THE ASHTON'S

Wednesday, April 1, 2020

Fast Foward 6 years....2020 and Quarantined

It's been a little while...lol. Here we are in 2020 and Quarantined...I'll get to that in a bit. Looks like the last time I was on here Jaxx was 2 years old. Gosh, I can't update you on everything about him since then...so I'll just start from here. Jaxx is 8, almost 9 next month. Hes a very active kiddo. He plays select baseball all year long and city basketball and football during those seasons. He's in third grade and has the most amazing teachers. We have two Yorkies, Spike (13 years old) and Rocky (5 months). We are die hard baseball parent's and LOVE our baseball family. This is the third select baseball team Jaxx has played for and it hasn't always been like this, but we finally found our home with the Giants.

We have a whole new wonderful group of friends we love to hang with. Our family keeps growing, Chase got married last year and they have a baby boy named, Ellis. He is precious and we all can't get enough. Now we are here....

2020 during the Corona Virus pandemic. We have been ordered shelter in place for about....2 weeks now. I have been doing it for 3+ weeks, though. It all started during Jaxx's spring break. We knew about the virus but it wasn't serious yet. There we were on Spring Break enjoying each other and soaking up all the time we could together before school was back in session. Boy....did we have another thing coming. The virus had hit the US and hit it fast. They held the kids out of school for another week, which made sense since we had NO idea who went where during Spring break and what they were exposed to. Spring Break was March 9-13, and here we are April 1st, yes April fools day and I wish this was all a prank, still no school. As of yesterday Governor Abbott closed schools till May 3rd. MAY THIRD!!! 😞 So now we are having to homeschool. It's not full on just yet, but from what I hear assignments for grades are going to posted the week of April 13th. Yikes.

As of right now there are:

163,539 total cases

2,860 deaths

in the US.

I am no expert on this, and I try to NOT watch the news or read about it and just stay home because it really is just depressing. BUT, what I do know is this started in China, made its way here and lots of other countries and it hasn't been pretty. Symptoms are fever, cough and runny nose. Literally, that's it. It attacks your lungs and makes it hard to breathe. This is particularly true for seniors. The first infant died last Saturday from it. Most people that die from it that are not the elderly have underlining conditions, just like the flu. I'm certainly no expert so I'm not going to act like I know anything except for what I understand by what I have read and heard.

What have we been doing?

Not much. School, excising, watching movies, reading and trying to stay outdoors (in our backyard) as much as we can.

Going grocery shopping has been interesting to say the least. For some reason people started hording toilet paper and paper products. WTH? I still have no idea why, but finding toilet paper right now is like gold. It's ridiculous. Then after the toilet paper was gone, people started panicking that everything else was going to be gone too, so they started buying ALL the meat they could on each trip. Going to see the meat section totally bare was crazy. Luckily, I had previously stocked up so we didn't go without. Today it is much better, that was all about 2 weeks ago. Still unable to find toilet paper, but we haven't gone without as of today. Thankfully.

Homeschooling is definitely a challenge. We still are struggling with this new life. Jaxx loves being at home, but doing school work at home...not so much. I am not cut out for teaching. At all. We wake up, have breakfast and we try to knock out a couple of lessons, with several breaks in between. It can get pretty stressful. He unwinds by going in the backyard and doing his daily baseball workouts that his coach sends to the team every day or plays with his friends on fortnite. Ugh...fortnite. Part of me is thankful for it and part of me is ehhh. Thankfully, by kid would rather be outdoors doing something than on video games normally, so I'm ok with it for now.

Tanner is still working, so we are very thankful for that as well. He has to take his temperature every day before going in, but he goes in. Being a superintendent, he has the ability to sit in his truck and not be around many people anyway.

I am going to try and update every day on anything new...right now i have to take this kid to the high school track to run some energy out. I could use the exercise too. lol.

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Summer is here! :)

Awe....I LOVE SUMMER time! :) I am so excited to start spending the weekends in the pool and bbq's with friends and family. YAY! Jaxx was hesitant at first about pools and water period, but now I can't get that child OUT of the water. He absolutely LOVES it. I have been swimming since I was 3 months old. Literally. My Grandparents built their pool right before I was born and they had me in that pool ALL THE TIME, I was a little fish. I plan to do the same for my little man. He is 2 and already not afraid to jump off the diving board. YIKES. Kid is fearless just like his Daddy....that scares the tar out of me. Being MS.Cautious all the time it is REALLY hard for me to let go, let him learn and explore. If it were up to me he would be in a bubble all the time. haha.
Anywho, not much going on at the Ashton's lately. We do have some pretty BIG news that I am not going to reveal till it's official. No, I am not pregnant. hahaha. Apparently that is where everyone's mind goes when I have news. :) It has been a while since my last post so I can't even begin to type everything that has happened, but I do most memorable.
Let's see.

June was a crazy busy month. Several pool parties at the beginning of the month. One was our friend Kassie's birthday and the other was a going away party for our friends that moved to Arkansas, Justin and Abbie. Abbie just received her RN and is originally from Arkansas. She was offered a job at a hospital and she took it. :( Kind of sad to see them go, but I know it is the best for them. :) Plus, that just means we get to vaca to Arkansas. :) Then we had Father's day over my Grandparents house. Unfortunately, my MIL was sick so we didn't get to celebrate with my FIL that particular day, but we had a great time with my family, swimming, great BBQ and of course my wonderful family. I made a huge breakfast for Tanner that morning which is his favorite meal and Jaxx and I gave him his gifts.

Such a good Daddy!

LOVING the Jeep time his Daddy made happen!

Aunt Kailey and Jaxx on Father's Day ready to head to Meme and Pop's house.

Sweet Daddy time.

The following Tuesday was Tanner's birthday. BIG 3-1. Finally. hahaha. He loves to make those 5 months in between our birthdays very clear that I am "a year" old than him. haha. LOVES to tease, that one. :) Anywho, I made him his favorite dinner and a cookie cake that evening after work. That following weekend we celebrated Tanner by going out with some friends. We started off at Top Golf in Dallas. SO MUCH FUN! We had a blast. After we headed to Ft. Worth for the night, bar hopped and then spent the night with some friends that live off 7th. It was awesome. Woke up the next morning to our sweet hostess making us breakfast and then headed to Reservoir for a little hair of the dog....bottomless mimosas. :) After leaving there we headed to pick up our little man. NOT a fun trip home. My car decided that was a good time to over heat. Smack dab in the middle of the highway, with NO shoulder by the way we had to pull over. Sooo scary. My car had been over heating for a couple days at this point and Tanner did everything to try and fix it. Come to find out the block was cracked. Awesome. Did I mention this was not even 2 months after paying the thing off? Of course. haha. Oh well, it happens right? So that week I drove my brother in law's old truck...thankfully he had just bought a brand spankin' new truck and I drove his old Avalanche till we could get the car situation sorted out. That next Thursday we went and got me a new car! :) I love it so far. I've only had it for about 2 weeks, but I like it a lot. I got a Dodge Journey.

Bye bye Equinox

Hello Journey!

It is a SUV not a minivan! haha. Just to be clear. I will NEVER drive a minivan. haha. Some people enjoy them, but not this Momma. ha. I love how much bigger it is than the Equinox. I loved my Equinox don't get me wrong, but I had it for 6 years and it was time to get a new one. The car I wanted was a new Tahoe, but that just wasn't going to happen right now with all the changes coming up, so I got something a little more practical. :)

Before we knew it July was here and we were celebrating the 4th. :) Had a great 4th of July again this year with some of our best friends, The Apolinar's. They just bought a new house and was invited to come over and go swimming at their community pool and enjoy some BBQ. After dinner we headed to Highland Park where we watched some awesome fireworks. It was a great day! :)

LOVE these two kiddos.

Tanner and I are going on a little mini-vaca to Atlanta next week. He will actually be there all week and I fly in on Thursday. Jaxx will be with his Grandparents while we are gone. I've never been away from my baby this long and will probably have an anxiety attack after being dropped off at the airport. hahaha. I know he will be in great hands, just going to miss him crazy! We have some friends that live in Atlanta that just had a baby and I can hardly wait to get my hands on that precious little man. :) Should be a great time.

Here are some random pics.

At the water park with his babysitter. The little girl is the babysitters Granddaughter. SO cute!

The hat, authentic glove and ball were all bday presents from Jaxx's Uncle Henderson and Hali! :)

Look who's sleeping in a BIG boy bed now! :) LOVES it!

Other than that...nothing else really to report. Stay tuned for the BIG news coming soon. :)

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

My baby is TWO!

This post is SO bittersweet! On one hand I am so very happy my baby boy is a happy, healthy, growing boy...but on the other hand I am sad that he is already 2 years old and growing so quickly. These 2 years have flown by and I wish I could slow the time down a little. Jaxx is seriously everything and more I wanted in a child. He is such a loving, smart, energetic, independent amazing little boy...I am so proud of the little boy he is turning into.

We had a very busy past week. He turned 2 on May 13th, it was a Monday. The Sunday before was Mother's day which we (just Tanner, Jaxx and I) decided to spend at the zoo. He had an absolute blast! Except I wouldn't recommend going on a Mother's day, it was PACKED! We still had a great time though. After the zoo we went by and surprised my Mom at work for a quick minute. We plan to celebrate her soon. That morning before going to the zoo we met with Tanner's parents for brunch, then headed to the zoo. That evening we just soaked up as much of our one year old that we could before he officially turned two! :) The next morning unfortunately we both had to head to work so off to drop him off at the babysitter's for the day. I made him cupcakes the night before to take and celebrate with his friends at the babysitter's house. They sang happy birthday and had a cute little party for him. :) After picking him up that afternoon we headed home to freshin' up and then off to Chuck E. Cheese we went for some more fun! He LOVES that place. I remember taking my brother and sister there many many years ago and it was so strange to be there with my own kiddo! haha. Anywho, we played and played and then at 10:59 that evening while he was sound asleep my baby turned 2 years old. I still can't believe it! The rest of the week was pretty rough. He came down with a horrible respiratory infection and fever for 2 days. Scared the crap out of me. Thank goodness he was all better for his party on Saturday! :)

The rest of the week FLEW by and it was time for his party on Saturday at Bicenntenial Park in Pantego. Cutest little park EVER for little ones. We rented a pavilion and had a blast! Jaxx kept hearing all week about his birthday party at the park, but got way more than he bargained for. :) We had a great turnout, this little man is very loved...which I already knew! :)

Singing to him.

Just finished blowing out his candle! :)

BFF's...Aubrey and Jaxx

Cousin Tucker and Jaxx

Completely pooped after a long/fun day. Pasted out in Superman jammies, cape and all! :)

I have LOTS more pictures I will post later, but my Grandmother has them all and is in the process of uploading. :) We all had a blast and so glad my little man had a GREAT 2nd birthday!!
Here are some other pics.

Practicing his swing

Boots his Uncle Chase bought him

Would NOT take them off.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Easter and after.

Almost a month later...but better late than never. haha.

Our Easter was awesome. Saturday the 29th of March my Father in law took us to Ridglea Country Club for their annual Easter Egg hunt. Jaxx was so excited...until they actually said GO. There were TONS of little kids. I couldn't believe the outcome...especially in his age group. Anywho, once they said "GO", all the parents and kiddos dashed off and Jaxx was hesitant and was accidentally knocked down. At that point he was over it. So I picked him up and with him on my hip we ran around and picked up as many eggs as we could. hahaha. He thought that was fun. After the hunt they had a petting zoo, games, pony rides, Easter bunny pictures, balloon animals and a brunch. It was really fun. Jaxx immediately got a balloon animal and the guy made him a weenie dog balloon...which Jaxx used as a golf club. hahaha. This child is absolutely obsessed with any kind of sport you can imagine. Anything he can make into a ball or use to hit a ball with...he will. hahaha. I love it! So he popped that balloon hitting a ball and I went and had the guy make him a golf club balloon, which lasted just as long. hahaha.

Ok let me back up a little. The weekend before Easter my Mom, sister, sister-in-law, nephew, Jaxx and I went Easter clothes shopping and for the boys to see the Easter bunny. Last year Jaxx did SO good with the Easter bunny. OMG, not this year. hahaha. He was terrified. He was SO excited..again before hand and seemed excited every time we said we were going to see the Easter bunny. Until...we were next in line to get in his lap. I went over to put him in his lap...holy crap! This child freaked! hahaha. Poor guy, his mean ole' Mommy still made him take the picture not once, but TWICE. hahaha. We got the boys separately and once together...well kind of together. hahaha.

This is really hysterical to me now. At the time I felt guilty and just flat out mean. hahaha. Look at Tucker just as happy as can be (Jaxx last year) and Jaxx trying to escape. haha. Poor guy. This will be awesome to show to his future girlfriends though. :) That Sunday we ran some errands and colored some eggs. Jaxx LOVED this...he was amazed. it was AWESOME. By far the funnest age is right now. I think i have said that several times though...hahaha. Just keeps getting more and more fun! :)

The 4 pictures are all the cute, creative things Jaxx made at his babysitters for Easter! He makes some of the cutest things there. I love getting all his sweet hand and finger prints with every holiday! :)
The Saturday night before Easter we went to a adult only baby shower for some friends that live in LA, The Steers. We are so excited they are having a baby girl in June! :) The shower took place at Olen Jack's in Lincoln Square. It was so much fun to see friends and have a little adult time. :) My wonderful sister watched Jaxx for us that night. Next morning Jaxx woke up and Easter bunny had come! OMG, he was so excited. He got some really awesome stuff. A kite, egg sidewalk chalk, lots of candy, stuffed bunny and of course all the Easter eggs were little basket, base, foot and soccor balls. hahaha. He LOVED it!

Later that day we went to lunch with my family at Logan's steakhouse then went home and enjoyed a nice relaxing evening before another work week! :) Jaxx was exhausted after his BIG Easter weekend!

Next big weekend was my Dad's birthday weekend! He turned 52 and Kailey was with me that weekend so we made him a cake and went over and played for a bit that evening. Jaxx LOVES his Pappa D and gets so excited to see him! :) I wish I would have snapped pictures of them playing, but I was too busy laughing to remember to get out my camera.

Trying to get Jaxx to blow out his candles. He wasn't having it!

Daddy and I through the years! :)

Dad's birthday was on the 13th and Kailey's 18th....(cough) yes, he turned EIGHTEEN years old. For those of you that have known us for a long time....you know that this makes me feel REALLY old. Kailey was born when I was 13 years old...so she was literally like my little doll. hahaha. By the time I was 15 and 16 people thought she was mine if I had her with me anywhere. haha. There were times I felt like she was mine too. ha! Anywho, her turning 18 was really sad because she is my baby sister....and now a grown women. :( Crazy!

That same weekend Kailey and went and did a little shopping in the Highlands. Jaxx loves running around in there and just being outside period.

Ok, I have to finish this post today. I started it last week and got busy and never finished it.

The past couple weekends have been pretty chilled. Not much going on. Last weekend we went and met The Morgan's for a little PBR Rodeo in Cleburne. Anytime I get a chance to see my oldest best friend Amanda, I take it! :) Love them all so much...they are seriously family to me. She is pregnant with her 3rd baby...makes me feel a tad behind. hahaah. Not to mention several...actually SEVEN of my good friends either just had a baby or are pregnant right now. WOW! That is a lot. Tanner and I have talked about it and I am just not ready yet. As of right now...shifting all my attention on another baby right now is NOT an option. I have LOTS more soaking up to do before Jaxx becomes a big brother. :) Plus, pregnancy sounds HORRIBLE right now. hahaha. BUT, it will all be worth it when I do decide to have my second/final baby. :) People say that you forget all about everything in pregnancy and that just doesn't apply to me. I was THRILLED to be pregnant, but OMG...was it miserable. All of it was of course, WAY worth it...but holy crap. Some people have perfectly pleasant pregnancies and some absolutely LOVE being pregnant (those are the women I am envious of), but NOT ME!
Anywho, I totally got off track. So Jaxx and I went to the rodeo and he absolutely LOVED it. He thought the people tackling the calves to the ground was hilarious! hahaha. Tanner was at the lease for the night turkey hunting, so it was just little man and I. We had a blast.