Soon to be 8 months

As we all know, time goes by way to quickly. Josh had his A&M System Christmas party tonight and everyone asked how we were adjusting to life here in College Station. Can you believe we have been here 7 months? That means as of Christmas Eve, Little Miss will be 8 months old. And a full 8 months she has had. This past week accounts for her 4th ear infection. This time it was a double one. The antibiotics were not working on it...this being our 4th round...2 rounds of amoxicillin and 2 rounds of Omnicef...therefore we had to switch to the Rocephin shot. Ainsley does not weigh 20 pounds yet, so the doctor could not put Litocaine in the shot to help with the burn. Also, since her little muscles were not meaty enough, they broke the 1 shot into 2 and stuck her in both legs. This continued for 3 days. Safe to say, Ainsley was not a happy camper. But other than that, she is one happy, laid back, fun-loving , sweet baby girl.

Ainsley plays so much more now...and likes to play. She is content to play in the middle of the living room all by herself...that is when her brother will leave her alone! One of her favorite toys is Andrew's Little People farm. She really enjoys chewing on the animals.

Also, she crawls all over the place...and quickly. You put her down and turn around 2 seconds later and she is gone. Here she found my hat and thought it looked good with her outfit. Apparently she was not wanting to fix her hair that day...she does have some crazy hair!

Ainsley can officially pull up to her feet. She pulls up on the couch and Andrew's little table that he eats at in the kitchen. Of course it just drives him crazy..."Mom, she is bugging me!" I learned the hard way that Ainlsey has a pretty long reach. I was in the kitchen getting the rest of my lunch. I had left the bag of Cheetos in the very back corner of the couch and returned to find this-

She never bite any of them, just licked them. Once she saw me coming around the kitchen corner, she took off, leaving Cheeto hand prints as she went. She got to the ottoman, where a quilt lies, and proceeded to wipe her face and her hands on the quilt. I could not help but laugh...

We have our tree up. Ainsley is not quite sure what to think about it. It is funny because there is only 1 ornament that she messes with...it is a colorful, sparkly Santa with springs for legs. She thinks he is pretty great!

Of course Ainsley does not have a bike to ride and celebrate in Andrew's birthday festivities, but that did not stop her. We souped up the wagon for her, license plate and all, and she was on her way!

Boy does she like to eat. I guess she gets that from me! We had tortellini the other night and ended up sharing with her Daddy. She loved it! Josh finally just had to quit feeding her. Other than that, her other BIG people foods consist of mash potatoes and ice cream...both of those were also big hits!

She found herself in the mirror the other day! I am not sure if she is the sweetest baby ever or the most pompous...she was kissing the baby she was seeing in the mirror...leaving her little spit running down the mirror. I am going with the sweetest baby and she was giving out sugars!

2 parties and a birthday!

I cannot believe it, but Andrew is 4 years old! He has grasped the change quite well, but I am still a bit in shock. What a 4 years it has been. We had 2 parties this year...one in Canyon over Thanksgiving and another in College Station when we got back. Andrew had a great time at both and asked since he already had a 4 year birthday party in Canyon, would he be 5 years old at his birthday in College Station? Josh and I both grinned at his thinking, but reassured him he was still only 4.
Thanks to Tiffani R. and her wonderful ideas, we had a bike parade birthday party in College Station! What fun...the kiddos decorated their bikes with license plates, balloons, streamers, tin cans (which kept getting tangled in their back training wheels). They were decorated with sun glasses and party horns! It was quite a sight and the neighbors loved us! I think we could have stopped with the party horns and all would have been happy!

His cake was decorated to look like his invitation...well it was supposed to look like the invitation. I will keep practicing! I have learned that cake decorating has a bunch to do with the quality of tools you are working with.

Andrew's party in Canyon was a sports party. We played golf baseball...which was a hit with the birthday boy. He wanted to play every spare minute we had for the rest of the Thanksgiving holidays. For those who have never played, instead of hitting a baseball with a bat and then running, you hit a golf ball with your club and then run!

We also played a football version of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey! It was get the football between the goalposts for a field goal. This to was a hit, but the birthday boy was not very fond of the blindfold. He informed me that he could not see when it was on...go figure! Not too many things get by him these days.

Daddy helped more than he cared to, but we made him a baseball/basketball/golf ball (with dimples which you cannot see in the picture)/football cake. That was fun.

Safe to say we are partied out. Anytime we get in the car to run errands, Andrew asks if we are going back to the party store...we were there a lot! But thanks to all who came and helped make Andrew's birthday so special for him! He had a ball!!!

And then there was snow!!!

To all our Panhandle friends and family, this is a site not worth batting an eyelash over! To all our south Texas friends and family, this is an "Oh My" moment. Here is our front yard as I went out to get the mail at 4:30 today! As Andrew put it, "God sent the snow, Mama!" All I can say to that is, "Yes, Son...he sure did!"
Andrew could not get enough of it. As I was fixing dinner, he donned his coat and went back out for more fun in the sun...oh I mean fun in the snow! And fun he had!

Ainsley on the other hand was not quite sure what to think of the white stuff that kept falling on her and getting in her eyes. She tolerated it quite well for me to get some cute pictures, but was soon ready to get out of the wind and the cold!

Here are my 2 snow bunnies as they get shelter from the snow, but certainly not the cold. Andrew could not wait for the pictures to be done and for it to be PLAY time!

College Station doesn't quite know what to think of this snow stuff. Safe to say a few have blamed us for bringing it. We woke up this morning to a good dusting of the white stuff and then ended the day with a pretty good snow storm. What fun. This has people talking about times past and the last time this town has seen this much snow...to which we just smile!

Happy Holidays to you and yours!