World's Greatest Hobby

Today we went to the largest train show in the midwest. It's a touring train show called, The World's Greatest Hobby on Tour." Mom and dad both came and we had so much fun watching all of the model trains go round and round.

While we were there, I learned how to blow a whistle. I have a small yellow plastic whistle led to a real wooden train whistle and I've been choo-chooing ever since with both.





I also got to ride a miniature train with dad. We had so much fun waving to mom and chugging along with the conductor.

New Friend

Yesterday, I went on a play date to my new friend Kennedi's house. She has a great play set out back, a yellow lab named Abby, and a ton of toys I had never seen before. The weather was a balmy 70 and I had so much fun. Here are a few pictures of me and my new friend!

Here we are waiting for some bubbles. There was a bit of a breeze in the air and we had a lot of fun chasing after those floating spheres.



"I'm running, I'm running." I've turned into quite the athlete and love running. Mom is hoping I have some interest in marathons like she does.



Here we are taking turns blowing bubbles on our own. I'm not quite sure if either of us really mastered this skill yet. Oh well, we have all summer.



Here I am with Abby. I wasn't to sure at first, she's a licker. But we definitely warmed up to each other by the end of the morning.



We ended the day with lunch together.

Grow a Duck?

Well, our rubber ducky that indicates if the water is hot is broken. Ainsley reminds us of this at each "bath tub party" not only with the broken duck line but also by saying the water is "too hot", even when we know it is not. So, in an effort to get her a new duck (not with the same functional purpose), I found this grow a duck toy. When purchasing this toy, I did not take into account the patience level it would require nor the fact that Ainsley would enjoy playing in her man-made duck pond more than anything.



Has it grown yet? Watching the duck grow, very slowly - 10 days, for a 2 year old is definitely a stretch. So, we play in the duck pond and take the duck to the bath tub even though it is not full grown.



Regardless, we have had some fun with it. Even better, we can do it over and over again if we just let the duck dry out. Hopefully, he'll always have a pond. I wonder just how big this duck can get.

Say Cheese

Yes, it's finally happened. When mom says "Say Cheese" I'm truly a cheese. Getting a true smile on camera now a days has been somewhat of a challenge. We'll keep working on it though.

Here I am with play-doh. A not so favorite past-time of my Gigi's but mom still let's me play with it anyway. I make trains and dog's with the moldable clay. Mom always says it's a masterpiece, even if she doesn't quite see it.



And here I am reading with my Papa. My favorite books right now are Dr. Suess books. I have quite a few and like them all. Right now, my favorite books are Mr. Brown can Moo can You? and Green Eggs and Ham.

Science City

Science City at Union Station had been something the two of us had been looking forward to for awhile. Ainsley has a love for all things train oriented and here they have train exhibits, train history, and a whole bunch of other neat hands-on exhibits for little hands. Here are just a few snap shots of the fun we had.

Checking out the fire hydrant. Not a standard fire hydrant mind you. If you turn the top, it blows bubbles! Ainsley finally got the hang of it and we ended up a bubbly mess before leaving this exhibit.



Conductor Ainsley. Though there were multiple full size rail cars Ainsley could explore, she especially liked the one in which she could play conductor. All of the levers and buttons were very intriguing.



Digging for bones. Dinosaur bones to be clear. We loved the indoor sand-box and playing archaeologist. We took lots of the rubbery black play sand home with us in our shoes.



RUN! That thing zapped me. Ainsley was not fond of the ball that makes your hand stand on end. The lightning that reached out to your finger was something Ainsley was just not ready to experience yet. Momma's finger touched it and according to Ainsley it had a "boo-boo" till we reached the next stop.

Valentine's or V-Tines

I am woefully behind in blogging. Here is an effort in getting everyone up to date with the going ons of Ainsley in the past month. (Why is it I seem to take less picture's now that she is two?) We have done so many things which I have no picture's of, the camera just never seems to make it into my purse or Ainsley bag. Perhaps that's because I'm chasing a toddler who's telling me "I'm running. Bye-Bye now." She is always ready for that next adventure.

Here is a rare moment. We spent hours at the craft table in our kitchen making V-Tines for everyone in our family. Whether you live near or far, there was a V-Tine here for you. She loved playing with the glue-stick and peeling the backing off stickers. I definitely need to get her more craft like items to play with.



Such concentration! We had multiple arrangements. Ainsley especially liked decorating each animal sticker or heart with googly eyes.

Snow Explore

Last night we got about 3 inches of snow and after being stuck in the house all morning, I went out for an explore with Papa. Mom was shoveling the driveway and we went after the bunny rabbits and deer. Check out the tracks that we found.


We also went through the woods and down to the river.





Here I am with some rosy red cheeks. Gigi promised me some nice hot chocolate when we came in from the cold. It was hard to get me inside though.



Mom finally tackled me and in we went with the promise of marshmallows waiting.

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"Blue Horsey"

Here is one of my absolute favorite things to do, ride the "blue horsey" at the mall. Often in the morning I greet mom with a morning kiss promptly followed by "blue horsey, mall...please". This is a great activity for the rainy, cold, snowy days of winter. Though, not a cheap activity. Thankfully like everything else, the carousel at the mall has a punch card to.

We're not quite sure where the term "blue horsey" came from. We can only guess that it is either the fact that some horses have blue saddles or bridles. There are some black horses but most of them are white. But inevitably, we always go to ride the "blue horsey."

I'm Two, Two

It's hard to believe that this day has come, but I'm now 2 years old. There are so many things that I can do and mom can't believe that I'm 2 years old. This milestone has prompted her to get started on my big girl room. She's branching out in color and it's pink! I can't wait till it's all done and I can show everyone.



Mostly though, I'm just learning more and more each day. My two year molars are coming in. I've learned to count to 10 on my own..I get my numbers mixed up a little when I go above 5 on my own. I know all of my colors. I can say my ABCs with some help. I'm putting together puzzles like you wouldn't believe. Not just shape puzzles either, hard 6-8 piece puzzles. I started Sunday School at church and have been learning memory verses and the list goes on and on.

Here I am with my cake. I was going for a full face plant, but someone got me a spoon just in the nick of time. I prefer eating with my utensils and staying neat and tidy. However, I think mom was a little disappointed to not get the full effect.

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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.