Graduation Party for Ashlyn!

While we were in Kansas City we had a little Kindergarten Graduation party for Ashlyn!  She is now a big 1st grader!!

We took most of the cousins to Bonkers, a mini indoor amusement park, perfect for the ages of my kids.  They had a few mini roller coasters and arcades and a climbing structure.  It was a lot of fun for the kids and Ashlyn loved it.  I think she rode the roller coaster about 40 times or so.  In fact, Kendall loved it too, which was really surprising to me.  I thought she was going to cry the first time, but she kept saying "Again, again", so we kept letting her ride.  It was a really fun evening for all.

In honor of her graduation, I thought I would post a poem that Ashlyn wrote this week, just for the fun of it.  She continues to surprise me with her talents, and writing poems seems to be one of them.   She hasn't written a final draft yet, so you'll have to read through my corrections, but hopefully you can still read it well enough.  Then down below are the rest of the pictures from her party.

Congratulations, Ashlyn!  God has blessed you with many abilities.  I pray that you will use your gifts to glorify and serve the Lord.  We love you!

Happy Mother's Day!

Here are some pictures that we took on Mother's Day. We were in Kansas City with my family, so we got a picture with Nana and the girls and then my girls and 3 of their cousins.

Fun Meet Time!

Today was Ashlyn's annual meet for her gymnastics class, and she did great!  She was very excited about it, and went out there and did a very good job.  She has really enjoyed her class this year and loves learning new and challenging things.

Here she is with her two good friends, Amee and Erinn.

 

And here is her coach, Hillary.

Her favorite part of gymnastics is the bars, so here she is doing her bar routine.

We're so proud of you, Ashlyn!

Big News! Ashlyn lost a tooth!

Well, it may not be big news to you, but to my 6 year old, this is huge!  She's been working on it for quite some time, and it's her very first tooth to lose naturally, so she was very, very excited.  (She's missing one of her top front teeth from an accident at the age of 2, but this is the first one to come out on its own.)

She had a pretty hard time settling down at bedtime (she kept shaking with excitement), but I reminded her that the Tooth Fairy woud not come if she wasn't asleep, so I think that helped.

(I just hope the Tooth Fairy isn't on vacation this time!)

Ashlyn also wrote me this sweet May Day note today, so I thought I would share it too.  Ahhhh, she's growing up!

Happy Easter!

We hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

We enjoyed year 3 of our little Easter potluck and egg hunt. It's always a fun time with friends and the kids love running to collect as many eggs as possible. This year the weather was beautiful and we all had a great time.

Our Homeschool Classes

My girls had a great time this year attending a few classes with their homeschool assistance program. They enjoyed some time with friends and fun activities, so we were really thankful that this was offered. The theme this year for all of the classes was American History. Ashlyn was in a little learners class for Pre-K and Kindergarteners and enjoyed learning about "heroes" in American History, learning art elements and learning some music from America's history. I think her favorite activity was making peanut butter when they studied George Washington Carver. Here she is with her teacher, Miss Rachel.

Jaclyn got to learn some American History through an American Girl class. She got to read many of the historical fiction books in the American Girl series and do lots of fun crafts and projects that went with each book. They did cooking activities (she loved churning butter), and they sewed dolls and learned to cross stitch (among other things). And, she truly just enjoyed reading the books and talking about them. She also participated in an art class and learned American music from our nation's past. Here she and Ashlyn are with one of her teachers, and our family's supervising teacher, Miss Diann.

Kendall usually wants in on the action too...

One of the events this year was a Banana Split Reading program. The girls read books and presented book reports to a teacher and earned toppings for a banana split, one topping for each book. Since they both already love to read, this wasn't hard for them. :) They enjoyed it and learned some good skills in writing and presenting book reports. On the last day of classes, they got to indulge in the fruits (or should I say desserts) of their labor.

One of their classes this year was preparing and presenting a musical called "America's Kids". They both had a great time learning the songs and Jaclyn had a few speaking parts and got to perform her first solo. They both did great!

Sweet 6!

Ashlyn turned 6 on March 2nd! It was a day of snow and terrible tornados down south, but for us, we were celebrating. Grandma was able to come from Des Moines in spite of the snow, and Ashlyn had a fun day.

The next day, Saturday, we had her party with friends. We were able to take her to a new gymnastics place, so she had a blast playing on all the equipment with her friends.

Shown in the picture are: Amy & Erin Varga, Katelyn & Natalie Essington, Jordan & Jackson VanHorn, Lydia & Elise Hunter, Kelly Hoffman, Paig Safly and Ellie Isaacson.

So, it's time to give an update on our sweet girl, Ashlyn:

* She is still a bundle of energy. Still would prefer to run, jump, and climb rather than walk.

* However, she is also very good at concentrating on a project. She loves to build and assemble things like playgrounds and houses, and then she has her little figurines play on the set.

* Loves to create routines or concerts for us...complete with her get-up of leggings and leotards. The routine usually consists of some sort of twirling, hand-stands, and rolls off of the arm of the couch.

* She does very well in school. She catches on to concepts very quickly and loves to read!

* She continues to enjoy gymnastics and learns more all the time.

* She is doing very well in her piano lessons...however, she has a hard time sticking to the written music. She usually wants to make up her own ending, or add chords where they aren't written. The funny thing is, it usually sounds good, so it's hard for me to tell her she has to stick to the music! But, her teacher writes notes about it, so I guess I better make her stick to the boring ol' melody! :) She definitely sings her own tune, that girl. (Or you could say, plays her own notes.)

* She HATES jeans! Or, really anything that snaps whether it's pants, shorts, or skirts. So, you will usually find her in dresses or skirts and pants with elastic. And, she LOVES leggings! Wears them everyday, without fail. In fact, we go through them very quickly 'cause they get holes in the knees quite easily. I should have told all of her friends just to get her leggings for her birthday!

* Wants to be good at everything and compares herself to others. We had a volleyball clinic recently for grades 2nd-6th (Ashlyn's in Kindergarten). She cried almost every night afterward because she wasn't as good as the other girls. I tried to tell her that they are so much older than her and she is probably better than they were at her age, but it didn't quite sink in.

* She can be so sensitive toward others (not all the time, but she's definitely tender-hearted). She will usually give up whatever she's doing to go console Kendall and help her stop crying. And, she's very sensitive and hurt when I discipline her, so it's kinda tricky to make sure she receives a consequence without crushing her. A hard balance for me to find. I know she tries hard to please me, but it's not always obvious by how she's acting. Tricky one, that girl, but I love her.

Ashlyn is such a delight to us. God has blessed us with a talented girl who is full of spunk and joy.

We love you, Ashlyn!

Happy 6th Birthday!