Preparations and boats…

“All of us are we – and everyone else is they.   A family shares things like dreams, hopes, possessions, memories, smiles, frowns, and gladness… A family is a clan held together with the glue of love and the cement of mutual respect.  A family is shelter from the storm, a friendly port when the waves of life become too wild.  No person is ever alone who is a member of a family.”
-Rudyard Kipling

As the day gets closer and closer to the addition of a little boy into our family, we’ve been getting prepared.  The room is ready, bags are packed, clothes are washed, and vacation has been booked.  Even Ashlyn seems to be planning ahead.  It’s not an uncommon site in our house to see Ashlyn changing Violet’s diaper.  This is not a simple child version of the process but a full fledged effort that includes the changing mat and a baby wipe.

I’m not holding my breath on her doing any real diaper changing (smell pun not intended) but it’s nice to see her getting into the fun.

Speaking of fun, we took the opportunity over Memorial Day weekend to head out to the lake and enjoy a little nature.  In Ashlyn’s world this means “sit in a wading pool”.  This she did, and she did it a lot.  There were cups, some splashing, and a lot of smiles. 

At one point we were able to successfully pry her out of the pool for a ride on the boat.  I was surprised how much convincing it took given that she kept talking about riding on the boat all morning, but once she was ready she was off and running.  Literarily, we had to call her back for fear that would keep running right off the dock.  It was pretty windy this weekend, so we only got to ride on it once, but she had a good time.

The next day she wanted to go back on the boat, but we had to get back home.  After running around town we stopped by Chick-Fil-A for a sandwich and tried to convince Ashlyn to get in the play area.  She wouldn’t.  Despite her complete lack of fear when it comes to jumping on the trampoline, the couch, or anything else, she seems to be afraid of heights when it comes to simply walking or climbing on things. 

I’m sure she’ll get over it.

Our very own cooking channel…

“In the childhood memories of every good cook, there's a large kitchen, a warm stove, a simmering pot and a mom.”
-Barbara Costikyan

In the absence of more interesting pictures, this week’s entry into the world of Ashlyn will focus on her cooking “ability”.  She’s too young to do any actual cooking of course, but we like for her to put her own food together and help in preparation.  Not only does it get her more involved in the process, it gives us a lot of opportunities to clean parts of the kitchen that we didn’t know could get dirty.

To start, it was Taco night again at the Flinn house this weekend.  (Editor’s note:  Please ignore the fact that we are clearly making Tostadas <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tostada> and not Tacos.  A certain editor has been unable to convince someone what the difference is between a Taco and a Tostada, despite that person’s intelligence, beauty, and any other endearing qualities that will keep the editor from being banished to the couch tonight.)

We also recently made cinnamon bread after the discovery of a forgotten jar of yeast in the refrigerator that was still good.  This one was much more fun for Ashlyn.  She helped make the cinnamon/sugar mixture and then helped prepare the dough.  We’re still finding pieces of dough around the kitchen.

After the dough was ready, the mixture went on, it was rolled, and a smiling Ashlyn was able to bask in the moment of a job well done.

And that’s about all I have this week.  I meant to take some pictures of Ashlyn Skyping with grandparents and great-grandparents in Freeport, but I recorded it instead and only have one picture of the experience.  Maybe I can get some more next week, she makes some funny faces.  Until then, adios!

Happy Mother’s Day!

"The real religion of the world comes from women much more than from men - from mothers most of all, who carry the key of our souls in their hearts."
-Oliver Wendell Holmes

This weekend two exciting things happened.  First, we gardened.  This wasn’t so much exciting as necessary as we’ve had a blank spawn in our front lawn since we moved in to the house.  Well, we planted flowers there last year and managed to keep them alive for at least 2 weeks before they died.  This time we went with simpler, hardier plants, and Ashlyn was eager to help.

And then the day arrived where we stop to celebrate what the noble creatures called mothers do for us the remaining 364 days of the year.  We were fortunate enough to celebrate with several mothers this weekend, starting with a breakfast filled with Crepe’s, Quiche, and bubbly beverages for those without babies growing in them.

The afternoon was spent with the Wolfe clan.  More mothers, more food, and more play left Ashlyn sticky and exhausted.

With all the hustle and bustle of the day, it’s easy to forget the real reason why we celebrate it.  This afternoon I was given a reminder when we were talking about the baby boy who has yet to be born.  When I questioned why any woman would willingly go through the pain and stress of having a child, especially after having one already, she matter of factly said that it’s just what you have to do if you want a child.  Just like that, summing up 40 weeks of.. well.. pregnancy, in a simple statement.  And that’s why she’s my hero.

To all the mothers, thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you, a million times over, thank you.

Feliz Cinco de Mayo!

Okay, so I really don’t have anything big for Cinco de Mayo.  Coming up with new title names after two and a half years isn’t as easy for me as I’d like so I’ll take the ‘gimme’ titles when I can get them.  We did go to a Cinco de Mayo party with some friends, but I didn’t take very many pictures.  I had to take one picture though.  We told Ashlyn we were going to a party and she kept talking about cupcakes.  We tried to prep her for a lack of baked sweets, but it turns out they had cupcakes after all.

Now that summer appears to be upon us, we decided to do some spring cleaning (yes, we’re procrastinators).  Primarily, this meant taking everything out of the kitchen drawers in an attempt to match up Tupperware bowls with their lids.  Even with Ashlyn’s help, we somehow managed to succeed and our cabinets are much cleaner now.

Our neighbors have a daughter who outgrew her outdoor play house and they were kind enough to bring it over for Ashlyn to play with.  I never knew someone could be so excited about four plastic walls with a plastic roof.  She kept running in and out while I was building it, and continued running in and out of it after the house was fully built.  We’re not sure why, but she’s named it the “mommy house”.

I’m sad to report that the bright neon green gymnastics leotard has finally been retired.  We’ve moved on to a much more eye pleasing light pink number.  It’s a tiny bit too big, but the green one was stretching in ways that weren’t healthy for anyone so I think this was a good move.

And this section is from Ashlyn herself:

lmnjmmmmaf mn,c       j,,………jk nhnjn

Thanks Ashlyn.  Ironically, our baby boy is now the size of a jicama.  This, as we all know, is also called the Mexican turnip.  Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone.