Ice Skating

We ventured out today to Crown Center in KC and went ice skating. We had a great time and Aspen loved it. My back will be paying for it tomorrow since we were practically supporting all her weight but it was worth it. She really liked it and we had a good time seeing her so excited!

 

Towards the end she was getting better and I was just holding her hands up and she was scooting her feet. She kept holding up one foot and saying look mommy I can skate on one foot! haha...of course you can when mommy and daddy have all your weight! haha Either way, still cute!

 

 

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!!

 

We are having a great Christmas. We spent Saturday with Joe's family, Sunday here at our house doing Christmas with my mom and Monday at my dad's. We got home LATE last night and then spent the morning opening gifts, eating breakfast, playing with new toys, napping, watching movies and just being together as a family. I am the luckiest girl in the world to get to spend my Christmas with these 3!

 

 

Open Gym

Joe and I had his Christmas party at work last Friday night so we both took the whole day off to spend it with Aspen since we would be gone that evening. We took her to open gym as the gymnastics center. This is the second time she's gone and she absolutely loves it!

 

She loved walking on the beam!!

 

She swung on the bar, jumped on the trampoline, did her sommersaults and rolls, jumped and climbed, played in the "building blocks"(the pit) and had a great time! I am so happy that we got to take her to do this! She starts her first class in January and we are so excited for her!

 

Joe and I had a really good time at his Christmas party and Aspen had lots of fun staying with her Nana.

The rest of the weekend we spent at home except for church and a playdate on Saturday with some of my best friends. I cheered with these girls at Emporia State and it's hard to believe we all have kids of our own now. The kids had a blast and it was really good to get together with my girls.

The five seconds we had them all sitting still! :)

Aspen's first KU basketball game

I hate to be THAT KU fan...but it's kind of hard not to be when our football season has been less than stellar this year (but you better believe my booty is still in the seat for every home football game, even the one that was rain delayed for an hour and pouring rain for a good majority of the game- and cheering on tv for the away games- I'm excited for basketball not a fairweather fan) -but mostly just because I just love KU Basketball so much. The excitement, the energy, the passion, the talent, the history, the tradition....I could go on and on.

Anyway, it's here! We went to the first and second games, both exhibition, but still great to get to go and experience the atmosphere. I was so excited to take Aspen to her first KU game.

 

We had a really good time, even though I was literally sweating all through the game making sure Aspen didn't fall down the bleachers on her head! It's great to see Aspen picking up on the little things, waving the wheat, putting her hands up for free throws, clapping with the fight song and not specific to KU but she melted my heart when she put her hand over her heart during the national anthem.

 

The Rock Chalk chant before the game

 

The pre-game video gives me goosebumps everytime!

 

I've watched KU basketball with my family since I was old enough to remember so it makes me so happy to start to share these things that I grew up with, with my own daughter and to see her making those same memories literally makes me teary eyed.

 

I'm not sure how our season will fare this year- we're a young team but with a load of talent. Hopefully we'll be adding another banner at the end of the season! :)

 

Kristy

Pumpkin Carving

Last Saturday we carved our pumpkins. This was our first time carving pumpkins as a family. We had lots of fun!

We went to the KU game earlier in the day and after dinner and bath we got to work!

 



 

"punkin guts are yucky!"

 

 

Our Rock Chalk pumpkin!

Pumpkin Patch

We had a great weekend...minus KU football. They literally break my heart every weekend b/c I just want them to do well and well...we're just not this year - or last. But I still LOVE my Jayhawks and will be in the seats cheering them on no matter what! :)

Today we had a busy day but it was one of those great family days where you just feel so blessed. We spent the morning at church. Then we went the lunch with my mom and little brother and then to the Pumpkin Patch.

 



We came home and Aspen napped, Joe watched football and I read my book. After Aspen woke up her and I ran to Dillons and then home in time to jump in the bath and have a "picnic dinner"in the living room while watching Madagascar 3. I can't believe my little turkey is big enough to sit and watch a movie with us. Such a great family day!

Soccer Star

Aspen was down with the flu for 3 days last week so we were pretty excited when she got to feeling better weekend. The weather has been so nice we got to play outside quite a bit. These two girls love to be outside.

 

Aspen loves to play soccer! Can't believe she'll be old enough to play on a team soon!

 

 

Don't mind the wind and sprinkler in the background!

 

 

Our weekend

We started the weekend out with a great dinner of grilled shrimp and potatos...except that we didn't time things very good and ended up eating shrimp and rolls and then waiting on the potatos - only to find out we didn't mix something up right and they tasted terrible! haha Oh well, try again next time!

Saturday morning Aspen and I ran over to a garage sale, and I scored the best deal ever! I got her a little tumble mat. I was so stinking excited about it! I will get a picture of it soon, but lets just say it's been spread out on our living room floor and Aspen has jumped and rolled on it like you would not believe. I have no idea where we're going to store it, but for right now on the living room floor works! haha Then we got ready to go to the KU Football game. I'm not going to talk about the outcome of the game, b/c it was so disappointing but I'll just say we had fun at the game.

 

Aspen ended up falling asleep pretty much right after kickoff and slept for the first quarter and a half of the game (I don't know how she does it but she can sleep anywhere!) so I actually got to pay more attention that I usually get to. It was hot holding her but as she's growing, I get to snuggle less and less so I'll take what I can get.

After the game we went to my fav - El Mez for dinner and I had, I'm not kidding - the best margarita ever! haha

Sunday we went to church this morning. Came home and made breakfast, did some cleaning and playing, and laid Aspen down for nap a little after the Chiefs game started. Too bad, we started off a lot better than we are finishing...looks like it might be another rough football season around our house this year. I'm half reading, half watching the football game...it's hard to get back into the routine of having school stuff to do! We have steaks to grill for dinner tonight! Great weekend at home with my family.

 



Are you ready for some football?

 I am SOOO pumped that it's football season again!! I love everything about it! We have season tickets to the KU games again this year so we got to go to our season opener last weekend. Kind of bummed it ended up being the same weekend as our 10 year high school reunion, but I couldn't miss the game!

All Aspen could talk about was seeing Jay and giving Jay a five. She kept telling me "not Big Jay mommy, just Baby Jay"...well we didn't see Baby Jay so she wasn't so sure about taking a picture with Big Jay. She might have even said "don't touch me" to him.....From far away she's waving and saying hi but up close, not so much of a fan.

Family pic before the game.

We had so much fun!! Aspen clapped her hands when we were cheering, waved the wheat and would throw her arms up in the air like we did when something good happened. She does a great job at the games. Let's just say it was a good thing we were on the aisle considering we took her potty at least 10 times. Not even kidding at all. I think she just liked climbing the stairs-goofy girl.

We even got to sit next to some of our really good friends which made the game even more fun. These two girls enjoyed the game! Brynlee did great at her first Jayhawk football game!!

So here's to hoping we have a better season than last year -honestly it would be hard not too but we aren't going to go there. haha Rock Chalk baby!

Aspen's 2!!

My sweet baby girl turned 2 this last weekend. I could never put into words how much joy and happiness she brings into our lives. She amazes me everyday with a new word or something new that she can do all by herself. She really is growing up.

 At 2 years old, she is full of energy from 6 am to her 8:30 bedtime. She is now fully potty trained and doing amazing! We only used pull-ups for nap and bedtime for about a week and then decided she didn't need them so we were done with that. She can sing her ABC's all the way through and recognizes most of her shapes. She knows her days of the week, but forgets Thursday almost everytime. She's still working on getting her numbers in the right order when she counts and recognizing her colors - she gets pink and purple pretty much everytime, go figure, right?!! Daddy has also taught her that "purple's yucky" which all of those KSU fans just love to hear her say. She's ready for football season already and says that she's not going to be scared to give Baby Jay a five this year but Big Jay still scares her. haha I wish I could write down all the funny things she says so that I will never forget the cuteness that comes out of her mouth. She loves Mickey Mouse and playing Monkey Preschool Lunchbox on the ipad. She LOVES being outside doing anything, riding her scooter, "helping" mom and dad wash the cars, playing in the sprinkler or the pool, riding her tricycle, sidewalk chalk, soccer, I could go on and on. When we play inside she loves to play with her babies, feeding them, burping them, covering them up, etc. She also loves to play with her Little People doll house. She loves reading books and just recently even just sitting by herself and looking through them. Some of the books we have - she's read so many times she can almost recite them all by herself. So cute.

For her second birthday we blew up balloons and put them in the living room for when she woke up. She loved it! We also went to play in the pool and then we had her party in the afternoon. We had it at the park. She loved it!  We did pink and green and she wanted monkeys. Everything turned out really cute. I ordered some little hanging monkeys to decorate and then thekids took them home with them. They had little tags that said "thanks for swinging by Love, Aspen" to hang on them.

Her cupcakes turned out so cute! :) As we were eating cupcakes, I looked over and Aspen had the candle, I was thinking she's just licking the frosting. wrong! As we're cleaning up I find the "2" candle with a chunk out of the side of it...

She had a blast playing in the park. She loved that she got to wear her tutu! :)

Our family on Aspen's birthday!

Happy 2nd Birthday baby girl - we love you so much!





Girls Day

I am so behind on my blogging. Going back a few weeks - Aspen's daycare was closed for the day and I had been trying to find time to schedule my car an appointment to get new tires. We had a coupone for $100 off at the dealership where I bought my car in Kansas City so we made a day out of it. My appointment was at 10:00, and they gave me a loaner car while they worked on mine. We went and walked around Town Center and then met up with my friend Kathleen for lunch at Applebee's.

Aspen was her little onery self at lunch (in a good way), but also colored and ate by herself so Kat and I got a chance to get all caught up. It was so good to meet up with her!!

After lunch, we went and did a little shopping. I really enjoyed the girl time with her! She got to pick out a new dress at Old Navy and she was really excited about it.

After we had been shopping awhile, I called to check on my car - they had not even started working on it yet! Then 15 minutes later they called and told me that I needed new brakes and rotors too...yay.

So I decided instead of wandering around that we would make it a very special day and go see Aspen's first movie! We went to see Madagascar 3!

The most funny part was that as the movie was starting (after what seemed like an hour of previews) she crawled up in my lap and said "my sleepy mommy" and took a little cat nap for the first 30 minutes of the movie. After she woke up she sat in her own chair and watched the movie like such a big girl. She laughed and clapped for the parts she liked.

We had such a fun girls day- can't wait to share many more with her! :)





Sprinkler Fun

Last weekend we got the sprinkler out for Aspen. She had never played in the sprinkler before. She loved it....but not running in it. Just touching it and splashing herself in the face.

She had a great time, and Joe and I were laughing and smiling with her the whole time. I love summertime!

We finally got her to run through it! She would usually run while it was facing the other way and then say "my not get wet!" It was a fun way to spend an afternoon!





Mother's Day 2012

We celebrated Mother's Day a few weeks ago. I had a great day spending time with my family. We went to church and then Joe made me breakfast at home. After playing for a little bit, Aspen took a nap and I went outside and read for awhile and went on a run. We took my little brother to the batting cages and then out to El Mezcal (my favorite restaurant) with Joe, Aspen, my little brother and my mom. All in all a GREAT day. I am so grateful that I get to be Aspen (and Roxy's) mom. I can not believe that I am so very blessed.

"I am first and foremost me, but right after that, I am a mother. The best thing that I can ever be, is me. But the best gift that I will ever have, is being a mother.”
― C. JoyBell C



What we've been up to...

I feel like I say this everytime I blog but we've been pretty busy lately! The weather is beautiful so we have been spending as much time as possible outside in the evenings and on the weekends. We stay busy with Dakota's (my brothers) soccer and baseball games. Here's a little of what we've been up to lately.

Easter! This was Aspen's second Easter and the first time she actually got to go hunt eggs. She LOVED it. Although she did get a little distracted picking dandelions and saying "My pick you flowers mommy!" She looked so pretty in her Easter dress and did great with the childrens time at church. Aspen is a great little helper. Pretty much with anything I do she's right there, asking to help or just recently its become "my do it mommy" (she replaces I with My most of the time).

 Family picture before going to dinner one night. The picture below was from the Tulip Festival Aspen and I went to with my mom, sister and brother. It was SUPER windy that day and b/c of that a lot of the vendors left but we still had a good time!

Joe and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary this year. It's crazy to me! We went on a little weekend getaway trip to the Lake of the Ozarks. Aspen had a little bit of a rough time with that long in the car and the weather wasn't quite as warm as we would have preferred but it was a great trip and so nice to get away and be able to spend the weekend together!

 Aspen picked some flowers on our walk up to the park from the condo. She insisted we go to the park everyday!

Sunset when we got there on Thursday evening - so pretty!

 Our attempt at a family picture with the timer...wish it hadn't turned out dark! Some of our friends let us stay in their condo for the weekend and it was amazing! Joe and I spent a lot of time out on the balcony when Aspen was sleeping. Perfect calm quiet evenings!

Happy Anniversary babe - I love you!

We went to the KU Spring game a few weekends ago! So ready for football again! Here's to hoping KU has a better year...I think we might have our hands full with Aspen at the games this year!

21 month pictures. I can't believe in just 3 months she will be 2.

We have a full summer to look forward too. Hopefully I'll do a little bit better with my blogging about it!