Monday, June 5, 2017

4

My little girl turned 4 and boy was she excited. We made a paper chain countdown, memorized her birthday, picked a special activity at the beach and told anyone who would listen that "Im almost 4!" We celebrated her actually birthday and then had a combined party with some friends when we got back. She reveled in every moment of it :)



What 4 year old Charlotte looks like......

She loves arts and crafts and is constantly making something, her favorite themes include rainbows, family members and collage work.



She has started to write her name as well as Mama, Dada and Cooper and is always asking how to spell other peoples names so she can write them. The other day she wanted to stamp out all the names of the colors and while she was waiting on me to finish a chore so I could write them for her to copy she figured out she could use her markers to see how to spell it. She is a super smart cookie :)
She loves puzzles, making mud pies in her outdoor kitchen, and riding her bike and scooter around the neighborhood
She can count to 100, do super big jumps on the trampoline, brush her own teeth, say all her letter sounds, make her own PB&J, jump off the side of the pool and swim to the steps, buckle herself into her car seat, and get herself dressed. I am so over the moon proud of her. She is smart, intuitive, careful, kind and my favorite girl in the whole world <3

Of course birthdays make me go down memory lane and feel like it was just yesterday that we brought that tiny 6lbs, dark haired big beautiful eyed baby home....



















Happy Birthday Chuck, I love you more than you could ever know <3
xoxo
Ashlea

Thursday, June 1, 2017

beach trip 2017

Its been a couple years since we made it down to the Gulf for a beach vacation. We got to pop over to the Jersey Short for a weekend last summer while up visiting Mama and Daddy but it just doesnt compare to the Gulf. The sand is like powder and the water is so clear.

We left early on Thursday and got there late in the afternoon after a stop in Montgomery for lunch. The kids were pretty good on the drive and there wasnt a single spot of traffic, so the drive was pretty easy.

Outside of a nasty sinus bug that me and the kids caught the trip was just perfect. We loved the airbnb condo we stayed in right across from the beach (the kids slept in bunk beds and Charlotte thought sleeping on top was the coolest!), had some delicious food (LuLus shrimp and grits yummmm), got to see the kids do all the fun beach stuff - sandcastles, holes, jumping in waves and making footprints. We ended the trip with an evening boat ride to see dolphins and go seashell hunting - pretty great.

Ill let the pictures tell the rest of our trip :)


beating the heat at Haborwalk Village with smoothies





this sling was an arm saver!



Tony probably brought them buckets filled with water no less than 100 times


bar with a side of sand :)

birthday pina colada











xoxo
Ashlea

Monday, May 22, 2017

the snuggler: a series

This guy has always lived by one rule : snuggle mama.
















xoxo
Ashlea