The DeLorme Family: 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.