Ainsley's Christmas

John, Colleen, Carolyn, (Colleen's mom), and Ainsley arrived Christmas evening. After watching other grandchildren wait for endless minutes to get their toys out of the packaging, I had Ainsley's gifts assembled and out of the packaging, ready to be played with! She walked in and began talking to her twin baby dolls in their new high chair and cradle. Here she is feeding the baby "yogurt."

Ainsley loves to laugh and once she starts, it doesn't take much to keep her going. Here, she is playing a little game with her mom, which had her pretty tickled.

This was another fun gift from Macy and Marshall...

And even more fun was putting the blue bow on her head and laughing!

Here she is with the baby Jesus from one of my nativity scenes. She liked the story and really wanted to play with all the figures, but after I told her it was "Mimi's toy," she left it all alone. Next year, we will get her the Fisher-Price Nativity Set for children.

We had fun at the park in our neighborhood, and she even inspired me to go down the double slide with her! Look at her face in this photo. She gets really excited on a playground.

Looking at Mommy through a hole.

Going up the stairs to the slide...

Everytime she came down the slide, she stand up, and say, "Again," and she'd go again and again!

This is one of my favorite Christmas pictures of her, wearing her Minnie Mouse scarf, hat and mittens from her great aunt Sandy in California.

When we took her outside, she really didn't want to smile. It was pretty cold, and she didn't have on a coat or shoes...but I thought the lighting would be better.

This is why God made grandmothers. At dinner, she was not happy and didn't want to eat much of anything. Her mom and dad had reached their limits and Mimi was saying something like, "I should have fixed her some macaroni and cheese..." She knew I was sympathetic to her cause and in the middle of a huge temper tantrum, through tears, she looked across the table at me, and said, "I want my Mimi!" Well, that was it. I broke all the rules, and went around to her and took her out of her chair and sat her on my lap. She calmed down and ate a few bits of chicken, had a roll, and some water and milk. I didn't win a popularity contest with Mom and Dad, but it was one of my favorite Christmas memories this year! Ainsley, I promise, next year, I will fix a big bowl of macaroni and cheese for you, so neither you nor I will get into trouble!

Fun under the tree with Daddy.

While her mom and dad were loading up the car on Sunday morning, Papa and I took her down to the pond to feed crackers to the fish. I love this picture of her. The lighting was just right, and you can almost see the gold halo over her head!

We had a wonderful Christmas. Santa was very good to all of us, but the best gifts of all were the grandchildren, who made this a blessing of a holiday!

Christmas with the Gee's

Larry and Ashley had us over Christmas morning for brunch and present un-wrapping. Their tree is always beautiful! Brunch was wonderful with a yummy egg casserole, sausage rolls, fresh fruit, other things, mimosas and coffee.

Sam got some new sunglasses...

A head light...

A Buzz-Lightyear from "Toy Story," and lots and lots of other things.

Hayden was very excited about his Lego City----I think they may need to add a room on the house once it is built! It was so much fun watching the boys unwrap all their gifts.

Sam summed it up when in the middle of unwrapping presents, he looked at everyone and shouted, "THIS IS THE BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!"

The Metcalf Christmas

Julie's family is leaving town on the 23rd to go to Midland to be with the Metcalf family. Our Christmas with them was on Monday, the 20th. We had wanted to go to Bigz Burger's, only to find out they were closed, so we went to Longhorn. Marshall wasn't feeling well, and ate nothing, then fell asleep in Julie's arms. He had been coughing for a few days and lost his voice, so Julie already had a doctor's appointment scheduled for the next morning. Here we are before we ate, with Mia in her new Christmas dress and the ever-present, Bear!

Macy had already guessed that the American Girl Doll Bitty Twins were in her big box under our tree. The girl has her coloring and the boy has Marshall's. Only one problem: Marshall really thought the boy doll was for HIM! But, he got lots of other toys and soon was happy about his Toy Story dolls that talk and his Trio blocks.

Papa is always ready with his glasses and screwdriver! Finding the place for Woody's batteries was a special challenge this year, but soon, he was working like a charm! The packaging on these toys was amazing. It took a good 20 minutes to get Woody and Buzz Lightyear out of their boxes!

Earlier in the afternoon, Macy and Marshall had to demonstrate their new bicycles, gifts from their other grandparents. Macy's is a Hannah Montana bicycle and is a lot bigger than the one she had been riding, but she adapted quickly and loves it!

Marshall bicycle is called "The Wasp." Here's why....

What's funny is that last summer, Marshall would run into the house if he ever saw a wasp. He was really afraid of them! Then, this is the bicycle he picked out! Such a brave little boy! Oh, and the doctor said he had a very red throat and some slightly swollen lymph glands, but the strep test turned out negative. Since they were going out of town, she gave them a prescription for an antibiotic, which they started today.

Macy's Weekend at Mimi's

Macy spent the night with us Saturday night. For dinner, she wanted to make a menu, so I wrote down everything we were having. She then wrote, "Mimi's Restrot" on the left. She's really getting pretty good with sounding out words and spelling. I love the way she comes up with words like "restaurant" which is clearly a very hard word to spell! She circled what Papa (Popoy) had for dinner, then made him pay for it. She charged him a dollar per bowl of soup. He had to make some play money and pay me.

Macy pointing to a package under the tree that has her name on it. She said, "It's too big for one American Girl doll, so I think it's the "Bitty Twins!" Darn!

When we got home from church, she wanted to go feed the fish in the park. We had heard the song, "Mary, Did You Know" at church and she kept singing it over and over again. She didn't know all of the words, so she kind of made up some of them. Then I downloaded the song by Kenny Rodgers and Wynona Judd on my cell phone and we sat in the park, on this beautiful afternoon, and sang this song several times. For the link to this song go to http://www.andiesisle.com/didsheknow.html. Macy has a beautiful voice, and I will always remember her sitting in the park singing this song with me.

Here is a picture of Macy sneaking up on a butterfly. When we got to the park, there were several butterflies flying around near us. She was upset about this and said, "Oh, no, the butterflies are supposed to be in Mexico where it's warm. We have to save them, Mimi! We need to find them some flowers." (This could have easily been a "Dora the Explorer" episode!) There were no flowers in the park, since we had had a hard freeze last week, but I assured her they would find the pansies in our yard and survive. We saw one butterfly that landed on the sidewalk, and here she is trying to sneak up on it and catch it. Of course, it flew away about the time I took this picture. We spent the rest of the afternoon taking her babies for a walk in the stroller and collecting special rocks which she wants to write blessings on to give as gifts. By the time we got home, we had a stroller with three dolls in it and a load of rocks!

The Little Blue-Eyed Boy, AKA, The Stud

Doesn't he just steal your heart?

Marshall Metcalf, age 5 1/2

More Thanksgiving Fun with Family!

Larry's boys, Hayden and Sam on the left, and Nan's kiddos, Barbara and Wesley on the right!

Hayden is in second grade, Sam is four, Barbara has two years of college behind her and getting ready to go to UTMB in Galveston to pursue a career in nursing, and Wesley is a freshman at Reagan High School!

More of Funny Ainsley

Watching a little "Word World" on tv.

Picking up acorns in the park and...

...feeding them to the fish! The fish didn't like them, but Ainsley thought it was the right thing to do.

She just stepped out of the bath!

Thanksgiving morning:

"Ainsley, look at Mimi, smile!!!" This is what I got instead! It's just too funny not to post!

Again, "Ainsley, look at Mimi, smile!"

And here, she's pulling the skirt off!

She really looked so cute Thanksgiving morning, but she wanted to play with her skirt and she refused to keep her bow in her hair, which is lost somewhere in our house. So, you'll have to use your imagination, and pretend you know what she'd look like with the skirt around her waist, a bow in her hair, and a smile on her face! It was a great Thanksgiving. We are thankful for beautiful children, their spouses, and grandchildren. See more pictures below!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, THANKSGIVING!!

No matter how hard we tried, Ainsley insisted on putting her own spin on her Thanksgiving greeting. She recently had her birthday, so she just combined the two and would say, "Happy Birthday Thanksgiving!" It was a great Thanksgiving lunch with her cousins, Macy and Marshall, and the rest of the family.

The Kids' Table

My Broken Heart♥

This is what happened last Monday when Marshall, 5, broke my heart! I had picked him and Macy up from school and we went to their house. Marshall said, "Mimi, I have a girlfriend." That's when my heart began to crack a little. (See, I thought it was I who was his girlfriend, right after his mommy.) I calmly said, "Oh, really, who?" He said, "Sadie.....she calls me 'Marshmallow!'" I have often heard a little girl yell, "Bye, Marshmallow," when they get in my car after school. Then he went on to say, "I call her 'Princess!'" At this point, my heart was completely broken in two! To make matters worse, he said, "And I love her very, very, very much! I even love her more than God!" I said, "Oh, no, Marshall, you don't love anyone more than God. You love God above everyone else, then your mommy, daddy, Macy, and the rest of your family (me?)" And then Macy piped in...."and THEN your GIRLfriend!"

My Hero, Julie!

Julie and some her friends at her school decided last September that it would be "fun" to walk a half marathon in the San Antonio Rock and Roll Marathon last weekend. She walked a lot in her neighborhood, then on Sunday afternoons, all of them would meet at a nearby park and they would walk up to THREE HOURS at a stretch! It was often very hot during these walks, and if that wasn't bad enough, they frequently saw coral snakes on this trail! But did that stop them? No! They had the "faith of a mustard seed," (see my post about Marshall saying that a few months ago, below). Something really cool was that she wore some kind of a "chip" on her body and as she passed through certain milestones, I would get a text message which said, "Julie Metcalf just crossed the 5K line," etc. I had gone to Houston for Ainsley's second birthday, and was driving home when I got the message that said, "Julie Metcalf has crossed the finish line for the Half Marathon!" It was a great feeling! I knew from the beginning that she would succeed because when Julie sets her mind to something, she always succeeds! She is an awesome daughter! I am a mother filled with pride.

"Little Lady Bug" Turns TWO!!

Little Ainsley, AKA "The Lady Bug" turned two on Friday. The next day was her birthday party. The day was off to a great start when Mary, her sweet babysitter/nanny came over with a pink donut with sprinkles on it. Mary knows what a birthday girl likes for breakfast!

She had a fun birthday party with a lady bug theme that afternoon,with lots of her friends and her mom's and dad's friends. The highlight of the party was a visit from "The Tumble Bus," a recycled school bus outfitted with a small trampoline, padded walls, monkey bars and all sorts of things to climb up and slide down!

Daddy and her friend Anthony helped her blow out the candles on her lady bug cake!

She even dressed like a lady bug!

This is what was going on inside the Tumble Bus!!

It was hard to get a clear picture because she was in constant

motion!

Mommy, Mary, and Lisa

When the party was over, Lisa and Matt stayed for Ainsley to open their present. Here it is:

To all of my grandmother/friends, you may want to steal this great idea. It's from Hallmark, and it records YOUR voice reading the entire book! Ainsley now has "Aunt Lisa and Uncle Matt" reading her this beautiful book!

And she loved this super soft big blanket from her Gigi, especially before she opened it all the way up and used it like a "muff." Before she went to bed, she said, "I want my SOFT blanket."

 Here she is playing with one of her presents, a little van that she quickly labeled "The Tumble Bus!!!"

Papa and I got her a new tricycle, which she called her "motorcycle," and Macy and Marshall gave me some money, and asked me to go shopping for a helmet for her when I got to Houston (they wanted her to pick it out.) She takes her shopping very seriously.

The Barbie one was OK...until we found....

....the "Bling-Bling Monkey Helmet!" You can't see it but it even has pink rhinestones on it.

Today, before I had to leave, Ainsley was eating breakfast and watching the news on tv (really!) and I couldn't resist taking a few more pictures of her. She has changed so much in just two months since I had seen her. She truly is turning into a "little girl." She is almost potty-trained! She can identify many of the alphabet letters and can sing the "ABC Song." Like all two-year olds, everything is "MINE." When I started singing the "ABC Song," she said, "NO, Mimi, MY ABC SONG!" She loves to put together wooden puzzles and doesn't need much help anymore. She also loves to color and dance. She enjoys watching "Word World" on tv, and can identify the words as soon as they pop up. Her teachers are amazed at how she talks in complete sentences. At her cupcake party in her classroom Friday afternoon, she got up to throw away her napkin, and she even said, "I go to throw away my trash." Later that night, she said, "Mom, may I have a drink of water, please." And then the one that surprised me later in the evening, was when she said, "I want the light on in the other room." A nine-word sentence! And she just turned two! Here are just a few more pictures that captivated me this morning.

Little Lady Bug, it was such a fun weekend. I can't wait to see what new things you'll be doing this next year in your life. I think if I had the power, I'd freeze you at this age!