Ainsley says....

"Mommy thought I was ready to feed myself a little bit. I've been trying to hold my spoons and take them to my mouth, so she decided to give it a go....


click on the pictures above and you can see, in better detail, the incredible mess I made. Good thing Mommy put on the Japanese-made full-shirt bib!! It was perfect! I got a little oatmeal in my mouth, Gus the dog ate a lot that I flicked on the floor, and a lot ended up on my tray, hands, cheeks, hair, etc....We'll try again in a few weeks!"

Matching outfits...but that's it.

I recently came across a picture of Elise at 10 months that I LOVED, so I decided to try to "duplicate" it with Ainsley...since Ainsley wears all Elise's hand-me-downs anyway, it was easy to pull out the same exact clothes, throw her outside on the grass over the weekend, and snap a few shots. I didn't get it exactly right, but Elise had a tricky little expression to duplicate. So, here's the best shots:
(btw-I've done one every 3 or 4 months so far, and it's been fun to have them side-by-side on our wall...at the newborn shot, they looked VERY similar; at 4 mos, they were clearly related, but now I barely see a resemblance at all. it's cool)


Elise-10 months in Japan













Ainsley-10 months in USA

Festive Weekend

We got our tree this weekend, decorated it, put little goofy snowmen and things all around the house. It's been fun, and a little chaotic. I hate when my entire house seems out of order. But, it's fun to think that Christmas is just a few weeks away! Elise is starting to really understand some of it all this year. Her little face really LIGHTS UP when we talk about Santa and the presents...(we're trying to explain that Jesus' Birthday is the important part of Christmas and that Santa is just part of it, but that may be a little much just yet. She's not quite 3.) Either way, she likes to pull of the paper rings on her "Countdown to Christmas" paper craft thing she made in school. It's cute.
She's also adorable when it comes to decorating the tree...I thought it would be cute for her to have her own little tree that she could put her ornaments on. So she and I went to Target and picked out a little 3' tree. There were none left under the shelf so I took the display one off the shelf. Isn't that what everyone would do? So, she rode around the store with it for 30 minutes in the cart with her. I thought to stop an employee and double-check that I could actually PURCHASE the display model. It's only a little tree- 3' tall and $9.99. ...well...10 minutes later, after holding in my FURIOUS inner-voice, the employee TOOK THE TREE OUT OF THE CART NEXT TO THE TODDLER and walked away with it. Elise STARTED CRYING!! IT was so sad. That made me hate Target more than I usually do anyway. Grrr....I DID say, out loud, "It's ok, sweetie, yes, the mean lady made a 3 year old cry." I was so sad for her. I then went to three other stores before I found another tree that was suitable. It was all worth it at the end of the day when she woke up from her nap and got to put a few of her own ornaments on HER tree.
Precious.

Go ahead, laugh...

because I'm sure my neighbors are, too! After dropping Elise off at pre-school this morning, soothing a very-fussy-because-a-new-tooth-is-breaking-through Ainsley, fighting with my computer over emailing pictures to my brother, I decided I should hang our Christmas lights outside. Brilliant plan when you're already flustered and short on time! After 17 trips back inside, trying a chair then a stool and finally the ladder to reach above the front door, and cursing the fact that i'm going to have to go back to Lowe's today for more lights, I got it finished! All that in just 45 minutes (and I'm not kidding on the 17 trips back inside!). Of course, I was only decorating 6 bushes and arching the front door...but whatever. It'll remind me of Clark W. Griswold's masterpiece when we're totally done...I know my neighbor Jean was watching me and laughing, and I can only imagine who else saw it, too.
By the way, Lowe's (at least our Lowe's here) has ALL CHRISTMAS Decorations at 50% off already! So, for 12 sets of lights and a 7.5' douglas fir tree, our total last night was only $52. YAY. Gotta love that. Now I just hope there are some lights left when I go back this afternoon for a few more boxes...just in case we have to jazz it up a little more once we see it in the dark.
And also...I can make fun of Jean right back because they're "those people" right now with LIT UP LAWN DECORATIONS consisting of 3 penguins, 4 snowmen, a 4-car train, and 10 candy canes. We went for the simpler approach of all white lights...we're pretty vanilla like that.

I may have cried a little

Tonight was the local "tree lighting ceremony" in our cute little town, so we all bundled up and went to see the HS band play, local choir sing, and the whole town square light up for Christmas. It was a lot of fun and Elise LOVED it. Poor Ainsley was so bundled up she could barely move, but it was cold out! We're not used to 35 degrees around here.
On the way home, Elise was talking about the moon being out in the sky. Since we were heading home to sleep, her train of thought only made sense...
She asked, "Where the Sun go to sleep?" We told her that it just goes away to sleep. (not really prepared with a good answer on that one...). Her face lit up and she said, "I know. Maybe moon go sleep on the clouds!!!". She was so enthusiastic and so excited that she had come up with such a great idea! So creative and oh so adorable. I loved it and totally started crying...I'm such a sap!

It was JUST LIKE in "A Christmas Story"...poor thing! But she was warm!

Everyone had fun...we don't do "night outings" often, so it was a treat

Elise was very excited to be high enough to see all the lights and music

Happy Thanksgiving

We've been in Cincinnati for a couple days visiting the family and we're having a blast! The 11-hour car ride was better than we expected and we didn't even need to resort to the DVD player for elise until 7 hours into it! The girls played well, we ate LOTS of snacks, and everyone survived. =). We spent quite a while at the park yesterday, which was a little cold, but fun, too. Uncle Kelly showed Elise how to ride on his skateboard. That was fun to watch. Everyone is having fun with smiley Ainsley and enjoying playing constantly with Elise.

Saturday's Adventure...

Not the greatest picture, but so funny...look at how long & stringy her hair is!


Elise's hair, lately, has been looking a little "mullet-ish" again, so I decided to cut it myself. Because I'm so cheap AND I assumed it can't be THAT hard, I just grabbed some scissors and went to it. (BTW- I've done this once before and it worked totally fine. She's only had that one haircut in almost 3 years...so I was 1 for 1...until Saturday. It would be a cute and fun little adventure for us, mommy cutting her hair on the back deck, everyone happy, saving $$...
Bad Idea.
About 10 snips into my masterpiece, I stopped and yelled for Adam.
He said it was pretty horrible and that I should STOP cutting.
It was naptime, so I put her down and told her it was really cute. Lying to my own child. All I could imagine was how badly my brothers were going to make fun of it when we see them this week for Thanksgiving.
Not a great look...still long on top, but butchered on bottom


It looked even as I was cutting!

I then got on the phone and called around to a couple salons to see who could squeeze us in that afternoon.
30 minutes into a 2 hour nap, I grabbed her out of bed (she never naps anyway, just sings, rolls around, and tells "stories" to her Uglydoll) and we headed to Serenity Spa and Salon.
We left a little while later heading to DairyQueen as her treat for being SUCH A GOOD GIRL. She sat still in the chair, listened to the stylist, and was a joy. The DQ bribe helped, of course. It was the owner of the salon who "fixed" my mistake and assured me that she sees that same situation several times a month. I felt better. She was probably lying, though!

It turned out adorable and she just keeps talking about the Ice Cream. =) I guess I'm the only one who was scarred by the whole experience.
Ready for school today...and loving her little curls again!