My Dearest Ashleigh...

...Happy 5th Birthday Baby Girl. So many things run through my mind on this day, the day you turn 5 years old. 5 years of incredible emotions...happiness, frustration, learning, sassiness, proud, humble, but most of all LOVE. We love you so much and can't even believe how much you have grown and how much our little Punkin' has drastically affected or lives. You have brought us so much joy in your short 5 years and we can't wait to see what the rest of your life brings. You were born at 1:58 in the afternoon via c-section after I failed to progress in labor. I went into labor on my own at 10:00 pm the night before and labored for nearly 16 hours. Daddy and I were so disappointed when the doctor said he wanted to deliver you immediately since you were stuck in my pelvis and not dropping any further. In hindsight, after knowing how large you were (10 lbs 11 ozs) it was a blessing that I didn't have to labor in vain any longer. The emotion that flooded us when we saw and heard your voice for the 1st time in that operating room is inexplicable...our 1st born...August 11, 2008. We Love you, Ashleigh Shea!!

We had a nice birthday party for Ash at a place called Leapin' Lizards. It's an indoor bounce house place that has a huge playscape, slides, obstacle courses, etc. All of the kids, and even the adults, seemed to have a lot of fun. At the end, we got 40 minutes in the party room, which was a little rushed, but I wanted to feed everybody, so we had pizza and cake. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough time to open her presents there, so we did it when we got home. Brian's family and the Harris' came over to watch, which was nice. Everyone was beyond generous with her gifts. She received so much stuff, and she loved everything. I'm going to steal my friend, Deena's idea, and put her 5 year photos in the thank you cards...I just received the disc today. The pictures (Ash's 5 year and Addy's 6 month) came out real good. Kandice is utterly brilliant behind the lens! I will share those photos soon.

I took off work today and Brian took off half a day today to spend the day with Ashleigh for her birthday and a general "Ashleigh Day" before she starts kindergarten. I let her pick whatever she wanted...I had suggested going to get her violin rented, the zoo, Putt-Putt, the water park...and without me even suggesting it she chose Chuck-E-Cheese. Oh lord...but okay. By the time Brian got home, he convinced her that the Incredible Pizza company in Euless would be a much better choice. Good job Brian!! We've been there a couple of times and it is much more tolerable than Chuck-E-Cheese. The York's were going to Putt-Putt since Steve is on vacation this week and Ash was talking to PeyPey on the phone when she was wishing her Happy Birthday and Ash invited PeyPey to go with us. She is in a bad habit of not asking Mommy first...but okay, it was her birthday and she was begging if Pey could go with us. So the Yorks decided to come along to make Ash happy. We spent about 3 hours there and had a real good time with our Birthday Girl. Then we came home. Ash wanted Wendy's for dinner...okay, it's her birthday...chicken nuggets and a frosty.

Tonight we changed her earrings out for the 1st time...we got her some for her birthday. My goodness, you would have thought we were asking her to detach her ear 1st!! She was crying so hard and covering her ears so tightly....but finally, success!!! She chose the little yellow flowers. Hopefully, this task will get easier. I even let her put earrings in my ears 1st.

Do you guys like my new blog background? My friend, Meredith, had changed hers, and it's so cute that I went to the website she did to pick out a new one...there are only a gazillion to choose from, it was a hard decision. I've been wanting to change it up, but could never find an easy website to get backgrounds from one that had really cute ones. So thank you, Mer, for letting me follow your step.

Here's some photos from Ash's party. This 1st one is Brian taking Addy down the slide with him. She didn't know what to think about that wild ride!

RC and Kevin:

Ash looking pretty beat!

Sydney and Mer's daughter, Allie:

PeyPey and Steve:

Ash and Jaydon going down the slide together:

Ash in her new Princess Belle Nightgown compliments of Deena:

Happy Birthday Baby Girl. Sleep Tight!