Happy Birthday Ashley!

It's been 2 weeks since Ashley's birthday and with each passing day I said to myself I needed to get on here to update.

Ashley had a very exciting birthday weekend! It started with her party day on Saturday. Ashley had requested a beach themed cake this year and as usual I asked her for her input on what she would like on the cake. I took the kids to the store to get the supplies for the decorating - luckily I looked in the baking cabinet before we headed out, I didn't realize how low I had gotten on supplies. After grabbing the confectioners sugar for the icing, food coloring to make the different colors and the graham crackers we headed over to the cookie aisle. I grabbed a box of teddy grahams thinking I could put some on the beach section of her cake. Ashley took one look at the box and asked "Can we put one upside down so it looks like it's drowning?" She may be 12 but she still has quite the imagination!

So Friday night I iced and decorated the cake. Ashley supervised my putting the teddy grahams on the cake and I did put one upside down in the water per her request. Overall it turned out really cute and she was very pleased with it - which is all that matters!

Ashley had a great time at her party with her friends and cousins. She wanted to have it at a glow in the dark putt putt place which turned out to be both fun and interesting. For the most part it was like a normal putt putt course with the exception of at a few holes there were different challenges. One hole they couldn't use their club, they had to kick the ball into the hole. Another challenge (which in my opinion was the most entertaining to watch) was all the kids had to use one club together to get the ball in. The kids really enjoyed the tables they have in the party room. Because of the blacklights to make everything glow in the dark, if you put something on it and then take it away there is a ghost image left behind. This was quite entertaining for all of them and they used everything from their own hands to cups to the wrapping paper from Ashley's presents.

Ashley loaded up on the gift cards and earrings which was perfect for her! Her favorite pair right now are her cherries from Grandma and her gummy bears from Mom, Dad and Jack.

Sunday was her actual birthday and she was ever so excited! The day had finally come for her to get her ears pierced!!! We had gone the week before to pick out the earrings so she could get them done right away when we went back. Although her birthday is in June, she chose the March birthstone earrings because aquamarine is her favorite color. I told her she would make her Aunt Lindsey happy because her birthday was in March. So shortly after she woke up, she got dressed faster than she ever has in her life I think then proceeded to hunt me down in the house to ask when we could go. Since it was Sunday the mall didn't open until later so she had to wait which she wasn't thrilled with but she was ok with.

When we got to the jewelry place we walked up to the counter to tell the lady that Ashley wanted to get her ears pierced. The lady behind the counter was so funny - she was excited for Ashley! She came right around, hugged Ashley and wished her a Happy Birthday since we told her it was her birthday. She was so great with Ashley and humored me the whole time while I took pictures. I figured you only get your ears pierced for the first time once - why not right? I took before, during and after photos and surprisingly Ashley didn't seem all that embarassed to have Mom weilding a camera! It was a great afternoon and she looked beautiful and was beeming with such pride!

Kindergarten Concert

Last Thursday was Jack's Kindergarten Concert. He was very excited about it and reminded me all week that he was going to be singing and he was going to wear a special shirt. It was really cute how the entire Kindergarten class was up on stage and they were for the most part very well behaved. Each class had their own colored tie-died T-shirts on (Purple, Yellow & Blue) and the teachers had matching tie-died shirts. It only lasted about 3o minutes but you could see the pride beeming from all of their little faces! Jack did great - at first he couldn't see us because of where he was on stage and where we were sitting. But as soon as I wiggled my way over so I could see him, he saw me and smiled!

It's so hard to believe that he is already done with Kindergarten and will be heading to first grade at the end of the summer! It's not fair how fast the time flies by! I love how he is growing and learning every day and how so many things excite him. I'm sad thinking of the days when it will end, or at least taper off.

Spring Chorus Concert

This past Thursday was Ashley's Spring Chorus Concert. She is in Beginner Chorus and has really enjoyed it this past year although she did not select Chorus II as an elective for next year. She did really well and looked so beautiful and grown up on stage with the rest of the girls. There are three different chorus groups which some songs are sung all together or in their individual groups. The first song was amazing with the entire chorus. I don't remember the name they put in the program but it was Sail Away and was a great open to the evening. They finished the evening with the song by Jason Mraz "I'm Yours". You could tell they didn't have a lot of time to practice as it was a bit off compared to the first one but it was still good - especially for middle school students. I wish I had the program with me so I could list all the songs but only remember the opening and closing songs since they are familiar.

Unfortunately I did not check my batteries before we left the house so I had a dead camera for the evening. I was able to capture a picture of her afterwards on my cell phone when we went to Dairy Queen to celebrate her doing such a great job!

Smiley Charts

Jack's been having a tough time with school recently (as well as home). So we had to go meet with the teacher last Monday to find out what's been going on and see what we can do to improve his behavior. The teacher suggested a Smiley Chart where he gets a Happy face, Middle face or Sad face for different things throughout the day. Ashley had the same thing in First grade - so we were ok with it. The first 2 days weren't too great, but then by Wednesday things started to pick up. We also got back on routine at home which has helped him tremendously as well! Wednesday night during his bath I made a deal with him if he could get one day with all Happy Smiley faces we would go to the Yellow Store (Dollar General) and buy him his fishing pole. Thursday he almost made it but then on Friday WOW he got them all! And let me tell you - that little boy was SO proud of himself!! What a difference a Smiley Chart can make (and being back on routine at home too)!

Peanut Butter

Last Friday we went out for Family night as usual. Although we attempted to go to Cici's since it was Jack's pick for getting all Smileys at school, but it was WAY too packed. John and I were trying to think of other places to go and for some strange reason Five Guys Burgers popped into my head. John liked it and the kids too so off we went. While sitting and eating Jack discovered that they also had peanuts in the shells. He was watching kids at the table next to us break them open and decided he wanted to try it too. They have little paper trays (they look like french fry trays) that you scoop the peanuts into and bring back to your table. Needless to say Jack had a blast doing this and was fascinated by the peanuts inside the shells. I suggested he try one which was met with a scrunched up face response. I told him that is where peanut butter comes from and that then sounded like a good idea to him. He tried one and was amazed that this little thing no bigger than the top of his finger tasted so good! He proceeded to break a few more peanuts and put them in a ketchup cup and declare them his peanut butter. He wanted to bring them home and carried them with him for the rest of the night. It's so much fun to watch them when they learn new things and then are proud of their new discovery!