Amusement Park!

After getting her ears pierced, we headed to the amusement park with our friends to finish off Ashley's birthday celebration!

Pierced Ears!

After opening presents, we went to get Ashley's ears pierced.
No holes:


A while ago, one of my friends recommend going to a tattoo/piercing shop rather than the mall since their techniques are different and they actually know what they're doing. I called the pediatrician to see if they'd do it in the office, but they wouldn't, and they also recommended a tattoo parlor. So, on her 8th birthday, I took my daughter to a tattoo parlor.
Here she is with the really nice piercing lady:

Ta-da!

Ashley's 8th Birthday!

Ashley turned 8 on Monday! We had quite an exciting day!
First, she opened presents:

This was so sweet. Paige didn't have a present for her, so she got an envelope, ran to her purse, and grabbed a handful of coins for Ashley. They were both so excited about it. I love their expressions in these next 3 pictures:

Michael got a super hero cape, which he has worn in public several times since Monday. I love it!

The one thing Ashley actually asked for. She's growing up!

A real 1/2 size guitar! GrandDaddy had something to do with this one...

We'd had enough cake, so we had birthday pancakes.

Penguin Party!

For Ashley's 8th birthday, we had a backyard penguin party! They did a lot of sliding like penguins on the 2 slip n slides and played some penguin-y games. I think they had a lot of fun!

My niece, Abbey:

Paige got stung by a wasp at the beginning, which was sad, but she was really tough and got to enjoy most of the party. Luckily, that was the only party casualty. I showed the girls how to make those balloons look like penguins and then they made them all!

The pinata!

Most of the guests:

Opening presents:

We went to Outback for dinner with cousins that night! What a day!

Matching Ties

Boys aren't quite as much fun to dress as girls, but with a husband who'll wear matching ties with his little boys, they're pretty cute! (This was taken after church, and yes, Douglas is totally zonked out!)

Douglas 8 months

Here's what our sweet little boy looks like these days :)

Almost Summer!

We plan to be doing a lot of this this summer!

Butterfly Release

We got caterpillars in the mail and they all turned into butterflies! Our neighbors have quite the garden in their back yard, so we decided to release them there, hoping they might stay around.

The neighbor kids. We call these neighbors "the boys," even though there are 2 little girls in their family. We also have "the new neighbors" (who have now been here almost a year), and the "across the street neighbors." We're very original, and apparently, not so good with names :)