Christmas Celebrations

Not all of our Christmas celebrations are through, but as behind as I am in blogging, I need desperately want to get some posts posted! This one of the best Christmases that I can remember. Of course last year was wonderful because it was last year on Christmas morning after keeping it a secret for 8 long days, I revealed to Chris that he was going to be a papa come August! And then out of his excitement we told our immediate families the same day! This was a fun, exciting, memorable Christmas, but of course we can't have that Christmas ever Christmas!!
This year was my worst Christmas in terms of preparation. On the nights of the 23rd, 24th, and 25th, Chris and I were up until at least 2:30am finishing up Christmas presents for the following days. One of my goals was to create at least one gift for everyone that I gave a gift to and with having school through the Wednesday before Christmas, I didn't make enough time to complete all my projects ahead of time.

So here we go, a run down of some of our Christmas celebrations this year!

[Immediate] Clum Family Christmas
We headed to my parents Christmas Eve Morning to exchange gifts with my sibilings, parents, and niece and nephew! After cinnamon rolls and orange juice, just like we've had every Christmas morning growing up, we opened gracious gifts and some homemade goodies! Afterwards we shared lunch before partially parting ways.

 Christmas Eve Evening: Christmas Eve my cousin Beth's little boy was baptized. Because of enjoyable fellowship with my sibilings, my parents, Chris, Ains, and I walked into the back of the church at 4:05, just in time to see Brayden baptized. Afterwards we headed to Aunt Sara's house for delicious munchies!

Great-Grandma Clum, Ains & I
Cousins Brayden, Samantha & Ainsley
Christmas Family Pic
Ainsley Jo

Christmas Morning: Christmas Morning Chris and I woke before church in order to exchange presents. Sleeping in until nearly 9am--which is almost shameful to admit for Christmas morning!!--we headed out to the living room to exchange gifts. Ainsley was wrapped up in a super soft Christmas blanket that we had received as a gift the day before from my sis-in-love and in her bouncer as we opened our gifts. Next year, I'm sure she'll be all about the gifts paper/boxes!

Momma * Hot Mess + Ains * Wide-eyed + Papa * Excitedly Cute = Christmas Morn

1/2 Massie Christmas: After opening our gifts between the two three of us, we headed to church and then to Chris' parents for Christmas with his parents and his sister's family. Both of his brothers were out of state on Sunday so Christmas with them are on different days. The boys were excited as they tore through their piles of gifts and enjoyed playing with many of them yet that afternoon!

Oh, and Micah likes to take pics so we had a mini photo shoot with my camera!

We're quite the photographer/model combo! :)

Big Clum Christmas: On the day after Christmas we headed to Greenville for the big Clum Christmas aka all my dad's side. My dad and aunt were in charge this year so I volunteered to have some games prepared for the group. I got all my ideas from this blog and they were all minute-to-win-it style games.



Make yourself into Rudolph.
With a pom-pom on a string and vaseline on your nose,
you've got a minute to get the pom-pom to stick!

Using only one hand make a pyramid
Christmas tree out of Red Solo Cups!





Funny story: My cousin's little boy [light green shirt] got up to the bench to make his pyramid. On your mark. Get set. Go! Without hesitation with only one hand he punched the stack of cups sending them across the gym floor and smiled indicating he was finished! I guess I should have explained the game a little better! :)



This one wasn't minute-to-win-it style. Instead one person with oversized gloves on tries to open the present
while everyone else is taking turns rolling doubles. Once someone rolls doubles, then that person gets
to take their turn at opening the gift. The catch is that there are about 5 boxes wrapped within the other boxes. My older brother was the only "adult" to participate, but I'm pretty sure that's because he knew there was a $25 gift certificate at stake.
He won! :)

Not everyone was able to attend, but we did have a good number so of course we need to take some family pics!

Top: Grandma Clum & all 5 of her children
Bottom: Grandma & 11 out of 16 grandchildren

17 of the 21 Great-Grandchilren

The Whole Clum Clan [in attendance--we were missing a few!]
Top: Smiles!
Bottom: Natural!

Lastly, Chris' favorite pic from the whole day!

Grandmomma-cita is excited
about a new book for Ains!

 As you can hopefully tell from all these pics, we have had a very wonderful Christmas! We were able to spend a lot of quality time with family and especially as I have grown a bit older more mature, I recognize that is what it is truly about!

And we still have two more Christmases! :)

Dear Ainsley [Week 17]

Christmastime 

Dear Ainsley,

On Wednesday I had an early release from school and your papa switched his working schedule around so the rest of the week, the three of us got some quality time in together! It was very much needed, and enjoyable! Because of a funky school schedule and doctor appointments, your uncle Zac watched you on Wednesday. This was his first solo babysitting--and diaper changing--experience and everything went great! With him you enjoyed your first Jerry Springer experience as well! I'm just thankful you don't know how to repeat anything yet!

Uncle Zac sent me this pic saying
he must be doing something right.
I'd have to agree.

Merry Christmas baby girl!! You have absolutely no idea what is going on around you, but your first Christmas is underway! A few weeks ago, your papa asked, "Do I have to get Ainsley something for Christmas?!" It's not that he didn't want to get you anything [especially this year because he's on it with gifts] but he wasn't sure if I expected him to get you something. We decided that it completely wasn't necessary this year. You didn't know any different, so instead of showering you with gifts that would just take up space and you wouldn't appreciate it we got your a Christmas dress, a "first Christmas onesie" and an ornament.

Christmas Eve was spent at Grandpa and Grandmomma-cita's house for Christmas was my immediate family and then in the afternoon we headed to Greenville for your cousin Brayden's baptism. You were passed around at Aunt Sara's afterwards.

Papa & Ains at
Grandpa & Grandmomma-cita's
on Christmas Eve

Attempted pic with
cousins Samantha & Brayden

Christmas Dress

 Christmas morning your papa and I shared our gifts as you sat in your bouncer chair and then were were off to church. 

Christmas Morning in the Bouncer

 Christmas with your Grandma & Grandpa Massie and the Krehers followed before heading back home for some rest! It was a big weekend and you still have the big Clum Christmas and the big Thayer Christmas!!

Christmas Day with Grandpa Massie

Even with you not knowing what was going on with all these Christmas celebrations and being Jesus, Christmas was so much fun with you Princess. We may not have witnessed joy on your face due to the holidays, but we certainly witnessed joy on others' faces when you were in their presence! That's what it's about anyways, right?!

Last but not least, we've learned yet another thing about you. On Monday evenings while Papa and I are at TFC, your Grandpa & Grandmomma-cita watch you and then this Friday when we went to the Villager with some friends we left you at there house for a couple hours. On more than one occasion [including this Monday and Friday] we arrived at their house to pick you up, expecting a good report, but instead you had just fallen asleep after being ridiculously whiny unusually fussy for most of the time. I hated that you weren't "good" for them because you weren't like that for us. Or so I thought! As I thought on it more, I realized that you are like that at our house in the late evenings but the difference? After about 2 minutes of that extreme fussiness, I scoop you out of Papa's arms and cradle you to sleep against my chest. I know I'm your momma and you like me for that reason, but this is the first time that I've clearly experienced how deep that preference is! Of course I don't want you to be fussy for anyone, it does make me secretively happy that there is a level of comfort only I can provide for you!

Love
Momma

Dear Ainsley [Week 16]

December 17th, 2011


Dear Jesus Ainsley,

This weekend was LBTs Christmas Cantata and we were asked to be Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. Three years ago, Papa and I were Mary & Joseph [largely because your papa can grow a beard by grunting!], but this year was much better as instead of carrying a cold, plastic doll, I got to embace you through out the program. As far as the acting, we were directed to "be in our own little world, captivated by you and talking amongst ourselves". Easy enough! Momma's usually in her own little world. You naturally captivate us. And I can alway chat with your papa. You did AWEsome with your role as well. The first service you slept through 3 out of 4 songs and then once awake you silently, and adorably stretched! The second service you were awake for 2 songs but didn't make a peep--and we didn't need that bottle I stashed in the bales of straw just in case!

Photo Courtesy of Gary Brown

I'm not going to lie. I was nervous. Nervous you would, well be a baby and cry or fuss. I was also nervous because on Saturday within ten minutes of needing to be on stage you learned a new trick. As you shoved your hand in your mouth--nothing new-- you figured out that if you blew you could make quiet the raspberry on your wrist!! Yikes! It was quiet humorous, but I don't think baby Jesus did that in the manger, and thankfully you didn't either.

Joseph, Mary, & Jesus

In addition to your great acting debut and teaching yourself to make raspberries on your wrist you made another huge development this week! I was out in the garage working on Christmas presents when your papa came out and calmly said you just rolled over. What?! I didn't want to believe him in part because we're constantly joking that you walked or talked when the other one isn't around. He clarified that it was just on the couch so we immediately came back in to see if you'd do it again... and you did! Five more times! And then you proceeded to roll over once on the floor! 

Way to go lil' lady!


Love,
Momma

Dear Ainsley [Week 15]

[Still] Sweet Baby Girl-


You're my favorite lil' one! Of course I am biased, but you are so sweet and lovely to me. Although I teach others all day long--or as one of my students asked this week, "You just hang out with us all day long, right?!"--anyways, even though I'm commonly viewed as the "teacher", I love being a student of you! Your smiles, your cries, your personality, your potential quirks! It's all so captivating and intriguing.

One thing I learned, that I'm sure you'll later be embarassed by is your belly button squishes! Some times you have an innie. Some times you have an outtie. So the other day when I was changing you, you had an outtie so I decided to make it an innie... This is what makes me laugh more than anything else--other than your laugh--lately! I can feel is squish around in there! Having a squichable belly button may not be what you want when you're older, but for now, I love it! :)

What I don't love, but am trying to appreciate because I know one day I will actually miss it, is your night time carseat habits. I can't figure out what it is, but you don't usually enjoy these rides. I always thought that babies enjoyed car rides, but I guess you are just not "any baby". It's alright, we'll manage, but if you'd like to stop wailing while in that car, I certainly won't mind!

Another change I've noticed is your sleeping habits. You still sleep well, but this week you were a wiggle worm while you were sleeping! I definitely enjoying snuggling with you all night long, but this week, I was up more than you as I was constantly kicked and hit. You even picked my nose in the night at one point! Hopefully it was just a restless week for you as you had a bit of a cold because I'm not ready to kick you out yet!

After your first basketball game.
At which you saw your first, and hopefully last,
broken & dislocated elbow!

Until next time baby girl! You are having your play premier this weekend being Baby Jesus in our church program, so hopefully you can live up to the role! Your papa wanted you to wear a onesie that read, "Jesus loves me!... err... I love me?" The choir director requested you not be in pink. I think we'll stick with all white! :)

Much love!
Momma

2+ Week Update

Behold my attempt to do a two+ week recap! I've fallen behind making my mental blog posts into actual posts, so here are some snipets so I can feel "caught up"!

Dear Ainsley [Week 13]
Nothing too out of the ordinary in baby life. You've developed an incredible talent for wailing for no apparent reason while you are in your carseat. We've tried adjusting it but that doesn't seem to be the issue. On Monday you screamed yourself to sleep as we head to our TFC Thanksgiving get-together. Then afterwards I needed to swing by Meijer's. You were asleep so I left you in the car with Papa to run in real quick. I got a text reading, "Someone's world is ending." You were no longer asleep. When I got to the car if looked like a teenage makeout session had occuried the way you had the windows all steamed up! Sadly this wasn't a one time thing as you have wailed through many more car rides since. :S I'm hoping you lose this talent soon!

Other than that, you celebrated your 3 month birthday this week! As well as your first real family-get-together kind of holiday! I made a little turkey outfit for you and you did well not to spit up on it so you could wear it to all the family functions! You're a champ princess!

EDIT: Oh. My. Goodness! I just remembered a HUGE milestone for you this week! We had the privelge of hearing your laugh for the very first time. As we were preparing for bed and I was changing your diap, I tickled your belly a bit and there it was! It was so cute. It was so contagious! Since then, we've heard it many times and it causes us to laugh as well!

Thanksgiving Celebrations
This year I "celebrated" Thanksgiving 7 times, I believe.
1. Spartan Inn Thanksgiving--The food management class makes a Thanksgiving meal every year. So the Friday before Thanksgiving I enjoyed some fixin' courtesy of my students. Although there was plenty of turkey, I didn't partake in any of it! One of my students said, "Ms. Massie, don't eat the turkey!" "Why?! Did you make it?" "Nah, but don't eat it! I'll tell you why later. Eat ham." I passed on the meat all together, and never found out why I shouldn't eat the turkey. I probably don't want to know!
2. Friendsgiving Dinner--On the Sunday before Thanksgiving, we went over to our friends Ben & Sara's for a delicious meal and lots of friendly fellowship. Sara [& Ben] did a great job preparing the turkey and other friends brought some delicious sides as well! I ate to my heart's content without any reservation!
3. TFC Thanksgiving--The Spencerville Senior High Chapter headed to the St. Mary's chapter for a Thanksgiving meal and sharing. The leaders of the St. Mary's chapter did all the leg work for the food, and it too was good. I think it was great for our teens to get to experience another chapter as well.
4. Girls' Night Thanksgiving--Held at our house on Tueday, we had our Girls Night Thanksgiving celebration. I made the turkey chicken as if it were a turkey and if I didn't spill the beans, none of the ladies would've known. If I ever volunteer to make the meat again, I'll probably go with just a turkey breast. Raw meat is disgusting and anytime I work with it, I question why I am not a vegetarian. Bleh!
5-6.Thanksgiving Day: Run for the Turkeys 5k--For the second year in a row, we started Thanksgiving morning with a 5k run. This was my 1st 5k since having Ainsley and my first 5k to "run" in my barefoot shoes, and I was almost 2 minutes faster this year than last year. [Last year's Run for the Turkeys 5k would've been my last non-pregnant 5k.] My time isn't, close to being something to brag about, but I was happy with it, and I made it to the halfway mark before walking at all so that was good for me! :)

Leanna & Chris before the run!

After the run, we headed home, showered, and then headed out to Chris' parents for Thanksgiving with them. After a full meal topped with apple pie a la mode, we headed to Spencerville to meet up with Zac before heading down to Greenville. Greenville was full of family, laughter, little girls playing dress up, men watching football, and of course, green jello and pears! Pretty usual. Pretty lovely!
7. Thayer Family Thanksgiving--Then on Sunday, after sleeping in, we headed out to Chris' aunts for the Thanksgiving on that side. we had round one with ham and then round two with turkey! Me? I had lots of broc & cheese casserole!

My favorite lil' turkey!

Black Friday
Mom and I were planning on heading out, just the two of us, at a not so ridiculous time mainly for the excitement of it all! Black Friday shopping is fun for me, as long as there is nothing my heart is set on. About 5:30am Mom and my brother were pulling in to head on out! Zac had a night full of winnings the casino and woke up after just a couple of hours rest, so he decided to tag aloing. There wasn't much we had to get, but in the end I'm glad Zac came along to help carry some packages! After a quick stop at Elder-Beerman, grabbing the "wrong item" [darn that misleading signage], getting the right item, loading up, we headed to Menards. Now I don't know if you are a Menard's shopper, but Momma-cita and I have ventured there on many Black Friday outings just to leave empty handed. It was a bit before 6 when we arrived and everyone and their brother was there as well. I suggested kicking Zac out of the car to get in line, but somehow I ended up being the one searching for the end of the line as Momma & Zac drove around looking for a parking spot.
Naturally I headed to the storefront for the line, but the line was actually all the way to the back of the parking lot and headed to Easttown Road. But there was a second line. Near the handicapped parking spots, there was a second line forming semi-organized so I thought that this must be the secondardy line because the other line was so dang long that once that line went through they'd send us through. Not so much. I quickly learned from a lady "with 2 herneatedc discs who was just going to plow in and cut in front of those beepity-beeps" that I was in line with the crazies. Ah, no thank you!

I saw some people I knew in line and went over to chat before walking to the very end of the endless line. They had been there since 3:30am in line. Ah, no thank you! Good luck getting your stuff, but nothing there was that important to me. So I began the journey to the end of the line. Shortly later the opened the door and the line began to move. So being so incredible intelligent lazy at 6am, I decided I'd just wait until the end of the line got to me! I didn't have to wait too long because soon enough Mom & Zac were already in line after parking in Meijer parking lot and passing me. I joined in and filled them in on "the crazies' line". By the time we got to the front door, Zac ditched us to talk to a friend who works there and Momma & I had a game plan. I was going to ask the first worker I saw where the two items we wanted were--a Circut for me and a gift for my brother.

The Circut is in the Christmas stuff and the _________ [maybe he reads this and I don't want to spoil Christmas!] is in the main aisle, you can't miss 'em! Thanks! We split ways, I go for the Circut and Mom goes for the other. I of course start weaving and waving through the aisle thinking there was no way Mom was getting the _______ because everyone seemed to have 2-3 in their carts, when I stumble upon a huge pile of _________ [not in the main aisle, of course]! I snatched one up, saw Mom in the main aisle still trying to find one and yelled out, "Hey Ma! I got one!"

After leaving it with her, I searched in the Christmas section to no avail. Now I have debated for 2 years about getting a Circut and Thanksgiving night decided I didn't really need one, so I wasn't going to buy one. When Mom said she happened to want to go to Menards, and that just happened to be where the Circut's were the cheapest this year, I told myself if they happened to have one, I'd get it. If not, no biggie! Well there weren't any in the Christmas section, but I also didn't see anyone carrying one. So I asked again. "Paint section." Ugh! Off to that area--which I didn't know where it was. Getting lost in the paint section, Momma called and told me where it really was. One worker's assistance later, I had a Circut in my hand! Now just to have time to use it! I need to get figuring it out before too long because it's helping with Goal #83.

Dear Ainsley [Week 14]
Hey Sweet Princess!

Being your Mama is still wonderful! I enjoy those cuddle-times and being able to provide for your every need.

14 Weeks, and ready for some snow!

You have still been wailing at night in the car, and I'm not sure what that's all about, so that's a bit frustrating. Last Friday after sleeping all through spin, I fed you and then we were on our way to Olive Garden to meet up with Grandpa and Grandmomma-cita as Papa worked. We load up and by the first stop light [just 2 blocks out] you began wailing. I pulled over at Rite-Aid, reinserted the paci, and headed on our way. That lasted about, oh 500 feet. I ever so safely proceeded to drive to OG, with my arm twisting back holding your hand, singing "Hush Little Baby". It helped barely. Once to OG, you were out of the car and into my arms, within 20 minutes you were sawing logs. You slept all the way through supper. I loaded you back up, and let the wailing begin. All the way home from OG. I've got to get more creative on a solution for this.

In other news, you have a new trick. You can put your fist/fingers so far into your mouth that you make yourself gag/puke. I'm so proud. :S Maybe I'll try to teach you a trick that you'd actually want to show off. [Okay, not really, teaching you a trick makes you sound like a puppy!]

Well babe girl, stay sweet and keep keeping Papa and I on our toes!

Love!
Your Momma

Goals!
I have lots of updating to do. Yikes! I guess that's a good thing since that means I'm crossing things off the ol' list.

As for everyone, especially during the coming months, life is busy, but life is good!

I'll keep working on these updates! :) Until then, be mesmorized by this close up, I know I am!

Concert Central

This past Thursday and Friday evenings Chris and I expanded our horizons and attended two concerts: Trans Siberian Orchestra and Mannheim Steamroller.


First the back story, several weeks ago Chris saw commericals for Mannheim Steamroller and suggested that he'd like to see them. Then the commerical came on again and he mentioned wanting to again. Then the commerical came on again and he mentioned wanting to again. So we talked about it and decided it could be an early Christmas gift. Then we were at a benefit for a friend of a friend and they had a raffle. Well we saw that there were tickets for the Trans Siberian Orchestra so we dropped half our tickets in that bucket. Our ticket was pulled and we chose our prize--four tickets to see Trans Siberian Orchestra at the Nutter Center in Dayton the day before Mannheim Steamroller.


At this point I decided that I should tell Chris about already buying the Mannheim Steamroller tickets the previous week to find out if he wanted to do both or if I should try to sell them. He decided both was the better option, so that's what we did.


On Thursday Chris got off work a bit early, we swung through Spencerville to drop Ainsley off at my parents for the evening and then were on our way to Dayton to meet up with our friends Rob & Kate--we actually won a set of FOUR tickets! We were making good time and everything seemed to be right on track for walking into Nutter about 7pm for our 7:30 concert. That was until about a mile before our exit on 675. The right lane was very slow moving and eventually stop and go. I asked Chris if he thought I should join in that line or what the back up was from. We decided that it couldn't be because of the concert because there was still a mile or so on 675 and then a couple miles away after getting off the interstate. Well we assumed wrong, it was because of the concert, but we decided just to go to the next exit where there were additional signs for Nutter. We get off the interstate and warn Rob & Kate that it looks like things are backed up but we should be there shortly--they had already been there for a bit, but of course we had the tickets! Eventually we find our way to the backed up traffic and join in for the stop and go misery. It. was. so. slow.


Feeling bad that we were causing Rob & Kate to miss the beginning of the concert, not having any idea how long we were going to weave through campus before being about to park, very annoyed/frustrated at the entire situation, I was so incredibly close to tell Chris just to get out of the car and start walking! It'd be quicker than waiting in the car to park and then they wouldn't miss as much. I'd find my way eventually! I didn't ended up asking him to do that and fi.na.lly. we got to the a parking lot. We're we in Lot 7 or even Lot 27?! Of course not, we were in the parking lot shared by the Child Development Center and the Scultpure Building. With only a couple parking places left in the lot, we parked and began high-tailing it to the concert. Our friends had told us that they were delaying the concert a bit because of the crazy traffic--they ended up pushing it back 15 minutes--so we were booking it in hopes of missing as little as possible!


Thoughts as we hoofed it nearly a mile--it was seriously that far, I Google mapped it!:
-Why didn't I dress like that dorky old man with his matching sweatsuit and tennis shoes?! My lil' heels that I had on for over 12 hours weren't too merciful!
-Thanks Chris for asking what coat I wanted to wear for the evening. I wouldn't been a frozen, frustrated mama had I only worn the jacket I had planned on!
-Thank goodness I'm at least semi-healthy because had I had to stop for breathers on my walk--as I saw more than one person needing--I likely would've been more annoyed. It also made me a bit sad that not everyone can simply walk without getting winded.
-Why can't I be more like the lil' boy in front of us who jumping and swinging from his mom and sister's arms as he enjoyed the journey to the Nutter Center versus grumbling under his breath like I was!


Neverheless we finally got there, found Rob and Kate and headed to our seats. If you've never been to this facility before, the way that it is set up is that you walk in at the top and then once inside the arena, you have to walk down the stairs however low your seats are. We suprisingly had great seats, which meant we walked all the way down the stairs! No complaints for this lady! Our seats were the very first row of the permanent seating! Score!

If I were to close my eyes during the concert, based on what I was hearing, I would've expected to see something different that I did. And visa versa and then to add to it all there was practically a light show going on the whole time. A few times in the concert, the band members left the main stage for a smaller stage that just so happened to be directly in front of our seats!

Here are some pics for the evening:

Light Show

Elevating Stage right in front of us.

This pic looks like we went to a Show Girl show. :S

Rockin' it out on the lil' stage!

Overall the Trans Siberian Orchestra was very enjoyable--it was a rock concert, Christmas extravaganza, light/laser show all in one! We definitely wouldn't mind going back--just not at Nutter Center! ;)


After the concert all four of us headed back to our house for the night and my great parents were willing to being Ainsley to us at about midnight when we returned--they are awesome! Ains got to meet Rob & Kate for the first time, and not too much later we were all snuggled into bed! I definitely felt like an old lady though as I can't even remember the last time I was still up after midnight! When 9 o'clock strikes in the Massie household, we all start thinking "bedtime"!


7am came early the next morning--yes, I got up at 7 and was out the door for school by 7:20! Thank you Friday morning treats in the Teacher workroom and Thanksgiving lunch by the Spartan Inn so I didn't have to eat breakfast or pack a lunch!


School went well. I picked Ainsley up from Chris' parents. Changed for spin. Worked out. Headed home. Made homemade pizza & sweet potatoe fries. Enjoyed them with my parents. Then Mom & Dad stayed at our house to watch Ainsley as Mister and I headed to the Mannheim Steamroller concert. I was thankful this concert was only 5 minutes away! We arrived and found our seats and waited for it to begin. As we waited the people in the seats next to us arrived and a woman in her forties that smelled like she just came from a Legion somewhere topped with musky perfume ask me if I was ready to rock out with her. I said "Sure! I have no idea what to expect tonight!"


Well I listened to the music, she rocked out, and I got most of my entertainment that evening from watching her from the corner of my eye! The concert was enjoyable, a bit quirky and hard not to think that Mannheim Steamroller was a bit of wannabe TSO! [Largely in part oof their dated videos & effects!]


It was nice to have just a ten-minute drive home including waiting for the silly train versus the nearing 2-hour drive the previous night! Even nicer was to come home to all of our dishes being washed! You may have heard the saying, "All means all and that's all all means." Well in our case, all our dishes means a whole heck of a lot of dirty dishes! Thanks Dad and Momma-cita! You're the best! Even if you hadn't done the dishes!


So all in all, we had two different, but enjoyable experiences! We decided if the opportunity was there again, see them both if we won tickets to Mannheim Steamroller and we'd pay to see Trans Siberian Orchestra just not at the Nutter Center!

Dear Ainsley [12 weeks]

Ains:


12 weeks old! Can you believe it? I wonder if you can believe at all at this point?! At 12 weeks, I feel like it's at the point that we start to refer to you in terms on months not weeks! My, how the time has flown! I'm trying to hold on to each moment!


Monday you accomplished quite the amazing accomplishment! You said your first word!! You and I were upstairs at TFC because you were so chatting while the meeting was supposed to have a more serious mood. As we set up on the couch, you spat your pacifier out so as I offered backed to you, I asked, "Do you want your paci?" Right on cue, you yapped, "Yeaaa!" Stan from the kitchen immediately jolted his head towards us and confusingly asked, "Did she just responded to you?!" I confessed that you did, but it was purely coincidental! It was so neat though! Your Papa and I love to have "conversations" with you. As you coo and "talk" we'll have a conversation and then laugh uncontrollably as your expressions match up with what we are saying!


This week was a funky week as far as our schedules. On Thursday and Friday evenings, your papa and I went to concerts. This meant more quality time that you got to share with Grandpa and Grandmomma Clum, but this also meant more time we spent a part. After a bit of a fussy evening on Friday, we decided that you just missed us, so we snuggled the night away! Thanks to our funky schedule, my body's schedule was a bit funky as well! Something you won't fully understand until you are a mother yourself, just like I didn't understand what the discharge nurse meant when  she said I'd feel like cement when my milk came in. Let's just say, I felt like cement. After feeding you, I went out to the living room to pump out that cement! Shortly thereafter you were stirring and so was Papa. He came out and said he needed to give you a bath because you were all wet. He blamed it on a full diaper, but in reality it was my fault! :S This is the downfall of our bodies being so incredibly smart and adapting to your demand. When schedules switch, the body can't immediately adjust. Oh, well. Clothes can be washed! While you were being washed, your papa was talking to  you as usual, then the cutest was after he was done bathing you, I heard him say, "You did it! Give me a high 5!" You two are too cute!

12 Week Slobber Box

Well baby girl, happy 12 weeks almost 3 months! Looking forward to a short 1.5 work week and lots of family time!


Love,
Momma

Dear Ainsley [Week 11]

Dear Ainsley,

This past week was one long week lil' girl! I had Parent-Teacher conferences so my usual 7-hour day quickly turned into a 12-hour day. That's a lotta missing you--and your papa! Thankfully you're still too young to really miss me, or that would've broke my heart! Those long days just make me thankful that Thanksgiving aka 3.5 days off of school is right around the corner and Christmas break isn't too far either! Waaahhoooo!

In addition to two long days of PT conferences this week, we also went to 2 banquets and had our first overnight guests since you were born. Your papa's best friend Josh and his lovely wife Leslie came to visit this weekend. You see they are going to be going overseas to do humanitarian work for three years and so they were visiting in order to raise support. We loved showing you off to our great friends and loved watching them interact with you. The next couple of years while they are overseas you won't get to see them much, or at all, but your papa and I can't help but look forward to when they have a lil' one for you to be great friends with as well!!

Two other things to note about this week are your smiles and your sleeping. Most nights you wake up just one time to eat and then are out the rest of the night. Sometimes of course you sleep the whole night through! We never thought you'd sleep so well from the beginning and are already dreading your future little brother or sister's potential sleeping habits! I'm also thinking you may be a sleep walker like your momma--I'll have to tell you those stories when you get older--because boy do you wiggle at night. Squirming and worming but perfectly content.

When you wake you are such a smile box. I love the weekends when I get to be with you as you wake because you just smile and smile and smile. Papa and I love just laying in bed watching your smiles. It's so contagious!

You're growing so big so quickly. I'm doing my best to treasure each moment!

Love you more than you'll know!
Momma

Dear Ainsley [Week 10]

Princess--


You are a whooping 10 weeks old. Your personality is budding and I'm so excited to see what it's going to become. What parts of it will you get from me? What will you get from your papa? I know one thing you haven't got from me is your morning cheer! I'm not sure if it's because you're well-rested or because your stomach is nice and settled but in the morning you tend to be all smiles! It's one of the things I look forward to on the weekends! [Usually during the week your still snug as a bug in a rug next to Papa as I slip out of bed and kiss you good-bye!]

10 weeks

This week you accomplished a new feat as well. For two nights in a row, you slept a full 7 hours between waking/feeding! Each morning after your siesta I woke surprise and a bit confused thinking perhaps I slept through your crying. I didn't though. You just slept like a champ! :) Even just last night when I thought for sure you'd be up most the night because you slept sooo much the day before. Was I right? Nope! We went to bed a bit after 10 [your parents are real party animals now!] and it's 9am now [really 10am with daylights savings] and I  annoyed woke you to try to feed you no avail! I hope you're just becoming a great sleeper!


Perhaps the reason you are sleeping well is because you have a touch of something. The only affect it has had on you is a snotty nose. Now other's snot is absolutely dis-guisting to me, but worse than other's snot is a nose full of snot! So I've been picking away! Sick. I know. But as a friend and I discussed yesterday, much of what we think as gross pre-parenthood is complete normal in parenthood. Thanks for making picking your nose and examining your poo normal! It's just the beginning, I'm sure!

Being crazy is completely normal now!
:)

Love,
Momma

A Tasty Tastefully Simple Party

Last night in lieu of our regular Girl’s Night, I hosted a Tastefully Simple party at our house—which was perfect for girls night, because us gals like to eat! J

A couple weeks ago I received my party pack in the mail, complete with ingredients to make some yummy—tasty Tastefully Simple products to try out at the party.

I had low numbers for the party, so we all got to eat our full sample through the catalog.

We tried the Malted Cocoa drink.

Lots of Dips/Spreads: Artichoke & Spinach Warm, Fiesta Party, Olive & Herb Cheese Ball, Spinach & Herb, Onion Onion, Key Lime Cheese Ball with Twisty Grahams, Sweet Pepper Jalapeno Jam, and Tripleberry Fruit Spread.

A few sauces: Vidalia Onion Dressing, Pomegranate Chipotle Sauce, Bayou Bourbon Glaze, and Merlot Sauce.

And a couple odds and ends things like: Blue Aztec Chips, Creamy Wild Rice Soup, Caramel Cinnamon Sprinkles, Nana’s Apple Cake, and of course Bountiful Beer Bread.

Overall I think the Artichoke & Spinach as well as the Key Lime were favs last night! Well and of course the Beer Bread! J

The best part was after orders were placed and we all had our fill, the leftovers were put into my fridge! Any guesses as to what’s on the menu tonight? ;-)

If any of you—whoever you are—would like to try out any of these Tastefully Simply products, I would love it if you ordered through “my party”! Everything we tried last night was pretty de-licious and the best part of their products is that you only need to add 1-2 ingredients and they are good to go! [On the flip side, they are versatile so if you want to use them more elaborately, they work great that way too.]

So if you’d like to order something, go to www.tastefullysimple.com/web/korchard. Just make sure that Kristi Orchard is marked as your consultant and Rachel Massie is your host. The products can be shipped directly to you. If you are planning on ordering LESS than $57.92, let me know and I have a way to cut down on your shipping costs. [Why that odd amount?! Because I’m a math teach and love to crunch numbers! J My Crunching = Your Savings!] My party closes on Friday [Nov. 11th], so all purchases need to be made by then.

If online isn’t your thing, let me know and I’ll get you a catalog and/or a paper order form. Just let me know through email/Facebook/phone/comment!

Even if you don’t want to order a thing, if you are ever invited to a Tastefully Simple party, GO! It’s like a free, delicious meal you didn’t have to prepare! ;-)

Happy Halloweenie!

*This was written and not posted on Sunday evening. I just needed to add pics but Ains woke up and needed some cuddling so blogging just had to wait. She takes priority! :)*

This morning when heading to church it wasn't a decision whether or not we'd be walking because instead of heading to LBT, we were off to Southside [my Wednesday night church] to comemerate a special occasion. This weekend marked what would've been my Grandma & Grandpa Cow's 50th wedding anniversary. Yet instead of attending a celebration of sorts to honor this milestone, my family got together to show support of my grandma and in remembrance of my grandpa. Grandma purchased altar flowers to honor the occasion and the sanctuary was adorn with 4 beautiful banners that the church purchased with monies donated in my grandpa's honor.

After church we headed to my parents' for some of my Momma's Mac & Cheese and trick-or-treating. Sondra rode home with us "to help watch Ainsley" so the drive went quickly as we discussed the color of eyes, spelled everything from car to jack-o-lantern, debated what to do with our hands while we prayed, and tried to explain the definition of "included" to a 4-year old. [That's difficult! I'll have to come up with a better explanation for when Ains poses that question because I ended up saying, "Ask your mom! She'll know." :)]

We enjoyed our body weight in mac & cheese and waited for 3 o'clock to roll around for Trick-or-Treating to begin. The list of characters in the Clum household consisted of Batgirl, The Bachelor, and a Lil' Chickadee!

I'd say they were a pretty good looking crew!

Stuart was satisfied with his loot after a couple houses and Sondra made it down the street and back before we just stayed at my parents as they passed out candy. Oh, and Ainsley? She was a sleeping Chick after about 2 houses. Which was just fine since I was not one of those mom's who was taking my 2-month old trick-or-treating so I could eat all her candy! :)

After about 350 kiddos, my parents ran out of candy and we all headed in!

Ainsley's first Halloween/Trick-or-Treat? Success.

In other news, I've accomplished a couple more goals as of late.

Goal #32: Hit the snooze button no more than 1 time for a week straight.
Getting up in the morning just isn't my thing. It doesn't matter if it's 6am or 11am, if it ain't Christmas morning, getting out of bed is not on my top priority list! All comfy and snuggly, why would anyone want to leave that place?! When Mister and I were first married one of the things he just "didn't get" was that I'd set my alarm at a time knowing I was just going to hit the snooze. It made perfect sense to me. Not so much to him! So that was the inspiration for this goal, and not this past week [I hit the snooze plenty then!], but the week before, I accomplished it!

Goal #76 Smile while petting a cat. [Although I know this won’t be a “fun” one!]
I hate cats. Period. Ask anyone who knows me decently well and they'll know this tidbit. The root of this hatred is actually largely fear. Not only are cats so dang mysterious and they'll going from purring and "cute" [so to speak, not in my mind] to hissing and attacking. I just never know what they'll thinking! Anyways, when I was a wee lil' one, I had repetitive dreams nightmares about cats attacking me in Wapak's high school cafeteria. So as long as I can remember, I've dispised avoided them at all costs. [I also had repetitive dreams about a big green dinosaur chasing me through Big Bear, but that didn't have the same effect!] A couple weeks ago, at TFC's Fall Bash though, I did indeed pet a cat, which was big enough in and of itself, but I was also fake smiling while I did it. I asked Chris to record it with a pic, BUT I can't find it!