F-L-O-R-I-D-A!

We traveled to Florida for a short vacation at the DeGeyter's house! Sun and swimming wore us out (yet Ashlyn still managed to wake up at 4:56 am every single morning).

Ashlyn is such a fiesty little one right now. Extremely opinionated and very irritable (due to teething). Whenever she would crawl to the sand, she would immediately put a fistful in her mouth. When I would tell her 'no, mam' and put her back on a blanket, a temper would follow and she would buck, kick and squeal. Phew, 10 months and defiant already? I'm saying some prayers. ;)

Lots of sweet wagon rides. (Ari looks really ticked off but she is really sweet to Ashlyn and randomly hugs her unprompted!)

Raschelle, Ryan and sweet sweet Ella came too! So fun to watch the little girls play together. Ari did her tackle-hug a few times and poor Ella took the beatings.

Sweet Ari on Easter morning.

Grammy with her three youngest grand-girls! (We definitely felt the absence of Allie, Zac, Aunt Bex and Uncle Todd). Great Grammy Claire came too!!

We went to the beach a few times but it was a bit windy and one day, even chilly! The water was gorgeous and wild and I loved how excited Ari got to go to the ocean.

Great memories and fun times!! Thanks Mom for all the hospitality, help and food and Dad for the flights (which deserve its own post: flying with two babies, alone b/c Dan came home early. What a feat!)

One of my favorite times of day is when Ari helps me get Ashlyn up from her morning nap. They are usually both very pleasant and happy and therefore, fun ensues because Ari asks to get into bed with Ashlyn. I usually use this opportunity to change the laundry, clean the floors or do some other chore in Ashlyn's room. Today, they were having too much fun not to watch. So, I took some videos! Enjoy.



Ari thinks that its funny to lie directly on top of Ashlyn and give her a hug. It reminds me of Dan and his 80lb wrestling videos I've seen. Ari stops for a second and says "wait a minute" because her pony-tail fell out. She also says that Ashlyn gave her a boo-boo on her knee (drama). Love when Ashlyn sneezes and Ari says "bless you Ash". Such sweetness. It is so funny when Ashlyn gets all antsy and pulls Ari's hair. Also, Ashlyn is showing off her new and favorite move: clapping.

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!

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)