A Day in the Life of Ady

 

Ady loves “Me and You Days”.

 This is how she describes school days for us. 

She asks me at night when I tuck her into bed, “Is tomorrow going to be a Me and You Day, Mom?”

“Why yes it is Miss Ady.  Just Me and You sister.”

(Photo taken with iphone)

I Instagramed these photos a little while back.

Our day started out normal.

Me - working around the house in the morning.

Ady - watching her favorite shows.

Then we typically get ready for the day, have lunch and  move  on to whatever activity we are doing that day (this used to be naptime.  Sometimes I really miss naptime).

We chose to make Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies that day. Yummmmmy!

(Photo taken with iPhone)

She is my helper in the kitchen and knows the routine.

Aprons and music and we are set!

Well, of course after a little while she lost interest and went in the backyard to play.

In the sandbox.

I have a love/hate relationship with the sandbox.

I love that it is hours of  entertainment.

I hate that within minutes it can get to an out of control level of messy.

Kind of like this.

Well, this time it wasn’t as bad as that (she has learned) but it did involve sand and water and the trampoline.

She decided to clean herself off from the sandbox by attaching the sprayer to the hose and then putting it on the trampoline.

When I notice that all of this happened (we are talking a couple of minutes) I find her on the trampoline jumping in muddy clothes.

Really Ady???

No photos of that.  I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about the incident and if it was worth burning cookies over.  :)

I decided I needed to side with my cookies for the moment.

I did however, change her clothes and let her finish out the afternoon in her swimsuit on the trampoline.

 

I was proud of her for knowing what she wanted and how to go about making it happen.

 

She knew where to find the sprayer and how to attach it to the hose all by herself.

She was not going to let me ruin her fun or give me the chance to say “No. Not now Ady.” 

And I am glad she didn’t because I loved watching her have her own kind of fun.

She keeps asking me when will she get to be 5 years old.

I tell her she only gets to be 3 once and to love every minute of it.

 

Sometimes she takes me a little too literal.

 

She had waaaaaay too much fun in the bathtub after that. 

See what I mean?

Water ALL OVER the floor.

It was bad.

The above photos are how I found it after she had tried to clean it up on her own.

And this is how I found her.

 

And that my friends is a day in the life of Ady.

We live and learn together every. single. day.

Starting tomorrow I will be living and learning with all 4 of my kids every. single. day.

It’s

SUMMER TIME!!!

Swimming with the Olymipian’s and the Ruby Giveaway Winner

First off, the winner of the giveaway is Naomi Beachy!  Congratulations Naomi. I will e-mail you with details.  Thank you for all who entered.  I loved reading your acts of service and holiday traditions.  Every one of them made me smile!  Thank you for sharing and being a part of Ruby.

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This summer we were glued to the T.V every evening during the Olympics, especially to watch the swimming events.  It was common for the entire family (even Ady) to be up until 11:30, then the late night shows started and it was time for bed.  The kids didn’t want to miss a thing!  Neither did we.  These are really fun summer memories for us and great time spent as a family. 

Swimming has been such a huge part of our life since we moved to Texas.  The kids have been in summer league for 4 years now and Kaylee has swam year round for half of that time.  It is a big commitment but such a wonderful sport to be involved in.  In the middle of September we had the opportunity to be a part of something really exciting!  Kaylee’s year round swim team, Swim Streamline, brought two Olympian swimmers to us!  Josh Davis and Misty Hyman came and taught a swim clinic for our team at our pool. They are amazing people and had so much to share with the kids.  Not only did they offer great advice and tips about swimming, but they had just as much wonderful advice about life and being the best person you can be.  I was inspired listening to them and their amazing life stories.  Doesn’t it seem like every Olympian has a special story to share?  An experience that kept them going and made them such strong people? They had their own stories to share and I loved hearing them.  It’s nice because when Kaylee is exhausted from doing hard things, whether it is at swim or at school we can talk about what we remember Josh and Misty saying.  They taught these kids life skills and gave me extra tools to use as a parent.  The other day I told Kaylee “Practice makes perfect.”  She said, “No. Josh said practice doesn’t make perfect.  Perfect practice makes perfect.”  Oh. Yeah your right. Thanks Kaylee!

The morning started by meeting Josh and Misty.  Each swimmer got their autograph and took a picture with them while wearing their gold medals.  So inspiring! 

They even had the kids sign their own shirts.

Then it was time to learn.  After Josh and Misty gave their speeches it was time for hands on teaching in and out of the pool.

They got the kids pumped up and were so much fun to interact with.

Coach Ross, who is still a strong swimmer and swims for the Masters Swim Team, raced Josh Davis.  The kids absolutely LOVED this!

We are so lucky to have the opportunities we have and be surrounded by so many amazing people every day. Our coaches and team rock!  We are proud to be Northampton Cuda’s and to be a part of Swim Streamline through out the year.

Aaaaaaaannnnnnddd…

We had a birthday in the house!!!

Ady turned 3.

More to come soon.

Oh My…

I don’t really know what else to say.

We had a little something unexpected happen towards the end of Spring Break. 

Ady didn’t really know what to say either. 

Although, the look on her face says it all.  I think she was waiting for me to flip out.

It had been raining off and on all week.  The sand box turned into a mud box.  The boys would go out and make army forts with their little $store army men.  This was hours of entertainment for them.  They knew not to get into the sandbox, but to stay on the edge.  I trust them.  Plus, for the most part they understand the definition of trouble and respect boundaries.  MOST of the time. 

On the other hand, this little lady is still learning.

She realized that momma wasn’t going to flip out after all. 

Really, the harm was already done.  I might as well let her live it up for a few minutes. 

Right before this happened she was playing at her little (boy) friend Kai’s house.  She came home in these clothes because she and Kai had pulled this same trick with Tami.  Not anything to this extent but it did have to do with water.

I guess she wasn’t done yet. 

This was her peace offering. 

How sweet Ady.  Thanks. :)

Casey asked me if I was ready to admit that she’s a tomboy. 

Ummmm…no.  She is still my pretty little princess.  Even if she can keep up with the best of the boys. 

Girlie girls are allowed to play in the mud!

Sometimes.

I hope it was worth it Ady.

I love you Little Miss!  You definitely keep life exciting.

Live it up while you can!!

Our latest news…{Potty Training Part 1}

It is about time I put a new post on this blog of mine!  I have been MIA…again.  I am starting to make a bad habit of that.  I have a lot of catching up to do for the month of January and I intend on doing so, but today I want to blog about life right now.  It is much more fun that way.  I want to brag about my little girl for a minute and tell you how proud I am of her.  She is growing up so much and is officially a big girl.  Yesterday we threw the diapers away and pulled out the big girl panties.  Overall, Ady rocked potty training!  Our morning got off to a rocky start.  She had me sweating, biting my finger nails and crying (fake crying, it seemed to do the trick for her) and wondering what the heck I was thinking.  I will share all of the details soon because you know on a day like this there are A LOT of details.  I will also share my method for potty training in ONE DAY, so stay tuned!  You don’t want to miss it.  For now, here is what our day looked like.

We stayed close to the toilet for a good majority of the day.  Doesn’t that sound like fun?

There was a lot of cheering and high fiving from me.

Of course there was a lot of hand washing.  I think this was one of her favorite parts.  She had so much fun playing in the water that she decided to bring her mermaids down and give them a bath.  I wish I would have taken a picture of that.

I couldn’t get enough of this cute panty wearing bum.  It is a dream come true!  Especially knowing that THIS IS IT. 

No, I am not sad about that.

She made a lot of phone calls to share the good news.

We ended the day celebrating outside.  She was one happy little girl.  So was her mommy.

Phew!  What a day!

I will share the rest tomorrow. 

Be back soon!

{Potty Training Part 2}

Happy Birthday Ady!

This little girl had a birthday yesterday.  I can hardly believe she is two years old!

Where did my baby go?  She is still my baby even though she is growing up. That is the role of the last child.  She has that one covered!

This girl has so much personality.  She has since the day she was born.  I remember feeling overwhelmed by how much personality she had that first year.  Who am I kidding?  I am still overwhelmed at times, but I love and appreciate her for her spunkiness.  I feel like  her little body is just growing into her personality. 

Ady’s favorite thing in the world right now is Strawberry Shortcake. 

 

I think we made her pretty happy with a Strawberry Shortcake celebration.

 

She would have been happy no matter what, but it was fun putting this together for her.

This was the easiest cake I have EVER made and yummy too.  My kids asked why we haven’t had this before.  I told them they will be seeing this cake a lot more.  It is perfect for a cool summer treat.  I took the easy way out and bought an angel food cake from the bakery and cut it into 3 halves.  Then whipped up some homemade whipping cream and layered the angel food cake and the whipped cream.  I made sure to use a lot of whipped cream.  The more the better, right?  Then just topped it with fresh strawberries.   

The whole thing was perfect for Ady.  I really enjoy making each of my children feel special on their birthday.  It is their very own special day and I want them to know how much their parents and siblings love them.  It is a little extra effort, but I hope that we are creating memories that will make them smile when they are all grown up and not at home anymore. 

Ady was so funny when Casey was lighting the candles.  She didn’t know what to think.  Her facial expressions say it all!  I laugh every time I look at them.

She needs a little prodding to blow out those candles.

I just love her!

 

She did not need prodding to open her presents.  I love her mischievous face in this photo.  It says so much about her.

 

If you are lucky enough to really now Ady, then you know exactly just how much it says! :)

We found her a girl set of Lego’s.  Of course my boys were all over this one.

  Grandma sent her a couple of new Strawberry Shortcake videos, which she has already watched over and over. 

She also got two Strawberry Shortcake dolls. One to carry in her purse and a bigger one to play with. 

A birthday isn’t a birthday with out balloons.  We carried on the tradition of waking up to birthday balloons.  She thought this was pretty awesome!

Happy Birthday Ady!  We love  you so much and can’t wait to see what the next year has in store for you.