4 Years!

Ashlyn turned 4 today!

We had a busy day celebrating! We had her party this afternoon with friends. I've been trying to get her to tell me what kind of theme she wanted for her party, but to no avail. I don't think she really got the whole "theme" idea, so I just had her pick out some plates and napkins (thinking that she would pick Dora or Princesses or something like that, but no, she picked out this weird monkey plate! It was kinda funny. So, I went with it, and we had somewhat of a "monkey" party. I guess it kinda sums up her personality! She is our little monkey! And then, she's been looking at these cookie "cakes" in the mall since August, so I told her she could have one for her birthday. At first she picked out a guitar picture for the cookie (again, pretty random), but then she changed her mind to balloons.

Here she is with her little friends: Andrew Rotzoll, Nora Miller, Alex White, Austin Anderson, Cameron Miller, Paige Safly and Ellie Isaacson. Whew! It makes me tired just typing all those names! They were actually very well behaved, and we had a fun little party.

Then tonight, we took her to Build-A-Bear and she got to make her own little bear, whom she named "Ashley".

When we got home, she had some presents from family waiting for her. Here she is doing a routine in a cheerleading outfit that my mom got her, and then down below, she's in her rain gear that she got from us and Aunt Jill.

Ashlyn is really starting to mature. She's always been so active and a little on the crazy side, but I see glimpses of her calming down. :) She's very smart: she's known her letters and letter sounds since she was 2, she can figure out and play songs on the piano (God is So Good, Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, and others) and she continues to amaze me with her writing and drawing skills (her latest artwork is shown below). She's a big blessing to us, and I can't wait to see how she grows up. Thank you, Lord, for our beautiful Ashlyn.