Monday, December 31, 2007

More new sayings

A couple of Caroline-isms that developed over the holidays:

"I sure is" - This is another emphatic phrase that is added to the end of any sentence in which is states some intention or as a response to any question about her intentions. E.g., Caroline: "I going to the park." Ashley: "Really?" Caroline: "I sure is." P.S. We are working on changing "is" to "am". It is an uphill battle.

"Dat's what me talk about" - Translation: That's what I'm talking about! If you are familiar with the colloquial use of that phrase, that is how she uses it. If she agrees with something you've said, "dat's what me talk about" might just be the response from Caroline.

Saturday, December 29, 2007

How to not be a jerk

As much as I think we all (okay, maybe I should just speak for myself on this one) would like to think this is an article that someone else we know should really read, check it out anyway. (via: My Tiny Kingdom )

Friday, December 28, 2007

I no like him

"I no like him." That is the response you would get from Caroline in the days leading up to Christmas if you asked her what Santa was bringing to her. In the alternative you might get, "I scared" in response to the same question (or any similar question, such as, "Is Santa coming to visit you?" or "Are you ready for Santa?"). So, Caroline decided that baby Jesus was coming to our house at Christmas this year. I guess the mixed messages you get at Christmas translated into baby Jesus visiting our house instead of the big guy in the red suit.

It's been a tough few weeks for us, but we had a good holiday - Drew and Amelia came in town and we spent time with all of our families. Caroline's excitement about gifts and lights and the Christmas Tree all helped to pull us through. I think joy is contagious and Caroline has plenty of it.
Here are some pics.

Playing in her room right before Christmas Eve service


The new shoes and handbag!





Friday, December 14, 2007

Joshua




These are Joshua's little footprints, and the baseball puts into perspective their size. He has left a much bigger imprint on our hearts . . . we will miss you, our little boy.

Joshua Beck
December 6, 2007

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Jewel needs to watch her back

Here comes Caroline!




Caroline and Jeff had a jam session last night. Caroline picked the classic tune "Peanut Butter and Jelly" for their duet. It was great. And just in case all of you forgot (or never knew), Caroline is truly her father's daughter as her first words were "guitar" and "outside".
After the guitar sessions, we sat down as a family to watch Jeff's favorite Christmas movie, "A Charlie Brown Christmas." Good times.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Monday, November 26, 2007

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend. We went to Slidell on Wednesday night and stayed with Jeff's parents and Caroline of course woke up bright and early on Thursday as she tends to do when we stay away from home! We took her to a great park that they have in Slidell and played there for probably an hour or so before the cold, wet, windy morning got to be too much for Mama. I wish they had a playground like this in Baton Rouge. Here are a few pics from the outing:















Then we spent Thanksgiving Day at Jeff's brother Bobby's house. Bobby's wife Christina is an amazing cook, so we had some wonderful food and a good time hanging out with family. Bobby's boys have a pet pig named "Babe" and Caroline was fascinated with her. The boys were so sweet with Caroline, not only did they teach her how to feed Babe, they watched movies with her and played 2 year old games despite the fact that they are 12, 9, and 7. It was a good day. Here's a picture of Caroline and the boys with the pig:



On Thursday night we headed back home to BR and on Friday watched an utterly disappointing and disheartening football game. I hated to see LSU lose, but honestly, they didn't play well, and I guess in the big scheme of things, my life is no different than it was on Thursday! Finally, on Saturday Jeff and I celebrated our 7th anniversary and went out to eat at Roberto's River Road (the link was bad before, now it's fixed) and it was fabulous. If you live in BR and have never been out there, you have to go; and if you don't live in BR, the next time you visit, remind me to take you there.

Sorry for the long post, but we have so much to be thankful for, I just wanted to share!

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

I am pathetic

Hi, I'm Ashley and I watched the entire season of the Bachelor. Yes, Allison, that show I used to give you a hard time about watching when we were in law school, that's the one. This season ended with Brad picking no one (poor girls). Here's a You Tube tribute to him; someone has a lot of time and technical savvy.



Oh, and I know the show is horrible.

Really, really

I suppose you could populate any blog with a 2 year old's cute phrases and expressions, so I'll do my best to not let that be the only thing I include on here, but for today, I thought I'd share Caroline's most recent language acquisition. When Caroline agrees with something you say lately, she replies, "yeah, I do, really, really." Very funny. At first I thought she was saying, "pretty, pretty", because that is how she describes just about every piece of clothing or pair of shoes you show her, but then I realized she was saying "really, really." She has been adding, "I do" to "yes" (or less desirably, "yeah") for emphasis when she likes something or wants something for a while. "Really, really" is a very recent addition to her lexicon.
Here's a little script of a conversation between Ashley and Caroline to illustrate her recent language change:
(Two weeks ago)
Ashley: "Caroline, do you want red beans and rice for dinner?"
Caroline: "Yeah, I do."

(Yesterday)
Ashley: "Caroline, do you want red beans and rice for dinner?"
Caroline: "Yeah, I do. Really, really."

What can I say? We love her! Really, really.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Chuck and Huck

If nothing else, you have to give Mike Huckabee credit for his sense of humor.

Friday, November 16, 2007

The Me Culture

So, the "it's all about me" culture (do what I want, when I want, don't tell me it's wrong) isn't turning out so well? Check out an interesting review of an HBO show and how it reflects on our culture here. I haven't seen the show (so I'm not endorsing it), but the review is on target for what I've seen happening in the real world.

LSU v. Ole Miss


funny. (thanks Laura)

In my opinion . . .

This is ridiculous.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Too soon

This is where Joshua would be in his growth progress if we had not lost him too soon. I think I'll keep the calculator up as a reminder of where he would have been if he'd stayed with us. In reality though, he is fully complete in Heaven.

pregnancy calendar

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

I never would have guessed . . .




Your Inner European is Swedish!



Relaxed and peaceful.

You like to kick back and enjoy life.




Okay, so I go back to make sure this is right and I can't remember which answers I changed, and here's what I get:




Your Inner European is French!



Smart and sophisticated.

You have the best of everything - at least, *you* think so.



Yikes!

A funny (slightly off-color) bed time story

When we put Caroline to bed at night, we let her "read" a couple of books to us and then either Jeff or I read two books to her. The other night she was "reading" a book to us called "Sweet Dream Stories"; a compilation of short stories featuring animal characters. As she was flipping through, she got to a story about "Rumpus" a bear who is very curious and as a result gets into everything. Page 82 looks like this:

When Caroline saw this page, she looked up at Jeff and me with a puzzled look on her face and said, "He poo poo?" (See top picture). I was laughing so hard and trying to mask it, so I couldn't talk. Jeff said, "No, Caroline, he is not going poo poo." So she replied, "Oh, he tee tee?" More laughter out of both Jeff and me this time. She said both of these things as if there would be no shame in it if that was what was going on in that picture. I guess that gives you a perspective on the mind of a two year old whose bodily functions have never been a private concern.

Monday, November 05, 2007

Two Caroline-isms

1. Caroline has picked up the phrase "leave me alone" somewhere recently, but in Caroline-speak it is translated "leave my alone." I'm not sure where she heard it, but when she is frustrated or doesn't want to go somewhere, the latest response is: "no, leave my alone." Kind of funny, but of course we can't laugh. I just tell her, "Caroline, that is not nice to tell mama to leave you alone." I'm sure this is just one of many undesirable saying that we'll have to deal with, but for some reason she seems especially attached to this one. Every once in a while she'll say "stupid" (and honestly she hasn't said that in a few weeks), and all we have to tell her is that that is not a nice word and she can say "silly" instead and she stops saying it. This one is different, so I think we have many days of "leave my alone" ahead of us.

2. She also has many very sweet things that she likes to say - I don't want to dwell on the toddler defiance too much! She is so good about wanting everyone to participate in whatever activity is going on. If I tell her that we are going for a walk or going for a ride in the car, she always says, "Papa coming too?" Or if we offer her a treat or ask if she wants to go get yogurt, she says, "You want treat too?" As she says it, she cocks her head to the side and smiles really big. No matter what she asks you want to say "yes!" just because of the sweet way she asks.

Friday, November 02, 2007

A Study in Irony

Very interesting comparison of two hot topics receiving strikingly disparate treatment in the media . . .
http://theanchoressonline.com/2007/11/01/iraq-war-global-warming-a-study-in-irony/trackback/

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Trick or Treat!

We took Caroline trick-or-treating last night at my Dad's. She had a great time. It was so funny how surprised she seemed at each house we went to that they were giving her "more candy!" She would run away from every house saying, "I got more candy!" as if in disbelief at what was going on. Jeff and I had fun watching her excitement. Here are a few pictures:







Last week we took her trick-or-treating on Sorority Row at LSU. All of the sororities hand out candy the Wednesday before Halloween. She had a great time there too. She loves the girls at the Kappa house and they always endear themselves to her with sweets, and last Wednesday was no exception. Here are pics from that night:








Wednesday, October 31, 2007

I don't think we can expect to see this play in the LSU v. Alabama game








Amazing.

"Spell check is not your friend"

"Let me give you an example. Recently I graded a paper in which a student listed the kinds of jobs traditionally held by women. They meant to write 'nursing, teaching, etcetera', as far as I can guess; what they ended up with was 'nursing, teaching, excreta.' Now, this might well sum up the social position of women in much of American history, but I don’t think it’s what the author meant to say." http://www.lifehack.org/articles/productivity/eliminate-common-writing-mistakes.html

Read the whole thing; it is hilarious (if others' grammar mistakes give you kicks like they do for me). Of course, I'm not putting myself out there as one who never makes such mistakes, I just like to laugh at them.

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Gearing back up

Okay, so I've been busy? I haven't been here in a while (almost a year, actually). But, I am ready to start over! I guess the best place to start is where we are right now. Caroline is now two and very talkative, very inquisitive, and so much fun to be around. We are expecting baby number 2 on April 22 and if you believe in old wives tales (or true tales from what I hear from some), then this is a girl too. The baby's heart rate was 155 at my most recant appointment. I'll know for sure whether we're having a boy or a girl on December 3 and I'll be sure to end the suspense for everyone else then too.
Caroline is extra-excited about dressing up in her Halloween costume this year. She is a ballerina and she really looks precious. I'll post pics from the big night. We have opened a door to the world of candy though - she never knew this world existed before now (or at least in such abundance). We are now deluged with "more candy" requests at all hours. When we refuse the 7:00am call for M&M's, we get "my cookies?" in response. We have a long road ahead of us! Caroline is a strong-willed little girl who doesn't want her expectations thwarted! It really is fun watching her each day though - I can hardly believe that two years ago I had a newborn. I know it's a cliche, but Time Flies.