Oh! It's Christmas

Merry Christmas to all! We hope that you had a wonderful Christmas morning with your loved ones. We had a wonderful time celebrating the birth of Jesus with our family. Of course Ainsley noticed the "pres" (presents) that were around the tree and the beautiful music of Handel's Messiah faded into the background as our giddy almost 2 year old demonstrated her unwrapping skills.


Yes, she unwrapped each present. We heard "I tear" numerous times. But this was also followed by "trash" as she took each piece to the trash bag. We also noticed a bit of her meticulousness come out as each present had to be completely free of wrapping paper and tape prior to opening it and looking at it.


She loved the "pres" she did receive. Her new three piece band consisting of "tumpet" (trunpet), "tar" (guitar), and harp were a hit, she got a set of building alphabet blocks which she makes "big choo-choos" out of, and of course the kitchen are favorites. It was amazing that the kitchen made it to the very end before being opened. She never peaked under the sheet until we told her she could and even then she was timid while exploring it. But she definitely loves it and it has expanded her ability to play and pretend on her own by a 100%.



We were very thankful to be together as a family over the holiday. We hope that you experienced some wonderful times and created cherished memories on this special day.

Simple Joys

We celebrated Christmas with Matthew's family over the weekend. We had a great time and enjoyed the moments we had to relax despite the hustle and bustle of the season. Perhaps the thing that gave us the most joy though was Ainsley. She did a wonderful job sharing, waiting her turn to open presents, and demonstrated a joy for life without the presents. It gave us hope that she knew somewhere that the true joy of Christmas didn't come wrapped in a pretty box.

Cookie Time!

It's the holidays and the baking has begun. Mom found her recipe box hidden in a lunch box so now we have access to some of the good old standby's. Here I am sampling the Peanut Butter Kisses, Great Grandma Annies recipe. The peanut butter cookie is okay, but I really like the Hershey's kiss in the middle. After witnessing this, dad said why waste a good cookie, and just gave me the kiss.


I love chocolate. I cook pretend hot chocolate, love dark chocolate M&Ms and Hershey's Kisses, and am quite a mess when I'm through. Mom's been a good sport through the holidays but I bet the chocolate frenzy will end after my birthday.


Here we are baking the infamous cut-out sugar cookies. To have times like these is why my Papa and Gigi have moved here. I loved pushing the cookie cutter down, although I had to get the knack of it. At first I was a speed cutter and didn't quite get the imprint. But then I got into it, the grunt helped and I used all my strength to cut-out one of these cookies. I had no idea how much work this was!



I loved sampling the cold cookie dough and saying "I got it" each time I saw the beautiful cut-out I had just made.

Gymnastics

Yes, I'm in gymnastics. I'm training at the GAGE Center in Blue Springs where two olympic gymnasts have trained. Mom enrolled me for the winter months as a way to burn off some energy while we're forced to stay indoors more with the colder temperatures and snow. Little did she know that I would take to this whole gymnast thing. I'm fearless, check me out on the trapeze. I'm the only one in class who'll hang on and fall into the pit at this point.


I also love running on the trampoline and jumping on them too. I walk around the house during the week saying, "Jump, Jump" followed by "nastics" letting mom know that I'm ready to go back to gymnastics, even though we just left or worse, have to wait another 5 days. Thankfully they have open gym time, though we've yet to make it to that.


Here I am with my friend, Colton. He's younger than me, but much bigger. Actually, I'm the smallest in my class. But that's okay, especially if you want to be a gymnast. I love the end of class when we all get stamps for the new skills we've learned. What have I learned you ask...I love walking the balance beam, doing kicks while I walk the balance beam, flipping on the uneven bars, and of course there's the whole trapeze thing. I'm not really fond of the quiet stretching time at the beginning, but I'm getting better at it. When I'm 2 1/2 we'll think about moving me up to the next class.

Bathtime Fun

Here we are at bathtime on a wild night. This nightly activity is mom and dad's way to calm me down. They do everything short of using the lavendar bathtime soap. Tonight will be an exceptionally hard night I think. Mom's laughing, dad's snapping photos, and I'm cracking that grin that gets everyone going. Lots of splashes will follow, mom will be drenched, and dad will finally get this slippery little girl into bed.

Snow, Snow, Snow!

It's snowing, ALOT. Today mom and I were out and about when the first snow of the season started falling. It started on the way to gymnastics and by the time we left we had about 2 inches! 2 inches in 1 hour, wow! So, after the scary drive home on slippery backroads with mom saying, "Ainsley, please be patient. I know you're hungry." and me saying "A mess. A big mess." I finally got to go play in the snow.


From the window I see the white fluffy snow and say, "A mess. Big mess." Mom says, "Ainsley, this is snow. Yes, it makes a mess. Brrr it is cold." I say, "Nosw", my version of snow which sounds more like nose and follow it up with "mess". We got almost 4 inches of snow! I really enjoyed turning on our Christmas lights, the snow made them twinkle.

I missed prime snowman building weather because by the time I got out there it was too cold. But mom made a miniature one (if you look closely you can see it in the picture) and I got to hold snowballs. This morning, it's not snowing so the snow is slushy. I liked stomping in it in my new frog rain boots. I also got some snow boots to keep my feet warm. The pink hightops may have matched my snow suit but they aren't certified for 30 degrees and colder.