Happy 30th Birthday Ash!!

OK, so I am the bad sister and I am a few days late for Ashley's big birthday! I can't believe my sister is 30 years old...that means I will be 30 in a year and a half!





Some of my favorite memories with my sister are...
Switching up our bedrooms when we were younger! Whenever we had a vacation from school Ashley and I would always trade rooms or combine our rooms! Sometimes we would decide that my room would be our "study and dressing" room since we would put our dressers and desks in there. Then her room would just have our beds. I think most of the time we would switch back to normal not long after. I think there were also times my parents would come home with a bed on the stairs-we would get worn out and stop-thats what dads are for...right!!
Road trips...when we moved from KC to Topeka when we were in high school (her) and middle school (me) we would take little road trips to KC to visit friends and shop. When were in college we would take road trips to Texas to visit our friend Jamie. After Ashley graduated she went to Texas for several months and I even made that trip on my own to visit her once.

TV-when we were in elementary school we would always race home to "call" who got control of the remote. That was in the day when there was only 1 TV in the house. I knew if she got the remote we would have to watch sports or Jerry Springer-or something along those lines. If I got the remote she knew she would be stuck with The Brady Bunch!

Cooking...when we were younger Ashley and I would experiment some in the kitchen to try and surprise our parents, back then it never turned out too good! These days we still like to cook together. We get together for holidays to make treats-it is always a lot of fun!

Our differences...I always played with dolls, played school, all the girly things. Ashley always had her nose in a book. She would read all the time. She would finish a book on the car ride to our grandparent's house and I would use her as my pillow and sleep! If she wasn't reading she was watching sports. My sister is the biggest sport nut! When I went to Vegas several years ago I got her a licence plate that said, I would rather be home watching sports center, and it is so true! Which brings me to my next one...
K-State Football!!!!!!!! When I was a freshman at KSU Ash was a junior. I went to every game with her and some other friends. At that time I knew NOTHING about football! That girl taught me all I know when it comes to touchdowns, first downs, fumbling, turnovers...trust me there is still a lot for me to learn but I know the basics! She was very patient and a very good teacher. She even taught me the fight song and all the wonderful K-State traditions. While talking about that fabulous school we are both alumnus from... I was so lucky to have Ashley at K-State when I was there. There were so many times my freshman year she would come over to help me with algebra and biology. She would come over just to do flashcards with me. She was so helpful and cared so mush about how I was doing with school work.
Another favorite one from our college days were our weekly dinners. Her and I would have dinner every Wednesday. It was that little thing we did every week to catch up and just hang out. As adults we still do dinners. Before we were married we started dinners every Wednesday and traded off houses each week. We continued this for several years. It was just last year that we changed it to every other week-things get so busy but it is a time I always look forward to ( Ash, lets do our house next week!).

Ashley is also an awesome aunt! She loves Dylan so much. He is one lucky guy to have such a wonderful aunt. She takes care of him when ever needed, takes him shopping and best of all bakes with him! She is quite the baker and whips up some yummy treats!

I love you Ash! Happy Birthday-sorry it is a few days late!

Bike Riding Fool

Here is Dylan riding his new bike! Luckily we have had a couple nice days so he could ride it outside. As you can see he has no problems riding it. It took him about 30 seconds to get a hang of it. I am just amazed at how well he does. Everyone says he will be ready for no training wheels this summer, but mommy won't be-so they may stay on! Thank goodness Dylan got Seth's athletic abilities and not mine!!

Recap of all 5 of our Christmas Celebrations!

Christmas #1-My parent's house on the 23rd! Dylan got a new bike and helmet!! This is all he really wanted! It took him now] time at all to get a hang of it!

Helping daddy open up his tool box and tools Aunt Ashley and Uncle Brad got him! Dylan loves to help out with his tools!

Opening up his little people school bus from Grandma and Grandpa!

Dylan and daddy hanging out after dinner!

Christmas #2-my grandma's on Christmas Eve! When we were young my grandma made us pajamas every year and we would always wear them home on Christmas Eve! This year the tradition continued and Dylan got his first pair of handmade pjs! They were so cute and it was fun to continue the tradition and have him wear his home!

We got there early and made some cookies with great grandma (my grandma, Dylan's great grandma). My grandma is such a good cake and makes the best homemade cookies!

Christmas #3-our house Christmas morning! Dylan had to get his scissors so he could open up his boxes! This year he had such a great reaction with every present, it was so much fun!

Santa even hid some things in the tree! He had no problem spotting them.

Christmas #4-at the Drane's!! We go to my aunt and uncle's for Christmas morning! We walked in to some singing! My cousins Courtney, Whitney, and Brady were singing and a good family friend, John was helping out! Dylan was hanging out on Uncle Mike's lap, he thought he was on my dad's lap-it was pretty funny when he realized where he really was!

Our last one-Seth's parents house, the day after Christmas. By the time we got there Dylan had the present opening down pat!

Maggie's cookies won for being the most creative! Here is Whitney wearing Dylan's apron! She has a million poses for the camera! Every song that came on she would say, I love this song, then she would sing it for us!!

Courtney enjoyed decorating her cookies, hers looked very yummy!

Here they are making the homemade peanut butter cups!

Last night my cousins, Courtney and Whitney, my friend Maggie, and I went to my sister's to make Christmas goodies! It was a very fun night!

Happy Holidays!

Wouldn't you love a helper in your kitchen as cute as this one!! I just love having Dylan in the kitchen with me!! It takes longer, the mess is bigger when we are done, and things don't always turn out just right, but I wouldn't have it any other way!! Sometimes we bake things for no reason at all, just to do something together! Last Saturday morning we had breakfast with Santa and Mrs. Clause! Dylan liked the pancakes, but not Santa! He was very surprised when they showed up at his table, I think he was wanting to escape!!

You have heard me say a million times, Dylan is obsessed with sports! He has very good role models that show him it is OK to play sports in the house (that would be daddy, uncle Brad, and grandpa!!). One day Dylan and Seth were playing football and Dylan put on this stocking cap. He was pretending it was his football helmet! He would say, I have to put on my football helmet! How creative!!

Do you notice the football in his hand?? Do you all see what I live through everyday, two boys playing ball in the house!!

Finger Painting!! Sunday we went to a pottery place and Dylan painted a plate so when we got home we had to get out the paint!

What a lucky little boy!

Dylan is so lucky to have such fabulous grandparents!! My parents started a tradition with Dylan...every Christmas they let him make his own ornaments and he gets to hang them on his own tree that is in his room at my parent's house! This was actually the first year they have done it, but they have been talking about it for a while. He went up there Friday and they did some art Saturday! When I got there he was very proud of what he had done! Here he is with grandma working on an ornament!

This is the tree in his room. He actually calls it grandpa's room-it is my dad's office, but he shares nicely with Dylan!

After his ornaments are on the tree. he kept touching the lights to tell me they were hot! They actually weren't all that hot though!

Dylan and grandpa were going to make Christmas cookies, but they ran out of time. They are going to wait until the 19th to make them! So they decided to do some more art!

I hope everyone is having a good week and enjoying the first snowfall of the season! Dylan and I are getting some alone time this week, Seth is in Oklahoma all week working! Last night Dylan climbed in my bed with me (he was supposed to be going to bed) he just hugged me so tight and gave me kisses, it was almost like he knew I was sad and that I needed hugs a kisses! He is truly a sweet sweet boy! Yesterday on our way to Grandma Packard's we called Seth and Dylan said, "good morning daddy, we are going to grandmas so mommy can go to school!"

no pictures...just new happenings

I can't believe how bad of a wife I am...Seth started a new job Monday and I forgot to post about it! I also forgot to have him eat on our blue plate! Seth was content with his job but we always worried about the long run and stability with the job...so when a chance came at this new job he jumped for it!! One of our good friends has worked for EMC (Energy Management Control) for the past 10 years and really likes it, they needed a new guy and he asked Seth if he would be interested, and he was! Basically they test heating and cooling systems in large commercial buildings, a lot of math stuff and I don't really get it! He will have to travel throughout Kansas and may be gone for a few days every once in a while, but we will manage! In the long run this is going to be the best thing for our family! I am very proud of Seth for doing this. He has worked for his dad since he graduated high school, so almost 11 years-he misses working with his dad and brother, but Seth knew that the best thing for us was for him to start this new job!


Dylan has been saying so many funny things lately, I kept meaning to post them but it slips my mind! I will try to remember the good ones...

The other night Dylan and I were in the car-this was our short conversation:
mommy-"look out mommy's side to see a house with a lot of lights
dylan-"OK"
mommy-"i don't know were the house is"
dylan-"I'll find it mommy"
mommy-"Ok Dylan"
Dylan-"I found it"-he is also pointing
mommy-"were?"
dylan-"right there" --he was pointing at the light of Wanamaker (the main street-so it is very lit up from the street lights and store signs!!)


last night-my sister had to watch Dylan, when she was leaving he said..."thank you for babysitting me Aunt Ashley"-so cute, we didn't even say that, so not sure were he got it from!!

Dylan is always telling Seth and I..."you are so funny mommy/daddy" or "you are silly"

the other night he was watching TV and he started laughing at something, turned to me and said..."that's so funny!"

there are more, but I have no more time!!