Things I've made

Fabric Choices

My etsy store is up and running...yea! I just need a place to post my fabric choices, so I guess this will be it.

Our Fun Day

Since this week is the Fourth of July, I decided that I should pretend like it is my vacation and take the girls to do lots of fun things. Today we went to story time at the Springdale Library, then to the Jones Center for a picnic and swimming. After that we came home for a little while and got a few things done in the house (not vacation!) We then went to tour the fire station with a bunch of kids from our ward. We had 30 kids there, not counting the babies. It was a little crazy since most of the kids were younger. But, Sydney had fun and we got some cute pictures. She had planned on asking a lot of questions, but got shy once she got there.


Thanks, Jen for organizing this and to Firemen Mick and Kyle for putting up with our brood.

Fireworks and Family Home Evening

David decided it would be fun to get a couple of families together and do FHE. So, everyone came to our house and we did a lesson and then LOTS of fireworks. There were 192 sparklers, 9 kids,3 babies, one burnt foot and not nearly enough adults.

Sydney of course, was queen bossy. For some reason, whenever I teach a group of kids she thinks that automatically entitles her to be the teacher, too. (This is the main reason she CANNOT be in my class at school - it just doesn't work.) All during the lesson I keep hearing, "Boys, look at me. See how I'm folding my arms. Shhh. Sit like me." So, yeah - I never expect to go to a parent teacher conference and here that she is getting in trouble following others. I'm sure however, that I will be told that she is a little (ok, a lot) bossy with the other kids.

But, back to the fireworks. I'm pretty sure the dads had twice as much fun as the kids - and I think the kids had a pretty good time! It was a fun night and a great way to kick off the 4th of July week. My favorite thing was watching how differently little boys and little girls act with sparklers.

Little Girls: "Look I'm a fairy/ princess/ ballerina."

Little Boys: "Hmm, I wonder if this piece of paper will burn."

Lessons I've learned this week:

We've had a pretty busy but fun week. Below is a slide show, but I'll share a few interesting things about the pictures.

One day I was getting some things done (although my husband swears I have a phobia of cleaning. Um, no, it is called at three-year-old and a two-month-old) and I hear, "Ok, Elle, blue. See you have a blue right there." I then stepped out of the kitchen and found Sydney teaching Elle how to play a few games such as Colors Bingo and Scrabble (because they are both such great spellers).

Lesson learned: put games with lots of pieces higher than where you think your three-year-old can reach.

Friday Sydney, Elle and I spent the day making strawberry jam. I remember making jam at Nanny's house when I was a little girl and the smell still brings back a lot of summer memories. So, I decided that Sydney needs those same memories as part of her summer. She used her plastic knife to cut a few strawberries, but her favorite part was squishing the strawberries. Some people have a potato masher, but according to Sydney we have a squisher.

Lesson learned: Make jam and then mop the floors, not the other way around.

We went to a birthday party for a little girl in our ward on Friday night. I've really lost count of how many babies we've had born/adopted in our ward since the fall, but it is a ton. So, at the party someone decided it would be a great idea to line up all of the little ones and take some pictures. (I didn't have my camera, so thanks Rachel for the pics!) The five babies in the picture are really just a handful of the new additions. Elle LOVES sucking her hands (which her Daddy hates) and since she apparently couldn't get to hers, took the liberty of sucking on Addison's.

Lesson learned: If you can't get to your hands, borrow a friend's.

Saturday night we ate at Mad Pizza (I love all of their different kinds of pizza) and then bought some fireworks on the way home. We had to get the traditional rooster, tank, and sparklers. David couldn't leave without a few M-80's - he says there isn't a more fitting holiday for the U.S. than a holiday where you celebrate your independence by blowing things up. We shot off a parachute and it landed a block over. We went to retrieve it and some other kids had already found it, but we ran into our neighbors whose back yard faces our house. They ended up coming over and watching us shoot our remaining fireworks off and we shared some of our strawberry jam with them. Sydney also discovered fireflies, so we had to put a few of those in a jar.

Lesson learned (by Dad): Protect your goods while doing sparklers with a three-year-old who thought throwing a sparkler in Daddy's lap would be a great idea.

It's all about the monkeys

On Memorial Day weekend David made me the happiest girl on earth - he took me to see Wicked! So, we packed up and left our 3 week old baby with Grandma and Papa and headed to Kansas City. The show was AMAZING! I've been dying to see it for about three years now and this was the closest it was coming this year. I was infatuated with the monkeys, so our friend Mike chased one down for me after the performance. This boy was built, but after seeing how they climb around on the set I know why. Go to You Tube and look for Chistery and you'll see some videos of how these crazy guys can move. They have these HUGE wings and I really wanted to see how they were made. Mike asked the monkey boy if he could put his wings out for the picture, but he said, "I can't, they're clipped." I think I laughed at that for days...it isn't quite as funny now, but that day it was hilarious.

Secret Shames

Ok, so eight weeks ago Chay tagged me and I'm just getting to it. Here it goes:


My 3 Secret Shames

1. Hi. My name is Ashley and I am a Fabric-a-holic. Yes, there is no other way to describe my fascination with fabric other than an addiction. I love walking through the fabric at Hobby Lobby. I try to avoid Hancocks because I really think I could easily spend hours in there - rows and rows and rows of beautiful prints, all waiting for ME!! The worst part is that when I do buy fabric, I tend to stuff it in my designated fabric dresser. Yes, I have an entire dresser stuffed full of fabric that I'm afraid to use because it is too beautiful to mess up. I'm really working on that... I have projects in mind for pretty much each and every piece of fabric. Here is my current stash for which I have projects planned. (This is only a small fraction of my collection...yes, that is what I'll call it. Some people collect knick-knacks, I collect fabric.) I do actually have my sewing machine out and have earnest intentions to use it every day, it just seems the little tykes always have other plans. I'm sure my husband would love to see my sewing machine and all fabric magically disappear. Someday very soon I hope to start a store on etsy - which brings me to my next addiction.








2. I could sit and surf etsy all day. If you haven't heard of it, etsy is an on-line site where people can sell handmade goods. There is seriously ANYTHING you want on there. Anytime I find something I want I go and check etsy, and yep, it's there. Then, I look at the price and think, "Hmm...I could make that myself for a lot less." So, then I go and add to my fabric stash, um I mean "collection." But, I have managed to make a nursing cover, moby wrap and my very first self-made cloth diaper. So, go me, I did manage to use some of the fabric for it's intended purpose and saved us a little money along the way.









Yes, that ts Elle's bum, outfitted in the monkey diaper I made for her.





3. I LOVE Sonic, even with their styrofoam cups. I feel pretty hypocritical buying drinks from there with everything else we're doing trying to be eco-friendly. We cloth diaper, use cloth napkins, try to watch our energy usage and recycle like a mad man, but I can't kick my Sonic addiction. I won't buy styrofoam plates or cups, but put a Sonic drink in it, and you've got me. Sydney and I go there usually once a week for Happy Hour - you can't beat half-price drinks.




So, now I tag Jessica M., Kelly, and Crystal.

Knockers no more

Every time it rains I hear from the backseat, "Mom, turn on the knockers." The first time she said that I have to admit, I was really curious where she had heard that. Now, it took me a while to figure it out, but what Sydney really means if for me to turn on the windshield wipers. I get a laugh out of it every time. Sadly, when it was raining on the way to drop her off at school yesterday she asked me to turn on the windshield wipers.

Expanding her vocabulary...

Today we got up a few minutes later than I meant to, so we were rushing to get Sydney to school. When Sydney and I got out of the shower Elle was crying, so I gave Sydney her clothes and told her to put them on (which she is perfectly capable of doing) while I went and settled Elle down.

M: Get your clothes on.

S: But I can't.

M: Yes, you can. Hurry.

S: I'm freaking out here.

M: Just get yourself dressed.

S: But, MOM. I'm FREAKING out here.

Elle is smiling!

She has been doing this for a couple of weeks, but we finally caught it on camera. It is so heart warming to finally see those precious smiles! Of course the first ones were for her Daddy, then for Sydney. Once again, I've been demoted to food source.

To the Father's in my life...

When I sat down to write this last night it was storming and the power went out. Just before that David, Sydney, Elle and I had been outside watching the storm in the distance. I love the smell of a summer rain and was glad I had a few moments to stand in awe of the creations of my Heavenly Father whom I love dearly. Each day I'm grateful for the people he has put in my life.

First, I must say thanks to the father of my children. We're so blessed to have two beautiful, healthy babies here on earth and another that although we did not have a chance to meet in this life, I know we will get to hold some day. David is a wonderful father and is definitely the "fun parent." Any given evening after work he can be caught playing the role of Prince or Hercules or dinosaur or lion while dancing or roaring with his little princess/ Megara/ dinosaur/ lion. (I usually gets stuck being the bad guy, if I'm allowed to play at all.) He has also been submitted to countless hours of coloring, blocking building and tea partying and I'm sure many more to come in this house of girls.

Thanks for always doing what you think is right (even when you're wrong - you're slowly learning that I'm always right!) I'm glad you are the one I get to attempt to figure this crazy parenting thing out with - I can't imagine this journey with anyone else. Thanks for doing everything you can to make me happy. Whether it is buying me a dog (even though the official aparment policy was no pets), eating shells and cheese with green grapes or the 10th hamburger that week (you did a great job making a pregnant woman happy), or dancing just to make me laugh when it is the last thing I feel like doing - you always have what is best for me in mind. Thanks for all you do to make sure us girls have everything we need (and then coming home to help me clean the house afterwards!) I love you.

And because I'm already bragging about him, I'll let you all know that David was named Faculty of the Year at the University of Phoenix . I'm so proud of him!

Second, I have to say thanks to my dad, better known as "Doddy" in these parts. I'm not really sure where that came about, but it has definitely stuck. I'll always remember the monster mask you kept in the hall closet to scare us, even though we knew it was you. Then there was the "big talk" at Pizza Hut when I was in the second grade when you told me the truth (because I asked) about the guy with the white beard, big black boots, and eight tiny reindeer. One of my favorite memories is the many years sitting on the bank of the Arkansas River guessing what time it was and how long until the Riverfest fireworks began. I'm pretty sure that mixed in there with the "what time is it" game I learned most of the random things I know. I'll also never forget the time you took us to see The Little Mermaid and while waiting for the movie to start, taught us how much fun it is to tear us Starburst wrappers into tiny squares, put them in your hands and cough.

Mostly, thanks for always listening and giving advice, but not making my decisions for me. Instead you taught me how to make my own decisions which has helped me grow into the person I am today. Now that I'm a parent, I'm beginning to understand how difficult it is to sit back and let your child learn not only from their good decisions, but also the bad ones. I hope that when my babies are grown I will be able to sit back and feel confident they will make the right decisions because they were taught how from the beginning. Thanks for always letting me be who I am and not forcing me to be someone that I'm not.

Oh, and thanks for teaching Sydney to fish, since she apparently thinks Dad and Mom are no good. For those who haven't heard the story, Papa took Sydney fishing one Saturday and they caught 11 fish in two hours. The next Friday David and I took her back to the same spot and caught a grand total of zero. In the car on the way home Sydney says, "I think my Papa needs to take me fishing...Mommy and Daddy don't know how." The picture above is of Papa and Sydney right after she hugged him and said, "We're best friends."

Wow...it has already been almost three weeks since Elle was born. I can't believe how quickly it has gone by! She really is a great baby and is super laid back. We're exicted to say that she still has a full head of black hair, but it is always oily because we all sit around and run our hands through it all day. She is surviving her older sister who is absolutely in love with her, but doesn't quite understand that babies need lots of sleep. Sydney spends a good portion of the day trying to wake Elle up so she can play. We've also had a few close calls with Sydney picking Elle up and carrying her around. Like any good big sister Sydney is also learning to blame lots of things on Elle. Last night we were in the car and Elle started crying. When she stopped, we looked and Sydney had her finger in Elle's mouth. When she realized she was caught she said, "No, baby Elle. Don't put my finger in your mouth!" Still no jealousy issues, so keep your fingers crossed for us on that!

I'm still feeling pretty tired, although I'm getting a ton of sleep considering that I have a newborn. My biggest frustration is not being able to get up and do stuff like I want. A walk around the block the other day kept me sitting around the entire next day because I was sore. I'm ready to get back out and take long walks and do something, really anything. I definitely think this c-section was MUCH, MUCH easier than my first and I'm feeling a lot better at this point than I did at this point last time. But, I'm not a sitter, so I'm still learning how to take it easy.

So, long story short, our house isn't as clean as I'd like and we're eating a lot of cereal and leftovers (thanks to some wonderful friends at work who brought us dinner last week.) We're all learning how to live and function as a family of four instead of three. But, the important thing is that we're all making it one day at a time and surviving!

Sydney and Picture Day

Sydney had her dance class pictures last week. What an exciting day! She thought she looked super cute and was really excited because she got to wear makeup. Her dance recital is in June and they are doing a tap dance to "The Hippy Hippy Shake." I have to say it is super cute, but Daddy thinks she is a little too good at shaking her hips for a three-year-old.

We're now a family of 4!!

Elle Madison Rieske made her grand debut Tuesday, April 29th at 9:01 p.m. She weighed 8 lbs 9 oz and was 20 1/4 inches long. She has the prettiest head of black hair we've ever seen. More details when I'm not so drugged!

God made everything

I cherish my grocery time with Sydney - she is always full of questions and it is a great bonding time for us. Yesterday our conversation went something like this:

S: Mom, did God make everything?
M: Yes, he did.
S: Did he make flowers and birds?
M: That's right.
S: (with lots of astonishment and big wide eyes) Did he even make Wal-Mart?

Lessons we've learned

Lesson #1
You don't need snow or even cold weather to wear everything you own that is meant for winter - just strip down to your undies and hula skirt and they'll feel just fine.

Lesson #2

Dogs will only put up with so much dancing.

All day on Wednesday Sydney carried Grizzly around. Grizzly didn't object, but I can't say she liked it either. She tolerated it and even let Sydney lead her around on a leash most of the day. Wednesday night we were watching our DVR'd episode of American Idol and Sydney decided that Grizzly should dance with her. As you can see, she put up with it for a while. Sydney thought it was hilarious, but then Grizzly got tired of being dragged around by her front paws and started gently gnawing on Sydney's hands to make her let go. After much prompting from her Dad, Sydney finally let go. Then Grizzly jumped in my lap and Sydney thought putting her in the laundry basket would be a better idea. So, she chased the poor dog who again jumped back into my lap. She kept tugging at her and finally, after about 15 minutes of torture, Grizzly nipped her. Sydney cried for 10 minutes although there wasn't even a mark. I'd like to say she learned her lesson, but today she's been chasing Grizzly with the laundry basket again.

Weewo and Stitch and Grasshead Progress

Sydney's favorite movie lately has been Lilo and Stitch (weewo and Stitch as it is more commonly known in our house.) She loves when they hula in the beginning and has decided that this skirt from her dress up trunk looks like a hula skirt. So, she wears it everytime she watches the movie. She has memorized the entire dance and I'm pretty sure the entire dialouge in the movie. David and I are both ready for a new favorite.

Also, a little over a week later, here is Sydney's grasshead. On Sunday she decided a haircut and I'd have to say that I agree. She loves watching things grow! This month at school they are learning about the parts of a flower and how they grow from seeds. We constantly get to here about how flowers come from seeds. There is nothing like a 3 year old to teach you everything you need to know about flowers.

Pokey Earrings...a success!

After a lot of phone calls, we ended up getting Sydney's ears pierced at Claire's. Sydney kept saying, "I'm so excited" so the girl doing the piercing finally asked if it was Sydney's idea to get her ears pierced. I assured her it was. We'd tried to talk to about how it was going to hurt, but just for a second like a shot does. She was ok with that and perched herself up in the chair. I had told her earlier that I didn't want her to cry (not that I really expected her not to - I just didn't want a big scene, if possible, from my little drama queen.) There was a girl who was about ten or eleven who went first and she was kind of a wimp about it. Thankfully Sydney didn't watch her. When it was Sydney's turn she got a little nervous, grasped onto the chair and smiled. I was squeezing David's hand really hard because I was so nervous - I remember how those things hurt! So, they counted, clicked (both at the same time) and Sydney's eyes got huge. She just sat there with a shocked look on her face, tears welling up in her eyes. The bottom lip started quivering and that was all this Momma could take. I told her it was ok and then the tears came full force. She cried and cried and everyone around her was telling her how good she did. She probably held the tears off for a total of 30 seconds - even I was impressed. I held her and tried to get her to look at them in the mirror, but she wasn't interested. Mean time, there were some older women in the store looking at me like I was the worst mom ever forcing my child to have her ears pierced. I wanted to kick them in the shin and tell them to get over it because this little girl had been BEGGING to get them done for months and it wasn't my idea. Thankfully I kept the pregnancy hormones in check and didn't cause a scene. After about five minutes of crying and burying her face in my shoulder, Sydney was all about showing everyone just how great her new "pokey earrings" looked. So, for the last several days she keeps pulling her hair up as she walks into a room so everyone can see how beautiful she looks. She almost made me go back in at my OB's office because she forgot to show Dr. Seale. I assured her we'd be back next week and she could show her then.

Speaking of the baby, everything looks good. She has definitely dropped but isn't completely engaged yet, so we might make it until May 2. Unless I have more contractions I'm done with internals - thank goodness for that. So we sit and wait and I drive my husband crazy with all of the cloth diapers talk. I actually found a place in Fayetteville that carries them called Terra Tots, so I have been talking to the owner there. She is a wealth of information and I'm leaning more and more towards the cloth. Her prices seem to be in-line with everything I've found on-line, so I think we'll probably buy them from her if we go that way. She has a starter package for $60 including tax that looks better than any I've found on-line. David says he doesn't care either way and that it is my decision, but I want him on board with whatever way we go. He really wants me to do the 21 day trial first, but it is only $30 less than just buying them and in the end you end up without diapers. Ahh...all of the decisions that come with a baby. I'm so anxious for her to just get here!

Grass Head

Today Sydney and I made her long awaited "grass head." This is a craft my home school class did the other day and I brought home the extras for her to make one. It is basically a chia-pet and quite cute when it finally grows. Sydney decided she wanted to make hers to a football player. I drew the number for her and then she drew the clothes. I think she did a pretty good job - she is getting better and better at drawing things. Especially things with a permanent marker on my bathroom wall, but that is another story. Currently there is a frog drawn with a dry erase marker on my bathroom mirror which by me is an ok art space, dry erase being the key. My favorite part of the frog is the tounge which she drew by sticking hers out so she could see what it looked like. It was really cute.

I've been up since 5 a.m. which I hate, but there was no point in just laying there. So far I've gotten some laundry done and had a chance for more research on cloth diapers. I think I might be crazy, but I think it is what we're going to do part-time at least. I'm not sure we could do them at school and I definitely think I don't want to do them when out and about. I've found a couple of places on-line that allow you to do a trial version. One site is only $10 for 21 days if you decide you don't like them, so I think we may start out with that. Cloth will be a big investment to make if we decide not to do it so I want to make sure that is really what we want to do. I'm amazed at how different cloth diapers are than what I thought they'd be. There are so many options that I've felt a little overwhelmed doing all of the research, but I think I've finally got my feet on the ground. Plus, I don't think it will gross me out as much as I originally thought, especially after potty training. I don't think it is something I would have been brave enough to try with my first, but after all of the poop and pee associated with potty training, what is a little more?

Also on the agenda for today are Sydney's swim lessons. She has had a break since before Christmas and is dying to go back to the Jones Center. She has big plans about going under, we'll see if she sticks to them. Today is also the day she has been working really hard for - POKEY EARRINGS! She has been begging for several months now and David was a little reluctant to let her get them. But, after lots of Sydney persuasion she talked him into getting them. David told her she could get them IF she was good and had no time-outs at school for all of March. She did get it pushed back a week for a "not listening" incident and I can't say she has been the most well behaved child ever, but she has improved and has worked really hard. We've talked about how it will hurt, but only for a second. She isn't thrilled about that part, but she still wants to get them so wish us luck. We'll see what she picks out and how it goes!

Maternity Pics

Here are a few maternity pictures we took tonight. I didn't realize I looked so tired, but so goes life.