Ashlyn turns 6!!!

I remember so well the day Ashlyn was born!!!  We had been waiting and praying for another baby and thought for a few years that maybe we would just have two children!!!  When God blessed us with another healthy little girl, our hearts were full and so grateful!!!

 

Ashlyn brought spice and determination into our family.  She wanted things on her own timing.  She wanted her little world to revolve around her and be in control.  This brought lots of stressful moments in the toddler years but she is growing into such a sweet lady!!!  We could not imagine life without her!!!

 

She has been counting down the days till her birthday for long now.  She woke up this morning right before Matthew was off to school and he was just as excited as she was to give her her present from him.  Matthew ordered this online and shipped to our house a few days ago.  He was so happy with his choice and couldn't wait to see Ashlyn's face when she saw it!!!  He bought her a big pack of Shopkins!  Ashlyn loves these right now!  She was thrilled!!!

 

Then she opened the gift from Mike and I.  I got her some random items that she needed.  More PJ's, rain boots, gardening gloves, Paw Patrol movie and clothes.

Then her cousin Shakia called to say happy birthday!  So cute!

For breakfast, Ashlyn picked hot chocolate and toast.  Austin is just starting to dip his own toast.  It makes a mess but he loves it!!!

 She's so proud to now use two hands to show her age!!!

And look who else showed up today!!!  Hunter and Adrian stopped in and stayed awhile.  These four have a blast and Ashlyn shared her Shopkins tattoos with them.

Way too much to handle!!!  :)))

People say these two look alike.  I think that myself the older Austin gets.

And again, they are around the dinner table together.

Ashlyn had people calling today and stopping by to say happy birthday!  But her favorite part was choosing where to eat dinner.  This has been a family tradition for years now and we were all happy when she picked DJ's Dinner again!!!

Now that's a cherry coke!!!  And a big burger.  Matthew said that he doesn't even need a menu.  He gets the same burger here every time we go and loves it.  I say every time that "the next time we come here, I'm buying a burger like that".  You have to be pretty hungry to eat the whole burger but Matthew absolutely loves it!!!

Mike told Ashlyn the other night that she can pick out a candy for her birthday at DJ's.  This was her pick.  Sigh!!!!  I hate sticky candy like this but it was her choice.  She took a few bites and ended up leaving the rest on the table for the waitress to throw away.  She didn't like it after all!!!  Thank goodness!!!!!

Ashlyn's meal came in a cute car.  She loves this place!

We usually end with The Bomb.  It's ice cream on top of a brownie.  It got devoured.

Austin enjoyed his ice cream sandwich.

Ashlyn did too.

Ashlyn had a fun day!!!  Thank you to everyone that made her day special!

 

"We love you, Sweets!!!"



Spring planting.

Yesterday was a fun day working outside.  The kids only had school till lunch time and that gave us the whole afternoon outside!!!  Matthew helped spread some organic fertilizer and lime on the raised beds.  Then we planted lettuce, spinach, radishes, red beats and herbs!!!  It's going to be so much fun seeing these plants grow this spring!!!

 



 

This little miss is our gardener!  At a very young age she liked gardening plants and picking tomatoes and peppers and it excites her to see things grow!!!  She helped me pick out seeds for the gardens and couldn't wait to plant them!!! 

We have four small raised beds.  We planted all the lettuce and spinach, radishes and red beats in this one bed.  And as you can see, we have spinach still in the garden from seeds of last fall!!!

We are going to have lettuce out of our ears if all these plants survive and thrive!!!  :)))  These were the lettuce plants Mike bought for the raised bed garden photo shot the other week.  Now, they all got planted in the ground!!!

Here is my herb box.  It got restocked with rosemary, oregano, parsley and thyme.  The basil seeds need to be planted yet.  I also have a new box this year.  It's the one you see behind the herb box.  I want to plant some meadow tea roots and teas in there!!!

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Playing outside is so much again!!!  I forgot how nice it is to have the kids run and jump around outside!!!  Matthew and Ashlyn have so much fun together.  When I heard Matthew say to Ashlyn, "Sweets, go get a helmet on."  That's when I knew it was time to take a look at what they were doing.  This is what I found!!!

This is Ashlyn stuffed with pillows and blankets and wearing a helmet.

And they are off.

 Then the next time I looked out the window, this is what they were doing. 

In sleeping bags going down the slide.  :)))  Ashlyn was going from her thick winter jacket to a tank top all afternoon. 

We also got the lawn mowed and cleaned up from winter.  The kids loved to have a mower ride again!!!

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Ashlyn's class at school did the chapel yesterday morning and we went to watch it!!!  They did such a great job!!!  I loved it!!!

And at the end, they did a skit where they were sheep.  It was so cute and these are some of the cutest sheep I ever met!!!

Spring is here and we are loving it!!!

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Update on Dad Lapp:

Tuesday and Wednesday were really rough days for Dad!!!  His stomach hurts and the doctors are saying that it's 10 X's bigger than it should be.  By now, you would think it would be the size of a pea for the tiny amount of foods he's eaten for over month now!!!  Dad is still not able to eat.  The doctors are not sure why not???  There is some sort of blockage happening.  Dad is on IVs and nutrition but really needs to start 'eating' again!!!  Please pray that this would heal!!! 

Dad had radiation done on his tumor in his pancreas also this week.  They hope this will help shrink the cancer and then they can help his stomach issue!!!

This is a very hard journey for Dad and Mom.  They are well cared for at the Envita Clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona.  The miles seem so far away and we really miss not being with them!  Dad was given more pain meds to keep him comfortable and now he's able to sleep better.  Please keep praying for them!