Merry Christmas!!

We have had such a wonderful holiday season! December was very busy, but exciting! We got to spend so much time with family and friends. We visited David's extended family in Texarkana earlier this month. We are so fortunate to have both parents and all our siblings living in NWA, which gives us the opportunity to spend plenty of time with them during the holidays. My sister-in-law, Laura, made it home from Dominica and we threw her a little surprise party. We are so glad that she does not have to leave the country again!! Lexi played Ragedy Anne in the "Moosical" at school and it was so fun to watch her and her classmates. I am posting a couple pictures from he play. She also joined the Children's Choir at church and sang in the Christmas Cantata! She loves to sing so she had a blast! I am posting a picture of her in her Choir robe as well. This year, we started a new tradition. My mom bought us and Elf on the Shelf. She came over and read the story to the kids, which they loved. We named our Elf Zachary and the kids had so much fun finding his new spot every morning (well, almost every morning......I forgot to move him a couple times so I had to tell them that if they are really good, he doesn't have to visit the North Pole every night). He will be back next Thanksgiving;). Ayden was so much fun this year for Christmas!! He loved opening presents! Lexi and Ayden got a new trampoline for Christmas, which they have not been able to use yet because it is so cold. They can't wait to get on it when the snow melts. We were extactic about having our first white Christmas!!! It was so pretty.....except for when we had to drive home from my nanas Christmas Eve in the blizzard:( I have enjoyed being home with the kids for Christmas break. It is one of my favorite times of the year. I love laying around in the mornings watching GMA, Regis and Kelly, and The View while they play in their pj's. I am so excited about 2010!! Hopefully we will sell our house and begin building in the fall!!! I have become addicted to looking at house plans! David and I will be heading to Memphis this weekend for the Liberty Bowl and to celebrate the new year! We are so excited! Happy New Year!

Ashley

Long time.....No blogging

So every since school started back in August, my summer project of starting a blog has been placed at the bottom of my to do list. We have been so busy! As most of you know, I switched to first grade this year. Although I love my new position and never want to move back up, it has been a challenge. There has been so much to learn and preparing for each week is definitely more time consuming than it was in 4th grade where I taught the same thing three times a day. I usually stay at school every day until about 5:30 and still bring lots of work home. It has been worth it though because I love my 1st graders!!!!! Lexi has been involved in soccer, gymnastics, dance, and Timothy Team which is her Wednesday night church class. So we have something every night of the week except Mondays....Whew!!!! Ayden is growing so much!! He does some of the cutest things right now. He is talking so much and always has lots to say. His favorite thing is to watch Yo Gabba Gabba. He dances all around the room. And of course he still loves doing whatever his sister does. David and I have started a class at church called "Growing A Healthy Marriage" and we love it! It is such a great way to refresh our marriage. This past weekend David and I had a blast at the Arkansas/TX A&M game. I am posting some pictures tonight from the weekend and a few others of the kids from dance, soccer, and tailgating. Hope you enjoy and I promise to try and keep up with my blog a little better.

Fun in First Grade!!!!

Last Thursday Lexi and I both started first grade!!!!! She loves her new teacher, Mrs. Ebert and having her best friend, Sophie, in her class again. I kind of got a little teary eyed because I can't believe that she is a first grader and it is hard dropping her off to another classroom besides her wonderful, loving Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Jackson's. But I know she will do great! I have made a huge change from teaching fourth grade to now first grade! But so far I LOVE it and never want to go back up. I am laughing all the time!!!! My kiddos tell me they love my hair, shoes, makeup, glasses, and clothes EVERYDAY!!! LOL!!! Lexi's classroom is actually connected to my room so we did have to have a little talk about how she could not hug me and talk to me everytime she sees me. Although I am a lil tired because I have been working non-stop for the past couple weeks getting my room ready, lesson plans done, and learning a lot about first grade, we are off to what I think will be a great year. Our evenings are still a little quiet, but in a couple weeks it will be soccer, dance, gymnastics, and tiny tims at church consuming our weeknights so we are breathing while we still can!!!! I feel like I haven't said much about Ayden since I am talking about school. He is still making us laugh constantly!!! He is such a little stinker, but it is so hard not to laugh. He does WHATEVER Lexi does and it is so funny!!! Tonight I was practicing Lexi's spelling words with her and he would repeat the word when I told it to her. So funny! He loves going to Mrs. Lenora's and playing with his friend Towns. He even says Towns name now. Well that's all for now. Enjoy the week!

Love,

Ashley

Brownie and Beach Blast!!!!!

We just got home from Destin, Florida last night. We spent a week on the beach with my parents, brother and sister, and nephew. We had a blast!!!!! Lexi and Ayden both loved the sand and water. I think that Lexi could have stayed from morning til dark. Ayden does whatever his sister does. If she runs down to the water..... he is not far behind! They were so cute to watch. We got lots of good video, which I know we will love looking back at someday. Ayden counts, 2,2,2 and then falls down into the water. It is so much fun to watch him experience new things. Lexi loved the pool also where she did cheerleading with Gampi everyday. David got to golf and I took Lexi school shopping. We ate at the Crab Trap and Pomponoe Joes, which were both amazing and sat right on the beach!!! David and I got to go out to Pomponoe Joes by ourselves and had a lil date with the best seats ever. They were out on the deck on the beach.....It was so pretty. We cooked every kind of shrimp you can think of, shrimp alfredo, and had a crab leg feast!!!!! It was defintely a great ending to our summer!!!!!! We can't wait to go again. I am going to post a few pictures from the beach below plus a couple of pics of the kids helping me cook brownies for David's 30th birthday. If you can't tell, Ayden is a fan of licking the bowl. At first he kept looking at me wondering why I was letting him do it. Then, at one point, I thought he might try to crawl in the sink!! I LOVE my kiddos!!!! We have so much fun! Enjoy the pictures.

More Summer Fun!

So as you can see in the pic above, we have been having to much fun being at home for the summer!!!! We have been relaxing in the mornings. Watching GMA, drinking coffee, playing!!! I love summer mornings!!!!! We celebrated David's bday out at the lake on Sunday. I had a yard sale last weekend that went really well. This week I am trying to catch up on scrapbooking, organizing around the house, and getting some things ready for 1st grade. On Saturday, we are leaving for Destin, which I am SO excited about. Then it will be back to work for me:( But I am excited about this school year so I will be ready. Here are some pics from the last couple weeks.

Ayden loves his sister's helmet and scooter:)

Lexi playing school. She just had to have makeup!

Ayden was not to excited about holding Jaxon!!!

Hanging out after sleeping in:)

Summer Fun!

Thought I would post some summer pictures. We are enjoying our summer break, but it is going by way to fast. Besides vacation, we have been out on the boat and working on small projects around the house that I don't get done during the school year. We celebrated Lexi's 6th birthday in June, so I have added some pictures from her party and sleepover. We celebrated the 4th of July out on the boat watching fireworks, watching fireworks at the Naturals Ballpark, and having a cookout. I just had to post this picture of Ayden above because he loves to wear hats. If David has a hat on Ayden will take it off and want to wear it. He gets pretty upset if you try to take it from him. The funny thing is he will wear the hats side ways, backwards, diagonal, and sometimes he likes to cover his eyes up with the hat and try to walk. The other day I was cleaning out David's closet to get ready for our yard sale this weekend and he just had a blast trying on all the hats I was throwing out. He also enjoys getting a pair of Lexi's tennis shoes out of her closet and wearing them around the house ALL day. I probably put them back in her closet 10 times today. Enjoy the pictures.

Cole decided to strap Ayden's carseat to the golf cart. Obviously I was not monitoring this.

Laura, I put this one on here for you to see. Even though you are moving to the Bahamas now, he was supporting you in his new Dominica t-shirt from Nana and Papa

We had family over for the fourth of July weekend. Lexi loves playing with her cousins, Dylan and Logan. They had a blast on the water slide and shooting fireworks. Ofcourse we could not get Ayden to stay in the picture but he had fun as well.

Ayden enjoyed the watermelon if you can't tell!!

Lexi had her first sleepover for her 6th birthday party!! All the girls had so much fun!!

The gang at Lexi's party. She was so glad that almost everyone was able to come. What cuties!!! Ayden was also at the party, however he does not necessarily volunteer for pictures..... He runs!

Enjoying San Antonio Heat!

Riverwalk

When we got to San Antonio, we took a walk down the Riverwalk. We stopped and ate at a delicious mexican restaurant called, Rio Rio. Then we headed back to the hotel to get some rest for Sea World!

Sea World, San Antonio

Taking a break after the Shamu show! Ayden enjoyed getting out of the stroller and being free for a while. We sat by the lake while Lexi and dad rode the roller coaster, which she wanted to ride again immediately. She is definitely not like her mom!! She is a little dare devil!!



Austin, TX

At the mall in Austin Lexi just had to jump on the bungee trampoline. It was really neat! She had a blast!

What a trip!!!!