Gymboree Class

Walking the balance beam

Climbing through rings

Shaking our Maracas!

Scarf dancing

For $72/month, you too can jump around, sing songs, play with bubbles, and climb on indoor slides. Or... you can just attend the free introductory class and act like you are really interested but have to ask your husband for the $. You can guess which one of the categories that I fall into. Lucky Ashton!

She did absolutely love it though! This class is much more free dancing and not as structured as Little Gym or JW Tumbles. My favorite free intro class ever is Heartsong Music. Waaay better than Kindermusik as it is all about the Austin vibe of free flowing go with the kids feeling/mood. The teacher was fabulous and Cortney and I got 1.5 hours of free instruction and fun as the teacher really felt that our girls were gifted musically. Of course we agreed! Next I plan to explore My Gym & Capital Gymnastics. Let's all pray that Ashton does not carry the curse of Chris and my gracefulness!

New Masks

As I posted previously, Ashton is obsessed with pretending to be a nice kitty or a mean tiger. So... got love the Target $1 bins. I found one of each and she requires the house to participate.

I came home Friday afternoon and told Chris that I just had to have this new kitty that I had found at the grocery store. He jumped up and proceeded to tell me that we do not need a cat. Ashton (without any prompting) came crawling and mewing into the room. Such my drama child! I love it!

Playdate w/ Neighbor CoCo

Only in 2008 do you meet your across the street neighbor by e-mail. I joined the Belterra Women's yahoo group and e-mailed our info and was so glad to find out that our across the street neighbor has a 1 year old daughter, CoCo.

Coco is adorable and her mother Samantha is great fun and a little sarcastic like myself. We have had 2 playdates with the girls and hopefully Little A will only teach her good activities/habits (yikes)!

I have thrown myself on Samantha and I am sure she is ready to distance herself from this ever aggressively loud, crass new neighbor. For instance, she made fabulous hor'dourves and Little A and I proceeded to eat every bite. She is from England and California and probably is a little put off by my West Texas Charm! Thank Goodness so far she seems to enjoy hanging out with me!

Here are some pics over at CoCo's house last evening. We also have a block party coming up next weekend ~ I am living in a regular June Cleaver neighborhood! too crazy ... everyone must come for a visit soon!

Uncle T-Cav comes for a visit

Tyler was in Austin for a wedding and came to give Miss A his 100% undivided attention. We love you Tyler! Come see us again soon!

Nashville in an Afternoon

I was in Nashville for work and spent the 1st two days in my hotel but this afternoon I got out for a bit and Nashville really is a cute town, I wish I got to see more of it. I would have taken pics but I left my camera for the endless pics of Miss A.

I went to the Ryman Auditorium, saw the Dec of Independence that is on tour here for the Presidential debate tomorrow night and a short play about the signing of the Dec of Ind at the Downtown Library (gorgeous and so Southern Historical) , ate bar-b-que, watched a second of some great live country music, shopped in the touristy shops that have millions of Elvis memorabilia, went to Tenn capital & the war memorial (lots of old civil war cool stuff) - wish I could have seen the actual pretty mountains, trees etc.

Not a bad Monday afternoon but I am ready to get home to my family!

Online Baby Book

Just a note that I plan to use this blog as my online baby book since I will never get around to updating her real baby book ( I just thought of this today as Lynsey and I were discussing the purpose/uses of a blog)

At 28 months old A's favorite~

Songs to sing: Squishing up a baby bumble bee, You are my sunshine, ABC's, twinkle twinkle, Ants go Marching, Skinamarinky Dinky Doo

Books that she can recite (with just a little prompting): Little Drummer Boy, I love You Good Night, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Three Little Pigs, Little Critter Just Go to Bed

Books that she loves to have read to her: All Dick & Jane Stories, If you Give a Mouse a Cookie, The Story of Christmas,

Favorite TV/Movies: Max & Ruby, Mickey Mouse, Fox & the Hound, Dora, Little Bill, Sesame Street, Upside Down Show, Oobi, Backyardigans,

Favorite Foods:
What do you want for Breakfast A? "Mommy I want Guacamole & Cheese" (it does not sound anything like Macaroni);
loves all fruit (Thank the Lord since I eat only bananas);
goldfish crackers,
alphabit cookies,
milkshakes (everyday after school w/ Mimi)

She knows all of her colors, can count to 12 (her teachers report that she counts over and over all the way out to the playground) and knows a few of her shapes

I couldn't be a prouder mom!

Calling Home

I am in Nashville tonight for work and I am soo excited because Little A actually had a full conversation on the phone with me. It makes it so much easier to travel when I can hear her voice and she answers my questions. I want A to know how much I love her and miss her when I am gone. Here was our conversation:
Mommy: "Ashton I love you, did you play with Tyler today?"
A: I watched Peter Pan
M: Did you play with Jake today?
A: Yeah, talk to my puppy (puts stuffed animal on the phone)
M: Did you and Daddy watch football
A: Yeah, I said Go Texas Tech (laughes and laughes)
M: A, I love you
A: I miss you and love you tooooo Mommy
M: to the moon and back

Be still my heart I love this child!

To Cut or Not to Cut... That is the question?

Little Miss A has never had a hair cut. She has super curly hair and everywhere we go people tell us ... oh don't ever cut her hair... all the curls will go away. Chris is totally against cutting it as he would prefer she never grow up in any form (potty training, sleeping in a big girl bed, walking etc). I on the other hand am the one that has to fight this mass of curls and the spirited girl that is underneath them. The picture above and below are how we start and end the day. Most times, I work and work to tame her hair in pig tails or with a bow but it is really starting to get long and heavy and she fights me to the death ( similar to how I fought my parents about my hair and my parents and deeply enjoying the payback). I can only imagine the fit that she will give the hairstylist! Here hair is like her personality... dramatic!


This is A running from me when I bringing out the pik and detangler spray as you cannot brush these curls! It is so foreign to my straight hair that is always in a pony tail!

Little Miss A ~ I love you... all of you!!!!

Sunday Morning Pancakes

Everyone is well aware that I do not cook or do anything remotely domestic except clean house (thank you Randall) and take care of Little Miss A. But the 1st thing my mother ever taught me to cook was pancakes. Breakfast was always a big deal around our house and I still never miss it and try to make A eat it as well.

I can very vividly remember my 1st "How to" assignment and I chose "How to make pancakes". Impressed? My class sure was!

Well little Miss A now loves to cook pancakes and she sings a song with my mom about it!
"This is the way we cook the pancakes, cook the pancakes, cook the pancakes.
This is the way we cook the pancakes all on Sunday morning"
Gotta love a little tradition!

Harmon Hideaways

Little Miss A is obsessed with hiding. She constantly wants to make a fort, tent, cave in our bed, on our bed, in her bed, under the bed, in a cabinet, behind the shower curtain and then she demands that the entire house come and find her. (Daddy makes the best tents and she gets furious at my sub-par efforts) When you do find her... she may be a "mean tiger, bear or lion" or a "nice kitty or puppy" and then after growling or mewing at you... she will laugh hysterically and expect you to hide with her even though most of the spaces are way too small for any sort of person over 30lbs. When you express to her that you cannot fit there... she is beyond upset as you have spoiled all the fun.

When she first got her tent from Nana & Papa, she would expect Chris and I and Bailey to spend at least 1 hour an evening together in the tent ~ it was quite cozy. Talk to any family member and they will tell you that she has trapped them in her tent for extended periods of time. She will bring you fake food and drinks and make you give her babies bottles but she will demand you never leave the tent even as she is free to run around the house. Crazy kid!

Fair & Farm Animal Fun!

Mom & I took Little Miss A to the Comal County Fair in New Braunfels on Saturday. It was FABULOUS! It was sooo clean and family friendly! Here she is riding Cody, the oldest pony in existence - way to go Carnies - watch out for the Austin animal rights lovers
Love, love, lovin the goat over any other special barnyard friend
The baby chick is trying to fly out of my hand ~ can't say I can blame it!
Riding the Landa ParkTrain
This was the only ride that she would ride ~ probably because the Carnie was the least aggressive. She did not feel the love of the loud rides screaming 80's hair band tunes such as - "Welcome to the Jungle & Up All Night, Sleep All Day" that I used to live for at the Lubbock Joyland ( granted I was in junior high and they are still playing them in 2008) . I recommend Kiddie Acres any day for rides her age. But for farm animals and greasy food... can't beat the fair! Though we will always have a special love for the South Plains Fair... thank you Comal County for givin us a sense of home!

Little Miss A LOVES her Uncles

Little Miss A is sooo in love with her uncles. Any time she gets a phone (real or fake) you can ask her... Who are you calling? And she will always say Tyler or Ryan. Now rarely when they really call will she actually talk to them but they are always the 1st people in her mind. She flirts shamelessly with both of them as she knows she is the queen of their world. If you haven't ever seen grown men melt - watch these "boys" with their niece. She has them sooo wrapped. She is sooo lucky to have both of them years before they have their own kids and therefore she can be #1. She has stolen their hearts and she couldn't love them more as they are human jungle gyms who provide endless fun when they are around! Thanks for never being too tired or busy to PLAY!

GG's visit to our new house

GG (Chris' grandmother & Mema to most) came for a visit last weekend to see our new house and complete the decorations that Tillie had started but everyone has to have GG's final approval. Little Miss A read her books and sang her songs and performed as she loves to do. I really thought mom wasn't going to let her leave! She misses her very very much as we all do! Come see us again soon GG!

Fall 2008 ~ 1st Blog

I decided that sending 150 pictures out of little Miss Sassy out once a month wasn't enough. I must entertain/annoy you with endless stories of her sparkling personality!

There is no possible way that I will be a funny as Erin or dry funny as Abby but I will give it a huge E for effort, at least for a while!

Welcome to the Harmon Hill Country Blog!