Monday, September 28, 2009

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)

Saturday, September 5, 2009

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!