Spirit Week

Micah attends a pre-k program at a baptist private school. I have loved it and would enroll my other girls there too, if we were staying here. She is only in preschool but gets to participate in all the school activities. This week was spirit week, gearing up for the end of the year carnival fundraiser.

Monday was crazy hair day!

Tuesday was nerd day.

(I don't know how I feel about this one. There are so many better options, am I right?)

Wednesday was formal day.

Thursday was career day.

Jeremy left his lab jacket so Micah could be a Chiropractor, but she wanted to be a teacher. Teachers pick out their own attire so I let her do just that.

Friday was school spirit day. I didn't think paying 25 bucks for a school T-shirt that said Centennial Baptist on it was worth it so she just wore blue, but I forgot to take a picture.



The carnival was Friday night. I really did NOT want to go alone to a big crowded area with three little kids all by myself. Especially with one who has a tendency to run away from me. I tried to talk Micah out of going. She was supposed to perform and would not give in to my alternate bribes. I knew they were supposed to dress up like a zoo animal or wear all black. All our winter clothes had been packed and we don't really own animal costumes.



An hour before it is was supposed to start I remembered about this giraffe costume I had bought before she was born and never used, in my garage sale pile. I was out of excuses.

So off we went! I am so glad we did it was a lot of fun.

Giving the don't embarrass me look.

The kids did a great job.

Playing games and eating junk. That is what a carnival is all about!

Then Sloane saw the pony rides. The line was L.O.N.G. and I did not want to wait an hour for one pony to make each and every kid at the carnival happy. But we did.

Emerson smiled and laughed the whole time.

Sloane went last so she could enjoy her turn and everyone else's turn too.

It was a lot of fun. Maybe flying with all three, by myself, won't be that bad.

(crosses fingers)

This Kitten

I have mostly regretted getting this kitten. She has been a LOT a work, and caused a LOT of problems with our other animals. She has knocked my bird cage over at least ten times. Set the birds free a couple of times. My kids, however, LOVE her! The other animals are mean to my kids, so when we got Kansas they were in heaven. She has never really bit or scratched them. She purrs when they pet her and hold her. I have considered getting rid of her, but she makes my girls so happy. I always walk in to these type of scenes.

She just lets them hold her for as long as they want. She is not the typical grouchy cat.

She thinks Sloane is her Mom. At night I lock her up, but she and Sloane both wish I would let them snuggle all night. During Sloane's nap time they sleep together and I often see Kansas licking/kissing Sloane while she is sleeping. Ugh. Dang cat.

Bye-bye

Over Easter my Sister and her Hubby came to visit us. They were so kind as to clean out all my maternity and baby stuff sitting in my garage. They loaded up their car with most of my baby memories. I am glad they are going to be used once again.

Their car was packed.

I was ready to get rid of it, but as I went through each item I felt a bit sad. I have some special things that I kept in memory boxes like the outfits they came home in. I kept a few pairs of shoes, outfits, even little baby bows that I could not part with yet.

After hours of cleaning and clearing out we treated ourselves a yummy dinner (made by yours truly) and to a treat. I think we are done in the baby department. Nothing is ever certain, but for now we are good!

Within 12 hours

When Jeremy is gone I am pretty secure I can hold down the fort. Mostly. Yesterday was crazy hair day at Micah's school. It took me a while to get her hair done. Right after I finished the half hour long job, Sloane came upstairs saying I am ready to go, I put my make up on. I panicked a bit because every time the kids raid my make up bag it ends up costing me a lot of money.

This picture was taken after I scrub most of it off.

I could not tell what the white stuff was all over her face. then I realized it was....

I had to leave the white out on her eye lids because it took some elbow grease to scrub the rest of her face. I knew that scrubbing her eye lids would hurt way too much. We are going to have to wait for it to fade off.

Not even two minutes later Emie comes around the corner with black magic marker all over her arms. I was able to scrub most it off. The carpet is another story!

You should have seen the looks I got at the store yesterday with these two.

It was a long day of packing. I packed up the girls bedrooms, both upstairs bathrooms and most of my room. I finally decided to spend some time with the girls and give them much needed baths. We had our bedtime routine and then I finally curled up on my bed to relax. I grabbed my laptop, some ice cream(I earned it!), and a good book to read later.

All of the sudden I heard a faint cry. I don't know why but I knew it was one of my kids. I ran to Sloane and Emie's upstairs room and my heart dropped. Their window was open, the screen gone, and Sloane missing.
I don't think I have ever flown down my stairs so fast. As soon as I opened the door I could hear her screaming, but she was getting up. I ran to her, checked her over. Her arm was swelling and covered in scrapes. I carried her upstairs and called Jeremy (of course he was out of town!). I had a good cry for one minute, then the door bell rang. I thought maybe one of my neighbors may have called the cops. I have never seen so many people from my ward show up on my door step so quickly. I began crying again. So grateful!

After a blessing from our Bishop and Elder's Quorum Pres, and determination that there were no breaks or bumps, there was a calm peace in my panicked home.

Sloane is one lucky little girl!

The screen not so lucky!


I am blessed beyond measure. I am grateful for a wonderful Ward and wonderful Friends who left theirs families to comfort mine.


Ashley:0___vs.___The forces that be:3

I wanted to try and end this post on a happy note. Here are the beautiful forsythias blooming everywhere. As I passed them today I thought they looked extra beautiful! I have a grateful heart today!

There is Beauty All Aorund

I love this time of year. Flowers are blooming everywhere.

This specific time of year is my favorite because tulips (and forsythia) are a plenty.

I was so excited to buy my favorite yellow tulips for Easter, but when I got to the store they all looked really sad and most were dying. So I bought these ones instead. They were so pretty on my table.

Just lovely!

Easter Sunday brought the most beautiful sunshine.

Here are my Three Little Princesses all ready for church.

I could NOT find any dresses I liked for Easter this year. I looked and looked, but nothing was to my liking. Then my Mom sent these cute little skirts and sweaters. They were so Springy so I used them. I had a hard time finding ribbon to match them so I just made some flower hair things. Shout out to Kim who LOVES them. Holla!


Trying to get all my girls to smile at the same time is a whole other challenge.

If you need some extra reading you can check out my girls Super Smarty Pants Uncle on the BYU HOME PAGE.

Finding Easter Baskets

Saturday morning my girls got up at 6:30. They were so excited to find their Easter baskets.

Jeremy's parents always did Easter morning activities on Saturday and saved Sunday for Remembering The Savior. They or I should say "The Easter Bunny" also hid his brothers and his baskets. We have decided to follow both traditions with our girls.

So at 6:30 on Saturday morning we headed downstairs.

And off they ran and searched.

Emie was the first to find her basket.


She was really happy to see her basket filled for the umpteenth time this year. It was too heavy for her to lift. Maybe I went a little bit overboard this year. Oh well they are worth it!

Sloane's basket was a little bit trickier, but she had no problems. She can sense it when candy is close. She has the largest sweet tooth.

Spider-man markers of course, for my little spider-man lover.

Look at this sad face.

Micah had a hard time finding her basket. She was so close and just did not know it.

Daddy gave her a little hint, like look behind you.

Tada!

Now there is the smile I like to see. It was so fun to have all the girls big enough to know what was going on. The loved every minute of it.

Another Egg Hunt

The office Jeremy is currently working for (only one more week!) had an Easter Egg hunt. It was so cute. They locked all the kids up in a back room for a few minutes so they could hide eggs. Then, they opened the door and kids were running everywhere. I didn't see Emie and so I sent Jeremy to find her. She was by the door, bottom lip out, head down, standing alone and still. Jeremy went over and grabbed her and helped her find a few eggs. Some kids had overflowing basket and some not so much. (Reminder for next year let three and under get a two minute head start) After it was over, the ladies announced that one of the eggs had a special dollar. The one with the dollar won the big Easter basket on the front counter. I was chatting away letting my kids open their eggs. No one could find the special egg. I looked down and Emie was having a hard time opening her first egg, so I decided to open a few for her. Low and behold, I found the dollar in her basket. She won and was one happy little girl.

Sloane was determined to find candy. There was no candy at this egg hunt in the Chiropractor's office. They had stickers, rings, erasers, little bubbles, and some of the eggs were filled with confetti. That was the girls' favorite part.

Micah found bubbles and was happy the rest of the evening. She really concentrated on blowing the perfect bubbles.

More Easter posts to come. I am a 'one is my max per day' kind of gal.

Hola!

I just wanted to say hi to my friend Rebecca! I know she reads my blog even though she doesn't have one. (GET ONE!!) We have known each other for a long time now. Before single's ward drama (Snuffer's, we should go), before husbands (and their careers), before kiddos (when we looked fabulous), before we knew life got harder (and it has). When she finally moved back to Dallas , we seriously hung out almost everyday for two straight years. I miss that. I miss her. And her kiddos. Remember these???

Where have these babies gone??

I have tons of really cute pictures of our kids over time (and big ole belly pictures of us) but I am not in a scanning mood tonight.

I have the cutest picture of her Son (at 3 months) and my daughter Micah (at 6 weeks) laying down together in San Antonio. Remember that visit?

I am going to see them when I go to Texas along with some other good friends. Phone calls and emails are not enough. I miss my home, Texas. I can't wait to feel that hot humid air on my skin. I am excited to see people I have missed. First, I need to sort, and pack, and clean, and travel to Missouri with three kids in tow. Maybe that will give me motivation.

Can it be April already?

April has brought freezing cold weather and also some of the warmest days.

I wish Mother Nature would make up her mind.

I am updating the last couple of weeks so .....

WARNING: PICTURE OVERLOAD!!

We learned about water conservation at the Library. My girls loved it.

I don't think Emie really understood, but she likes to be included.

Sloane had fun making her plant necklace. Her favorite part was looking at slides under a microscope. I am glad my girls have inherited their Dad's love of learning and his smarts to go with it.



Micah has the best memory, you only have to tell her something once. It is awesome, but then you have to be careful of what she hears because she will remember it forever. She has constantly been reminding me not to let water run.

I hardly ever post pictures of myself, but here you go. It is cute of my baby so I am posting it.

(someday I will be thin again...I will be thin again...:O)

The other day Emie was so proud of herself. She announced, "I got in my jammies all be myself!"

Princess bottoms and a Halloween top.......it works I guess.

We went to Utah for Conference Weekend. It was so nice to visit family and I really enjoyed hearing from the Leaders of our Church. We got a lot done this past weekend.

The girls went to Weber State with Grandpa, Dad, and their Uncles for an activity all about physics.

Grandma bought some dye for coloring eggs. The girls uncles showed them advanced ways to design and dye their eggs.

I LOVE Emie's grin.

I can not tell you how much joy this smile brings my heart.

Grandma and the Uncles also put together an Easter egg hunt. The girls were in heaven of course. All these activities were such a nice break between sessions.

On the hunt!

Sloane can smell candy a mile away.

Micah has to count her eggs and compare the numbers with her sisters.

Enjoying all the goodies stuffed in their eggs.

Also, it is official.

WE ARE MOVING!!!

Jeremy bought a practice of his very own. This weekend he signed all the final paperwork! I have one month to clean out our home and pack it up.

At least we get to view these everyday.

This picture gives away a lot, but I don't like to put our exact location on my blog. If you are curious that we might be neighbors you can email me and I will tell you our new area.