Shelling peas!

It's good to have a helper when you're shelling a batch of black-eyed peas!

My First Official Photo Shoot

I had the great honor of photographing my friend's brand, new, baby boy! And I just wanted to share some of the images with my family! Brady and I both worked really hard in this shoot and we're very proud! I am feeling MUCH more confident in my abilities. So without further ado... Sweet, sweet, baby boy!

"Hoops" Woodall

Ian just played his last basketball game of the summer session. They were playing a team that absolutely destroyed them their first game. Ian was so anxious and nervous and excited before the game. He knew it was going to be a tough one and was really wanting to make sure that they at least tied. But today was a good day for the Hawks! Ian was on fire. He was making shots, passing well and genuinely trying to make this a team effort. He was also VERY focused on his defense. I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but that boy does NOT make friends when he's defending. He is on that kid like flies on poo! It is so bad that almost every team they have played in the last 4 weeks, the kids on the other team argue and cry over who has to be paired up with him! It's kind of sad that he makes other kids mad, but then again, he's just doing his job and he takes it seriously. I mean SERIOUSLY. They closed out the season winning by 12 points over the team that spanked them by at least that much their first game and he was able to walk away from the season proud and energized! Now I have to figure out what the hell to do with him for the next 5 months until the next session!

Somebody's learning her letter sounds!!

Ainsley has had some problems learning her letter sounds. Because of this she has been very obstinate with her lessons. Recently I rediscovered a little website that Ian used to play on and she is LOVING it! It allows her to click on any letter and there is a whole little tutorial with pictures and songs and all of that fun stuff and it is obviously making a HUGE difference for her. Yesterday she spelled her first word, "CAT" by sounding out the letters and we were all SO proud of her! I think a little somebody is going to reading before we know it! Hooray for technology!

Ainsley-ism of the Night:

"Mom, I think if an anteater met an armadillo in the woods, they would totally be friends!"

Things Ian Loves

-BASKETBALL

-BASKETBALL

-BASKETBALL

and just a smidge of BASKETBALL! ;)

Things Ainsley Loves

-She LOVES stories! Her favorites right now are, "Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog" by Mo Willems, "Sneaky Weasel" by Hannah Shaw, and "Go Away Big Green Monster" by Ed Emberley. All of these are funny little books that she insists I read almost every night with full voice arrangement!

-She REALLY likes to play games now! One of her faves is Panda Stack, which is pretty much an eco-friendly version of Jenga with cute panda faces!

-She LOVES to paint! I am in the process of painting a whole bunch of my old canvases white to give her painting options. I may even bust out the easel soon!

-She is having a blast on the computer! I introduced her to a kids' site called "Starfall" recently and she is awesome at it! It just amazes me to see how computer savvy both of the kids are!

-Her absolute favorite movies right now are "Stuart Little" and "Stuart Little 2", and I get begged and nagged to watch them EVERY day!

-She loves popsicles and chocolate milk (not at the same time of course)!

-She really seems to be enjoying school, especially math! I have to admit, she's pretty damn good at it! She is happy to work in her workbooks so she can show Daddy all that she's accomplished during the day! It makes me happy to see her trying and to see how proud she is of her work!

Ainsley-ism of the day:

While sitting on the toilet with her elbows on her knees and her hands under her chin... "Mom, when I get bigger, I want to start peeing like Ian, you know, standing up?!"

What scares me is I'm pretty sure THIS kid would actually give it a try!

Aaarrgh! If my baby wants a pirate party, she gets one!

OK, I hate to admit it but Ainsley did ask for a pirate party last year. I talked her out of it because Ian had a pirate party a couple of years ago and I just didn't want to revisit it so soon! But this little girl has a memory like an elephant and the day after her hula party she told me she wanted a pirate party for her 4th birthday. I figured what the hell, it was a phase and would pass, but no. I have been hearing her boast to strangers for MONTHS that she was going to be having a pirate party for her 4th birthday. So how in the world could I deny her the coveted pirate party?!? I made sure that folks were warned!
The booty (cake pops and chocolate coins!)
My little scalawag!
The Commodore and her scurvy dogs!
I made sure there was a chest...
filled to the brim with treasures...
where of course "X" always marks the spot, even if it's in Daddy's closet!
And all pirates at some point during the evening get drunk on cake pops and presents!

Ainsley-ism--Bedtime edition

Her new favorite book is called "Sneaky Weasel"! I am obligated to read this as well as "Go Away Big Green Monster" almost nightly. After reading both of these stories at bedtime I asked her, "Ainsley, are you a sneaky weasel?" She replied, "Nope." "How about a stinky weasel?" "Nope." "Maybe a dinky weasel?" "Sigh. MOM! I'm a sleepy weasel, so go AWAY!"

Have I mentioned how much I love her lately?

I can't imagine...

a better reason to strive for peace.

A day at the Mayborn!

I've heard for quite some time that Waco boasts a rather unique little museum, The Mayborn. It's run by Baylor University and is supposedly a big deal for the 12 and under crowd. Well, I was bored, the kids were bored and we wanted something fun to do that DID NOT involve melting in the summer heat! Then I read that the Mayborn was hosting a Lego exhibit. Well that did it, we were almost obligated to go at that point! So I called Nana and we made a plan, lunch at Buzzard Billy's (thanks Nana!)

We sat out on the deck overlooking the river, the kids fed the ducks and turtles and cooed over the wild kitties that hung out at the back door hoping for some fish scraps! I have a feeling those kitties had it made!

Then it was off to the Mayborn for an afternoon of fun! We were greeted by a knight in shining armor!
There was a labyrinth...
And a DRAGON!
Ainsley had some quality time building her own little castle with Nana.
After we had our fill of Legos, it was time to see what else the Mayborn had to offer. There was a natural history room where we saw a variety of stuffed critters, a mammoth skull, a humpback whale skull (which sadly was a huge item in a small room and I couldn't get the entire thing in the frame, so I didn't bother with a pic). Then we happened upon the mammoth dig!
This exhibit is a plaster casting that was made from the remains found at the Waco Mammoth site, which is another place that we need to visit in Waco. The kids really liked this room. I don't know if it was the huge skeletons or the fact that they felt weird walking on a see-through surface!

Outside of the natural history section we were greeted by this amazing castle that was made entirely from Dr. Pepper products (in honor of the Dr. Pepper Museum in Waco, yet another Waco destination that we must visit!) The castle name cracked me up!

The whole museum was really geared toward kids. There was a water and bubble room, a wind room, an electricity room, a music room, a human body room, a tea room, a weather room. The weather room cracked me up as it had a green screen that the kids could stand in front of and do the weather report. So here is Mr. Ian doing the evening forecast!
There were trains, tools, critters, you name it, it was awesome! The last room we visited was the "world room" where there were clothes and tools and maps from all different parts of the world. Here's my Piggy doing her best Little China Girl impression...
And here is Mr. Ian sporting what I assume to be a Tibetan monk's robe, but all I could think was, "The force is strong with this one, Obi Wan!" ;)
We finished off our museum experience in the gift shop. I LOVE museum gift shops, such a wonderful selection of interesting toys that aren't the typical plastic Wal-Mart quality crap! Wonderful books with great pics, beautiful stuffed animals, science experiments, coloring books, I could spend hours in the gift shop! We ended up with some Chinese yo-yo's and Rocket Balloons! I can tell you that those Rocket Balloons were the best $6 I've spent in a long time! They come with a pump and these long, crazy balloons. You blow them up and let them go and they fly all over the house making terribly rude noises which of course causes much mayhem and hilarity! So I give them a serious 2-thumbs up!

We ended our day grabbing a refreshing beverage at Sonic and hitting the road to get home to a little squirt dog! Great day, great museum, great family time!

Ainsley-isms

"Mom!" "Yes, dear?" "Do you know poop from applesauce?" "Ummmmm... I hope so!"

Ainsley-isms

While riding in the back seat of the car...

Ainsley: Mumble, mumble the WHOLE TOWN!
Me: You want to MEET the WHOLE TOWN?!?
Ainsley: No Mom! I want to EAT the WHOLE TOWN! But you and Daddy and Ian are safe.

Glad to know. And all of you Austinites have been duly warned!

Fun on the Fourth of July!

Well, 4th of July was almost a wash, literally! Hurricane Alex dumped A LOT of rain in our area last week (which is a GOOD thing!) However, because of how soupy the ground was and the threats of possible thunderstorms in the area, our regular haunt for 4th of July festivities postponed the big night. So we were left without plans on an oh so important night for the 10 and under crowd. I frantically searched the web to see who else was actually having their firework display. Austin proper was, but there was NO WAY IN HELL I was going to brave the crowd especially since Round Rock had postponed their big display. You know it was a stinkin' madhouse! I found out that Georgetown and Wells Branch (our old neighborhood) were both going forward with their displays. We decided to head to Wells Branch as we know the area, it was close to home and if something happened and the Piggy flipped out we could leave and actually get out of the area with very little problem. Well can I just say, what a GREAT idea! We got there about an hour and half early, staked a claim on a nice little spot just past the barriers and waited for the show. It ended up being a gorgeous night, with a light breeze and no clouds, just perfect! The fireworks went off right over our heads and the view couldn't have been any better! And without further ado... obligatory kid pics!

Aren't they cute?
My most handsome little man!

Little Miss Attitude! What you don't see in this pic is her vintage jeans rolled up and her rockin' blue Converse high tops!

Such a studly beast!

Daddy and his Poquito Burrito! And as a side note... this dog DOES NOT appreciate fireworks AT ALL!

Cheeky monkey!

Happy girlie playing "Toss the Elephant"!

Singin' in the Rain!

So, sadly no pics, because it was pouring rain and the waterproof camera had no batteries, but I just had to write about it! Miss Piggy loves the rain. And I mean LOVES!!! Hurricane Alex has been kind enough to expand the bands of rain far enough into Central Texas for us to have some really nice showers. No lightning, no hail, just good, warm, nourishing rain. It's awesome! My garden is happy, the grass is happy, and the mockingbirds have stopped pecking my tomatoes! So it's raining right now and we just opened up the door and allowed a most ecstatic little 4 y.o. to run amok in the warm rain! She of course was in socks, t-shirt and undies! She rain and screamed and kicked and splashed and had a blast. Then we gave her an umbrella and the hilarity continued! So cute and funny and SO HAPPY!

It truly is the simple things in life! :)