Find Those Eggs

I have been struggling with what to put up on my blog.  I have this general feeling that my blog should always be profound and deep.  But sometimes my life isn't deep at all.  Actually most of the time my life is commentated by a 2 year old.  And life with a 2 year old can only be so profound. 

So this post is exclusively about a 2 year old and her Easter Eggs.  It made her smile so it made me smile.

We went to our church's Easter Egg hunt this past Saturday.  They were calling for tornadoes so it was inside.

Patiently Waiting for it to Start

No Eggs Yet

Listening Carefully to What Pastor James is Saying

And He Lost Her

Look Carefully



"There Egg" - Each time she found an egg

She even found her good friend Karene

Checking out the Loot

Look Mommy - Candy!

And A Book About Jesus - Which she quickly declared that she loved.

Heading Home One Happy Girl

And we beat the storms home.  Quite the Success!

Merry Christmas

The presents have been bought and wrapped (one was even assembled). We have been to church and sang Silent Night (I choked up as I looked at the sweet little girl standing next to me lit by the light of a candle). I have listened to my husband read the Christmas story out of Luke. Ainsley is all snug in her bed. Ryan and I are watching It's a Wondeful Life on tv.

There is only one thing left to do.

Wish you a very Merry Christmas from our family.



Especially this sweet girl.




Merry Christmas!

Monkey See Monkey Do

A couple weeks ago we had our friends come to visit.  They have a 2 year old boy named Jack that is 2 weeks younger than Ainsley.  It was adorable to see them together.  Ryan wanted to play Simon Says with them and here are the results.  Too cute...

Smile

How Big are You?

 Rub your belly

Touch Your Nose

Touch Your Toes

Wiggle Your Ears



Hug Each Other

Was I Even There?

Part of being a mom is taking pictures.  I was looking over the vacation pictures and there are a ton of everyone but me. 

All the cousins...

Nana...

Papa...

The Dogs...

Ainsley...

Ainsley and Ryan...

Ainsley and Ryan...

Ainsley and Ryan...

Ainsley and Ryan (do you see the pattern)...

I did at one point ask Ryan to take a picture of Ainsley and I.  Here's what I got...

Guess I'll stick with the self portrait...

Looks like everyone had a great time.  Although it's not really captured, I was there and had fun too!

Picture Thursday

Every Thursday Ainsley goes to Anne's house while I am at work.  Anne loves her like her own grandchild and so Ainsley calls her Nanny.  And every Thursday, Anne religiously sends me pictures while I am at work of their days together.  My coworker, Melissa, and I have now come to refer to it as "Picture Thursday".  Anne got some really good shots today so I thought I would bring you in on Picture Thursday this week.

In her dress up outfit carrying her wand.

Just chillin

I hope that at least one of these pictures brought a smile to your face this Picture Thursday

The Postman Messed Up

The other day my sister called me shortly after she got my Christmas card. She told me her daughter Riley (4 years old) opened the card and just started laughing. She said the postman must have messed up and sent her a picture of herself.

Here are is a comparison of our Christmas picture and an old picture of Riley. What do you think? Twins right?

Christmas Cheer

This time of the year is busy for so many people. We are no exception. This week I am prepping my house for our annual Christmas party (current head count at 58 and counting) and working on Christmas cards.

I just have to keep reminding myself to stop and look at the cuteness that is in the midst of Christmas. Because she's there, right in the middle of it all.

Red Shoes and all...
If you do have time, go over to Emily's blog and take a look at how everyone else is stopping to enjoy the moment.

Simple Things

It's the simple things that keep you going when you are down. We are all still battling illness but in the meantime we are relishing in the simple things. And dare I even say it, IT COULD BE SO MUCH WORSE!

Here is my latest...My little girl loves to sit in our rocking chairs and rock herself. It's pretty cute.

Breaking the Silence

I have been quiet over the past few weeks. Partly out of respect for my last post. It seems insensitive to follow cancer with something light and frivolous. But I must go on. For those wondering, Libby has recovered from surgery and is doing great. We now just wait until something else happens, which could be next month or next year or 5 years. We really just don't know.

The other reason was because we have been just so darn busy. I know everyone says that. I know everyone is busy. I usually post on Fridays and once over the weekend. Well, Ainsley has dropped her morning nap which means less free time on Fridays. We also have traveled the past 2 weekends.

Two weeks ago we went down to Wrightsville Beach with Ryan's Dad, aka Grampy. We rode in the boat up the inter coastal, which was beautiful. We also anchored on an island and enjoyed the water and the sand. It was wonderful to spend a weekend just relaxing with him. We don't get to do that often enough.

Last weekend we flew up to NYC to witness my oldest friend, Kate, get married. What a wonderful wedding and start to a Christ-centered marriage. I couldn't have planned a more "Kate" wedding if I tried. Her dress was classy and elegant and she just was stunning. One of the benefits of being in NYC was that my parents were able to come down and spend the weekend with us and watch Ainsley while we went to the wedding. We went to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. It was a beautiful September day like I imagine 9/11/01 was. We were able to reflect on that a bit as we also went to Ground Zero. I still get choked up when I think about it.

So why didn't I post yesterday? Good question. We are getting ready for a multiple phase kitchen renovation. I will post more about that later but I had to do some cabinet clean out.

I'll leave you with this. After a fun day of playing yesterday, Ainsley was being really cute while we waited for Daddy to come home. Enjoy the video.

The Faces of Vacation

As I have said, I'm on vacation in the Adirondacks. We are having crazy Adirondack weather. It's sunny one second and raining the next. It was literally just raining on one side of the house and sunny on the other. All that to say, I have nothing better to do than to post pictures on the blog of my sweet baby.

Ainsley asleep on the boat
Ainsley folded into a sandwich with her bear, sound asleep

Ainsley eating her Birthday cake

Ainsley crying when the cake was taken away from her

Ainsley and her cousin Paige

Happy as she can be

Ainsley crawling on the beach in her stars and bars bathing suit that has been worn by all her girl cousins.