Play-Dough Play

Several weeks ago Ainsley and I made edible play dough and played and played and played!! We had so much fun making balls and jewelery and stamping holes. Although the recipe says it is edible, I didn't let Ainsley eat it... even though Ainsley tried a few times. :)


We had a blast and I wanted to pass the recipe along. It is super easy to make, lasts a while, plus although I was worried about it staining (hence the Merry Christmas shirt in late January), it doesn't!!


Kool-Aid Play Dough Recipe

1 cup flour
1 cup water
1/2 cup salt
3 teaspoons Cream of Tarter
1 package Kool-Aid mix of any flavor of unsweetened
1 tablespoon cooking oil

Mix dry ingredients together in a large saucepan. Slowly add water mixed with oil and stir over medium heat until mixture thickens to dough. Turn out onto a heatproof cutting board or counter top and knead until cool enough for children to handle. It gets less sticky as you knead it. Dough will be the color of Kool-Aid mix and will smell like the Kool-Aid but it won't stain! Can be stored in air tight container for up to six months.

Happy Playing!

Sick lil Girl

Yesterday Ainsley got her very first ear infection. :( She has had a cold for about a week so I've been on the lookout, but Thursday night when she was awake crying on and off all night, it was clear something was wrong. It was a rude awakening how blurry-eyed George and I were on Friday after being up half the night... in a few short months this is going to be our life with a newborn. Yikes!! Not quite ready for that! Anyway, Ainsley is on medicine now and although she still has fever on and off and isn't always her usually happy self, we're sure she's on the mend.

Oh the joy...

... of tea parties, purses, princess phones, and jewelery. With more and more blue arriving by the day, it is essential to take a moment and enjoy all things girly. Oh the joy of pink!!

School Days

Here is Ainsley on her first day of school!! This spring we enrolled her in a mother's day out program at a local church for a few hours two mornings a week. I was a nervous wreck dropping her off the first day, wondering how she would handle it since we have only had people watch her at our house and haven't left her anywhere besides church nursery... but she was a champ! She fussed only for a second when I said goodbye and recovered as soon as the teachers showed her the book corner. I shed more tears than she did! Literally! I stayed for 15 minutes or so and watched her playing with the other kids before I left to call George and cry in my car. :( Our little girl is just getting so big and it makes me so sad and happy that I just don't know what to do with myself.

She's been going to school for 2 weeks now and says "yay!" when we're getting ready in the morning and I tell her that it's a school day. She continues to get good reports from her teachers and "introduces" me to all her new friends when I come to pick her up. Here are some of her school creations that she is SO proud of. :)

Christmas Recap

We spent Christmas this year in Missouri and I have finally gone through all the pictures from both mine and my mom's camera (over 800 pictures in a week!) and here are the highlights. We had such a nice visit and Ainsley LOVED all the attention from her uncles and grandparents. Above is our best attempt at a family picture (George and Ainsley, me, Brian, Dad, Matthew, Mom, Meaghan, and James). And below is Ainsley loving on her grandma (with banana smoothie mustaches) and grandpa.



Here she is playing with my brother and Meaghan's bunny that they left with my parents when they moved to Boston several years ago. Ainsley was so gentle and sweetly petted and fed the bunny.


Making herself at home with the leg warmers my mom knitted... I love this picture because it is the perfect representation of how busy and particular Ainsley can be.


Here she is playing with my parent's nativity. Over the course of the week, she spent so much time arranging and rearranging the nativity figures on this window sill.





Watching uncle Brian play the guitar...


On Christmas eve we were all surprised to wake up to a few inches of snow. Ainsley took one look at the snow and said "uh-oh". The snow fell peacefully all day Christmas eve and then on and off Christmas day and set the perfect mood. And this year we let Ainsley go out and play in it and she had a blast. At first, she was a little overzealous and ran into a big pile of snow and face planted. But after a few moments of tears she recovered, found her footing, and had so much fun! It was sweet to watch... and watch... and watch, because she kept begging to go out and play. Looks like we have a snow bunny on our hands!



Here's Ainsley sitting in the doll cradle that was mine when I was little, feeding my first cabbage patch doll. I'm so thankful my mom saved stuff like this because now Ainsley's babies live in this cradle at our house.


Ainsley and I on Christmas morning...


Playing in all the wrapping paper with her uncles...



My brothers and sister-in-law intently reading one of Ainsley's picture books...


Ainsley riding on the lego car that uncle James built for her. And then giving her beloved zebra a ride.


As you can see, we had such a fun visit. Throughout the week, George and I kept remarking about how next year we're going to be chasing 2 lil kiddos around, which even though I'm getting bigger by the day, still just seems so foreign. Sometimes is it just hard to comprehend how blessed we are.

Five Years and Counting...

On December 16th George and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary by spending the first night away from Ainsley since she was born. Our dear friends the Kupers were generous enough to watch Ainsley while we got pampered with massages, long walks, uninterrupted conversations, naps, and good food. We have been blessed in a countless number of ways these past 5 years and sometimes I literally cannot believe that this is our life... it just feels too good to be true. Still, it is a blessing to be able to step back from it all and reflect... and sleep. :)

We stayed at Hyatt Lost Pines which is a great resort about 30 minutes away. It is geared towards families and I definitely see us returning in the future. Here's the view from our window.


We were so diligent about taking weekly belly shots with Ainsley but this time around, I feel like it always slips my mind. Sorry lil guy. But here I am at ~25 weeks before our nice dinner out.


Even though we were only gone for a little over 24 hours, we were both still anxious to get home to see our little girl. She of course had a blast playing with my good friend Rachael and her new lil buddy Trip. Thank you so much friends for taking care of our precious girl so that we could have some much needed alone time. We owe you!!! :)

Fort Worth Visit

Last weekend we headed to Fort Worth for a quick trip to visit the Bates' and Davis'. As always, we had such a sweet time connecting with these dear friends of ours. And this time, there were 7 kiddos under the age of 4!! It was one busy household especially with 6 of those kiddos being boys!! Sadly, there was only a few times that all the kiddos were awake at the same time so we weren't able to get a group shot but the pic below shows Ainsley playing with the older boys.


While there we visited our alma mater, TCU, to see all the new additions to the campus. SO much has changed but it was still refreshing to see all the purple and horned frog spirit, since in Austin we are constantly surrounded by UT's burnt orange! Here we are in front of the horned frog that your supposed to kiss for good luck on exams.


Ainsley LOVED frog fountain!!




Emily with her twinkers, Matthew and Caleb...


Ainsley was being a little flirt and wanted to hold Caleb's hand while we were walking. Then she got Matthew to join in the fun. It was so sweet to watch!!


Still her daddy is her #1 man! Here she is giving him some snuggles on the way back to the car...



We love you Fort Worth friends. Thanks for such a wonderful weekend!!