Fall Dance

 Ashlynn started to go to a different dance studio than she did in the Spring. We have to take night classes now and the other studio was just way too crazy for me at night. So we chose one that isn't crazy and hectic at all. Ash doesn't care where she goes as long as she's able to dance. None of these pictures are that great but you can sort of see our pretty little dancer in action.

I totally missed getting a picture of her lifting her leg up like her teacher by like one second. Bummer!

She has a lot of fun at dance and is a really good listener from what I've seen.

She's in the same dance class as Emma (Emma was on Dawson's soccer team last year) so I'm sure that makes it extra fun for her to know somebody in her class. And it's extra fun for me to hangout with Emma's mom while we wait for class to get out. :) :)

Fall Soccer

 Dawson has been doing pretty good with soccer this year. He tries really hard to kick the ball and most important he's having fun and looks forward to his games.

 This is actually an action shot even though it really doesn't look like it. Dawson just happened to fall right in front of me in the middle of the game and as he was getting up I snapped this shot. It almost looks posed, doesn't it?! You can see the kids behind him are still going after the ball!

These next few pictures are of Dawson scoring his VERY FIRST GOAL! We were so excited and so was he!!! He kicked it all the way from the middle of the field.

Ella is a pretty spoiled puppy and she was able to go to one of his games with us.

Soccer fans.

Introducing Ella!

We got a puppy a couple of weeks ago, her name is Ella. She's a Great Dane so she doesn't look like a puppy but she was just over 5 months old when we got her. And she still has a lot of growing to do!

Most of you know that I am not a dog person. At all. Not just dogs, I'm not a pet person, really. So I probably surprised a lot of people when I finally agreed to get a dog! She is a really, really sweet and good dog. I'm not going to lie, as of now I would be happier without a pet, but it's not all about me. Even though she's really good she still smells (like a dog, shocker, right?) and she still tracks mud into the house right after I've cleaned the floors. I'm hoping as time goes on I won't things like that bug me anymore... I'm working on it.

She is great with the kids and listens really well. That doesn't mean she won't try to chew on any and everything if you leave her alone but she will stop when you tell her to. So far we've only lost a garden hose to her. We keep a pretty good eye on her. If we see her getting ready to chew on something she's not supposed to we direct her to one of her toys and she's happy with those. She's potty trained and crate trained, so if we have to leave the house without her she's good about going into her crate. Thankfully since I stay home now she doesn't have to go in there often. I feel bad for her when she does. At night she sleeps on her bed in mine and Dave's room and we shut the door so we know she'll stay in there. She's a good sleeper, though, so I don't think she'd go anywhere in the middle of the night but I still don't feel comfortable leaving the door open and giving her a chance to wander the house alone.

This pic shows how big she is compared to Ashlynn's table. Yep, she's going to be HUGE!

Ashlynn absolutely adores her. It's a good thing we got a big dog because Ashlynn reminds me a lot of Elmyra (remember her from Looney Tunes?) and I'm pretty sure she could love a small dog to death.

Dawson doesn't really pay much attention to her. Every now and then he'll pet her really quickly and that's it. Her size intimidates him sometimes, I think. He told me he likes having her around, though, and wouldn't want to get rid of her.

Most of the time wherever Ella is, Ashlynn is not far behind.

Disney Live On Stage!

 I took the kids to see Disney Live on Stage a couple of weeks ago. We rode the train there (surprise, surprise!) and had a great time! Ashlynn dressed up as Cinderella and Dawson dressed up as Jake from Jake and the Never Land Pirates. Daddy was working so he wasn't able to go with us but he did pick us up from one of the train stops and took us out to dinner. :)

During the show Dawson asked me if all of those people were real, I told him yes and he told me they look a lot smaller on TV. haha It was fun seeing the kids so excited to see the people from shows they love to watch (Jake and the Never Land Pirates, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Sofia the First, and Doc McStuffins. Cinderella and Peter Pan were also there).

My Sweet Boy

A month or so ago I wrote about how Dawson strikes up conversations with anyone every time we go out... well recently a few people that he has talked to ended up just adoring him and couldn't get enough of him. I mean, I know we've gotten random comments from strangers here and there about something he said being cute or whatever but these are different.

While we were shopping for our new kitchen table a couple of weeks ago there was an older couple that was waiting for their salesperson to come back with something for them. They told us that they have twin grandsons that are Dawson's age, this was after Dawson had been talking to them for a good five minutes, and you could just tell by their interaction with him that they really enjoyed him company while they waited.

The next one was that same night. It was our salesperson that Dawson was talking to and he, like the older couple, just loved talking to Dawson. And he actually told us that he can't imagine that anybody could meet Dawson and not just fall in love with him. We agree.

Then tonight me and the kids were riding the train home from seeing Disney Live on Stage (I'll post about that later) and Dawson struck up a conversation with this guy. Who was 49, I know that because Dawson always tells everybody how old we are and he always wants to know how old they are too. :) Anyway, there were a couple of times when Dawson had stopped talking to the guy because he was distracted by something else or whatever and the guy would start talking to him again. And the seat next to the guy's wife opened up and she told him and he said "I'm talking to my friend Dawson" The guy kept telling me how he remembered when he kids were that age and he just loved it. He wasn't creepy at all, I don't know if me explaining all of this makes him sound that way, he was just a nice guy who adored Dawson. Dawson had the guy cracking up laughing a few times so I can totally understand why he wanted to keep talking to him, his happiness is contagious!

He is truly special. Nobody adores him more than I do, he's my little superhero. And I am truly blessed.

Tons of Pictures from my Phone!

 Holy picture overload! I decided to clean up my cell phone and get rid of some pictures so I transferred them to the computer and then decided I wanted to share some (or a lot) in the blog! Get ready for a whole bunch of randomness!

Most of the time if the kids know I am going to take a picture of them they hug each other. I do not tell them to pose like this, they just do. :)

My music duo.

I'd like you to meet Miss Independant. This girl wants to (and can!) do pretty much everything she has  to. Putting on her shoes? Piece of cake! She's been doing it by herself for months now.

Ash went through a phase where she wore her snow boots for a week straight. Daws wanted to join in on the fun!

Running through the sprinklers! P.S. Dave fixed all the sprinkler heads in the front and back yard so I don't have to worry about watering anymore, they're set up to come on on their own! Our grass looks much better now. :)

Playing dress up!

I was laying on the couch and Dawson came and sat on my lap and then Ashlynn sat next to him and laid down on his lap. I love my little cuddle bugs!!

Ice cream at Iggy's!

Ashlynn and mommy. :)

My handsome!

The girls were sleeping over one night and all of the kids were playing upstairs.... I would go up and check on them every few minutes and this is what I saw one time when I went upstairs. They were giving Ashlynn a Cinderella makeover! Love it!

I thought the lighting and clouds looked cool. :)

One of the kids, I forgot which one, pointed out that the cloud in the middle looked like a heart! I love that the kids love looking at clouds with me.

Another project. This one was a quick one! Get rid of the ugly lights on the front porch and both sides of the garage...

Before...

Much better! After...

 Ghetto "drive in" movie. *lol* The kids watched a movie in the Durango while Dave switched out the lights. They loved it.

Playing Crazy 8's! Yeah, he kicked my butt.

Movie time.

Bronco cheerleader.

Dressed up for another pre-season Broncos game.

More cool clouds. I'm a bit obsessed.

I woke up one morning to both kids laying in my bed. Not completely unusual, they often sneak into bed with us sometime after 5am. I love it! But what was unusal is Dawson's head was at the foot of the bed this time... (bad pic, I took it from over my shoulder as I was sitting on the edge of the bed).

But I know why he was sleeping the wrong way... Ash was being a bed hog! (another over the shoulder pic lol)

I love waking up to my babies!

We went to an actual drive-in to see Planes, the screen is MUCH bigger than the one we have in the Durango. :P

This girl is FULLY potty trained!!! She'll even poop in the potty with no problem. No more holding it until she can't hold it anymore, she just goes when she has to. YAY ASHLYNN!!!! I love that cute little butt!!

Hailee told me they were "four bugs snug in a rug"

Root beer floats on the deck with Mema and Pepaw!

Sleepy boy. 

These are the pretty pink clouds that Ashlynn noticed on her own and made sure to tell me about them. Thanks, Ashlynn, it was beautiful just like you said!

Close-up. This boy has stolen my heart.

Dave was exhausted after work one day and laid on the rug and Ashlynn decided to lay on him and watch TV, but not before she put a headband on him. (You'll have to look closely)

Shoulder ride for a cute little fireman.

Funny story about this night, that has nothing to do with the picture. We went out to eat at Firehouse Subs for the first time this night (hence the fireman hat) and we took our time eating, let the kids choose what flavor of punch they would get at the soda machine, etc. Dawson said he had to go potty so I took him and when we got in the bathroom I realized he had put his shorts on backwards!!! Two back pockets in the front, zipper and button in the back! I was DYING laughing. I couldn't believe he had been walking around with us for so long and we didn't notice!!!

We bought a new kitchen table and chairs! We were tired of the counter height one and we were tired of bumping our knees on the legs of the table since they were on the four corners of the table! The legs are in the middle of this table. Our knees are thanking us. (table from RC Willey, chairs from World Market)

Baby girl is 2 years and 8 months old and still rearfacing. In the car at least. We turned her seat in the Durango in July and we'll be flipping it around in the Altima soon, too. I'm really not looking forward to it, though. I might change my mind...

Ashlynn's turn for a shoulder ride!

This is my view 99% of the time when I'm watching TV with the kids. Ashlynn LOVES to sit on mine or Dave's lap. I hope she never outgrows this because I love it, too.

First day of fall dance classes.

And she did AWESOME. She's so happy that dance started back up again!

This girl has also stolen my heart.

We got the kids each a Mini Murph pizza so they could make them themselves. They LOVED it and Dawson finished his entire pizza! So glad we got two!

The boots are back and this girl is obsessed with books. When she wants to read a book with me she'll say "you talk, me read. You talk, me read" That means she wants me to read but she wants to turn the pages. The other night I was getting ready to read her a bedtime story and our conversation went like this:

Me: Pick a book, Ash
Ashlynn: Me first! Me read first.
Me: Ok, go ahead.
Ashlynn: You talk, me read.
Me: Ok *starts reading*
*fast forward to the end of the book*
Me: The end
Ashlynn: Ok, your turn to read!

Yep, she made me read the book again. *lol* I love the way her little mind works.

Playing with their Innotabs.

And lastly, a family pic!