Catch (up) when Fall (ing)

Haha, that should be our most confusing blog title ever! It has 4 meanings: 1) Catch as in playing catch, which Ayla is getting pretty decent at 2) catching up on some things since we haven't blogged in awhile 3) Fall is almost here 4) Ayla has taken 3 decent spills in the last couple weeks (see previous posts for pictures). So, hopefully it'll make sense now....I hope.

As usual, the problem with going so long between blogs is feeling like there's no way to recap anything that's been happening sufficiently, so it almost feels overwhelming to even try. It's like there's so much to say you don't want to miss it, plus, since we kind of use this as a record of sorts as well, there's trying to capture that too. So, let's just start and see what happens.

Things we done over the last couple months highlights:

1) Ayla has made a few trips to the zoo - while the animals are fun to see - we've had some good conversations with an ostrich, giraffe and giant rodents (what are they called?), the highlight for Ayla has to be the carousel.

2) We went up north for Labor Day near some family property. Due to Ayla's sleeping lately, we decided easiest to just get our own cabin a few miles away and spend the rest of the time between 2 family cabins and hanging out with lots of family. It was a LOT of fun and also emotional as we spread the ashes of my recently deceased grandparents on the land they have owned for over 30 years now. I could blog everyday and it still wouldn't be enough to cover what that place has meant to me. The gift my grandparents gave all of us in that place will always live on in our hearts, as will the love and faith they showed us and each other and now lives on through us today. Personally, I was able to spread some of their ashes with Ayla and Ruth at my grandpa's dear stand - where he first took me hunting many years ago. It was the first time Ayla has been on the property and we were able to take a memorable family walk together as it's been a dream of mine to always take my kid and hopefully kids there. Not to change directions so quickly, but like I said it was lots of fun too and Ayla was able to take her first 4 wheeler ride and LOVED it as she was the middle of our family "sandwich" between Ruth and I!

3) We had a fun night eating dinner at Monty's (ruth and my favorite) and playing at one of our favorite parks along a lake in honor of Ruth's getting good news from the cancer doc. I'm sure most of you reading this know the story of the summer, and it's still continuing, but good news is still good news!

4) Many many many fun evenings (great weather the last couple weeks) playing in the backyard and going for walks - Ayla absolutely LOVES finding and collecting leaves (one of Ruth's favorite past times as well). We have like a hundred right now (no kidding) along with tons of tiny smooth rocks that Ayla likes to find and keep. For being a beautiful dainty little girl she sure likes to go out and get her hands dirty : )

5) Ayla has rediscovered her swing in the backyard and really enjoys it lately - she wasn't too into it the first go, but now she usually asks to go out and play with it.

And with that, moving on to some of our favorite Ayla highlights lately:

1) Ayla really likes playing pretend with her horses, kitties or bunnies. Basically playing some imaginary situation with them in her head - it's really quite cute and nice that she's learning to play on her own a little more.

2) Ayla knows the rainbow - ok, this might seem simple, but she literally blew me away yesterday when Ruth pointed out that as she sings this Barney song (Red, it's the color of an apple, orange, it's the color...and so on through purple) she simultaneously colors out the colors in a rainbow side by side on paper. Pretty cool in my opinion.

3) She can officially write the letter A - sometimes quite wild versions but it's still an A (up, down, across as she says)

4) We still have LOTS of fun reading books - especially at bedtime. To which bedtime has been quite a challenge lately but we're learning our way through it. Just when you think you have it down....:

5) Ayla has become even more opinionated and challenging over the last few weeks meaning mommy and daddy have had to step back and come up with plans of discipline, etc. Just when you think you have it down....didn't I say that already?

6) Overall Ayla is still absolutely a sweet little girl. Very polite and imaginative and loves to color, play with animals, dig in the dirt and RUN - with some bumps and bruises along the way.

Like I said, I feel like I'm missing 100 things, which I'm sure all parents do along the way but if I haven't said it lately Ayla is an absolute gift and seeing her grow and learn and become who she is every new day is an amazing blessing. We only pray God gives us the wisdom, love and patience to help her along. Hopefully we'll keep more updated on this (like we always say!)

Here's a P.S. from Ruth:

Ayla also has a fun time playing with her imaginary friend, Jackson. (He is a character from Barney) Today Jackson must have been palm-sized because she would say, "come Jackson!!" and then pretend to pick something up in her hand. Or she'll pretend to fall down and say, "I'm ok Jackson!" or she'll do jumping jacks and say she doing jumping jackson!

She also says so many funny things lately that I really should be writing down. She thinks her 'body' is located somewhere under her booty, and she will say her body grows and her booty shakes. She will also run around and around and "get busy" (dizzy).

Ah, I wish I could remember more...she's hilarious.