Saturday, March 31, 2012

Spring Fever

(Written by Dan...a rarity, I know)
Every spring since we made the garden, we've added on to it. This one was no different, as the gorgeous weather we've had gave us spring fever. We've been spending lots of time outside, and decided to use it to add onto the garden. Here are my 3 beauties as we searched for new rocks:

Also, we got tired of the dead and ugly portion on the outside of our house that receives 0 sunlight all day. So, we got going on making a shade garden. Luckily, the woods not only provides free firewood but also free edging in the form of rocks. It was tougher than we thought, as there were huge rocks only inches under the sod. Then, before we could finish, we got buckets of rain and it made a big, sloppy mess:

It was tough finding enough shade plants/flowers, but we got it all planted and mulched last weekend. There are some bulbs planted that you can't see, but it will look better once things start filling in. (Sorry, Mom/Barb, no hostas yet...they didn't have them in yet!)

The other project was adding on to the garden. Even Ari joined in the fun:

It's about one third bigger. Again, it had rained and was a goopy mess:

My little helper:

This is more Jenny's domain, so she handled the planting and organizing:

Here's a random one, but I can't get enough of how cute Ari looks in these purple Chuck Taylors (thanks, Rebecca!):

All of this said, we're enjoying our new & improved backyard. We've eaten outside on the picnic table next to the garden and (Jenny's allergies-willing) the girls enjoy it. The grass is growing, soon we'll have our shade garden blooming, and the vegetable garden we'll be eating!


Monday, March 26, 2012

9 MONTHS!

Ashlyn at 9 months: waving, shouting, squealing, protesting, voicing opinions!

Crawling all over the place; starting to pull herself up cautiously, standing up with assistance.

Curiously seeking everything and taste-testing all her findings.
Oh, and eating us out of house and home...

(more physical stats this week after her check-up)

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Family Pics!




(thank you, Katie Haller)

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Spring Visitors


I think the Hallers visited last year during the turn from Winter to Spring... Crazy how it happened again! This time around, Ari was much more vocal about what she wanted to do: Sandbox, water, bubbles, play-dough, kitchen etc. Ari showed-off all weekend with her skills, intellect and of course, cuteness! Ashlyn was dedicated Sunday at church and it was cute to watch her curiously touching our pastor's beard! The prayer was deeply meaningful to us and we look forward to her growing up.

A few tea parties were held at the table. Bill even indulged in the dangerous "peanut-butter-and-jelly-sandwich." (No epinephrine needed) Ari received some new dishes from her Baba (D is for Dishes) and they played with them all weekend.

We went to get ice-cream and coffee at the local coffee shop and Ari proceeded to stay up an extra two hours as a result of the sugar rush. Charlotte is experiencing some gorgeous weather at the evenings have been peaceful and breezy. It was nice to leave the house after dinner to go somewhere!

After church on Sunday we went to Freedom park and had pizza in the rain, had a family photo session and played on the playground. It was a little soggy but fun!

Katie came too with her sweet friend Rachelle Marie. Lets just say Rachelle was intitiated in the Haller family with a few things: speed scrabble, popcorn and dish duty (THANK YOU!). Katie took some gorgeous photos of the girls and a few family pics so I'll post those soon too! So blessed to have her in the family (for more than just her talent!)

Thank you all for coming and having such a fun time!

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Ashlyn Crawling!



Here's a video from a few days ago that I took on my phone. Ashlyn is even more mobile since this was taken!  She's so cute and squirrelly!

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Ari Taylor... 26 months

Ari is sooo grown up. Every single day she amazes me with something new she's learned or sees. Her sentence structure and observations are phenomenal and her language development is superb. I love to watch her think about how to say what she wants to say. Its adorable.

She's fully day-time potty trained. Sure, we have accidents every now and then but diapers are only for bedtime and sometimes nap-time. She's communicating well and working on big-girl potties now. (TMI, sorry all)

Ari loves: Bubbles, cashews, cookies, rice cakes, grapes, raisins, her sandbox, Sesame Street, painting, peeling the labels off crayons, stickers, Lion King, her blankie and so much more.

Annnd, right now, she's asking to paint so, I'm off!



(Winner of Caption Contest: Raschelle Myrick "I will cut you!")

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Caption Contest

Ari and Ashlyn were in their skivvies the other day and I grabbed the camera for some sweet shots. There is just something about their sweetness together. Did you hear that we went out to eat a couple weeks ago and our waiter asked me if they were twins? Really? Really? (Seth and Amy edition)

Well, nows your chance to tell me what YOU think Ari and Ashlyn are saying/doing. Include your initials/name/domain in the comments section and I'll announce a winner with the next post.

Photo A


Photo B