Ainsley the Flower Girl

We were thrilled when Caroline announced that she and her boyfriend, Matt, were getting married a couple of months ago. They soon set a date for the wedding -- this October in Kansas City. We were also honored that all three members of our little family will play a part in the ceremony, Casey and Liz as a groomsman and a bridesmaid and Ainsley as flower girl.

Ainsley is so excited to be the flower girl in Aunt Caroline's wedding. She is really excited to wear a pretty dress and walk down the aisle. Her ideas have been reinforced by a great book Aunt Caroline and Matt got for Ainsley for Christmas: Fiona the Flower Girl. We started reading it to her as soon as we got it, and we have since read it too many times to count. It came with a very cute little purple flower necklace that Ainsley wears all the time. In fact, she wore it to school the other day, and all the little girls in her preschool class were admiring it.

The whole concept of getting married is something Ainsley has really only heard about in fairy tales, often in the form of a Disney movie, "Cinderella," "The Little Mermaid," etc. So Liz couldn't help smiling when Ainsley told her the other day while she was taking a bath that she was going to marry Matt. Liz laughed and said, "Oh, really?" Ainsley nodded and said, "I'm pretending to be Aunt Caroline." Our only conclusion was that she thought Matt is the prince, and Caroline must be a princess because they are getting married.

Needless to say, we are all quite excited for the festivities in October.

Sledding, a snowman, snowballs ... and Candyland

Since the snow didn't seem to be going anywhere the week after Christmas, Liz and Ainsley decided one morning to try out sledding on the front hill again. (Casey and Ainsley attempted that weekend, but with too short snow pants, it lasted one round. Luckily, we found some snow pants in her size in the sale rack at Target so we were able to enjoy the winter weather.)

We sledded, built a tiny snowman and made and threw some snowballs. We had a great time, and when we were done, what sounded better than warming up with some hot chocolate (or hot chocolate milk as Ainsley says) and Candyland?

Christmas 2009

We had a great Christmas -- celebrating in very white conditions this year. After mass, we still managed to host Christmas Eve despite the conditions. Christmas morning Ainsley actually slept in until almost 8 a.m. She was excited to check out if Santa came to our house and if he ate the cookies and drank the milk. He did and even left a few presents after he finished his snack. See some favorite shots from Christmas morning:

Ainsley loved this gift from G and Melmo: ballet lessons this winter and spring. She wore this leotard and ballet shoes the rest of the morning.

Yes, we realize that we have a girl. But this little girl likes trains. So Santa brought her a train set.

But then again she is a little girl. And what little girl doesn't want a dollhouse? So Santa left the big present behind the chair. Currently a set of Disney Princesses (from her Grandma and Pop) are living in the dollhouse.

Elf on the Shelf

After reading about an elf visiting their house last year on our friends the Leahys' blog, we checked in with Santa to find out if we could have an elf start checking in on Ainsley this year. Sure enough, right after Thanksgiving, an elf showed up in our house. "Dolly," as she came to be known, checked in on Ainsley every day and flew back to the North Pole each night to report on whether Ainsley was naughty or nice.


Ainsley loved finding where Dolly was each morning. Dolly even went into Ainsley's school with her to check on the boys and girls there.

We were sad to see Dolly go on Christmas Eve, but she promised to come back again next year.

A Pre-Christmas Celebration

In the days before Christmas, Liz's mom and stepdad came to Kansas City to celebrate. We had a nice visit, introducing them to Stroud's (we all gained about 10 lbs from the visit!) and exchanging gifts.

Ainsley enjoyed wearing her pajamas all morning while she opened gifts.

A musical nursery rhyme book was a fun present.

A greener way for Ainsley to do all her doodles ... and write her name 85 times.

Ainsley and Grandma hold up one of her gifts from Uncle Matt, Aunt Taryn and Max: Mrs. Potato Head!

Santa's Holiday Express

Every year, Santa takes a train from the North Pole and makes a one-day stop at Kansas City's Union Station. We decided it might be a good way to visit with Mr. Claus.

Side note: Liz took Ainsley to see Santa one evening in Brookside, and Ainsley actually talked to the big guy. As you can see above, she didn't really want anything to do with Santa this time around. But she did enjoy the train.

Ainsley's holiday program

Much, much to catch up on! As always, the time gets away from us during the holidays, so we'll try to get a few posts up soon.

First up, Ainsley had her first holiday program at her preschool back in mid-December. It was fun to watch the kids perform - Ainsley's class sang "Have a Holly, Jolly Christmas." She practiced for the week prior each night in bed. (She continues to sing it off and on. We really get a kick out of hearing her slowly singing to herself in the back seat or while getting her coat on.)



(We are sorry that the video isn't better. We took this one off Casey's iPhone. Liz forgot to hit record on the actual video camera. Whoops ...)

Ainsley in action

Here are a couple of videos from our trip to Florida.

In this one, Ainsley started swimming on her own while we were there. Ainsley was very proud of herself (and so were we). Despite crazy wind from a hurricane in the Caribbean, we had to drag Ainsley out of the pool every time.



This one demonstrates how fearless Ainsley was with the string rays. She loved feeding them! There were a few other kids there, and the two girls in the group were the only ones who would do it. We brought home a plastic string ray, and she still talks about it.

Giving Thanks Indiana Style

This Thanksgiving, Casey, Liz and Ainsley headed up to Indiana to celebrate both T-day and Grandma and Pop's 60th birthdays. We got the chance to meet Max, our new nephew (Matt and Taryn's three-month-old son), and see our other nephew, Malikeye (Rob's son), again. We enjoyed spending time with Liz's grandparents and even found some time during the short visit to catch up with some friends.

Sand and Surf

In early November, Liz and Ainsley headed down to Florida for Grandma and Pop's birthdays. Ainsley got to see the beach and ocean for the first time, swam in the pool (and swam on her own for the first time!), went fishing (and caught one, with a little help) and even fed string rays. Liz was even able to log some time by the ocean, catching up on her reading.

Swimming with Grandma (and Pop) was a favorite activity. She even started swimming on her own -- with floaties, of course -- while we were there.

Making a sand castle on the beach

Ainsley feeding the string ray for the first of many times.

Ainsley's face after feeding the string ray.

Fishing is fun!

She caught a fish. Very proud.

Out to lunch one day, the waiter gave Ainsley a balloon. She thought it was great that it matched her shirt.

We had a great time in Florida and can't wait to go back.