Excellent Eleven

Our Ashton turned 11 last week, and we had a lot of fun celebrating with this great girl!  Our birthday fun started on Saturday night with her friend party.  A few weeks ago, my friend made an amazing monster cake for our church cake auction, and Ashton decided right then that she must have one for her birthday!  My friend was kind enough to re-create her masterpiece, but this time with pink frosting.  It turned out SO cute and just seemed perfect for Ashton.  And it was delicious, too!!!

Our first event was mini-golf and the girls had a really good time.  They just wanted to play for fun- no score keeping, no strict rules- they were just silly and crazy and mostly liked trying to hit the balls into the water  and then fishing them out.  Did I mention that 11 year old girls are really silly?

Tod came along too with the other kids so they could join in on the fun!  (I didn't get many pictures of that group, as I was trying to keep the gigglin' girls together!)

Then it was back to our house for mini-pizzas, trampoline fun, presents, cake and ice-cream and a late night movie (Diary of a Wimpy Kid- Dog Days!)

These girls are such a cute, fun bunch- witty, bubbly and just all around good girls- so glad Ashton has them in her life....good friends are priceless.

On Ashton's real birthday, the next day, we started with a cinnamon roll breakfast.

Then it was time for gifts...and the one thing she really wanted was an Ipod Nano- so she was one happy girl when (thanks to her dad) she got one!

Ashton is always so good at showing gratitude and being thankful.  She was thanking us all day long and she was so cute with her siblings to show so much excitement for the gifts they got her.

(When I took Regan to pick a gift for Ashton, she kept saying "Ashton is just the type of girl that likes anything you get her-so it doesn't even matter what we get."  That is so true!  That girl is so easy to buy for because she does like everything!)

Here she is already for church in her new birthday outfit!  Can't believe how fast she is growing up!

After church, we had a big birthday meal with some of our favorite friends.  Ashton chose lasagna with garlic bread for the menu.  Yummy!

And we finished off the rest of that amazing cake!

It was a perfect weekend celebration.

(And the next morning, we had to fit in one more Ashton birthday tradition- breakfast at McDonald's!)

There is so much good to say about this girl.  We just love, love, love her.  She is kind and cares deeply about others and their feelings.  She is supportive and a cheerleader for her friends and her family.  She looks for the good in others and finds it!  She is helpful and unselfish and smart.  She loves sports, books, music, art, movies, animals, and people.  She is full of life!  Happy Birthday Lu.  Here's to another great year full of many adventures (middle school, eek!!!).

School's Out

School has been out for a couple of weeks now, but I wanted to post these pictures from the last day.

What a great year it has been!  We are all excited for summer, but sad to say good-bye to spectacular teachers (the very best, this year!) and fun friends.

Can't believe that our Ashton is done with elementary school!  (Can you tell it was very humid that day?)

Jordan and her cute friend dressed as twins to celebrate their last day!

This little guys is in for a big change with siblings around all day long!  I think he will love the extra attention.

We are looking forward to a GREAT summer.  At this point, I think if I had to make one more sack lunch, I just might lose my mind.  But around here, we really love school and come mid-August, we will all be more than ready!

For now, it's hooray for summer!!

In the Busy Month of May

Summer vacation officially starts in about one hour...just enough time to squeeze in one more blog post until the craziness begins!  The house is silent (baby sleeping, Cole at a friend's house) for probably the last time in 2 1/2 months.  I am ready...ready for a change of pace and ready to have some more time with my kids...not so ready for the messes and "I'm boreds", but that's okay.

Anyway, when I first found out that Luke was due in April, I thought it was the perfect time of year...I didn't think about how busy the month of May is with school ending, spring sports, etc.  Somehow we have survived!  Here are some of the things that went on in the month of May....

1.  We celebrated Mother's Day...I always tell the kids that I just want one thing and that is a nice picture before church.  I wish I had many, many more pictures of my own mom now that she is gone, especially pictures of us together.  I am so thankful to be a mom and thankful for my mom!

Look at my Mother's Day gift....

That's right....I got a trampoline, because really anything that entertains the kids is a gift to mom right?  Actually, we have been saving up for a while for this and the timing worked out.  So far, it has been hours of fun!
2.  Cole finished up his first year of preschool!  They had a skating party which he loved.  I tried to get him to pose normally but that wasn't happening.  I also tried to get him to be just a little sad that his school was over...that wasn't happening either.  He seems thrilled to not have to go back (I do think he enjoyed it when he was actually there, and the teachers are fabulous!  This is the same school Ashton and Regan attended and we love it!!!!!)

3.  We got to go to more orchestra concerts.  Regan took this picture of Ashton-  I think this is how we all felt with all the running around we have been doing!  (See her yawning?)

4.  Regan had her dance recital and she did such a great job!  This year she was in 2 dances - Route 66 (ballet) and Cheetah Girls (tap).  We had a girls day out and left Dad home with the 2 boys.  We loved seeing our Roo dance- she is very talented.  Of course, the day wouldn't be complete without purple flowers.

5.  Baby Love!  We are all so in love with Luke.  He has been such a good sport through all of this and has just been a long for the ride.  I am amazed at how different Baby #5's life is from Baby #1!  The girls cannot get enough of this baby, and they are so good with him.

He spends a lot of time doing this...what a good baby boy.  

6.  Marching for a cause!  The school board has proposed a boundary change that would affect our neighborhood and bus the children to a different school (we would still attend our same school since we are already enrolled, but we would like to see our neighborhood stay together!).  Last Friday, we all walked to school to show our support.  The kids have enjoyed being on the news and in the newspaper.  It has been a wonderful opportunity to teach them that it is only because we live in a free country that we have this opportunity.  What a blessing it is that when we don't agree with something we have the chance to peacefully voice our opinions and convictions.  I have always loved our neighborhood, but it is neat to see everyone pull together and get even closer.  (Of course, it was fun to eat doughnuts before the walk, too!)

Whew!  What a month.  We are ready to sit back and relax and enjoy summer around here.