Ashlyn's 8th Birthday

   Our dear, sweet princess is now 8 years old!  I can not get over the fact that she is already 8 years old.  Time is just going by way too quickly.  It seems like it has gone by so fast, yet I can hardly remember what my life was like before she was in it.  Honestly, I don't want to remember because having her in my life is hands down one of the best things that ever happened to me.
     Ashlyn is such an amazing little girl.  There are just not enough words to describe how incredible she is.  She is such a caring little girl.  She loves to take care of her sister.  If Gracie falls down, Ashlyn is always right there to pick her up and give her a huge hug.  She often will leave the sweetest notes on my pillow like, "You are the best mom in the world".  She does this just because and it totally makes my day and totally shows what a sweet girl she is.
     Ashlyn is a very creative girl and continues to love anything to do with art.  She is always drawing or creating something.  Her other passion is science.  She loves reading science books and says she wants to be a scientist when she grows up.  She loves animals and has quite the stuffed animal collection.
     Ashlyn is an extremely bright little girl and she excels at school.  She is a feracious reader and is always reading.  She reads above a 5th grade level.  Thank goodness for free ebooks from the library.  She often reads an entire chapter book in one evening.  Her comprehension is amazing when I quiz her about what she read.  She is a smart cookie.  I just know our beautiful girl is destined for amazing and great things.
     Ashlyn is such a huge blessing in our lives.  We are so incredibly lucky to have such an amazing, sweet, funny, goofy, and smart daughter.  She makes me proud each and every day.
       Ashlyn was very excited to have her birthday on a Friday.  Unfortunately, the stomach flu hit our house earlier that week.  Gracie had it on Wednesday.  Joey of course came down with it on Friday morning.  He tried to push through it, but he was just too sick.  On Friday afternoon, we got a call from Dawson's daycare saying he was throwing up too.  What horrible, horrible timing.  Thank goodness, Ashlyn and I still felt good and we were able to celebrate her birthday.  (Ashlyn and I eventually got it on Tuesday.  What a nasty stomach bug!)
     Ashlyn started her birthday early in the morning with some decorations from our elf Eddy Buddy.  He always comes every year and decorates for her.  She always gets such a kick out of it.  She always requests special birthday pancakes.  She also requests to eat them in our bed so she can watch T.V.  Anything for our special birthday girl!
     Ashlyn headed off to school for a fun day of being the birthday girl at school.  Gracie and I brought her lunch and ate lunch with her at school.  It was a nice treat getting to sit with her and her friends for lunch.  I picked her up after school and we headed to her birthday dinner.
    Every year, Ashlyn requests her birthday dinner at Red Robin.  The only DeLormes that were there were Ashlyn and I, but Gram, Papa, Uncle Steven, Uncle Bryan, Ella and Jameson all came to celebrate.  We had a great dinner and Ashlyn was sung to which she loved.
    After dinner, we went over to Katy's house to do presents.  Everyone wanted to stay far away from our house of sickness.  Ashlyn got some wonderful presents and really liked everything she got.  We ended the night with chocolate cake and ice cream which is her favorite.
    Despite most of our family being sick, she still had a great birthday and I am so glad she was healthy and didn't get the awful stomach bug until later.  Here are some pictures from her day.

The elf decorations

He always puts on his special outfit

The note she left her elf

Helping with her pancakes

Gracie celebrating too

Balloons are always a hit

What a sweet brother bringing his sister breakfast in bed.

Birthday princess

My 8 year old

Of course her and Ella had to sit next to one another

Being sung to

Time for cake

Present time!

She got lots of American Girl stuff which is what she always wants

Gram got her a sewing machine

Halloween

   We were all so excited this year for Halloween to be on a Saturday!  We got to spend the entire day together celebrating.  Now that Ashlyn is in school, we usually only get to spend part of Halloween together.  I tried my best to make the day extra special and we had a such a good day.
    We started the day bright and early.  The kids were too excited to do any kind of sleeping in. For breakfast, we had some lovely orange pumpkin waffles.  The kids enjoyed sprinkling on the pumpkin's face and they were might delicious!

Adding some facial features

Pumpkin face

Gracie loved her waffle

Yummy!

    After our yummy breakfast, we all got ready and headed to the gym.  I wanted to  make sure to get in a good workout since I knew I would be having sweets later on in the day.  I knew the kids needed to run around a bit to get out some of their crazy energy.  After the gym, we headed home for a bit and then we went for to Auntie's house for a special lunch.  Auntie did such a good job making special Halloween food.  The kids had a blast eating a special lunch.
   

Halloween lunch. We obviously weren't too focused on healthy that day.  

Always silly

Pretty girl eating 

    After lunch, we headed home for some rest time.  I knew it would be a late night so both Gracie and Dawson took naps and woke up ready to go Trick or Treating.  The kids all got in their costumes and it was time to head to Aunt Katy and Uncle Bryan's house again. It has been a tradition every year that we eat pumpkin pizza before heading out.  It is always so festive and delicious too!

Pumpkin pizza missing an eyeball

Gracie loves her Gram to pieces

   After a quick dinner, it was time to get costumes on. We finally got to see everyone in their costumes.

The cutest zebra I have ever seen!

Our boo crew.  We had a zebra, Cinderella, Snow White, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, and Optimus Prime

Adorable boys

Love my little zebra so much!!!

I happened to buy a little zebra costume last year on clearance before I knew Gracie was going to be a zebra.  I was so excited that we could dress up as the same thing.  

Cinderella and her mommy cat

Cool boys!

The girls and I 

   After picture time, it was the time all the kids were waiting for: Trick or Treating!!! The weather was just perfect.  For living in Colorado, we could not have asked for a nicer night.  I have vivid memories of trick or treating bundled up and freezing half to death as a child here.  Boy my kids have lucked out!  We went around my sister's neighborhood as usual.  It's such a nice neighborhood and a lot of the houses go all out with lights and decorations.  Gracie loved going door to door to get candy.  She especially loved waving goodbye at each house.  Everyone commented on how cute she was.  The kids did a lot of trick or treating.  Since it was such a nice night, we were able to stay out longer than normal.  Around 7:00 the boys were getting very tired.  Katy and I took the boys and Gracie back to her house while the girls and their dads kept on going.  They stayed out until around 7:45.  Boy, did they get a lot of candy!  Bags full of candy.  The good news is they will get a few choice pieces and then I will take the rest to school with me to give as prizes through the year.
     We looked at candy for a bit, then it was time to head home.  Everyone was very tired by this point!  Ashlyn got to spend the night with Ella and they had a great time. The kids fell asleep almost immediately after we put them to bed.  It was the most perfect Halloween!

Off they go

Such a cute turtle

Jameson was so darn sweet.  He turned to Gracie grabbed her hand and said, "Come on Gracie lets go".  Melted my heart.  

They are lucky and get to ride along

This kid loves getting candy

Such happy boys

Ashlyn seriously made the perfect Snow White.  

A lot of the houses are decorated like this and it is just so festive and fun.

Her bag full of candy

Look at all that candy!  (Again, she will only get to actually eat a few pieces but we won't tell her that just yet, as the fun is in acquiring candy.)