Ashlyn's John Hancock

Ashlyn's been working on learning to write her name the past 2 weeks or so. She doesn't have a clue how to SPELL her name, but if I tell her what letters come when she does great...except for the "S". She still has a hard time with it so I have to make dotted lines for her to trace that letter, but the rest of them she can write beautifully. (Ya might have to click on the picture to make it bigger to actually be able to see it.)

The Big Game

Tonight was Blake's first football game of the season...Go Cowboys! This is the team running through the banner the cheerleaders made for them to run through to take the field....then the batteries in my camera died! I couldn't believe it, even the backup ones were dead - his first game and I've got nothing.

It was a really good game, us parents hootin' and hollerin' on the sidelines laughed at ourselves for how much we were getting into it. The last few seconds of the game we ran it for a touch down, which made it 26-25...however the 3 referees on the field called it a touchdown and one of the Rec. Department staff members in the end zone said they missed it and it was 1st and goal, but time had run out...boy did heck break loose on the field! Since everybody was yelling at everybody and the Rec. Department staff member felt he had the last call...they decided to call it a tie 26-26. (I'm not sure what the other team did to earn 1 point during the ordeal?) Our boys were pretty upset since they should've won. Errrr!

Friends + Beach + Sunny Day = Endless Fun

A couple of friends and I took our kids to the beach today. Talk about a beautiful day! We've had a couple of families move into the ward that have kids Ashlyn's age, finally, so she's been excited to have numerous play dates with HER friends rather than Blake's lately. Anybody for some Seaweed Soup they made...yummy!

What Kind of Mom Am I??

Today I realized that I have NEVER made playdough with my kids. Blake brought a tub of store bought play dough home from his classroom's treasure box this afternoon, which quickly caused a fight with his sister. When I said we could make some they thought I was crazy. They enjoyed helping make it, pick the colors and of course playing with it. I remember always having some around as a kid, but having to play with it outside the majority of the time because it would get ground into the carpet...ya gotta love ceramic tile and wood floors!

If Ya Know My Uncle...

...ya know that he's VERY against ALOT of the things Obama has done and LOVES to talk about it. While we were visiting this weekend, he even got Ashlyn in on the bashing! President Obama, how can you resist such a cute face.

If Only You'd Move to Georgia, Aunt Tana!

You could've gone ridin' with us this weekend while we were up in Rome on Uncle Marvin's new bike. I was even convinced to go for a ride...I only screamed a few times. Those tight corners on the back country roads are NOT for me!

Don't Let Uncle Marvin Be The Navigator!

While visiting my Aunt and Uncle up in Rome, GA for the holiday weekend we decided to go hiking. Uncle Marvin took us up to a really pretty area called Keone Falls...the name would lead you to believe that one would come upon a waterfall along the trail, don't ya think? After hiking for 1 1/2 hours we decided to turn around...no waterfall after 3 hours of hiking. On the way back he said he wasn't sure if we were on the right trail or not since it had been almost 20 years since he had been there - something he should've told us BEFORE hiking the trail! :) (Just had to take the opportunity to give him a hard time.)


Blake going UNDER one of the trees blocking the trail, rather than AROUND like the rest of us did. Like his new Duke hat that he bought on our trip?

Uncle Marvin grabbed a hiking stick at the beginning of the hike, so Ashlyn insisted on one as well. On the way back, when she had to leave the trail to pee in the bushes I accidentally "lost" it so we could pick up the pace.

Homework for Our Little Lady

Ever since Blake started having homework Ashlyn has always sat down and did her "homework" with him, which usually consisted of coloring. However, yesterday when she was done she showed it to me to "check it"and she had written the letters H, O, K, L and T over and over again. Obviously she has the fine motor skills it takes to write. She's known her letters by sight for a long time and we've been working on their sounds recently, but I had no idea that she would be able to start writing them...workbooks here we come! So we headed to the Dollar Store this morning and found 6 preschool and kindergarten ones that she could handle just fine. She was excited to find Care Bear, Beauty and Beast, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, 101 Dalmations books and then some generic ones by Fisher Price.

Today we worked on pages that dealt with beginning letter sounds, patterns, finding the item that doesn't belong. dot-to-dots and writing the letters H and T. I love watching my kids learn and progress and being REALLY excited about it all.