More Ashley

Ashley's dress (which she L.O.V.E.S).

Ashley enjoys pudding.

Ashley thinks she is quite handy with the makeup.
(Do you notice the "Big Smile" pattern?)  It's her favorite way to smile!

Decorating Blue Easter Eggs

Our Egg Decorating Adventure was a little different this year than it has been before.  We used an old dye kit which didn't work very well so our colors were limited to my food coloring supplies-basically yellow, green and blue...several eggs were cracked...Ashley insisted on doing things herself...the end result wasn't fantastic but we had a great time and laughed quite a bit.  Ryan says this year is called the Senor Blue Year (all the eggs ended up variations of blue). 

I tried to get a great picture of all three of them but...what you see is what you get!!

Ashley practices karate

We moved our new fridge in which provided an additional benefit of styrofoam which the kids quickly discovered made good karate boards to break.  Ashley didn't want to miss out on the fun, so she jumped right in.

Leprechan Trap

At school this year Isabelle read a book about catching Leprechans on St. Patrick's Day so the evening before the eventful day she set to work building a trap.  She worked on it for a while before I realized she wasn't going to go to bed until it was done so I jumped in and helped with the basic design then she added all of the perks - a cozy place to sleep, some water in a tiny cup, a little bit of cereal, and crayons and paper for messages.  She set up the trap with a sparkly brooch that I had in my jewelry box that was my Grandma Allen's.
She set it then went to bed.  In the night (I think it was 2 or 3 am) she woke up crying saying she was never going to find a pot of gold so we went downstairs to check the trap. 

What we didn't find was a leprechan.  What we did find was this note: (can't find the note right now) and the tiny bowl full of gold pieces for her to share with her siblings.  She was delighted and went back to sleep very peacefully.  In the morning she was so excited to show Ryan and Ashley the fruits of her labors.  They were excited to be beneficiaries of her creativity.

She was so pleased with the result I'm sure we'll be doing something for our leprechan next year - although I'm hoping it's not a trap.  :)

Easter Clothes

I'm aware that we're a week early, but when Izzy wants to look nice today and I'm not sure if we'll be battling over it next week, we get the others ready (today Ryan was the one who fought ironically), whip out the camera and attempt to get an Easter picture.

I didn't get a great picture of Ashley's dress, I'll have to try again next week but she looked beautiful and she LOVED her dress!!  I recorded her walking home from church a little bit because she was being so cute.  I think she was enjoying the swish of the skirt.  I let her wear it after church over to Grandma's house for dinner so she could show off and boy did she.  She kept twirling for people and was so cute.  Later she wanted to play outside so I changed her clothes and she cried.  She cheered up once Scott took her out to the swing but as soon as we got home and she saw her dress (which I foolishly had not put away yet) she started to cry and tried to figure out how to get her pj's off so she could get dressed again.  She is so cute.

Izzy was also excited about her dress although she's been wearing hers for at least a month (as long as the dress is modest and appropriate I don't fight her about what dress she wants to wear to church).  She was excited because this was the first time I took her dress shopping.  I was surprised about how difficult it was to find something that was modest and nice enough for church and appropriate for a 7 yr old who wears a size 10.  Sweet girl, somethings are challenging about being bigger than everyone your age.
Anyway, because she chose it, she loves it and she liked how I did her hair as well (which is a smidge surprising - we don't have much happiness over hair).  (She told me this week that she wished she lived with Cassie, my sister, because Cassie does fance hair.  I was a bit flabbergasted because she hates when I do her hair and won't let me do anything fancy in it.

Ryan didn't love dressing up for the pictures/church, but he was cute about trying to find spots to take the pictures over at Grandma's house.

Ashley favorites

"Dad", "Ry" and "Sees" (Sis or Iz, not quite sure which) - usually called in a very loud voice - repeatedly until they respond appropriately.
Binkie, Boppy and Blankie (she has several blankies any one of which will do) - theoretically just for bedtime but really whenever she is really sad or sleepy.
"Na" (Hannah who lives across the street.  She is Izzy's friend but she loves to play with Ashley and Ashley loves her attention).
"Micah" (Hannah's younger brother that Ash either is happy to be with or torments as she chases him and takes whatever he has. The poor little timid boy is nearly two years older than her and easily a head taller but Ashley is a bit domineering right now - I have to watch out that she doesn't scare him.)
Bubbles - she tends to dump the bubble containers and lick the bubble wand, so we don't do them as often as she would like.
Tractors/Helicocpters/Airplanes/Trains/Buses...she loves them all unless they make too much noise and then she is nervous.
Dancing - any music will do and she loves to have someone dance with her.  Telling her she is a beautiful dancer is often the best way to make friends with her - that or commenting on her shoes or fingernails.
Painted nails and sparkley shoes - she is definitely a girl.

Drawing - pens, markers, crayons, pencils, paper, furniture, walls, bedding, body parts - nothing is off limits to her.  She has the creative bug that I keep hoping I can figure out how to control.  :)

Baking - particularly anything sugary that uses flour and chocolate.  She loves to play in the flour and she loves dipping her fingers into whatever it is for a sample.

Putting off bedtime - she'll need a drink, a new story, to play with the big kids, to lay in sissy's bed, whatever she can think of to stretch out her bedtime.

Straws, they are a toy, not a tool.

Notes from Izzy to Ryan

Last week after having a big fight I had the kids say several nice things about each other.  Izzy didn't want to say them, she wanted to write them.  These are the notes she wrote to Ryan:

Dear Ryan
I love you. And I lik your toy.

Dear Ryan
I love you so so so SO much.

Dear Ryan
I spy you being nics to me!

Dear Ryan
Ther is mony!  (accompanied by a $1 bill)

Dear Ryan
All of thees meschis are rill and I men rilli
(All of these messages are real and I mean really)

Sweet, sweet girl.
Oh how I love her.