I don't take NO for an answer

The day after Holden turned 6 little miss Ashlynn hit her 18 months mark weighing in at 25 lbs too tall for her jeans and more personality than I ever thought such a small person could have.

She knows what she wants and she knows how to get it, just as you look at her thinking how sweet and kind she is she snatches your snack or your phone or anything that you have that she wants and runs away with it and hides it behind her back, all while looking like an angel.

A few of her favorite things are......

screaming, screaming for joy, screaming out of anger, screaming to get some one's attention, screaming just for the sake of screaming

messing up her hair,

crawling under tables,

climbing on top of tables

eating

helping Mommy vacuum

playing with Holden
making messes

being her own person, doing what she wants to do even if it's not what Mommy or Daddy would like her to do
Ashlynn's favorite food is chicken and anything sweet. She eats her vegetables and loves to brush her teeth. She likes to wear my high heels and help me brush my hair, and pretend to put makeup on. She is a Daddy's girl and has been since the very second she was born all she needs is to hear his voice. She still loves to cuddle with me and prefers to to carried in a sling rather the in a shopping cart. She always has her thumb in her mouth and carries her little lamb snugly around everywhere if we let her. She loves to play with her brother as long as he doesn't sit in her chair or touch anything that she thinks belongs to her. She loves animals her favorite are dogs when she sees one she takes our faces and turns them so that we look in the right direction and shouts "see dog, see!" When she is upset she throws tantrums laying on the floor kicking her feet and screaming tantrums, she started early and hopefully she'll get over it early. She loves to pour water out of her cup on the floor, on her plate, or in some one's shoes. She loves to read books and play with dolls. She loves to color, every room in our house has a bit of Ashlynn's artwork done mostly with crayons and pencils that Holden has left out. She is a special little girl that we are so thankful to have in our family,

Mr. Holden had a birthday party

The happiest place on earth

Here's my little man buying his own season pass, with a little of Dad's help (and money)

Celebrating his Birthday

Her first visit, she wanted to hold her pin not wear it

Yes, I made her wear that ridiculous harness but it kept her safe

neither of them wanted to meet Mickey so I had to go with them plus the line we waited in was way too long to throw in the towel


We all went to Disneyland for Holden's birthday, even though it was so hot and way too crowded we had a lot of fun. On the way to the car I asked him what his favorite ride was he said "the Peter Pan ride except it was quite short." that made me laugh. I couldn't really tell if Ashlynn really liked it or not but she nodded her head yes when I asked if she was having fun. This was Holden's special day so he got to pick what we ate what rides we went on everything and it was such a good feeling to see him so happy and to really feel so special.

Holden left me again (tear)

Against my wishes, Holden went to first grade. Apparently it doesn't matter if mothers are ready for the little boys to grow up or not they just do it. Summer was too much fun and I wasn't ready for school to start so soon but as you see in the picture Holden did not feel the same way he loves going to school, he loves to ride the bus, he loves getting to go to the playground everyday, and he loves eating lunch with his friends I guess Ashlynn and I just aren't as entertaining as I had thought. After I dropped him off at school I made Billy take me to breakfast at I hop for some good old comfort pancakes with extra syrup. I'm sure when we have more children and they are all too board for my sanity I will welcome the first day of school but I guess for the next few years I'm just going to have to suck it up and let him go learn and be social.

Camping with the Family

After we got back from Oregon we went camping in San Diego for a family get together before my brother Zach left for embassy duty for the next three years. Last year we went camping and Zach took us up in the mountains near Big Bear and we it wasn't as much fun for us girls with the non flushing toilets and bugs and flys everywhere and the bear trying to steal our food, so we said the girls get to pick this year and we decided to go to a really nice KOA campsite where there where no bears and they had nice bathrooms, a playground for the kids, a pool, and bike rentals. One day we went to old town to explore and I think we would have explored a little bit more if it wasn't so hot. Another day we went to the beach on Coronado Island and all the kids had a great time and thankfully no sunburns for us can't say the same for my brothers but their burns turn into tans and not freckles so I don't think it bothered them any.

tent city, I'm pretty sure you're not suppose to have this many tents on one site

some of the cousins

This bike was more like a mini van with pedals it was not that fun to pedal with all those people

The main reason we went to Oregon this year was for the Dassler family reunion which are always fun, the whole weekend was a lot of fun.

The kids always love going to Great Oma and Opa's house

We shot a bow and arrows

OK not we but I tried I just wasn't strong enough
notice Billy's dad laughing at me

Holden bought his own sunflower plant at the farmers market for our garden back home

It was also graffiti week in Roseburg so we went to some cool car shows and a street fair type thing where the cars drove around the block and we all watched in amazement.


How can you not eat this

Ashlynn with her Great Opa

They just really love riding the bus

Playing at the beautiful park

blueberry and rasberry picking

Not only did we get to have a great visit with one of Billy's best friends Emily,but she took us to do do a bunch a cool things in Portland like the fabric depot it was like heaven. The weather was so nice a cool 65 degrees was a nice break from our 105 degree heat here in Lancaster and one of the Ashlynn's and my favorite things was berry picking.

Billy even liked itI think this is why she a Billy are such good friends and why she's the only girl I don't mind hanging around my husband, she's just so fun
I eventually had to take Ashlynn out of the field because she wouldn't stop eating the blueberries