Happy B-day Ashlynn!!

Happy Birthday Ashlynn! Her birthday was last week and she turned 2 years old. I pulled out some old photos from the day she was born and I thought I would share a few of them. Here I am greeting her on her original birthday. It was one of the most wonderful and beautiful days of my life. Spring time is such a wonderful time to have a baby. All the trees have fresh, new leaves and flowers on them and all the tulips (my personal favorite!) are popping up everywhere. As we drove to the hospital and when we returned from the hospital, I remember looking around and seeing hundreds of trees bursting with beautiful pink flowers. Our whole street was lined with these trees. I felt like the Earth had given me a huge bouquet of pink flowers to celebrate Ashlynn's birth. I knew we were bringing someone very special to our home.

I will never forget it!

Here she is on the first day in our home-looking so pretty in pink!

And here she is 2 years later with her Grandma Marge. If you notice Ashlynn's outfit, she is wearing EVERY SINGLE item of clothing she received as a gift. She had to immediately try them all on-at once! She was thrilled to receive new clothes and let out a scream everytime she opened a new outfit. WOW, a true girl from the start!

Opening a gift from her Aunt Jaime and Uncle Craig.

Grandpa Ed wishing Ashlynn a happy birthday.
Ben came home that morning with a huge bouquet of balloons and a princess kit for Ashlynn. The kit was equipped with a wand, stick-on earrings, a necklace and a purse. She LOVED IT! Good Job Ben!
Grandma Marge is trying to help her open her princess kit.
She was loving life!

Ashlynn knew she was special this day! Luke, I must say, was such a good boy too. He never acted jealous or tried to take away from her special day. I thought he might feel sad or left out and he never did. He was very happy for Ashlynn and told her that she was special all day long. It made me sooooo happy.

Sneaking cake together is always fun!

Well, poor little Ashlynn didn't want her special day to come to an end. She REFUSED to remove her birthday/cupcake T-shirt and sparkly princess shoes for 3days and 2nights! Yah, some of you may think we are disgusting for allowing her to wear her outfit for that long-but you have never tried to dress or undress this girl. In the past, I have walked away with a black eye, bloody lip and scratches. Here she is running away from us.
Ashlynn wears these shoes with her jammies too. She can't get enough of them! I love it when you find the perfect gift for your child.

We love this little girl so much even if she is a little spicy!

David & Jared's Baptisms

We have had lots of things to celebrate these past 2 weeks. On Saturday, April 12, my twin nephews David and Jared were baptized. They are 8 years old and made the decision to get baptized by their dad. In our church we do not baptize infants. We wait until they are atleast 8 years old to be able to make the decision to be baptized. We also do baptisms by immersion (under water)-the same way Jesus Christ was baptized by John the Baptist. It was such a special event to see these little guys following in the steps of Jesus Christ. There was a very sweet and special feeling there.

You could feel the excitement that Jared and David carried with them. Can't you tell from the looks on their faces? :) How fun to have your best friend and brother at your side when you make such a special and important step in your life?! Congratulations boys! Thanks for letting us share such a special day with you.

Happy (belated) B-day Ben

Well, I need to back up a little. We have all been so sick for the last 2 weeks that I mixed up the order of posting some events in our lives. A few days before we went to Baby Animals Days, Ben had a birthday! Despite our sickness, we managed to have a fun filled day. The kids helped me make this banner for Ben. They had so much fun you would have thought it was their birthday.

We hung the banner outside for all to see!

The night before Ben's b-day, I told Luke that the next day was Daddy's birthday. I asked him to wish Daddy a Happy Birthday as soon as he woke up the next morning. Well, he burst into the room at 3 am and yelled "Happy Birthday Daddy!" We told him 'thanks' but to go back to sleep until the sun comes up. He did and then woke up at 5 am and burst the door open once again and yelled 'Happy Birthday Daddy' again. Again, we asked him to wait until the sun comes up and this time he did. He came in around 7:30am and did it again. Needless to say, none of us got much sleep-but we forgave him because he was so gosh dang cute everytime he did that! He wanted to be the first to wish Ben a happy birthday! Life through a child's eyes is so much more colorful, exciting and simple. Thanks Luke!

Our family has all 4 b-days within 6 weeks! So, eating more cake is not very appealing at this time of year for us. I try to switch it up and make different kinds of treats for everyone. I made peanut butter cookies in muffin tins and then filled the center with homemade chocolate frosting. PB & chocolate is a favorite for Ben, so I couldn't really go wrong with this recipe. He loved it-although it does look rather pitiful on that plate all by itself.

Anyway, Happy Birthday Ben! You are an awesome husband and father to our children. We hope you had fun on your special day!

Baby Animal Days 2008

"Hey, let's go to Baby Animals Day!"
This is our 2nd time attending Baby Animals Day in Wellsville at the American West Heritage Center. We love it! This year we were lucky enough to have my parents accompany us.

Here they are on the wagon ride. The mountains in the background are completely amazing! We learned that those mountains are the steepest mountains in the world in comparison to how 'small' the base of the mountain is. They were so majestic- I loved looking at them.

Yah! Cotton Candy! Luke remembered this stuff from last year and would not let us forget to buy him some.
Our sweet baby animal, Ashlynn.

And our scary tiger, Luke.

It was so cold this year. Last year it was about 80 degrees and we came home with heat exhaustion and a sunburn.

Ben testing out his lasso skills!

They had lots of little shops to explore. Some of the shops had crafts for the kids to make, like a bug house and pinecone bird feeders.

Luke riding the pony! Good job Luke. He acted like he had done this every day of his life. There was no hesitation for him.

Sad to see the ride come to an end:(

"There is no way in **** you are getting me on that scroungy animal!"

(Ashlynn of course didn't really say this-but we know she was thinking it!)

Luke really enjoyed this sweet little bunny. We all wanted to take him home! As you can tell from Ashlynn's face, she was coveting Luke's position as the bunny holder. But...

...not for long. This girl gets what she wants.

Luke with a calf...

...a turkey

and a millipede.

My mom and Luke were the only ones who wanted to touch these things. My mom even managed to call the millipede "a little honey"! For those of you who know my mom will get a laugh out of this!

Luke and a cockroach!!! I passed on that one!

Luke was able to hold a duckling and a gosling too! So cute!

And a little piglet!

My dad couldn't pass up the chance to test his hatchet throwing skills. He was able to nail 3 of the 4 hatchets! No one else even came close! You can see the 3rd one flying in the air still.

Ben did quite well on his second try-but my dad still walked away the champion. I tried to throw a couple myself...but we don't need to post a photo of that.

Bye-Bye Baby Animals! We will see you next year! Hopefully it will be warmer and maybe Aunt Jaime can join us too!

Quote of the Day:

Luke talking to Ashlynn:

"Ashlynn!... we don't share germs, but we do share toys!"

Can you tell this poor kid has heard too much talk about germs this past week?!

Urrrrgh!

Does anyone want to come to my house? We've got plenty of pink eye, sore throats, chills, runny noses, and coughs for everyone! Word to all the mothers out there-if your child has green and yellow mucous pouring out of their RED eyes and nose-please don't bring them to a facility where other children are! And one more thing...if your doctor tells you that your child has 'conjuctivitis' that means that he/she has PINK EYE!!! It's the same thing!

Whew!! I feel much better now that I got that off my chest. Since this is my blog, I figure I can write whatever I want. On top of being sick and achy myself, I have had to clean and disinfect my entire house. I'd much rather be lying in bed sipping herbal tea! After spending $ on copays, medicine and losing money on lost wages at my work and taking care of everyone else in the family, I guess you could say my patience is almost gone. But there are worse things in life and therefore I will be grateful for this small inconvenience. Tomorrow is another day and I will be happy!

Easter Fun

This was the first year we have ever dyed eggs. I have always avoided it because I didn't want to have dye spilled everywhere. To my surprise, we didn't have any spills! The kids were awesome!
See what I mean...a perfect angel :)

Ashlynn and her Daddy.

My sister Jaime sent us this Star Wars egg kit. They turned out great!

The eggs quickly disappeared from the refrigerator and ended up being used as action figures complete with sound effects and battle scenes. Only a boy would have imagined that eggs could be used in this manner.

Our personal favorite.

Jammies, puffy eyes, candy, bunny ears and...

... more evidence of the Easter Bunny coming to our home.

This is one happy boy.

This sweet little bunny happened to be born on Easter a few years ago. This was her first real Easter egg hunt and she loved it. And what egg hunt wouldn't be complete without...

...stepping in dog pooh! Oh, the memories!

I guess you can't give children loads of candy for breakfast and expect them to actually pose for a photo. You would think I would learn this by now.

And onto the second Easter egg hunt at Uncle Ron's house.

Ashlynn and Ellie searching for eggs.

Yah! She found one-but she didn't know why it wouldn't open and spill out candy all over.