Happy Halloween

so this is gonna be brief 'cause i haven't really been feeling well lately, but i figured it might be good to get my halloween pics up before thanksgiving and christmas get here ; )


So Old Navy had a super big sale on their halloween costumes. i went to get a dragon costume for jude and something else for emma, but emma saw the dragon costume and that was the end of the discussion. I LOVED the fact she wanted to be a dragon for halloween : )




Jude got the next best thing... : )


SOOOOOO this is how emma takes care of her baby. I see a great baby sitter in the making. (P.S. I'd been wanting to get emma a toy kitchen but they're pretty pricey, and then one day as i was leaving for walking group, what should be out by the dumpster but this lovely toy kitchen. After walking group it was still there so emma and i lugged it home and i washed it. that's not gross is it? Waste not want not : )






mmmm tasty ; )


so i've decided to start a tradition of making ghoulish meals the day before and day of halloween. Here's what i made friday night... both meals came from kraftfoods.com

Ghouls-in-the-Graveyard

2 pkg. (7-1/4 oz. each) KRAFT Macaroni & Cheese Dinner

1 pkg. (8 oz.) KRAFT Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

2 eggs, beaten

1 pkg. (16 oz.) OSCAR MAYER Wieners, cut crosswise in half

1 tsp. yellow mustard
HEAT oven to 350ºF.
PREPARE Dinners in large saucepan as directed on package. Stir in mozzarella and eggs. SPOON into foil-lined 13x9-inch baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Stand wieners, in 4 rows of 5 wieners each, in Dinner mixture for the ghouls.
BAKE 20 min.; cool 5 min. Add small dabs of mustard to wieners for the ghouls' eyes.

pumpkin carving




She was so proud of her pumpkin, she didn't want to go to bed




making a pudding graveyard for Jodi's Halloween party


1 pk Oreo cookies
2 pk Chocolate INSTANT pudding
3 cups Cool whip
4 oz Rectangular white cookies
Topping:
Cool Whip
Licorice
Candied corn

Directions

Place cookies in zip-lock bag and crush using a rolling pin
. Make pudding as directed and let stand for 5 minutes
. Stir in the cool whip, and 1/2 the cookies.
Spoon mixture into a 13"x9" baking dish.
Sprinkle with the remaining cookies.
Refrigerate 1 hour.
Decorate using rectangular cookies as tombstones, etc.
Use cool whip to make ghost-shaped blobs on the top, create swirls of *ghosts* on top, use pieces of black licorice for the eyes.
Place the candied corn around the top.

Being a cool russian spy with kyle and suzi at jodi's halloween party


Spaghetti and "Oozing Eyeballs"
2 lb. ground beef

1 pkg. (6 oz.) STOVE TOP Stuffing Mix for Chicken

1 cup water

2 eggs

1 jar (26 oz.) spaghetti sauce, divided

4 sticks KRAFT STRING-UMS String Cheese, cut into quarters

4 pitted large black olives, cut into 4 slices each

1 pkg. (1 lb.) spaghetti

HEAT oven to 375ºF.
MIX meat, stuffing mix, water, eggs and 1/4 cup spaghetti sauce. Shape into 16 (2-inch) meatballs. Insert 1 cheese piece into top of each meatball, with end of cheese piece just showing at top. Place on baking sheet. Top each with olive slice to resemble eyeball.
BAKE 20 to 25 min. or until meatballs are done (160ºF). Meanwhile, cook spaghetti and heat remaining spaghetti sauce as directed on package and jar.
DRAIN spaghetti. Serve topped with meatballs and sauce.

Halloween 2009
Some friends gave us the idea of having "The Office" themed halloween and so i was the NBC peacock and brad was Mose Schrute (Dwight's odd cousin)


Emma with some of her friends Cody and Ellie


This was our church's halloween party and the kids trick or treated at the classrooms. A couple in our ward went all out and decorated not only their door but the whole room. it was a lot of fun and went perfect with emma's costume


not quite sure why this photo won't turn but this was jude at the party


Wanted to post jude's halloween outfit. Thanks Rhea for the shirt and Ashley for the socks!

GO, GO, GO!

so apparently emma is slightly afraid of flying kites, but her friend Codi has no problem with it. fun was then had by all.


tummy time


YAY!!! Becky was great enough to do my first 5k with me in years. thanks becky!! It felt so good to be running again : )


...yeah... the hills sucked... but becky is like super woman and didn't break a sweat ; P


and we finish : )


Jude did a great job during the run... and he and emma both won pumpkins for their troubles.


When emma saw me uploading these she pointed at jude and said, "Christmas!" need i say more?




yeah, we're back to potty training again. I'm working myself up to this hardcore potty training in 3 days routine... not really looking forward to it...


They play so well together ; )


he looks like grandpa ashley in this one.


wrestling... emma always wins


Jude 3 mos


So Becky was so kind as to teach me how to make bread (which was SUPER yummy--let's hope i can replicate it again) and she held a fussy jude for me for a couple of min and he totally passed out. i thought it was pretty funny




there's a park here where there's a little farm next to it with sheep, goats, pigs, and llamas. There's a video of emma feeding the llama at the end. The pig's grunts kind of freaked her out.


Emma insisted on wearing a halloween shirt that was meant for jude


I was making lunch one day when i came out to find emma sitting on her couch "reading" her Gideons bible that was so kindly given to us. i thought it was pretty cute. The other night Brad told emma she could only choose one book to read since it was past her bedtime. after looking over her books she chose the Gideons bible. Brad laughed and could only reply, "Touche."


So Old Navy's halloween costumes went on sale for super cheap and so i got a couple for the kids. Well, this is supposed to be jude's (size 0-6mos) but emma insisted on trying it on. pretty funny, no?


WSU has a falconry club and they hosted a "raptor safari" this past saturday. We got to see a lot of BEAUTIFUL birds up close and emma loved it. I forgot to take picks till the end when emma was getting tired. so i didn't get the best pics.







some fun chatter with jude with a guest appearance by emma



Soooooooooo it's true what they say about how kids imitate what they see...there's been a lot of angels baseball going on in our house.



my little couch potatoes



emma meets the llama

Happy (belated) Birthday!!!!!

Yeah... this blog entry took FOREVER. that's what i get for procrastination... true ashley style ; )


HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY BRADLEY!!!! that's right he's an old man now ; )


Emma stole some of Brad's thunder and so brad wanted me to make cookies instead of a cake for his birthday. Look how excited he is.


emma... being emma...


So for emma's birthday i tried to recreate jamba juice which is her favorite. This came from a WIC cookbook and it was goOoOOooOooOd and EASY to make too. Here is the recipe:

Fruit & Juice breakfast shake

1 ripe med banana, peeled
1 (6oz) can pineapple juice
1/2 cup low fat plain or vanilla yogurt
1 cup strawberries, rinsed and stems removed

Break banana into small pieces and put in blender with pinapple juice, yogurt and strawberries. Secure lid and blend until smooth. Serve immediately.
(i found refrigerating the juice and strawberries made it better. you can also use frozen strawberries, which gives it a stronger strawberry flavor).


The officially 2 year old birthday girl! thanks gma and gpa newbold for the present!


She loves the book she got!


So here's some of my beautiful walking group! I love these girls! We do about a 3 mile walk every morning through the brutal hills of pullman. i took some pics to give you an idea.


There's a mini hill before this beast hill #1


hill#2


hill#3


hill #4


and there's a mini hill before this last beast hill #5
this last killer hill is forever long. these pictures really don't do these hills justice
Thanks ladies for the butt shots ; ) you're troopers!


afterwards we let the kids play at the apartment playground. for emma's birthday we brought cupcakes and sang happy birthday.


the aftermath : )


Ava cracked me up!


still emma's birthday, and she got to choose her afternoon snack. Notice the change in clothing, a birthday shirt from her birthday package.


yeah... she didn't want to share : (


So gma and gpa newbold heard about emma getting into trouble by stealing my chapstick and eating it... so they sent her her own. She's good about not eating it, but she's very much into the layering it on like her aunt rheanna ;)


(last change of clothing ; ) ) and so ends the birthday with pizza (her choice), cupcake, and ice cream. We love our "spirited" child and can't imagine life with out our little fireball. She continues to amaze us with how smart she is. she's really talking up a storm these days. Some recent things that made us laugh: "Jude, go time out!" - as jude sits there doing nothing; "phew, emma's poopy"- what she says after running around... she's mimicking me saying "i'm pooped;" "mom! come find emma's bed! Emma sick! Emma need medicine!"- one last try at getting out of going to sleep 45 min after daddy had put her to bed; "Mom (pointing finger at me), be nice!"- after i told her to get her hands out of the trash can; "Jude, pumpkin head!" and "Jude! Wake up buddy boy!"- what she says when she goes in to wake him up. We know there are more, but we can't think of any at the moment. She cracks us up. Oh and she's a BIG fan of the Ting Tings and can sing along whenever we have them on.


(Sooooo we don't mean to offend anyone, but brad and i stumbled across this 3 mos photo of emma and couldn't help but laugh. Little did we know how prophetic this photo would be.... note what the bib says and the finger she's displaying on pup pup.... we're just sayin....)


So i tried to find Jude a doll for his 2 month photo he could grow with but apparently they don't sell big stuffed animals out here... so the pup pup tradition continues : ) now, which one's jude and which one's emma.... hmmm....


hanging out


first time i did buns in emma's hair, and she kept running to the mirror to look at her "balls"


she insisted on getting dressed up after nap time. it amazes us how well she can walk in heels


once again caught playing indiana jones with jude


playing with the wsu cougar


playing in emma's crib


how jude REALLY feels about his sister when she's not looking


Par-tay in emma's crib! HOLLA!!!


Our happy lil boy. we all just love him SO much! he has been such a good baby and tolerates emma sooo well... like when she purposefully screams to make him jump so she can have a good laugh...


our newest find in our storage unit


Apple, plum and pear picking last saturday! SO much fun!






So this is what happened shortly after we opened a letter from Gma Ashley in which she sent kung fu panda stickers. It's her favorite movie.

All in all we are really loving washington. We have made some friends with some wonderful people and truly feel at home here. We miss you family, come visit soon! : )

(Videos to follow)

The Emma-nator vs Judicus Maximus

GASP!!!! Can it be?! Did i really just do two postings in under a month? ; ) i realized i haven't really posted many pics of Jude and figured some of you might be wondering how emma and jude are getting along. Truth be told... they hate each other... TOTALLY kidding. They actually love each other and do great. Emma can calm him down, even, when he's upset. She really is a good mommy. And as they get older i worry for anyone who dares to pick on emma's little brother/baby boy.


Jude LOVES bath time. It cracks Brad and i up cause he'd just happily float in the tub forever if we let him.


Emma's hair is getting long enough that i can braid it. It was funny cause this pic was the first time i'd braided it and emma kept running to the mirror to look and would happily point and exclaim, "Girl!" Glad she's starting to realize what she is.


I was rushing around getting things ready to head out the door when i came across emma and jude playing indiana jones.


Doesn't it look like their on a roller coaster?
P.S. Sorry Dee's mom, i know emma's not wearing her matching bottoms, i put pants on her cause it was cold : )




Our handsome little man. We all love him SOOOO much!





So here are some neighborhood friends Brad and emma discovered one night while playing outside. A "breeding pair" of great horned owls (according to Brad). They are HUGE and beautiful. We've been seeing and hearing them a lot lately, and we LOVE it!


So all in all, we are LOVING washington. We've already made friends with some really great people who have made the transition go a lot smoother than we'd anticipated and are so grateful for them. We miss all of our family and friends though and can't wait to see you all soon? Oh and if anyone has any connections to cheap housing in the Seattle area come January, give us a heads up : )



So i LOVE it when Brad puts emma down, because when HE does, emma will read with him. When i do it I have to do the reading. She's such a smart little girl, and she makes us so proud!

Playing major catch up...

K, i know it's been awhile and Jude is almost 2 mos, but please cut me some slack, we've been just a tad bit busy the past few months. Some have been asking for the delivery story, so i'm gonna try and be quick 'cause i need to get to bed.

So I was supposed to wait for a call from the hospital who would call me between 6:30 and 9 am. My Dr. said if they hadn't called me by 9 to give the hospital a call. So time keeps ticking and we decided to go for a walk, and while on the walk 9 comes and goes, so at 9:30 i call the hospital and they say they're super busy so just go eat something and they'll call me sometime that day. So slightly disappointed we decide to take emma to the park. MAYBE 5 minutes had gone by when my phone starts ringing. It's the hospital and they're ready for me. So we drop emma off at Dee's and head to the hospital. By 11:17 i'm finally hooked up to the pitocin, and the contractions start (the not painful kind). Oh and i was already dilated to about a 3.5 and 80% effaced when i got there. So an hour passes, and i'm like a 4 and the nurse says my dr's gonna come soon to break my water. SOOOO i decide since the contractions are getting stronger i'd get the epidural before they broke my water. Even though i knew what it was like getting an epidural i was still scared for some reason. And of course right before they get there to give me it, brad had to go home to put emma down for a nap. But it all went well and the epidural was AWESOME. So by like 2 they come to check me, and i'm at a 9 and ready to have a baby!!! i was in shock. i thought they were joking. I'd totally planned on it taking awhile to pop the sucker out. The whole time i'm in labor i was texting family play-by-plays, all chipper and happy. And then in 3 or so pushes (less than a minute) he was out. I think the first thing i said to the Dr was, "Did i seriously just have a baby?" i can't believe how night-and-day this labor and delivery was from emma's. I really felt so blessed because i'd been praying that the Lord would help me out because i had SO much to do after Jude was born. The Lord has truly been mindful of our family in blessing me with such a speedy recovery so i could get things ready for this move.

That being said, we are now in Pullman, WA home of the annual Lentil Festival (which we sadly missed...no really, we were bummed we missed it). It really is beautiful here, and we're gradually getting settled in. There are lots of little kids in our complex and it was seriously 2 weeks before we saw any other white kid. Emma's made friends with kids from Egypt, Pakistan, Lybia, Japan, Africa (we're not sure which country yet) and have no doubt she'll meet other cultures. it really is going to be an amazing and cultural experience living here. We miss our family dearly, but we're excited to see what the future holds. We're still trying to get settled but i thought i'd take a quick break and give an update. We love you all and want to thank you for all you've done to support our family. we truly feel richly blessed with the amazing family and friends we have!


This was in June, so i was 8 mos right?


Rheanna wanted to take some pics of Emma and Elliott so she could make a present for father's day. Emma just loves elliott so much she just wants to SQUEEZE him all the time :)




Emma taking advantage of her soon to be little bro's bassinet...except she thinks the undercarriage is the bed...hey, could this work as a bunk bed dealio? cause that would save me A LOT of money...

Heading up to see uncle daniel who just got back from his mission to spain in june. i was still pregnant with emma when he left so we were really excited to see him!


On a family vacation with the Newbold's in the mountains. Emma wanted to go swimming in the pond, but it was cold and rainingish, and i don't think she could have even if it wasn't.


Happy Fourth of July! Posing with Grandma


Excited and anxious to get the show on the road


What daddy did while waiting. (We'd gone almost a full year without tv.)


I'm pretty sure this was taken right after i had Jude, but this is pretty much how i was the whole time. It was AWESOME


Jude getting his tags




Just after his hospital sponge bath


"You, me, staring contest, NOW.....you win...you always do..."




Emma gives being a big sister a thumbs up!


Passed out eating for the first time. See video at end of blog


Jude's first bath. My child fake-bakes


Shout out to dee's mom! Thanks for the pj's :) And look it's ALL matching! ;)


My little man is already trying to pretend he's a super hero


Emma is obsessed with putting on everyone's shoes now and even sometimes insists on wearing some of my clothes. She's actually scary good at walking in heels, and she's not even 2!


One of our last outings with Josh :( We miss you guys!!!!


These next few photos are just little candid moments i was able to catch after Jude's blessing. This one is with grandpa and great grandpa Newbold


great grandma and grandpa Newbold


Great grandpa Newbold


Aren't they cute?


everyone who helped with the blessing :)


The grand-daddy's


The fam


Smiling with a proud papa


fish face kisses :)


Great grandma Newbold


Singing and jamming on Rock Band




we were all busy unpacking while emma watched tv and i found she'd passed out. Poor kid was so tired from lack of sleep during the move


Saying good bye to grandma and grandpa ashley who were absolutely AMAZING in helping us pack, clean, and move. i KNOW we couldn't have done it without them. We love you mom and dad! thanks for everything!!!


Emma playing indiana jones... if indiana jones wore hot pink ghetto shoes



this was a week after jude had come home and emma was having the time of her life playing with aunt katie that morning. Mind you emma rarely falls asleep anywhere other than her crib, so i was SUPER excited when i noticed she was doing the head bob at lunch.



So this is emma singing along to a song her uncle daniel gave her. i thought he might be proud ;)

Back by popular demand

So just for the record, i'm missing MY nap time to do this post...i hope you're happy all you demanding people who are obsessed with my child! ;) you know who you are... I really have been just too tired to do anything when i have time to do things. I'll blame it on my unborn child. Anywho, we're all doing good and the dr is probably going to induce me on July 9th so that Brad will for sure be home and everyone who's going to help me can organize their schedule's (Brad's probably heading back out on his dig as soon as i get home from the hospital). Any ways here's some pics and video for your enjoyment!


Emma decided she wanted to try out izzy's kennel


my cute girl


sporting some new sunglasses at the park


getting up close and personal with a horse for the first time. She was excited but didn't want to get too close.


So Emma like NEVER falls asleep in the car so it was fun to catch her while i could


eating lunch with aunt katie...or i should say stealing aunt katie's lunch because emma didn't want her own.


This slide was HUGE and emma was a champ and took the plunge!


Rhea took us to the park this day and they were both trying to climb up the slide when emma slid through her legs. Can i just say i have the best sister EVER.




Playing at the temple


So for those of you who don't know Emma by a freak accident chipped her front left tooth over memorial day down to the nerve. After we were FINALLY able to get her in to see a dentist 2 days later the dr decided it had been exposed too long and she needed to have surgery asap to have the tooth removed. So she was put on amoxacillin (sp?) till surgery to prevent and kill any existing infection. She did awesome although separation was somewhat traumatic for all parties involved. She's been SUPER clingy ever since but so far everything looks good. She's our toothless little hill billy now:)






Finally getting to play with josh:) prince charming is always trying to put her shoes back on


SO we're finally at the "MINE" stage of toddler hood. This was probably Emma and Josh's first real fight over something. So before intervening i of course had to take a picture;)


Playing in Josh's bed, a favorite


Pool Time!




So this is from today. I'd given Emma some plain spaghetti noodles and went into the kitchen to grab something when i returned i found her sharing with Elliott.



So here's Emma doing silly faces. She also surprised us while we were at Mom and Dad's when Dad sat down and held up fingers for her to count. No joke she almost did it perfectly from 1-10. Brad and I were totally floored. We count with her and read number books but never had we held up fingers for her to count on her own. Every day she amazes us with how smart she is.



So i caught this after she had been saying Snoopy really funny but at the end it's pretty good.



So i FINALLY was able to catch Emma singing on camera. She often likes to make up her own songs and it's so fun to watch. She loves singing!



This is from forever ago but i only just found it. Neither Brad or i remember this but we had a chuckle watching it.

Getting around to it...

Sorry it's taken a bit, illness hit our home once again and emma and i were out of commission more or less and Brad was no where to be found while finishing his thesis...which he passed:). So here's a blip of what's been going on.


Playing in momma's boots


Little kodak moment i caught while i was getting bath time ready. Emma loves to read my old parenting magazines cause it's full of pictures of baby's.


This is why i hadn't updated...


Chillaxin before church.


7 mos preggers


So to commemorate summer Brad's doing the buzzed look again. Although he tried to seduce me with the bozo the clown perv look...it almost worked...those sexy pouty lips...


Cheese! BFF

So the following videos are from a ways back. Emma decided to bust out a performance when Grandpa and Melissa stopped by. Hope it doesn't make you too dizzy, but grandma has been demanding in her needs of pics and video. Hope this satisfies you for the time being;)