Watching his big sister...

Maguire is very into watching what his big sister is doing, as I'm sure most younger siblings do with their older siblings. The other day I was surprised to see him attempt to swing on his tummy like Ashlyn does...and then succeed! He was so proud of himself too :)

Ashlyn and her ever-present "Pee-Tee" (aka, blankie)

San Diego!

My parents totally blessed Kyle and me with a trip to San Diego to visit my brother, Nate, and sister-in-law, Brittany! They took care of our flights and our kids :) What a gift!
The weather was warmer at home than it was in CA, and Nate & Britt both got the flu while we were there, but it was a great time for Kyle and me to get away. We left the day after he was officially done at Keystone. Even though Nate & Britt got sick, we got a lot in. We went out to eat, saw a movie ("21"), took a tour of the USS Midway, walked around Seaport Village, took a pedicab ride, visited The Rock church (awesome - check out the podcasts!), went to Hector's, played cards, went in the hot tub, walked around the Hotel Del Coronado, went shopping at the outlets just before the Mexico border...and I even got in a workout!
Nate and Brittany were such great hosts! Their condo is gorgeous - it's right downtown SD and has great views of the city. I think my favorite part is the Starbucks just downstairs and around the corner ;) We were so grateful that we got to spend time with them...without the kids! It doesn't happen too often, so we appreciate any time that we can spend just the 4 of us. We love you guys!!!

Friday night after we got there we went to eat at Rock Bottom

Kyle and me in the courtyard of the Hotel Del Coronado

Britt and me - "domestic goddesses" making some delicious strawberry shortcake

After church we went to Hector's - a true "dive" in every sense of the word, but the best authentic Mexican food! (Also the place where Ashlyn first laid eyes on her Uncle Nate and soon-to-be-aunt Brittany when Ash was just 10 days old)

The guys in front of Hector's

Out for Brittany's birthday dinner at Croce's - too bad Britt was still too sick to eat any of the great food!

One of the great views off of one of the balconies

Nate grilling burgers

Top Gun!

Kyle and his dad, Jim, have a tradition of watching Top Gun together on a semi-regular basis. Given the fact that we almost lost Jim 14 or so years ago, this tradition has taken on a wh0le new importance to Kyle. So, imagine how cool it was when we found out that right across the street from Nate and Brittany's condo was the Kansas City Barbeque--"The" bar from Tog Gun!

"The" piano from "the" bar :)

Me in front of the bar

Later we took a tour of The USS Midway, a retired aircraft carrier - so interesting to see how men and women in the Navy work and live!

In front of a Tomcat

Holy Craft!

I've gotten my craft blog up and running -- I'm so excited about it!  If you're in the market for cute handmade gifts or things for yourself, check out my other blog www.holycraft.blogspot.com.  I'm totally in my element when I'm crafting, so I hope to continue adding projects to the blog to highlight them.  So far I'm doing quite a bit of "bow-bow" business, so that's really fun!  Let me know what you think and if you have any ideas for projects for me to try or ways for me to make the site better.  Thanks!!

Just a few noteworthy items...

Just thought I'd share a few noteworthy things about the kids (mostly so that I can "remember" later!)...
**Ashlyn knows her left and right. I'm STILL not good at it! Kyle always uses left and right with her when asking her to do things. I keep telling him, "she doesn't know which is her right hand" in exasperation. He responds with "well sure...not yet!" Lo and behold--now she does! Guess maybe he DOES know what he's doing ;)
**Maguire has started giving kisses this week. And as crazy as he is about his daddy, he only gives kisses to mommy. Absolutely melts my heart!!! Now...who knows how long I'll be his only girl, but for now I'm lovin' every minute of it!
**Mac doesn't say too many words yet, just a lot of grunting. He can say Dada, Mama, nana (banana), uh-uh. All of a sudden this week we started noticing that he's saying a three-word sentence! Every time he turns off a light, finishes brushing his teeth, gives me his cup, etc., he says "Ah-diddit!" Translation: I did it! I'm so impressed! I know a bunch of other kids his age are already speaking tons of words, but I was pretty excited to hear him go from hardly any single words to a 3-word sentence! And today I swear he blamed his sister for something LOL! I came downstairs to find that a bunch of pictures had been taken off of the side of the fridge. I asked Maguire if he had done it or if Ashlyn had done it. I'm positive (I think!) that he said "Assin diddit!" Cracked me up :) And later when I asked Ashlyn (the girl will tell on herself in a hearbeat, so I trust what she says) if she did it, she vehemently denied it. Not only is Maguire using sentences, but he's using them to lie and blame his sister already--HA HA!
**Not really a milestone or anything, but Maguire is becoming more and more of a monkey every day. He climbs on anything and everything that he can. We're constantly putting things (ride on toys, stools, boxes, etc.) up where he can't reach them because he'll use anything to climb up to "our level". The kid has no fear! He's been going down the stairs (backwards) for a while now. I think that it took Ashlyn 2 years to figure out how to do that! Maguire doesn't just walk anywhere, he RUNS! Yep...we're going to have our hands full and--I fear--a few trips to the ER with this boy!

Little princess model

Ever since her friend Katelyn's princess birthday party, Ash has been much more into dressing up. Today she wanted to *sort of* dress up. Accessories without the clothes! She put lots of bows in her hair, the sunglasses and the shoes. Oh yeah...and you can't forget the pink Hello Kitty band-aid ;)

Doesn't this one just kill ya?!
(Notice the mangled blue feather boa in the background...thanks to Maguire)

Mac is quite obsessed with shoes these days...and quite obviously he doesn't discriminate! Daddy doesn't care too much for this picture ;)

Takes me back

When I was in pre-school I had a good friend, Kristy, who went to school with me. Every day we'd go to either her house or mine for lunch after school. Every lunch was always the same: my mom ALWAYS made mac 'n' cheese, PB&J and Tang. Her mom ALWAYS made spaghettiOs, grilled cheese and chocolate milk. (No fruits or veggies?!) I already know that my kids love mac 'n' cheese and Maguire is crazy for peanut butter sandwiches (probably would love jelly too, but I don't like to risk the mess since he usually just carries them around while eating them). During a recent grocery shopping trip I picked up some alphabet and Dora shaped spaghettiOs for the kids, thinking they'd like the shapes. Today I made them spaghettiOs and, remembering my pre-school days at Kristy's, grilled cheese. I was so sure they'd love it as much as we girls did. Well...the grilled cheese was a hit and here's what they thought of the spaghettiOs!

I was attempting to take pics of the kids eating only half of my "memory meal". Ashlyn smiled like a pro for the first one

Then she noticed that Mac wasn't looking at me and said "Macky--look at Mommy!" He just smiled at her.

Maybe if she points he'll get the idea...nope he just smirked and pointed at her.

After a few more tries of telling him to look at Mommy, she SCREAMS it at him! He just smiles at her :)

Spring is here!!

Sunday was a beautiful day! It was so good to be outside and not be cold. We grilled out and ate lunch outside at the picnic table. But once Ashlyn heard the neighbor kids outside playing, so she ran next door and stayed there all afternoon. And Maguire took an extra long nap, so Kyle and I got some yard work done. Ok, so maybe I sat in one of the hammock chairs, read my book and watched my own personal lawn boy rake the yard :)
With a yard as big as ours is, the spring yardwork is pretty overwhelming, but Kyle's doing a great job getting it done little bit by little bit. And I actually do help ...and enjoy it!

Once Maguire woke up from his nap he was hungry so I set him on the deck steps to eat and watch Daddy. He stayed there without moving. Even when he was done and wanted more he just grunted until I figured out what was going on -- ha ha!

I really think that Maguire would live outside if we let him. The kid LIVES to be outside playing!

Papa and Mimia came over for dinner--so fun!

Three of my greatest loves!

We may not have the biggest or nicest house...and I often get strong cases of "house envy", but I wouldn't give up our property for anything! I sort of forget how much I love it when it's covered in snow, but once the weather turns nice and we can play outside, I LOVE IT! The kids have so much fun running around the yard, helping Daddy drag sticks to the fire pit, playing on the "playground", exploring the woods and so many other things! I love sitting in the hammock or one of the hammock chairs with a good book. I love sitting out by the fire and talking with Kyle after the kids are in bed. I love going for walks on the golf course with the kids, looking for golf balls. I love that our quiet little neighborhood is like a family...we look out for each other's kids and know that they'll get the same Christian values no matter which house they end up at. God has certainly blessed us! And...there's plenty of space to add on to our house in the future ;)

Max's Dedication

On Sunday Lee & Julie came into town to have Max dedicated at Keystone. It's always good to see them, even if for just a short time. Max is getting cuter and sweeter every time we see him :)

Proud daddy Lee

Me and one of my favorite friends!

So good to be gogether! Christy, Ella, me, Julie

A Princess Party!

Ashlyn's good friend Katelyn turned 3 and had a Princess birthday party. The girls dressed up as princesses, played some princess games, had pink princess cake and watched The Princess open her presents. What a fun party! Even Maguire and Katelyn's brothers had fun being the Princes :)

Ashlyn's favorite thing was these noisemakers--she kept blowing them in the other kids' faces. Fortunately they were all good sports about it. Guess I know what's a must-have for Ash's party coming up!

Jesse, Katelyn's brother, helped Ashlyn with the "Kiss the Frog" game. The girls had to "pin" (velcro) the lips on the frog in hopes of turning him into a prince. She didn't want to wear the blindfold, but was ok with him covering her eyes.

The Frog Prince!

Mac was VERY excited about Katelyn's new bike!

A little craftiness

Any of you who know me well know that I love a good craft project! I recently stumbled upon a blog called Homemade By Jill (thanks Christy!) that has a wealth of adorable craft ideas. This is one that seemed quick and easy to do with great giftable results. I had a baby shower to attend last weekend -- perfect reason to start these little burp cloths. They turned out so darn cute, although they were not at all "quick". Oh well, I felt good about giving a set of these burpies to our friends for their little boy. I even made the matching "ribbon" to tie them all together.

Blog Stalking

Blog stalking...the act of checking out someone's blog -- regularly or occasionally -- and not letting them know by commenting. I am guilty of this many times over! There are a bunch of blogs I've found through a trail of other friends' blogs. I've decided recently to "out" myself and comment on some of these blogs. I know how much I appreciate knowing who's checking out my blog, so I thought I'd return the "favor" to others. I know a lot of you tell me that you read our blog from time to time. SO...now's the time all you "Blog Stalkers" out there! Leave me a comment and let me know that you're keeping up with what's going on with the Warmington family! :)