Spring is Busy!!

Although I love winter, I am so excited spring has arrived!! It has been such a pretty week! It makes it seem like summer break is getting closer:) Lexi has been riding her bike everyday after school. Ayden got an "eggo" bike (aka Diego) and LOVES to ride it also. He has a new helmet that he wears pretty much the entire time he is outside. It is so funny! The kids and I love going out in the evenings to play and take walks. We are pretty busy right now. Lexi has started play practice for the Wizard of Oz. She is doing excellent and we can't wait until Showtime!! In the next few weeks leading up to the play she will practice 4-5 time a week...ahhhh!!!!!! On top of that, it is also Dance Recital time, so we are trying to also make all dance practices! Oh-and I forgot.....t-ball starts next week!! David, Uncle Brian, and Jay are coaching Lexi's team. Uncle Brian sponsored the team and so ofcourse they will be called "Lester Law Firm" and according to David, Brian, and Jay, they will go undefeated...hahaha!!!! So yes, we are VERY busy right now. We are very excited about watching Lexi in all of her upocoming events, but I am sure we will be ready for the break from activities once June comes!! We had a wonderful Easter Sunday! It was such a pretty day! I am posting a couple of my favorite recent pics of the kids. Hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of spring!

Slumber Party in Sister's Room!!

My nephew, Jaxon, spent the night with us last night for the first time. He is 1 year old and is a very light sleeper. So I decided to let Ayden and Lexi sleep in their sleeping bags in Lexi's room so that Jaxon could sleep in Ayden's without any distractions. Ayden was so EXCITED about sleeping with his sister. I put the sleeping bags out and he went and got his pillow, boots, and blanky! Him and Lexi watched tv and had popcorn before going to sleep. He thought he was such a big boy. He did however wake up at 4:30, which he usually doesn't do, and came and got in bed with mommy and daddy. So, ofcourse, David and I did not sleep that well. Jaxon slept all night long though. Yesterday, Jaxon, Lexi, and Ayden played outside in the beautiful weather all day long. They loved it! We went for a walk in Ayden's wagon, which the boys also loved, until they started fighting over a pair of sunglasses. You see, Ayden has to do whatever his sister does, so when she went in the house to get sunglasses, Ayden had to have some also. This is why there are pictures of him playing outside in striped girl sunglasses. He may just be getting some "boy" sunglasses in his Easter basket;) Here are some pictures from the Slumber Party and playing outside. Enjoy!

Busy Break!

We have had a busy spring break up until today. David took off Monday and Tuesday so that we could put in wood floors and do some painting. We are trying to sale our house, so we are doing a little fixing up! In the past couple of weeks we have had the entire house repainted. We had a pink bedroom, teal bedroom, red living room, and chocolate brown bathroom. Now our house is all back to neutral in hopes of someone imagining themselves in our home!! We had someone come and paint most of the house, but we decided to do the kitchen at the last minute to match the rest of the house, so I did that all by myself while David put in wood floors. It took me two days!! Yes, I am slow especially having to go around all of the cabinets in the kitchen...not fun!!!! Luckily David had lots of help doing the wood floors. My stepdad, brother-in-law, and our good friend Jay helped out with the task! They did such an awesome job and we love the wood floors. However, I am paranoid about every little toy that flies across the room or drops on the floor. We definitely have to find a large rug soon.

Yesterday, we went to see Nick Jr. Live at the Walton Arts Center with Jill, Ian, and Carter. Ayden was AMAZED!! He loved it!! Lexi ofcourse said that her and Ian were "ready to get out of their because it wasn't like Disney", but she watches Nick Jr. all the time!! Hahaha!! Her and Ian are so funny together because they try to show off around each other. Last weekend, I went to Kansas City with David because he had to work. I shopped, had a massage and pedicure, worked out, and had starbucks each morning while I read my book!!! We went to dinner both nights at delicious places. We had lots of fun and it was nice to get away a couple days. So today is the first day that the kids and I have been able to just lay around all day. We had a nap while it rained, which was very nice! Looking forward to enjoying the last three days of the break before we go back to school next week. I will be so sad to have to take Ayden to the babysitter...I love keeping him with me all day!

Valentine's Day and Ayden's 2nd Birthday

Wow!! February went by fast and spring is just around the corner. We celebrated my nephew, Jaxon's 1st birthday on the 9th of February at Fun City and Ayden's 2nd birthday on the 28th at JumpZone! David and I cannot believe Ayden is two already! Time goes by so fast! Ayden had such a great birthday party. We had so many wonderful friends and family that came to celebrate his special day with us at JumpZone. If you have not been to JumpZone, it is a huge warehouse with lots of inflatables and the kids had an absolute blast!! He had a "Yo Gabba Gabba" party, which is a show on Nick Jr. that he goes crazy over. Ayden got so many new toys and now it is almost impossible to walk in his room! He got a train table, slide, clothes, muno guitar, train accessories, books, tools, blocks, yo gabba gabba plate, cup bowl (which is one of his favorites!), and lots more goodies. Ofcourse after we got home from his party and opened all of the toys, he just wanted to play with the balloons.....imagine that!!!! I am posting my favorite picture of him from his party that a friend took. I just love this picture of him! He loves that guitar!! I have also included a picture of Ayden and my sweet nephew at Jaxon's party.

For Valentine's Day, David brought Lexi home a dozen pink roses, which she absolutely loved!! She felt so big to get her own roses!! She wanted to pour the little package of food in the vase like 5 times a day....lol!! Oh-I also got roses to, except mine were red:) Ayden got a Deigo backpack and a pair of binoculars for Valentine's Day. He has to take that backpack everywhere we go now. In the mornings when I tell Lexi to get her backpack he has to go get his. It's so funny. I posted a picture of Lexi with her roses and Ayden in his gear! Hope you enjoy!

Today was such a pretty day outside. Me and Ayden went and did some running around and then came home and jumped on the trampoline for a very long time. I think he could jump on that thing for hours! We are looking forward to spring and lots of time outside!!

Ashley

How do I capture each moment????

My sweet babies laying on the couch together watching TV.


Lexi and Ayden in their hats. Lexi was playing dress up with the hat she just had to have from the dollar section at Target and so ofcourse Ayden had to have a hat also. As for the rest of Lexi's outfit.....don't ask me!!!! Notice that one of Ayden's sponge bob valentines for his party at Mrs. Shirleys is included. He carried that card around all day!!! I also have a picture of Ayden in Lexi's boots, but David would not be happy if I posted it;)

My little miss priss!!!!

Ayden in his "big boy bed"!! I can't believe he has slept four nights in a row now without getting up once!!!

The past couple of days I have been feeling like I don't do a good enough job of taking pictures and video taping my kids. I always say, "I have to get that on camera", and then I never do!! I have piles and piles of pictures and keepsakes to put into the kids' scrapbooks, but I never make time to work on them. When Lexi was born, I promised myself that I would keep up with her scrapbook and here I am now with two kids and two bins full of memories just thrown in a pile!!!!! So I have been asking myself, how do I catch up on their scrapbooks for the past couple years??? How do I make myself remember to always have the camera or video recorder ready??? I love my kids so much and feel that time is just flying by way too fast. I just wish time would stop. I love how fun Ayden is right now! He is talking so much and says everything in such a cute way!!! Every minute is exciting!!! Lexi is the sweetest big sister in the world. She plays with him all the time, takes care of him, teaches him things, and just makes him happy! He just adores her and it is so sweet......I don't ever want that to change!! So, my goal is to go get the camera or video recorder instead of saying "I will get that next time". I want to make time each weekend or atleast every other weekend to atleast do a couple pages in each of their scrapbooks. We will see how this goes, but I have got to capture these special moments in my life!!!! I love every minute of it!!!! I posted a couple of pics above from the last few days at home when I DID actually grab the camera;)

Ashley

February Break!!

We are on Winter Intercession right and the kids and I are loving it!!! Asbell is on a continuous learning calendar, therefore we have three intercessions during the year and have a shorter summer. I LOVE the calendar!! I love having these little breaks almost monthly and spending time with my kids!! When we are home, we lay around all morning in our pj's and it is my favorite time of the day! This past weekend David and I spent some time together for Valentines Day. We wanted to do it the weekend before so it wouldn't be as crazy. So, Lexi was at her dad's and Ayden went to Nana and Papaw's. On Friday night, we went with a few other couples to Bordinos, which is where we ate the night we got engaged:) It was so yummy and so fun to catch up with friends!! Then we went with our friends Kristen and Steven to Georges to watch one of David's favorite group play, Cross Canadian. It was fun, but we realized we are getting so old!! We were yawning by 10:00!!!!! We made it till about 11:30 though!! Then on Saturday we just spent the day together. We went to Common Grounds for breakfast and then we went to Barnes and Noble to look at home decor books!! We are putting our house up for sale in March, and planning to build when it sales. So we looked at lots of different kitchen and bathroom layouts. It was so exciting!! In a couple of weeks we are having almost all of our house re-painted back to neutral colors, and then we are going to attempt to put wood floors in our living room ourselves. Then we will put it up for sale and hopefully this will help it sell!!! We would like to start building by the fall and have it built before we have another baby;) But that depends on how long it takes to sell our house. Yesterday and today, the kids and I have been making homemade valentines and we even made cupcakes......mmmmmmm!!!! Ayden has slept in his big boy bed for two nights in a row now!! He is so proud of himself and so are we! This morning my sister came over and he just had to go show her his bed. He is getting so big! Well, I guess that's all for now:)
Ashley

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