First Day of Preschool

Long before Ty and I ever thought about having children we knew that it would be a priority for me to become a stay at home mom when the time came.  Little did we know that the time came about 2 years sooner than we planned!  My days with Sam have been a blessing that I deeply treasure and adore.  Granted, he is a two year old boy, so I have to frequently repeat the mantra, "the days are long, but the years are short."  As every parent knows, this is a very real and true statement.  The memory of me holding him for the first time is as real today as the second it happened.  I had informally planned to put Sam in some sort of Mother's Day Out program after he turned two, but then talked myself out of it due to the cost.  Thankfully Mother stressed the importance of him starting this Fall, for his sake and for my sanity sake.  Not to mention there will be another little guy joining us very soon!

Sam is a super smart little guy.  His communication and reasoning skills are very advanced and he picks up new concepts quickly.  I knew it was time for him to receive a more formal education when he mocked the worksheets I made for him.  He made it clear that he was ready for the next level.

Sam absolutely loves going to Bible class at our new church.  In fact, he won't even eat on Sunday mornings and Wednesday night because he is so excited to get in the car and go.  Thankfully our church also has a preschool (Sonshine School) and a Christian school (Cornerstone Christian Academy).  Being in a familiar place has proven to make the transition much easier.  We also love that the cornerstones of his curriculum are Bible based.  I really don't care how much he knows academically if he does not know Jesus.

Ty has been working nights the past two weeks, so he was able to come home just in time to get Sam ready for school this morning.  It was a blessing to get to share this experience with all three members of our little family.

When we got to his classroom, Sam immediately walked inside, sat down at the table, and started coloring.  I kissed him goodbye and he said, "Bye. See you this afternoon."  He was clearly heartbroken to be without Mommy.

We are so very proud of our sweet little boy.  We have no doubt that he will do wonderful things with Christ as his guide.  Good luck to our little Sam as you begin your, who-knows-how-many-years-of education-just-ask-your-Daddy, school years.  We love, love, love and adore you!

One excited little boy!! 

Granted, he was most excited about his new "monster" lunchbox and the tic tacs that were awaiting him in the car. 

Such a big boy! 

Mrs. Sandie, one of Sam's Texas grandmothers, had to check in on her "little angel" so we were able to get a good family picture!  Mrs. Sandie went to his classroom and told his teacher to let her know if he did not like his cold lunchbox food and she would get him some chicken nuggets from McDonald's.  Typical grandmother!

Walking in with Daddy. 

Once we got close to his room he decided that Daddy's hand was a good thing to hold. 

Sam's teacher, Mrs. Ashley.  He seems to like her...and Mommy likes her to, so that is a bonus!

It's the Little Things

Life with an almost 20 month old is, well, fun.  It is an adventure with new twists and turns around every corner.  I love my sweet baby Sam.  He is so much fun and provides me with good laughs all day long.  A few of my favorite little laughs from this past week are:

• Ellie needed her clothes changed, so I stripped her down to her diaper while I gathered her new clothes.  Sam said, "Ellie baby poopy," then walked up to her and pulled her diaper back to check.  The next day he did the same thing, but when he saw that she wasn't poopy, he thought maybe he was the culprit so he twisted around and pulled his own diaper back!

• Sam is quite the disciplinarian for Ellie.  When she touches something that he knows is off limits, he tells her "no touch Ellie baby."  He also tells her "no ma'am" when she does somethings that is not allowed.  He protects her like a little sister, when she does something that he thinks may hurt her, for instance this morning, she was climbing on the box of toy trucks, he tells her "careful Ellie baby, back."  He always tells her these things with such a sweet tone and he does not like it when she cries after I get on to her.  This morning I had to tell her not to touch something, which made her cry.  Sam looked up at me with the saddest I-can't-believe-you-just-made-my-Ellie-baby-cry face and then he hugged Ellie.  Such a tender boy.

• I usually give the babies an afternoon snack when they wake up from their naps.  One day they were starving, so I just put the craisins and goldfish on the ottoman so they would quit pecking me like big chickens.  Over and over Sam picked up a piece and said, "Ellie baby bite," then he would put it in her mouth.  After a few bites he would then give her a drink of milk.  Can you tell he loves his Ellie baby?

• Sam has a tendency to say "Amen" at the end of each song we song at church.  Last night, there was one song that he must have thought really expressed our love to God, because he belted out a very loud "AMEN!" at the end.  Half of the auditorium turned around and laughed at him.  He is a sweet baby!  I have to admit that I blushed from the attention though.

• Sam loves to sing his ABC's.  He is really interested in learning his letters right now and is trying hard to figure them all out.  On the way to church he was singing his ABC's and he got to G, then he paused.  Usually he just skips right to "Q" at this point, but I guess he finally realized that he is skipping some letters, so this time his song went like this, "A,B, C, D, E, F, G, help me please."  So, we sang the rest for him.  Then he repeated it and was able to add "H" and "I."  And of course, he sang the rest of the way to church and then the rest of the way home.

• Sam has become particularly fond of Bible class.  He gets so excited on Sunday mornings and Wednesdays because he knows where we are going.  We always bring him into the general assembly with us after Bible class, but last Sunday he only lasted through about 2 songs before he was pulling our hands saying, "Come on.  Bible class."  He gave Bobbye and Buster kisses and then he was on his way back to Bible class.  Fortunately the toddler nursery is also held in his classroom, so he didn't know the difference!

• When Sam makes bad choices we tell him what he did, put him in time out if it is necessary, and make him apologize if it is appropriate.  I guess this has really hit home the act of saying, "I'm sorry."  He was playing with my make-up one morning while I was getting ready and dropped my blush which spilled all over the rug.  He immediately look up at me and said, "I'm sorry Mommy."  Bless him.

This is such a fun time with Sam.  We get many, many laughs out of our sweet boy.  It's the little times like these that are such a blessing to the two of us.  Great times with our little family!

Happy Birthday Ellie!

Last March I began keeping sweet baby Ellie.  She was a little bundle of baby at not quite six weeks old, but she is now an active one year old toddler.  We celebrated Ellie with our traditional Ashley Family Birthday pancakes. Of course, in honor of all things young and girlie, the pancakes were pink and covered with sprinkles.  We already had the dining room partially decorated for Valentine's Day, so we were decked out with extra pink trimmings!

I set the table the night before.  As anyone with small children knows, you can never count on mornings to go smoothly when you need them to.  On party day Sam spotted the hats on the table and quickly swiped two of them so he and Ellie could get ready.

Our friend Owen also came over to help Ellie celebrate.  Sam, Owen, and Ellie have gotten to be big buddies over the past 11 months.  Owen adores Ellie, who he still thinks is a baby, and frequently tries to hug and love on her!  Sam thinks Ellie is his sister.  He absolutely loves his "Ellie Baby" and is so sweet and gentle with her.

The babies had a great time singing Happy Birthday, blowing out the candles, and eating pancakes.  In fact, after the festivities were over, Sam carried around a little pink pancake fragment until nap time!

We are so thankful for Ellie!  Happy 1st birthday sweet girl!

Florence

A few days after we returned back to Huntsville from Hope Hull, we hit the road to Florence.  This time Ty was able to go with us since his Internal Medicine rotation had come to a close.  We had a great time with Doc & MiMi.  They have been remodeling a large portion of their house for several months and they had at last made it to the final stages.  It was so nice to be able to use the living room and the kitchen.  They have remained super positive about having to use the basement as their living area since last Fall.  This included only having a small kitchenette.  The remodel is beautiful and I am sure it will be broken in very soon!

We had a pretty quiet visit.  On Friday afternoon we went to visit Aunt Katy at work.  Sam was excited to see her, but was not so certain about all of the lab equipment.  Then that night Ty grilled chicken wings, which were wonderful!  Saturday we went to Abigail Whiteside's first birthday party.  It was wonderful to visit with all of the Whitesides!  That evening MiMi made grilled vegetable pizzas.  We loved them so much that we made them just a few days later when we had friends over for dinner.  Sunday was a typical day at church and then home for lunch.  Doc lead singing that morning which Sam loved, but was also frustrating for him since he could see Doc, but could not go to him.

MiMi decided that she was not ready for Sam to leave, so she and Doc volunteered to keep him overnight.  Sam was not too sure about Mommy & Daddy leaving without him, but quickly changed his mind when I told him that he could go swing.  They all had a wonderful time!

 Sam loves to show off his "big belly."

 Sam spent lots of time in this little rocking chair.  It was a prime spot for watching football with Doc!

I forgot to take my camera to the party, but these are from a couple of weeks after Abigail was born.  Our babies aren't those little bundles anymore! 

Home to Hope Hull

Sam and I were able to make a trip to Hope Hull a couple of weekends ago.  I didn't have Ellie for a couple of weeks and Ty was on his Internal Medicine rotation (meaning the hospital owned him), so the timing was just right.  Well, not exactly right, because the weather was too warm for a fire.  One of my happiest places is at Mother and Daddy's house sitting in front of a nice warm fire.  Oh well, we plan to go back in a few weeks.  I will start praying now for low temperatures!

It was a relaxing several days, but we also managed to pack in lots of fun activities!

Blair had puppies, so with the help of Elizabeth we checked them out.

Sam had lots of fun chasing a click beetle and feeding him to his toy alligator.  Poor little bug didn't stand a chance.

On Monday we went to Aunt Iva Kate and uncle Tony's house for lunch.   My cousin Laura and her boys, Blayne & Brantley, were passing through so we got an extra bonus!  We had to get the three of them caught up on the wall.  Tony & Iva Kate have been recording people's heights on this wall for years.  It is especially neat to watch the kids inch their way up mark by mark!

Brantley was mesmerized by the process!

Sam was a bit more hesitant!

Just a sample of the wall.

After lunch Uncle Laslie offered to take us with him to feed the cows.  We decided to sit that one out!

Uncle Laslie tried to win him over, but Sam wasn't having it that day.

The next day we went to visit with Grandmother and Granddaddy.  Sam had lots of fun cleaning out their toy box!

Of course, we had to spend some time outside and thankfully the rain finally let up and gave us the chance.

Sam thought the puppy needed a walk,

but then quickly decided that he was done.  

...because there were fields to explore!

That is one handsome little boy!

What little person doesn't love a dandelion? 

Then Sam decided he needed to help Mother survey the new garden plot.

Which was followed by a walk through the tractor cemetery.

Paw Paw taught Sam how to validate a tree birth certificate.

Admiring the bounty and envisioning all of the wonderful fires that were now possible.

Looking for the moon.

Playing with Mommy, Aunt Everlie, and Aunt Tiffany's old legos.

We had a great time in Hope Hull with Mother and Paw Paw and all the rest of our wonderful family.  Daddy taught Bible class Sunday morning, which I always look forward to.  Mother fed us until we couldn't eat anymore.  I am pretty sure there is a special place in both Sam and Ty's hearts for Mother's kitchen.  Sam has learned to ask Mother for biscuits.  He managed to get biscuits and at least 4 of his other favorite things on this trip: fried okra, chicken legs, corn on the cob, and pie!