Puttin 'Round the Block

Saturday was Greenfield's annual "Puttin 'Round The Block" tournament.  It's a great benefit where teams of four putt at nine different holes in Greenfield and all money that is raised is donated to charities/people in the community.  There were over 90 teams this year, so over $9,000 was raised.   I'm glad we were able to be a part of it and we had a great time doing it.  We teamed up with Lou and Alaina to become team "I'd Tap That".  It felt good to get out for a day/evening and hang out with friends.   We weren't the best putters, but we sure had fun!

Team "I'd Tap That"-Lou, Alaina, me, and Joel

Every hole is different and each person makes their own hole.   The coolest one was the castle made out of Keystone cans.  There was a moat around the castle and you had to get the ball through the castle and then down to the hole.  There was another hole that was completely black and was lit up with black lights.  You had to putt around the hot tub at that house.  Some of the holes were pretty creative.

Me and Alaina at the Keystone hole

By the time we got to our last hole, which just happened to be Lou's brother's house, over half my bottle of grape vodka was gone and I was feeling pretty good.  Alaina and I managed to lay down on Joe and Tyann's bed for 45 minutes or so while everyone else finished putting.  I saw quite a few people I hadn't seen in a while and it was nice to see everyone and catch up.

Joel and I were back to Dad's and in bed by 10:30 and managed to get a good night's sleep, and actually slept in until 8.  Mom kept Ainsley for us and of course, Ainsley slept all through the night for her.  It's amazing how good she can be for everyone else!

Bed head!

We all took naps yesterday afternoon and laid around for the day.  It was a pretty relaxing Sunday afternoon at the Freeman house.

Snoozing away....

Ainsley has started standing by herself.  Once she realizes what she's doing (standing without holding onto anything) she sits down, but she still won't take a step without holding onto something. 

Dad watched Ainsley for us for a few hours Thursday night while we got our taxes done and he said that after we left, Ainsley would crawl over to the door crying and stand at the door and then crawl back to the living room and then do it all over again.  She missed her Mommy and Daddy.  Poor thing!

I've been messing around with the "Instagram" app on my phone.  Here's a few pictures from the last week.  I haven't really figured it out, but it has some pretty cool effects.

Daddy did her hair...

This is how I found her sleeping this afternoon

Happy girl on her horse

Pinterest and "Bloom"

I'll be the first to admit that there are some things on Pinterest that have been an "Ah-ha" moment for me and I wonder why I didn't think of that.  Like, using a bathroom towel bar and shower curtain hangers as a necklace hanger (still on my to-do list, by the way).  Or how about making your own dessert stands using some dollar store tart pans and candle sticks and adding a little spray paint?  Taking a picture of your child's artwork and then creating a photo book with the pictures, so you can throw away the artwork, but still have the memories?  BRILLIANT!

There are a few things that I can't believe people didn't know about already.  Baking cupcakes in ice cream cones is so old school.  My Mom was baking them that way when I was in grade school to take to school for snacks.  Let me tell you, they weren't the easiest thing to carry on the bus, but we made it!  That's Joel's favorite way to eat them (without icing, of course).  In my mind, they're about as old school as the "Heads up-7 up" game we would play at all of our school classroom parties.  I still don't understand where 7 up comes into the game, but it seemed like everyone enjoyed playing it.  I always hated when you'd get the jerk who would slam your thumb down thinking they were funny.  What noone else knew (or I'm assuming I was the only one that cheated at this game) was that I would secretly put my head near the edge of my desk when "hiding" my face to watch the feet walking by me.  I would be able to tell who put my thumb down every time because I remembered the shoes.  Cheater?  Yes.  But, I stopped that jerk from being able to slam another classmates thumb down!  I apologize if you have no idea what game I've been referring to.  I'm sure it was isolated to being played at Northwestern.  The game went like this:  there were four kids who would go to the front of the classroom while everyone else in the class put their head down on their desk and put one thumb up (like a hitchhiker) on their desk.  Their eyes were suppose to be covered, and the four students at the front of the room would go around the class and would put one of their classmate's thumbs down by gently pressing their thumb down.  When the four students had each pushed a thumb down, they would line back up at the front of the classroom and the classmates whose thumbs were pushed down would try to pick the person who put their thumb down.  If they picked correctly, they got to go to the front of the room to be part of the next round of thumb-pusher-downers and the current thumb-pusher-downer had to sit back at their desk and be one to put their head down and thumb up.  Sounds fun, right?!?  Does anyone know where the "7 up" comes into play???

Anyway-back to Pinterest.  Another thing I thought everyone and their dog knew was how to fold a fitted sheet.  There is a very popular tutorial going around on the site on how to fold a fitted sheet.  I've never given it much thought while folding our sheets, I just fold it and move on, but I remember at our old house in Chesterfield, Joel tried folding a fitted sheet once.  It wasn't pretty!  This takes me back to my very first job (aside from Westside).  I worked at Lake Williamson in housekeeping the summer I turned 16.  I had to drive Mom and Dad's big four door baby blue 1985 (?) Caprice Classic back and forth to Carlinville because I didn't have my car yet.  I would throw rocks every time I hit the gas in that thing, a belt squeeled, and it was loud.  I was so embarrassed!  Back to housekeeping....I cleaned bathrooms, vacuumed, cleaned windows, made beds, did laundry, and any other task that I was assigned.  Looking back, I did learn some things that summer.  One was how the housekeepers in hotels know if a bed has been slept in the night before.  I don't know if this still happens at hotels, or if it was just in Carlinville 12 years ago, but we would fold one corner of the sheet in when making the bed and if that corner was still folded in the next day when we went to clean the room, it meant we didn't have to strip the bed.  It was always so nice to find one of those beds in your list of rooms to clean!  I'm guessing the biggest thing I learned that summer was how to fold a fitted sheet!  I spent many hours in the big laundry room at the center and folded lots of sheets and towels.  To fold a fitted sheet:  you put your hands in two of the corners and bring them together, then repeat the step again, and then again.  You then fold the only corner you should have left down into the sheet to where you almost have a square and then folder into squares until you have a perfectly folded fitted sheet!   You'd rather read about Ainsley or watch paint dry than read that again, huh?!?

I've also been using Pinterest for new recipes.  Some have turned out okay, but last night's supper was a complete flop with Joel.  I knew it was going to be risky because every time I ask if we can order a BBQ chicken pizza, he flips out, but what if I didn't tell him what was in the pizza I was about to make???  I found a recipe for BBQ chicken pizza and made it while he was in the garage last night and as soon as he came in, he asked if it was BBQ sauce.  BUSTED!  He choked down maybe half a slice and then not so kindly told me (after putting the leftovers in the refrigerator) that he better not see any of that pizza get thrown out.  HA!  I did like it, but I don't know if I'll be able to get an entire pizza down by myself over the next week.

I hope everyone is enjoying Pinterest as much as I am!

On a different note:  I have to say that I'm excited about Kelle Hampton's new book "Bloom" that is coming out April 3rd.  I pre-ordered it months ago, and can't wait to dive into it.  Here's a quote that she released today from the book: 

I don’t think it ever stops being surreal when you become a mother. It’s just this constant state of "I can’t believe I have a baby, I can’t believe I have a two-year-old, I can’t believe I have a kindergartener, I can’t believe I have a teenager," and then one day you wake up, hopefully not sooner than later, and ask yourself, "When the hell did I become a grandma?” Bloom, Chapter 6

I'm already wondering where the last year went.  It's crazy that I have a one year old!  I've been following her blog for a few years, and I have to say that a post she made last week has been my favorite in a while.  Here's the link to the post.  I love this quote from that entry:

"And I made note of so many things. How nobody cared about the things that didn't matter and everybody cared about the things that did. Like having fun, making people feel special, stopping to listen. Dancing."

Totally reminds me of Uncle John!  He didn't care about the things that didn't matter, but, you better believe he liked to have fun!  And, dancing....well, let's just say he knew how to shake his booty!

She released a video trailer for her book last week and I cry every time I watch it.  You can watch it here.  When she asks "Is she ok?  But her face is smashed in."  And then pulls back Nella's cap to look at her ear....that's when I lose it.  Big, fat, crocodile tears.  Kelle is amazing, and a perfect fit for Nella.  She is a wonderful writer, photographer, and mother to her two sweet daughters.  I can't wait for her next blog entry to see what they've been up to.  I can only hope to be half the mother she is. 

I want to apologize for no pictures of our adorable little Ainsley and my ramblings about various things in this post.  I hope you've at least learned one thing from this post, whether it be:  how to fold a fitted sheet or how to care about the things that matter and not to care about the things that don't. 

Book Worm

During the last few weeks, Ainsley has turned into a little book worm.  Her favorite toy is now books.  She still really likes her Mickey car and rocking horse, but she doesn't go very long without looking at a book.  I've been going crazy during the last week watching Ainsley with some of her books, but I'm finally over it.  I know she doesn't understand that she shouldn't chew, rip, fold, sit on, etc. books, but it's so hard to watch her tear them up.  I've taken some away from her, but there are a few that have bite marks and pages ripped out.  She loves the books that you have to lift something up to see what's underneath, and those are what she likes to rip off.  You don't have to look for the birthday balloons on one page, because the chair that use to hide them (that you lifted up) is no longer there.  At least she has fun with them, and that's all that counts, right?!?

What, Dad??  I'm just looking at my book!

I had to post this picture so you can see her neck...or lack thereof.  I love her back neck fat!

The other night she was laying on her back on the floor looking at one of her books.  Of course, it was upside down, which made it even cuter!

She hasn't really paid much attention to her chair that she got for her birthday in the last few weeks.  She climbed up in it once a few weeks ago, but that's been it.  Yesterday afternoon, she was in the living room with Joel and Joel yells at me to come in and look at our daughter.  I walked into the living room to see her sitting on her little footstool to the chair eating her yogurt bites.  It was the cutest thing ever!  Last night after her bath I sat her in the chair to see what she would do.  She lounged back in it and seemed content, so I gave her a book.  She looked at her book for a few minutes while sitting in the chair.  (Don't mind the "boy hair-do" as Joel and Thomas calls it.  I don't know how to comb her hair at night to make it look "girly".) 

So cute!

The rocking horse is another favorite toy right now.  She'll go up to it and try to climb on it herself.  She really just tries to put one leg over the edge, but you know when she wants on it.  She'll look up at you and make the horse sound and that pretty much guarantees that you'll be sitting in front of the horse for the next 5-10 minutes making it go up and down while Ainsley smiles in delight.  I've even caught her holding onto an edge of the horse and walking around the living room with it (using it as a walker). 

Daddy had the Hot Dog Song on the laptop and she was in heaven!

The Mickey car is also being used as a walker.  Here's a video of her walking with it.  It was the first time going on the tile, and she did pretty good!  You can also catch Joel dancing at the beginning.  Don't let him fool you, he's a dancing machine when it come to Ainsley.   He'll turn on the music to her toy on the refrigerator and dance with her.  He also likes dancing like Donald and Goofy off of the Hot Dog song.  I'm hoping to get a video of it one of these days...

She's been saying "papa" for the last week or so, and I finally got her to say "Daddy" a few days ago.  When it comes out of her mouth, it's more like:  "A-eeeee", but she's saying it!  Here's a video of her saying them. 

Another new word is "hi".  She still can't say bye-bye, although she does wave.  She has a toy phone and will put it up to her ear and say "hi", but I can't get her to say anything else into it.  While I change her diaper, I always try to give her a toy, book, or her brush to keep her occupied.  She loves to chew on the bristles of her brush, and if I ask her to brush  her hair, she'll hold the brush up to her hair and move it around a little.  Those are about the only new tricks we've learned in the last few weeks. 

While taking a bottle or falling asleep, Ainsley still likes to play with hair.  It's usually my hair and I get so frustrated with her because she pulls it.  I'm talking about tug and war type pulls.  It hurts!  Obviously, when Joel gives her a bottle, she can't play with his hair.  The other night, she was pulling on her own hair while taking her bottle, so I went to find her "tag blanket" to see if she would play with it instead, but it didn't help.  After she finished taking her bottle and was falling asleep, I looked over at them and she had her hand just under the neck of Joel's shirt and she was playing with his chest hair!  I cracked up!  It also reminded me of one morning a few weeks ago when we had brought Ainsley to bed with us so she could take her bottle (around 5:30) and when she was done with it, she rolled over and started playing with Joel's back hair!  He's going to love me for that one, but at least it wasn't my hair she was pulling on!

I almost forgot, but another new thing she's started doing is pretending to eat.  It's the funniest thing.  If I ask her if she's hungry, she'll take her pointer finger and thumb together and act like she's picking something up and putting it in her mouth.  She will also do it while in her highchair with food on her tray.  She won't actually pick the food up, but pretend like she is and then look to see if I'm watching.  Her absolute favorite food right now is a banana.  As soon as I show her one, she gets excited.  We took her to Pizza Hut on Sunday for lunch and she ate quite a bit of pizza, bread sticks, pasta, applesauce, and then her favorite:  pudding.  Lisa tried giving her pizza a few weeks ago, but said she didn't care for it and we hadn't tried pizza with  her yet.  She seemed to like it on Sunday.

I grabbed some food from McDonald's on Saturday before coming home and sister sure does like cheeseburgers and french fries from McDonald's! 

With a belly (and boobs) like hers, I'm thinking she may need to lay off the McDonald's for awhile.  Oh, how she's going to love me one day!

On a different note:  I printed off the blog for 2011 and the book came yesterday.  Joel came home and said it looked like a text book, which is true.  It's a lot thicker than 2010's book, but it is nice to have.  I want to let everyone know that if you comment on a post, I get those printed in the book also.  So, feel free to comment as much as you like and we'll be able to remember them years from now.  Ainsley says:  "Thank you!"

 

Ainsley walking behind toy

I managed to get a video this afternoon of Ainsley walking behind her toy.  The screaming is because she's excited.  Don't mind the big hole in Joel's sock at the bottom of the video.  I have told him numerous times to throw them away, and I've even thrown a lot away myself, but he keeps holding on to them.  Donations of new socks for Joel are welcome any time!

Here's the video.  Enjoy!

She's a pro now!

We have a climber

Joel got home around 3 today and watched Ainsley for me for a few hours while I got some work done.  I could hear Joel cheering for Ainsley and when I got up to go watch her, he said she was already done.  He got her to take a few steps behind one of her walker toys.  I was able to see her do it a little later.  She loves when we cheer for her and clap our hands, and it makes her do it even more.  I tried to get it on video, but by the time I grabbed the camcorder, she was done with it.  Now that she's figured out how to walk behind her toy, I have a feeling it won't be long before she's actually walking by herself.

Ainsley's been climbing onto our bottom step (more like a landing area) of our basement for the last month or so.  As soon as you turn your back to her, she goes as fast as she can over to the step to climb up on it.  Well, this afternoon, she took climbing to a whole new level.  Her Mickey car was sitting beside the ottoman in the living room and she climbed onto the seat of her Mickey car and from there onto the ottoman.  Joel and I were both watching her when she started climbing onto her Mickey car and we both were thinking that there was no way she was actually going to climb up onto the ottoman, but she proved us wrong!  We didn't get the actual climb on video, but she tried to do it again (without success) and I got a little on video of her trying to do it.  Check it out here.

You would think that would be enough for this Mom to handle in one day....starting to walk behind her toys and climbing up on the ottoman, but the princess had another trick up her sleeve.  I was emptying out the dishwasher while making supper and sister managed to climb up on the dishwasher door to get a spoon!  Really?!?!  She's never climbed on anything, except for the bottom basement step before, and now all of this in a few short hours??? 

Happy to play with the spoon

It's been quite a day in the Freeman house.  Ainsley wanted in on a conference call I had earlier, and made everyone laugh when someone asked me a question and she responded with "YAYAYAYA" at the top of her lungs.  The only times she fell asleep for naps were in her high chair.  At lunch, I did take her out and lay her on the floor so she could sleep, but when she did it again tonight at supper, I let her sleep in her high chair for 20 minutes or so.

I did catch her dancing with Ellen on video.  Whenever the Ellen show comes on in the afternoon, she knows to dance with Ellen!  Check it out here.

She got a Valentine's Day card in the mail today from Aunt Doris and Shane and she carried that card around with her for a couple hours.  She loved looking at it!

She loved all the hearts on the front

Happy girl!

Happy Valentine's Day

Ainsley went to Lisa's today so I could get some work done, but she didn't go without treats and Valentine goodies for the other kids.  

 

After she woke up this morning, I asked her if she wanted to go to Lisa's today and she perked right up.  I then asked if she wanted to go bye-bye to Lisa's and both little hands started waving bye-bye and she was ready to go!  I couldn't get her boots and coat on her fast enough.  She seems to really like going to Lisa's.  For the past couple weeks, when I get there to pick her up in the afternoon, she doesn't want to leave with me.  She'll cry and reach back toward Lisa.  I'm glad she likes going there, but it does make me a little sad that she doesn't want to go home with me. 

Ainsley got lots of goodies for Valentine's Day.  Aunt Kay sent her a little card last week, she got another card today from Jim and Rita, Valentines from Blaine, Abby, Levi, and Jordyn from daycare, and a Minnie Mouse and book from Mommy and Daddy.  Daddy also went and got her a card, although he didn't read it while in the store.  I think he just grabbed the first one that said "Happy Valentine's Day, Daughter".  It was obviously for an adult daughter, so he tried to change some of the words on the card.  It's the thought that counts, I guess.

Opening her Vday gift from Mommy and Daddy

She loves looking at books

Ainsley got Daddy gummy bears for Valentine's Day

Here's a picture I found from last year's Valentine's Day.  Oh, how she's changed in a year!

Hannah is here!

Yesterday, we headed to The Barefoot in Hardin for lunch to celebrate Lou's birthday.  The fish and company was good.  We were able to see a lot of the countryside on the way there and then again on the way out of Hardin.  When we left, we headed to Josh and Callie's to meet baby Hannah.  It should have taken 20 minutes or so to get there, but it ended up taking almost 50.  Oh, I love how my husband thinks he knows of "shortcuts" and makes a trip two times as long as it needs to be. 

Playing with her exersaucer before taking it to Hadlee

Hannah was born mid last week, and she is absolutely perfect.  I miss Ainsley being that small.  It's amazing how much they change in the first year.  I think I could have sat and held her all afternoon.  Ainsley didn't care in the least that I held Hannah (or Hadlee during lunch).  Madie and Ainsley played for a little while together, but Madie was more worried about Ainsley playing with her toys than anything else.  Madie did, however, like to give Ainsley hugs and kisses! 

Hannah

Madie had to keep giving Ainsley hugs....

Getting a good picture with a newborn, one year old, and two year old is pretty much impossible.  Here's the best that we got.

Me, Ainsley, Madie (hugging Ainsley again), Hannah, and Callie

I'm so happy for Josh, Callie, and Madilynn with the newest addition to their adorable little family.

On our way home, we stopped by McDonald's to grab some supper.  It was Ainsley's first experience with McDonald's food, and she LOVED it!  She ate almost half of a cheeseburger and 8-10 french fries.  She shoveled it in as fast as she could while saying "mmmm".

Friday night, while at Jim and Rita's, Ainsley said "papa" for the first time.  Jim was sitting on the couch asking her if she could say it, and she looked at me and clear as day said "Papa".  I about died!  I'm going to try to get a video of her saying it and a few other words in the next few days.

Cousin-ly Love

Ainsley had a busy day yesterday.  Drake spent the day with us, and kept Ainsley entertained.  We played in the basement before he had to go to preschool, and he wanted all of Ainsley's baby toys.  He asked me numerous times if he could have Ainsley's toys when she was done with them.  Those toys included:  a rattle, vibrating teether, and her new Mickey car.  I told him they were baby toys, but he didn't care in the least.  I took him to preschool that morning and Drake and Ainsley just stared at each other the whole way to Murrayville in the back seat.  Of course, Drake was full of a thousand questions....Why does Ainsley have to face backwards, Why is Ainsley looking at me, What is she playing with, etc. etc. etc. 

I picked him up later that afternoon and we stopped at Steak and Shake on the way home to get a milk shake.  First, he told me that we couldn't go to Steak and Shake, because his Mom always goes to Dairy Queen.  Then, once we got in line, there was a car in front of us that must have ordered the "whole cow" as I told Drake.  We waited a good 5-10 minutes before they finally got their food and we could move forward.  Drake insisted after 5 minutes or so that we needed to get out and throw those people (in front of us) in the trash can because they were taking forever.

I knew everything Ainsley was doing, because Drake gave me a play by play all day.  Ainsley took my toy, Ainsley won't get off of me, Ainsley's in the drawer, Ainsley won't move out of my way....you get the point.  I was cracking up yesterday afternoon, because Drake and Ainsley reminded me SO MUCH of Jack and Lani!  Drake was laying on the couch watching t.v. and Ainsley would pull herself up on the couch, so she was standing right in front of him.  Of course, I had to hear "Aunt Trista-Ainsley's in my way".  Or, she would go over to a toy that makes noise and turn it on, and Drake would complain because Ainsley was playing with her toy and he couldn't hear the t.v.  I don't know how many times Ainsley stole Drake's drink and would take a drink out of it and that would make him mad. 

Bothering Drake....again!

Drake really cracked me up while I was fixing supper last night.  I'm not for sure exactly what Ainsley was doing, but Drake yells over to me:  "Aunt Trista-WHERE did you get this baby from?  She's CRAZY!" 

Ainsley loving on Drake

They did play good together yesterday and Drake can really get Ainsley laughing.  Ainsley liked loving on Drake, but I don't think Drake enjoyed it quite as much as Ainsley.  All in all, it was a good day, and Drake helped keep Ainsley entertained.