Monday, December 20, 2010

We've been busy... correction, We ARE Busy!!

It's been a while since we've made a post.
That's because we have been busy!
In fact, we are still busy.
I believe that the majority of families out there can say the same thing.
But, I'm making time to share our stories with you.

Since our last post, here is what we've been doing...

PreSchool Thanksgiving Program
Abby did SOOO good!  Until she saw Mom and Dad (which happened about 60 seconds after the program started), and then it was melt-down city.  She was the kid who was loud and disruptive to the entire program.  Actually, she probably wasn't that bad.  Nothing a little pumpkin pie couldn't fix!
This was our first "School Program" and we are still getting used to realizing our children aren't perfect (very close though ;-))



Meeting Baby Alex
It was a sweet day when we finally met Alex.  
Living far away from family is hard when you miss out on special events.  
It doesn't feel right not be able to witness it in person and only be able to experience it with pictures and phone calls.  
Alex is a very sweet baby.  
She happily went to anyone wanting to hold her and soaked up all the love from the family.
Abby especially loved on her.



Thanksgiving in Milwaukee with the Cernech Family
The Cernech Family hosted Thanksgiving.  Grandma and Grandpa from Florida were there, and Zoi (the dog).  The Werries Family.  The Lee Family.  The Wilner Family.  Aunt Loretta and a few others, too.  We roasted two turkeys.  Richard made Grandma's Banana and Pumpkin breads, candy and cookies for everyone.  We all helped out in the kitchen rather cooking or cleaning.  Grandma and Grandpa made cookies with the Grandkids.  We had our sorta-Annual Bingo game for the kids.  And, we all helped Rich and Jen get rid of some extra wine they had in their kitchen.  That's what family is all about!



Alex's Baptism 
Alex was baptised the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  We were all able to witness it and it was a wonderful thing.  She wore the 'family' baptismal gown.  The gown was purchased for Aunt Karen in 1973.  It has been worn by Aunt Karen, myself, Aunt Loretta, Elisabeth, Hannah, Abby and now Alex.

Aunt Bub's Confirmation
The next weekend, Aunt Bub was confirmed in Kalamazoo.  (Aunt Loretta has had the nickname of 'Bud' since she was very little.  Abby can't say 'Loretta' but she does say "Aunt Bub" very well!)


 
Snow White
Abby and her PreSchool class when to see a play of Snow White.  
Abby is the only little girl, so she wore her Snow White dress.  
She had a great time and all reports said that she was a very good little girl!
 

Visiting Santa
Abby and George visited with Santa.  
Abby asked for a 'Baby'.  
I think she expects Baby Alex to be sitting under the tree on Christmas morning.  
I hope she's not disappointed when that doesn't happen.
George just wanted to get the heck off of some weird guy's lap.



Well, I hope you've kept reading and made it this far!
I'll try not to stay away for so long next time.

Merry Christmas!
The Ascencio's
XOXOXO's


Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Daddy's Field Trip

Last Friday Tommy took Abby on a field trip of his own.
They visited Quinlan Tree Service and watched 
Uncle Shane and Uncle Jeff cutting down some pretty big trees.

 When I see pictures like this, I can't help but wonder how the Father/Daughter dance will turn out some day.  Will Abby have more than one guy on her arm?  Her Father and her God-Father? 
 I'm sure she was being supervised near all the heavy machinery?  
Right?  
Sure she was.  
Absolutely.
......I think.
Of course, a field trip organized by Tommy ended with a stroll
down the Star Wars isle at Meijer.  Did you expect anything else?

That's it for now!  
Stay tuned though, there is always exciting stuff happening!

Love,
The Ascencio's

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

George's First Birthday Party

When I was on JV, I wanted to be on Varsity.
When I was in College, I wanted to be finished with classes and making money.
When I started my career, I worked to be promoted as fast as possible.
The grass is always greener, right?

Well, not always.
I've slowed down.
I'm smelling the roses.
Sometimes a thorn gets in my way, but I'm enjoying where I am.
I am NOT taking my life for granted.
I am truly blessed.
My grass is the perfect color green.

My family has been complete for an entire year.
AN ENTIRE YEAR!!!
We started to build it over twelve years ago...
So, Saturday we celebrated.

George turned One!
His favorite thing all day long was the balloons.
He held on to one most of the day, and just walked around the house having a heck of a time.

I made cupcakes and tried my best to keep Abby from eating them.
I stopped her many times, but she succeeded once.  She came over to me with a mouthful of cupcake and showed me.  She was very proud of herself, the little devil!

All the cousins came to party.  Here is Brenden and Ryan.

Here is Loretta and Katie sitting down.  I put them to work most of the night, so I wanted to make sure I got at least one picture of them having fun so I have proof in case of backlash.  Seriously though, sisters are great.  I hope George finds Abby a great sister-in-law one day.

It wouldn't be a party without Uncle Shane!

Or Uncle Jeff, Uncle Sean or Aunt Monica. 

I decided to buy a pinata for the kids.  I took my husbands blood pressure into mind and made sure it was a pull-string pinata.  Can you imagine Tommy with kids blind-folded swinging a long stick... in his house?  The funny thing is... none of the strings worked, so they had to beat it open anyway!  Everyone survived.  Abby figured out very quickly she was supposed to hoard the candy and she had a BALL!

Uncle Johnny and Family gave George a rocking horse. He liked it, and all three 2-year olds LOVED it! I think Abby thought it was her Birthday. 

The video below is everyone signing Happy Birthday to George,
and him having free will with his Birthday Cake.
I have a feeling it might resurface during George's high school days.

 

I tried to get George to try his cake, but he refused. 
He got close a few times, but quickly changed his mind.  
Things in our past:
Breastfeeding.
Nighttime feedings.
Formula.
Pacifiers.
Rear-Facing carseats.
Baptisms.
Baths in the sink.
First Birthday Parties.

I'm not sad.
I enjoyed them.

Just as I am enjoying today.
And looking forward to tomorrow.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Just a quick update. We're fine. How are you?

I don't have breaking news on any big event we've done.  

Our life has been low key for the past week or so.  But, the purpose of this blog is for me to record and share things regarding our family.  And, George & Abby change so fast that if I wait too long I will forget something.  If I'm boring you, I apologize.  But, watching my kids grow up is anything but boring to me.  I don't want to miss a second.  It's fascinating.

I've turned into a doting parent.  
And I love it!

George

We are getting ready for his 1st Birthday on Saturday.  Wow!  We have made it an entire year with TWO kids!  Do we get a prize for this?

His hair is growing longer.  When he wakes up he has morning hair, and I am quite confident it is the cutest morning hair that has ever existed.  It even curls in the back.  The gerber baby has nothing on my Georgie.

He is still sleeping like a champ.  On average, 11 hours a night!!  Just don't tell him that he is using a pink sleep sack that used to be his sisters.  Hehehe.  

As long as he is trying to fall asleep I will rock him before bed.  He has figured this out and snuggles up so sweet it is hard to put him down in his crib even after he has drifted off.  I will miss this when he no longer wants to do it.  Don't call in the evenings, I'll be occupied.
Abby
She has started to say her name this week!  And she can tell you that she is 'Two'.  She has a little bit of a speech delay, so to hear her say her name was a very sweet moment.  She can't say 'George' yet.  Instead, she calls him "Hi". 

We went to the library this week and Abby picked out some books.  I forgot how exciting it is to read a book from the library.  We had to read ALL FOUR of them before bed that night.  I mentioned that we needed to return them and tears were falling immediately.  She is dramatic... I wonder where she could have picked up that trait?

She has started to have an opinion on what she wears.  I like her enthusiasm, but we are not agreeing on her choices.  What do you think, should she be able to leave the house wearing the outfit she picked out?



Abby experienced a minor tragedy this past Sunday.  She fell face first on the bathroom floor and busted her lip.  Blood everywhere.  She cried long enough to find her Daddy, who made her boo boo better by just existing (seriously, I offered to do anything and she didn't care at all).  Then she took her nap on his shoulder why he watched football.  They both were in heaven. 


Happy Wednesday,
The Ascencio's

Thursday, November 4, 2010

"A Time for Sleep" is now!

Have faith, and everything will work out.

George is sleeping through the night!! 
Hooooooorrraaaaaaayyy!

About a week ago he started to cry about 2:30am and Tommy and I were so tired we just turned down the volume on the monitor, rolled over and fell back to sleep.  (We discussed this with our pediatrician, don't worry!)  Well, at least we tried to sleep.  After a few short minutes George stopped crying and put himself back to sleep.  The rest is history.  Last night he didn't even cry in the middle of the night, he just slept right on through.  

11 hours and 15 minutes of glorious, blissful, SLEEP!!!

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Since we are on the topic of 'sleep'...
it is worth mentioning that Abby is still finding her way into our bed in the middle of the night.

And, we are a little nervous about when it will stop, because this is what we found in her dollhouse...
Seems harmless.  
A mommy & daddy sleeping in their bed.
But, take a closer look!
Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!

Looks like we have one problem solved, and another one to work on.
Parents work is never done.
L8R.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Happy Birthday Tommy!

I've been sitting here trying to figure out the perfect words to wish  
Tommy a  
Happy Birthday.  

Everything that comes to mind, I imagine him asking me if I'm going to use it in my stand up act.  You see... he teases me that anything I say that I think is funny, actually isn't.  So, he says I should compile all my 'not-funny' lines, write a monologue and then perform it in my very own stand-up act.  Trust me, the only person who would be laughing would be him (an maybe my brother and Shane).

But, I also think I'm having trouble coming up with something because Tommy is 'my person'.  
Yes, he can annoy me.  
Yes, he can make me mad.  
Yes, when I'm tired I say mean things to him that I immediately regret.  
But, he knows me and loves me anyway.
Without him my world would crumble.

Tommy gives me that content, warm-fuzzy, cared about, comfortable feeling by just being near me.  
When he's not there, everything seems a little off.  
Even if I'm gone for the weekend to visit my sister... I miss him.  

How do you put that into words?


So, I'll say this.  
I'd marry you again in a second.
Someone bigger than us brought us together, and I couldn't be happier.
Watching our kids grow up with you seems like the perfect way to spend the next couple decades. 
There is nothing I want more.
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On a related topic, I was thinking of using some old pictures for my Stand-up act.
Do you think these would be good ones to share?

To the far right, there is the infamous Mullet-Mustache Tommy.

And this picture captures the Christmas when Tommy begged his mother to send him to China to be trained as a ninja.  He has throwing stars in his hands, which are now somewhere in my house.  
He still loves them.

Love you Tommy!
Happy Birthday!
Forever.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Happy Halloween from Shirley Temple and Curious George

To me, Halloween is like Christmas Eve.  
It's fun.  
It's exciting.  
But, you know much better things are about to happen.

Thanksgiving is few weeks away.  
Then its officially the Holiday Season!!  
My absolute favorite time of year!!!
Nonstop Christmas Music.
Snow.
Shopping.
Decorating.
Baking.
Gatherings.
Cards in the mailbox. (please send us one... I love them!)

Even though I love what's about to come... I am enjoying the heck out of Halloween, too!!!
Here is my very own, made from scratch (not the costume), Curious George!

If that isn't cute enough for you...
Another made from scratch creation... Shirley Temple!
I didn't make the dress, however it was hand-picked by Grandma Cernech, and then hand-delivered by Grandpa Cernech.  How's that for service?  
God provided the curls.

Abby, Daddy and George picking their pumpkins out and then enjoying a hayride.

Peek-a-Boo Skeletons
 

Happy Halloween Everyone.

Love,
The Ascencio's