Halloween was "Spook"tacular!

I was Princess Jasmin this year for Halloween. Nana made my costume from last year-but this year I got more BLING. I got to wear my Great-Great-Grandma Mimi's earrings and special gloves too. Wasn"t I gorgeous?

Aunt Emrie, Uncle Luke, Miles, and baby Masie came to see us. Miles was a penguin-he looked like Happy Feet. And Baby Masie was a snow ball...she was so adorable. Then we went Trunk-Trick-or-Treating at the church. It was a lot of fun-it wasn't even cold outside. I saw some of my friends from primary and school there all dressed up in their cool costumes. I really liked all the princess costumes.

My sister, Ellyce was Princess Aurora from Sleeping Beauty. She was so pretty. And Jillian was Cinderella since she had a blue dress. Her Belle costume was way too small-Halloween was so fun this year. I'm already planning what I'm going to be next year...SUPER GIRL!

Fall Break

This week has been Fall break, so no school or dance or anything. We've been playing with friends, going to the park, taking walks, watching movies...taking a BREAK! It's been pretty fun. Starting Monday, though Ashlynn starts school at 7:30 and goes until 10:30 rather than her old 8-11 schedule. Legacy School, where Ashlynn attends, has had a few bumps in the road regarding the actual school building. There's too many kids for everyone to go full day, so they've had to make a lot of changes. Ashlynn's class and the old afternoon class are now combined and will meet from 7:30 to 10:30 until the end of the school year. It is pretty early, but oh well, I don't mind her going half-day either. Next year it'll be different I'm sure.

Well, here's a picture of Ashlynn and her little friend Taylor (Kara's daughter) that I wanted to share with everyone.

First camping trip in years...

The last time we all went camping as a family it was just Ashlynn, Nathan, and I (who was pregnant with Ellyce-just barely pregnant), so we decided it was time to venture out again. We all love camping-especially being out where it's not 110 degrees. We headed up to Payson, AZ which is only an hour or so away. We found a great spot-where we usually go-at the Ponderosa Campground about 15 minutes east of Payson. It was gorgeous. We set up camp and gathered some firewood to make our dinner (hot dogs) and dessert, s'mores. The evening went well enough. The girls got to have their own little sleeping bags and slept fine except for Jillian, Nathan, and me. Ashlynn and Ellyce slept like rocks. I think we'll wait a while before we head for the hills to camp once again.

Ashlynn's first quiz-phonograms

Yes I actually scanned in her first quiz for everyone to see...she received a 9 out of 9 on her phonograms. I am so proud of her. She has been working so hard at home when we're doing her homework. For her homework, we write her name five times. We practice writing the number of the day. We have also been working on letter recognition which seems to be difficult because she mainly knows the uppercase letters and not all of the lowercase ones. I've got some flash cards that we've been working on so I do hope that helps her.

This other photo of our kindergarten queen is her standing in line waiting for pick up. You can sort of see her teacher, Mrs. Taylor. She is wearing the purple-ish shirt with the black cardigan over it (pony tail). Ashlynn just loves her-she says how much fun she has with Mrs. Taylor. She colors pictures for her all the time-just not sure if we should add those to the homework assignments I send back to school with her. I'd bet her teacher would love them. Well, enjoy.

First Week of School Personal Interview

After the first day of school we went to the park and played for a bit. I asked Ashlynn how her first day went and here was her response...hit play.

First Week of School

School started Monday, August 25th at 8:00 AM. There were lots of kids there already playing on the playground at school, so I went and played with them. I made lots of new friends. I even saw some of my other friends.

Mom's Notes: Throughout the entire week, I've been trying to get anything out of Ashlynn...like what they did in the 3 hours she was there. I thought I asked about every question in the book and it seemed like her day was pretty boring. Until we started working on her homework Tuesday after school-I was writing down the day and date when Ashlynn said "It's 2008 Mom". I looked at her completely shocked. I don't think I have ever heard her say such a big word (actually number). I responded with the "Wow! Did you learn that at school?" "Yes...my teacher tells us it's August 2008". Ummm-I was seriously dumbfounded...it took two days at kindergarten and my child is borderline genius. Ok just kidding. I'm just so proud of her.

Ashlynn and I have been working on her phonograms: a, o, c, and d this week. She has also started learning a song to remember how to write her numbers. It goes to the tune of Skip To My Lou...For example the number two verse is: "Curl around and slide to the right (Repeat 3 times)...That's how we write the number 2". How fun! During school hours they work on math (Saxon) and their Spalding Reading/Phonograms. Then at home we do review with the phonograms for the week and practice writing the number of the day. Homework for kindergarteners is 15 minutes per day plus 15 minutes of reading. So before bed we read for 15 to 30 minutes. We're reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. We're already on Chapter 5. Both the girls love it.

All in all, Ashlynn is just loving going to school. You can tell is tires her out which is okay too. She has made some new friends but can't remember their name (sounds like her mom-I can never remember anyone's names either). I am so happy that she is so interested in learning.

Enjoy some first week photos - The picture on top was her first day and the picture below is of her second day. Isn't she just too stinking cute for her own good?

"Meet the Teacher" Night

I met my kindergarten teacher tonight at my new school (Legacy Traditional School). Her name is Mrs. (Kelly) Taylor. She is very nice. I got to sit at my desk and draw a picture of my hand for my teacher. My classroom is neat. There is lots of desks and cool things on the walls. There is a calendar and a clock probably for homework stuff. I like my classroom. I even met some friends that will be in my class too. I am so excited to have Mrs. Taylor as my teacher. I just can't wait to start kindergarten on Monday. Is it Monday yet?

Bedtime Routine...

Every night I take a bath with my sisters. It gets pretty crazy in the tub sometimes. Afterward Ellyce and I like to wrap our hair up in a towel like Mommy does. Look how cute we are!

After we are done with our bath and get our pajamas on, we give daddy lots of loves then head up to bed. Mommy reads us stories from the books we get from the library. We are reading the Molly Doll books (American Girl) because Mommy said that she used to have a Molly doll when she was little. Nana still has Molly at her house-maybe someday she'll be mine and I can play with her just like my Mommy.

My favorite stories to read are about STINK (Judy Moody's little brother). We've read all three of his books. Mommy just found us another STINK book at the library so we're going to start that book tomorrow after we're done reading Judy Moody Gets Famous (that's a funny one too). I love to read (or at least have Mommy read to me).

Switching Dance Classes...

I first tried out a jazz and tumbling combo class for dance but I was the only one in it, so Mommy tried another class for me called the Twinklers. I didn't like it very much-I wanted to be with Miss Kerry for her cheerleader class, so Mommy said that's okay to put me in there. I'm so excited. I get to go on Thursday nights after school. Yeah!

First day of dance class this year...

Today at dance class I danced, practiced my splits and did tumbling things on the mats. I liked working on my splits and cartwheels the best. My teacher's name is Miss Camille. I had a lot of fun with my friends like Hannah.

*Mom's side note: Ashlynn's class was a jazz/tumbling combo. She had a blast. I asked Camille how she did and said she would probably benefit from going to a more challenging class. She followed along very well during both sections of class, so I've decided to switch her to a Twinkler's class which is two days a week (Tuesdays and Thursdays) so she can progress in her dancing. We'll see how tomorrow goes.

The Start of Something Good...

This is Ashlynn's mommy writing this, but for all our family members who don't live close by, we just wanted to start a blog for Ashlynn so she can keep her thoughts together and to also learn how to work with computers. I'll do my best to help her out, but I want her to be able to share her own thoughts (however random they are) and let you all know what she is up to. Tomorrow is August 4th and will be HER first real journal entry online!