FLASH SALE

These deals are only good thru tonight (Thursday)!  Get'em while they're hot!!!

Each of the bags in more detail…sorry it's small.  When I made it bigger, it was blurry and I have to pick kids up from preschool in 15 minutes so I don't have time to figure it out :).

Perfect for all ages!

 Incredible deal on this bag!

 The cross body, the strap comes off to turn it into a clutch.

Ok - I gotta run out the door!  You can see them all in more detail directly thru this link, http://www.stelladot.com/shop/en_us/sale/sale-all.  Call or email me if you have questions or want me to help with an order, 816.803.0727, ash4545@hotmail.com.

I am picking up kids and we are headed to apple picking, it's a beautiful day in Kansas!

Sunflowers and a trip to my favorite city

At the beginning of September I kept seeing pictures on Instagram and Facebook of these incredible sunflower fields.  I was so intrigued!  How did I not know about these fields?!  So a couple weeks ago I picked the kids up after school, drove thru Chick-Fil-A and hit the road.  It was about 45-50 minutes and in the middle of nowhere!  

 Wowza!  We definitely missed their peak as they were started to wilt a bit and there were lots of bugs. Still pretty though!

 I wasn't sure what the kids were going to think, specifically Cooper.  I figured he was going to be bored.  Those binoculars came with their Chick-Fil-A meals and they were perfect.

 Our favorites. 

 As we were walking, Cooper saw this sunflower and said, "Don't you feel sorry for that one.  It's probably lonely all by itself."  Yep Coop, I am sad for it too.

 The sunflower field isn't manned - no store front, nothing.  You park on the side of the street and their are boxes with locks to donate $1 for each flower you pick.  Laney picked one as big as her face!

 He opted for a smaller one, with no bugs.

It was about 1:30 at this time, I knew naps were out of the question and we were too close to my favorite city to not visit.  I asked the kids if they wanted to go see where the Jayhawks played basketball and got a resounding YES!

 I had just planned on parking at Allen Fieldhouse and letting the kids run around the grass while I fed Pippi.  We were pleasantly surprised to find it open!!!!  Not the court :( - just the hall of fame.  For those of you that don't know, that is a National Championship trophy.  Yep, we are awesome.  I filled the kids in (mostly Cooper) on lots of Kansas basketball history.  

 They have some interactive things - the kids had fun.  This is Laney testing her vertical.

 We hung out here for about 30 minutes before I realized we had parked illegally.  I forgot how hard it is to find parking on campus during school!!!  No ticket - phew.  Also no Uncle Bill sighting :(.

 We drove around and I watched those college kids walk to class with so much envy!  I took the kids by Adam's fraternity and my sorority (pictured here).  

The kids were so awesome all day that we stopped for ice cream on Mass street before we headed home.  

I can't believe it has taken me 6 months to take the kids up to Lawrence  - it really is my favorite city!  I wanted to move there (and still would!) when we moved back to Kansas and Adam said I was crazy.  Can't wait to take them back - so much more to see and do, including The Hawk!  Kidding!

Pippi - 9 months

9 months is such a fun age!  Piper is such a happy and pretty easygoing baby, for that I am thankful :).

-She had her 9 month well check, all was good.  She weighed 19lbs, 2 oz (54%ile) and was 29 inches long (90%ile).  The big kids had almost exact same stats at this age.

-I am still nursing her 5 times a day.  She is eating all 3 meals with us too!  She eats all table food which makes things so easy but a bit messy.

-She is going to bed around 7:45-8:15 and up early - by 6.  Taking 2 naps a day-occasionally snoozing in the early evening but that is getting rarer by the day.

-Piper is crawling all over the place and putting every single stinking thing in her mouth!  She can pull up but definitely isn't doing it full time.

-3 teeth with others trying to break thru!  She has her two bottom teeth and 1 fang tooth with the other showing.  Dr. Hamm laughed and said she rarely sees these teeth come in before the front two.  We call her our little vampire ;).

 Her pink blanket is missing from the background for this month's picture…her big sister uses it for her babies and I didn't try to find it.  

 The 9 block signifying her months didn't last long.

 She wants to eat everything.

 It was another crazy hair morning.

Happy 9 months our sweet Pippi, we love you so much!!!!

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Cooper and I participated in the ice bucket challenge for ALS.  Adam and Laney got nominated but they never took on the challenge…wimps.  We happily donated because that is what is was all about, right?

Cooper's Ice Bucket Challenge  We told him he didn't have to do this!  He wanted to do it so bad but was so scared.  He hates cold water…like really hates it, won't swim in a pool with cold water like most kids would do.

Ashley's Ice Bucket Challenge  I should mention he gets that hatred for cold water from me.  I hate nothing more than being cold and I feel like I always am.  This was torturous!

At the time when the ice bucket challenges were happening like crazy, my kids favorite thing to do was to watch the ice bucket challenge videos on Facebook.  One day I was out walking Lola and Cooper had my phone.  Later that night when I was looking at my phone, I found this video.  Adam and I couldn't stop laughing.

Cooper's pretend Ice Bucket Challenge

First half of September

Random pictures from the first half of the month…

 We celebrated Grandpa's birthday at the beginning of the month!

 A couple storms have gotten the best of my summer flowers.  

 From the first week of school.

 New school shoes!

 I mentioned before that my friend Ali painted this table for me and that I was still missing seating.  Well, when cleaning out the basement for the kid's birthday parties, I found this bench from our house in Texas.  It needed some work.  Ali's mom found this perfect fabric for me, love it!  Still plan on painting rest of bench but waiting until I find other chairs.

 Laney was adamant that she cut up Piper's watermelon for lunch…and yes, they are both still in their pjs :).

 We have been in our house for 6 months and I finally organized the pantry!  You should have seen the before picture, yikes!

 I blew up the bounce house and the kids played on it for 2 1/2 minutes, awesome.

 These were really good!

 Dad requested pictures of kids while he was out of town.

 I had back to school night for both kids.  I sat there thinking, how did this happen?!  How do I have 2 kids old enough for back to school night!!  

 I walked away with my head held high as I was not the oldest parent in the room!  Win!  

 My shopping buddy!

 Crazy hair girl!

 She often gets to stay in bed with Adam and I if she is up really early ;).

The perfect fall substitute for my chocolate chip cookies, YUM, YUM, YUM!!!

My niece is 1 and my sister is talented

The day after Coop's surgery was my niece Henley's 1st birthday. These babies grow up way too fast:(.  Her and her birthday party were so cute - my sister is so talented!  I would be annoyed with this talent if I didn't get to take advantage of it from time to time ;).  Let's all join together and urge my sister to start some sort of business with this creativity!!  After being so disappointed with my pictures from my kids' birthday party - I told her I would take pics so she didn't have to worry about it.

PS - As she was taking down her decor I said, just slap some snowflakes on that stuff and bring to my house in December for Pippi's 1st birthday, kidding…kind of.

 It was a garden fairy theme.  Rusty did his part by building this cute little cupcake stand out of tree limbs my parents had cut down at their house the day before.

 This will definitely be at Pippi's party, hopefully with her pictures on it ;).

 Her smash cake that my sister made…with real flowers…what!

 My mom transformed an old wheelbarrow into a fairy garden, complete with a birthday girl.  Adorable.

 She also handmade her birthday hat with real flowers!

 The happy fam!

 Laney was a big 'help' opening gifts, Henley wasn't so sure about that.

Mama Kelly with most of her girls. 

It was the perfect day for a bounce house with kept the kids out of the real house, win for everyone!  I was nervous as Cooper was jumping all over that thing…was afraid we would pay for it with pain later, but not at all.  He was officially healed!