Ashley and what we have been doing lately

I had been very frustrated trying to be a part of several really worthwhile charity projects/volunteer opportunities and for some reason in spite of my best efforts it wasn't working out-something came up at home one Saturday, twice times or meeting places were changed or I missed the announcement of the new one. 

Then I just really felt like the Lord was saying to me-remember that as a wife and mom your first ministry is to be to your own family.  Not that the activities I was trying to get into were bad but I felt the need to really focus on particularly the extra time that I have with Ashley now.  Next year she will go to preschool 5 days a week, though from  only 9 am to noon.  So I have been putting more effort into making time with her special.

One morning recently I let her plan our morning.  She loves to ride her Hello Kitty bike so I walked and she rode her bike.  I got Greg to look at the map when he got home that night to tell me how far we had gone-it was over 1/2 a mile-no wonder she said she her legs were tired.  When we got home she wanted to go swimming so we did that too.

One morning she seemed a little tired and draggy when we got home from the bus stop so we mixed up some blueberry muffins and sat down to watch Sleeping Beauty.  She loves a princess movie.  I paused to go check on the muffins and she jumped off the sofa, ran ahead of me to the kitchen, and I found her bent over looking into the oven door window.  She said "they're turning into muffins!"  so excited-it was like they had been rocks when we put them in or something.  We also had a breakfast picnic of cereal while watching Sleeping Beauty.

Funny side story about the muffins-I was making them to take to our BSF fellowship-time we meet early for a sharing time before Bible study begins.  Everyone asked if they were homemade.  I laughed and told them that I tore open a package and added water but that my little girl helped.  They thought that was funny and all the muffins were either eaten or taken home.

She is getting to be such a big girl and is so proud of the things she can do "by herself"  She still loves to trace her name and is getting better and better at writing it by herself.  This past Saturday she swam the length of our pool without any flotation assistance! 

She loves helping me in the kitchen.  She got an apron just her size for Christmas and is quick to pull a chair over to the counter any time she thinks that she can help with something.  I miss the refrigerator section in the grocery store with canned biscuits and bread dough, crescent rolls, etc.  I can buy the break apart cookies here but instead of bread nearly everyone eats rice.  Greg casually suggested that I make homemade biscuits-I love him so much, but he knows practically nothing about cooking.  I explained that that was going to be interesting since I can't buy self-rising flour and  have to "make" my own buttermilk by adding vinegar to the regular milk.  Ashley had a great time helping though-she loved rolling out the dough and helping me cut out the biscuits.  Still haven't hit upon a great recipe that everyone likes though.


Here is my little "baker girl" as she calls herself

 This is her class at school-the boys in green shirts were moving back to Korea, so I took a picture of the class for them to have-from left to right Bjorn, Jun and Chan, Andy, Ashley, Lia, and Yanna

 This was Sunday morning before church-wearing her new dress that I picked out for her on Aunt Emily, Uncle Jake, and their girls' behalf for Christmas.  She loved it because it was pink, polka dotted, and twirly!  What better combination is there?

 She looks so big and grown up to me in these pictures.

This is so funny because I PROMISE I did not tell her to pose this way-she did that totally by herself!

Last Friday, we went to the boys school and went to the library to check out books.  She loves their reading loft and I think would sit there all day if we could (they prefer for us not to be there when classes are having their library time) bringing me book after book to read to her in the super cool reading loft!

I did a monumental thing with my little girl last week-we began watching (but didn't have long to get into it that day) Anne of Green Gables.  I love that movie and had some of the music from it played when Greg and I got married.  My maid of honor, Kim, and I have always said that someday we want to visit Prince Edward Island and now Ashley can go too.  She loved Anne's red braids-likes it when I have time to braid her ponytail or pigtails.  I look forward to watching ALL the hours of the movies with her and sharing other "girly" things like the Little House on the Prairie books-she already loves the short picture book versions, and American Girl books.