The Ashleys

Monday, August 27, 2012

Back to School

My little cutie went back to school last week. 



A few first day pics.



I have a sweet little girl at home who misses her big brother terribly!! A trip to the play ground at Chick Fil-a eases the pain a little bit though.

She's been spending her days hanging out with Mommy. We're trying to savor this last year of it being the two of us at home all day every day because next year she will start kindergarten. Until then we're enjoying cuddling on the couch, watching The Lorax (multiple times a day), and of course photo shoots!!




My babies are growing up so fast but I'm so proud of both of them. 




Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Sex-ed for politicians?

I vote a resounding YES!

Seriously? And he's not the only one ladies!!


And from Republican Mike Huckabee,
" I know it happens, and yet even from those horrible, horrible tragedies of rape, which are inexcusable and indefensible, life has come and sometimes, you know, those people are able to do extraordinary things.”

Seriously? Goodness gracious y'all!!

Thank goodness for this man!!



Thursday, August 16, 2012

Ethan and Kaylee's first Auburn Fan Day!

If y'all have seen these pics on Facebook already just skip over this post!!

Ethan was so cute. He asked EVERY single football player we saw if they would take a picture with him. I usually make him POLITELY ask those sort of questions himself and he was so small and cute saying "Excuse me, can I take a picture with you?" He was star struck and it was adorable!










Kaylee did get in a few pictures with him, but not many. She is not a big fan of strange men, and her Daddy is not complaining about that, ha!

Ethan has been saying for years that when he grows up he doesn't want to play football at Auburn, he wants to be this guy:

Ethan giving Aubie a hug.


After these pictures Ethan was quick to let me know meeting Aubie was the BEST DAY OF HIS LIFE! 

We also got up close and personal to "The Man" as my husband affectionately refers to him:


Also- there are no pics of Ethan with Lutzenkirchen or Jay Prosch because we got those pictures at A-Day and Lutzenkirchen's fan line was crazy long and Jay wasn't in the same area with all the returning starters, he was in the room with the new players, so just in case y'all haven't seen them, here are those pics.



2 weekends left and it will be college football time!! 



Wednesday, August 15, 2012

A decision about Ethan.

At the end of last school year, Ethan's teacher approached me with some concerns she had about Ethan going to second grade. 

The first was his size. The boy is TINY he just turned 7 and he barely wears a 5t,  he can still wear a lot of his 4t shirts and shorts but the jeans are a little short for him. 

The second was his maturity level. I knew when I started him in Kindergarten right BEFORE he turned 5 this might eventually become an issue. In Kindergarten we were so so so blessed to get Mrs. Oliver and Mrs. Mary who somewhat babied Ethan through Kindergarten. Unfortunately, he's still not over that wanting to be babied stage. He still needs constant one on one attention, his attention span is so short, and she was just scared that might make him struggle.

Seems simple enough right? Hold him back.. 

Then I saw his Dibble test scores.. If a Benchmark was 30 Ethan would score something crazy like 78. Academically he is, and always has been kinda off the charts. Because of this the decision was really difficult for us. How much could he grow up over the Summer? Would it discourage him to repeat 1st grade? Would it be good for him to do 1st grade again and be with kids closer to his age and on his maturity level? Because he's so smart would he get bored with it?

After a ton of conversations with friends who had gone through it, educators who have or are going through it, and talking about it over with James and Ethan we decided Ethan repeating first grade would be best for him. I spoke with at least five moms who made the decision and not one of them regretted it. They all had children who were leading and excelling in school now. Ethan is a leader, Ethan likes being the smartest one in the class, and because of this I think it will be encouraging for him to get another year to grow up and mature. 

Monday, August 13, 2012

A Recipe

I am addicted to this recipe blog here. And last summer I found this recipe and I made them again for the kids a few nights ago, and I had forgotten how big of a hit they are and how much even us grown ups LOVE them!! 

Ingredients. Drain your pineapple into a  cup you're going to need the juice, and dice all of your fruit and throw it into a big bowl.


Pack fruit tightly into the plastic cups, and put a stick in the middle.. Because of the fruit, the stick will stay in.


Add a splash of pineapple juice from where you drained it earlier into each cup, and freeze.

Takes approx 3 hours to set..

Enjoy!!



Saturday, August 4, 2012

Happy B-day Ethan!!

 Making a decision to have a child -- it's momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body. 
-Elizabeth Stone

Today was my oldest baby's 7th birthday. I cannot believe that my first born has  grown up so fast. He's so sweet, fiercely independent, and the smartest little boy I've ever seen. Every day he does or says something that amazes me, like yesterday he said, "Oh I think I'll delete this game off the PS3 I don't play it.. No never mind it's only 18 megabytes that's not too bad." What seven year old speaks to how much space megabytes take up?!?! CRAZY!!  He definitely got his Daddy's intelligence, but is a spitting image of his mommy! 

We had a fun little party for him at the house today, and took him out for his birthday dinner tonight.. A HUGE thanks to our friends who made it such a special day for him.. 

Here are some pictures from the day!

Mommy and the bday boy!

Little sister getting beautified!
















Almost time to go to dinner!!