All about Ashlyn: Birthdays, zoo animals and bless you...

We had a great week! Wednesday was my day off and Ashlyn and I went to the zoo! She was so much more excited this time. Last time we could tell she really liked it because she was just in awe of all the animals. This time she was excited! We saw the monkeys, elephants, bears, fish, giraffes, zebras. She was excited to see the sea otters (we have a book from Grammy about sea otters) but they weren't out. So she said "sea otters night night" "sea otters night night Mommy". Where does she come up with this stuff?

Friday night after work we met up with Sam and Eli for drinks and chicken wings at this great wings place in Portland. It had been so long since we'd seen them. Do the summers get busier and busier, or is it just me?? I think we only saw them one time this summer. Ashlyn acted super shy with them even though she sees pictures of them at our house and knows their names. Lately she's got this shy thing going. If there's a lot of people or people she doesn't see a lot of, she acts all shy. She had fun though because there were some other older kids at the restaurant and she just watched them the whole time. She's an observer!

Last weekend was my mom's birthday so we headed down to Monroe. We spent Friday night in Woodburn visiting both Grandma and Grandpa Lendhardt and Grandma K. Then onto Monroe where Mom and I got pedicures. Its football season so Jered, Ashlyn and I went over to cousin Traci's to watch the Beavs and the Ducks game. We hadn't seen Traci the last couple of times we were down so we were excited to have time to hang out over there this time. I made enchiladas and Trac got all the snacks and drinks. Ashlyn wore her Ducks cheerleader outfit Grandpa got her last year and when we walked in the door, Dylan was pretty upset with us. He said "Its Beavers Day! Why is she wearing that?" I told him it was most definitely Ducks day as well! Jered wasn't wearing his Beavs gear either and Dylan made sure he changed his shirt....quick! Sunday was Mom's birthday, so she made dinner for us. Huh?? Yep, she made her own birthday dinner and it was great. My cousins Kourtney and Melody came over and then Aunt Jean and Uncle Hugh showed up too.

Ashlyn is a little copycat lately, so watch your language! She is a little talker, unless there are people around she doesn't know. I've had a head cold this week and a little cough. This morning I could hear Ashlyn in her room talking to herself, I coughed and I heard "Bless you Mommy". So dang cute!! She thinks a cough is like a sneeze.