Birthday girl

Happy 6th Birthday
Ashley Grace!

(Summer birthday are celebrated in Kindergarten during the last few weeks of school.
Each child gets a special day at school. This is Ashley on her day. She chose to take ice cream
sandwiches and goody bags to school for all of her classmates.)

I am so in love with this little girl

and so grateful to have her.

We prayed and waited for her a very long time. But oh... was she worth the wait :) I love that she is such a perfect combination of sugar and spice. She needs to have a good dose of spunkiness to hold her own with three brothers and she does it quite nicely. I love her funny sense of humor. I love to watch her play... with her dolls and especially with Luke. He is usually a very willing puppy or a student at her "school". It is amazing to me that she has such a tender "mother heart" as she likes to take care of everyone around her. She loves anything to do with art and told me yesterday that she wants to be a mommy and a designer when she grows up :) Yes, she is sooo my girl and of course I love it.

We had a fun and easy celebration this year for Ash's 6th birthday. Her birthday actually fell on Sunday - Father's Day again just like when she was born. (It also fell 2 days before Girl's Camp.) On Saturday, our family went to Chuckie Cheese with Grandma O., Amber, and a few of Ashley's friends. Pizza. Games. Cupcakes. Prizes. Then we all went to see Toy Story 3 in 3D. We loved it and had a great time.

The Sugar (above)

And the spice

My honey on his Happy Father's Day holding the best Father's Day present I ever gave him :)

Charming Charleston

In May my parents came out to visit their AZ home for a few weeks. It was fun to have them close and a treat that I got to fly to Charleston to visit Tiff for a couple of days while grandma and grandpa looked after my babes. I love Charleston - it really is so charming with its beautiful old classical architecture, historical waterfront homes with inviting verandas called piazzas that I'm sure could tell fascinating stories - you know -- if walls could talk :) It also has really fun markets, oh-so-yummy seafood restaurants, (my mouth is watering thinking of she-crab soup and dirty cheesecake). They've got great beaches, lush greenery, and a neighborhood pond with a resident alligator. But best-of-all and worst-of-all they have my sister. I love to visit but hate that she is soooo far away.

These are the piazzas. So pretty and also unique to the architecture of this area.

I got to go to one of Cole soccer games! He is darling and melts my heart with his baby-blues and when he dresses up so handsome for me and asks me if I can please stay one more day :)

Ok - this picture seriously makes me laugh everytime I look at it! I love it!

Cutie Chloe

So proud of Tiff and all that she has accomplished. She is a total rock star!
I tried to get her to go and pose by her sign but she wouldn't.

Magnolia Plantation

Self-portrait :)

Ashley's Dance Recital

"You can dance, you can Jive
Having the time of your life
Ooh see that girl, watch that scene
Diggin' the dancing queen..."

Ashley performed in two numbers at her dance recital this summer: A fun jazz routine to a remix of "My Boyfriend's Back" and a beautiful ballet routine to "Hallelujah". She did a great job and I even got teary-eyed watching her ballet. I had not seen it before because she wanted to surprise me. She loves to dance and was invited to be a part of the "Stars" performing group at her studio this year. They will dance for a few high school basketball game half-time shows, the AZ State Fair, a Christmas parade, the Ostrich Festival, a Phoenix Suns game, and Disneyland!

Here are a few pics I took of her in her costumes :)