Ashlyn is 3!

Three years ago today I had the got the best birthday present ever!

YOU!

Ashlyn, you and I share a birthday and a middle name.

You are my little princess.

You LOVE to be with the big kids, and want to be one so bad.

I want you to stay small.

You start pre-school in 2 weeks, and can't wait.

I wonder how you got so big so fast?

You are absolutely in love with Dora the Explorer, and Diego. And this drives your brothers and sisters MAD!

Snow White is your favorite princess.

You love to be outside, to ride bikes, and play sword fights with Duncan.

You also love to play dress-up, doll house, and kitchen.

You are a big helper in the kitchen, and LOVE to crack eggs!

You are my 'little bug', who I couldn't live with out!

For your birthday, you couldn't decide between Dora or princesses, so we did both!

You had your friends come in their princess dresses and played in your castle,

then we had Dora cupcakes!

You had a great time.

I can't believe your 3 already!

I love you.

Happy birthday!!

First Day of School!!!

Here's everyone dressed and ready to go!

The whole house was up before 7:00am.

We had Grandma Pancakes and sausage,

got lunches made and hair done!

Success!

My sweet boys.

Hayden the 7th grader.

Hayden getting on the school bus!

Duncan at his new desk in 1st grade!

Morgan at her desk in 3rd grade!

Ronan went into the school ahead of us, and after I dropped off Duncan, then Morgan, I went to peek in on him in his class (and hopefully get a photo). But, he was seated, working and there were no other parents around....so I decided NOT to embarrass the 4th grader and interrupt class for a photo. 

Can't wait to pick them up and hear all about their day!

A Bumpy Birthday Celebration

Today was a bit crazy.

Unruly kids at church,

tired mom,

TONS of things to get done before the 1st day of school,

and then.....

Madelyn bumped her head HARD at church!

We were walking the halls (which is pretty much all her and I do these days) the last hour of church, when she tripped on her dress, and landed on a corner on her forehead.

As soon as I picked her up I could tell it was bad, and took off running for some ice from the kitchen (which was on the opposite side of the building that we were on).

By the time I got to the kitchen the bump was about the size of a small egg.

Brian saw me 'run' past the Primary room in my attempt to get to the kitchen, and came out after me to see what was happening. He helped me keep the ice on her head (which she did NOT want there).

After about 10 min. I realized that we were probably totally disturbing the classroom by the kitchen (which the YM/YW were meeting in), and since there was only 15 min. left we grabbed the rest of the kids from their classes and went home early. I kept the ice on her head the whole way home, and it had gone down a bit by the time we got there. I took these pictures just before her nap.

She woke up 1 1/2 hours later with it almost gone, and a happy girl!

Thank goodness!

We then had a small celebration for my birthday.

Tomorrow is actually both Ashlyn & I's birthday, but with it being the first day of school, we decided to celebrate today.

My sister came over and we had a late lunch, & Cake and ice cream.

Ashlyn and I then opened a few gifts.

My parents & Brian got me the new camera I was wanting, and I can't wait to try it out!

Hopefully I'll have loads of pictures to share soon!

As soon as the 'birthday fun' was over, it was a whirlwind in getting ready for the first day of school tomorrow! Backpacks set out, lunch boxes, shoes, clothes, father's blessings, ground some wheat for pancakes in the morning, made cupcakes for Ashlyn's party tomorrow, clean up the house....now off to sleep!

"End of Summer Party"

Morgan hosted a party tonight.

School starts on Monday, so this was one last summer fling with her friends.

We had 10 girls over, and it was tons of fun.

Hayden was camping, and Brian took Ronan, Duncan & Ashlyn to the Inner Harbor.

Madelyn was allowed to stay, as she's at the 'cute' stage still that 8-10yr. old girls just love.

The girls hula-hooped.

Had dinner....

Played Twister....

Made crafts...

Decorated cakes....

Some of the finished products.....

Jumped on the tramp....

This is the 'glow ball' that was brought out once it got dark.

Lots of fun.

They danced and laughed and had a great time!

Photo of all but one of the girls, 

as her mother just had a baby 30 min before the party, 

so she took off to meet her little brother!

Here's to good friends and summer fun!

Goodbye summer, we will miss you......

Will it ever end???

Yesterday morning this is what I woke up to:

This is the toliet in our basement bathroom.

Morgan had just finished taking a bubble bath upstairs....

I think we still have some plumbing problems.

Last Friday the plumber spent 1 1/2 hours at our house,

to find out that there was a TON of baby wipes that were stuck in the pipe.

I think we still might have some!

Then this morning my little blessing Ashlyn cut her hair!

She wound NOT hold still for me to take a photo!

It really isn't THAT bad, thank goodness.

But, she didn't have bangs before this.

I think I mentioned at the begining of August she was trying to teach me patience....

Bless this little child.

Peaches anyone?

Last night we went to pick peaches.

And that we did...43 pounds worth of peaches!

Neighbors and friends have enjoyed some peachy gifts today.

I was so excited to go in the evening and take advantage of some beautiful light with my camera while we were there. I remembered my camera, but was so sad when we arrived and I remembered that I had forgotten to put the battery (which I was charging) back into the camera! AHHHH!

So, trusty IPhone comes through in a pinch. 

Didn't get to do what I planned, but I did get to capture the night!

We set off with a wagon and some empty cartons.    

 

      Duncan and his cute little peach!

      Madelyn enjoyed picking and eating the peaches!

She even enjoyed a ride with the peaches.   

 Ronan & Duncan getting some peaches.

Hayden and Ashlyn with some peaches of their own!

I did some picking and eating myself!

Here's one of the boxes we ended up with!

Yum, yum, yum!

When the picking was done, the kids decided to have a wheel-barrel race. 

Hayden and Morgan kicked off their shoes and ran!

  

I LOVE hanging out at the farm!

We now have peaches for days.

We had peaches and cream last night.

Peaches for breakfast.

Peaches for lunch.

Peaches with dinner

Gave 2 1/2 dozen away.

And still have a TON of peaches!

Family Home Evening Fun

For FHE last night we went out to measure how big Noah's ark was.

Ronan had asked about this last week, and we thought it would be fun to have a visual.

So, I converted New Testament cubit's to standard measurements.

According to that the ark would of been about

437 feet long

74 feet wide

45 feet tall

I regret that I didn't get a picture of everyone standing on the field when we measured it (because I was a bit preoccupied). But, the length was from where I'm standing to take the picture to the edge of the bushes in the distance:

After the measuring of the ark was complete, 

we played with a new glider I bought.

This was a BLAST!

Madelyn bent over and caught my attention....

And that was it! Taking photos of the airplane was DONE, 

I now only had eyes for her!

She captures me SO!

After taking 100 pictures of Madelyn, I looked around and realized that we were alone on the field! Apparently the plane had gone REALLY far, off into the trees, and everyone took off to get it. Only it was HIGH in the trees, and there was thorny brush below! After some failed attempts at getting it, Brian decided we should go home and get a long pole to come back and retrieve the plane with. So, off we went! Brian & Hayden came back to get the plane, and got all but 1 wing, when they ran into a Wasp hive! I was told they came running and screaming out of the brush (would of loved to of seen that), while a woman and her 2 children stared at them. They each got about 4 or 5 stings, and quickly came home for treatment of their wounds. I hear Hayden say as they were walking in the door 

"Let's moan a bit more when we see mom, then she'll pamper us." Crazy boy!

So, alas the plane is without a wing, but we did enjoy 1 evening of fun with it!