Ashlyn's 12th Birthday

    I can't even believe that my first born is twelve years old.  On one hand it's like they had flown by, and on the other hand I feel like I have been a mom my entire life.  I will always remember the day that Ashlyn was born as the best day of my life.  It was the day she made me a mother and I will never ever forget it!
   Ashlyn is quickly growing (she is almost as tall as me!) into such an incredible young woman.  Now that she is in middle school, she is definitely entering a new, more mature stage in life.  It has been neat to see her grow and change into a new stage.  She has a great group of friends in school and she really enjoys middle school.  She loves her art class and is slowly learning how to play the clarinet.  Ashlyn continues to love to read and draw.  She is such a good little artist and I love to see the different things she makes.  She is and always been such a blessing and bright spot in our lives. 
   Ashlyn had school on her birthday, so we weren't able to celebrate until that night.  When she woke up, our elf, Eddie Buddy had shown up with donuts and chocolate milk for her. 
     After school, we all went out to dinner at Red Robin.  Ashlyn requests Red Robin every year as it is one of her favorite places.  After dinner, we went to my parents house for cake and presents.  She requested that I make her a cherry chip cake.  I was happy to oblige. 
   Joey and I had gone back and forth for a long time as to when we wanted Ashlyn to have a phone. We live really close to her school, but now that she is in afterschool activities, I wanted a way for her to be able to contact us.  Also, she sometimes stays home while we go places, and I wanted her to be able to call us if she needed something.  We decided to surprise her with a phone and boy was she surprised!  She hadn't even asked for a phone so she had absolutely no idea she was getting one.  She was very, very excited to open that gift.  She declared it her best birthday ever! 

Our beautiful 12 year old

I think she was in shock

Ashlyn and all of her presents