Friday, December 31, 2010

New Year's Eve

Though Ashton tried valiantly, he didn't quite make it until midnight on New Year's Eve. We weren't expecting him to stay up. I think he just made it longer than usual because of all the exciting things going on. Aunt Laura's family came over (with the new puppies in tow), and we had fun party food and games. We brought our Wii over and got everyone except Uncle Dwayne to try the Broadway Wii Dance game. It is so fun, and it seemed like everyone was having a good time. (And we eventually got Dwayne to try a round of Wii golf, so at least he participated...) Preston loved the Wii Dance, and he kept asking to play it again and again. And even Ashton and Carter were dancing along with the adults! It was funny. Ashton also busied himself trying on all of the various pairs of shoes by the front door. Until he fell into a deep sleep, that is. :)


Happy New Year!!!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yes I am now 27! Though the thought makes me feel pretty old, I am not ashamed to admit my age. :) My birthday was excellent this year for many reasons, the first of which was that Tyler surprised me and stayed home from work! I thought he slept through his alarm so I woke him up and asked him what happened. But really he took the day off! Yay!!! And because he stayed home, he helped me clean up the house and get ready for dinner, which I would have otherwise had to do by myself. Double yay!!! That night Tyler's whole family came over and had dinner and cake and opened presents, and it was very fun. Since Tyler spoils me, I got a whole bunch of awesome presents from him and everyone else. The very last present we opened, though, was more like a present for everyone else...


Yes, I am pregnant with baby #2!!! I thought that maybe I was pregnant, so I took the test earlier that day. When it was positive we decided we didn't want to wait to tell, so we wrapped it up like a present and whipped it out for everyone to see. It sort of backfired, though. Carlton and Becky didn't really recognize what it was, so it took a bit of explaining, but once they got it they were all very happy! Too bad we couldn't send it wrapped up to my parents...that would be pretty gross. We just called and told them.

This was most definitely a very happy birthday for me!!!

Monday, December 27, 2010

Bed-Head Mohawk

Ashton fell asleep with wet hair after his bath, and he woke up with a pretty sweet mohawk.


Poor kid still looked pretty tired. Must have been all that tossing and turning.

Saturday, December 25, 2010

Christmas Day!

Everyone was excited to open presents on Christmas morning! Becky got up earlier than the rest and made a very nice breakfast, so we all woke up to the smell of blueberry muffins, hot chocolate, and scrambled eggs. It was so yummy! When everyone was ready we started in on the presents. All three of the little boys were so happy about each new toy or book, and as soon as it was open, they wanted to play with it. They were also very good about sharing their new things with each other. Ashton literally climbed on top of Carter's mountain of presents to share a toy with him.


In their matching pajamas, Carter and Ashton look like twins! (At least I think so...)


For Ashton, opening a present was very slow and methodical, but he wanted to do it all himself. Preston had the job of taking the bows and paper scraps to Grandpa. You can see his little hand getting the bow from Ashton.


Tyler's family does presents just like mine: taking turns from youngest to oldest, and everyone watches what all the others get. (It's totally more fun this way, people!) But apparently it was pretty boring for the babies, because Ashton wandered off. We noticed him dancing around in the background with the elf hat on a few minutes later. Too funny.


Everyone had so many presents! Between Tyler and everybody else, I got everything I could have wanted and more. (There will definitely be more on this subject later...) For the rest of the day we lounged about and enjoyed all of our new things.


We also sat by the piano, and Tyler played while everyone sang Christmas songs. Carter and Ashton were dancing around, and then Carter tackled Ashton with a big Christmas hug. I seriously love watching them together.


Just before bedtime, Aunt Laura and her family stopped by to show us their special Christmas present--two adorable wiener-dog puppies! One girl and one boy. They were so cute! Ashton really liked them, except when they tried to lick his face.


It's funny how Christmas seems to take forever to come, but then it's over super fast. Now we have a whole year more to wait...

Merry Christmas!!!

Friday, December 24, 2010

Christmas Eve

Christmas this year was with the Hintons, and it was a great one! We spent Christmas Eve hanging out, playing games, and watching Christmas movies. (Tyler had fun showing Preston an old tape of Christmas cartoons he recorded from TV when he was young.) Poor Becky had to work most of the day at the bakery, and we figured the last thing she'd want to do when she got home was cook some more. So we all pitched in and cooked Christmas dinner together. Ham, sour cream potatoes, green bean casserole, sunshine carrots, jello salad--it makes my mouth water just remembering it! It was ready and waiting when she got home, and I think she was pretty happy that she got to rest for the rest of the day.

Since Ashton still won't eat ham or potatoes (or anything, really), he enjoyed his own dinner beforehand with Papa Carlton.


Once everyone's dinner was over and cleaned up, it was time to bathe some little boys and get ready for bed.



Rub-a-dub-dub, three boys in a tub


The boys took the plastic nativity set in the tub with them. A pretty appropriate Christmas Eve activity, I say. Ashton had fun showing us all the animals, like the donkey, the sheep...


...and the cows. I love how Carter is frantically running away from the shampoo in Grandma's hands (behind Ashton).


For some reason, Carter was fine letting Ashton wash him. :)


And Ashton was happy to have Grandma wash his hair!


My cute, clean boy singing a bath time song.


This picture doesn't really have anything to do with anything. I just think Ashton has the cutest expressions sometimes, and this happens to be one of them.


Once all the boys were clean, it was time to open the Christmas pajamas!


(I think Ashton is wondering what he should be so excited about...)


Trying on the new PJs.


Unfortunately, this is the best picture we could get of him once he was dressed. He was tired and did not want to cooperate with my phone camera. They are pretty cute pajamas, though.


The rest of the evening we spent by the tree, and then it was off to bed.


And of course we could hardly wait until morning!

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Gingerbread Boys

Baking gingerbread houses and gingerbread boys is a long-standing Christmas tradition for the Hintons. My family must not like gingerbread very much--I know I don't, at least--because I don't really remember us baking gingerbread at Christmas. (Although I do recall a few "gingerbread" houses made of graham crackers...) I was excited for Ashton to try it this year. Turns out he's a natural!

Rolling out the dough


Sneaking a little taste


Messy flour face!


The part he liked best was eating them once they were cooked. Sadly, I didn't get a picture of it. He always wanted the bites with the M&M's on them. Of course.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Snow Storm

It snowed A LOT in the middle of the night, just four days before Christmas! When Ashton and I came downstairs we found a whole foot of snow piled on the back steps.


And that was on the side of the house that didn't have the wind blowing on it! Out in our driveway so much snow was blown in that we had two and half feet! Poor Tyler used every ounce of his strength to carve a path for his car through half of it, and then he gave up on getting any further.

Alas, all that snow still didn't stop Ashton from ripping his clothes off, as he always does. I don't think he does it as much because he wants to be naked; I just think he does it because he likes to take off the clothes and then try to put them back on again. Unfortunately he isn't so good at getting the pants back on, which is why you may have noticed that he hasn't had pants on for the last several posts. Oh well, what can I do? This morning he was trying so hard to put his clothes back on, but he must have given up, because he came running into the kitchen like this:


Pants on the head, one arm still inside the shirt--getting closer, but still not there yet, buddy! (At least the shirt is facing the right way...)

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Too Excited to Sleep

Tyler's sister and her family are finally in town for Christmas! Yay! Ashton is very happy to have Carter and Preston to play with. We spent a lot of the weekend at Grandma Becky's house hanging out with them. Ashton was so excited and happy and wound-up that he would not take a nap at all on Saturday--even when Carter and Preston were sleeping. That night he was so exhausted that he fell asleep in the middle of dinner.


He's never done that before! We took him home and put him to bed, but unfortunately we have 8:30am church. (Awful! Too early!) We waited until the last minute to wake him up, but I guess he still didn't get enough sleep. As soon as we got home and started lunch, he passed out in his chair again.


Poor kid! We put him on the couch and let him sleep for a while before we headed back to Grandma's house. He wouldn't have been very fun to play with without a little rest...

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Mischief

If we're upstairs and I'm not paying attention, or it seems a little too quiet, then that means Ashton is doing one of two things:

1--pushing, clicking, and generally messing things up on the computer


2--looking in the drawers for a pen so he can color


He finds them both incredibly entertaining and fun, no matter how many times I tell him he can't do it. Grrr. How exactly do you teach a one-year-old limits? I swear we do this at least once a day...

(P.S. I almost forgot--today he is one and a half!!! Wow, he is getting too big.)

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

On the Phone

Tyler's mom called him tonight, and I told Ashton that Grandma was on the phone. He immediately ran to the toy basket and found some little toy that resembled a phone. Then, for the remainder of the conversation, Ashton stood at Tyler's side "talking" to Grandma. It was pretty sweet.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Ribbon Dance

Ashton wanted to "help" wrap the Christmas presents this year. In a way he did help, but not with any actual wrapping. Instead he found a pretty pink ribbon and entertained himself the whole time by dancing around the kitchen with it.



When he noticed that Tyler and I were laughing and taking pictures, he suddenly stopped and looked very embarrassed.


This will definitely be among the "embarrassing" pictures that we show to his future wife someday. What a cutie.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Feeling a Little Better

It seems Ashton is getting a little better. He played with his funky hat and has been drinking lots of water.


He even managed to get my keys off the counter!


Since when did my boy become a little gangster? Drinking, stealing cars...We're going to have to put a stop to this! :)

Getting Sick

Poor Ashton is getting a pretty awful cold. He's a trooper, though, and doesn't complain much. I was taking his temperature, and he thought the thermometer was a phone. It was pretty funny.



Hope you feel better soon, buddy!

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Picture Books

Ashton loves to "read" his picture books. He points to each thing and tells what it is. We like to think he's getting pretty darn smart. Although sometimes he picks the strangest places to read...


(Doesn't look very comfortable to me.)

Thursday, December 2, 2010

The Dog Obsession

After spending a week with my mother and all of her animals, Ashton has decided he loves them even more. His favorite by far, though, are dogs. He loved my mom's dog, Kronk. Whenever we went anywhere he would ask to go home to the dog, and after we left them, all he did was ask for and talk about the dog. Ah! So, in an attempt to replace Kronk, we brought out every stuffed animal dog we own, and now he carries them everywhere with him.



I wonder how long this phase will last... Hopefully it doesn't go too far, because getting a real dog is not something I am willing to do! I know, my children will be so sad and deprived. But they'll live. :)

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Duck

When I was a little girl, about Ashton's age, my Grandpa Fulbright made me a duck on a stick that I could push around and play with. Then when my brother came along, he made him a grasshopper. They were some of our favorite toys and I can remember playing with them quite often. Right before we left for Thanksgiving, Ashton got a mysterious package in the mail from his Great-Grandpa Fulbright. When we opened it, we found a newly-made duck on a stick! I was so excited that Ashton could have one just like I did. And he absolutely loves it.


He calls it "Duck" (go figure!) and plays with it as much as I used to. Sometimes he walks it like you're supposed to, and other times he just carries it around with him.




Sometimes when he's playing with it, I catch him talking to himself. I wonder what imaginary game he is playing...









Thank you SO MUCH for Duck, Grandpa and Grandma! We love him! And we love you!!!