Sunday was such a beautiful day and Brian's first day off in 5 weeks that we just had to spend it outside together. After Daniel's soccer practice, we stayed at the fields to fly kites. It was so windy it wasn't difficult to get them off the ground, just really difficult to control them.
Ashley & Brian
Flying their Kite
We have always loved flying kites. As I was looking through these pictures I took Sunday, I was reminded of other pictures also taken on April 17th - seven years ago.
Ashley & Brian flying their kite
Daddy & Daughter
Can you believe those were taken on the same date, but 7 years apart? Look how big Ashley is now - and how small she was at age 2 (ok, she was never a small 2 year old, but still..)
I didn't even realize the pictures were all taken on April 17th until I started typing it here. Amazing! No wonder I felt inspired to take the pictures of her and Brian together on Sunday. I hope to have another set of pictures taken of them flying a kite together in 7 more years.
Have I mentioned that Ashley is a budding artist? At Christmas, Nana & Papa gave her lots of new art supplies and paint, which have kept her very busy.
Several years ago, I bought art canvases with the plan for my children to create their own art for our playroom walls. Needless to say, it was one of my many crafty ideas that never actually happened. I remembered these art canvases last week and gave one to Ashley. She was soooo excited! At first, she looked at the canvas to decide what to draw. We looked through a few art books for inspiration and she finally settled on a picture of flowers.
Immediately she set to work on a masterpiece. We put it on Laurie's little art easel in front of the breakfast room windows (for the natural light) and she sat for hours painting. At some point, she decided she was painting for her teacher as a Valentine's Day gift.
We were very impressed with the completed painting.
It reads, "Your My Teacher" & her name
Ashley took it to school on Valentine's Day for her teacher. She loved it! She told Ashley her painting will hang in the classroom because it is so bright, colorful, and cheerful.
The next day Ashley started on a new painting, something completely different. It is in the style of a Jackson Pollock, only with brighter colors. It is unfinished, so no pictures yet.
At the end of the month, Ashley and I have tickets to a special exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts Houston with Karen and Emerson. A girls afternoon out.
Ashley's Fifth's made a slight reappearance while we were at the Ranch this week. She came into the house screaming because she fell down and cut her chin. We quickly noticed her hands looked swollen and rashy. We weren't sure if she had gotten into something and the hands were an allergic reaction or if it was more Fifths.
The decision was to give her some Benadryl to see if the rash went away, if it didn't it was probably Fifths. The only problem was, the only Benadryl we had, was in the form of pills. So, Ashley would have to learn to swallow a pill. My oldest child can have a bit of anxiety about new things, especially when she is already upset about something else (falling down).
It took a couple different methods and Brian taking over for a frustrated me, but she eventually swallowed the pill of Benadryl. And it changed nothing, so in the end, it turned out to still be Fifths.
Guess who woke up with a rash from Fifth's Disease yesterday morning?
If you guessed Ashley - you're Right! We didn't even realize she wasn't feeling good or sick in the slightest bit. Guess she had a mild case since the rash isn't very bad. It has progressed from her face to her entire body, but still doesn't look near as bad as Daniel's did.
I'm sure it will be gone in a few days. It is really funny that Ashley has Fifth's for Christmas and Daniel had it for Thanksgiving. Does that mean Birdie will have it for Easter?
Ashley is upset she will have a rash on her arms in her Christmas dress, but I found her a sweater with sequins to wear to cover it up. She will be beautiful no matter what.
We woke Ashley on her Birthday to her favorite thing - breakfast in bed. She was served pancakes with whipped cream, chocolate and strawberry syrup and raspberries. Hot green tea and strawberry milk.
After school, she chose her favorite restaurant for dinner - Japenairo's. She still won't eat sushi, but she loves their "Baby Roll." It is a chicken nugget rolled in rice and cut like a sushi roll. The problem we run into is that since it is on the kids menu she could eat two servings. So, we make sure to order appetizers she enjoys to help fill her up.
For dessert, we ordered two servings of fried Oreos. Yummy! Ashley ordered this huge fried ice cream for herself.
Nana took Ashley on a shopping and granddaughter/grandmother bonding trip after school Tuesday. After several hours, they came home with 3 beautiful dresses, 2 shirts and several pairs of earrings. The common theme in everything they purchased was Sparkles. Lots and lots of sparkles. Ashley was very appreciative, not only of her new clothes but for getting to spend individual time with Nana.
Wednesday, Ashley had a little fashion show to model her favorite of the three dresses.
The end of summer came upon us so very fast, but we were all about ready for school to begin again.
Ashley is excited to be a 3rd grader (can you believe it?) and managed to get two of her good friends in her class once again. She has already come home telling us she LOVES her new teacher.
Daniel was excited to no longer be a kindergator, but a "big kid" in 1st grade. He only knows one boy in his class, but knowing my son, he will make lots of new friends very quickly
Daniel was insistent he did not want to be walked in on the first day, but Ashley wanted to have us go in with her. The plan was that Brian would drop them off in the carpool lane, since they were no longer kindergartners. After they left, I once again hosted several mom friends over for a little back to school celebration, and Laurie was happy to have playmates for the morning. I was extremely surprised when several of my friends told me they saw Brian at school that morning. I thought they must have meant in carpool, but no, they saw him in the school. When I picked the kids up (carpool took an HOUR that first day), Daniel explained that Daddy really wanted to walk them in, so Daniel let him. So very sweet. Brian got a big kick out of taking them in and meeting their teachers.
The first day was great, though I wish I'd taken an "After" picture when they got home. Much different than this "Before" picture. Day 2 after school was a little rougher as the exhaustion set in. But the rest of the week went smoothly. They love their new classes, teachers and friends. We're off to a great school year.
As we've gotten ready for the kids to head back to school next week, I realized Ashley has outgrown almost all of her clothes - again. She and I had a Mom/Daughter day today to do a little shopping and get a haircut. With the other two kids at GrandMommy's house, we started out with her haircut. She decided she wants to let it grow out into a longer style that shows off her natural waves and body.
Lunch was next, so I thought it would be nice to go to La Madeleine's, just the girls. As we drove past Sugar Land Town Square Ashley saw Japaneiro's and really wanted to get a "baby roll". Since I'm a sucker for sushi and love making my daughter happy, we went for Japaneiro's instead.
We ended up at the mall to get the majority of our shopping done. After a short while we stopped in at Claire's to check out hair clips to go with Ashley's new haircut. While standing there, it dawned on me Brian and I told Ashley back in April that she could have her ears pierced, but we hadn't done it yet. So, after texting Brian to see if he minded, I told Ashley she could do it. She was a little nervous, ok, a lot nervous. But she was too excited to back out. Of course I told her it wouldn't really hurt. Boy, you should have seen the look on her face after the first ear. She said, "you told me it wouldn't hurt!" I just smiled.
She was thrilled. We took a few pictures and emailed them out to share her good news. The earrings she chose were her birthstone - blue topaz.
I tried to keep shopping with her for a few more hours, but she was so distracted by her new earrings. After stopping at several more stores, including the bookstore, we headed off to show her new earrings to Nana, then GrandMommy. Our shopping was successful, we did pick out several outfits and a few new fabrics for me to make her some skirts.
Ashley had a wonderful opportunity this week to spend time with her Grandmommy, Gigi and Aunt Flora. Grandmommy took her up to Belton for the week to visit with Brian's grandmother, whom the kids call Gigi and his aunt Flora.
When they returned on Thursday, Flora brought us many pictures to share their experiences with us. Wow, they sure had a great time and did so much in 4 days!
Ashley worked with them to finish a baby quilt. She helped finish the blue squares in the top left of photo.
Gigi has been capturing squirrels in her backyard to keep them out of her pear tree. Ashley and Aunt Flora captured squirrel #20 and released him down by the lake.
The ladies spent Wednesday teaching Ashley to make Gigi's speciality - homemade jelly. She came home with many jars of new delicious new jelly, including Brian's favorite plum jelly.
In addition, she learned how to make her first apple pie - complete with homemade crust.
They then spent the day at the senior center quilting with Gigi's group. Ashley excitedly told me she hand quilted three rows by herself.
Isn't the quilt they were working on gorgeous!
The last morning, Aunt Flora took Ashley fishing. Something she did with Brian when he was a little boy. Surprisingly, Ashley learned to bait her own hook - even doing it on video.
She was so happy tell us about catching 3 fish - 2 perch and a minnow. Flora was wonderful to clean the fish and let her bring them home to us.
Brian and I were thrilled for Ashley to have this opportunity. She loved getting this special quality time with both Gigi and Aunt Flora. The visit was filled with memories she will cherish forever.
As everyone knows, Ashley loves to draw, paint and craft. It is my desire to take her to the Museum of Fine Arts this summer for her to experience many different styles and types of art. Last week at the library, I picked up a book about Pablo Picasso for her to see something really different.
This morning she wasn't interested in reading it or going soon to the art museum soon. She said she didn't want to look at art, just create it for herself. You know me, I didn't let her stop me. So, we sat in the car while Daniel was at swim practice and read the Picasso book together. It was a biography written for an early elementary audience. She was fascinated at the progression of his style, from post-impressionist to blue, to rose to cubism and beyond. Every time we turned a page for a new picture she had an audible reaction. We had a wonderful time sharing his story together.
She seemed to really react to the fact that Picasso had so many different styles, was controversial and not entirely successful in the beginning. It also surprised her that he created using different mediums, not just oil on canvas.
While at home this afternoon, Ashley brought me a a new picture she drew based on what she saw in the book. Her interpretation of The Old Guitarist from Picasso's Blue Period (seen above). Telling me about the picture, she expressed so much of what Picasso's period represented. She wanted to capture the essence of his painting, even including the accent on the hands and feet.
(She was a little sad that you can't see that the paper is blue in my photo.)
I was unbelievably proud of her. It was amazing to see her world open through that book.
She posed "Blue" for this picture to best represent the period.
This afternoon we went back to the library for story time. I chose a new artist book for her. Leonardo Da Vinci. Could there be someone more different in style than Picasso? And he's an inventor - another of Ashley's favorite things to read about. (We also read about Benjamin Franklin today. She LOVED it!) Our library has so many books in the "Getting to know the World's Greatest Artists" series to choose from that we will be art experts by the time we visit the Museum.
Ashley's 2nd grade took a field trip this year to the Houston Arboretum in Memorial Park. I will admit to not know this park existed before our trip, but we loved it. I was amazed at what a great job they've done preserving this piece of wilderness in the middle of Houston. The volunteers were all very knowledgeable and helpful with the children. Ashley and I plan to return with Daniel & Laurie this Summer and bring friends.
During the nature walk, we encountered many things...
Poison Ivy
Many many snakes, turtles and even an owl.
The big surprise of the day had to be...
the poisonous Coral Snake up against the building.
The volunteers kept all us humans at bay to protect the snake. It did unnerve several of the adults considering this was where we would be sitting to eat in an hour or so.
This was a great field trip, probably one of my favorites. We learned lots of new things and discovered a new place to frequent.
It is always interesting to see your child interact with their friends and teachers. I don't know why, but I'm always a little surprised to see how independent she is even with her peers. And, after watching Ashley's teacher with the 7 girls and 13 boys in her class - I have a new respect for her. She was amazing with them. No wonder Ashley loves her so much.
After many months of preparation, Ashley celebrated her First Holy Communion on April 25 at St. Angela Merici. Discussing the importance of the event with her, I was so very impressed with her true understanding and belief in the Sacrament.
In our parish they allowed each child to sit on a row with their family rather than all the children sitting together. It was very special for Brian and I to be with her throughout the Mass.
My blessings go out to our Parish, Father John, and all the Catechists who aided in her preparation. They worked beautifully with the parents to ensure our children walked up for Communion fully prepared to receive Christ for the first time.
We happily were joined by many family and friends in celebrating Ashley's First Communion. Everyone came back to the house after the Mass for a little food and fun to celebrate.
Ashley was one of about 20 students whose artwork was picked for an Earth Day display at our neighborhood HEB. While I was there last night, I found it and got a picture to share. Sorry for the blur - I took it with my phone while standing in the booth.
If you go check it out, hers is in the eat-in area in the far left corner above the booth.
