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I won 3 tickets to a Detroit Lion's game from a silent auction. The game was predictably lame, but that wasn't a big deal. The purpose of the tickets was to take Ashton to Ford Field to see the team that he loves so much (plus the tickets were dirt cheap because nobody wanted to put up a fight for them!). We did have to leave early, and not just because of the terrible football playing, Ashton got an earache and was in a lot of pain. Ashton loves popcorn and was very excited to have this huge tub to himself. He later threw it all up.

Soccer Practice

This is the only good picture I have of Ashton at soccer practice. I signed him up through the community ed program and it was great. The coach was fantastic and he had a lot of help from high school students who were also really amazing with all the small kids.

Happy 5th Birthday, Ashton!

Ashton got a stomach bug on the day of his birthday, so he had to stay home from school andwe had to cancel his party. But we still wanted to celebrate, so Chadd, Lorelei and I gave Ashton his presents.
I was really excited to get him a new scooter. The one he has is really weird and it never really worked the way it should. He was ok-happy about it, but it was completely overshadowed by Lorelei's present:

a 100 piece Betty Crocker cake decorating set. He was crazy-happy about this set of "tools." He's seen the commercial for it only a million times and he was convinced that he needed it. So now he's got it and I better see some beautifully decorated treats coming my way on Mother's Day...

Ashton is sitting, patiently waiting for the go ahead to rip into his presents. It was a crowded house over here. A lot of people came out to celebrate the big number 5 with us.

Ashton wanted a dog themed party, so I did what I could. That is a peanut butter bone cake in the back, and the other two are supposed to be dog dishes. The water bowl is a boring carrot cake (no walnuts or coconut) and the food bowl is a fantastic carrot cake (with all the nutty fixin's).

This is Ashton partaking in the last of the birthday rituals around here; cake and ice cream for the morning after. Birthday dessert for the next day's breakfast is a fun tradition that even overnight guests are fond of. (Sometimes the tradition extends past the first day. Jen, how many mornings did we start off with carrot cake after Lorelei's first birthday?)

Daddy could learn a thing or two

Ashton, Lorelei and myself are in the car yesterday, taking Ashton to school. A song comes on the radio. Ashton asks, "Is this LDL?" I reply with, "Nope. It's Alice in Chains." I confirm this by pushing the info button on my radio (we were listening to Lithium, the 90's alternative rock station) and say, "Yup. It's Alice in Chains."

So then Ashton says something about LDL and is mumbling and I can't hear him. I ask him to speak up and he tells me that I told him that the song on the radio was by LDL. I said, "I did not tell you the song was by LDL. You asked if LDL sang this song and I told you that it was Alice in Chains. And to confirm that it was indeed Alice in Chains, I checked the radio and it said Alice in Chains. I never said anything about LDL. You did. So please stop arguing with me because this is not something worth arguing about. You're just like your father." Ashton replies with, "OK, you're right and I'm wrong." He's smiling but I'm sure I heard his eyes roll (a lovely trait that he has picked up from me). I told him that what he just said was not like his father. But I liked it.

Are you reading this Chadd? Consider it free advice from your son.

Hey, Good Lookin'

Today was picture day at Ashton's school. Ashton's hair had grown pretty long (for him anyway) and he desperately wanted me to cut it. He did not want to wait to see a professional because he needed it done for picture day. This was the conversation we had last night:

M: "I think that maybe you should keep your hair long for picture day."
A: "But that's not how I want to look in my picture."
M: "What if I give you a bad haircut?"
A: "It's OK. I'll still look good."

You can't argue with a good dose of positive self-esteem. I buzzed it off with a #5 trim guard.

Jillian's New Favorite Tennis Star

Ashton has started tennis lessons and he loves it! The course is only 5 weeks long, but he has already learned so much. The most important thing that we have learned: He's definitely a lefty. After all this time of him using both hands equally, he has discovered that he is most comfortable with the left.

It's a small class of only 6 children and Ashton loves his coach, Miss Kerri. They have a lot of fun. Ashton's favorite part of tennis is playing the different games. His favorite is "walk the dogs" but he also really likes a game called, "jail."

The class meets for an hour every Thursday. During the rest of the week, Ashton and I like to go practice at the high school's courts, but Lorelei doesn't have the patience for it. I've actually never really cared for tennis, but I love watching and helping Ashton practice so much that now I want to learn too! Miss Kerri says she teaches a beginning class for women, but I don't think she knows just what a sports dummy I am. Anyway, on to the pictures.

It's hard to get good action shots; my camera takes the picture way after the action has occurred. But here's a couple of cute ones.

Graduation

Ashton graduated from preschool (a couple of months ago!). But it was a really fun and happy day so I should at least put it up with the memories before shool starts this fall.

Ashton loved preshool. So I asked him this:"What was your favorite part about preschool?"

His answer:"All of it."

He has been asking a lot about his teachers lately, and is wondering why we are not visiting them at their homes. I think that he is getting anixious for school to start up.



His teachers were great. They had this wonderful little ceremony outside. The kids got to cross the bridge while the teacher said some nice things about each student.

Afterward, there was an ice cream bar in the classroom. It was a really good time.

That night we had a small graduation party at home. Ashton was really happy that Grandma Debra, Great (sorry grandma) grandma from Arizona, Nana Pat and Papa Rick were able to come. We had dinner and cake. Ashton was very excited that we were celebrating him, though he was still in a little bit of denial that graduation meant there was no more school.


I sincerely hope that he loves the rest of his school years as much as he loved preschool.

Let's look at the review

Here is Ashton with Auntie Jen. What is that you say? You do not see Jen in the picture? The same beautiful and wonderful Jen whom I met in college, stood up in my wedding, and is now my son's favorite faux aunt? Well, Ashton is so enamoured with his Auntie Jen that he has named his precious insulin pump after her. (And yes, it is wierd when I tell Ashton that it's time to change Auntie Jen's batteries).

Halloween

Ashton was a bat for Halloween. In the picture above he is sitting next to the pumpkin that he picked out and carved. The picture below is Ashton showing off his wings. He's really into bats right now.


Happy 4th Birthday!

The theme for Ashton's 4th birthday party was "puzzles." Everything came together really well, but I had no idea how I was going to make a puzzle cake. So, Ashton and I decided to create a big puzzle chocolate chip cookie. We then used the cookie "puzzle pieces" for the first layer of a make-your-own sundae bar.

I love this next picture. This is Elaina, Trenton's (My brother's son) sister. She is absolutely adorable and Ashton loves her. This is the last picture of the evening, after the children had become completely partied out. Ashton has inherited the unfortunate characteristic of mine to look drunk in any random photo. This could be a preview of pictures to come if Ashton and Elaina go to college together.

Random Moments

Ashton still loves to read and often falls asleep on or next to a book.

Sometimes I drape my hair over Lorelei's head so that we can see what she will look like one day when she is not bald (if ever). Ashton wanted to try and we have the exact same color hair so this is one of my favorite looks- this is Ashton if he were Amish.
Ashton was very excited to move from a carseat to a booster. This is a picture of his first ride as a "big boy."

Ashton quickly moved from booster to driver. Here he is pulling into the garage.

We hung these organizers in the play room and Ashton was quite confused by them. He asked me, "How am I supposed to get my head in there?"