Fall is Here!

We have been making the most of the fall weather by getting out to do fun things as often as we can. Last week Emaline and I went to the "Getting Acquainted" picnic at preschool and it was nice. It is so cool to watch her interact with her teachers and the other kids. When I dropped her off last Friday she walked right in to a group of kids and said, "Hey guys! Whatch doing?" I just melted to see her coming out of her shell.

Over the weekend we met a group of friends at Nathaniel Greene park to play and have a BBQ picnic. We were there for almost four hours and the weather went from chilly to almost hot, but it was great. Emaline got to play with several children close to her age and we got to visit with lots of old friends. The next day we went to the Harvest Fest at Rutledge-Wilson Farm Park and that is where these pictures were taken. Emaline got to go on her first hay ride and pony ride. There were bounce houses and other fun things to do too. Emaline opted to have Grandma walk with her on the pony ride so my re-telling of the event is limited, but she had a big smile when she first took off and Grandma said she liked it. The picture of her with a frown is because she saw the camera not necessarily a reflection of her feelings:)

Hope everyone is able to enjoy these crisp fall days before it gets too late!

Summer fun

As usual months have flown by and busy as ever I have not made a post to catalogue our activities. This will be a feeble attempt to show a little bit of what keeps us busy.

We have alternately spent weekends here in town running around doing fun stuff and going to the lake house. Since Emaline still refuses to have her picture taken we don't have many good ones (and apparently none at the lake), but she is liking the water more and more. She has gotten more adventurous in the water swimming away from us and jumping around some.

While she will not knowingly let us take a picture of her she LOVES to take pictures and we have talked her into "taking turns" with the camera so that we can get a few. This one was taken yesterday morning while I was in the shower and she and Jimmy played.

As a side note, I had to have a conversation about privacy and appropriateness with her as she used her turn with the camera to barge in the bathroom, throw open the shower curtain and snap my pic (it was lovely).

Jimmy took off work yesterday to have an extended weekend with us so we packed in several fun activities. We went to the Rutledge-Wilson Farm park and saw the animals. Emaline kept trying feed this horse rocks that she picked up. The horse became interested at one point and I thought she might lose a finger, good grief.

Then later in the day we took her on her first trip to the bowling alley. She got set up with bumpers, but since she used the rolling ramp she really didn't need them. She had a better score than I did. Please ignore the snotty nose, we do not let her go around like this I just hated to interrupt the victory cheer with yet another nose wipe (allergies stink).

Finally, we went to Open House at preschool on Thursday night. Emaline may never want to come home again. I am not sure who is more excited about the whole experience, Emme or me.

It is so exciting to see her interact with her teachers, other kids, and the new environment. She is going to grow so much from this and have so much fun! Attending just two mornings a week will be a huge change for all of us, but I know that it will be great. This last pic was taken the day we bought her new backpack. She wanted to wear it all the time (still does some) and she pretends she is going to preschool then "comes home" and tells me what she did. What a ham...

Funny Things

These are my favorite things that Emaline has said today:

As to why she cannot sit on the potty right now, "I went yesterday!"

Upon using her new tape measure outside of the hardware store to measure the rocks Aunt Genesis asked how big they were. Em's response, "They are JUST right."

Finally, when I sat the pizza box on the counter for dinner she promptly got up in her learning tower, threw open the box yelling "PIZZA!" However once she saw it she sadly stated, "I don't like turtles, please take them off." We had ordered our pizza with green olives.

Is it Spring yet?

It is virtually impossible to get a picture of Emaline these days. The minute she sees the camera she shouts, "NO camera" as if I am the obtrusive Paparazzi and she the young starlet. So all I've got to show are a few pictures from our first zoo visit this year (taken a few weeks ago) and one from a day at open gym on one of the swings.

The zoo trip was great as she is much more interactive this year with the animals. We got really lucky that they were feeding the elephants a treat while we were there and asked if anyone wanted to help. You can see in one of the pictures that Emaline has just chucked an apple at them. She was really good with her aim (with only a little help from Aunt Sarah) and got to throw three apples to the elephants. Almost every day now I hear something from her along the lines of, "Elephant apples Mommy."

We are very anxious to get outdoors again and take every opportunity when it is nice enough to go to a park or just play in the yard. We have already made our first trip to Silver Dollar City this year and as soon as I have some pictures from that trip I will make a post to detail the day (it was a big hit).

One final note, we recently learned that Emaline's new cousin Judah Degefu Estes is in the process to come home to us from Ethiopia. He will be one year old in June and is the most beautiful little boy. I am so excited for Emaline to have a playmate and she can't get enough of looking at his picture and talking about him. We hope to meet him late this Summer.

Hope everyone is well; Happy Spring!

Our Baby is Two

What an amazing journey the last two years have been. I can honestly say that while I am weepy over losing "my baby" that I love and enjoy Emaline more every day. What an amazing little girl we have. She is precocious and willful, but sweet and sincere. She is smart, funny, loving and independent. Watching her become her own person is a joy that is unmatched by any other experience we have ever had. I am lucky enough to have front row seats to the Emaline show most days and I must say that I haven't tired of seeing it yet. Emme, we are truly humbled by who you are becoming and the amazing gifts you give us every day. Thank you for being our "baby" no matter how old you are getting.

Happy New Year!

Ok, you caught us, we are on a 6 month blog lag. I will try to just give a general update for the Ashley clan. Emaline is doing really well. Her language and communication in general are advancing every day, and it is a joy to spend time with her. She is also beginning to say her ABC's, count from 1-10, and identify colors. I have started to tour preschools, but have decided to wait until the fall before we enroll her. She has transitioned to calling us "Mommy" and "Daddy" and has a bit of British accent when doing it (very funny). She is cutting the first of her two-year molars, but otherwise has been healthy lately.

Halloween brought us a Super Girl! Thanksgiving and Christmas were each a lot of fun this year, as was New Year's Eve. (No, she does not need glasses, but she does enjoy the new frames Santa brought her!) She really enjoyed spending time with family and friends during all of the special events this season.

Grandma Ginny was kind enough to lend out Jimmy's cowboy boots that he wore as a child. One could say these boots were made for walking, but in reality Jimmy wore these so much when he was a kid that the have no tread left! Indeed, these boots were made for slidding and falling down.

We will work hard to update more often as the funny things she does and says are piling up, but I can't remember them when I sit down to post!

Summer Fun

As always it has been way too long since I have made time to post. The summer is going very well at the Ashley house. We have spent quite a bit of time at the lake, making a visit to Silver Dollar City on one of the trips. Emme enjoyed the trip and rode several rides; they were met with pretty stoic stares and even a few tears, but she was willing to try them.

Emaline really enjoys playing in water, be it her baby pool or the lake she is generally entertained and happy. We have spent time in the back yard playing in the pool, even having our cousins Holly and Melody and their four children over to play for an afternoon. Emaline was more interested in watching the older kids run around than actually engaging with them, but it is good for her to spend time with family regardless.

We have also made several trips to the Dickerson Park Zoo. We took our Ashley cousins along a couple of weeks ago and hope they enjoyed it too. Emaline really loves her cousin Autumn and frequently wanted to be held by her. I really enjoy visiting with Ricky and Autumn talking about books, movies, etc. and hope to spend some more time with them this summer (maybe they can help keep me hip).

Jimmy and I took a little trip last weekend for our anniversary. We got to visit a beautiful property on the Current River and enjoy some great time outdoors. Thanks again to Genesis and Chris for taking care of Emaline so much lately!

It seems we have plans every weekend for the next month, which is the norm in the summer. We are looking forward to seeing our nephew Jacob later this month and spending some time with him at the lake.

The pictures I included have been taken in the last few weeks. Obviously a couple are at the lake and in her pool. The one with the vacuum made me laugh because it has a back story. I said to Emaline one afternoon, "This place is a mess, you need to clean up." She promptly picked up her vacuum and gave me that big grin! The last one is of us on the hopping frog ride at SDC.

Well, Emme is waking from her nap so I'll sign off. Hope everyone else is having a great summer, enjoy the pics!