Happy Birthday Brycie~

Brycelyn had her 10th birthday on December 28th. At birth, She was 6 pounds 10 oz and 19 1/2 inches long. She was due on January 8th 1999, but chose to come a little early. We were sooo glad too!!.... Just made the tax write off for the year! :) She came into this world only 16 short months after her big brother Levi. She is such a fun girl and has a HUGE heart! She loves to help cook and has gotten very good at it. Here are some pictures of her over the years. Not in any particular order...... (Sorry for the poor quality of the upload)

Just a few days old....



Brycie had her tonsils taken out at 5 years old....

Brycie LOVES the green jewlery she got from Grandma Ashton..........

First Halloween.... Pebbles and Bam Bam......

First Birthday and she was SICK.....

All dressed up for Halloween..........

Getting a Christmas tree in the snow......

Playing.........

Playing again.........

Look at all that hair and she is not even a year old yet..........

First Christmas.......

Playing with the cousins........

Ready for Church........

At the parade..........

Sweet Brycie..........

Christmas!

I am HORRIBLE at taking pictures when things are going on. I am a loser and didn't get many pictures from the festivities. So I stole some from other peoples blogs. So if you are one of the many I swiped these from.... FORGIVE me please!!

The Heaps as always were kind enough to lug our family along on the wagon to hand out popcorn balls. My kids just LOVE the mules... Sally and Sweetheart!.....

Christmas Eve Nativaity......

Christmas Eve with some of the Ashton Cousins....

Every Christmas Eve the kids get to open up 2 presents.. which are new PJ's and Slippers. Please ignore the holes in the pants. For some reason my kids can't keep holes out of their pants. ??........

The kids opening the present from Grammie & Grumpy...

The girls opening the Plama Car from Grammie & Grumpy.......

It was a BIG hit! I will have to get pictures of them riding it later...

Mimi..........

Levi....

After we opened presents we drove down to Gilbert to Grandma and Grandpa Ashton's, where we got to eat yummy food and visit with family for 2 days. The roads down were terrible for a bit and snow packed.

Christmas Day.. Levi, Cooper & Tucker. Playing football in the rain........

Christmas Day....... Mimi, Brycie & Addie....

Santa Fly In~~

One of the many reasons I love working at the elementary school, is the Santa Fly In. Every year on the last day of school before Christmas Break, Santa fly's to the school. First they start off with a fire drill that gets the kids outside.... (usually, most kids know why). Then when they get outside, Santa is circling around the school in a helicopter. He does this for a few minutes while the kids are going wild!!.. Screaming and jumping up and down. It's quite the site and fun to watch. Then Santa lands and gets off the helicopter, and waves to the kids. Then he walks into the school where the kids get to stand in line to talk to Santa and get a bag of goodies. I took a TON of pictures, here are a few..........

Santa circling the school....



Mimi with some of the girls in her class.... Waiting for Santa to land....



Mimi and Rosie... Still waiting....



Here he comes.....



FINALLY.......



Mimi and Rachel waiting in line to talk to Santa.........



Whew!!... Finally she gets to tell Santa what she wants!!!


What a fun time. The kids love it, and I love watching the excietement. Seriously.. where else are you going to see this happen? I'm telling you this is a great place. I hope you all have a WONDERFUL Christmas! :)

HaPpY dAy~~

Do you ever wonder why your kids just can't seem to get along? They seem to do nothing but fight and you want to pull your hair out?! This is how I seem to feel most of the time. My kids sometimes fight non-stop. It seems we are always telling them to get along. And that someday they will realize that family is what matters. Someday they will see that when everyone else has failed them, family will be there. There are times I long for the days when Levi and Brycelyn were best friends. I love to look at pictures of them playing together as little kids. This morning Levi and Brycie woke up before anyone else. After Brycelyn swtiched the laundry, she and Levi sat and talked for over and hour and not ONE fight occured! We could hear them from our room. Quinn woke up and said.... "Don't they know we are trying to sleep in here?". My reply was... "At least they aren't fighting". Quinn says... "True". Then he rolled over and went back to sleep. I however sat and listned. They carried on a conversation that changed from one subject to another. I laid there amazed, thinking....... "They DO love eachother and CAN get along!". It made my day. It got me thinking about the times that I would go in their room in the morning to find that Levi has dumped a few toys in Brycie's crib and then would crawl in to play with her. So I pulled out a few pictures of them playing together.... :)

Levi Kissing Brycie......

Brycie giving Levi a Zerbert... And he likes it!!

I came in to find Levi feeding Brycie when I stepped away for a second....

Levi and Brycie took the toys out to play under the tv.....

Playing in the crib in the morning..........

See... they REALLY can get along!

Walking in a Reading Wonderland~

We are having a Book Fair at Coronado this week. The secretary and I worked hard decorating and I think it looks fantastic. Come in and see the many great books on display. We have a little something for everyone….

Cookie Exchange

Megan had the great idea of doing a "Cookie Exchange" our blogs. I have a few that I like, but this is a favorite. It is SUPER easy. Some of you probably already have it, but here it is.....

Homemade Oreo Cookies

Cookies:
2 pkgs. Super Moist Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix
1 C. Shortening
4 eggs

Mix together well and roll into balls. Bake @ 350º for 8 minutes. Let Cool completely.

Filling:
8 oz. Cream Cheese
¼ C. Butter
2 tsp. Vanilla
2 to 4 C. Powdered Sugar

Mix well and spread over one side of cookie, then place another over top to make like a sandwich. Repeat till all cookies are done.

Let's see yours.... :)

Christmas Tree....

Last wednesday on the 26th, we decieded to go get our tree. We woke up early and headed to the mountians. Lucky for us there were only patches of snow.... I don't like to get it when there is lots of snow on the ground. While we were there we also picked up a tree for the district office. We were leaving that same day for Thanksgiving for a few days so we put the tree in a big bucket of water until we got back to put it up. Here are a few pictures of our excursion....

Levi~



Brycie~



Mimi~



This is the one~



LOVE the view... I mean TREE!



The finished product.... I stuck the lights on and let the kids have at it....

Pictures...

When I went to get the pictures of us getting our Christmas Tree, I found some pictures from this summer and the start of the school year, that I thought I'd share...

Mimi getting ready to ride the Quad with Brycie. I just love this picture... It shows her happy go lucky personality. Gotta love those eyes!... She get's them from her Dad. :)

Mimi & Brycie ready to go for a ride...

And they're OFF!...........

Levi at the Rodeo just before the rooster pecked his cheek and drew blood...

Levi singing at the County Fair with the 5th graders. He LOVES to sing and has a WONDERFUL voice! He certainly didn't get that from me. He was asked to sing a solo next month in church and he said yes.

Here is Mimi and Lou at the tailgate party waiting for the football game to start...

Brycie at the tailgate saving our seats for the game.....

Levi.... Oh wait!! I never see him at the game because he is always running around with a pack of boys, doing who knows what?! Sorry no pictures of him at the game.