Go Go Go Gwen!

As we all know Gwen is always on the move, however, every once in a while things slow down and she takes a moment to look out the window with Nimbus and watch everything else move.
While Pooka was having a beauty day at the groomer, Nimbus enjoyed some one on one attention from Gwen. I think she enjoyed it too!

"Nimbus! Come here and let me give you some love!"

Gammy and Grandpa visit!!!!!!!!!

Grandpa and Gammy visited Holiday World for the first time and Gwen showed off in the wave pool! Just ask them how she loves the water...

If you recall, Gwen taught herself that pinching her nose makes her sound funny. Grandpa knew this trick too!

Awww! They are such goofs!

Gammy and Gwen getting ready for a dinner party at Bill and Angie's house

"Auntie Erin, I love my new outfit! I was just twirling in it a minute ago!"

A trip to Bill and Angie's is not complete until you have a tour of their hog barns. Gammy and Grandpa were able to meet some 10 day old piglets!

Gwen giving some "Ahhhs" (or some love). She wanted to love on them all!

So, Grandpa which is better...puppy breath or piglet breath?

Try as we might, Gwen just couldn't take her eyes off Handy Manny! We love you Gammy and Grandpa and thank you so much for visiting!

Ring Around the Rosie is one of Gwen's favorite activities now. We have modified the words a bit at the end...for more giggles we made it "Ashley, Ashley, we all fall down." I just wanted to hear her say it more :-)

If I say "stop"...Gwen says "Go!"

Dawn and I are now in charge of the Dale Fall Fest Little Mr. and Miss contest (ages 3-6)! This year the theme was "Rock and Roll is here to stay!" and we had a blast! The kiddos looked fabulous and everyone had a lot of fun!

Excuse the nakedness, but this has been all too funny and we just had to share. Gwen discovered shaving cream the other night and has wanted to play with it every bath since!

We love Auntie Kelley!!!!!!!!!

Recently Auntie Kelley had a big modeling job on television! She modeled back to school clothes for JC Penny, which is awesome! However, it was on the Spanish channel so we can understand very little. She looks great though! Here is a video link to see she doing her thing on UTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qN435NiJJY

Kelley is the third one out (the first of the girls), wearing a silver top/dress, leggings, and a jean jacket.

Gwen loves to watch it every chance she gets! She even points to the T.V. when Kelley comes on and say "Kayie!" "Kayie!". We are sooooo proud of you Kelley!

The final days of summer

This week I went back to work, so before doing so we all decided to have a little fun. Gram, Gwen, and myself joined Grandma Rosie, Dawn, and Gracie to see the animals at the zoo in Evansville. The girls loved seeing all the animals! Both pointed out all the ducks (or anything with wings), Gracie mooed at all the larger animals, and Gwen pointed at everything! We had a great morning checking it all out and getting in a good walk. That place is really hilly!

"Look Gracie, a giraffe and a zebra!"

On August 12th Brad and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary, and spent the weekend primitive camping in Spring Mill. I had no idea what primitive camping would involve (besides the lack of bathrooms-just a outhouse, lack of running water, and no electricity), so I was nervous to say the least! Well, I survived! It wasn't that bad at all! The actual bathrooms were within a minute walk of our camp site (thank goodness!!!) The ground is very hard to sleep on (Brad said I had to experience it all so no air mattress), but the tent was much easier to put up and cooking over the fire was almost easier than in the kitchen. We had a lot of fun hanging out together and hiking through the park.

Our little camp site

After camping Brad and I came back to play with our little princess! Here are some recent picture and videos.

"Check me out!"

"Nimbus, what do you see?"

Gwen at the zoo looking for the ostrich

Gwen getting mail from Gammie and Grandpa Larry (She loved the pictures of Buzz and Auntie Erin)

Gwen showing off how strong and smart she is

What happens when Gwen gets a sandbox and some sand!

Gwen is living it up as summer continues! She loves getting into everything, getting dirty, and playing dress up. We mainly have been hanging out at home during the last few weeks of my summer until I start back to work full time. I have started some trainings and I will be getting my rooms set up this coming week (if I haven't said it recently...I am now placed at David Turnham Elementary, Chrisney Elementary, Dale Head Start, and Jasper High School), but I still will have lots of time with Miss Gwen. It will definitely be a big change for both of us! However, I am now so much closer to home that it will make things so much better! Enough talking...here are her latest pictures and videos!!!!!!

"It can't just be for pushing around...I can make it a ride-on too!"

"Today I had my first pedicure...which necklace will make my look perfect?"

At a wedding over the weekend for Brad's cousin, Gwen discovered rock candy....

At the same wedding Gwen and her BFF, Gracie, got to run around and play together

"Say Cheese!"

"Now to send a text...."

Gwen recently got a sandbox and we finally set it up. She loves it! She won't pay attention to much besides the sand though....

Gwen in the sand again! She just couldn't get enough!

The slide is also a favorite pass time of Gwen's! She is so independent when she plays!

It's a Potty Party!!!!!!!

"Come join the party!"

This week was a very big week!  Gwen has been "potty training" for some time now, really it is us talking about it and her sitting on the potty sometimes,  however, this week we really began training.  I know it is early, but it can be done!  And why not start now?  So, Gwen has been sitting on the potty after she wakes in the morning and from her nap, and 30 minutes after she eats or drinks.  The whole idea right now is to get her to like the potty and to know that going in the potty makes us extremely exciting.  So we blow bubbles, read books, and talk for 5 minutes, usually resulting in nothing, but it was fun.  But....yesterday she actually went!!!!!!!!!!  I actually caught her at a time when she had to go and she went on the potty!!!!!!  So simple, yet so exciting!  I think I scared her a bit by getting so excited, but then she started clapping and was enjoying the moment.  That has been a one time experience so far, but we will keep at it!

"What are they doing?  Can I help?"

Gwen has also been busy watching the men work outside.  We are having the water lines replaced in town (they are the original lines from when the town was first built in 1890 something) and the guys have been digging and making all sorts of noise.  Not that we mind a bit because we now have water pressure!!!!!!!  Since Brad and I bought this house and had the water turned on, we have complained about the lack of water pressure.  It took 15-20 minutes to fill the bath tub 3 inches for Gwen, no two appliances requiring water (the dish washer, washing machine, toilet...etc.) could be used at the same time, nor could I use a Miracle Grow attachment for the hose because there wasn't enough water!  BUT NOW........THERE IS WATER!!!!!!  It was like Christmas the other day!  Brad and I were running around the house testing it and getting all excited!  The dish washer ran during the day (I had resorted to only running it while we slept) without going into error mode, we were able to take showers that felt like showers, and it only took 3 minutes to fill the tub (which had to be refilled soon after Gwen got in because she peed in the water)!  The saying "you don't know what you have until it's gone" was a motto around here when it came to the water.  Now we have it and we are sooooooooooooooo amazed at how great it is!

The list of excitement continues because we can finally tell everyone.....GWEN IS GOING TO HAVE A COUSIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Erin and Don are expecting a little boy or girl in January and we are so thrilled for them!  Gwen has been practicing saying "baby", pushing strollers, and giving hugs and kisses to prepare.  I just have to stop her from shopping!  She already wants to buy the baby so many gifts and it is so hard to say no!!!!!!  We just can't wait to meet him or her!!!!!

Other fun with Daddy!

We have also noticed that Gwen is mimicking everything now!  She will say what you say (the best she can) and do what you do.  So, Brad and I felt this was a good time to inventory all the things she can sign/say:

Signs:  milk, all done, more, food, "find it" (made up sign for a game we play)

Words:  duck, daddy, mama, mommy, all done, hi, bye bye, more, up, wow, uh oh, bubble, tickle, kitty, doggie, no, beep beep, Poppy, and baby

Kindas (words we know what she means, but they aren't quite there yet):  please, cup, tractor, cracker, snack, movie, juice, out, and outside

Animal sounds:  quack quack (duck/bird), moo (cow), woo woo (dog), eow (cat), kisses (fish), who who (owl), baa baa (sheep), and snorting noise (pig)

All in an afternoon!

I think this picture explains it all!  If anyone was wondering what it is like to be with Gwen...here is a peak!  She is a mover and a groover whenever awake (sometimes in her sleep too) and is a bundle of pure energy!  Some days I just wish I could bottle it up and have it with my coffee :-)  The following videos all happened between the hour of 5 and 6 pm this evening after I spent all day at work and Gwen had a 10 minute nap.  The background info for the videos is simple...Gwen and I were hanging out in the family room with a laundry basket full of Beanie Babies (I knew that collection from way back when would come in handy at some point in my life), Pooka was playing with her new toy moose (was Gwen's, but sorry Mom Pooka took it), and then Brad came home from work so we went outside.

A college laundry basket...it's all you need

Who said we needed to pay for entertainment?

It's a cute moose...and so is Gwen

The rules of a slide.  The stairs are not just for going up, nor is the slide just for going down.  We all know this, but who would have thought a 1 year old would?

4th of July and a road trip!

Gwen's adventures continue with a trip to Indianapolis for a wedding, a trip to Chicago to visit the Caseys, and a baby shower!  

We started our week last week with a massive undertaking.  With Brad at work, Gwen at the sitters, and help from Carolyn and Adam Mix...we took on painting the trim of the house.  When we bought our house last year, it was green with forest green around the windows, cranberry above the windows, white here and there, and light pink as an accent color too.  It sounds horrible, but it looked okay.  Just not us though.  So, the green stayed but everything else went white.  There is only one coat of paint on the trim now, but it looks so much better!!!!!

After a week of painting, it was time for some fun!  Brad actually had Friday off so we headed up to Indianapolis to visit our friends Jenn and Andy.  We went to Conner Prairie that night with them to see the symphony and fireworks.  Very cool show, with cannons and everything, and everyone loved it!  Gwen even signed "more" at the end and was looking for more fireworks!!!!  So cute!

"Jenn, when will the fireworks start?  Oh, and is there more yellow watermelon?  That stuff is amazing!"

Saturday Brad's cousin Terri was married to Jason!  It was a very nice wedding, with lots of fun and rain.  But, that's good luck right?  Sunday Brad headed home, and Gwen and I headed to Chicago.  We tried to keep our visit relaxing, but there is always so much we want to do!

One of my best friends came back for a wedding, and a baby shower was thrown in her honor!  It was great to see Julie and we are so excited to hear about Baby B!

"Grandma Delores check out my dress!  Poof!"

"Auntie Erin, you might need a snack, but I need one too!"

You know you are a Princess when the world stops for you!  Gwen somehow got everyone to watch her Curious Buddies movie together in the living room!  Amazing!

Another funny by Gwen:  She just figured out (randomly in the car too) that if she plugs her nose and talks it sounds funny!  I'll be chasing her with the camera to see if I can capture a video!