Easter Pics!

We had a wonderful Easter and hope that everyone else did too!

This kid is awesome!

Follow this link for his story:
http://allday.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/03/24/1853803.aspx

He was on the Today show this morning and I just think that it is so cool! He is only 14 and it makes me thankful to see people that are this amazing!

MMMM...Catfood!

NOTE TO FAMILY AND FRIENDS:

When we come to visit lock up all kitty and dog food. Our children will eat anything and your pets may starve!

:-)

Babies and catfood. Why, why, why do they love it so much? When Harper was about Lake's age, 9months, we went through this. We would find her looking guilty with fist full of Sunshine's (my 9year old cat) cat food, holding onto it for dear life.
Well, this go around I thought that I had it covered...until this morning. I keep Sunshine's food in the laundry room with the door closed (most of the time) and I noticed that Lake was really, really quiet. Now, when little one's of mine are quiet it usually means that they are doing something that they are not spose to be doing.
I stop cooking Harper's french toast and take a peak in the laundry room that I had left cracked after unloading clothes this morning to find my little dude chowing down. Mouth full. Two hand fulls and all over his shirt. This all happened in a matter of maybe 2minutes, yes, he is fast! I totally could not help but laugh when he looked up at me like a deer in headlights then flashed his perfect smile. It was funny and the catfood cannot hurt him. I am just happy it was dry food and that it was not kitty litter! :-)
I will make sure my laundry room door will stay closed for now on.

more funny funny babies!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8Ev5HgGACg

the E Trade Babies crack me up everytime!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_npD8zzFi0w

Potty Like A Rockstar!

POTTY LIKE A ROCKSTAR!

HARPER DID IT! All by herself!

HArper has been familiar with the potty and has went once before with me pushing her, but today, today shall go down in history! Harper went into the bathroom and did it all, all by herself! YES YES YES! We have a potty song "Pee Pee in the Potty!", sticker Elmo chart and "prizes" that she can get when she goes (until it becomes a habit:-) Let's hope and pray that she keeps this interest in the potty. AMEN!

LAKE, 9MONTHS

HARPER ON HER POTTY WITH HER SUCKER! YAY HARPER!

Rowland with my homies...

Snow! We actually got snow! It was the most snow we have in 10 years! Now, I am not a big fan of the cold weather at all (I am so a beach girl!), but as long as there is snow it is always fun! It was a bit too windy for Lake to be out and about in it, and Drew apparently :-), but Harper and I had a blast! We built her first snowman and they put her picture in the Tuscaloosa News Paper today! How cool! We even still have part of the Snowman that hasn't been defeated in our yard. Ya know, if it has to be cold...it should snow...that would keep momma happy!

Now I am totally looking foward to Spring! Flowers, Easter, fun dresses, what more could you ask for? My family use to have a tradition for Easter morning. We would get up at the butt crack of dawn and go out to the Indian Mounds in Moundville, Alabama. I grew up just 5 minutes from there, which later on became one of my favorite places to camp...anyhoo...they would host an reenactment of Jesus' death and rising ontop of the highest mound there. Then we would eat cold fried chicken next to the lake and search for Easter eggs. It was really neat and I would love to do that with my own little fam now, but unfortunatly I believe they stopped doing that because the University of Alabama bought the mounds and they charge now to even just ride through...I should check on that (note to self:-) haha.

We are all doing awesome! Our new car did get rearended Sunday while Drew was driving...no biggie and not too much to fix. BUT I do strongly believe that people should have to retake their driving test when you hit a certian age. This man was much older and apparently couldn't read. Now we are not sure if he is basically blind and can't read or perhaps he really just can't read, which is sad, but how did he ever get a license?

Lake is now 9months old...wearing 18month tops. Drew says he is fat with a PH (phat), now I say big boned haha! He does the "army crawl" everywhere and I really think he will just stand up and start walking before he crawls the "right" way. He is getting up an his feet and trying to stand alone. He just started pulling up on everything and you can tell it makes him happy! He will look at you with that smile that says "Look what I can do! You guys are SO in trouble in a few months!" haha!

Harper and he play well together most of the time, but I did catch myself today saying "Both of you guys stop that!" :-) They are awesome!

Today we got a new addition to the Rowland side of the family! Lily-Margaret! Christmas will be fun this year with ALL the little ones! Welcome to the world!

Ta-ta for now!

-ash or AKA Mandy for my fam!

So I am addicted to coffee, Sesame Street and organizing

I have gotten the hang of being a stay at home mom, which I LOVE! We have been keeping busy during the days. I have them on a routine, I strongly believe that routines are a good thing. We watched Sesame Street every morning after breakfast and I get excited to see who will be on it!
It has also been super awesome that the kiddos havent gotten sick. When they were in daycare they always had a cold! I know I have to go back to work but I am going to try to find something in the evenings so I do not have to get back into rush mom mode like I was. I have became much more calm and happy now that I get to watch them grow and learn during the day. Now I am not hating on daycare, daycare is very important and good for children, to have that interaction with other kids and the learning enviroment, but I am being selfish and soaking in this time with them while I can :-)
Lake is freakin' ALL over the place! He is now crawling and is just an extreamly happy kid! I am still wondering what color his hair is going to be? I hope not red (again, I am not hating, I am just not a big fan)! Red heads do run in my fam, my sis and Aunt have strawberry hair, another Aunt has red (and 2 of her 3 sons) and my Granny had red hair. My hair has a strawberry tent to it when I do not highlight it. I think it will be blonde and maybe when he gets older Drew's color hair and those big blue eyes! AWWWW! I wonder????
Harper is talking non-stop! She is doing very well getting her sentances together! She can count to 3 and we are still working on the ABC's, she almost has it! :-) I still can't believe that she is 2! Where did these 2 years go? She is so great with Lake also! We put Lake to bed last night and Harper dissappeared. I found her in Lake's room, climbed up on the crib just talking to him and he was laughing. I bet they can understand each other.
We are taking them to Chattanoga for the weekend. I bet they, and Drew and I will have a blast at the Auqarium! I am so excited to get out and about! We need a mini vacation and this will be our first one as a family! YAY!
Things have been great! We finally got a new car, a Sabaru Outback. I love it and the double stroller fits in the back! YAY! Oh and I have a remote to lock the doors...I am super pumped about this because it was so hard in the old car to manually lock and unlock with 2babies. Drew's car will be in the shop for a bit and we are selling my old one to my dad's Aunt. We could probly get a bit more for it but I know my dad would have wanted this. :-) I miss him! I can't believe it will be a year in May since he passed away. :-( I still feel like I can just pick up the phone to call him and tell him about my day and I wonder what he would have thought about Lake. He wanted a grandson SO bad, a fishin' buddy.
Happy note, Drew finally got his "dream TV"! I never really understood all this HD 1080 stuff, but WOW! Evern comercials look amazing! I am happy he got it! He totally deserves it! I tell ya, he is the best hubby and daddy! We are blessed!
Oh...something that totally aggravated me yesterday...
I have decided to finish up my Early Child Development degree so I called UA to get my transcrips and to reapply. Well apparently I have a balance with them from a loan I took out for books (yes, almost $1100 in books and lab stuff) in 2004 so they are holding my transcripts until it is paid. I totally understand, but I havent received any letter or bill from them and I thought my dad had paid it? Totally blows, but we will just have to pay it off so I can finish. After being home with Harper and Lake and keeping my BFF's daughter a few days a week I have realized that I would enjoy teaching something like pre-K. We will see. I am still getting my real estate lisence just to have it cause I want it. You can never know to much about anything!
Well off to have some art time with Harper and clean out her closets!
All our LOVE and HAPPY EARLY VALENTINE'S DAY!
-Ashley

some pics from today!

Family Time!

Today is Harper's 2nd birthday! Where has the time gone? I can clearly remember being in the delivery room and meeting this perfect little angel! The time has flew by and I have missed so much because I have been working fulltime. I have been home the pass few days and still debate if I could be a stay at home mom because daycare I feel is very important for children...regardless, I will not get into all of my thought cause you should know that I am very good at rambling on. haha! I have decided that we are going to try our hardest to spend more time with our families. My family is spread out. I have my Aunt (my dads sister), my younger brother and sister and my mom in town. The rest of my fam is around New Orleans, the beach and Texas. Drews family is around Birmingham and Jasper. But I want to start trying to hang out more...not just holidays and special occassions because family is super important! Also Drew and I are starting to go to church on Sunday...I am super excited! So all my fam reading this lets make a date for a reunion over the summer....my family use to do this at Logan Martin Lake when I was younger and it was a blast!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARPER!

I can not believe that my little angel is 2 today! WOW!

I WON!

It is so funny! Every since I was a kid I have always been able to win radio contest... This is my secret power hahaha! I have won numerous tickets to concerts like, Ani Defranco, Odyseey Festival with lots of bands, Sherill Crow and lots more! Last year I won tickets to concerts, ticket passes to the movies and breakfast for all of my coworkers!
Now to kick off my New Awesome Year I have won a key that could crank a brand new car...which I so desperately need! So everyone, cross your fingers or say a prayer anything to help me with some good luck next Saturday the 17th!
My poor car I have now has over 250,000 miles on it! WOW!

LOVE!

Christmas at the Beach!

We had lots of fun with my fam! The kids got gag presents. One of the boys got a HUGE pair of silk undies and another got a pink tutu, which Harper claimmed haha!

The Bowl Game....well, we had a good year!

We went out to eat with my cousins Saturday night so Drew could get his raw oysters (YUCK!) and Harper ate one! She chewed it and actually wanted another, which we wouldnt give her being shellfish and all. We went out to Orange Beach on Sunday and it was a beautiful day! People were actually there swimming! I wish we could have stayed longer though...ohhhhh the beach!

"MOMMY...I DONT WANT TO LEAVE THE BEACH!"

THIS IS MY FAV!

MY 2 MEN!

1-4-2009 ORANGE BEACH!

HARPER ATE A RAW OYSTER YUCK! AND GOT REALLY DIRTY HAHA!

UNCLE JERRY JAMMIN' TO GUITAR HERO

ME, MY COUSIN JULIE AND LAKE

CLOE, LAKE, HARPER AND IVY

JUSTIN, JOSEPH, MASON AND HARPER (2ND COUSINS)

ROLL TIDE! :-( WE HAD A GOOD YEAR THOUGH!

BAMA GEAR FOR THE GAME! 1-2-09