At Grandpa's House

At Grandpa's house we learn new and exciting things.

At Grandpa's house you're never too young for a good shave.

At Grandpa's house we embrace our inner hillbilly.

At Grandpa's house.

Our favorite place to be.

{little boys are just superheroes in disguise}

The boy's Aunt Angela made these capes for them for Christmas. Seriously, Ang, you did good. They won't take them off for ANYTHING!

{visions of off road vehicles danced in their heads}

I can't deny the magical feeling that Christmas brings. I thought that as I became an adult it would slowly fade away like those childhood memories I am so fond of. But as we spent time together as a family, making cards and listening to holiday sounds, our home was filled with that magical essence that I knew as a child.

We made Christmas!

Christmas Eve was spent in our home watching "How the 'Brinch' Stole Christmas", eating cookies and speculating on Santa's arrival.

Hey Ash, you have a booger. Like seriously, it's grossing me out. Oh there ya go, keep digging, I think you got it:)

Christmas morning we awoke around 9:30 to the sound of the boys running up the stairs to see if Santa had come. I didn't want to miss it so I grabbed Dave and we ran upstairs after them. When we reached the top, Ashton was standing there shaking and crying tears of joy and yelling "Santa brought us Rhinos!!!"

Honestly, I was really worried. All we got the boys were those ATVs and whatever we could fit into their stockings. I was starting to second-guess our decision to go lightly this year. Around midnight on Christmas eve I found myself wishing we would have bought them so much more..but after seeing how excited they were about something so simple actually brought tears to our eyes.

Daddy, when can we help?

So Dave, in all his holiday ambition, made a "gingerbread house" out of graham crackers, that cheater, and he is very proud of it. I have to admit it looks pretty darn good. He used butter frosting at first and the whole thing caved in, so I whipped him up some special frosting and he rebuilt it. It's pretty. He wouldn't let any of us help him.

So we made gingerbread men!! I made cream cheese frosting for them and OMGOODGOLLY they are GOOOD!

Then you've got your usual flour mess made by two little you-know-who's and a couple of pretty cute little gingerbread men. Not sure what the deal is with Ashton's 4 eyed alien thing but it is so creative anyways.

Ashton's is on top, Jared's beneath it. So incredibly cute.

beginning to look a lot like christmas..maybe?

I tried to teach the boys how to make snowflakes yesterday.

It was messy. And very "derangerous."

Yes my children are in their underwear 80% of the time.

Can't concentrate without the tongue.

I am very proud of my window painting skills. I painted this on my window yesterday and I'm very happy with how he turned out. Sometimes I surprise myself.

from the inside.

and from the outside.

Yay for the Grinch who stole my neighbors hearts!

And THIS "beautiful" tree display was done by none other than Jared. He is very very proud of himself and says that when Santy Claus sees it he will be happy and hang clothes on it.

No Buddy Like a Brother

All for one and one for all

My brother and my friend

What fun we have

The time we share

Brothers 'til the end.

~Author Unknown

Snow Day

Woke up Saturday morning without electricity. The city was working on the lines for our neighborhood and we had totally forgotten that 'today was the day'. It was a blizzard out. I had pictures to work on. SO much to do. But without electricity, there would be no cooking, heating, or editing. So we bundled up and drove the {scary..icy..slippery..slide-y} 45 minutes out to Grandpa & Grandma's house. Grandpa made a "doghouse" for our "puppies" and we watched The Grinch and had cookies and soda. Dave and I bundled up ("I can't put down my arms!") and shoveled snow off sidewalks and my parents cars..and Davey hauled wood in for the wood burning stove. The only thing that could have made our snow day better complete would have been hot chocolate. 

Right of Passage

I always wondered when the day would come that I would happen upon the sight of one of my children cutting their own hair. It seems inevitable that this self haircut is going to happen at some point in a child's life. I just imaged scissors rather than hair clippers being involved in the scenario.

Yes, Daddy left the cordless clippers out and little hands discovered them. I couldn't even scold him. Those big "deer in the headlights" eyes staring up at me, knowing he was caught redhanded was more than I could stand.

That's not all, throughout the remainder of that day, Ashton managed to spill 2 glasses of milk, pull the shoelaces out of every laced shoe we own, pump every last gooey bit of hand soap from the bottle into the fishtank and stuff cheddar cheese through the windows of every hot wheels or matchbox vehicle he owns..then made me get it all out with a toothpick. For this, I SIGH. I turned off my computer the next day..pictures can wait..clients can wait.  My Ashton needed some attention.

*afternote. Yes, our 3 fish are now dead.

Catch the Moment..put it in your heart..

One small hand to hold in yours, One small face to smile, One wet kiss as he says "good-night" One small child. Catch the moment, put it in your heart The years too soon will fly. These are precious moments, more than money can buy. Two small arms to hold you tight, Two small feet to run, Two small eyes full of love for you, One small son. Catch the moment and put it in your heart and never let it go. Save it for the years to come, when he, too will know. One small hand to hold in his One small face to smile. One small kiss and she says "good-night" One small child. Author Unknown

How Lovely Are Thy Branches..

Look at my rustic skinny 7 ft tree. I couldn't love it any more. The boys had so much fun hiding their hot wheel cars throughout it while I was trying to decorate it. The stars on it are actually paper mache (you gotta love it!) that I spray painted with textured rust paint I found at Wal-Mart. They actually look like tin, I'm so excited! The star on top I've had for about 3 years now, it actually flickers like a candle, it's so cool! My mom found it in the dollar bin at MPS for me!! Yay for cheap cute stuff! Yay for my awesome Mom who thinks of me while searching through dollar bins!! And if you've read this far, yay for you; you just wasted the last 45 seconds of your life and you can't have them back!! Oh well, we both know you would have just wasted them anyway;) xo

Just Imagine..

Think left and think right and think low and think high. Oh, the thinks you can think up if only you try! ~Dr. Suess

{caffeine driven}

Dear blog. It's 12:01-wait-12:02 am. Here I sit eating hot dog quesadillas and spell checker is telling me I spelled quesadilla wrong but doesn't have any suggestions for me. Whatever spell checker. How can I ever trust you again? My point is, I shouldn't blog on caffeine. I get crazy. Anyone who has experienced ME on caffeine knows this. I talk. I talk ALOT. And since The Jones (Davy Jones that is) has an extremely important Netflix to watch and can't bother with my late night ramblings, you, my poor blog, get the brunt of it. Hello, my name is Ashley, and I have an addiction. Don't you judge me. I have roughly 800 images not very patiently awaiting my sorting and editing skills in a cute little folder within a folder within a folder within a folder on my pc. I'm OCD. I organize. And that's why I have to be up late. Thus the caffeine. Makes total sense now doesn't it? You're right. It does.

{Nie Nie's Story}

I just finished reading the first four chapters of the article written in the AZ Central newspaper about Stephanie Nielson's story. If you haven't read this, you should.

The story is here