Pictures from the weekend

John and Carol were here for the weekend. Just a short stay but we managed to fit alot in. Their 39th wedding anniversary was Saturday, so we took them to dinner at Charleston's. It was delicious and we all left fat and happy! Darren and John

John and Carol

Us

After dinner we went to Millard Days. Ayla rode a bunch of rides and played a few games. There were soo many teenagers there, I suppose because we went later in the evening than previous years.

The slide was hilarious. Darren was at the top trying to get himself and Ayla situated to go down together. She started to slip so he grabbed her hands and down they went. It looked a little scary like they didn't mean to go but when they got to the bottom Ayla screamed "That was so fun Daddy!"

Dancing along to the band's music!

Sunday we had a lazy morning, went to lunch and looked at houses in the afternoon. Kyle(Darren's brother) and his wife Tressa are moving here in September, so we were scouting out some homes for them. In the evening we made dinner and had my parents and a couple of neighbors over for smores. It was a fun and busy weekend for all!!

Here comes the bride....and the flower girl!!

On Friday, my cousin Jordan married a wonderful girl, Lindsey. We welcomed her to the family with big open arms. Ayla was so, so proud to be their flower girl. This is AYla with great-grandma Jane, my grammy!
She did such a great job. She walked down the aisle slowly and carefully dropped her petals on the floor. I was a proud mama.

I wish she would have looked at me here, still cute though!

My cousin, Mason walking Ayla back down the aisle after the wedding. There will be more pictures to come when the pro pics come back...I couldn't get shots during the wedding.

"Hey little Fella!"

So...just a few short days ago(Wednesday evening) we were out running some errands and decided to stop in to Petland and look at some puppies. I stop to look at puppies on a regular basis but we already have TWO BIG DOGS. We're definitely NOT a three dog family, or so we thought...Ayla fell in love with this little guy immediately. He's a miniature Dachshund and weighs almost 3 1/2 lbs(He'll grow to somewhere between 8-10lbs). He's tiny, but still a full pound bigger than Ayla was at birth...crazy. Needless to say he along with Ayla, pulled on our heart strings and there you have...we're a three dog family!
He's naughty of course, he's a 10 week old puppy...he likes to shred newspaper(he prefers unread newspaper), toilet paper, chews on whatever he can sink his teeny tiny teeth into, is working on potty training and has all kinds of energy. He thinks it's all kinds of fun to chase people, the dogs and even the cat around the house!

He's also sweet, loving, cuddly and very tolerant of Ayla and other kids holding him and playing with him.

He cuddles right in for a nap with anyone who will hold still for more than 15 seconds. Here, Ayla fell asleep with her head on his dog bed ...

He's everything a puppy should be - playful, curious and mischievious.

Ayla named him "Fella" Welcome to the Splonskowski family Fella!

Preschool! 8/16/2010

I cannot believe that Ayla has begun her second year of preschool. She is going to be four, FOUR, in 2 1/2 months . How did this happen?? My baby, who started at 2lbs and 9oz and only 14 1/2 inches long is now 41 inches tall, she fluctuates between 32-34lbs. She's learning to read and can write many words. She adds, subtracts and knows things that astound me. She is turning into a beautiful little girl and while I am swelling with pride, my heart breaks just a bit too. She is funny, sassy and a little bit princess. She wants her clothes to match, attempts monkey bars and swims in the deep water.

Here she is in full princess mode

Yeah, way too sunny for these pictures mom

Today before school(she's doing m/w/f afternoons)we went to a "special" lunch with Daddy, she of course picked McDonalds. She was pretty proud of herself and was particularly careful not to get "crumps" on her dress before school.

We love you little pumpkin and are so proud of you!

This is a little backwards...

Just a few more pictures to go with the previous post.

Tommy Ayla and her Papa

Little Mrs X in training

Uncle Grant with Ayla

Pretty

Quick trip to Okoboji

We made it to Okoboji a couple of weeks ago and it was fun, fun, FUN!! My mom and dad, Grant, his girlfriend Melissa along with Darren, Ayla and I made it up for 4 days. Tommy and cousin Jared were able to join us for a day and a half. We stayed at The INN which ended up being pretty nice and everyone had a good time.

Grant and Melissa

I thought this was the cutest ever, my dad teaching my mom to drive a boat. It's the first time she's ever driven a boat in all her years!




Darren and Ayla on the log ride

Darren and Ayla on the wave runner

Swimming in the lake

Mommy and Ayla on the boat

Ayla driving the "Glass Bottom Boat". The tour guide was such a nice man

Catching some rays from the front of the boat

TUBING, at three years old!!!!

Mom still practicing her boating skills

Arnold's Park

Melissa, Jared and Ayla

Wet from the log ride

NUTTY BAR! Enough said