holy guacamole

miss k has moved up in the world. doctor b, her pediatrician who we adore, gave her the go ahead to start on food. first on the list, avocado. she loves her some gooey green avocado. i am so proud! avocado and i have a pretty tight relationship.

it seems like just two days ago i was freaking out, wondering if my tiny soft baby was getting enough breast milk. now she is cooing and laughing while i shovel in all kinds of yummy goodness.

next thing you know i'll be the toothless, balding, chubby lady in the chair and she will be the food shoveler. i just hope i'll have taught her well.

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question:: i am wanting to make my own organic baby food. do any of you have tips, do's or do not's you would like to share with me?

thank you kindly!

xoxo. ash

passing time

gare peeking in on kelsie {december 2011}

one third of a year has passed since i first held miss kelsie in my arms. for those of you who don't want to bother with the mathematics of that sentence, she is four months old today! {i know, i'm a real whiz at numbers. haha} when did she stop being this itty bitty baby? it has gone by so quickly and a lot has happened in that time.

the hubster finished up his paramedic schooling. he also took his national registry test and passed it. woo hoo! that was a huge relief for the both of us. we now see him for more than just a few hours during the week. we love it and are so proud of him!

we got rid of our denali and you are now reading the blog of a mini van driving mom. it was a sad good-bye but we have had nothing but good come from the change.

the five-year-old learned how to ride his bicycle without his trusty training wheels. i am pretty sure he'll be needing to upgrade this summer. he looks so BIG on his little green bicycle. i still remember when he was the tiny one in that partnership.

the three-year-old learned how to drop kick a soccer ball. which has proved to be slightly hazardous to all of the stuffed animals in the house, being that balls aren't allowed in the house. and he continues to blow us away with his natural athleticism. he is aching to be old enough for team sports.

the five-year-old has also started his second season of soccer and is loving it. his team got new coaches and new colors this year which he was pretty excited about. they've had two games and he has done AWESOME! go cyclones!



miss kelsie jane has started giggling at her brothers for any silly thing that they do. she gives herself the hiccups laughing so hard. at an appointment two weeks ago she weighed in at a sturdy 16 pounds 3 ounces and measured out to 26.7 inches long. she is a squishy little girl with the most delicious cheeks and the very best gummy smile you ever saw. we love her oh so much.



happy four months to our dolly!

xoxo.momma

happy sabbath

i know i've said it before, but i just love sundays. today at church we were treated to the beautiful first blossoms of the bradford pear trees outside of our meeting house. they are gorgeous. it was just one of those days.

as mr. charles dickens coined it,
It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.

how was your sunday?

a quick little word about our trip

let me start by saying that we have never really planned our own little family vacation before. we've always tagged along with my family or the hubby's family and all of our road trips since we moved to texas have been to visit family back in arizona. so this was really super fun for us!

one day matthew just kind of out of the blue asked me what i thought about going to the great wolf lodge here in texas. i had never heard of it but i checked out the website and thought it looked like something the boys would love. an indoor water park, bedtime stories, a room with a "wolf den" inside of it...you pretty much can't go wrong. so he checked all of our schedules and booked a night for us. it just happened that he had some time off around the same date as our anniversary so rather than having a date night, we packed up the kiddos and made a family event of it.

we had a great time! first thing we got there we unloaded our bags, threw on our swimsuits and headed out to the water park. the boys loved splashing around in all of the different kiddie pools and splash areas and even braving the smaller slides. even kelsie enjoyed hanging out in the water. the three-year-old wasn't tall enough for the bigger tube rides, and the five-year-old would have nothing to do with them the first day. they must have looked like the alps to him. it wasn't until the second day that we got him to try them out and then you just really couldn't keep him away! we got good and waterlogged while we were there.

they also had tons of things to do around the hotel. we didn't do a whole lot of that because the guppies just wanted to swim, but we did enjoy story time in our pajamas and made our way through a few of the shops. we had thought that one night, and two days of play would be plenty, but we were wishing we had more time once it came time to leave. we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

on our way home we stopped at the hubby's new found restaurant crush, fuzzy's taco shop. he discovered it a few months ago while in the dallas area for a paramedic refresher course. oh my goodness is it yummy! it's the best mexican food we have had since we've been in texas. mexican food was a staple for us in arizona and neither one of us really goes crazy for tex mex, so this was like hitting the jackpot. i actually have caught myself craving their bean burritos, which is awesome because for the past seventeen months the only burritos i've had a craving for are over seventeen hours away. i can't wait to go back again!

it was a short little trip but we had a great time. the hubs and i are almost as cool as the grandmas and grandpas now. almost.

a good soaking

we had a fun little family getaway to the great wolf lodge in grapevine, tx. we all loved it! it is the general consensus that we will be going back for another visit. i'd write more, but there are piles of laundry calling my name. hopefully this visual of the menfolk getting dumped on is enough to hold you over.

happy tuesday!

xoxo.ash

a heart day post

nine years ago the hubby and i spent our first valentine's day together eating mexican food and being serenaded by a barber shop quartet. we spent the next two hours kissing. a lot. then he dropped me off at my house. it probably took thirty minutes to say good-bye. i went inside and flopped down on my bed with my head still fuzzy and i thought to myself how one day i wasn't going to have to tell him good-bye.

and here we are. tonight there will be no barber shop quartet, the only mexican food we will be eating will be fresh from our own kitchen and i doubt we will stay awake for two hours of kissing... but when the night is good and over we will lay down next to each other, spend thirty minutes talking about our life together and there will not be a single good-bye uttered. there will be approximately twenty extra toes that try to sneak into bed with us at some point of the night and a snuggly baby girl with soft breath in the cradle beside our bed.

nine years ago i stared at a bouquet of roses and thought, what a beautiful symbol this is of our love. today i stared at our refrigerator, completely covered in hand prints and childish artwork, and realized that all of earth's roses could never achieve this level of beauty or symbolism. i love where we are, i love where our relationship has taken us.

here we are. and with the thrills of childish love far gone, we are left with a love that is deep and real and beautiful despite our imperfections and despite the challenges of life. i am convinced that it's the best kind of love there is.

happy heart day!

xoxo.ash