Thanksgiving

I finally got around to blogging! Things have been crazy as usual, and I just haven't had the time. I have also been really bad about taking pictures. Ashlyn went in for her 2 year checkup a few weeks ago. Her doctor said she is doing great! I don't have her stats in front of me, but she is in the 15th percentile for weight and the 70th for height. Another big change for Ashlyn is her grandparents bought her a "big girl" bed for her birthday. She is not too sure how she likes it. It has been a bit of a struggle to get her to sleep in it. We are going to keep trying.

We had a great Thanksgivng this year! I woke up bright and early and ran a 5k called the Turkey Trot. I ran it with my brother, sister, and brtother-in-law. It was a great race. There were over 2,000 people in it! Right after the race, we met the rest of my family at The Sunbird for brunch. The food was wonderful! The Sunbird is such a nice restaurant. After we ate, we headed up to Crystola for our 2nd Thanksigiving. We went to Kim's Dad's house. We had a great day watching football and having Ashlyn entertain us. Ashlyn had a blast with the dogs and horses. She actually fell asleep on the floor right before we ate. We decided to eat without her. After eating another wonderful meal, Joey and I headed back home. Ashlyn is staying with her grandparents in Buena Vista for the weekend. I miss her like CRAZY, but I know she is having a blast! I got some shopping done and already put up the Christmas tree. I look forward to her return tomorrow!


Katy, Steven, and I before the race.

She has gotten really good at saying "cheese" for pictures.

Such a little ham!

Family picture

She is the sweetest daughter in the whole world!

I love her so much!

Sitting with Daddy

She was doing something silly with her hair. We deicided to take a picture.

She is Too Sweet!!!

So occasionally at Ashlyn's daycare, they send home Happy Gram's. A Happy Gram is a note for when they do something interesting or special that day. This is the one I received today. We always knew we had the sweetest girl in the world, but this just confirms it. It seriously melted my heart when I read it:

Ashlyn was so sweet today. One of the other children was crying and Ashlyn walked over to her and started rubbing her back. She said "She crying". I said "Yes, she's sad". Ashlyn said "It's okay, no crying". So Sweet.

She is the best!

Ashlyn's Birthday Party

For Ashlyn's party this year, I decided that I would have an actual birthday party with kids. We decided to have it at a children's play place by our house. It is a pizza/arcade/play area place. It is great for toddlers. There is lots and lots for them to do. We invited 5 kids, and we were very happy that they could all make it. The party was a huge success! All of the kids just had a blast. The kids arrived at 11:00 a.m. The kids played for a bit, and then it was time for pizza. They all seemed to enjoy it. While we had them all wrangled, we did the cake. Ashlyn was too cute when everyone sang Happy Birthday. She became very shy, but she had the biggest smile on her face. She did a great job blowing out the candle again. She then got to open her presents. She got lots of great gifts. She got lots of Ariel stuff. She has been having a great time playing with all of her new toys. After presents, everyone went and played some more. The party lasted about an hour and a half. All of the guests seemed to have a great time. I know Ashlyn had a blast. I honestly couldn't have asked for a better birthday party for her. Everything went just perfectly. We are already thinking of having it there again next year.

This is the cake that my sister and I made for Ashlyn. We were very pleased with the way it turned out.

A quick picture before we left for the party.

The party table

It looked so cute!

Her birthday balloons

Playing a game

With Dad. He was wearing Ashlyn's birthday crown since she wanted nothing to do with it.

She loves riding the carousel

Playing in the firetruck

What a cute fireman she makes

Time to eat pizza

They were all hungry!

Getting ready to blowout her candle

You can kind of tell in this picture how she was acting shy.

Blowing out her candle.

Yummy! Eating cake.

Opening presents

Wow! An Ariel doll

In the bounce house with Haiden

Acting silly

Riding the carousel with Katelynn and Haiden

Second Birthday

On Ashlyn's actual birthday, both Joey and I took the day off. We were excited to get to spend the day with her. We all woke up bright and early. Ashlyn started her day with a special smile face pancake. She LOVED it! We hung around the house for a bit, and then I took Ashlyn to get her hair cut. She did a good job of sitting still. After her haircut, I went over to my sister's to work on her birthday cake. Joey decided to take Ashlyn to a movie. They went and saw "A Christmas Carol". Joey said she really enjoyed it. After the movie, we headed out to dinner. We went to one of our favorite pizza places. I have been going there my entire life. My parents, brother, sister, brother-in-law, and 2 friends joined us for dinner. Ashlyn had a good time eating pizza and hanging out with family. After dinner, we headed back to our house for cake and presents. Ashlyn got some really nice gifts. She had a blast opening everything. She wanted us to take everything out of the box right away. Her aunt and uncle got her a really neat tricycle. It is a little big for her, but she really liked it. It is even Little Mermaid of course! Ashlyn got really excited when she saw her cake. She loved it when we sang Happy Birthday. She even blew out the candle like a pro! We let Ashlyn play with her gifts for a bit, but if was an bedtime because she had a big day the next day. Ashlyn had a great day and we have a lot of funny spending her very special 2nd birthday with her.

The morning of her birthday. Lounging with Alli.

Her special pancake that her dad made her.

The movie that they went and saw.

This picture was posted by accident. Oops!

Playing with Grandma's wallet at dinner.

A family picture

The cake my sister and I made her. We didn't notice until right before we cut it, but we forget to add her nose.

Her little "party" set-up

She loved opening presents

What is it?

Another picture posted by accident.

She decide that the bow would look best on the top of her head.

She had such a great time!

The cake coming out

She was very excited.

Riding her new tricycle. She just loved it!