Ashley's Pumpkin Fun Run

Ashley's school does a fundraiser run every year on Halloween. The kids run laps and this year, they got marked off on their shirt each time they went a lap. She did a fabulous job! Zack wanted to run so badly with her that he went ahead and ran a few with her. He'll be excited when he gets to do it next year!

Here's Ashley with her friend Korey. Last year in Kindergarten, she and another girl frequently argued over who would get to marry Korey, but this year, I think they have settled for being civil to each other. Ashley has been frustrated that Korey now thinks boys have to go out of their way to make sure they don't like the girls.

Showing off her marked stars!

Halloween

Halloween was a lot of fun! Zack was a knight, Natalie a princess, and Ashley was a prima ballerina. Everyone knew immediately that Zack was a knight and complimented him immediately on his costume. Natalie of course would then chime in with "and I'm a princess!!!" so of course they would have to compliment her too. It was pretty funny.

Ashley wore her costume to school for career day and Zack was able to wear his for his preschool's Halloween parade. Natalie's dance class said they could wear costumes, but since her princess dress was too long for dance, she wore one of Ashley's old dance costumes and LOVED it. She looked adorable and we said she was a dancing princess.

Funny kids...

Ashley: Upon hearing that Jenny was at a Miley Cyrus concert, Ashley asked me to text Jenny to take a picture. When we saw the picture, Ashley noticed the stage was far away and if I could see Hannah Montana on the stage. When I told her no, she quietly muttered to herself, "Darn it..." It was really cute.

Ashley has convinced Zack that lots of little rocks they have collected are really eggs. She has even gone so far to draw "cracks" on them to convince him that they might be hatching soon. Josh and I have let this play out because she is doing it to make Zack happy and have a fun imaginative time with him. We are curious to see how it will end. So, one day, Ashley said, "Mom, I have a big problem. I don't know what to do next because the rocks really aren't going to hatch." I said, "Yea, that is a problem. What are you going to do?" "Can we buy teeny tiny robots or something? Or how about switching them for real eggs that really can hatch?" Upon being told that wasn't possible, she lamented, "I just don't want to tell him. He'll be so sad..." The saga continues. I think for now, she is going with the "don't mention the eggs again and see if he forgets about them" strategy. I think it is working as he hasn't mentioned the eggs in a long time.

Zack: "I want everything transformers for my birthday. I just LOVE transformers!"

He is sure his new sandals are speed shoes. Ashley showed him where a special button is on the top of his shoes. When he presses it, he can then run super fast.

Constantly draws and writes letters to friends, family, teachers. I think he would love a whole ream of plain white paper as a gift. We have stacks of letters to mail to people and he has some regular pen pals from school, church, etc. I think he could draw or write everyday from dawn to dusk and wouldn't tire of it.

Natalie: Loves to drag her dance shoes out almost everyday to put them on and dance around the room :)

Regularly bursts into the Dora the Explorer theme song. She knows every word and loves to sing it anywhere (grocery stores, car rides, home, restaurants) whenever she thinks of it. Another favorite song is from the radio at Christmas. She so cutely sings, "Last Christmas, I gave you my heart, but the very next day, you gave it away. This "ear" to save me some tears, I'll give it to someone special, special."

Birthday girls!!

Natalie and Ashley have birthdays one day apart. Rainforest Cafe is a VERY IMPORTANT tradition for Ashley for her birthday, so we headed out there to celebrate both for a family dinner. Some cute pictures from our night:

We sat right next to a group of gorillas...the kids loved that!

On Natalie's birthday, we had pizza which is her favorite food. She loved eating on the special plate.

She then really got into opening and playing with her gifts. Here's some of her presents--smurfs and a little mermaid (she loves little things), and a pretend cookie set (who doesn't love making cookies?).

Ashley could hardly wait for her birthday the next day. I made cream of wheat (her absolute favorite for breakfast), we brought her lunch at school, and had a great time opening her present. Her most excited reaction came when she opened her American Girl doll. Thanks to her aunt Cheri for letting Ashley give new love to "Samantha."

She had a big cookie for her cake. She loved that quite a lot.

Ashley had a boat party for a few of her friends and really loved that. The girls loved jumping in the lake, tubing, and opening presents on the boat. We could have spent all day out there!

For my sister Jenny...

My littlest sister is a huge Twilight fan. I saw this sweatshirt in Forks, Washington, and knew she would love this statement! I should have bought it, but it was almost $40! Ridiculous price I thought. So, she will just have to settle for this cool picture :) Love ya Jenny!!