The Awesome Ashleys

It's Santa! (December 2009)

2010-11-05T17:10:00.005-04:00

The boys were able to see Santa again this year. Sean loved him but Dean was not happy to see him again as you can tell from the below pictures. It would be so nice to get a picture of Dean with Santa without him crying or trying to get away.

Cookies (December 2009)

2010-11-05T16:46:00.005-04:00

My wonderful boys making cookies with me. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!

Blue Angels (November 2009)

2010-11-05T16:37:00.012-04:00

We LOVE the BLUE ANGELS!!!! Every other year they come and fly at the beach. Of course, we are always there to watch them. They are absolutely amazing! Here are just a few pictures out of the hundreds of pictures that we took of them.

Halloween (October 2009)

2010-11-05T15:33:00.005-04:00

These are a few pictures from Halloween 2009.

Circus (October 2009)

2010-11-05T14:05:00.011-04:00

We were able to go to the circus for the first time. The boys loved it!

The below picture is Slinko. It was so cool to watch the way that it moved around.

Disney's A Christmas Carol Train Tour (October 2009)

2010-11-05T13:40:00.009-04:00

In October 2009, Disney's A Christmas Carol Train Tour came to Jacksonville. I took the boys downtown to meet Grandma Rudd so we could all go to the train station. The boys had a lot of fun with all of the activities that they had set up for the children.

I'm a blogger slacker AGAIN!

2010-11-05T13:27:00.006-04:00

I know that I promised that I was going be a better blogger last year but as you can tell I didn't change my "blogging" ways. I didn't realize that I was so behind with our blog until I just pulled it up today. I'm going to post a lot of pictures during this month so get ready....I'm going to see if I can get caught up with our blog. I hope you have time to read and look at everything once I start. I'm really going to try and do better this year. I promise (again).

Dean's 1st Trip to the ER (October 2009)

2010-11-05T13:15:00.009-04:00

The beginning of October did not start off well for us. Dean was playing and fell into our little children's table that we have. We ended up having to take him to the ER which he had to receive stitches for the cut under his chin. I sure hope he never has to have stitches again.

Sean's First Day at Kindergarten

2009-08-31T12:43:00.009-04:00

On August 24, 2009, Sean started Kindergarten. The morning before school he was very quiet. Sean kept telling me "but your not going to be there". I had Gramma Ashley watch Dean for me so I could bring him to school the first day. Sean did so good. He gave me a hug and waved at me. I'm so glad that there were no tears from anyone. YEAH!!!

He looks so big with a backpack.

In the school parking lot.

Sean's "cubby".

Sean's chair.

This is Sean after the first day of school has finished.

Yeah, he made it through the first day and he is still smiling! I was so happy when he came home. I can't believe that school starts at 8:30am and does not get out until 2:40pm. What a long day for a 5 year old. The first thing that he said when he came through the door is, "I love school. I didn't know it was going to be like that."

Zoo Trip

2009-08-31T12:21:00.010-04:00

Sean wanted to go to the zoo one last time before he had to start school. Gramma Ashley came with us. Sean and Dean had fun "petting" the sting rays. At first, Dean wasn't sure about it but then he liked it. He liked it so much that his entire front of his shirt was covered in water.

There were a few time that Dean almost got in with the sting rays.

While we were watching the giraffes, a "freak" rain started to fall. All of the giraffes starting running around. The boys really enjoyed watching them.

This was just a beautiful bird!

The boys ALWAYS have to brush the goats.

The Towable

2009-08-31T12:09:00.007-04:00

The last time that Paul had taken Sean out on the boat to fish, Sean had seen a boat with a towable. We ended up having to buy a towable for the boat because that is all Sean wanted to talk about. As you can see, he LOVED it! They had so much fun on it.

Dean's 2nd Birthday Party

2009-07-31T16:39:00.007-04:00

Dean loved his party this year. During his first birthday party, he didn't know what was going on but this year was a whole other story.

Sean and Dean before everyone came.

Starting to open presents.

Behind him is just "some" of his gifts.

Sean likes Dean's firetruck "car" that we got Dean but poor Sean was not able to get into it very much for the first few days because Dean would not let him.

Dean kept talking into the play microphone.

Sean is chasing Dean so that he can give him a speeding ticket.

The cake!

Blowing out candles. (I only look "fat" because this is a man's large t-shirt. I'm still the same size I was in High School.) We used "trick" candles on his birthday cake since he loves blowing out candles. That is the reason why there are so many pictures of him blowing the candles out.

Mmmmm....cake! Look, I see a policeman!

Dean Turns 2!

2009-07-31T16:27:00.006-04:00

Dean turned 2 on July 15th. Since his birthday fell on a Wednesday, we bought him a little cake so we could celebrate before his birthday party on that Saturday. He LOVED his candles.

Once he had blown them out, he was mad that the "fire" was gone. I had to cut a piece of cake for him and light them over and over again 4 times before I told him that the smoke was getting really bad in the house and we couldn't keep lighting them.

He had so much fun eating his cake.

Brownie Helper

2009-07-31T16:07:00.007-04:00

Dean really, really enjoyed "helping" me bake brownies. If he could have it his way, we would make brownies all day and every day.

4th Of July

2009-07-31T15:56:00.007-04:00

We had a blast this 4th of July. First we went to Fernandina Beach to visit for the day with Paul's brother. We had a cookout there and spent a long time playing on the beach. We got back home aroung 5pm. That night we went down to our beach and watched the fireworks.

On our boardwalk, there was a reggae band that was playing and the boys danced until the fireworks started.

Dean kept seeing people shoot fireworks off while we waited for the "show" to start in the sky.

Dean is "getting down."

Sean and Dean loved the fireworks. Once they were finished, we went back home and lit all of our fireworks until 11pm. What a great day!

Christmas Day (December 2008)

2009-06-13T15:31:00.010-04:00

It all started on Christmas morning, a very early Christmas morning. Sean came running into our room asking if Santa had come. When we came down to look, that is when the madness began. Here is our tree before the boys were allowed to touch anything.
Sean in front of his "loot".

Dean walking by his "loot".

Can you tell that Sean was VERY happy?

I didn't think Sean could ever stop smiling that morning.

YEAH!!!! Dean was so happy that he was clapping his hands.

Dean really loved to unwrap the gifts.

The aftermath of the tornado.

Dean was so tired after all of that excitement that he ended up falling asleep in the cushions of the couch.

Christmas Eve (December 2008)

2009-06-13T15:13:00.011-04:00

Every year on Christmas Eve, my Mother-In-Law has a Christmas party. This year it was Nancy (Paul's Mother), Paul and our family, Steve (Paul's brother) and his wife Chmone, Steve's 3 children and all of their children, Johnna (Paul's sister) and her family, Jamie and Johnathan (her fiance), and Jasmine. The grandchildren and great-grand children had a blast! I hope everyone enjoys the expressions on Sean and Dean's face.

The Hess truck.

Dean was REALLY happy with the wrapping paper.

Sean and Dean (with the help of me) ended up having a huge wrapping paper fight. They had so much fun. The good thing was that they did help me clean it up.

This is the remote controlled snake that Sean received from Grandma Ashley. The only problem was, the minute we got home Dean kept wanting to play with it.

The Blogging Slacker

2009-06-13T10:01:00.009-04:00

Alright, I'm really sorry about being a slacker when it comes to blogging. I'm going to post a whole bunch of things. These posts are not very long to read, I just really wanted to get the pictures out there since I have had people asking for them. I promise I will start being a better blogger now. The real problem was that our computer took FOREVER to get the pictures pulled up and I really didn't enjoy waiting for it. Last week we got a new computer which I love. YEAH!!!! It now doesn't take 5 minutes just to pull up the program to even look at the pictures. I hope everyone likes them.

Face Painting

2009-06-12T18:46:00.007-04:00

The first Saturday of every month, Home Depot has a workshop for kids. Sean started going there when he was 2 years old. He loves them. This month they had face painting when we got there. I didn't think Dean would do it but after Sean sat down on the chair and got his face painted, Dean jumped up on the chair and turned so that the lady could paint something on his face too. When we got home we took these cute pictures.

MOSH

2009-06-12T18:00:00.012-04:00

I took the boys to the Museum of Science and History. Sean really enjoyed being able to stand in the mouth. Dean had fun pressing this "stomach" and making it burb.

Here, fishy. fishy, fishy..Oh good, Dean found one blue one.

They really enjoyed the Florida Naturalist's Center. They were able to see all kinds of animals that are native to Florida. We were looking at the baby alligators (GO GATORS!) that also had 2 turtles in their tank when they started feeding them. We got to watch them eat the crickets and worms. We were also able to see snakes, owls, frogs, lizards, and other turtles.

Look, Sean is controlling a dinosaur!

DINO-ROAR was on exhbit. It took a long time to get Dean close enough to a dinosaur exhibit for me to get him into a picture. He just wasn't to sure of them. After he got over being scared, all he wanted to do was wave to them.

Here is Dean waving at the dinosaur that is in back of Sean.

I finally got him to sit down but he did NOT trust the dinosaurs to turn his back on them so I could not get a picture of him smiling.

Yeah, I got him to sit down and face me but I still couldn't get him to smile. Now he is smiling. Of course, there are NO dinosaurs at all here.

Chuck E. Cheese's

2009-06-12T17:22:00.011-04:00

Yes, our first visit to Chuck E. Cheese's. Sean had been wanting to go there for about 6 months and we finally went. He didn't know we were going and we just showed up and went into the store and Sean looked very confused. He didn't know what was going on. I asked him if he knew where we were and he just smiled really, really big. He was so excited once he had seen the sign.

Mmmmm, pizza and soda...

Paul put the token into the game and Sean wasn't sure what to do so then I decided to "TRY" it out. My excuse was that I was holding a purse and a camera case and that is why I wasn't able to do it as well as I could have.

Dean kept watching Chuck the entire time that he played. It was really hard for me to get them to turn at the same time to take a picture.

Sean loved putting out the fires with the firehose in this game. Even Paul played it.

Look at his face, he was having so much fun!

Sean really wanted to win against Paul and Dean in this game. Look how hard he was concentrating.

The "REAL" Chuck E. Cheese.

We could not get Dean to get off of this ride. He rode it 7 times in a row and then he also rode it again 3 more times before we left.

Sean Turns 5

2009-06-12T17:02:00.010-04:00

In May 2009, Sean had an awesome 5th birthday party this year. He had so much fun. Grandma & Grandpop Rudd, Grandma Ashley, Uncle Derrick, Aunt Toby, Corey, Jordan, Emma, and Sam came to visit. Sean had so much fun playing with his cousins. He just loves it when they come and visit him.
Don't you just love Army green frosting?

Dean decided that he really enjoyed Sean's cake. He actually wanted seconds which of course I gave him since he is just so cute.

Sean's first skateboard.

This is what Grandma and Grandpop Rudd got him. He was so happy that they gave him that.

Dean really liked Sean's birthday too.

More presents that he was opening.

Proof that the Easter Bunny is real

2009-06-12T16:49:00.009-04:00

Look, Dean sees the Easter Bunny footprints!
He went right into our house using the front door.

He was on our front porch.

And he was even on our sidewalk going up to the porch.

Dean Loves Frosting!

2009-06-12T16:44:00.007-04:00

Dean discovered that he loved to "help" frost the annual bunny cake this year.
He really, really enjoyed it.The final product was a lime green bunny since that is what Sean wanted.

Opening of the Beaches (April 2009)

2009-06-12T16:30:00.009-04:00

Here we are....waiting for the parade to start. It really is hard to keep a toddler on the blanket and wait for the parade to start since we got there about 40 minutes early.

Dean is loving the parade here....

HOME DEPOT!!!!

Who doesn't LOVE big golf carts?

Everyone loves McDs!

This is just cute.

This is as close as we are ever going to get to see a tracker while living at the beach.

For everyone who has moved away. Who doesn't remember WAPE if you have lived in Jacksonville?

The Fernandina Beach pirate ship.

A Visit to the Fire Station (March 2009)

2009-06-11T16:44:00.012-04:00

Sean and Dean loved their trip to the fire station. We met up at the fire station with a playgroup from church. Sean was the only one that got to start a firetruck. They had a blast!

Sean even got to hold the hose and spray water.

My Boys (March 2009)

2009-06-11T16:31:00.009-04:00

My boys.....Aren't they just so cool!

Of course these photos were before Dean had his haircut.

Dean's First Haircut (March 2009)

2009-06-11T16:23:00.008-04:00

Here is Dean after his haircut....

Here is Dean before his haircut....

Our Ice Tree (February 2009)

2009-06-11T16:12:00.011-04:00

Sean has been wanting to see snow but this was as close as I could get. Of course, we turned on our sprinkler and then we waited.....
Unfortunately, the branch above did not make it.

Dean loved hitting the tree and making all of the ice fall down.

Sean thought that it was really cool to be able to eat the ice off of the tree. I just had to make sure that he didn't eat some of the branches that were in the ice. I also promised him that this coming winter we would go somewhere that had snow.

Sean's Tree Climbing (January 2009)

2009-06-11T15:52:00.009-04:00

These pictures were just so cute. Sean had been asking Paul to put steps on the tree because he wanted to climb this one tree. When he saw the steps on the tree he was so excited that he didn't want to stop climbing. He was up in that tree forever that day.

Family Photos (December 2008)

2009-06-11T15:36:00.008-04:00

If you have children, you will totally understand. Do you know how hard it is to get 2 children to smile at the same time? Here are 2 out of about 40 pictures just so everyone can see us....

The Santa Experience (December 2008)

2009-06-11T15:15:00.012-04:00

Sean really wanted to see Santa but when we got there he just wasn't so sure that he wanted to sit on his lap. (Also, I'm not that fat. I was wearing my husband work jacket because I was cold so it just looks like I'm fat.)

Next up, is Dean....Well, the following pictures say it all.

Here is the other picture of Sean. We barely took a picture of him on his lap when he jumped up and ran for his life. I had to catch him with my arm so he would stop running.

Halloween Photos

2008-11-15T12:08:00.004-05:00

I'm so glad that Halloween finally came. Sean kept asking me for over a month when he would be able to go trick-or-treating. He wanted "dirt" on his face for his pirate outfit for the church party but on Halloween we changed his make-up to make him look like he had a moustache and goatee.

Sean is already for the church party.

Sean getting ready to go around our neighborhood. He is very excited to go.

This is Dean's costume which is the only picture for him since he screamed and ripped it off. We are ready for the long walk around the neighborhood.

Can you say.....CANDY, CANDY, and more CANDY!!!!

A Day At The Zoo

2008-11-15T11:45:00.004-05:00

We love our annual passes for the zoo!We ALWAYS have to have this picture when we go.

Sean's just hanging around.

Group photo.

Sean is sitting on top of the gator. The minute he sees the gator he runs as fast as he can to get to it. GO GATORS!Playing on the spider web. Dean is so happy to be out of his stroller and running around the park.

Dean's 1st Goat Petting

2008-11-15T11:37:00.004-05:00

I finally let Dean touch a goat. He loved it! Dean kept trying to hug them the whole time that we were there. I think he thought that they were like our dog which he won't stay off of.Dean is trying to brush the goats with a comb.

Sean loves petting the goats at the zoo. Everytime we go, he always asks to go and pet them.

The hardest time for Mommy with the goats was trying to get Dean over to the sinks and get him to wash his hands. He ALWAYS puts his hands or anything he can get his hands on into his mouth.

Walt Disney World

2008-11-15T10:55:00.004-05:00

For Mommy's birthday, we decided to go down to Disney World. It was a last minute decision that we decided to do at 7:30 pm the night before we left. Sean woke up really fast when we woke him at 4:45 am and told him that we were going to Disney World. Our happy family in front of the Disney castle.

Daddy and Sean were first on the Barnstormer ride.

Dean and Mommy waving at the camera.

Mommy trying to get Dean to wave at the camera.

Mommy and her boys on the teacup ride.

Daddy and Sean on the teacup ride.

Mommy and her boys in front of a Halloween Mickey.

Dean's First Birthday (July)

2008-11-15T10:15:00.005-05:00

Dean's cake before he touched it.
Dean touching his cake for the first time to see if it "feels" alright.

Dean says, "I'm a little messy."

Dean says, "I'm the winner and take it away."

Sting Rays & Giraffes

2008-11-15T10:03:00.004-05:00

Sean had fun petting the sting rays at the zoo. The only problem he said was that they were slimy.

Sean really enjoyed the giraffes. When he was finished feeding the giraffes lettuce he wanted to do it again. Now every time we go to the zoo he wants to feed the giraffes.

Cheerios Anyone?

2008-11-15T09:56:00.003-05:00

This was a quiet day, or at least as quiet of a day you can have with two little boys around, and Mommy was working around the home. Mommy was in the office when a thought came to her saying, "Dean is being too quiet." I came out of the office and found him. He sure was happy!

Sean's 4th Birthday (May)

2008-11-15T09:44:00.005-05:00

In May, Sean celebrated his 4th birthday. He had so much fun. His Grandma and Grandpa Rudd came over and so did Derrick, Toby, and all of their kids (Corey, Jordan, Emma, & Sam). He just loves when his cousins can come up and play.

Backyard Fishing Trip

2008-11-14T19:42:00.004-05:00

It was normal morning when all of a sudden Penny, our faithful dog, started going crazy at our back windows. I thought that is was just a squirrel but when I looked out of the window I saw this.....a blue crab. I ran outside with the fishing net and caught it. We then took pictures and brought it across the street to the marsh and let it free. I had to call Paul and tell him what a good fisherwoman I was without even having to get into the boat.

Sean's Fishing Trip with Dad

2008-11-14T18:31:00.003-05:00

Sean had been asking Daddy to take him out on the boat because he wanted to start fishing. Finally, Mom said it was OK to take him out and let him on "Daddy's boat". Of coarse, Sean caught 2 sheepshead and a ladyfish and Daddy didn't catch anything that day. When the great fishermen came home from an evening of fishing, Sean made Mommy cook the fish and everyone had to eat it. Now Sean is always asking Daddy to take him out on the boat.

A New Bike Rider

2008-11-14T18:22:00.004-05:00

We now have a new bike rider in the family as of October. Sean just jumped on and started riding it was great! We now get to all bike ride as a family now. Of course, Dean is on the back of mommy's bike.

We are blogging!

2008-11-14T17:23:00.002-05:00

It is official! The Ashley family is now blogging. I thought that I would start at the beginning of the year and post some of the "cool" things that have happened in our family. I hope everyone will take a look and enjoy.