Ashley's Back to School To Do List

With school and new babies just around the corner, I have a ginormous to do list. Can you say, busy?

Pick up Chan's football equipment (2 a days start Monday)

Register 4 kids at 4 different schools on 4 different days...

Yearly checkups for 4 kids on 2 different days

Take Chan and Hunter for new glasses and contacts

Meet with counselors at Chan and Hunter's schools (Chan is gonna retake Spanish and Hunter doesn't want to do Athletics)

Plan Amy's baby shower

Help plan Kelli's baby shower dinner

Shop for school supplies and school uniforms for 4 kids

Return my mom's luggage

Take my friend Val her computer

Go get baby shower invites, address and mail

Send thank you notes to the family in Utah

Child Support court, again...

Possibly meet Chandler's grandma, Christelle

Take Coco to the vet to get fixed

Dermatologist for my skin problem

All of this in addition to normal cooking, cleaning, errands, bills, laundry, etc. I really need an assistant. Or a sister wife. Just kidding. Seriously though, I am sure more things will come up. Whatever will I do? Breath Ash, you can do it...

Hungry Lil' Puppies

Life with two puppies is fun. Life with two puppies is messy. Life with two puppies keeps you on your toes. When you have two puppies you can't leave anything out that they can reach or eat. This is what two puppies can eat in one week in addition to ten pounds of Iam's Smart Puppy:

Chloe's CTR ring (this one has me super sad, it just happened at 9:20 pm, several hours after the original post)
3 tubes of sunscreen
2 dog beds
4 stuffed animals
1 flashlight
1 water sprayer
1 Coke can
2 footballs
2 Mexican fan palm trees (ok, just the bark)
1 pair of bikini bottoms
1 pair of swim trunks
2 pairs of swim goggles
1 decorative foot bridge
3 beach towels
1 dog food scooper
1 pair of underwear (don't ask)
and last but not least:
each other...

New girl in town

We must not be busy enough. 'Cause today we added another mouth to feed. Meet Daisy:





She has been running around hanging out with Coco, having a blast. They are gorgeous dogs, if I do say so myself. So far she has adjusted well, hopefully this lasts. We are in love and we are nuts!!

Naughty Puppy Dog

Since the weather has been so pretty, I have been letting Coco stay outside more during the day. I never in a million years dreamed she would eat my plants!! Now, I do not have a green thumb but I did manage to keep my banana plants alive this winter and they were starting to come back beautifully. In about 10 days time she completely obliterated my plants. I am so bummed. I am hoping to dig them out this weekend and replant them somewhere she can't get to them. Or I may leave them there and put some chicken wire around them. They seem to be pretty resilient so I am crossing my fingers that they will be reborn...

Here is a before picture. This is the only one I could find. Try and ignore the sweet little bunny and focus on the big beautiful plant in the background.


And... this is after!! Needless to say she has done some SERIOUS damage! It seems as if the minute something green or purple pops up from the center of the plant she eats it. If you look next to the basketball you can see one of the leaves!

Redneck Bathtime: kids and dog edition

Jon and I were inside watching conference and just being lazy when Chloe and Hayden snuck outside to the trampoline. No biggie, since there wasn't a funnel cloud in sight we figured playing outside in the sprinkles would be fun. Those sneaky little kiddos of ours managed to slip indoors where they grabbed a bar of soap and headed back out to the trampoline. Desperate for blog material I ran out with the camera hoping to get a few rainy day shots. Little did I know that they had created a soapy slip ~n~ slide! They were very sweet to include the dog. Now everyone is nice and clean like an April fresh Spring rain or more accurately wet perfumey dog... Here are a few photos of them, look how big the dog is getting!

Worn Out

We have spent the better part of the last 4 days at the BMX track in Desoto for the Super Nationals. The boys worked really hard and we are so proud of them. Of course we would have loved all 1st place finishes, but it will take time. Hayden brought home a pretty cool trophy. Mostly I was glad to be able to share our new obsession with some family and friends. The boys had quite the cheering section, yay! We had a good time, but man we are exhausted. Poor Hayden raced his last race burning up with fever. I am not quite sure what is going on.... He is now fresh and clean, dosed up with Motrin, and crashed on the couch with Miss Coco. I am so glad we are home, too bad tomorrow is not a school holiday. But, I will finally be able to get back to my to-do/Spring cleaning list. I have about 10 days before the calendar fills up with more stuff to do. So, I will be on turbo starting tomorrow morning. Here are a few photos. These were taken in the car on the way home. Of course I was too busy flapping my jaws at the track to take photos there. Can you tell the kids were just slightly tired? Thanks to those of you who could come out and watch the kiddos. We really appreciate it.

Black Cloud

Ok, so I concede. I definitely have a black cloud or bad luck or something. As I am sure those of you who read this can attest, chaos and drama follow me everywhere. Thankfully I never barfed, but I was reminded this morning that my life is chaotic! Just a sampling of my day so far and it's only 8:41:

Toilet overflowing down the hall and yes it contained poo. Thank goodness my washer has a sanitary wash cycle.

Hunter lost a contact in his bed, and promptly went ballistic.

The dog managed to tear through 4 bags of trash and loosen a fence picket, after which she paraded around the front yard and dug up my flowerbed. All in the space of about 7 minutes.

My refrigerator decided to freeze up. Hot milk is yuck!

Hunter and Chloe missed the bus.

Chandler has the mystery virus...

TGIF??? What the hell is that supposed to mean anyway???
I am crossing my fingers that the rest of the day will go a little smoother... I just got back from driving the kids to school, (I was in my nightgown which was inside out, but that's beside the point), and I am going back to sleep, don't anyone dare call me...

BIG accomplishment!

On the advice of the breeder we bought Coco from, we have discouraged her from getting on our furniture. Because when she weighs 80 pounds, she's gonna take up the whole couch. This morning when I was making lunches, I heard her whine like she does when she needs to go outside. So, I ran around the bar and there she was trying her darndest to get up in the kids moon chair. I left her there and finished what I was doing. Thinking to myself she's too small and will never make it anyway. When I turned back around 10 seconds later, she was sitting in the chair! So cute. I couldn't get mad at her, so I am letting her nap there. Hopefully I'm not creating a bad habit... What?



No more pics, I am drowsy!

A paws-itively funny puppy themed list

I have owned little Miss Coco Matilda Myers for 6 whole days, so of course it's time for a list! A list of all of the paws-itive, not so paws-itive, and silly things a puppy brings to our home.

1. Sleepless nights
2. Wet wood floors
3. The floor is always picked up now. If not she would eat everything in sight!
4. We are going through a roll of my precious Bounty a day!
5. The floors are getting cleaned much more often now
6. Puppies need to be taken outside every thirty minutes
7. Puppies pee ALOT!
8. Iams puppy food makes the poo not smell so strong! I swear it's true!
9. She keeps the pile of dirty clothes in the laundry room warm. I didn't really need to spend $25 dollars on a puppy bed after all!
10. Blue puppy pee pee pads don't match my living room decor
11. A puppy can turn a kleenex into a million tiny pieces in 10.2 seconds
12. Companionship, love and affection
13. My kids have finally picked up their rooms! Yay!
14. And last but not least, surely after climbing over 5 safety gates four thousand times a day my butt and legs will be smaller and firmer by Summer

Here Kitty Kitty

I totally want another cat, so I can get one of these. Ok, not really. But it does look really cool. I wonder if I could teach Coco to use it?
P.S. can you tell I watch infomercials at 2 in the morning??

In like a lion...

Man, March sure is living up to it's reputation. After a yummy dinner (homemade Chinese) I decided to run a few errands for some necessary items now that we own a new puppy. My plan was to go to Bath and Bodyworks for some new wallflowers and scented oils, and then on to Walmart for a safety gate and stickers for Hayden's school project. Imagine my surprise when I went outside and was greeted by a wild but beautiful "snowstorm". I was having secret hopes that they would cancel school! But just in case, while I was gone Jon was to get the kids bathed and have them straighten their bedrooms. I had not been in Bath and Bodyworks for a minute when my phone rang. It was my friend Erin, followed within about 3 seconds by Jon. They were both informing me that we had no power!! So, I took my sweet time at both stores. Jon, meanwhile lit a fire and made pallets for him and the kids. I never guessed the power would still be out when I got home at 10. But it was! No one bathed, no one cleaned their room. Big surprise. Jon, Chloe, and Hayden were asleep. Hunter was on the phone and Chan was reading a book by flashlight. I put away my goodies and lit a few more candles. I had been home 20 minutes when the power came back on. So, I took the dog out to go potty and got my craft stuff ready to work on Hayden's project. I kid you not, I sat down for about a minute when the power went off again!! It was off for 30 more minutes, came back on for about 2 minutes, and was off for another 45 minutes or so. I had already blown out and relit 15 candles twice!!! Ugghh! I ended up laying out school clothes, doing Hayden's project, wiping up dog pee, and installing a gate all by candlelight. Then right before it finally came back on for good I had a BIG accident. I am very upset about it too. The pictures tell the tale!

P.S. did you know a dog can get up and pee on your wood floor three whole times without making a single pee-p !?

Are you ready for this??



I dropped a freakin lit candle!!! It looks like blood. It ruined my carpet, my lap desk, my dust ruffle, and my linen basket that I keep catalogs and magazines in.


Gross!! Can you believe this? I seriously don't know how I am gonna get this cleaned up!


Look at all those candles!

Happy Birthday...

to Jon and me! Babe, I love you. I still think it's crazy that we have the same birthday. You would think I would have gotten used to it by now. You don't look a day over 28! My birthday wish is that this year might be better than the last. We have grown alot over the years and have weathered many storms, but they have only made us closer and stronger. You are a great husband and father, and the kids and I are lucky to have you. I am sorry I don't tell you often enough how special and important you are. I hope your day was great. Thank you for my sweet puppy!
Love,
Ashley
P.S. yes we really do have the same birthday, but I am younger and I don't ever let him forget it!


Here me and Jon are with Hunter and Chandler on one of many joint birthdays. I think I am 23 here and Jon was 27. We were also celebrating the boys birthdays. Chloe would join our family 5 months later.


Here I am on my 8th birthday, with a whole gang of brothers and sisters to help blow out the candles.


Jon and Hunter. One of my favorite photos. Taken May 1996.


Me and Jon in August 1995. We had just moved into our first apartment.


Jon and Hayden when he was about 18 months old. Jon would rock him to sleep every night from 4 months until about 2 years, until he got to be a big boy. That seems like a lifetime ago.

"C" is for Chocolate, a girl's best friend

Jon and the kiddos went ahead and gave me an early birthday present this evening. They had me believe that they were at the BMX track tonight. Sneaky little farts, that family of mine. Presenting:


Coco Matilda Myers


The kids and their new baby sister


Oh so sleepy...

Since we may not have the chance to name a real baby sister, we went ahead with the C M initials that Chan and Chloe have. I have wanted a chocolate Lab forever and now I have one. It's going to be a bumpy ride. But, since this baby factory is probably closing soon, and I have been kinda lonely since school started way back in August, Jon decided to indulge me. And, perhaps show me just how hard a 5th "baby" would be. Isn't she the cutest puppy you have ever seen? I might just eat her with a side of vanilla ice cream!