Ainsley-isms

In honor of Ainsley's recent birthday, here are some of our favorite Ainsley-isms. . . .

One of our favorite things she says is "keep care of" - as in "take care of". She pretends that Brownie Bear is sick and says "but I will keep care of him". (I have recently heard her use "take care of" a few times, which makes me a little sad). She gets very concerned when people are sick or hurt. We think she would make a good nurse one day. She was sick one time and said, rather pitifully, "My can't feel good". She used to use "my can't" very often but has recently grown out of that too.

She says "Weeeellll . . ." before many statements. She uses "last day"  to describe anything that happened in the past - yesterday, last week, last month, etc. Year is pronounced "yeard" and concrete is "concrepe". She has a lisp and can't say her /r/ and /th/ sounds. She also has a pretty significant southern drawl. At night before bed, she always says she wants to talk about "thangs". She loves to hear stories about when she was a "little girl" or a "little bitty baby" (pronounced with a high pitched and drawn out "little bitty" and her thumb and index finger held up to indicate something small). She likes to hear stories about Papaw Butch (catching fish, honking the horn on the way to the hospital when I was born, shooting fireworks, "Hi fans", rabbits, etc). She also likes to hear about when Mitch and I were kids, and about when she or Will was born.

She is scared of "funder and light-ten"; she makes a beeline for our room when it storms at night. She knows her daddy will snuggle with her (sometimes on the couch while he watches the storm roll through) and "keep care of her". She says "untie my shoe" meaning that she needs it tied, and will argue that that is the correct term. A funny saying she uses is: "Good night, sleep tight, don't let a bug get you". She can say her full name and thinks that ABC (when she sees it in an academic setting) always means Ainsley Brooke Colvin!



She loves to play outside!! She loves to swing and slide. She is interested in watering flowers lately. She loves to blow bubbles and use sidewalk chalk. She has recently started digging in my closet and getting out my shoes. She is constantly walking around in a different pair of either her or my shoes. She is actually pretty good in my high heals too! She likes putting on my bracelets, necklaces and sunglasses. She is a good mix of tomboy and girly girl, I think; not too much of either. 



She still loves to read! We can also imagine her being a librarian one day. Some of her favorite books to read this year have been "Guess How Much I Love You", "Gift of an Angel", "You Are My I love You", "Goodnight Gecko", "Very Busy Spider", Biscuit, Curious George, and If you give a mouse . . . books, and most recently Berenstain Bears books, Olivia the pig books, and "Ladybug Girl". Ainsley also loves to sing! She likes "Itsy Bitsy Spider", "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", "ABCs", "Farmer and the Dell", and she knows most every word to "Take Me Out to the Ballgame". She still loves to eat but has gotten a little more picky lately. She will still eat most things with some bribery! She is independent and wants to do things herself (and can do most things). "I do it" became a very popular phrase this year. She is sweet but can be stubborn at times. She can be silly and is funny even when she is trying to be very serious (she either furrows her brow and gets a very worried look on her face, or she opens her eyes very wide when telling a serious story). She is growing up way too fast but is still our sweet baby girl!



Ainsley's 3rd Birthday!

On Saturday April 2nd, we celebrated Ainsley's 3rd birthday with a ladybug party in the backyard! This was her first "friend party". We invited 6 kids from her Sunday School class, 4 boys and 2 girls, and they all came! Here are the invitations I made. I found a sample online and took it to the scrapbook store in town, where the owner helped me get started. This one got something spilled on it, but I guess it will work for her scrapbook.

When we decided to do a ladybug party, my mom remembered that she'd made a ladybug cake for one of my birthdays. She found the recipe and some pictures from the party, and sure enough, it was from my 3rd birthday! I had never made a cake before, but I decided I wanted to try this one. My mom and I made a practice cake about a week before the party. The decorating was a little tricky but we learned what to do to make it easier the next time. Thursday night before the party Mitch and I made the cake and I decorated it on Friday.

Julie sent me instructions on how to make a banner like the one they used at Shepherd's party. I spent a few hours at the scrapbook store working on that and got each letter ready. Guy and Julie came over Friday to help us prepare and they hung it over the table for us.

Mitch worked very hard to get the back yard ready and it looked nice. Ainsley "helped" him water the plants on Friday. Here she is in pjs and rain boots, watering the concrete.

I had a friend make Ainsley a birthday shirt. Her little boy, Miles, came to the party. I thought the shirt was so cute!



The weather was perfect and all the kids played well together and behaved ~ it was a great party! We set up a few games for them to play like croquet (which we don't know how to play), ring toss, and the bean bag toss. We had out the little slide, the tricycle, some colors and ladybug coloring sheets, sidewalk chalk and the bubble machine. Mitch drew a ladybug on a poster board and we cut out black circles for them to play "pin the spot on the ladybug" (Mitch ran Ainsley into the tree). We kept it simple but they just ran around and had fun.



I wrote (or tried to write) "Happy Birthday Ainsley" in sidewalk chalk on the patio. The guests had already started arriving and I was in a hurry. I didn't even realize until someone pointed it out that I left out a letter. Someone corrected it for me.

We served some of Ainsley's favorite foods: goldfish, pretzels, fruit, red and black M&Ms and cake. My mom made some cupcakes as well.

Ainsley got some very nice presents from her sweet friends and family. Books, toys, art supplies, two dresses, two bows, two aprons, a swimsuit and flip flops, a bubble mower, an umbrella . . . She has loved all her new things.

It was a great weekend and we enjoyed having Guy and Julie here with us. The kids started a game the first night we were together, where they would chase each other up and down the long hall at GG's house. They laughed and laughed.   The cousins had a great time together and we were glad to have Guy and Julie's help and company for the weekend.