We celebrated the birthday girl the other day and Ashlyn in now eleven!
I remember so well how we prayed and waited and prayed for another baby! We had Hadassah and Matthew and they were two healthy children and thriving! We prayed for God to give us another baby and when Matthew started kindergarten, I told Mike that I would else need to get a job outside of the house or get pregnant! God answered our prayers and Ashlyn was born that next Spring!
Ashlyn was born and was so cute! Something I will never forget is how many times Mike said in the hospital while holding her tiny body, "She is so cute! She is just so so cute!" We adored her! Ashlyn grew up petite! She is the child with a strong will and I had many of days when I wanted to lift up my hands and say, "I'm so tired!" She pushed my buttons and when you have a child that says the opposite of everything you say, it's gets emotionally tiring. I say this with much grace though because it did only last for a season! Ashlyn grew out of that stage and after realizing some tips on how to steer her in a better direction, it made every day life with a three year old better! Like ... in the morning, I would help her get dressed for the day. It didn't matter what I picked out for her to wear that day, I just knew she wasn't going to want it. She wanted to be in charge. She wanted to be boss. So, I decided to pick out two outfits and then let her chose. It helped! Big time!!!! She didn't know she was still only choosing from two outfits and so I really did have the authority but it gave her the freedom to chose and decide what she wanted to wear!
Ashlyn is now growing up into a young lady and she's sweet and still sassy at times! She loves babies! Zayla stole her heart from day one and they both love to hang out and she's only 1 1/2 old! Just the other night, we were with them and Zayla wanted ONLY ASHLYN!!!
Ashlyn is also doing well in school. She's loving her teacher Mrs. Felter! She's nervous and excited to think about Upper School next year. She's my biggest mess maker but my best cleaner upper! She's creative and loves crafts. She likes to be in the kitchen and mix things and actually bake something! The other week, she mashed up some strawberries and added sugar and flour and then after looking over a recipe for strawberry bars, we popped it in the oven and she made up her own recipe and food. It looked OK but was really gummy. Not sure why? She's not afraid to try new things, new foods and loves watermelon!
Ashlyn loves to plan parties and every year I need to remind her that I'm not going to discuss her birthday party plans until March! She makes lists. She likes details. She's a lot like me.
We invited some girls over after school for a short party and they blessed her with fun gifts and she had a great celebration. Normally, we let the birthday person in our family pick out a place to eat dinner and then we go as a family and celebrate but we had a meeting that night and Ashlyn is fine with doing this another day.
We began with an ice cream cake and strawberry lemonade refreshers!
