This is why God invented children

...To pick up my slack.




I know child labor is illegal. But, since I dropped MY camera while chasing after naked Ashton, I think it's only fair that HE earns Mommy a new one. So... I will be hiring him out for housework. Contact me on here for any jobs that you need done.

He charges 8 cookies an hour. Or half of a bag of Mission Tortilla chips. And don't forget the dip. Actually, he just needs 1 chip and a whole bunch of dip. He likes to lick the dip off and quadruple dip it back in anyway, so he really only needs one chip.

What's wrong with a little nudity?

Okay, so I've had this post under my blog drafts for over a month now. I guess I wasn't quite sure what kind of captions to write about posting pictures of my son's naked boo-tay. (It's not illegal is it?!? For reals, if it is, let me know and I'll take it down. =)


Anyway, back in January Ashton and I took a day trip to San Diego to visit my lovely friend Karishma and her family. We took a walk along the beach so the kids could run around and burn up some energy. Of course you never plan on going into the water, but somehow it always happens. So, since I wasn't "water play" prepared, I stripped him down so I would still have dry clothes to put him back into after he was finished.

I could not get this darn kid out of the ocean. The water was COLD!! I could barely keep my feet in. I know that we get to enjoy beach weather year round here in California, but it was still JANUARY! He was kicking and screaming every time I tried to say, "All done Ashton, let's go bye bye." I would carry him all the way back to the dry sand, set him down, and immediately he'd take off running back towards the freezing cold water. This happened over and over....and over again.

Needless to say, next time I will be "water play" prepared.








Oh yeah... he's also apparently an exhibitionist. Right after getting out of the bath he spotted his new toy. So he runs across the room and hops on his ATV....naked. So, if you come to our house, remind me to sanitize this thing if your kid wants to ride on it.




p.s. On the lovely naked beach day described above, while chasing after Ashton, I dropped my camera in the ocean. =( I saved the memory card so I didn't lose any pictures, but the camera didn't make it. It has since gone on to technology heaven. So, until it is replaced.... my son will be growing up without us capturing his memories. (Insert whiny violin music here. ) =(

Christmas 2008

We had a wonderful holiday season this year. So wonderful in fact, that I am just TOO tired to write a detailed description about it. =) Sorry, I'm pooped... But I want to get these pictures and videos posted for all of you to see. We hope everyone's holiday season was as great as ours was. =)



p.s. The pictures are out of date order, but you get the idea, right.

Ashton's pre-Christmas trip to Hooters with his best girl friend Kendall.
(and the Hooters girl)

Sneaking some chips and guacamole at Auntie Jeanette & Grandma Briggs' house.

Opening presents Christmas morning.

Looking groggy, and tired, Christmas morning. =)

Building a tower with his jumbo legos!

Sharing some ice-cream with ME!

The three Fraley brothers.

Ashton and Grandpa Fraley

Ashton and Grandpa Briggs

Excited about my new cookware from Dad and Dana. =) Thanks!

The only logical place I could store the presents without him touching them!

Our Family. Christmas 2008

Spoiled! haha

The things he comes up with on his own

I don't recall ever teaching Ashton to spin around in a circle until he's gets dizzy and falls over. So where do kids learn this stuff? Who knows. But it's still funny to watch. =)

Why would I bother...

Why would I ever bother to clean and re-organize when I have Ashton to do it for me?





"How many times do I have to tell you mom, these do NOT go here!"




P.S. "Daddy, I don't want your darn pickle!"

CHEESE!!!

I just felt like posting some of his best "cheese" faces.

3 weeks old

The rest are more recent. Or at least within the past six months.

It's that time again...

It seems like it was just last month that we celebrated Ashton's first birthday (back in July) and now it's already time for Christmas. We've had a lot of fun decorating our new house this year. We've been really lucky because Ashton hasn't tried to rip one single ornament off of the tree. He seemed to have a lot of fun putting them on too.

We decorated gingerbread cookies with our friends and he even let me have some. I was pleasantly surprised that he stayed neat and clean. Probably because he didn't want to waste even one drop of icing.

Here he is showing off his "Reindeer Candy Cane" we made at our friend Briana's house.

And here he is visiting Santa Clause at the mall. Luckily I was able to snap this quick picture without them noticing. You're allowed to take your own pictures, but only if you purchase a photo package. We had planned on purchasing a package, but after this unhappy situation, I tried my best to avoid paying $30 for a picture of him crying. Don't get me wrong, I love the crying with Santa picture. Every kid has a "crying on Santa's lap" picture, I just didn't want to have to pay for it. I told them I would be back when he was in a better mood. I hope they're not still waiting...

We had high hopes because he was so photogenic with Santa last year. But I still love the crying picture. Chuck and I both have a few of those ourselves. =)

He definitely likes things a certain way.