Friday, December 30, 2011

Stats

I realize I am way behind on posting Ashton well check stats. I know no-one cares about this, but this is my scrapbook and it needs to be here!

I don't think I ever posted the 12month ones, but I can't find them now, so here are his 15 month ones (from a month ago).

23lbs 10oz (36%)
33in (93%)

Long and lean. Just like Emy.


Photobucket

Ashton's first haircut

This post is really really late. His first haircut was over a month ago. Oops.

I really really delayed Ashton's first haircut because I loved the shaggy hair and curls. I knew that once he had a big boy haircut the curls would be gone forever. I was just not ready yet. But his bangs kept getting in his eyes. And I could not handle that. So, off we went to Cool Cuts.

The woman was so nice and completely understood. She took about an inch off all the way around but still left it shaggy and showed me how to style it to make the curls come back:)

Before:

ash haircut low res-2825

ash haircut low res-2828

ash haircut low res-2832

ash haircut low res-2833

ash haircut low res-2836

After:
ash haircut low res-2849

ash haircut low res-2852

ash haircut low res-2856

ash haircut low res-2853

Photobucket

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Christmas 2011 Recap- Part 2

Christmas day! We went through our family tradition of letting the kids do stockings while we wait for the rest of the family to come over. The kids loved digging through everything.

Family came over about 8:30am and we dug into the presents shortly there after.

Santa brought Ashton a cozy coupe. I knew this would be a hit. I knew Emerson would want it too even though it is not age appropriate. I seriously considered ordering her a pink one to spare myself the arguing. I decided not to. Santa brought her a pink razor scooter instead. She liked it for 5 minutes and then got discouraged. Later that night in the bath I asked her what her favorite gift was. She told me it was the Leap Pad. (Duh!) I asked her what she thought about her scooter. "I don't like it", she said. Plain as day. Awesome. Oh well, hoping that she will grow into it when she has more practice.

Oh, and I have been breaking up lots of fights over the dang car. As expected.

In other big Christmas news, I was in charge of the meal this year. This is a big deal since I am not known for my cooking skills. I was really nervous, but I planned ahead and think it was a success. The food was eaten. Praises were given. And no one got sick!


Stockings!
christmas low res-5042

Christmas 2011 low res-5038


Inspecting the cozy coupe. You should have seen Ashton run to this thing. It was a hit from the beginning.
Christmas 2011 low res-5048
First 5 minutes of scooter love.
Christmas 2011 low res-5053
One of my favorite pictures from Christmas!
Christmas 2011 low res-5063
A new police car. To go with his police car cozy coupe.
Christmas 2011 low res-5069

I did not take any pictures of the food. Bummer since I was so proud. At least I got a little table setup.
Christmas 2011 low res-5075
Gebhardt boys just hanging out. These three have the BEST relationship. I love watching them together.
Christmas 2011 low res-5079

The pictures abruptly stop after this. I was so worn out after the cooking extravaganza that I became "off duty" the rest of the evening:)

We had a fabulous Christmas and I hope that you did too!

Photobucket

Christmas 2011 Recap- Part 1

I am seriously behind on blogging. I knew this fall would be insane with the business but insane is an major understatement. Good news is that I survived! Bad news is that I am behind on lots of little things...like blogging. I have several posts to catch up on but I figure I should do Christmas first and then work backward.

I really made an effort to photograph a little more of Christmas with my family. I LOVE photography. Obviously. But I am terrible about catching the everyday moments in my family. Terrible. I am always so worried about making the moments look good. Perfect lighting. Perfect set up. Etc. Well, we all know that real life is just not perfect. I cannot set up my home and children on one permanent photo shoot. Enter one of my 2012 resolutions: Shoot more of the everyday with my kids.

Anyways, I did not to a fabulous job by any means, but I did better. I think.

We had 10 at our house for Christmas. Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, kids. It was a zoo. And full of love. And I would not have had it any other way.

All of the family was in town several days before Christmas and several days after. It gave us lots of time to enjoy family and just be together. It was exactly what we all needed this year.

A few days before Christmas, just hanging out outside.
Christmas 2011 low res-4890

Christmas 2011 low res-4892
The ONLY picture I am in from the holidays this year.
Christmas 2011 low res-4897

Seeing the beautiful Chesapeake lights
Christmas 2011 low res-4909
Emerson and Uncle Scott in front of the Chesapeake tree.
Christmas 2011 low res-4913

Christmas eve was spent hanging out and playing games.
Christmas 2011 low res-4925

Christmas 2011 low res-4927

Christmas 2011 low res-4932

Christmas 2011 low res-4934

Christmas 2011 low res-4950
Of course, Ashton wanted to be where the food was.
Christmas 2011 low res-4953

All dressed up before Christmas eve service. Clearly Ashton wanted to be in the picture.

Christmas 2011 low res-4967
Emerson and "Miss Melody". She is Scott's long time girlfriend and praticaly a member of our family. We just love her and Emerson is slightly obsessed.
Christmas 2011 low res-4970

After Christmas eve service and dinner. A little love from grandmom.
Christmas 2011 low res-4972

Christmas 2011 low res-4982

One of my most favorite Christmas traditions is that my grandmother reads the Night Before Christmas to the kids. I made capturing this an absolute priority.
Christmas 2011 low res-4988

Christmas 2011 low res-4997

Christmas 2011 low res-5012

After the kids are in bed. Gifts are assembled. The tree is organized (thanks Scott). Lights out.
Christmas 2011 low res-5015

Christmas 2011 low res-5020

Christmas day is in part 2!

Photobucket

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Today

Nikon day 1 049 edit low res 3

Nikon day 1 069 edit low res

Nikon day 1 130 edit low res

Nikon day 1 092 edit low res

Photobucket

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Emerson's 4th birthday party

Emerson started talking about her 4th birthday over the summer. Seriously. So it has been a long time coming. From the beginning she was very clear about the fact that she wanted a "jump jump" (bounce house) and to be a princess. We decided that it would be a costume party so that her friends could dress up however they wanted but that she would most definitely be a princess.

I was determined to do this party as much on the cheap as possible. Perfect example...I came up with the party colors of pink, purple and orange because I had plates and napkins in those colors already in my pantry as left overs from other events. Done.

The main event at the party was definitely the bounce house. I knew that we needed other activities because everyone would not jump at the same time. I set up pumpkin decorating and halloween color pages for the kids to do. We also had our playset and sandbox all cleaned up a ready to go.

When it came time to send out invites this year I asked Emerson who she wanted to invite. She did pretty good coming up with a list of her closest friends. The list consisted of all girls and two boys (not including baby brothers). This means that at the party we had 6 princesses, 4 fairies, a ballerina, a girl owl, a dinosaur, red iron man and a cute little giraffe. Can you imagine all the tulle and glitter?

The only two little boys at the party did not know each other. They are friends from different circles. The funniest thing happened. One of the boys was jumping and came out of the bounce house. He spots the other little boy sitting at a table and points to him and yells, "Hey, you. Boy. Orange boy. Come in here with me, boy." And the funniest part was that the other little boy totally ran in to play with him. Like they had to stick together amongst all the little girls. It was hilarious.

Emy 4th bday party edit
all dressed up and ready to go
Emy 4th bday party 010 edit low res

Emy 4th bday party 026 edit low res
happy to be a giraffe
Emy 4th bday party 032 low res
the kids tables
Emy 4th bday party 033 edit low res
food table minus the hot dog mummies that were in the oven.
Emy 4th bday party 037 edit low res
pumpkins to decorate
Emy 4th bday party 044 edit low res

Emy 4th bday party 045 edit

Emy 4th bday party 051 edit low res

Emy 4th bday party 054 edit
ashton kept sneaking to the food table to reach up and grab whatever he could.
Emy 4th bday party 078 edit low res
look at all the tulle!
Emy 4th bday party 085 edit low res
time to eat.
Emy 4th bday party 094 edit low res

Emy 4th bday party 095 edit low res
one friend came in a full sleeping beauty wig. And totally wore it the entire time. It was awesome.
Emy 4th bday party 098 edit low res

Emy 4th bday party 104 edit low res

Emy 4th bday party 109 edit low res
Even the little ones had cupcakes.
Emy 4th bday party 114 edit low res
had to get a shot of the back of ashton's precious costume. He left the head piece on the entire time like it was no big deal:)
Emy 4th bday party 116 edit low res
This shot is so funny because this daddy came with two snow whites. One of them stripped off her costume half way through the party so dad stuck it in his back pocket. No big deal.
Emy 4th bday party 118 edit low res
the sandbox got lots of use.
Emy 4th bday party 126 edit low res
the playset got lots of use.
Emy 4th bday party 144 edit low res
Again, the tulle!
Emy 4th bday party 155 edit low res
and I had to include this sweet picture of Ashton and grandmom.

I realize after going through the pictures that I never got a picture of our precious food creation- hot dog mummies. They were hot dogs wrapped up in breadstick strips with a little face peeking out. It was really cute and the kids ate them up. I also never got a picture of the entire party set up or a family picture of all 4 of us. Oh well. There is always next year.

The most important thing is that Emerson had a blast. We opened presents as soon as everyone left and when she was finished I told her that we would play with them tomorrow but it was time to take a bath. She looked at me with sad eyes and said, "Mommy, I am so tired. Can I just go to bed now?" It was 6:45. And she totally crashed. And slept until almost 8am. I take that as a success.

Photobucket