Birthday trip to the river

Jeremy turning the big 4-0 was a good excuse to head down to Fast Eddies!  We loaded up in the mini van and were on our way.  

After some refreshments and food at Fast Eddies, we made our way to Grafton to enjoy the rest of the afternoon/evening.

Birthday boy in his new shades

Just riding a riding horse by the river...

After a few stops, and many hours later, we made it back to Jacksonville.

A night isn't complete without hitting BJ's before heading home!

I'm very happy to report that the birthday boy even made it home with his glasses, which is a huge accomplishment!

Cuz

Ainsley started talking about "Cuz" late spring/early summer.  At first, I just thought she was referring to Lani or Drake when saying something about "Cuz".  Then, she started talking about Cuz more often.  I finally asked her if she was talking about Lani, to which she replied "No Mommy".  I asked her if she was talking about Drake, to which she replied "No Mommy".  I asked her who she was talking about and she would just keep saying "Cuz", until she would get so frustrated because I didn't know who "Cuz" was.  After asking a few questions, I quickly realized "Cuz" was an imaginary friend.

She was constantly asking if she could go to Cuz's house, and I finally asked where Cuz lived and she told me Bluffs.  Joel and I both have tried to get more information out of her about Cuz, but she really won't say much.  I've come to the conclusion that Cuz is a boy.  She talked about Cuz quite often at first, sometimes multiple times a day.  There would be other times where she'd go a day or two without any mention of Cuz.

She tells us the most elaborate stories about Cuz.  One evening while eating supper, she told us that "The witch got her cuz and then the witch fell down the stairs and hit its head."  She's so animated while telling these stories, too.  Joel and I just look at each other while she tells us.

The week before the witch story, she told us "Cuz pushed her down the stairs and she fell down and hurt her lip and it bled.  Her Cuz had to sit in time out for pushing her."

Around the time school started, I hardly heard anything about Cuz.  We went a few weeks without the mention of Cuz at all, until last week in the car.

Earlier last week, she was looking at Lily's picture book, which has a picture of Thom and Jamie on their wedding day.  She came into the bathroom one morning and said:  "Mommy, you and Daddy got married."  I told her we did.  She then said:  "Grandma Shelly and Papa Mark got married."  I told her they did.  She then said:  "Uncle Thommy-boy and Aunt Jamie got married."  I told her they did.  She then said:  "Mommy, I want to get married."  I told her she had to get older first.  She then said:  "Mommy, when I get older, I want to marry Daddy."  I told her it didn't work that way, but she could ask her Daddy.  Ainsley loves looking at our wedding pictures and asks quite a few questions about getting married.  Fast forward a few days later.

We were on our way to school, and I was asking her what she was going to do at school that day.  She didn't really reply to my question, but rather said:  "Mommy, me and Cuz are going to get married when I get older."  I about lost it.  I turned around and just looked at her.  She hadn't brought up Cuz in almost a MONTH!  I asked her who told her that, and she told me Cuz told her.

I know I never had an imaginary friend, and Joel says he didn't either.  I don't know the "right" questions to ask her when she talks about Cuz.  I usually just shake my head and say a few "yeahs" when she talks about him.  I've never caught her pretending to talk to someone that wasn't really there, so I don't know where she comes up with these things!

When you're around Ainsley, you constantly have to be on your toes.  You never know what's going to come out of her mouth!  Some of my favorite phrases that has come out of Ainsley's mouth recently are:

"Are you kidding me, Mommy?!"

"Hey Babe" (when talking to me).  Joel calls me Babe, and she's picked it up from him.

She's been asking us what time it is recently.   If we tell her it's 10:37, she'll have to go look at the clock and she'll say:  "I think it's NOT 10:37.  I think it's 14:72."

She no longer refers to Grandma Shelly as "Grandma Shelly", but rather as "your Mom" when talking to me.  She'll ask:  "Mommy, did your Mom get me this?"  Or, "Mommy, can we go to your Mom's today?"

Sisterly Love

That five minutes of the day where both girls play with each other without fighting is what I live for.  I may be exaggerating a little bit, but the girls definitely have their moments of knock down-drag out fighting, complete with hair pulling and screaming, and the next minute they can be giggling with each other.  Lily's newest favorite line of defense against her big sister is to get a handful of Ainsley's hair and pull.  HARD. Ainsley's usually pretty good about screaming and yelling at me to help her, and not retaliating back.  I'm so glad that Ainsley's mellowed out quite a bit, and goes with the flow most of the time.  Lily's started pushing Ainsley, and Ainsley doesn't usually push her back.  Most of the time, she'll just tell on Lily and then walk away.  I know the fights are just going to get worse over the years, and is it bad that Joel and I usually just sit back and watch them fight while laughing?!


The playing and giggling between Ainsley and Lily outweighs the fighting right now.  Ainsley has learned that Lily isn't the best at sharing, and will usually give in and let Lily have whatever she wants.  Lily loves to have anything that her big sister has, and she is constantly trying to imitate Ainsley.

Ainsley decided it was a good idea to coax Lily into the doll stroller one afternoon.

Earlier this year, I gave Lily a blanket in her crib, hoping it would help to keep her little feet warm.  She's become attached to it, and loves having it in her crib with her.  She never asks to take it out, and only wants it if she's in her crib.  The girls were in the crib playing one day, and Ainsley tried taking Lily's blanket.  It didn't go over so well!   I love Lily's fake screams, and then giggles the next second.  She's such a stinker!

Ainsley (and Lily) like dressing up.  They love necklaces, bracelets, tiaras, purses, and dress up shoes.

Below are some pictures from the end of August.

 

Lily and Alaina playing with baby dolls

Everyone wanted that baby seat!

C'moooooooooooonnnnnnnn

Ainsley loves going with Joel to check the cows, but it's not on the top of my "fun things to do on a weekend morning".  We all piled in the truck one morning and headed to Bluffs to check the cows.  Ainsley likes having her window rolled down, yelling "C'mooonnnnn" at the cows like her Daddy.

After driving through all the hills in the pasture, Joel finally stopped so the girls could get out and see the cows a little closer.  Lily didn't get out of Joel's arms, and Ainsley didn't get too far away from either of us!

 

 

Ainsley's first day of preschool

Ainsley's been looking forward to going to school since her third birthday.  I told her that she could go to school once summer was over, and she's asked at least once a day for the last few months if "summer was over yet".  I can't believe she's really old enough to go to school.  As much as it makes me sad, it makes me even more happy knowing she's having a blast at school.  We picked out her book bag at the beginning of August and got it ordered.  The morning it came in the mail, she was in love.  She walked around the house all weekend with it on her back, stuffing whatever she could find in it.

She's watched Lisa's kids get on and off the bus for the last three years, so that was another thing she was excited about.  She thought she was going to ride the bus to and from school.  It wasn't easy to break the news to her that she wasn't going to ride the bus.  She didn't understand.  She kept saying:  "But Abby, Jordyn, and Levi ride the bus."  After she found out that both me and Joel were taking her to school the first day, it made not riding the bus situation a little better.

We had our home visit with Ainsley's teachers the week before school started.  One of my childhood friends is Ainsley's teacher, so I've been talking to her about sending Ainsley since February.  I'm sure Elisha's tired of seeing my name pop up on her phone!  We couldn't ask for a better person to be Ainsley's first teacher, and I'm so excited that she gets to be in Miss Elisha's class!

Miss Elisha and Miss Amy with Ainsley during her home visit

Ainsley was excited for Miss Elisha and Miss Amy to come to her house.  She got her name tag for school, and I filled out some paperwork and she was set!

I don't know how much I slept the night before her first day, but I know it wasn't much.  I knew she'd be fine, but I think I was worried most about how she'd act.  Ainsley can be quite the diva, but it's usually only for me.  I set everything out the night before, and it didn't take Ainsley long to fall asleep.

We were up early enough to take a few pictures before we headed to school.

We pulled up to the school and Ainsley couldn't wait to get out of the car and head in.

It was nothing short of crazy once we walked in the doors.  The hallway was packed with the preschool kids and their parents.  We found Ainsley's locker, and put her stuff in there before heading to her room.  As soon as we rounded the corner to her room, she went right in without looking back.  We didn't even get a "bye".  I had to call her back over to us to give us a hug and kiss.  She was too busy checking everything out and was already loving it!

Elisha sent me the picture below and said she was proud of Ainsley for finding the "A".  I told her that Ainsley is obsessed with finding the letter "A" and can find it anywhere, including in the clouds!  She looks for an "A" everywhere.  She'll point one out on my tshirt, in a store, or anywhere she finds one.

I picked Ainsley up the first day of school, and all the kids walked out of the school in line and toward the bus.  Ainsley saw me, and took off (out of line) running for me, and the bus driver and Elisha were both trying to get her back in line.  They didn't see me standing there.  Ainsley didn't want to get back in line, and kept coming to me.  Once she got to me, she was crying, and immediately buried her face in my shoulder and wouldn't stop crying.  I took her to the car and set her down to put her book bag in the car, and she informed me she was "never coming back to school".  I just laughed at her and asked her if she had fun, and all she would say was "I'm never coming back to school."  I had to take her picture before we left the school, because all I could do was laugh at how ridiculous she was being!

By the time we got home, she told me she had fun, and had decided that school wasn't really that bad.  By that evening, she was more than ready to go back the next day.

I asked what they did at school, and she wouldn't really say much.  I asked if she learned about any letters, and then she told me that they had lots of letters there, but they didn't have any numbers.  She got a look on her face and said:  "But, I have numbers at my house."  She had to play with her clock and numbers for quite awhile that afternoon.

Ainsley asked constantly if she could ride the school bus, so I gave in.  I was planning on letting her ride it after the first week, but gave in on the second day.  She goes from 8:30-11 each morning, and can ride the big bus to school with all the other kids in school.  She would have to go to the bus stop in order to ride the bus to school.   There is no way I'm letting her ride the big bus, so I'm going to take her every morning.  Since her class gets out at 11, there is a little short bus that takes the preschool kids home each day.  The little bus has seat belts, and is only for the preschool kids.  They also drop the kids off at their house instead of at a bus stop.  Ainsley rode the bus home the second day and when she came around the corner of the first seat on the bus, she was so happy!  She got off the bus and we had to stand on the front porch and watch the bus drive off.  She thought it was the coolest thing ever!

I don't know what they do at preschool, but it kicks Ainsley's butt!  She came home every day last week and took an hour and a half to two hour nap.  She wasn't taking very good naps this summer, so that was quite a change.  She was also in bed and asleep every night by 8, which hardly ever happens.  She would tell us throughout the day/evening how tired she was.

She came home the second or third day singing a song.  I could understand "Open, shut them" and "clap, clap, clap", but that was it.  I went over to Elisha's house over the weekend and asked her about it, and she said it's:  "Open, shut them, open, shut them, do a little....clap, clap, clap."  It made sense then!

I can't get Ainsley to tell me much about school.  She tells me she's good at school, they play on the playground, and she goes down the big slide.  That's about all I get out of her.  She brought home her first "masterpiece" the other day, where she glued feathers on a piece of construction paper.  She was pretty proud of it, but I'm pretty sure I was more proud.  It's hanging on the refrigerator, and I'll catch Ainsley telling Lily that she made that at school and Lily can't touch it.

I know Ainsley's going to change and learn so much this year, and can't wait to see how well she does.  I hope she continues this enthusiasm for school for many, many years.

Dance Class

Ainsley has been telling us she wants to be a ballerina for a few months now.  I signed her up for a combination dance class, and she's super excited!  She'll go one day a week for an hour.  It's a combination class of ballet, tap, and tumbling.  We took her to get tap and ballet shoes, and she couldn't get her new shoes on fast enough after we got home with them.   Lily liked them, too!

Her class started two weeks ago, and luckily, we know one other little girl in the class.  Ainsley and Tenley walked in together, and we weren't able to see them once they shut the door.  They have cameras in each room, and we were suppose to be able to watch them on the tv in the waiting room, but it wasn't picking up the connection, so we weren't able to watch them at all.  Once they opened the door after class, Ainsley came running out with the biggest smile on her face, so I know she had fun.

Tenley and Ainsley after their first dance class!

I asked her what she did, and she told me they rolled (for tumbling) and she was a ballerina.  I don't know if we'll actually know what they're doing until the recital, but as long as she's having fun, I'm happy!

Birthdays, birthdays, birthdays!

We've had a couple birthday parties over the last few weeks.  Ainsley loves a good party!  Rowdy turned five the week before he started kindergarten, and the weather turned his pool party into an inside party.  Rowdy wasn't into having his picture taken...

Rowdy wanted tractors for his party, and was not at all enthused about getting clothes!

Mark got some good pictures of the girls at the party.  Ainsley had a lot of fun playing with all the other kids, and Lily loved the "babies"!

 

 

Love her freckles!

Hadlee's third birthday party was Friday night with a Sheriff Callie party.  Hadlee (along with Ainsley) is obsessed with the newest Disney Junior cartoon, Sheriff Callie, and the only thing Hadlee wanted for her birthday was a blue lasso like Callie! 

Hadlee was a pro at roping that horse!

Ainsley wasn't so good...

Lily walked around pointing and doing her usual "hunh" whenever she'd see Sheriff Callie, which was a lot!

Hadlee was ready to open her gifts, and had to show "Trissa" (me) every gift she got.  That little girl is the absolute cutest, and I can't wait to watch her grow along with our two sweethearts!

Ainsley and Keatyn watching Hadlee open presents

 

Holden was pretty quiet during the party, but Lily was able to get her hands on him before he headed to bed for the night.

She loves babies, or anyone her size or smaller.  She also learned how to head butt the other night and thought it was funny to do it to Amelia.  Thankfully, it wasn't hard, and Amelia didn't seem to care.

Lily and Amelia

The kids were able to finish the night watching Frozen, which everyone was happy about!