Brothers

Nolan has finally accepted the fact that he is getting yet another sister.  He has made it very clear that Antonio (our cat) is all the brother he needs.  

As much as this kitty has been driving me nuts lately, how could I dream of separating this awesome duo?

10 Years Ago...

10 years ago today I gave birth to this amazing child!  Ryan and I were so excited for our little princess to arrive.   We were ready for parenthood and couldn't wait to start the journey!  It has been an amazing 10 years!  Ashlee has been such a joy and has brought so much laughter and silliness to our family.  She's blossoming into such a young lady -- almost overnight.  Here are some fun things to share about our Ashlee Marie...

1.  Ashlee wakes up early and happy - everyday!

2.  She loves to sing and dance

3.  She is an aspiring artist and is constantly drawing or crafting something

4.  She's a little bit of a pack rat

5.  Loves to collect little "treasures"

6.  She loves Haidyn to pieces but gets frustrated with her easily

7.  Surprisingly, she loves Nolan but they fight sun-up til sun-down 

8. We've even caught her yelling at Nolan in her sleep

9.  She's a daddy's girl all the way

10. But loves her girl talks and shopping trips with mom

11.  Her favorite color is blue

12.  Her favorite dinner is Tuna Casserole

13.  She likes her pancakes with just butter - no syrup

14.  She makes friends easily

15.  She loves school and is exceptionally smart

16.  Sometimes her mouth gets a little smart too

17.  She plays the piano

18.  Drama, Drama, Drama Queen

19.  She HATES spiders

20. She loves animals

21.  She's a princess all the way - never liked to be dirty for too long

22.  She loves the beach

23.  She has a special bond with her grandmothers

24.  She has more purses than me

25.  Every year she cuts her hair short and regrets it

26.  She's a good friend

27.  She loves playing softball

28.  She bites her fingernails

29.  She sucked her thumb til she was 7

30.  She LOVES to read

31.  She is very thoughtful and giving

32.  She needs to work on her "freak out moments" (hormones are brewin')

33.  She was an easy baby

34.  She's very independent

35.  Her nicknames are:  Ash, Ash-lls, Biddish, Ash-bi-dash (thanks to her dad)  

36.  Her giggles are infectious

37.  She's left handed (little lefty)

38.  She always tells a story with a smile 

39.  She thinks she's funnier than she is - which makes her all the more funny!

40.  She's our first born and we couldn't be prouder!!!

Thanks for being the child that welcomed us into parenthood!  We love you more and more each day!  Happy birthday Ash!  Love Mom & Dad

Gone Buggy!

Haidyn has never been afraid of bugs before.  But lately she has been terrified!  Nolan had a class project last week.  He has been studying the life cycle of silkworms.  Haidyn was FREAKING out about the silkworms -- trembling, screaming and clawing her way up into Ryan's arms.  I can't even describe the show she put on at school - my words wouldn't even give it justice.  Let's just say, it was over the top!  We had never seen her this way before.  Now she is starting to have nightmares about ants and bugs being in her room.  Not sure where this is stemming from but it's almost entertaining in a way.  Ashlee has been working with her.  She finally got Haidyn to hold one of Nolan's silkworms (he got to bring 2 home as pets) the other day.  

Today, she found a ladybug outside.  She was kinda upset to find it.  After some encouraging, I got her to hold it -- for about 3.5 seconds.  Then she said, "I'm done.  Make it go away now!"  

Baby steps

Twinsies!

This morning I put on my little blue sundress.  Haidyn saw me and ran to her room.  She wanted her blue sundress too.  I obliged.  "Look mommy, we match!"  Too bad I had errands to run. I'm sure people wondered what the matchy-matchy was all about.  Oh well, whatever makes my princess happy!

Ashlee's 10th Birthday Splash!

Yesterday we celebrated Ashlee's upcoming 10th birthday!  She wanted a swim party and boy did it turn out to be the day for it -- it was a scorching 102!  She invited a few of her closest friends to Grandma & Papa's clubhouse.  It was a pretty simple party.  The kids just swam the whole time.  It was even hard to coax them out of the water to enjoy the melting cupcakes!  I have to say, it's nice that our kids are getting older now and I can actually breathe and somewhat relax at the pool, not worrying about them drowning every second.  

Happy (early) birthday to our 1st princess!  We've reached double digits now!!!  Where did the time go?  (sob...sob...sob)

If Nolan Only Knew...

If Nolan only knew that while he was away, Haidyn played dollies in his bed.  I think we'll keep it to ourselves.

A Happy Mother's Night

It was a pretty uneventful Mother's Day but I'm not complaining.  I spent yet another day in bed, still trying to get over this flu.  Ryan and Ashlee cleaned the whole house!  What a great start for the week!  

Nolan let me pull out his tooth and he hurried off to bed early, anxiously awaiting the tooth fairy.

Ashlee went to bed like a pro - as usual.  Tired from all the cleaning I suppose.

And Haidyn....well Haidyn wasn't too thrilled to see the day come to an end...

But it doesn't take much to snap our happy Haidyn out of her stink.  Daddy laid down with her and after a comical version of the Three Little Pigs, he had her smiling once again.

Good night and Happy Mother's Day to all the deserving mommies out there!

Enjoying Haidyn

Haidyn and I have been enjoying our one-on-one time lately.  It makes me sad that soon she will have to share me with her new baby sister.  I know there's enough of me to go around -- I just hope she does.  

Lil' Helper

I am soooo tired today.  After we got the big kids off to school, I curled up on the couch with the remote.  Haidyn was fine playing with her stuffed animals and keeping herself busy while I half-watched an old episode of 'Supernanny'.  She soon cuddled up to me and rubbed my hair, "Mommy, you sick today?"  I told her that Mommy was just a little sleepy.  She said, "Don't worry I help you Mama.  I do your dishes fer you - Otay?"  I gave her kisses, said thank you and figured she'd head off to her play kitchen to wash her dishes.  A few minutes later I heard water running and dishes banging in the sink.  I rolled off the couch to discover this...

Feet in the sink, dress soaking wet - all to help out a sleepy mommy!  Gosh, I love this child!

Our #2

So our first born is actually our #2 this year.   This season has been fun for Ashlee.  She has been working hard at her pitching and it's starting to pay off.   The girls had a fun game in the heat on Tuesday - tonight's game should be much cooler.  Here are some pics from Tuesday night's game. 

Up to bat:  "It's #2, Ashlee Dunn"

Ashlee:  "WOW!  We just made an out at 2nd!?"

Here's our little pitcher!

She's ready...

Little pep-talk from coach...

Lightning girls trying to keep cool in the dugout

The Water Slide

Today was unbelievably hot!  When we got home from Nolan's baseball practice tonight we needed to cool down - we literally melted out there!  Ryan pulled out the water slide and the kids had a blast.  This water slide has been great!  This will be our 3rd summer with it.  It has split a few seams - but nothing a little fishing line and needle couldn't fix.  Ashlee and Nolan wanted this water slide so badly, that they saved up their money and bought it 100% by themselves.  It was a great buy!  I hope it lasts them many more summers.  

(it's a great babysitter and the kids love her)

Our #1 - 2009

Nolan had a great game on Saturday.  He's getting hits off the pitching machine every time and man that kid is FAST!  His positions are first base and pitcher (next to the machine).  He is really loving baseball this year!  So much so, that last night he was filling out his poster for 'student of the week' and more than one of his answers involved baseball in some way.  

Here's is what Nolan put on his poster...

My favorite color is: "Red and golden."

My favorite food is:  "Chili cheese dogs."

My favorite animal is: "A king cobra."

When I grow up I want to be:  "A fire fighter."

If you had one wish:  "I would wish for a baseball field in my backyard."

My favorite thing to do is:  "PLAY BASEBALL!"

See our little pitcher (top left)

He's so fast it was hard to get the shutter speed just right

IT WAS A GREAT GAME!

Our Easter

We had a great Easter this year!  It started with our annual egg hunt at my mom's clubhouse on Saturday.  Ashlee opted out of this venture - choosing to play in her softball game instead.  She has decided that she is getting too old for egg hunting.  So I took her place because I LOVE hunting for chocolate!  Nolan was most pleased with himself this year because he found a "silver egg"!  He's been after one for the past 3 years.  There are only 3 and you can trade it in for a huge chocolate bunny - he even shared it with me!  By the way Ashlee's game was amazing - tied up and went into extra innings. So fun for them!  We even got to see a lot of it after our egg hunting.  

Sunday morning we were awaken at the crack of dawn by our kids (much like every other house in the world) to enjoy the Easter bunny festivities.  We had toaster waffles for breakfast since I neglected to grocery shop before the weekend and then we were off to church - 5 minutes late as always!  We met up with Ryan's family at his Grandpa's retirement home for Easter brunch.  Haidyn and I got a mid afternoon nap while Daddy took the big kids on a bike ride.  

Four Generations of Dunn Boys

Ryan, Dennis, Nolan, Ken & Terrell

And it wouldn't be a holiday without someone getting sick - we put Nolan to bed early with a fever once again.  We didn't sleep much last night.  But at least it was a relaxing and fun weekend.  We need to get used to lack of sleep anyways - right?