Another Fabulous Week in Florida

March 16th

Remember a couple of weeks ago when I said our tree sprouted its first leaves of Spring?

Well here it is now.

We also were able to have our first water day of the year.  We ran through the sprinklers, had a water fight, and Ashlyn wore her new bathing suit she got just last night.

It was a lot of fun and Ashlyn already can't wait to do it again. 


March 17th

I just couldn't help sharing this picture.  She had just taken a shower and her cheeks were all blushed and sun-kissed.  She was just too cute.

March 18th

Wednesday morning while Ashlyn was getting ready for the day, she couldn't decide which of two  necklaces she wanted to wear.  So she stood in front of her mirror and held each one up to her outfit a few times before asking my opinion.  haha  She absolutely loves choosing a whole ensemble!  I think the Easter bunny will be bringing some fashion craft stuff in her basket this year.  And please excuse the mess that is her closet.  We are currently going through all her toys and stuff so we can organize better.  Her tastes have changed lately from having baskets of little toys to wanting a reading area and more room to pick stuff out in her closet.  Thankfully she isn't too old to not want some of her little toys and dolls and stuff, but it was a little bittersweet to go through all her little toys.  :(  She is growing up to be such a sweet, fun little lady though so it's also fun to help make her room perfect for her personality.

This morning she also tied her shoes correctly for the first time!  She's been able to get it down mostly for a bit, but I honestly don't think about having her get her shoes out and practice so she only does a couple of times in the mornings while we're getting ready.  I'll have to be better about that.  Anyway, she just hadn't gotten the hang of doing it tight enough to where both loops stay when she pulls them, but she did it this time!  :)

In other news, we started decorating for Spring/Easter!  I love my fireside table!

I still want to tweak my mantle and need to change up the shelf in the dining room, but I love decorating so it will be fun.

March 19th

Another thing I enjoy is choosing a quote or something each month to put on our fridge.  I've been adoring Spring this year, so this quote seemed perfect.  Then Ashlyn decided it needed to be written twice as well as some extra flair.

March 20th

I had worked a longer day than usual, and on my way home I stopped by the store to grab a pizza for dinner.  While I was there, I saw these gorgeous flowers and knew they belonged in our pitcher/vase and on our dining room table.  

March 21st

We've spent the past week or so playing in the sun and dirt, so I decided it was finally time to start with the Spring cleaning.  Which to me also means organizing.  So I started with our Room of Requirement (for you non-Harry Potter fans, it's our guest room/library/Ali's room/whatever we need it for).  Ashlyn and I went through all her books and she decided on a few that she has outgrown a bit and that she wants to donate.  Then we organized the bookshelf and made it pretty again.  All of us are always getting books out and whatnot so it tends to get a little disheveled sometimes.  But I loved making it pretty again and the whole room is nice and clean.

This bookshelf doesn't even have all our books, of course.  The armoire next to it is overflowing with books.  I just wanted to try and have the bookshelf kind of pretty and it's a $30 thing from Target so I didn't want the weight of all our books to bow the shelves, either.  That's the main reason only the bottom shelf is all books.  lol  One day we'll get matching bookshelves or something, but this works for now.  

We also had an exciting discovery in our garden.  The three of us went out to water and we found our flowers and vegetables were doing very well!

I can't remember which flowers these are, I'd have to go in the shed and look at the seed packet.

And our green beans are doing fabulously!  This is just one of them, there are many that have started to pop up, and even that evening I took a peak and they were already bigger!  We can't wait to have green beans straight from our garden.

We also planted three other types of flowers, cucumbers, and carrots (we have two different garden beds, one for flowers and one for vegetables), but they all have a longer germination period than the ones that have popped up already.  We also have some basil and chives growing in a separate pot. 

March 22nd

Here's Ashlyn again.  You'd think we like her or something.  ;)  You all know that Aaron and I read to her all the time and she's been reading to us for quite awhile now, too.  But I guess she just didn't think about being able to read a story to herself whenever she wanted.  So this weekend it hit her and she was all "well, while Mommy's cleaning I'll read a story!" and she's been reading books on the couch all yesterday and this morning.  We still love to cuddle up and read together (we're almost done with the second book in the Rescue Princesses series... I believe we'll be finishing that today), but it's great that she likes to read to herself, too, when I can't sit down with her.

We are already having so much fun this Spring/Summer (Florida tends to not have Spring for long so I guess I'll just call it Sprummer ;) ).  I'm looking forward to all the incredible experiences we are going to have and memories we are going to make this year!