Christmas Eve Eve, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day

Christmas was great this year. Ashlyn was much more excited this year and I think she really understood Christmas this year. She was very interested in the Christmas tree and when she saw Santa on tv or in the parade got very excited, but of course she didn't want to get too close to him though. So no picture with Santa this year.

The night before Christmas Eve my Grandma Betty came over and Jason made dinner for everyone, Jason's parents were also in town for 10 days during Christmas this year. Christmas Eve was spent at home just the three of us this year. Jason had the stomach flu and spent most of the day in bed and my parents were also sick and stayed in their bed all day. That night though Jason felt well enough for a car ride, so we went driving around, with my brother, looking at all the decorated houses around the neighborhood. Christmas morning was celebrated with all the grandparents and both uncles. Ashlyn had so many presents she didn't know what to do with herself. For Christmas Day we went to Uncle Ryan's and Aunt Maria's. The whole holiday was wonderful.

Christmas Trees, Disneyland, and Baking Cookies

Before Christmas we had lots of Christmas activities. We went Christmas tree shopping. Ashlyn loved running around looking at all the trees. Then that night we babysat Siena and decorated the Christmas tree. The next day we went to Disneyland for the Christmas parade, and Uncle Ryan, Aunt Maria, and Quinn joined us. Ashlyn loved looking at all the characters going by. Then it snowed and Ashlyn and her Daddy loved it. Before Christmas we all got together and made Christmas cookies at Auntie Dianes. We all had so much fun.

Disneyland

In the last month we have gone to Disneyland every week. Having a season pass has been very nice. We only go for about half a day but it's still tons of fun. The first time we went with my cousins Tracy, Sarah, and our god daughter Lacey Jane, and a bunch of other friends of Lacey and their mom's. Ashlyn was getting over that fever, so it took her a while to start having fun, but it was a great day. Then that Sunday Jason, Ashlyn and I went to take family pictures over at the Disneyland Hotel. So Afterwards, my cousins Joe and Melissa (Joe took the pictures) went in to ride Ashlyn's favorite ride, It's a Small World. The following week we meet Aunt Maria and Quinn for the afternoon. We even went to see Santa, who Ashlyn wanted nothing to do with. We are going to go see him again this weekend, so we'll see how Ashlyn does. And then yesterday we went with my best friends Danielle and Andrea and their kids Lacey, Mia, Kannon and Connor. We had so much fun and Ashlyn just loved seeing her friends and playing with them all day. I'm really glad we got our passing this year. It's so nice having it so close.

Thanksgiving 2007

It took me a while but I finally got our Thanksgiving pictures up. We went to my Aunt Georgann and Uncle Tom's house for Thanksgiving. We celebrated the day with my cousins. It was Siena's first Thanksgiving, and she slept through most of it. The day started off a little shaky. Ashlyn was suppose to wear a different outfit. I had bought a brown dress, in the spirit of Thanksgiving. But in the rush to get ready in time Ashlyn decided it would be fun to play in Daddy's bathroom drawer. Well Ashlyn found some of Daddy's scissors and as I'm putting on my makeup I see in the corner of my eye Ashlyn opening and closing a pair scissors. Luckily Ashlyn didn't cut herself but she did leave two big cut marks in her dress, luckily we had another dress I was going to take back. The rest of the day went very nice, dinner was great, and USC won so it was a great Thanksgiving.

Our Anniversary

Our 3rd anniversary was yesterday, we were going to go out for a nice dinner together but Ashlyn had other plans for me. Yesterday Ashlyn got a fever of 104.3, so I spent most of the afternoon in her doctors office. Ashlyn's lungs, ears and throat looked good so the doctor wanted to make sure she didn't have a urinary tract infection. The doctor put a urinary bag on her and we had to wait for her to pee. You would think this wouldn't take too long, but Ashlyn decided to go on a pee strike and she wouldn't drink any water either. So we had to stay for about 45 minutes waiting for her. She finally went and the doctor checked her urine and said that was okay too, so we really don't know why she has a fever. So we had take out and watched Charlie Brown Christmas all snuggled up together on the couch. Then because Ashlyn wasn't feeling good we let her sleep with us (she has been sleeping in her own bed) but about 30 minutes after getting into bed, Jason went to sleep in the guest room, since Ashlyn was snoring so loud. Then at 2 am I woke up and she was just buring up, her temperature was 104.5, so we got up and striped her to a tee shirt and gave her more Tylenol. We were about to do a bath, but since she cried through her night time nap I was trying to avoid another one. About 20 minutes later she was feeling cooler. So this morning it's only 103.1, before Tylenol and she is right now dancing in front of the TV watching the backyardigans. So we are going to try to celebrate our anniversary on Friday night if the fevers gone.

Jason's 27th Birthday

It was Jason's 27th birthday on Friday, so this whole weekend was his birthday weekend. It's crazy that he's already 27 and I will be 27 in about 6 months. I can't believe how the time has flown by. I really don't feel that old. I was joking with him, he only has 2 more birthday's in his 20's and then he'll be 30.

Well for his birthday my Mom and Dad babysat Ashlyn over night. We went out to dinner and bowling with Jason's best friend Sam, it was suppose to be a double date, but Sam's girlfriend wasn't able to make it. It was nice to go to a dinner without worry about Ashlyn and even nicer to go home and have a nice relaxing night without bathtime and having Ashlyn cry it out for an hour or so (we're doing crying it out now at bedtime which is actually starting to work, but I really hate hearing her cry so long). But I did wake up in the middle of the night looking for her, which reminds me how much I love her.

Saturday we went to Sam's for a UFC party. Then we finished Jason's birthday weekend with a Sunday brunch with my parents, which was very yummy. Then we went to the park for the afternoon, Ashlyn is just loving the park these days. I think Jason had a very nice birthday weekend.

My Little Dancer and Musician

Isn't she such a good dancer, as soon as any music comes on she starts rocking side to side. Isn't she so cute

Just Being Silly

A New Cousin for Ashlyn

My cousin Matthew and his wife Trish have had their baby. Now Ashlyn has a new baby cousin to play with. They had a little girl named Siena Ryan on November 7th, 2007. She was 8 lbs 3 ozs, just like Ashlyn. Ashlyn, my mom, and I were at the hospital for the birth. Trish delivered at 12:52 am and I was able to be in the room for her delivery. It was a beautiful moment, she did great and pushed so well. My mom was in the waiting room with my sleeping daughter. At 2 am when we were leaving Ashlyn woke up to meet her new cousin, she wasn't really happy when I was holding her needless to say. We went up to Valencia yesterday to see Siena, Trish and Matthew. They are all doing great. Ashlyn even held Siena, even though I'm sure she was happy she wasn't coming home with us. I'm not quite sure she's ready to have a little baby around all the time. Here's a couple pictures and a little video.

My baby isn't a baby anymore

Two weeks ago we went to my parents to watch the USC vs. Notre Dame game. I dressed up Ashlyn in her USC shirt and a skirt. I also put her hair up in pigtails, her Grandma Lisa had been playing with her hair the night before and had tried to do it and I realized her hair was long enough to wear it that way. Once we got her all dressed up and put her hair up, I just looked at her and thought, "where did my baby go?" She is definitely not a baby anymore and she's growing so fast. It's sorta sad, I wish she didn't get so big so quickly, but I guess that's how it goes huh? But doesn't she look so cute.

Happy Halloween!

We started our Halloween by going to Disneyland, Ashlyn, my mom, and me. We thought it would be fun for Ashlyn to dress up in her Minnie Mouse costume and go see all the other children in their costumes. It was so dead and we walked on all the rides. We were there only a couple hours and went on about 6 rides, it was fun. That's one good thing about living so close and having a season pass, we can just make an afternoon out of it. Then we went to the Town Center, one of the churches around here had a Halloween Festival there. There was a bunch of rides for all the children, but all of them were a little too old for Ashlyn, but we had a good time. We didn't do any trick or treating this year, since Ashlyn didn't really get the concept, but we will next year. Ashlyn had a very nice Halloween and look so cute as Minnie Mouse.

We Have Joined the Blog World

Hi everyone! After getting emails from everyone about their blogs, and reading them for the last couple weeks I have decided to start up a blog for the Gerstenberger's. I decided it would be good for family we don't get to see very often, especially Ashlyn's Grandparent that are in Maui. It will also be nice for Ashlyn to look at as she grows, to look back at the moments in her childhood. Plus my mom's been bugging me to start one. So here it goes, it should be a fun advenure trying to keep this up to date.