Party time!

 American Girl and Star Wars came together at Andy and Ashlyn's 5th birthday party!

 Where else could we contain over 30 kids under 8 years old??? Our favorite bounce house place...Party Kingdom was the perfect place.  Look at all those presents!!! We ended up taking them home to open and it was crazier than Christmas morning.  They were truly spoiled by everyone.

 The Grandmas survived the big slide....

 It looks like they enjoyed it.

 Andy with his best bud Tyler.

 All the kids give or take a couple that might have run off by the 4th attempt of this picture.

 Limbo time.

 Chase happy playing with the balls.

 Girl table

 (picture not flipped in my pic folder. anyone know how to fix this???)

 Boy Table.

 Happy birthday my sweet twins!  

I'm so grateful you have each other and that I have been blessed to be on this journey with you!

Turning 5!

 Turning 5 is such a big deal. It means you are a BIG kid.  You are ready for school and to be treated a little older.  It means no more playing with 4 year olds (or at least Ashlyn thinks so).  We decided to throw a big party in celebration of this momentous occasion.  

First off: Preschool Party.  We went with ice cream cones this year.  It was a big hit!

 On the morning of their actual birthday, the doughnut tradition continued on.

I can't believe "the babies" are 5 and will start kindergarten in August.  When they were born I never thought about the future, I just survived one day at a time. Now we are on the brink of sending them off into the "real world" of kindergarten and it feels so strange. I have so many mixed emotions as my heart breaks a little that this time has come.  I'm trying to soak up all the moments while I still have them at home all day while they are counting the days until the first day of school. (heavy sigh!)

American Girl

For Ashlyn's 5th Birthday Grandma P told her she would take her to the American Girl Doll store.

 None of us had ever been so Taylor, Grandma J and I decided that we HAD to go too.  So it turned into a fun girls day..

 We lucked out and at the last moment were able to get lunch reservations.  We are SO glad we did.  Not sure I have seen anything much cuter than their little cafe. 

 Happy Birthday to our crazy, funny, spirited Ashlyn Diane!

 I was dying over all the cute little details.

 Priority #1 was spa treatments and hair do's for the plastic people of our group.

 I LOVE all of Ashlyn's expressions in these pictures, not sure she could have been any happier.

 Kanani all prettied up.

 Ashlyn scored big time on this outing.  Kanani and Jess now have a cool bed of their own.

 Grandma P collects all the Dolls of the Year (thankfully for my girls) and so McKenna was added to the collection.

We had such a fun day, spent HOURS in the stores drooling and trying to decide what we HAD to have.  We can't wait to go back.

Quotes of the Day

5 years old is a fun (diffcult) age. In our home all the fun (difficulties) are times 2.  As a result I am being stretched to my limits lately..but what are twins for?  Along with twice the crazy there is also twice the fun, love, and joy. 

There have been some great quotes from them recently that I REALLY don't want to forget so here they are....

The kids have been fighting more lately especially with Taylor off track. Instead of intervening every 2 seconds I have instructed them ever so gently to "solve.their.own.problems!"  Ashlyn's reply in a cry that only Ash can produce and if you have heard it, you know what I am talking about. Finger cut off or milk spill and its the same blood curling cry.  "I don't want to solve my own problems, its too hard!"

Andy has become a crier lately and has been called a cry baby more times then he likes. ( I thought boys were supposed to be tough?) So now he says while crying, "You guys are making me a cry baby."  At least he is owning up to his new nickname which I do not condone by the way.

Seriously love these 2!

Tae Kwondo

 In January Andy started Tae Kwondo.  You are allowed 4 free classes before you commit. Guess what happened after his first class...his sisters decided they wanted to join too.

I was actually fine with that.  Being able to drop all 3 at the same place at the same time sounded pretty good to me.  Well....Taylor lasted 2 classes before she decided the discipline and structure wasn't really her thing.  Ashlyn lasted 3 classes and decided gymnastics is HER thing which we all agree is true.  So Andy got to have his OWN thing again and he loves it.  He attends 2-3 classes a week, gets to go with one of his best buddies Leonard, and is really doing well and he can't wait to be tested for his yellow belt.  It has been about a month and he earned his first stripe on his belt today for great improvement.  I carpool/baby swap with our friend and so I don't get to watch him often.  I was happy to be there today to see him get his stripe.  As I was watching him I couldn't believe this was My Andy Man, he seemed so grown up, looked way too tall, and was following along so well and just acting like a big boy.  He is growing into such a handsome sweet boy and I just adore him! 

Epilogue: Taylor is now participating in a low key cheer group and Ashlyn is back in gymnastics at the Talent Factory.  Both girls are loving their new things.  All 3 start Spring Soccer this week. We are a little busy but we sure enjoy all these activities.  Poor Chase has a couple more years but would LOVE to be able to participate in all the fun with his 3 favorite people.

Arroyo Grande

 Our last night in Pismo we met friends for dinner in the cute town of Arroyo Grande.  We went exploring before dinner and this is what we found.  LOVED it!

 Found a fun bridge

 The kids (and Grandpa) had a great time scarring Grandma (and me) by shaking the heck out of that thing and jumping up and down.

 We loved this part of California and have thought many times since our visit to move there....but we are not ready to live that far away from the grandparents...you can see why. 

Sand Dunes

 You can't go to Pismo without experiencing the San Dunes, right?  Still so weird to me that right next to the beach are these amazing sand dunes...its just doesn't add up.  Thanks to Tyler's radio show he was able to score 2 4 person buggies for free in exchange for an interview and publicity shout out on his show.  SWEET!

 The kids had a blast.  Even Chase survived...I was so worried.  Those helmets are crazy heavy and he had to sit on a cushion just to be able to be strapped in.  He had his paci in his mouth and didn't make a peep the whole time.  I did have Tyler stop a few times so I could make sure he was still alive.  The poor kid was probably wondering what on earth was going on. 

Taylor could he heard screaming in excitement for more on each hill we went on and I could be heard screaming in fear from the back on every hill.  However when we were done, we were done.  I think everyone was ready when the time was up and our necks were a little bit stronger.