randomness

It was a great weekend to be a Wildcat fan. Somehow we pulled off a win against Louisville Friday night. Donielle came over to watch it with me and I made a giant 'cookie monster' for a game time 'snack'. Lucky for me she was here to wake me up at the end of the game;)  Tonight we play Michigan and I hope we win for lots of reasons. A big one being I don't want to have to listen to Philip's Aunt Carol trash talk all year about it… :)  Speaking of games, Philip went to Meijer the other night for Red Bull.  and came home with this. 

That's right. a ball pit. As whitney says ' it's like chuck E cheese at your house!'. 

Safe to say, she loves it. And I try not to get exasperated when he comes home with these things. I worry about her having so much 'stuff'.  obviously I want her to have fun and enjoy playing. and it's not like she said daddy go buy me a ball pit;) So I will put my worries aside until she's a little older:) 
For any moms out there who like to have to-go food for their kids while they are eating out or running around, I made these awesome mac-n-cheese cups that have been so portable and ainsley loves them! 

you can add all kinds of veggies, meats, etc. and they freeze really well! 

I am still going to BSF every wednesday morning and learning so much about the book of Matthew. This study has been such a blessing to me, my marriage and my family. The group of girls I am with have been so real and encouraging and we have seen God move in every one of our lives. I will be so sad when it ends for the summer.  
It snowed last night. and I will say it again- i am over it. 
and to end my ramblings- some pics of the cutest babe in the world 

eaten the dirt… 

aquarium

Philip somehow wound up with almost a week off from work! with the exception of teaching ATLS all day wednesday, we have gotten to enjoy some days off together!  He has been wanting to take Ainsley to the Newport Aquarium so Friday we got up and went :)  She enjoyed it for sure. I mean, what one year old doesn't enjoy animals, lights and room to play?  It was such a beautiful day and we had such a good time. 

touching a sea star

lunch time! 

she's special...

biting the penguins nose. of course. 

She is just so inquisitive and observant that going somewhere where there is so much to see was so fun for her. well, and fun for us as well :)  After we left aquarium we walked around newport and there were pictures of fish all over the walls and she would run up to each fish and point at it. then run to the next one, and point. and we would say 'where is the fish?' and she would go point to one:) this age is getting so fun! she isn't saying many understandable words, but babbles babbles babbles and is understanding everything.  that night we got to enjoy a dinner with just the two of us and get some errands done that are so much easier without baby-in-tow:)  Soo excited for spring to come and STAY. forecast calling for snow maybe on tuesday-- OVER IT:) 

St Patty's Day!

We love St Patty's Day in our family. #1 reason: it was grandpa budde's birthday. He would have been 89 this year. I miss him all the time. But i especially miss him when I see GG love on Ainsley and know how much Papal would have loved her too. Soon enough baby girl you will meet him in heaven. and he will scratch you with his beard and you will giggle and giggle:) 
But to honor and celebrate him, we always have a girls lunch on his birthday! we used to go to Red Lobster because that was his favorite, but due to my hate for seafood GG let's us go other places.  This year, we went to a new restaurant in Lexington called Wild Eggs. Rachel had a snow day and got to go with us! It was soo yummy. Ainsley ate almost as much as I did (which is the norm for our piggy piggy these days) 

Earlier that morning Ainsley had her friend Tate over while his mom Erin had some errands to do. They had such a good time. Well, except when he got in her cozy coupe and wouldn't get out. It was hilarious/sad how angry she got. screaming and pulling on her door, I mean seriously. 

 

 

this. face. bahahaha!!! 

That night, I made our traditional corned beef hash! 

Philip went out to get the corned beed and took Ainsley with him. when he came back she was sporting her green ;) 

"Dad, these braids are NOT my style" 

Philip also brought home green food coloring and made us green beer to go with dinner. The picture I took somehow got deleted :( 
So we had a great first day to Philip's week off of work (minus one day of teaching). 
Here is the blog from St Patricks Day last year. look how tiny she was! And true to tradition she signed whitney's birthday card and sent it to her too this year. HAPPY BIRTHDAY WHITLEY! 
Our little leprechaun is into EVERYTHING. she is so busy and nonstop that sometimes we just look at each other like 'how can she still be going?'. Today while I was in the shower she got into my drawer, and pulled out over 100 Q-tips and scattered them around bathroom. :) 

crawling in the ONE bathroom cabinet we don't have locked (because it's empty) 

sitting down. for a few minutes anyway :)

She is really starting to communicate and although she still only says 'DaDa' 'Jackson' and 'ooh' she follows most commands we ask her to do. touch mommy's nose. go get your book. go get your ball, give it to Jackson. go get your shoes. take this to Daddy. Go find Pop. Bite Nana's nose. Bite Aunt Ellen's nose. 
Hope you all had had a fun day celebrating The Irish holiday. which i just found out isn't really even an Irish holiday. and that green isn't St Patricks color, it's blue. oh well-- we will continue to celebrate! 

swim and sun

The sun is FINALLY starting to show it's face after the longest winter EVER.  yesterday was 'family day' at the overall house. We spent the day just the three of us relaxing, taking a walk and grilling out. But first we started the day with pancakes and bacon! and baby pancakes for baby:)

baby pony tai!!! 

loves her swing! 

inside her outdoor playhouse 

going for a walk! 

won't sit down- such a daredevil 

she loves playing outside and we can not wait for spring and for the chance to play outside more. 
Saturday morning she started her 'swim' class at the Y. She goes with her friends Avery and Kalyn who are close in her age and whose mom's are some of my best friends:) Lucky for us Alison's mom came and helped us chase the girls, change them and take pictures! :) 

hot.mess. 

 

 

 

 

hahahaha

Oh, and Friday we celebrated Maya's 4th birthday :)

So grateful for family time and time to just relax and enjoy each other. Seems like so many of our days are filled with to-do lists and chores and errands. It's so nice to designate a day off from everything and just enjoy it:)