Sorry this image is a bit blurry.  I can't figure out how to change it.  And even if you saw it on Facebook, it is so worthy of putting on my blog.  It's not far from the the actual truth.

Seriously.  You should see me at night especially when I have taught 3 or 4 classes that day.  If only I could have an I.V.

Sleeping

Our children are the world's best sleepers.  Honestly.

The story behind the picture:  We had been looking for decent bunk beds at a decent price and were blessed to get this one with drawers AND a dresser from David's work (read: free).  The only problem with the bed is the mattress is so thick that the railings at top wouldn't stop anyone from rolling off.  We did what any good parents would do and barricaded the side with thick pillows and rolled up a quilt next to the pillows for double security.  Well, just as any normal child would do, Kylie told us that she would be fine without them because she 'never even sleeps close to the edge'.  As you can see from the photo, Kylie definitely sleeps close to the edge and we took this as proof to show her in the morning (although she still didn't believe it).  Our kids sleep through anything and if they do wake up, they go right back to sleep.  Surprisingly, Ashlyn has only fell off once with the way she sleeps all over the place.  Spencer was so excited to have a big boy bed after being in a crib for 3 1/2 years and has yet to fall off.  Love these kiddos!

Celebrating Ashlyn

I always find it hard to pull a party together for Ashlyn's birthday since it lies smack dab in between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Normally, we just have a family party and she's happy with that.  Not this year.  She has really grown in many ways since being at preschool this year (I could do a post just this).  One of those ways is communicating what she wants or needs and she wanted a party...with friends.  She even named the friends that she wanted to invite.  Ashlyn can usually only name one of her friends' name not multiple - a huge improvement and something I paid attention to.  She even specifically asked for a Tangled party.  I obliged.  Not everyone was able to attend, because I put it together in just a few days:), but she was excited to give out the invitations, help with the planning and baking and have some friends over.  The kids were amazingly well behaved and was, by far, the easiest kid party I have ever thrown.  We love you, Ashlyn!

On Guard

(I know I have a more recent photo of him, but I just love this one.)

We are already on 'girl' guard with this one.  Check this story out....

I came in to the child care place to pick him up after I finished teaching a class at the gym and he runs to me pointing to the playset.  I asked him if he left his jacket and sunglasses there, but instead of saying anything, he runs over and points underneath it.  Emerged from under it, a 7-year-old girl (the daughter of one of the mother's I know).  I commented, "Oh, were you guys playing under there?".  She answered, "Yes, we were playing tic-tac-toe") showing me the game.  Spencer said, "Mom, I need to tell you something in your ear.", I lean over, he whispers, "she's my girlfriend".  I totally ignore it because we don't even discuss girl/boyfriends at home, so I was sure he didn't really know what he was saying.

At dinner, I asked Spencer if he wanted to tell Daddy what he told me in my ear at the gym about the little girl.  Of course he did and exclaimed,  "She's my girlfriend!".  The conversation proceded as such:

"Why is she your girlfriend?"

"Because I love her!" (lots of snickering by us)

"Oh, you do?"  "Why do you love her?"

"Because boys like girls."  (duh, mom and dad)  (more laughs)

"Is she 3?"

"No, she's 7."

David - "Oh, you go for the older girls."

(Spencer rolls his eyes and waves his hand.)

"How is she your girlfriend?"

"She said that anyone that is 3 and named Spencer can be her girlfriend" (don't know if he made this one up)

"What do you do with your girlfriend?"

"We play."

"Oh, that's nice" (figuring that we are pretty much done with the conversation)

(Long pause) "Oh, and one more thing, I kissed her."  

At this point Kylie comes running down the hall busting out laughing and we can barely control ourselves.  What?  Is this really happening?  I canNOT let this one go.  (And, by the way, I am going to chat with his mom.)

I said, "Spencer, if a girl asks you to kiss her, you say 'no'...I only kiss my mom, Ashlyn and Kylie".  "Well, you can kiss grandmas/dads and aunts..."

"Ants!", Spencer interrupts. "ew...yuck!" 

(Etc,. etc, etc)

Now you see, yes?  Apparently this type of girl craziness as a preschooler runs in the Astorga gene (because I am SURE my brothers hated girls until high school:)).  And Spencer is only 3!!!!  I am very nervous.  Reason #131 why I tell David I will stay home with them up until they are 10 then, I'll go to work and David can stay home and deal with them up until they are moved out:).

Sunday Afternoon

A beautiful fall afternoon at the Raleigh temple.

 Cute little boy we found sitting on the bench.  We took him home:).

 A typical photo op.

 I was doing something silly.  It apparently worked.

 Grass you can actually lay in with no worry of bugs or getting scratched by it.  Oh and in real life, Spencer does like to smother Ashlyn.

 Another successful attempt.

 Kylie LOVES to write and carries her notebook everywhere.

Georgia

November brought more road trips than we are used to....two.  The first to visit my brother and his family in Georgia.  They rented a cute cabin in the mountains from a former teacher of ours (long story).  David was unable to make it, but the kids did fantastically on the road and got along great with the cousins.

Unlike our normal adventures to the Colorado mountains where we go nowhere (not that I am dissing it, there is certainly a time and place for that and we enjoy that time very much), we were quite active with Burt's family.  We panned for gold, road horses, went on a beautiful sunset walk, went to church, played in the leaves and other fun stuff.

I am embarrassed to say, but, for the first time, our kids experienced boiled peanuts.  Spencer attacked the whole thing and ate the shell.  He didn't care for them much after that.  Poor Kylie has inherited my car sickness and the winding mountains did not help one bit.  Ashlyn was so sweet with Burt's younger boys and babied them.

Wow! I am really far behind...

I was scrolling through all the pictures we have taken since my last post (and even before that)...wow!  I guess we have been busy.  So, here goes another attempt.  By the way, remember my post about keeping a journal of my kids' sayings?  Well, I still am doing that, so I have not neglected my journaling of event completely.

David and I were able to go on a kid-less cruise back in October.  It was so relaxing - no thought of cleaning, where to eat, where to drive to, leaving a tip, waiting for a waiter or drive-thru, nothing.  It also helped that we had great company and babysitters (thanks, Mom, Pam and Monica!).  To get an idea of how great it was...David's only vacation that he actually looks forward to is going to Colorado to his parents' house and doing nothing, going nowhere.  Sure, we've done theme parks, road trips, beach trips, etc, but it was still too stressful for him us.  But, since we have returned from the cruise, he has continued to look for deals and times when we can go again.  He seriously cannot wait until our next cruise.  I am pretty sure he talks about it at least 4xs a week.

Getting ready to rock climb.

 HUGE accomplishment for me.  I've got the strength and the willpower, but I am TERRIFIED of heights!

As we approached the Bahamas, what to our surprise, but a US Coast Guard helicopter pulling over a, most likely, illegal boat.  It was fun to watch.  They literally hovered over them until they stopped and a coast guard boat caught up to them, then 2 coast guards jumped off their boat onto the other.  I wish we could have found out what the real deal was.

The Bahamas thrive on tourism.  It's quite the show getting off the boat then trying to decide the best (and cheapest) way to get over the bridge to the main island.  There are a ton of taxi/van drivers in your face trying to lure you in.  We ended up with some friends (plus 15 other 'new' friends) crammed in a 9 passenger van.  A fun adventure we lived to tell about.

 Till we meet again, cruise line!