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Okay so here it at least 6 months from the last time I posted and I think it took me 6 months before that to post. My computer crashed and we moved and I have been on half a dozen road trips since then...needless to say I am a terrible blogger! I just saw a friends adorable blog and was inspired though it is late so I won't be adding much.

Christmas time is here and I have received some wonderful cards! It makes me miss all of you so much and yet it is so great to keep up and see where everyone is and what you have going on. Life is truly flying by and I wonder where the time goes.

Life in Colorado is fabulous. We really do love it here and are adjusting well. We don't have the Erie network but have been making friends well.

I do preschool for the boys and they are in swimming lessons. Casey has become a workoholic not by choice but because he has to. We are looking forward to family for Christmas and New Years. They will be joining us here. Yipee.

Life is good and I feel tremendously blessed when I sit down to count my blessings. I will try to be a bit quicker with the next blog.

This is a test to see who hasn't given up on me and blogging yet so please leave a comment!

Happy Father's Day

Let it Snow Let it Snow Let it Snow!

Monday morning we woke up to a blanket of snow outside. Jackson's face absolutely lit up like it was Christmas morning upon seeing it. He ran over to the window and exclaimed, "It's snowing Mom!" "Can we build an igloo? Can we make a snowman? I want to go skiing Mom! Can we go skiing?" I replied, "We will have to find you a hill to go skiing on won't we Jackson." There's a hill in Canada mom. Let's go to Canada! It's snowing in Canada Mom!" was his reply. After that we pretty much played in it all day off and on and we did indeed as you can see in the pictures build a snowman. Grady seemed to enjoy the snow as well, at least he didn't mind it and surprisingly, he didn't mind getting all bundled up. Tuesday morning Jackson was back out in it at 7a.m.! It should be a great winter as long as it isn't too windy and cold.

Preface to Single Parenthood is for the Birds!

Just forgot to mention that Casey is away on a rotation in Lancaster PA and that is why I am temporarily a single Mom.

Single parenthood is for the birds!

Being a single parent (temporarily) has left me frazzled on today! SO let me first start off by saying up until today the boys have been great. Yes yesterday I must have jinxed myself by telling people that the boys and the weather have been splendid! Well they have both taken a turn for the worst. Last night Jackson and I had a "special treat." We stayed up to watch Aristocats and eat popcorn. He went to bed literally 15 minutes later than normal and apparently it sent him into a very whiny mood today. From the moment he woke up at somewhere around 5:45 am he was in need of Mommy. We had a fight about breakfast.
Me: Jackson what do you want for breakfast?
J: Oatmeal with strawberries. I want to help you make it.
Me: Sounds great! Are you sure you want strawberries, Mom is going to have raisins."
J: Yes I want strawberries.
Me: Okay.
J: I want a banana too.
Me: If I open the banana will you eat the whole thing?
J: Yes....
We sit down to breakfast, I give Jackson his oatmeal with strawberries and serve myself with raisins.
J: I want raisins.
Me: You said you wanted strawberries.
And then the power struggle begins and so it goes for the rest of the day!
Breakfast became a huge power struggle in which I had to put Grady down for a nap and get ready for church, and try to get J to finish eating without getting off his chair or playing with toys for the entire meal. I think the battle took about 45 minutes for us to complete the meal.
As you can imagine I was a bit worried as to how church and the primary program would go. I hadn't yet arranged for someone to sit with the boys and was hoping to get there early to do this. It didn't happen. Luckily, some awesome friends offered as I walked into the chapel. Church itself in relation to the boys went pretty well. There were a few hang-ups though. The program was great! Primary was CRAZY! The kiddos were all wound up from their completion of the program. They were then re-energized from some great wiggle and get wild music. They listened fairly well to the missionary skit and then were out of control again for the movie and treats. Screaming at the lights going out, running around the room, standing on chairs to name a few events. Grady somehow managed to fall asleep. I took J to the potty and then took him back to the nursery for snack. Of course he wanted me to stay but I couldn't as I had to get back to the primary jungle jim. The nursery ran out of cups with lids so J had to have one without. This created yet another problem. Funny side note though. When I told him there were simply no cups with lids left he said he was going to ask someone else. He did and the reply he got was that there were no cups with functioning lids left. (His teacher showed him a cup that had a lid without a spout). Jackson came back with, "I want one that functions!" We all do don't we. Anyway church ends we get loaded up and return home. I unload the car leaving Grady in for the moment while he continues to nap. J decides he wants to eat sushi with me before he naps so as I am getting the food I hear the garage door slam.
Me: Jackson open the door! I need it open so I can get Grady.
J: no reply
Me: Jackson, I said I need you to open the door.
J: door opens, crazy giggling and laughing.
I assess the situation and Jackson is in Grady's face laughing. He woke him up! I was a bit upset to say the least...
lunchtime, phone rings, (Casey's tone). Yea, I get to talk to Casey. Wrong it is my VT partner. "Where are you I was just at your house and you didn't answer. Yada yada yada. I forgot about visiting teaching! Yikes I just was about to put J down. Scratch that! We load up the car. J falls asleep just as we are arriving at our destination. I carry him in and he ends up getting a cat nap when what he needed was a 2-3 hour nap. ( I needed it too). Oh well. So we get home Grady is fussing because he is hungry, and Jackson won't leave us alone so that he will eat. (Grady is at the stage where any noise, light or other various distraction takes him off task of eating). So I finally give up and tell the boys they can both stay in their room. I just need a minute to myself. After a few minutes of tears from everyone I go back in settle everyone down and call Sabine. She comes to my rescue and I leave to workoff some stress at the Y. I didn't know what else to do. I came back a new woman and though the whining and what not continued I could handle it. Thank goodness I only have 5 more days of single parenthood. And to all you doing on your own...BLESS YOU! I have gained such a great respect and appreciation for my own mom through this experience. I honestly don't know how she did it!

Pictures to go with October Highlights

For some reason the pictures I posted last blog weren't showing up so I am re-posting some of them. I know they aren't all the same as before but hopefully this works out better!

More pics from October

Halloween

Happy Halloween from Jackson and Grady Monkeys!

October Highlights

Soooo here is a little blurb about October to bring everyone up to date. October was soooo much fun with so many fun things to do and see. Oh how I love the fall. Apple cider, pumpkin pie, incredible leaves, crisp cold air and Halloween are just a few things that I love. These first few pics were taken at Port Farms one of the best places to visit during the fall season. With hayrides, slides, pumpkin slingshot, corn and hay mazes as well as a corn box. We went once with playgroup and then again as family. The boys had a blast both times! From there Jess came to Erie only to drive back to New York with us. (see earlier blog about this). And two weeks later the boys and I drove down to Lancaster PA to visit Casey where he is currently on rotation. Only one week to go! Hip Hip Hooray! What a ball we had there. We arrived Friday, went to dinner and to the Reading train station. Saturday we drove to Gettysberg where we got poured on. So much so we were only able to get one picture to prove we were there. OH WELL, we had a great time anyway. Sunday on our way home we took a pit stop at the Hershey Chocolate Factory where incidentally we ran in to our next door neighbors, Niki and Aaron who were kind enough to help me with the boys on our way home. (They saw me on one of my pit stops on the side of the road with the hazards on and stopped to help with the boys!) They are soooo awesome:) After another lonely week Casey made his way home for Halloween. What a great holiday the boys had with Trunk or Treat on Wednesday, Zoo Boo on Thursday, and Halloween Soup Night on Friday. Aren't they the cutest little monkey's? Saturday Casey spent the day with the boys while I was at the Super Saturday enrichment activity and Sunday after church Casey was off again to Lancaster to finish out two more weeks of his rotation. This week has been fabulous both weather and kids! Keep the sun and warm 60 degree weather coming!
What a great welcome to November! Looking forward to Thanksgiving as I have so much to be grateful for! Family first and foremost.
Happy Turkey Days to all!

You're Hired!

Here is a short video of Jackson at "working" in the factory at Chocolate World in Hershey PA. We went to visit Casey in Lancaster where he is doing his rotation this month. Before we left we stopped off at Chocolate World where we learned how chocolate is made and joined in a bit of the fun, We had a ball in the short time that we were there.

New York New York

Just wanted to thank Jess and Mel for another great trip to the Big Apple. We had a ball. So Jess has the worlds shortest trip to Erie...This is how it went. Fri Night (10:40pm) fly into Buffalo, Drive almost 2 hours to Erie, wake up pack, get on the road to drive with boys to New York. So fun! We then stayed in the at Auntie Jess's for a night and head to Long Island to have a crazy and wildly fun time with Melanie, Zanna and James! Kids have a ball, kids get sick, kids go home with me and Mel gets more company!
Call me Brave or Call me Crazy...probably both. I get to drive the boys home for what was supposed to be an eight hour trip! :) I think it took us over ten...YIKES. The road trip home in a nutshell and then I am off to bed :) Leave Long Island at 2:30, boys fall asleep yea! get to Washington Bridge, Jackson wakes up, leave NY traffic and get into New Jersey traffic, "Mommy I have to go to the bathroom." OOPS forgot to put on the diaper! Pull off on the side of the road, apply diaper, load back into the car and into traffic...drive a few miles, car is close to empty, take next exit along with a 7 mile detour get gas for $2.93! get back into traffic, Grady's hungry, pull off on next rest stop, creepy truckers and men all over no restrooms, Grady is too distracted to eat. Leave creepy rest stop, Grady is still crying for food. I pump and drive, go through toll, pump and drive. Pull of on the side of the road to give Grady a bottle. Get him started, get back on the road, Grady drops bottle! Wah! Back in traffic so I pull off again, hold bottle, read books, and get back on the road. Grady falls asleep, Jackson watches Peter Pan. Finally back on the road again and making good mileage. This took 4 hours to get to this point...Drive drive drive, need gas and food it's now 10:00pm. Food for all and gas for the car and only 3.5 hours to go. Finally 12:30ish am arrives and we pull into home sweet home!
Soooooo Brave or Crazy???? you decide :)

I love love love the Fall!

Okay so before I actually begin, I want to say this is my second attempt at this posting! Arrrgh! I wrote a whole post andwent to publish it only to have the blogger out of service!
Having said that, I truly do love the Fall! I love the pumpkins, I love the changing leaves especially here in Pensylvania!, I love Halloween, haunted houses, the brisk air and all that the season has to offer.
Here are some recent pictures of Jackson and Grady. Here you can see Jackson's Haunted Gingerbread house creation! What fun! We had a ball. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Aguirre for sending it. Down below you can see our trip to Port Farms in Waterford, PA. What a fun day! We took a hay ride, played in the corn box, ran through the corn maze and the hay maze, and rode the slides. As we rode the slides it was so cute, there were a couple of school girls that took to Jackson. They took his hand and took him up and down the slides! They were so funny, I could see them arguing as to whether or not Jackson was a boy or a girl. When it was time for the girls to leave, I went over and told them thanks for sliding with him and one of the girls told me she asked him if he was a boy or a girl and he said, "I am a boy!" I responded, that's right he is a boy and she then snickered to her friend,"I asked his mom and she said that he is a boy!" Really it was pretty funny. Don't be fooled by his hair or eyes, Jackson is ALL boy! He currently loves, trains, balls, baseball, golf, basketball, coloring, painting, and books. He loves to play in the dirt with his dumptrucks and has a great love for life. He now can recognize all letters of the alphabet and has learned many of their sounds too!
Grady too is all boy. He is a mover and a climber!!! He loves to stand up and cruise, he climbs the stairs, crawls anywhere he wants to go and fast. He loves to play quite independently but loves to be in on ALL of the action. He his so observant and will fight sleep, food, whatever if he thinks he is missing out on something. He loves life and is such a happy baby. He says Dada and sometimes Mama. The boys have a great love for each other. Grady constantly watches Jackson and is learning from him all the time. Jackson likes to sing to and peek a boo with Grady. If he is sad he happily shouts BACON at him. Yes I said bacon. For whatever reason Grady loves the word bacon and you can get a smile out of him with that word almost anytime! Anyhow we love the fall, we love life and have much to be grateful for!
Happy Haunting!

Miles Halloween Birthday Party

The boys had a great time at Miles' 2nd birthday party. As you can see the kids got to dress up in their costumes. Good times were had by all...they got to play in the leaves, search for ghosts, decorate cupcakes, eat mummies, (pigs in a blanket) and much more! Happy Birthday Miles!

Here are my three favorite boys in the whole world! Gotta love em! We went on a pontoon boat tour down on Presque Isle. We had a great time and learned a lot about he nature and history of the area! Great times were had by all!

Grady's first meal

For those of you who faithfully check my blog even though I am so slow to update here's to you! I am trying out a new photo program that will hopefully upload my pics faster and encourage me to blog more often! Wish me luck:)
Here is sweet Baby Grady at about 5 and half months eating one of his first meals or should I say wearing it! Such a sweet boy he is! Grady is nearing 7 months and is crawling and standing on everything. He never wants to miss one moment of anything and prefers to be moving say 99% of the time. He is having lots of fun keeping me busy!

Wow! It's been forever!

Okay, okay so any of you who might be reading this and hasn't actually given up on checking my blog must think I really suck at this whole blog thing and I must admit you're right! But here I am posting again to give a quick update on life. As you might guess I am finding it difficult to find time to myself for anything other than family. I love being a mom of two more than anything and time goes soooo quickly. What I am doing these days...being a mom, training for marathon number two, staying in Utah again and trying not to say no too often to my adventuresome, mischevious, loving 2 year old son Jackson. What Casey is doing...currently he is in Meadville, PA doing an anasthesia rotation, studying his tail off for boards, trying to sneak in exercise time, getting his applications ready for residency, figuring out what kind of doc he wants to be and of course missing his family. He was recently released as the clerk and is now in the young men's presidency. What Jackson is doing...playing baseball, golf, paddle ball, running around, talking up a storm, (stringing sentences together), traveling, teasing and loving his brother, sleeping in a big boy bed and being all out goofy and fun. What baby Grady is doing... at 4.5 months he rolls over in both directions, is creeping, (gets up on arms and legs and rocks back and forth or lunges forward), this kid will be crawling before you know it! He is razzing and blowing bubbles, smiling all the time, trying to learn to sleep through the night and of course traveling too. At his young age he has already flown to Utah and back, flown to New York City and then again to Utah. Baby Grady will be blessed in a few short weeks on August 10. Other than that we have being living life a day at a time. Unfotunately being out of town, I don't really have any pics to post as I don't have my own computer but I will try to post some more recent pictures soon. We have had a lot of fun small adventures recently and have some great pics. No promises but I will do my best! Take care and we hope all is well with you!

6 weeks postpartum!

So here we are…6 weeks postpartum. Today officially marks Grady's 6 week birthday! Wow time flies when you are a mother of two! Here is a little update on the last 6 weeks of our lives.

March 5^th, Grady is born! March 7^th, Jackson's birthday! March 8^th, J's birthday party. Mom and Jess visit this week and we have a fabulous time! Wish they were still here! Miss you tons already. Casey is off work and is adjusting to the "slow-life." Each day is a new adventure, to the zoo, to the park, anywhere. Grady has no chance of living a slow life. (Gotta keep J entertained). Life is grand!!! April 3^rd, Nana comes to Erie! April 4^th Road trip to New York. Off to see the Yankees!!! (and Jess). April 6^th Casey starts his Psych rotation. We had a fabulous time with Nana, Shopping, playing golf/baseball, going to the museum, going to the park, etc. April 10^th Ashley and Jackson get haircuts. (J's First!) April 13^th Nana leaves town. April 14^th I become solo mom! (okay it's not been bad as Casey helps in the am and comes home for lunch everyday.) Jackson is adjusting well and it hasn't been as hard as I thought.

I am loving being a mother of 2 amazing boys and feel very blessed. I am looking forward to running again and working on getting my old body back! I just ordered my double jogger yeah!

To all who are reading this, hello. It is so fun to see who is actually taking the time to read this and thanks for being patient. If you check it too ofter you may get frustrated as I am not a great blogger but… if you check it every couple of weeks hopefully you'll be pleasantly surprised. Take care!

Ashley

Jackson’s First Haircut

April 10^th, 2008 Jackson got his first haircut. I guess it was finally about time seeing how he gets called a girl about 90% of the time. His hair was below his shoulders! Unbelievable! Jackson was awesome during his haircut and he didn't even shed a tear. I am sure Casey and I had a lot more anxiety about the whole experience than he did! Michelle, (who cut his hair) was fabulous! Here are a few pics…hope you enjoy!