A little hard work...

...never hurt anyone. YEAH RIGHT!

Our Ashley Kate has an aversion to hard work. Today I am finding out that she must come by it honestly. Her brother and sister have one too.

Ash has put her foot down. She is refusing to stand, roll over, try to learn to crawl or anything else that she just doesn't want to do. I was beginning to get a little discouraged with her this week until she pulled a few tricks out of her bag. You are witnessing one of them. Our lazy, little Ash showed us a thing or two with her new sippy cup. She can drink out of it all by herself and she doesn't need or want ANY help. We are so excited! She now keeps a full cup of water next to her at all times so that she can quench her thirst(you know, from all that hard work shes doing in therapy). Silly girl just needed the right kind of cup. I found a cup that does not have a stopper in it and the water still doesn't pour out of it. It has a soft top and all she has to do is squeeze her little mouth around it and out it comes. It also has two handles on the sides that give her more control over the cup as the weight of the water shifts inside of it. To see her using it you would think she was dehydrated every day, but I figured out that she just likes getting a drink. If shes not really thirsty then she spits it out all over clothes and toys. I would try and stop her, but I'm just so happy that she has figured it out that I don't really care if everything around her stays wet.

She has another new trick to share, but I am going to try and post a video clip of her doing it tomorrow. Its a really GOOD one. Her daddy has been working on it with her for weeks and she can do it perfectly.

We spent the day working outside trying to prepare the yard for a big birthday surprise that is waiting for Blake. He has no idea what it is and I was really tempted to share it with him in order to get him to work a little harder this afternoon. I didn't even tell him he was helping prepare for his own gift. Keeping this a secret from him is almost as difficult as not telling him he was going to meet Pudge was, but I know it is going to be worth it. Allie does know about it and shes not that thrilled to be dragging tree limbs and brush around. Every few minutes she was crying about some kind of hang nail or scratch. She is such a girl.

Hard work is so satisfying to me. I like to work hard (especially in the yard). I like to be out there surrounded by Dave and the kids (even if they would rather be goofing off). We worked long and hard, but we laughed and played hard too. Ashley Kate got to watch way to many episodes of Blue this afternoon so she wasn't complaining about all the yard work. She never gets to see it unless Ms. Sue is here making her work or unless she is in her gait trainer. Today was just a treat for her.

Were all really tired and I think Dave and I are going to cuddle up on the couch and watch a movie. The kids have jumped in bed so they don't have to do anything else today. They are so worn out. What a blessing it is to have this home, this yard, this family, this baby, and this life. Some days I just look around and my heart smiles knowing that it all came to us from the Father. I am so grateful. I hope you all had a great day with your families(and I hope you didn't have to work too hard). Take care my friends and God bless. Trish