3 years old

Yesterday was Ashlyn's third birthday. (I will be blogging later with pics from her day, but wanted to write this post first). There is not a sigle day that goes by that I am not just overwhelmed by the amount of love I have for that little girl. She is truly such an amazing child. She lights up every room that she enters. She is so full of joy and happiness. I can't believe that it is has been three whole years since she arrived and changed our lives forever. The first moment I saw her is still the best moment of my life. Okay, enough pregnant hormonal rambling.

Ashlyn really is a great child. She is so stinking smart. She literally amazes me each day with something she can do or something she knows. She is extremely verbal for her age. Her preschool teachers are always saying how impressed they are with how verbal she is. Yesterday at her party, when her friend was leaving she said to her "Bye. Thanks for coming." It was cute and I was amazed she just knew to say that. You can hold a conversation with her like she was a four or five year old. She has always been very good at telling us exactly what she wants. She continues to do so. She is a very paticular child and always tells us exactly how she would like things. She is also now able to reason with you. I will say, "Ashlyn, enough whining." She will say, "But Mom I'm not whining. I'm talking in a normal voice now."

Ashlyn loves animals and loves to be around animals. She also loves to play with her toys that are animals. Her favorites are the plactic horses at my mom's house. She could play with those for hours! She loves to be read to. We read at least 5 books every night. She always wants me to read them over and over. I have already been working on pre-reading skills with her and she is doing great!

At age three, Ashlyn is a very caring and loving little girl. She is always giving out hugs and kisses and telling her family that she loves them. My absolute favorite is when she will just say totally out of the blue, "Mom I love you." She LOVES to help me do things and I know she is going to be a great big sister. Yesterday, when she was opening presents, I kept handing them to her and saying who they were from. Before she would even open them, she would go over and hug that person and say "Thank you." I love the manners that little girl has!

Okay, enough writing for now. I am getting frustrated because I am suffering from major writer's block because I don't think I could ever write down just how amazing and wonderful Ashlyn really is. I just know that Joey and I are truly blessed to have such an amazing daughter and we look forward to watching her grow and blossom even more.

Happy Hallo...it is not full yet!!!

To start our night we had our usual Pumpkin pizza from Papa Murphy's. I also had Ashlyn take pictures with me prior to going out.

Tonight Ashlyn was not too excited to go trick or treating. When we started it was still early, but some people were handing out candy. Ashlyn started to gain more interest when she started to notice that everytime she went to the door they gave out candy. At first she used her pumpkin that her grandpa bought her, but then when it started to fill up she switched to her princess one. While we were going from house to house Ashlyn would say trick or treat, but then when she was supposed to say thank you she said "Happy Hallo...it is not full yet!!" while looking at her half full basket. She did get a lot of candy and also a ton of compliments on her Jessie outfit especially the boots (Grandma was especially happy that people noticed them)

She told her dad that this was all of his candy and that she will share. What a nice daughter.

Our pumpkin pizza.

Ashlyn kissing baby brother.


Her hair braided, she does not let me do this ever.

First house.

Ashlyn loved this house.

= No Fun!

Walking to our next house.

Look at the dog, looks sad.

Ashlyn and her Daddy.

Looking at the door. She looks terrified.

She looks so upset in this picture, at this point she was getting tired. Notice the other basket.

Dad dragging her to the last house.

Her cool boots.

Look at all that candy!!!

Mom and her picking through it.

I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

Baking Cupcakes.

Ashlyn just loves baking and for every holiday I let her help me make the cupcakes. She is such a big helper. Her favorite part about baking is of course eating the cupcakes but also putting on the sprinkles.

Adding the oil.

Little Martha Stewart.

Deciding how much to put on.

Her finished product.

Parade of Costumes/Trick or Trunk

On Friday (10/29/2010) Ashlyn had her annual Parade of Costumes at her school. Joey was out of town visiting Adam so he could not come along this year. Ashlyn picked Jessie from Toy Story, instead of a princess this year. She thought it was hilarious that we did not call her Ashy and only Jessie the whole time. She was able to show off her cute costume and boots that her Grandma bought from the Disney store. The school also did a Trick or Trunk where they decorated the back of their cars and gave out candy and prizes.

Jessie

Ashlyn getting ready.


Her Jessie outfit complete, check out her boots.

I think I am embarrassing her in front of her friends.

Cheese.

Lasso the Scare Crow.

Trying to guess.

Trying to make it in the pumpkin.

The trick or trunk.

Getting some candy.

Pumpkin Painting and Carving

Sorry for the tardiness of this post.

Instead of carving Ashlyn's baby pumpkin we let her paint it, which is safer and keeps her entertained. She painted a few different colors throughout the process and it ended up a shade of green that I have never seen before. Katy, Bri and I carved the three pumpkins that we picked as well, so far no kids have stolen them.

Ashlyn loved the pumpkins and was very interested in watching us take out all the guts. Maybe next year Joey or I will help her carve one.

Ashlyn's baby pumpkin.

Starting to paint.

She started to get messy.

Cheese.

Our pumpkins.

Pumpkin Patch

On Saturday Ashlyn, Joey, Katy, my mom and I went to Diana's Pumpkin Patch in Canon City. We had a great time going through the maze in which we won a prize for completing it, a free ice cream cone from Cold Stone. The maze was fun although it felt like we kept going in the same direction, Ashlyn was the leader and helped us find all the stamps to win the prize. When we got through the maze we were able to pick our pumpkins. Ashlyn of course had to pick her own and she picked the smallest one in the lot. It was really too cute to watch her run all over the patch to find her own special pumpkin.

We had a great day and we plan on going every year.

www.dianaspumpkinpatch.com

Corn Maze aerial photo.

Ashlyn riding on her dads shoulders. This is her favorite place to be carried.

Entrance to the maze.

Telling daddy where to go.

She looks so cute.

This is way too scary for me to watch, but she loves it.

Her smiling at the camera.

Trying to get her to smile into the sun was very difficult.

Gram pulling her to the pumpkin patch.

This is her running back with her baby pumpkin.

Ashlyn and Auntie.

Katy and me with our pumpkins and our growing stomachs.

Riding back after loading up.

Ashlyn was trying to pet the rabbits.

Looking to see what they are doing.

Ashlyn with her pumpkin, it was very difficult to get her to smile.