Ashtyn's 3rd Birthday!

What a fun weekend we had. My mom, my brother Derek and his wife Liz and son Jaxe all came up. (It's nice to live closer to home now).

Jaxe is ~2.5 months and Corinne is ~5.5 months. I think you can tell they are cousins....


Have I mentioned yet that I have the cutest baby. EVER. PERIOD.

Don't even try to say otherwise. :)

We love her bunches. This last week was a big week for her: she got her bottom two teeth and she learned to roll over!

And the real reason for the fun weekend and visitors: Ashtyn's 3rd birthday! It was so nice to have family to celebrate with. Ashtyn loved it all--the decorations, fun, games, presents, etc. I suppose all kids do, but she's so appreciative of it all. She's just such a fun-loving girl.

She informed me months ago that she wanted a sign.

And treats.

She wanted a pink ladybug birthday party. I think the whole thing ended up a pink-and-green birthday party with some ladybugs here and there, but she liked it all and we had a lot of fun.

I think mostly she liked all the treats.

Of course, the ladybug pizza for lunch was

a big hit too.

And here's the ladybug birthday cake. I thought it turned out pretty cute! Ashtyn liked it a lot, although I could tell it wasn't what she originally had in mind. She asked all sorts of questions such as, "why is it a grass cake with little lady bugs? why do the ladybugs have spikes instead of spots? (I used melted chocolate chips to make the spots and it ended up looking like super small chocolate chips on the backs of the ladybugs--she noticed).

Aren't these adorable? Oreos dipped in almond bark with a stick in them. voila.

It was a fun day! We pretty much partied all day--opened presents whenever she wanted and played with all the stuff she got. In the evening, we went up to Casper Mountain (have I mentioned yet that we really like living by the mountains again?) and had a hot-dog roast.

Ashtyn got all sorts of fun presents, and yet her favorite toys remain to be her stuffed animals. I bought this storage bin for baby clothes the other day but have just kept it out for her to play in because it's just been the funnest thing ever for her. It's been a wheel barrow, a hot air balloon, a hospital, a bed, etc.,etc.

Now she's three, she is pretty big (so she tells us). One of her new favorite accomplishments is the fact that she can chew hard carrots now. And that her arms are so long. And that she can "leap from rock to rock like a mountain goat." And that she gets a "grown up" seat in the car (we got her a booster seat, which she LOVES--probably because she can squirm around more.

She is getting big though.

Ashtyn drew (and labeled) this picture of her Dad. I've been wondering if it's just a coincidence or not that it looks like a giant Teddy Bear. Her favorite toy is her Teddy and it is definitely a daddy. Not bad for a girl on the eve of her 3rd bday.

Ashtyn's definitely got her own ideas too. I love this picture.

You'd think I was trying to make her eat liver or something. No, no, just trying to convince her to get her photo taken. Again. We were trying to get all the Bates grandkids in one photo, but I took some more individual shots too.

I did get some good ones though. :)

Anyway, it was a good weekend with lots of fun times. Here she is on her big birthday present--a tricycle. Pretty stellar tricycle, huh? She's a champ on it and looks so cute.

We spent lots of time playing at home

(Kids + Sprinklers = Loads of Fun. Oh, wait, um.... Girls + Sprinklers = Loads of Fun?)

And around town.
The parks in Casper are pretty fun.... We've been having fun exploring them. Ashtyn likes the cork-screw slides, but what she is really nuts for are the swings. Usually when she wants to go to a park she specifies "a park with swings."

We love our girls! There's more to say, but that'll have to wait! suffice it to say that we're all well. I'm overwhelmed with my teaching job (I'm SOOOOO slow at lesson planning!!!) but really liking the subject matter, Tyler is working crazy hours in the ER (8 PM to 6 AM this week) but is having a blast suturing people back up, popping dislocated shoulders back in, "diagnosing" all sorts of things, and just finally getting a chance to DO Dr. stuff rather than just KNOW Dr. stuff. Until next time....