It's Just What They Do

On any given day you might find Austin happily playing with his toys and Ashley playing dress-up, singing, and dancing. Just thought I would post so pictures of some of the things they like to do.

Birthday Girl!

Today is Ashley's 5th Birthday! I think turning 5 is a rather big deal. Ashley has gone from a little baby, to a toddler, and now to a little girl. She seems so grown up in some ways, and still like my little baby in other ways. I'm proud of the beautiful, fun girl that she has become.

I thought I would share some pictures from her special day. She started out walking through a wall of balloons,then had some of her favorites for breakfast (blueberry muffins, bacon, and fresh strawberries),then she had a mini-mani and mini-pedi with her friend Talia and enjoyed lunch at McDonalds, then it was back to our house for cake, ice cream, and presents. She was pretty woren out after all of that, but I think she had a great day!
We also went to a park and took some pictures. Here's some of my favorites...

So Excited!!!

This little girl has been ready to burst for the last week. She's been more exited than she was at Christmas. She couldn't sleep the night before, came in our room several times during the middle of the night asking about things, and was up bright and early. It's been all she talks about and constantly asks when it's going to time. So, what could a 4 year old be so excited about, one might ask? GYMNASTICS!
Ashley has been begging to take gymnastics for the past year. Because of the move, new office, and new baby, it's been put on hold; but we promised Ashley after Christmas that she could start. We went in last week and got her signed up and it's been all she has talked about ever since.She had her first class and absolutely LOVED it! She did such a great job listening to Coach Gary, being respectful, and following directions. They definitely kept her moving the entire time, so she didn't have time to get bored. She worked hard and was pretty tired when she was done, but had a fabulous time! I'm excited to watch her each week and hope that her enthusiam continues.
On another note, it's been a pretty hard week for this little guy. He had his first tooth pop through. He's been a little out of sorts, but as soon as it popped through he was back to normal. (Not the best picture, we were trying to get the tooth and he was NOT happy)

Movie Night!

One of our favorite things to do as a family is to have a movie night! I first started doing special "girls" nights after we moved to Muncie. Thad was gone almost every other weekend and I tried to think of something fun that I could do with Ashley. It started out as eating candy, painting nails, and watching a movie; but now it has evolved into a family movie night. We try to have a movie night once a month and watch a newly released movie. Tonight, we ate pizza, popcorn, candy, drank soda, and watched Kung Fu Panda 2 (talk about a junk food fest, but boy it was tasty!). This is one of Ashley's favorite activities and we love laying our blankets and enjoying our time together.

Zoo

We are just loving the weather down here! And, we are loving that Thad isn't having to work quite as much and can spend more time with us. Yesterday, we took advantage of everything and spent a couple hours at the Zoo.
After the our fun in the sun, we enjoyed some fabulous frozen yogurt at Orange Leaf!

Personality Plus!!

Anyone who spends time around Ashley knows that she is "Miss Personality Plus!" There is never a dull moment when Ashley is around. She loves to turn anything and everything into a game, it's a great quality that she has always had. She loves to tease, play, and laugh! We are finding that she loves to pretend to perform and everyone is her audience. I think her personality really shines through in these pictures.

My parents brought down an old karoke machine of mine and Ashley absolutely loves it. Her favorite thing is to sing and dance for Austin - who just smiles and laughs; he's such a great audience for her. However, she also tries to get Bubby involved as well! Although, most of the time he just tries to eat the microphone.

And, I can't leave without posting a cute pic of our handsome little man (please excuse the boxes in the background. This is our overflow/storage room)!

Ringin' in the New Year

The weather was beautiful on Saturday,sunny and 75; so we decided to do something fun for New Years. When Thad got home from work, we gathered up the kids and headed off to Six Flags. We are so lucky to have such a fabulous park so close to our house (just 20 min. away).
Ashley is just big enough to start riding some of the "good" rides. Here she is riding her first big roller coaster! She loved it and we went twice in a row (once with Thad and once with me). We had a great time walking around the park while she rode some of the other kiddie rides. Austin was such a good sport and was happy just hangin' out in the stroller.Thank you Sousa Family (Thad's partner) for the season passes! We are so excited to alot this year!
We were also lucky enough to receive passes to Sea World from the other dentist that Thad has been working with. We upgraded the passes to season passes and now can enjoy it all year long. We enjoyed riding the carousel, roller coaster, seeing Sesame Street characters, watching excerpts from Polar Express in 4-D (complete with vibrating seats, fans, and squirts of water), and we loved watching the Nutcracker Themed dolphin show. Here are some pictures from our visit: