Cute and Messy

Tee ball started this week...

Doesn't she look ready?

5 months

Kendall will be 5 months old tomorrow.

She is still definitely a sweetheart...especially when she's awake. However naptime has been a little rough these past few months. It started going downhill about 2 months ago when she started rolling over, which ruined her ability to lay down and fall asleep. Things are a bit better now, but it's still a roller coaster. One day I'll lay her down to go to sleep and she'll refuse to go down quietly...making life miserable for me. And then the next day I'll lay her down (same routine, same time, same everything) and she'll lay down and go to sleep without a peep. Oh, it makes me frustrated and exhausted. I get nervous every time nap time rolls around.

But other than that she's a complete joy. She's got a ready smile for most people, and she loves to watch all the action taking place around her (that is, her sisters). I can tell she's getting ready to jump right in!

She's eating cereal now and regularly sleeping through the night (although, now that I typed that, I'm sure she'll be up tonight!). She's rolling both directions and is getting toys to her mouth, but not quite able to keep them there for long periods of time. And, she's starting to try to use her voice to communicate (other than crying, I mean). If I'm not looking at her, she'll stare at me and give a "huh" (or something like that....I'm not very good at spelling sounds) until I look her direction. Then she'll break into a huge smile. I love it. And, she's definitely Mama's girl right now. Pretty much wanting me all the time...which gets a bit tiring, but I have to admit that it makes me feel special, especially since I think Daddy's the top pick right now of the other two girls.

Anyway, there's a brief update of our baby girl. It's so crazy to think that we've only had her for 5 months. It really just seems like she's always been a part of our family. Funny how that goes.

Sometimes, you just gotta laugh about it.

My mom sent me this the other day.
I can definitely relate.

Singin' in the Rain

The snow has gone, and the rain has come.
We are happy.

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.

Don't you just want to kiss those cheeks?