Two Little Monkeys

Ashlyn and cousin Connor hanging out at G&G Loula's. Monkey see monkey do!

169 Holiday Celebration

We went downtown St Peter for the "Holiday Celebration". Hwy 169 is supposed to be opening next week... FINALLY! It has been a huge pain in the butt to get around town since July, with new detours weekly. If any of you have had to try to get through town recently you know how frustrating it can be. So we thought we'd go and check it out. Many of the stores were decorated for Christmas and we signed up for a few door prizes. There were horse drawn carriage rides, reindeer petting and pictures with Santa. Ashlyn did not want to go near Santa so it will be interesting to see what the picture turn out like! Hopefully she gets over her fear by Christmas :) After the Santa incident, we watched the horses and checked out a few shops. Then she got to pet the reindeer... she stuck her fingers in its nose too!

Pointing to the big excavator working on a side street by Ace Hardware

The view from the center of the street

Horses!!! She gets so excited when she see horses, they even had Santa hats on :)

Tunnel

Ashlyn having fun playing with her tent and tunnel.

Peek-a-boo!

Halloween

Well, we made the rounds again this year! Starting out in New Ulm at Great Grandma Lappe's, then to see Grandpa Frank, then Grandma Deb and our last stop was Bryan & Christy's in North Mankato to help hand out candy and hang out with cousin Connor and Grandma and Grandpa Loula. It was a perfect evening. Ashlyn liked wearing her bumble bee outfit and it was super cute! Ashlyn and Connor changed into their matching jack 0'lantern t-shirts to be more comfortable later on. They had fun playing together and running to the door to see the trick or treaters. They even got into the candy bowl and got some candy... and they loved it!

She wasn't so sure about Grandma Deb.... she didn't recognize her!!

Checking out who's at the door

What a cute bumble bee butt!

Yummm.... chocolate!

Having fun rocking on the alligator

Connor had fun pushing Ashlyn back and forth

and she loved every minute!

First Hair Cut

Ashlyn got her first hair cut today! She did really good. It was more of a trim to even her crazy hair out. She even got a "First Hair Cut" certificate. She looks so cute :)

Waiting for her appointment

She didn't want to sit by herself so she sat on my lap.

This is her "Before"

"After"

ECFE Halloween

Tuesday we got to dress up for Halloween at ECFE. Ashlyn wore her Lady Bug costume. All the kids were so cute! Too bad we took the picture at the end of class... she was ready to take it off.

Coloring her pumpkin

Taking a ride in the boat

She loves the bridge; stairs on one side, slide on the other.

Class picture

Cookie Monster

Joe and Ashlyn share a love of Oreo cookies. You should see her beg for them! Luckly she only get this special treat once in a while - it's messy!

Fire Starter

Ashlyn wanted to help daddy get the fire place going. She made sure he did a good job :)

Silly Hats

Here she is using one of her toy bins as a hat

Pajama pants make a great hat!

Creeper

Cousin Connor and his dad stopped by last week while we were hanging out outside. Ashlyn was dressed in her full snow suit and boots and thankfully the shop is heated so when they were crusing around on the creeper it was warm enough not to be all bundled up. I pulled them around for about 10 minutes but they still wanted more! From the look on their faces it may seem like they weren't haveing a great time but they didn't want to get off!!

Goose Hunting

Joe went goose hunting last weekend with his cousin Jeff and they shot their limit. Ashlyn was having fun playing with the decoys.

Pretty Pumpkins

Well, our wish of a nice mild fall has yet to arrive so we're still bundling up to go outside. Doesn't sound like the weather will be getting any better in the coming weeks either. Thankfully Joe has been in a pretty good mood despite the fact that this could be the worst fall since he started farming. Back and forth from beans to corn and back... even drying beans in the dryer... ugh, can't wait till everything is black and Santa is coming down the chimney :) Speaking of chimney's, Joe made our first fire of the year. I just love the smell of a real wood fire. It reminds me of growing up. Dad always had a fire going in the winter. Seems like yesterday!

Our fall display by our front door

Welcome to the Loula's!

One of our huge pumpkins.

Ashlyn wouldn't look up at me,

she was a little nervous about sitting up so high :)

Babies and Purses

Ashlyn has really been into babies and purses. She loves to push her baby around in the stroller, cuddle it and give it a bottle. So CUTE! Such a sweet little mommy.

Digging for her phone in her purse

Hello? Grandma is that you?

Farm Life

There are so many times that we walk out the front door and I think to myself that I'm so lucky. I have a wonderful husband who I love more every day and I have this amazing privilege of being a stay at home mom. Living on the farm is just so much fun (and A LOT of work!). There is ALWAYS something to "do". I'm glad that Ashlyn loves being outside since we as a family spend a lot of time outside. Right now exploring is Ashlyn's passion. There is always a new rock to lift, a dark corner to explore and trouble to get into! Most days I have a few things that need to get done outside like taking the garbage out or turning on the feeders for the pigs and after we get done with that I basically just follow her around and let her do her thing. It's just so fun to watch her learn. Life is good!

Chilly days

Here dad, I found a few kernels

for you to put in the bin

The girl loves to drive anything!

Making sure that everything is running smoothly

Looks like I need to help clean up....

Grandpa Tim would be proud... picking up spilt corn =)