All about Ashlyn: January 2014

I'm starting a couple of new things this year: 20 questions and a letter. I asked Ashlyn 20 questions about her favorite things. She took this very seriously and took her time thinking about her answers. Also, I'm writing her a 'letter'. I have a friend who blogs and she does the birthday letter and its always just the sweetest thing.

First the 20 questions:

1. Favorite color? Pink and Purple and Blue and Yellow.
2. Favorite TV show? Doc McStuffins and Jake and the Neverland Pirate
3. Favorite outfit? Dresses! Especially my new birthday dress
4. Favorite game? The mermaid game
5. Favorite toy? Celestia
6. Favorite book? Belle and Ariel (from the Princess book)
7. Favorite song? Mama Mia
8. Favorite thing to do with your friends? Play w/ Elsie
9. Favorite thing to eat? Hamburgers and chicken nuggets
10. Favorite ice cream? Vanilla and Chocolate
11. Favorite fruit? Mandarin oranges
12. Favorite drink? Milk and water
13. Favorite cereal? Rice Krispies
14. Favorite breakfast? Pancakes and waffles
15. What are you really good at? helping Mommy
16. What do you need more work on? cleaning my room
17. If you could have one wish, what would it be? I could fly
18. Where do you want to go on our next vacation? to Ireland again! or Canada
19. What was your favorite thing we did this year? going to Ireland
20. What do you want to be when you grow up? A sogropher (sonographer) like you Mommy :)

To my big 5 year old:
You have grown up so much this year even though I'd like to keep you my little baby forever. I've asked you to stay my little baby but you always tell me "No Mommy, I'm a big girl!" You're right, you're such a big girl. You are sweet and sassy, bossy and opinionated, stubborn and confident, but also shy in new situations and large groups. You are so independent and like to do things yourself. Most weekends you have already gotten yourself breakfast before Mommy or Daddy even gets out of bed. You are such an early riser, its a real treat for us when you sleep in! You are so loving, I can't get enough of your hugs. Some of my favorite moments are when you say out of the blue, "Mommy, I love you!" or when you give me hugs just because you want to. You love to sing! You're constantly singing and making up songs. You sing along with songs on the radio better than I do. You love to read and often times will repeat most of the story after hearing it only once. I often hear your playing with your animals (friends) and acting out parts of stories we've read. You love your stuffed animals or friends as you call them. You have so many in bed with you there's hardly room for you! Most of them get named for what they are: Panda is Pandi, Bear is Beary, Armadillo is Dilly, Rudolph is Rudy, etc. You have a blue dragon you love and you named him Lucy. You still have "Lovie" and I think always will, as long as it holds together. You love to run and jump and climb and race. When we drop you off at school, most mornings we race down the hallway to your classroom. At home you love to do laps around the house before doing just about anything: brushing teeth, before getting in the bath or shower, before getting dressed etc. I know Daddy is hoping this means you will be a track star like he was. Your BFF's at school have stayed pretty constant for the last couple of years: Elsie, Evita and Gemma. You've been asking for sleep overs with them for the last year or so but Mommy just really isn't ready for that. You and Gemma started WeeCare around the same time so you really have been "friends forever". You have your own mind and want to go at your own pace. Its very difficult to hurry you up. You do equally well playing by yourself or with friends. I sense you like/need your alone time. I did too when I was growing up and I still do. You still do not like to try new foods. You have your favorites: cereal, peanut butter sandwiches, yogurt, apples and applesauce, oranges and Burgerville hamburgers, the only burger you'll eat with sauce. You're not much of a fry girl but you love onion rings. You only wear dresses and have switched from preferring leggings to tights. You have your own sense of style and pick out your own clothes. You know what you like and don't like. This morning your wore a black and red dress with a purple shrug, green vest and black tights. We made a big move this year to a new house and you handled it so well! You love showing off your new room and all the stairs we have. You're favorite colors are pink and purple and you love anything Disney Princess. You picked the purple bedroom and chose bright pink princess bedding for your big girl bed. You are an awesome traveler and have flown on an airplane more times than I can count. You're first flight you were only 4 months old, maybe that's why you love to fly so much! This year we went to Ireland and you were amazing! You loved climbing on the old castles, going to the beaches and chicken goujons (chicken strips). We allowed you a lot of freedom of in Ireland and we watched you grow even more independent. Sometimes that independence gets you into trouble. I know its hard to understand that things can't always be done your way. You do NOT to like shop even though we do a lot of it together. You're favorite store is Target, although now that you've discovered churros, I think Costco is high on the list. You love your sweets! Cake, ice cream, chocolate and especially anything gummy, just like Daddy. You love to watch TV and completely zone out when we give you TV time. Disney Jr. is your favorite channel. You don't watch a lot of TV but you've been watching football since you were born. Its not your favorite but you have learned we root for the Ducks and the Beavers, unless they're playing each other and then Daddy and I try to get you on our side. Ducks for me and Beavs for Daddy. You are still so clumsy :) You're nickname at school started when you were about 2 years old and it stuck. They call you Ash Crash, in fact I just heard Elsie call you Ash Crash the other day when I was picking you up from school. Your knees are constantly bruised. You fall a lot but know that if you fall you "Get back up!" You are so tough but sensitive too. I am so excited to see what the next year brings. We love you more than you'll ever know and I'm so happy I get to be your Mom.

I do realize its been two months since I've posted. YIKES!! A LOT has happened in the last two months. I'm working on finishing up my Ireland posts but here's a short post on what's been up with us.

We signed on our new house a couple weeks after we got back from Ireland (oh Ireland, I miss you!). Then Jered left for hunting on Halloween. Ashlyn got super sick Halloween night and we had to miss trick-or-treating, I was more upset than she was! She was going to be a super cute unicorn darn it!!

With a lot of help from some very good friends (you know who you are!) we moved into our Corbett house on November 17th, 2013. We have been loving our new house! We look around and we realize its a lot of work. We know there will be some tough winters. BUT, we just love it! It just feels right, it really really does.

Thanksgiving was spent in Woodburn with Grandpa and Grandma G. We had a delicious smoked turkey. I'm not really a turkey fan but every year Grandpa smokes us a turkey and its always fantastic!Grammy drove up from Monroe to spend it with us too. Grandpa was in Arizona visiting his daughter Amber. She's due pretty soon with a new granddaughter!

Grandma and Papa Mac arrived about a week before Christmas. Papa Mac told us to make him a list of home projects and boy did we ever. There's at least 30 things on the list! Some big, some small. There will definitely be some before and after photos coming soon.

Then we had our hectic as usual Christmas. We had 7 Christmas's, yes you read that right, I said SEVEN. A couple weekends before Christmas we had our friends and their kids up to Corbett and we let the kids exchange names. The Sunday before Christmas was spent with the Kacalek clan at Aunt Lavonne's new house. Christmas Eve at Grandpa and Grandma G's in Woodburn. Christmas morning at our house in Corbett, afternoon at my Aunt Jean's in Monroe, evening at my Dad's also in Monroe. We're not done yet, one more to go. The weekend after Christmas we were back in Monroe for Christmas with my immediate family. Phew, all done!

After Christmas Patsy and Steve came up to stay with us and Steve got to work on our list. He's changed light fixtures, fixed the grout on the tile, ripped out the nasty carpet in the media room, put in hardwood flooring on the stairs to the basement (it looks beautiful!), demo'd the upstairs bath (goodbye 1970's). That's not all, there's more I'm sure. We've been keeping Home Depot and Lowes in business the last few weeks and we're not done yet! The next big purchases are carpet for the media room and new vanity, tub/shower etc for the upstairs bath.

To start the new year off right: we SOLD our old house!!! Yay!! Only on the market 12 days. :) Our neighbor was our realtor and he was awesome. We sign on the 7th and the official closing will be the 10th. A huge relief, I feel like a huge weight was lifted of our shoulders. Now we can really settle in and get down to business setting up our new house.

A few pics from the holidays: