For Coach Scott's class

Ode to Dollar Tree

I have to just say how much I love having a Dollar Tree close by! Everything in the store is a dollar! And it's not like those other dollar stores where the stuff looks cheap and you would never buy anything from there. This stuff is actually nice and I always feel like I get a great deal.
The other day, I went there looking for little snacks for Ayden. I didn't think I would find much. There was so much stuff! Name brand stuff! The treasures just kept coming!
I was really excited when Jeremy saw all the stuff I got! (Silly, I know!) And I was always proud to say, "Yep, that was only a dollar!"
So I just wanted to say THANKS! Dollar tree, for your great, cheap things!

Butterflies and Cookies

This is a great post for guys, isn't it?!?
Decorating is a thing I love to do! I finally put up Ayden's butterfly pictures today.














I've had these wooden plaque things from Hobby Lobby forever. I bought them because they were on sale, and I thought I could think of something to use them for. (I do this often! Do you?)














I painted them myself and they weren't exactly what I imagined, but they turned out pretty good. The wall looks a little empty around them still. I was thinking flowers on the wall somehow. Any ideas? I'm set on her room theme being butterflies :) It was going to be sun, moon, and stars at first so that I would have neutral things for the next kid, but it's more fun to make things pretty and girly!
Yesterday was dessert day for us. What better thing to do then to make a bunch of desserts on a rainy day? There were brownies, rice krispy treats, and black and white cookies!














These are Jeremy's favorite! I always make them for his birthday, father's day, or whenever he requests them! After watching the Seinfeld episode about them so many times, Jeremy really wanted to try black and white cookies. I searched everywhere to find them, calling every bakery I could think of. A place in the Frisco mall said they had them, and I was so excited to surprise Jeremy! Turns out they just had cookies with chocolate and white chips. So we searched the internet and found this recipe. They are really good! And they turn out so pretty!

Game Day

Jeremy had his first volleyball game on Thursday last week, and a second on Monday.














The first one I brought Ayden to. We ended up leaving because she was tired and crying. I rounded up a babysitter for the next one. Thanks mom!














It was fun to watch the games and watch Jeremy be a coach. I don't know what he was saying, but he looked great! I know it's alot of work, but I think it's happy work for him.














Watching all those middle school kids brought back a lot of memories. I wish I would have played sports in school. Now I think I would like to join a volleyball league for older adults who haven't played in years!

Movies!

We love to go see movies! Pretty much all of our dates are dinner and a movie, but we don't mind at all. I love going out to eat and get pretty excited about it! I love to try new things and Jeremy too. Anyone know of a restaurant we just have to try?
We doubled with Jeremy's brother and his wife Saturday. Since they were going to see the Tropic thunder movie we went to a different one. The only one available around the same time was the Mummy 3. So we saw it against Amy's recommendation! It was ok. Not as bad as I was expecting, but not as good as the first two. I wish they would have had the same actress for his wife. Looks like Twilight will be coming out in a few months! I'm excited to see the movie, and I'm hoping I can drag Jeremy to see it with me. I would really like him to see it with me :) I was wondering what actor they would get to play Edward since he's suppose to be drop dead gorgeous. I'm curious who you all would pick? On one of our dates Jeremy asked me to pick my top 5 actors who I thought were really cute. I had a hard time thinking of any!

Jeremy takes the wheel for a moment

I just wanted the opportunity to express a few thoughts. Recently Tina and I were able to get away for a few days without the kids for a little vacation. It was great. We stayed in a nice hotel in Irving and wined and dined ourselves for 3 nights. We saw 4 movies and ate some good food. We were able to see the best movie of the year so far in my opinion which is "The Dark Night". This was a sweet movie. Christian Bale is great. Michael Cain is greatness. Aaron Eckert is always good. But the movie was really stolen by Heath Ledger's performance. He was truly masterful in this movie. He was brilliant. The movie was fantastic. I think the direction and mood they have established in the first two Batman movies is intriguing, interesting, fascinating and brilliant. I am more cynical these days and don't just stamp my approval on every entertaining movie. But this was truly great. We also saw the new Hulk movie. This is an underrated movie as well. It cant be at exciting as Batman because of the general story line but it was a good show.

As Tina blogged previously, I have been hired to work for Princeton ISD in the Junior High. This district was in my top 5 to work for because I have done some volunteer work with them in the past and I am familiar with the administration. We feel very blessed to have this opportunity. Those of you who have known me for some time, know I have pondered on what my occupation should be for over 10 years. I have put the matter to prayer dozens and dozens of times. After I got laid off from EDS back in 2001 I prayed about what I should do. My answer was to go to school, get my degree and be a teacher/coach. Well with the signing of my contract last week the entire effort was culminated. I am excited to begin. I have to give a shout out to Tina. She is a wonderful woman. Not many woman could have put up with me over the past 5 years. When it comes to jobs and college majors I can be very frustrating. I have constantly switched jobs over the years. Sometimes I have just quit jobs because I could no longer stand them, with no fall back in place. I have changed college majors over the past 5 years probably 15 times (this is not an embellishment). I have been admitted to graduate programs in the following fields: Criminal Justice, Criminology, Speech Language Pathology, Kinesiology, MBA and Accounting to name a few. It has been a source of embarrassment to me that I couldn't find anything I truly liked. She has stuck with me, without complaint, over the past 5 years when I was delivering pizzas, working for grocery stores, etc... Tina is not a material girl, which is one of the things that makes her great. She is happy with what she has. That is the way she was raised. Her parents did a great job. Anyway, I will turn the keys to the blog back over to Tina. Peace out.

Asher's Baptism

This past Saturday Asher was baptized! He looked so handsome in his tie, and was really excited!
We had lots of family come including Asher's grandparents from Oregon.



















When Jeremy dunked Asher underwater, one little kid said Whoa! I think it was because Jeremy wanted to make sure he went under all the way and kind of dunked him deep.
After all the pictures (which Asher was ready to be done after the first one!), we headed to our house for refreshments. We had chocolate pudding pie, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate brownies, and pumpkin pie. Can you guess what Asher's favorite flavor is?
We are so proud of Asher and thankful that he chose to get baptized!

Coach Scott

Jeremy is officially a teacher and coach!!! He signed a contract with Princeton ISD a few days ago! We are so proud of Jeremy! And we feel that we have been really blessed.
Jeremy has spent countless hours thinking and praying about what he should do for a career. We have thought of and tried almost everything, but Jeremy kept coming back to teaching and coaching. When he passed that social studies composite test that was a clear sign from Heavenly Father that hey you need to do this! And now He has blessed Jeremy with a great job!
He will be coaching girl's softball, volleyball, and track, and teaching Texas history!
We are so proud of you babe! I know what a difficult road this has been, and I am thankful that you won't have to worry about things anymore. I love you!

Back to good ol' Killeen!

My mom, Ayden, and I went to visit Amy and Preston again this past week. Even though Amy said there wasn't a whole lot to do there we found some pretty cool things to do! We got in our shopping on the first day. The Walmart there was so busy!
They have a really nice bounce house place in Killeen that I really wish we had here! Kids under one get in free, and all other kids are $8. We were thinking of just saying Ayden was less then one (a lie! Shame!) to not pay the money, but I decided I'd feel too guilty. The girl let us in for free anyway! That's one reward for telling the truth!
Ayden was scared at first. She whined and just wanted to play with the toys. There was a toddler area with a small bounce house and some toys and a gate! We all tried to take her to some of the bigger bounce houses to show her how fun it was. Ok, so maybe we just wanted a chance to jump too!
Here's the first few jumps with me!



















Here's with Aunt Amy in the cool sounding jungle bounce house, which turned out to be just a normal regular old bounce house.



















My mom took her on one of the really tall slides. Ayden wasn't so sure about it, and seemed glad to be done when they got to the bottom! Here they are on the rocking horse in the toddler area.














It was looking like a wasted trip, so I was glad we got in for free! I got the idea to just lay down in the bounce house and hopefully Ayden would follow me in on her own. That did the trick!



















No we're having fun! Ayden loves to bounce around and fall on our bed, so I knew she would love the bounce houses. She would have played all day if we could!
The next thing we did was visit the museum of Preston's unit ( I'm not sure what you call it!). I think it's called the 1st Calvary Division Museum. There are a bunch of tanks, helicopters, jeeps, and stuff outside. Asher would have loved this!
This is an old cannon thing!














Here's Amy and Ayden by a tank! It was so hot that we only spent 20 minutes or so there. I feel for those guys having to wear their full uniforms in that heat!














Our final outing was to Inner Cave Caverns in Georgetown. Here were these beautiful caverns just right under the freeway! Our poor tour guide had to deal with two whining little ones, Ayden and another little girl. After finding out she could walk around then it wasn't too bad!



















There were some really cool cave drawings! Ok, they were ones that someone drew in 1966, but they were still pretty neat!














Here we all are in the last room of the tour.














I figured it was a good thing to do on a hot day because it would be cool in the caves, but we were stilling sweating up a storm! It was very humid and I would say cool/hot if that makes sense! I was blowing on Ayden to keep her cooler.














Then a quick visit to the gift shop for souvenirs. And a cute picture! Howdy ma'am!














We also went out to eat a few times. Amy said the food wasn't as good here and I have to admit she was right. Glad to say the biscuits at Red Lobster were still the best! Ayden would say the same, her belly was so full! I think she ate two biscuits on her own even after her regular meal! She's a little piglet!
I really enjoyed the visit! I hope when you guys move that I'll get to come visit there too! Thanks Amy and Preston!
And I have to agree with Preston. The night is good when you end it with Mike! (a reference to Dirty Jobs! Love that show!)

Family Fun!

For the 4th of July we split the day and visited Jeremy's family and mine. We went to Jeremy's family first. We swam in the pool and ate. The fajitas were fantastic! Jeremy is so good on the grill and the marinade was really good! Jake did good grilling the veggies too!














Here's Travis, Asher, and Gavin playing with the remote control helicopter. It was really cute to watch Gavin fly it! He already knows how to use the controls! The boys played their pool baseball game, and Asher was really proud that his team won! He hit the ball pretty good, oh and so did Jeremy :) I took Ayden for a swim, but as always she would rather walk around the pool.
Then it was off to Josef and Jenny's house for more grilling and visiting!














This is the backyard. They bought one of the patio furniture sets I was interesting in from Walmart! It is really nice! Ayden and Asher had alot of fun playing in the backyard! It makes me really want to get ours the way we want it, but that will take a little time.














We didn't go anywhere to see fireworks, but I think we saw all the ones from every city around us on the way home. There were about five shows we could see! Since we weren't allow to do real fireworks this year, I bought some poppers. Asher got scared last year when Jeremy threw a smoke bomb thing into the truck where he was sitting. This year he burned his hand a little bit when he did a popper. So he probably won't want to do any kind of firework type thing next year! We had a busy, but fun day! Hope you did too!

Happy Birthday Asher!

Ok, so we really celebrated Asher's birthday last weekend, but I'm just now getting time to write about it! Friday the 28th was his real birthday, so we ate cupcakes real fast before he went to spend the night at a friends house.



















I started on the cake a few days before the party, so I wouldn't have to make it all in one day! That would be a really big project! Here it is, the famous castle cake!














The color scheme was Asher's request! I had to change a few of the candies because Asher doesn't like white chocolate or gum drops :) I think it turned out really good!
We invited 7 boys to the party, and had it at our neighborhood pool! It was really alot of fun! The boys mainly played their favorite pool game, king of the mountain! I think Jeremy only had to break up one fight. Boys!! I also had some pool games to play and candy prizes to win. The rest was swimming and fun!




























Those kids can't get enough of that pool! Even when we were done with the party, Asher stayed with a friend and swam some more! I thought the party lasted for about 3 or 4 hours, but when I settled into the car it had only been 2 hours and 20 minutes! It certainly felt alot longer to Jeremy and I! We are glad everyone (friends and family) could come! I think Asher really enjoyed his party! And even though it took some work, it was alot of fun to plan!!

Dollar Dollar Bill Ya'll

Yesterday I went to Walmart to get a few things and do a little looking around. Jeremy is so sweet to give me a break and let me just go take off and get away for awhile. I've found out about a few websites that tell you about coupons and free stuff. I actually got a box of cereal for free!
So after I got all the stuff and was about to leave the store, I passed by the book section. Usually I don't stop there, but I've been wanting to get a book to read, so I figured I'd see what they got. As I was leaving the aisle, I saw a folded dollar bill on the floor! As I looked closer, I saw that it was a twenty!! Some people were passing by in the main aisle after I saw it, so I waited for them to pass and hoped they wouldn't see it. They didn't. I picked it up and immediately called Jeremy. I didn't know exactly what to do. I wanted to keep it, but I felt like the right thing was to give it to Customer Service and have them try and find the owner. When I have a conflict like that - what I want vs. what I think I should do - I ask Jeremy! I do it hoping he'll tell me to do the thing I want to do :) It makes me feel better about it if he says it's OK. He told me if there wasn't anyone around which there wasn't, then take the money and run! Just kidding. He did tell me to keep it, so I did. We'll use that money for a date!
I'm curious as to what everyone else would have done!
As I left the store, I was thinking watch me end up on one of those secret videos. The news station will do a piece on dishonest people and there I'll be picking up the $20.

Cuties!

I realized I didn't post anything for Father's Day, so I just wanted to share some pictures of Jeremy!














Jeremy always makes the greatest faces for pictures! Asher helped me wrap the gifts. One I showed him just to make sure it was something that he liked. The other (a BBQ mop thing) was a surprise! I'm still waiting on those BBQ ribs babe :)














We are so blessed to have Jeremy! He is a wonderful husband and father! He gets up some mornings at 5am to go to work just so we will have the things we need. We love you sweetie!
Our dads are great too! They are always there to love, help, and support us. Thanks dads!
Yesterday Jenny, Josef, and Sofia came over for dinner. I had to snap a picture of the two girls!














The cutest little girls!

No boys allowed!

This week Ayden and I were able to visit my sister Amy with my mom and Sarah. It was alot of fun! I wasn't ready to come back home!















Here we all are! We did alot of shopping. In fact, we were all shopped out after the second day. When I was in high school, I used to go shopping at the mall every weekend, but now I can only take so much. I'd probably do it more if I could find cute things at the price I want! (I love finding bargains.) I finally found Ayden a nice pair of sandals. Payless was having a buy one get one half off sale, so I had to get me a pair of flip flops!
We only went out to eat one time at TGIFridays. I have been wanting to see and taste something from their cheap menu. Their parmesan chicken dish is delicious! The balloon lady there saw Ayden and came over to make her a balloon.














It's a heart with a bear around it. Very cute! I should have given her a tip, but I thought I only had change. I would feel even worse if I only gave her 50 cents. It was funny because her tip jar suggested a tip of $2,345.45 or something like that :) I'd like that tip too!
We also watched a couple of girly movies. There just happened to be the same actor in both movies! I guess I can add an underrated movie to my list...Step Up! I don't know why, but I really like that movie. I always have a hard time not dancing around while watching it!
Amy and I also made some picture matte things to go around the Living Christ. It turned out really good.














The last day we were there, we went swimming at one of the base pools. It brought back alot of memories of when my mom use to take us when we lived on base. They still have adult swim! For those who don't know, about every 15 min. they have the kids get out of the pool so the adults can swim laps or whatever they want! As a kid you don't like it, but now that I'm an adult, it was great! Before we left, Amy made Ayden a cute hat out of the swim diaper!














Too cute! Thanks Amy for getting the pictures to me! I thought I was doing real good and had packed everything! Unfortunately, I did forget the camera. It's amazing how much stuff you need for a little girl! It's all the just-in-case stuff! Thanks to mom, Sarah, and Amy for help during feeding time and all the time! They all stood in for the highchair :) Amy also had to entertain sometimes with her awesome dance moves and singing! I also got to take a shower without keeping an eye on a baby! Not that Ayden is difficult at all. But it's just nice you know?
I'm still in the glad to be home, but wish I was still on vacation mode. It's nice to have days where you can just do whatever you want whenever you want. Don't have to clean the house, do the laundry or anything like that! Plus you can just do girl things without worrying if the guys want to! I can't wait until the next visit! Thanks for having us Amy!

Birthdays, Bouts, and Babes

Last Saturday we had a little birthday celebration for my Mom!














We made pasta salads for dinner. I chose to try one called the best pasta salad. That's right, it wasn't! It's actually still sitting in our fridge! No one wants to touch it :) Ok it wasn't that bad...
I made Jeremy's famous pasta salad this time and to everyone's delight it tasted like he made it! My mom made broccoli and artichoke salads which were both delicious. My mom's favorite cake is cheesecake, so I made one from scratch. I have the clueless baker cookbook and most every recipe I've tried has been really good. I made the cheesecake, and it turned out really good! Thanks Clueless Baker :) After we ate, it was off to the pool. The boys played and the girls chased after Ayden! She goes non stop, and she prefers to walk around the swimming pool then being in it. It was nice to have family over. I hope your birthday was wonderful mom! I love you!
I was a little disappointed that Josef, Jenny, and Sofia couldn't come. Ayden caught hand, foot, and mouth disease! Yikes! It sounds awful, but it's actually just a little viral infection. After almost week of total grumpiness and screaming and crying, Jeremy told me to take her to the doctor to see if he knew what was wrong. I tried to rack my brain trying to think of all the things that happened and could possibly be wrong. I don't know about you, but I tend to ramble when I'm trying to explain what's wrong. I have no idea what details are important to the doctor, so I tell them everything! I've even had an optometrist tell me to be quiet! (I didn't go to him anymore!) Anyway, he said Ayden looked like she was nearing the end of the infection and just to give Tylenol if she was gruumpy. I felt really bad! With this disease the baby's mouth gets painful and sore from little blisters inside. I was putting salt in her food (like normal), and almost forcing her to eat her food. I felt so bad! I wish I would have known what was wrong sooner, so I could have alleviated the pain! I still feel horrible! Thankfully Ayden is pretty much back to normal now! Here's a picture of her in her Elmo chair.














I finally got to watch the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants! My mother-in-law took Asher out for the day, Ayden was sleeping, and Jeremy was working. It was the perfect time for me to watch my girl movie! Jeremy will not watch it with me! I thought it was very good! I was thinking it would be more teenage girl type stuff, which was in the movie, but they also all learned important lessons. So anyway, I really liked it! If anyone has any suggestions of other I should watch, I would love to hear them!

The Mediocre Bob's Steak and Chophouse??

Tina and I had the pleasure of going out with some family to celebrate mine and my brother Travis's birthdays since they are close together. We elected to go to Bob's Steak and Chophouse. I have for the past 12 years listened to Sportsradio 1310 The Ticket. A sports radio show. One of the hosts, Norm Hitzges has for years been doing commercial endorsements for it and I have heard wonderful praise about it. So I was very excited to be going to this place. According to most sources, "Bob's Steak and Chophouse" is consistently ranked as one of the best steakhouses in the country. When we got there the lighting was nice and moody and looked pleasant inside. We were brought out a round loaf of bread to start out with which was nice and flaky. We ordered some appetizers which consisted of calamari and different types of shrimp. The calamari was probably some of the best I have ever had. It was almost not chewy at all which is tough to do when eating calamari. The shrimp was also nice. After perusing the menu I went for the 22oz bone in rib eye. Of course all of the beef in the restaurant was of Prime cut. I ordered the steak to be cooked medium. Tina went with the shrimp scampi. The steak came with two side items. One was a whole signature glazed carrot. The other was a choice of mashed potatoes, cut fried potatoes with onions and gravy on top of them, or a baked potato. Tina and I both went with the cut fried ones with stuff over them. When our food arrived it all looked pretty good. My steak looked wonderful and upon first bite was as tender as a sponge. The first bite was the best. The look of the carrot was cool. The potatoes however looked like something I have made in the past. They looked like they were sliced potato chip style and shallow fried in a skillet till partly light brown. Then gravy and sauteed onions were put over them. My first thought upon looking at them was, this looks like something I made. That is not completely bad. I think I am a good cook. But I don't go to a place that is supposed to be one of the best in the country to eat something that looks and tastes like I made it. The carrot was also not my cup of tea. It had a strong ginger or nutmeg or allspice taste to it that I just didn't really like. The steak tasted good and I know a rib eye is supposed to have nice marbling throughout which causes the great tenderness, but it was full of fat all over the steak. Way too much fat I thought. So all in all I would have to say I was a bit disappointed. I had built this place up in my mind for 12 years or so and it couldn't live up to my mental expectation. Is it a good? Yeah it is. Is it one of the best steakhouses in the country? I would have to say at this point, I hope not. I would hope their are some better places out there that serve a great menu from top to bottom. Out of 4 stars, I would give it 3.

Jeremy

Underated Movies in Jeremy's Opinion ( Tina would disagree)

These are in no particular order. I just happen to like these movies a lot more than mainstream America.

1. Employee of the Month - Jessica Simpson gives a memorable performance (Ok even I cant say that with a straight face.)
2. Sky High
3. Zoolander
4. 50 First Dates - This is funny and touching (in a non gay way)
5. Click - Strikes a cord with me.
6. The Saint
7. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels - A classic comedy. If you havent seen it, you need to.

These are just a few off the top of my head. Tina, I give you back the con.


Jeremy

Tribute

Along with Memorial Day, we celebrated Jeremy's Birthday! I won't say how old he is because he's a little sensitive about that stuff. (just kidding!) Plus I'd like to keep my age a little bit of a secret :)
Jeremy is such a wonderful husband and father! I feel so blessed to have him for my husband. He is exactly what I needed and dreamed my husband would be. Sweet, funny, patient with me, cute, strong, and many more things! I love you babe!














I told Jeremy I would post this picture! You see sausage on a stick at baseball games and state fairs, but I've never seen anyone do it at home. I had to take a picture! What are some funny things your husbands have done?
We really had a fun Memorial Day visiting family, swimming, and eating! Hope you all did too!

Field Day!

Do you remember field day when you were in elementary school?
Asher's Field day was this past Friday! He had a whole cheering section show up with Me, Jeremy, Ayden, Grandma, Grandpa Dave, and Poppy.














This is Asher when he was doing the obstacle course. He was so fast, he caught up to the kid that was in front of him! He really is fast! He still tells the story of how he raced all the grown-ups at Jeremy's parents house and won. Wonder how that happened? :) He and I had made little trophies out of plastic cups and painted them yellow. He was excited to win the trophy! And guess who got second?!?














Each kid was timed to see how fast they could run around the bases. Asher again was pretty fast. I don't know the offical time! Asher's guess was maybe 15 or 25 seconds!














Ayden also had alot of fun running around! She loves watching all those kids and trying to keep up with them. We had to leave a little early because she was getting grumpy. It was really hot out there, and there was hardly any shade! One good thing is my legs aren't so white anymore!
I felt like a real loser when I went to go get something to eat. Apparently they only served the food at a certain time. So they pulled out a couple of hot dogs and opened a new bag of chips just for me! The lunch lady was really nice and trying to keep the conversation going while I sat there like a dork! Oh well! That's another memory I'll have from Field Day!

Don't know what to call this post...

Jeremy and I were trying to decide which of our Netflix movies to watch. We had I am Legend and P.S. I love you. There was a time when I would have picked the girly movie, but I really didn't care to see that movie. (It's probably because I thought it would be depressing since her husband dies.) Jeremy actually wanted to see it more then me! So we were a little backwards! He just puts any new movie on our queue so we can keep the movies coming.
Has anyone else found themselves liking chick flicks less and less? When I was in high school (not too long ago!) I couldn't wait to see all those romantic movies. Now I can take them or leave them. Although, I do still want to see the sisterhood of the traveling pants. For those of you who have seen it, is it good? I'd rather watch a comedy or action movie. Maybe it's because the chick flicks are just so predictable. And I guess Jeremy has rubbed off on me more and more over the years! He has "taught" me many things! For example, I now use the passenger side floor in the car as my trash can. Thanks babe! One thing that hasn't rubbed off on me is sports. I use to watch all the games with Jeremy while we were dating, but I've just never have gotten into them. I do know alot more about the players and how the games are played though!
By the way, we both thought P.S. I love you wasn't that great of a movie! It left us with little jewels of wisdom like "I don't want to make any mistakes." "Then you're in the wrong species, love. Be a dog." Did anyone else think Harry Conick Jr.'s character was really weird!?!

Ayden's First Birthday

So we celebrated Ayden's birthday last week. She got two parties! We had a family party on her actual birthday, which was Wednesday, May 7th. I made cupcakes and she opened her first birthday present.














Ayden likes to splash water, even in Homer's water bowl, so we thought she might enjoy this pool! She had a lot of fun in it! Of course, as soon as I put her in the pool she peed!
I was really surprised that Ayden ate her cake so cleanly. Both times she only had frosting on her hands and face, and then some crumbs in her lap! I thought I would be giving a her a bath each time.














I decided to go with a butterfly cake this year. I made two because I thought we'd need the cake. I made the frosting and it was really good. Jeremy even said it tasted like buttercream only better! (I LOVE when people like my food.)














Here's Jeremy helping Ayden open her presents. She was very interested in playing with the tissue paper! But she also liked her presents!
I can't believe a year has gone by. Everyone always says kids grow up fast, and they do! Ayden is a wonderful, sweet little girl and I am thankful to be her mother! I'd also like to give a shout out to Asher! (just kidding) He is a good, and sweet boy and we are happy to have him in our home living with us!














Asher asked me to delete this picture, but I couldn't. It's just too funny! And now it's up for everyone to see!
I'd like to also thank Jeremy (this is starting to sound like a Oscar speech!). He made Mother's Day very special for me! He made me breakfast and dinner! I also appreciate all the hard work he does, and the hours he worries about us, and the effort he puts into being a good father and husband.
Here's a little video of Ayden to enjoy! She loves playing with our cell phones, so Jeremy got her a phone to play with!

Mother and Wife = Mess Cleaner-upper

I went to check on Ayden this morning, and this is what I found...














There's a video of her in our photo album! Ever since she started moving, I go from place to place cleaning up her messes!
Being a seven year old boy, Asher leaves messes everywhere too. He usually leaves a trail of crumbs wherever he eats! This is his room at the moment...














At least with him, I just have to tell him (most of the time!) to clean up after himself. He doesn't think it's fair that Ayden doesn't have clean up after herself. I don't either! I tried to have Ayden sit in my lap while I put all the diapers away. She didn't really like that!
With Jeremy, I usually end up throwing wrappers away from the night before. It's funny because they are only a few feet from the garbage can. And part of his closet extends out into our bedroom.
For me, Jeremy will tell you I am one of the messiest cooks, which is true! I am also guilty of using our room as a second closet. (Why is it so hard to hang up your clothes?) I told Asher one day that he only has to clean up after himself, me...I clean up after everyone! But that's part of being a mom and wife. In a strange way, it makes me feel like I'm doing my job. Keeping everything clean = being a good wife and mother. Is that weird?