Gangnam Style

Just like every other person in the world, Cullen has heard the song "Gangnam Style."

And like every other person in the world, Cullen has caught onto it quickly.

He learned the dance moves from James, and he learned the words, because I leave the song on any time it comes on the radio. I'm a good mom like that. Cullen thinks that it's James' favorite song.

Cullen's favorite line to sing?

Heeeeeeey sexy lady.

What about that isn't age appropriate?

xoxo ashley

Happy Birthday Baby

 Today is Cullen's third birthday. He is three. How did that happen so fast? During dinner with a friend last week, we were discussing why this birthday seemed so big. My little baby is a little boy now. He talks, he walks, he has an opinion. It is beyond difficult to put into words.

I will never forget the day we found out Cullen was on the way. After so much waiting, so little patience, and an awful lot of heartbreak, we were going to have a baby. And I knew from day one that this baby was our baby for good.

I will never forget the day we found out that we were expecting a little boy. James was working in Houston, so one of my very best friends sat next to me in Austin with her two little girls while James was on speakerphone so that we could find out at the same time. Snips and snails and puppy dog tails. A boy.

I will never forget the day Cullen was born. A no-big-deal checkup to find out that I was already in labor, and he was on the way. James got to the hospital as quickly as he could, and Cullen was in our arms just a few hours later.

In my mind, Cullen will always be this little boy.

Tiny, wide-eyed, constantly alert. And finally, he was ours. I remember wanting James to drive faster when we left the hospital. Just in case someone noticed that we had taken off with a little baby not even two days old. Sure, I signed the discharge papers, but it didn't seem likely that anyone would be okay with us just taking him home like that. Like we knew what we were doing.

Cullen has taught me so much over the last three years. He's taught me more about love than I ever could have imagined. He's taught me about the important things in life. He helped me learn that a child's laughter is the sweetest sound I could ever hear. That his tears could bring me to tears. That the love a mother feels for her child cannot and will not ever be replaced.

I love that when Cullen should say "thank you," he sometimes says "you're welcome." And if he does say "thank you" first, he will race you to try to say "you're welcome" before you have a chance.

I love that Cullen is telling people he is three and a half today. Close enough.

I love that when a stop light turns green, he yells, "Go Baylor! Sic'em bears!"

I love that he is an affirming and loving little boy. When I say, "You're my best boy!" He responds with, "You're my best mommy!"

I love how smart he is. How he won't let us pull the wool over his eyes. Last night, Cullen asked James to go upstairs to get a toy for him. Not because Cullen was too lazy, but because Cullen knew that James would turn off Cullen's movie if Cullen walked away.

I love how passionate he is about the things he loves. His first request this morning was for his Lightning McQueen birthday party. He'll have to wait a few more days, but you can't blame him for being excited!

I love that he is thrilled to have popovers instead of cake today for his birthday. What three year old loves popovers? My three year old. Especially when you add sprinkles.

I love that he was over the moon to receive a book as his first birthday present this morning.  

I love that he knew the mouse as soon as he saw him. He knew that it was the same one from If You Give A Mouse A Cookie. It's his birthday, too!

I love that he saw the birthday sign outside of the school and knew that it was time to celebrate. 

I love that his entire class broke out into song when he walked in this morning. And little Michelle gave him a big hug and told him she loved him.

I love what being a mother has done for me and for our family. And I hope that I can use that experience to love Cullen even more. He will always be a highlight in my life, and I couldn't be any more proud of the little boy he has become so far. I can't wait to see what the next year brings us.

xoxo ashley

Baylor Homecoming 2012

Baylor Homecoming. The time each year when the bears all head to Waco to meet up, enjoy fellowship together and do all things bear. I love Homecoming. I love seeing old friends. I love seeing a stadium full of green and gold. I love remembering what Homecoming means to me.

Homecoming 2002 was the first time James asked me out. He invited me to the KA tailgate, where I met his fraternity brothers and friends. It's been 10 years, and I still love to think about that day. Among other reasons, that made this weekend even more special for me. Cullen's first homecoming, 10 years since our first "date," and Charly nominated for Homecoming queen. What's not to love?

 We started out early with a lunch at George's. Cullen spent time teaching Charly about If You Give A Mouse A Cookie. Charly read to Cullen, and he corrected her where he thought he knew the story better. 

We spent most of the afternoon wandering around campus. We got pictures of Cullen in several iconic places where he shouted CHEESE! as loud as he possibly could. I now have a collection of Cullen pictures with this face. 

The lighting is a bit off in this one, but I love that look on his face.  

Of course, we had to take a "little break" from chasing the squirrels.  

One of the highlights of my Friday was getting to see Keane, my director for student involvement back when I was a student. He was (and is) such a great guy to be around and a fabulous mentor. It was so fun to come back to say hi again and introduce him to Cullen.

And the highlight of James' day would likely be seeing the Heisman. I told James about it when we were in the SUB, and we managed to walk up just a couple of minutes after they put it on display. Enjoy the ridiculously unflattering picture. 

The silly people put the Heisman out without a case. Of course, it's just assumed that we would all know not to touch it. But Cullen didn't know. And Cullen man-handled the Heisman. Cullen almost got man-handled by a police officer.  

He took it in stride and took this hilarious break to drink some milk.  

We had dinner with friends that night and then headed back to campus for the bonfire. Cullen was not impressed. 

He was also not impressed by Isaiah Austin. James got really excited about him being some important basketball recruit. I just take the pictures. 

And we got to see the bears. Up close and personal. Cullen was pretty excited to see them playing. 

The necessary photo of Pat Neff at night. And an itty bitty Cullen sitting on the lawn. I didn't even make him do that. He is just that cute. 

We ended up spending the night in Hillsboro, so we got to drive by James' great-great-grandfather's house on Saturday morning.  It's pretty awesome to know that we had family living there about 80 years ago.

Saturday morning was the parade. THE parade. We got a really great place to watch, and I was so excited for Cullen. His very first parade! 

He HATED the big bear. 

After about a 30 minute delay caused by a broken float, the parade was re-routed. I saw the first float turn, and we booked it to the new parade route. Just a few minutes later, our favorite Homecoming nominee came around the corner. 

James is such a great dad, and Cullen had the best time with him this weekend. I love having family time with my boys. 

Charly looked just perfect on Saturday. We were so proud to cheer for her in the parade! 

Cullen and James are so silly together. I can't even remember why at this point, but a while back, James taught Cullen to rub his chin and say, "Veeeery peculiar." Cullen says, "Berry culiar." 

From the parade, we moved on to tailgating. We visited with friends while Cullen met a new girlfriend. She was a few months younger than him, and he was absolutely smitten. 

And what's a Baylor tailgate without Ken Starr? 

Cullen was a great little spectator at the game. He had a lot of fun and a lot of snacks. 

He was a fabulous cheerleader for Baylor. 

And Laura got some really great pictures of Cullen with James 

How big is this kid? 

Within five minutes of car time on the highway, Cullen was out. He slept most of the way home and asked for more parade when he woke up. I can't wait to take him back to Homecoming next year! 

xoxo ashley

Halloween 2012

Last year on the morning of Halloween, my iPhone pooped out on me and refused to take pictures. And then I got really busy that evening and forgot to take pictures with my regular camera. And then I remembered this like a week later. And getting a kid into a cheeseburger costume a week after the fact to pretend like it's Halloween? Yeah. Right. He was so over it.

I'm pretty determined that this won't happen again this year, so I took pictures this morning. Before I could forget. I also took a bunch last night that I can pretend are actually from Halloween if I forget tonight. I'm so prepared, it's ridiculous.

Last night, Cullen ate pumpkin pie for dinner. Before you go thinking I'm a bad mom, I would like to remind everyone what a picky eater he is. Besides, who doesn't want pie for dinner every now and then? And for dessert? He had macaroni and cheese. It all balanced out in the end.

After dinner, we carved pumpkins. By "we," I really mean that James carved pumpkins. I scraped out the insides, and Cullen flung pumpkin seeds around the kitchen. Cullen is super proud of his Cullen pumpkin and Daddy pumpkin. Mommy got to save the other two for another month of fall decor on the porch. 

And because Cullen no longer likes sleeping in his bed or in his room, I found this on the floor this morning. Scout was guarding him like the occasionally-awesome dog that she is.  

Cullen is Woody this year! After extensive searching and way too much time spent on the issue, Cullen is Woody. And he loves it. He loves his hat and his boots and his scarf and his shirt. And he says, "Howdy buckaroos." Too. Cute. 

xoxo ashley

Scout Updates

I've always loved making Christmas cookies, so I was pretty pumped when I got an order for some Halloween cookies. Even better? The order came from my best friend's mom! How awesome is that? She is like another mom for me, and I loved being trusted with cookies for her party. I think they came out pretty well!

Mr. Bat.

Broom 

Witch's Hat 

Pumpkin 

Ghost 

Scaredy Cat 

And.... Drum roll, please! My new labels! I've been working on the prototype. Now I just need to get them printed for my next round of orders! If you have time, go check out the new site. If you don't feel like typing it in, just use the QR code! Fancy! 

xoxo ashley

The Cousins Visit

 Last week, James' cousin came into town with her five kids. I love them like they're my own, and it's always so great to see them. Cullen is getting more and more acclimated to the group, and his response is so much better now than it was two short years ago. He is thrilled by the noise and fun, and he's happy to be a part of it.

Example A: Bath time with the twins.

How cute are Carly and Cassidy in their little bath caps?

Example B: Chaos in Peg and Andy's room. All six of the kids were in here jumping, climbing, jogging, and playing. A video would show the actual incident even better. They are so fun! 

Example C: Cullen giving Hunter a high five at dinner. He loves when he gets included with the older kids.  

On Friday night, I was lucky enough to bring one of the Littles home with me. Lauren stayed with us and played with Cullen. Cullen is crazy in love with her, and he keeps asking to have her come stay with us again. She read him "If You Give A Mouse A Cookie" once, and now it's his favorite book. He even sleeps with it. 

Lauren was a great sport about her toddler play time, and I think she enjoyed getting to sleep in and have a custom breakfast. She's so sweet, and it's easy to spoil her.  

Now we're just counting the days until the Little family visits again. We can't wait!

xoxo ashley

Dewberry Farms Day

Last weekend, we ventured out to Dewberry Farms to pick pumpkins. If we're being really honest, we drove all the way out to Hockley to go to the Oil Ranch only to find that it was closed for a private event. You would think they would mark that sort of thing on their website. Either way, we drove all the way back in the opposite direction to Dewberry Farms. After what felt like HOURS in the car, we arrived. Long lines, dust clouds, and a bunch of grumpy grown ups.

I think all of the chaos was exciting for the kids, because they just hopped in the wagon and were ready to go. Cullen didn't fully appreciate two cute girls in his wagon. I think it was more of an irritation that someone was in his space. He got over it pretty quickly and enjoyed the company.

Dewberry Farms has so many redeeming and fantastic characteristics, but I don't love that you have to pay for everything in addition to paying to get in. The important thing is that the kids had a blast.

Cullen wasn't a fan of feeding the goats, but he enjoyed watching James do it.

And he didn't want to feed the ducks, but he liked watching them.

And he didn't care for the pig races, but he liked standing on the fence with the girls before the race started. 

And sitting on Daddy's shoulders.  

I felt kind of bad for the little pigs, but we had fun just the same. 

Next stop, the super cool photo op with the "cool bus."

They have this really awesome slide that is rollers the whole way down. Lola made it look so easy.

Cullen didn't want to go down by himself, so I went with him. Per my usual stubbornness, I ignored James when he told me I was going to go fast. I think I had more fun than Cullen.

Finally, we have all of the kids looking in almost the same direction and smiling.

Next was the big bounce thing. Cullen had a great time with it.

One last stop before heading home was to pick out our pumpkins. Cullen knew the drill, so he hopped out of the wagon and started picking. He makes this look like it's no big deal, right?

Just carrying this little pumpkin to the wagon...  

We weighed that little pumpkin at check out. Ten and a half pounds! That little boy is strong!

And our front porch is crowded with FOUR pumpkins. Cullen was so pleased with himself!

After Dewberry Farms, we went to lunch and ice cream. The kids were really great through lunch and even better through ice cream. They were so precious together!

Mr. Sticky Hands brought his toppings with him in the car. Why not, right? It was his day after all!

I love these weekends spent making memories with our little family.

xoxo ashley