Happy Birthday Uncle Will!

Happy Happy 25th Birthday Uncle Will!

Wish we were there to celebrate with you :)

XOXO,

Campbell

Greek Festival

RJ, Campbell and I went to the Greek Festival the first week in October. It was so much fun! RJ and I love the Greek Festival. We go every year. This year we got to introduce Miss C to the festivities :)

Slumber party at Lollie's!

A couple of weeks ago Lollie and Poppy kept Campbell for RJ and me so we could go to an engagement party in Sugarland. They were a lifesaver! I'm so glad we live so close to each other. We dropped Campbell off and she was passed out. I thought, great she's going to sleep the whole time. We were only going to be gone for an hour. As soon as we left Laura said she woke up. I guess she only wanted a catnap. Campbell LOVES playing with her Lollie! They watched tv and played and played. When I came in this is how I found them. Too cute. C had one leg on top of Laura and was in the middle of her big king bed. Can we say C is totally comfortable around her Lollie?!? She didn't even care I was gone. She loves her Lollie and I love it!

Twice Baked Potatoes

A favorite in our house!! We love Paula Deen

Twice Baked Potatoes

8 medium baking potatoes, about 4 pounds
One 8-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
2 cups (1/2 pound) shredded sharp Cheddar Cheese
1 pint sour cream
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup chopped chives, for garnish
6 slices bacon, cooked crisp, drained and crumbled, for garnish (Optional - I leave this out for my vegetarian friends)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Pierce the potatoes and place on a baking pan. Bake the potatoes for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until very soft. Allow to cool.

2. Cut the potatoes in half and scoop out the insides while leaving the skin in tack. In a bowl, add the cream cheese, butter, 1 cup of the Cheddar cheese and the sour cream. Stir well. Add the garlic, salt, and pepper and stir again.

3. Spray a 13 x 9-inch baking dish with vegetable oil cooking spray. Place the potatoes into the dish. The casserole may now be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated until ready to bake.

4. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350. Remove the plastic wrap and bake the potatoes for 30 to 35 minutes, until hot. Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup Cheddar cheese over the top of the casserole and return to the oven for about 5 minutes, until the cheese melts. Garnish with the chopped chives and crumbled bacon before serving. Serves 10-12

Motherhood

Not every day smells like roses around here. While yes, 99.9999% of the time Campbell is happy and motherhood is wonderful, there is always those "trying" days. Today was one of them... I woke up to get Miss C out of her bed and could smell something was wrong! I walked in her room to see her crying-- very unusual for her. I picked her up and went to change her diaper like I do every morning. I laid her on the changing table, took her pj pants off (which might I add were BRAND NEW) and immediately found the culbrit. She had poop coming out of her diaper and all the way up to her hair! ugh! I thought, okay, I can handle this. It's just poop. Just then I starting cleaning and it was just too much I began stripping her down to get in the bathtub. I thought, again, okay Ashley, you are an adult, this is no big deal, just deal with it. Just then (in one shift move) Campbell sticks her foot into her dirty diaper and then grabs her foot with her hands-- NOW it's on her hands, feet, clothes, blanket, changing table, and in her hair! Great. Super. This is a great way to start the morning. I couldn't get all the crap off so I picked her up and held her as far away from me as I could (until I could clean her up or at least swipe her hands). As I was transporting her to the tub you could see the fear in her eyes because she didn't understand why I wasn't holding her. It broke my heart so I held her close to me and comforted her (yes, now my clothes are covered in poop!). She was crying so hard she won't let go and wasn't about to get in the bathtub by herself so I sat her down on the carpet for 2 seconds to take off my clothes (by now her behind is clean- it's just everything else that's dirty). I remembering thinking in my head as I'm changing, the only thing worse is if she potties on the carpet. Yep, you guessed it. I picked her up (literally 2 seconds later) and she had pottied on the carpet. I said "screw it" and ran for the bathtub. By now C is laughing and smiling... what a sense of humor! We get all cleaned up, sanitized (I love my frontloaders by the way!), carpets cleaned and head for breakfast. I was trying to hurry up and meet Laura so I went ahead and put our cute outfits on for the day. Bad idea. Campbell decided she didn't want her oatmeal and starts playing with it and blowing raspberries while she's eating. Peaches go everywhere and cover my new shirt. I leave and finishing feeding Cam. I took this picture after I cleaned her face... btw, she hates to have her face cleaned. By this time I'm ready to go to bed and start all over again. We finally got out of the house and to the Galleria when I got to tell Laura what her goddaughter had done... yay for mommyhood!!

Happy Birthday Aunt Lizzy!

I love you!

Love,

C

Campbell's 1st Halloween

For Halloween we went to the Fall Festival at First Baptist on Saturday and then over to our friend Amy and Brett's house (and baby Preston's) on Sunday. We had so much fun both days! I wish I had some pictures of the Fall Festival but unfortunately RJ left our camera on top of the car and we lost it. Yes, you read correctly. That's a whole other post. Poor RJ loses everything... his wedding cufflings from Tiffany's I gave him, his keys (every other morning!), his key card for work, etc. etc. etc. Okay, back to Halloween. On Sunday we went to Amy's to watch an awesome parade that goes through their neighborhood. It was so neat. A fire truck led the parade and thousands of kids followed behind. It was so cool to see all the costumes. Campbell was eating up the people watching. Thanks for having us Amy! (Did I mention she just had a baby 3 weeks ago-- can we say Superwoman?!?!)

Our cute little pumpkin
Daddy and the munchkin

Jean and me with our girls

Claire & Emma (4 mns) and Campbell (9mns)

My bunko group... we were baby factories this year!

From youngest (3 weeks) to oldest (9 mns):

Liam, Preston, William, Claire, Emma, Watson, Ella & Campbell

The bunko mommies

Sarah & Jackson, Aunt Lizzy, me & Campbell

I think this picture is too funny.... we all parked our strollers in Amy's front yard... ha ha It looked like a stroller parking lot!

The Moses family watching the hundreds (literally!) of kids walking in the costume parade.

Aunt Lizzy and Uncle Brian

Halloween- 9 months