Ashley's 11th Birthday

Saturday was Ashley's 11th birthday. Mike had to work but we had fun making paper decorations, preparing food, baking her cake. In the afternoon Ashley's friend Elisabeth from school came over to play for a few hours. Once Mike was home we headed to the Golden Corral to meet up with grandma Reva, aunt Carla, aunt Kristey, cousins Mariah, James and Amanda for dinner. Then we went to see the new Disney movie Frozen.

Sunday we decorated and got everything ready for Ashley's party at home. My sister Molly and her family came over along with a few of the neighbor girls to celebrate with us. We had yummy snacks and played pin the tail on the zebra then had cake and opened some presents. Then we headed to the Rollerdrome to roller skate for a few hours. It was a blast and we came home tired and hungry. We made homemade pizza and watched a movie.

Thank you to everyone for all of Ashley's wonderful birthday cards and gifts.

Ashley ready to open some presents

Ashley at the Golden Corral for dinner and a few presents

Mariah at the Golden Corral for her 22nd birthday.

Amanda celebrating her 16th birthday with James at the Golden Corral

Ashley ready for her party guests to arrive.

Ashley ready to blow out her candles

Pink and blue zebra stripes inside her cake

Owen, Ashley, Delaney, Mason and Alysha at the Rollerdrome

Roller Skating

Ashley at the Rollerdrome

Time to head back to school

Winter break came to an end. Ashley and Owen headed back to school with their finished school projects. Owen did a poster all in Spanish on the five different animal kingdoms with an example of each. Ashley did a clay model of an animal cell and a plant cell.

Alysha didn't start back to school until the next day so Mike took her and I to the shooting range to shoot his new gun. It was my first time and Alysha's second. It was fun but cold and windy.

Alysha shooting at the gun range

Mike teaching me how to shoot his gun

Don't mess with Alysha, she's a good shot!

The weather changed to really warm for a few days and all of Mike's hard work on the ice house melted to the ground. I took a photo of it before it really started melting.

Mike and Ashley's ice house before it melted.

Lake Lowell

We headed out to Lake Lowell so Mike could cut out his tool that was frozen in the ice from his last trip out to play on the ice.  We took a sled and the ice skates to play with while we were there. Then Mike cut out some ice blocks to check to see how deep the ice really was. It was a fun afternoon.

Checking out Lake Lowell

Ashley at Lake Lowell

Owen at Lake Lowell

Alysha at Lake Lowell

Mike coming back from rescuing his tool from the ice

Mike ready to cut ice blocks

Ice fishing anyone?

Ashley ice skating while Mike cuts ice blocks

Making ice blocks

Owen and the ice blocks

Happy New Years!

I caught a nasty cold for Christmas and was still really not feeling well on New Years Eve. Mike talked me into going to his sister Ruby's house to party and said that we would leave early.  I tried to stay away from everyone while they all played games and ate yummy food. I ended up drawing for a little while then played Apples to Apples with Owen and Alaina. Owen was complaining about a sore throat and Ashley was ready to go home so we headed home early. Alysha stayed and said that everyone else had a great time playing Just Dance on the Wii. I didn't take any photos :( 

On New Years Day we all stayed in our pjs and were lazy. Mike took Owen and a couple of his friends out to Lake Lowell to check how frozen it was. Then in the evening we went to the movies and watched Cloudy with a chance of meatballs 2 which was really cute and funny. Mike and Ashley got started working on an ice block house in the backyard.

Owen, Daniel and Tyler at Lake Lowell

Mike making ice blocks for the ice house

Ashley helping making ice blocks