have you as a my Mom and best friend. My children are so blessed to have you as their Mee-Maw. The amount of sacrifice you gave, in so many different ways, speaks volume of your love for me. The amount of time you spend with my children and they way you know them so well speaks volume of your love for them.

Becoming a Mom has given me a deeper appreciation for you then I ever thought possible. You have always stood by my side, you have never left me, you have been my advocate when no one else was, you survived the daily grind of being my Mom in my teenage years:), you have often times sacrificed things you truly wanted just for the betterment of my life. You have given my humor, sarcasm, love, kindness and compassion. How does one thank someone for that?

Thank you Mom for being an example to me. Thank you for loving me and my children. Thank you for always being there and holding my hand. Thank you for making me hair appointments when I couldn't find the time:) Thank you for knowing when I'm tired, for knowing when I'm stressed, for knowing when I need help, for knowing when I'm sick and mostly for always knowing what I need when I couldn't say the words.

You inspire me!

Happy Mother's Day!!

Big Love to you, Mama!!!

Stephanie

I'm so proud to be your daughter and so thankful your my mom!

Happy Birthday, Ainsley Isabella!

Dear Ainsley Isabella,

Today you are 4. Four-years old...seems surreal. It's so cliche to say but yet so true time has gone so fast. You were the piece that completed our family. As a baby Daddy would call you the "Happiest baby in America." That phrase has continued throughout your life but now you have become the "Happiest kid in America." While you have a little mischievous streak in you, you really are happy 95% of the time. You love to sing and dance, and of course let's not forget tell jokes. You make me smile everyday. You love to give hugs and tell me "I'm the best Mommy in the world." No matter how big or small of things we do you show appreciation, for example yesterday when I poured you a bowl of cereal you tell me I'm "the best cereal maker ever!" The sincerity behind your words warms my heart. Your big brown eyes light up a room. I love that you enjoy playing with your ponies and baby dolls inside, and love to go outside and look for bugs, or snakes, and run around and get dirty. I love how you have become my little shopping buddy. You are one of the most fun people to walk around a store with and talk about all the interesting things you see.

This world will truly be a better place because of you! You are the kind of person that makes someone feel happy just by having a conversation. It has been such a joy to watch you grow this past year at Montessori. You love going to school and seeing your friends. Your Daddy and I are so proud of you and we are so excited to watch you continue to grow and learn new things.

For Mommy a new year is always bittersweet, as I am excited for the things ahead a part of me is sad that another year is gone. I savored our bedtime routine last night. We read extra books, told some jokes, practiced our whistling and sang some songs, because tonight was the last night of bedtime with my 3 year old. You, however, were super excited for bedtime as you knew that when you woke-up today you'd be 4!!

Ainsley, you are my little sass, my small in stature but big in attitude and personality little girl! I am blessed to be your Mommy and thank God everyday he chose me for this special job!

Here's to another great year!!

With love and much pride,

Mommy

Easter Eggstravaganza!

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Rhyme Time

Ainsley is into rhyming words lately. REALLY into them. I've heard words rhymed that I didn't even know existed. I can't decide if she is my future Shel Silverstein or Eminem? Atleast once a day Ainsley will say "Listen,(insert some rhyming words, i.e. Hat Cat) those rhyme." From there another 20-30 minutes of rhyming, atleast.

While this may sound a little annoying, and depending on the time and amount of times a day this happens it can boarder on annoying, but overall I love when she does this and tend to egg her on. I love watching her mind work and the pride she has in her 3 year old self that she has mastered this skill! I love that she's so excited to share her talents with anyone who will listen. I have got all the time for all her rhyme(s):)!

Happy Birthday to my Mama!

Yesterday was my Mama's birthday! We all got together on Saturday and brought all the fixings over to make her a great day! Belle was especially helpful by knocking her cake over so I had the great opportunity to make another. Thankfully her favorite cake is a Texas Chocolate Cake and I have the recipe pretty much memorized, as it's a basic cake, so it didn't take much time to make another.

It was a beautiful day outside and we spent a lot of time outdoors. There was much 4-wheeling, bike riding, tractor riding, playing on the swings and fishing in the pond. Everyone seem to have a great time and I was so happy to give my Mom a special day because she deserves it!

Ainsley riding her bike in the shed.




Ainsley and Paw-Paw doing some work with one of the tractors.



Mee-Maw, Ainsley and Kaylee taking a ride on the 4-wheeler.



Everybody singing "Happy Birthday" and helping to blow out the candles.



Ainsley doing a little clean-up after the party:)

Show Your Work Night

The other night we had Ainsley's Show Your Work Night at Montessori. She was so excited!! We had been at another school function at Kaylee's school earlier in the night and while Kaylee stayed behind with Mee-Maw. All the way to Montessori Ainsley kept telling me all the things we were going to be doing at her school. When we got to Montessori there were A LOT of people and maybe a wee-bit overwhelming to little Miss A. Once we got in her room and sat down she was the first to be excused to find work. Again a little overwhelmed, and not entirely sure what to do, I could since her starting to cry. Sure enough the tears soon came. We sat for awhile, walked around the room a little and finally I got some popbeads off the shelf, one of her favorites and pretended to try and do them but just couldn't figure it out. The laughter and "Oh Mom" soon came and Ainsley was back! From then on she was all about showing us work and teaching us how to do it, because no matter how hard we tried somehow Brad and I just couldn't do it without her help:) While it was a very surreal experience being there for my little Ainsley I was oh so proud of her and so happy to be there with her!

Working on color tablets.


Putting Pop Beads together.


Success!!


Carrot Slicing