August 2009

We all started school again in august. The girls started the first week. They were ready though and really excited. Poor little Ellie, she was so excited for school. I walked her in there the first day and she started to cry. I think she was just too overwhelmed with everything she was feeling. She wanted to be there, but she just couldn't help it. She got over her emotions quickly though and was able to stop crying before her class left.

Here's Anny and Ellie with Javi and Faith.

Jack fell asleep with these on. It was so funny.

I started school in August too. I found out that my Monday night class is online. So i only have to go in for my midterm and final. My ecology class is really interesting, but my teacher goes off on so many tangents that I'm not really sure what i should be taking notes on during his lectures. Spanish 201 was too much for me. I'm not ready for it yet so i dropped down to a lower class. It was really cool though, cause in 201, the teacher only spoke in Spanish, and i could understand pretty much everything he said. But i understand it faster than i speak it. My new class is super easy though. Me llamo Ashley. Ooh, that's a tough one. Someday I'm going to be really good at Spanish and I'll convert my whole blog to it so no one can read it. Not that anyone reads it anyway.

July 2009

Okay, so I've caught myself up, for all of you people that keep bugging. I finished physics this month and got a B. I get to start ASU in the fall and will be taking Ecology, Spanish, and Ethical and Policy Issues in Biology. I also added a Spanish minor to my degree which will probably add another year to school. Hopefully i can take the Spanish classes during the summer and winter breaks or something.

I can't believe the girls are starting school already. Next Monday the 3rd. We have meet the teacher Thurs. night. The girls are really excited about it. I had enrolled Ellie into a.m. kindergarten cause they weren't going to fund all day anymore. But then they called and said that they were going to and asked if i wanted to switch. I decided to stick with a.m. cause i wasn't sure what i wanted to do yet. I was thinking the half day schedule would get filled up first since there was only one teacher doing it. All the rest of the classes were full day. Well i guess people get pretty excited that they can get rid of their 5 year olds for a whole day instead of a half day, even at the expense of the kid. The only reason i was going to maybe put her in all day is cause she's older. She'll turn 6 in September and missed the cutoff last year by 9 days. So i think she could handle all day since she's almost a year older than some of the other kids starting kindergarten this year. I don't really like the idea of full day kindergarten. They kept complaining about not having enough funding to do it. I think they should use all the funding they got and give all their teachers raises instead. Money better spent in my opinion. Poor little kids have to go from having preschool in someones house a couple times a week for an hour or so, to all day at a public school. I just think it's hard on them. and i don't think it makes much of a difference in the kids' success throughout school anyway.

Yesterday i went to Shanna's house and her and Chelsea and my mom helped me tie a quilt I've been working on. Now i just have to bind it. So I'm probably going to my grandma's on Saturday and she's going to help me do it. Then i can give it to Iman, since i made it for her as a wedding present. Sorry it's almost a year late!!! Quilts take a lot of time. I'll post a picture of it when i finish.

These pictures are from the 4th of July parade that the ward does every year. It was at 7am and still way to hot to be outside.

Here's the kids all lining up for the parade.

Ellie apparently enjoyed her chocolate donut.

I think Anny probably ate like 3 or 4 donuts!

Okay, so this is jack's new little trick. Alex walked in and saw him doing it and decided to take pictures. Mind you, he's already done this several times previously when i walked into the room but i was screaming.

Thanks for the death trap, i mean piano, mom.

June 2009

In June we decided to do a girls night for all of us sisters. My mom and my cousin Shanda came too. Both haylee and Chelsea are leaving for school this fall. Haylee is playing vball at Idaho State and Chelsea will be at BYU. So this was like a going away party/birthday party/facial night. I'm going to miss them both so much. Pretty much because of the free babysitting!! Just kidding guys. I am going to miss hanging out with them and getting to know the woman each of them have become. I know they will be successful at school and will probably still graduate before i do!

Haylee, Chelsea, Shanna enjoying a french clay mask.

Me and Chelsea

That night we played one of my all time favorite games in the whole world. Um, no. Not even close. i always get outvoted when i choose a game.

Chelsea and mom.

we also got a new van this month, something i wasn't planning on doing until they started making more affordable hybrid vans. But the kids were getting really squished in the back of the civic. Its an 03 odyssey. And we got an extended warranty on it so we are set for 3yrs/36,000 miles. Just as good as a new car but for less than half the cost.

Here's jack in the van. He definitely has a better view now.

June also marked the end of the vball season.
Back row: Karyn, me, Erica, Brittany, Jessica. Bottom row: Natalie and Sam. We thought we'd make it look all teamy.

We were the cherry bombs. It was obviously my idea to wear pink since i love that color and have loads of pink shirts in my closet already. we did pretty well. I was middle blocker and sometimes right side. I got quite a few good blocks on the last night we played, and i was really excited. we couldn't get enough girls together again to start another team. Oh well. It started again in august buy i might get too busy with school. It may just be church ball for me!

We also went to kingman, AZ in June too. How very exciting. We met Alex's brother's there. O.j. is taking a job there at the airport and had an interview. This is the girls with their uncle Ryan. They are all playing around on iPhones. My kids are very technological.

We were also able to catch jack walking for the first time. He hadn't been walking before our trip to kingman and he was about 17 months old already. SO i was laying on the bed at the hotel, or craptel (don't ever stay at the travelodge in kingman unless you want black feet and a dead cockroach in your bed), and all of a sudden he just stands up and takes like two steps. I was like What!!? So i put him on the ground thinking that would be easier to walk on than the bed, minus the black feet of course, and he took a couple steps. So Alex used his phone and got these first moments of jack walking. It was so fun. And now i get to watch it whenever i want.

May 2009

The first week in May Alex and I went on a cruise with his parents and his little brother Briggs. We did the Catalina Island one. And because everyone was unnecessarily panicking about a ridiculous outbreak of swine flu we weren't able to dock in Ensenada. It was still pretty fun. We had to take jack cause i was still nursing him. I wouldn't have left him anyway, he's my baby! I think i don't want to do another cruise until i can do the Alaska one or something. I was bored a lot. The coolest thing was when they showed this short film done by Salvador Dali and Walt Disney. I guess it wasn't released back when it was first made because they thought it was too spooky or something and they didn't want to fund it cause it was during WWII. I guess if you've seen any of Dali's work, you could maybe see why that would be so. It was pretty cool.

We also finished up school this may, well everyone but me. I still don't get out till July. Ellie was finishing preschool and is super excited to start kindergarten. And Anny finished 1st grade. for a while there we thought she'd have to repeat it, but she worked it out! Just kidding Anny.

Ellie and Karyn Castro, her preschool teacher.

This is Ellie with her two best friends, Amberlyn Castro and Maylee Lunt.

What a bunch of lazy bums i decided to go on vacation with.

From left to right: Mike, Alex, Jack, Briggs, Steven

It got kinda cold one day it was all foggy out on the ocean.

On Catalina Island by a neat fountain. Yes, i am immodest, i don't care. And i got a sunburn, serves me right! And jack has antlers.

Also this month, with great sorrow, we lost our sister-in-law Dawn Frakes Kellogg. She is married to alex's brother ryan. They had only been married about a year. It was very sad, and we will miss her much. The girls were very sad to hear it, but they still talk about her sometimes when they remember stuff that they did with her. We love you Dawn.

When we were in Nebraska for the funeral, we got this little video of Jack and Grandma Debbie playing ball.

Easter

Every year for Easter we go to my Grandma Tyra's and Grandpa Mac's house for a breakfast and Easter egg hunt. They usually hide numbers in some of the eggs and there will be a prize associated with the number. There are separate ones for the kids and the adults. The girls found a couple numbers each. I didn't get any. Boo hoo. but they had pitty on me and someone gave me one of their eggs. I got like 7 bucks!

Here's Ellie's number.

I got this outfit for Jack specifically for this occasion. Then he goes and gets it stained after wearing it once. I haven't been able to get the stains out yet.

sorry to disappoint some of you, but i don't get my kids all that dolled up for Easter Sunday. I'm just not that frilly of a person.

Oh yeah, i got called to nursery. Yippee! So jack gets to go early. Here he is having a snack.

Alex's Spring Project

Alex decided to make a shed for some reason. Probably cause i said we couldn't buy one. I kept trying to get him to build me a chicken coop and he never would. So then i finally just bought one. I think if he can build this, he can build a measly little chicken coop.

I got to pick out the color!
It does have a door as well, its just not on yet.

March 2009

Not much going on in march. Just trying to keep up with school and kids. Anny had her 1st grade program this month. They sang a bunch of songs and each kid had a little part to say. I was mad at my camera the whole time cause the flash sucks. Its supposed to be this really great camera, but i find that sometimes my crappy one does a better job. Maybe i just need to figure out how to use my better one.

On the way home from the 1st grade program we caught a really cool glimpse of the moon.

The girls thought it'd be funny. I just took the picture.

Jack's Odd Sense of Humor

Jack has been known to laugh at really random things that wouldn't seem funny to most. This event is no exception.  He likes to shove lots of food in his mouth all at once.  So all i was doing was breaking his crackers up a bit so he wouldn't get too big a mouthful.  

Riding Bikes...Finally!!

The girls finally figured out how to ride their bikes with no training wheels!  Alex has been working with them and they were so excited to figure it out.  Ellie is a little better at it.  Anny kept getting mad because she was falling and Ellie seemed to have no issues.  On Monday, Anny had a pretty bad fall and scraped her chin and now has a big bruise.  

Jack also likes going out for bike rides.  Alex put him in the bike trailer for the first time and he was cracking up laughing for like the first 5 minutes he was in it.  It was pretty funny.  

So me and a couple friends are on a vball team for the new league that started up in queen creek.  We had a practice on Monday and played for like 3 hours.  Then last night was our first time playing against some of the other girls.  Lets just say my team is probably the underdog.  It didn't help that i was sore from Monday night and missed a bunch of serves last night.  It's still really fun and I'm glad I'm doing it.  Haylee did laugh at me though.  I guess she doesn't think I'm qualified to play in the league.  What a jerk.  We can't all be as good as you Haylee, no need to make fun of others!  You see how good you are after having 3 kids and being out of shape.  She is going to be a sub for one of the other teams, so i may have to play against her.  All i can say is BRING IT ON HAYLEE!!!

Anny does fine in the parking lot.  but for some reason she panics when she's on the sidewalk and keeps falling over.  I don't think she likes being confined to a straight line.  She is exactly like me though, when i was a kid.  She is super cautious and takes forever.  I couldn't help teach her cause i just started yelling at her, which doesn't help anything.

No, the can of red bull is not open.  Alex thinks its sooo funny to try and trick people into thinking his kids drink that crap like he does.  Alex, your headaches are never going to go away unless you stop.

They first learned in the grass at the park by our house.

Some Video of Jack

Just thought i'd put this on for those of you that don't see Jack on a regular basis.  

Jack has a thing for ears.  He's always trying to grab or chew on mine and alex's.  He also plays with his ears all the time.  At first i thought it might be an ear infection,  but he does it all the time.

Jack is 1!!!

I can't believe that my teeny, tiny baby is getting so big.  And just for the record, he did army crawl by his first birthday.  Still can't regular crawl though.  He weighs 19 lbs.  I think that is about how much Anny weighed.  Ellie only weighed like 18lbs.  My kids are just small.  

We had it on Sat. the 17th, so Briggs could join us.  But his actual birthday was the 20th.  We had it at my mom's.  It was just the fam.  I felt so bad cause that night he got really bad heartburn.  He was up crying and spitting up.  I'm pretty sure it was the cake.  He hadn't ever really had that much artificial sugar all at once.  Poor kid.  but i had to let him eat some.  I should have made a more healthy cake.  O well, he's over it now.  He got some new clothes, a Little People farm, some books, and yes, a baby doll from Great-grandparents Thompson.  Now he can learn to be a good dad.  

I had to crop my face out of this pic.  Jack looked cute, but i didn't.   What do you expect me to look like when my baby is playing with fire!

No Jack! Don't eat it.  It will give you heartburn!

No, you can not have any more.

No Jack, not 3.  You're 1.  

Ahh, here's Jack with his lovely new dolly!