Sauerkraut & Dumplings

Grandma Deb came over today and helped us make sauerkraut and dumplings. It stinks up the whole house but it's so worth it! Ashlyn even tried a dumpling and liked it! We're going to wait to try the sauerkraut, that could be traumatic!!

Ashlyn and her stash of dumplings & kraut.

New Do!

Well a new hair cut was long over due for me. I love it!!

Blowing Raspberries

Ashlyn's started making this sound last night. Apparently it's called blowing raspberries. It's very cute and involves a lot of spit and drool :)

Finger Painting!

Finger painting for a Valentine's project.

Out and About

Joe has his lasik pre-op appointment in Edina this morning and Ashlyn and I went with since he couldn't drive after they do all their tests. Ashlyn and I had fun waiting in the reception area. She stood on the chair looking out the window and watched people walk around the pond in the middle of the office complex. She even smiled at the UPS guy who dropped off a package. What a little ham. We ended our day having supper at the Pizza Ranch in LeSueur, dads favorite place to eat! Ashlyn tried mashed potatoes for the first time... they were ok, but not nearly as good as her puffs :)

Hanging out with dad before he got called back.

7 months old!

Another month has come and gone and Ashlyn is now 7 months old! She is so much fun, there is always something new with her every day. Here are a few of the things she has been up to.

• sits alone like a champ
• grabs at everything
• loves to feed herself
• sleeping good, 8pm to 7am (gets up for one feeding that lasts only 10 min)
• loves, loves, loves her jumperoo
• likes to be held upside down
• jabbers a lot, says da da da da
• great observer, she does this cute 'leaning her head' to look. too cute!
• loves other babies
• can't get enough of her reflection in the mirror
• will stand leaning on coffee table etc.
• likes to pull her feet up to nibble on them
• likes to bend down to nibble on her feet
• thinks it's funny when you sneeze
• wearing 12-18 month clothes

Still growing like a weed

sorry it's sideways, I can't turn it :(

Daddy's Girl

No doubt about it, she's a little Joe for sure!

Joe .................................... Ashlyn

Professional Pictures

I took Ashlyn in for her 6 month pictures a few weeks ago and they turned out pretty good! She was such a good girl for the photographer. I even got creative and finally made a new header for the blog :)

Mexico

Joe and I enjoyed a nice vacation in Mexico last week. We stayed at the all inclusive Adventura Spa Palace resort in Playa Del Carmen and it was wonderful!! Joe earned the trip through a seed purchase. It was interesting to be at a resort with 1,400 other farmers. We saw a lot of laid shirts and John Deere hats :). We met some other young farm couples from Ohio, Iowa and Illinois and had dinner with a few of them a couple nights. Our resort had some really good restaurants and we tried 3 out of the 5 and our favorite was the oriental restaurant Mo Mo No Hana – funny name but great food! We basically laid out by the beach every day and drank all kinds of drinks. I got a massage at the spa on our first full day there and then another one the day before we left.... it was amazing! We even made it to the disco one night and danced! We took a cab to downtown Playa and shopped. Or should I say that I shopped while Joe sat on the benches waiting for me :) The weather was a beautiful 85 degrees and sunshine everyday until the day we left when it rained. We were ready to come home by then but the rain made it even easier to leave the warm weather behind and get home to Ashlyn. We missed her so much! I had never been away from her overnight before this so it was a big change. It helped knowing that she was in good hands with both grandmas for days that we were gone. Grandma Ruth had her Wednesday night through Saturday and Grandma Deb had her Saturday night until we got home at 3am on Wednesday morning. Did I mention we had a 4 hour delay on the way home?? We sat for 3 hours in the plain on the runway in Dallas, TX waiting to get de-iced. Overall we had a great trip!

Mexico

our room

yes, that is a big hot tub in the room!

the view of the ocean from our outdoor hallway

hanging out in the ocean, the water was nice!

Joe bringing us more drinks!

view from our chairs

kayaking in the ocean

our last night out

Gauge and Ashlyn at Grandma & Grandpa Loula's

enjoying some time with Grandpa Tim