Saying good bye to More Papa

This past week we traveled up to North Idaho for the funeral of Kevin's Grandpa. He passed away on January 20th. It had been awhile since we had seen him. We were just talking about how long it had been and were making plans to see him over spring break. I wish we would have been able to make it up to see him. We have some really fond memories of going to visit him. The first time we took Madison there she was a year in a half old. She was quite amazed that there were two grandpa's. She would look at Kevin's dad and say Papa then and at her great grandpa and say More Papa. We thought it was so cute and that is why we started calling him More Papa. We always had a lot of fun and made lots of great memories. Dick was a wonderful man and we will miss him greatly. The services were nice and I am grateful we were able to be there. Kevin's dad Bob and his two brothers Jim and Bruce.
Dick served during WWII so there was a 21 gun salute. I am very grateful that we were able to travel to the funeral. It was great to get together with family and celebrate such a wonderful life.

Sleep update

Three weeks ago we started to work through the issues that Ashley had with sleeping. I was just hoping that she would learn how to fall asleep on her own to start with and then we would deal with the other issues. She responded way better then I ever thought she would. She has not fought going to sleep except for once when Kevin put her to bed. When I ask her what the problem was she told me that Dad didn't read any stories to her. She likes her routine and she likes to stick to it. Kevin has learned his lesson and he makes sure that he never forgets story time anymore. I think her favorite part of this is her chart. The first thing that she does in the morning is put her sticker on.
The other thing we needed to work on was her staying in her bed all night long. I thought we would have to tackle one thing at a time but she surprised me and started sleeping in her bed the whole night the first night. She has kept up this trend and you would think that I would be well rested but that is not the case. I am having a hard time sleeping without all the interruptions.

I'm asleep mom

Bedtime around our house has been crazy since Ashley was born. I have babied her for along time because of dreams I used to have when she was a baby and so small. It has been very hard to get them out of my mind so she has pretty much ran bed time around here and went to bed on her own terms. Kevin and I have been discussing how we need to get her into a routine and lay the law down for awhile but we are just now getting around to it. We decided that the first of the year would be a great time to start. Tonight was the first night that I didn't have something going on and I could spend the time with her she needed before bed time. At 8:00 sharp we went into to her room and talked about her bedtime chart(She really responds to charts)then read 3 stories. I turned on her night light and left the room. She will get a sticker in the morning if she does not get out of bed. I am pleased to report that she did not get out of bed. She laid in bed and sang for awhile. Then about 10 minutes after I left she yelled out, "I'm asleep Mom". I was laughing so hard. I told her good job and that was the end of it. I hope this is how the rest of the nights go. Isn't she cute in her own bed.

A long week comes to an end.

Last week we had a lot going on and we made it through. Our week started out with a birthday party for the Allison. We kept it pretty simple but the kids had a lot of fun. We decorated little treasure boxes. The girls had a lot of fun making the boxes their own. Allison really had a great time with all of her friends.

Next we rung in a new year. The girls look forward to New Years Eve. A few years back we started to tradition of having finger food for dinner and then watching the Disney Channel to ring in the new year. The girls always have so much fun picking out what will be on the menu and then wait in anticipation for it all to be ready.

Finally our week ended with Allison's Baptism. We are very proud that Allison made the decision to get baptized. She was very excited especially for all the family and friends that came to share in her special day. Allison and Kevin before the baptism.

After the baptism we had dinner at our church so we could visit with everyone. We had a great time visiting with everyone. Allison had a blast playing with all of her cousins and friends. Allison had a wonderful day and loved that so many people came near and far to share with her on her special day.