Halloween

We had such a fun Halloween party with family and friends Saturday night. It is nice to be able to get together with friends and their children and have a good time. We had a costume contest but the judges decided to draw winners from names in a hat because there were so many cute costumes there was no way they wanted to hurt any feelings.

We had twin glow worms from Elli and Kailynn,we had a tinkerbell, a twister game board, a little UPS boy, a pirate and many other very cute kids dressed up.

I think everyone had a great time. We are blessed to live where we do where we can have parties like this.

Elli was all bundled up and looking cute in her costume. She was funny when we first put the costume on her because she was looking at us all funny with this look on her face and we could tell she was saying "what in the world are you guys doing to me"?

Here are a few pictures from the Halloween Party.

And storytime with Mommy.

Pictures

Bryan getting ready for the half marathon.

Elli sportin her blue jeans!!

This is how Elli fell asleep one evening.

Alyssa "Ali" Michelle

There really aren't enough words to describe Ali's personality. Mostly because it can change in seconds. Ali can go from calm and cool to explosive and full of spit and vinegar in about 30 seconds. I have never seen anything like it before, but I have a feeling my parents would say they have. Ali is just like me. Everything about her spit fire personality is a spitting image of me. Bryan and I tell Ali all of the time that she doesn't know when to keep her mouth shut and every time we tell her that, I can hear my Mom and Dad saying the same thing to me.

From the time Ali was born, she was Miss Independent. She wanted to do everything there was to do and she wanted to do it now. She skipped crawling and went straight to walking and couldn't get where she wanted to go fast enough. Much like she is today!! She could carry on an adult conversation when she was about 2 years old. My Grandma used to put Ali on speakerphone in her office just so her coworkers could hear how she could talk.

Ali has always been very involved with everything. She has always played some sport and much to my amazement she is good at every sport she tries. That part is amazing to me because it is the one thing that is definitely NOT like me. I am not at all athletic. Ali played soccer until they made her take her earrings out and then she stood in the middle of the field and cried. She has played basketball, volleyball, tennis and even dance. But her true love is softball. She has played since her first year of tball when she was about 6 years old. We have traveled many places to watch some really good softball with a great team that at times became a second family to us. Our softball adventures have taken us as close as Ohio andKentucky and as far as Alabama and Mississippi.Granted Ali has broken many bones playing all of these sports. The orthopedic surgeon and I are on a first name basis because we have been there so many times.

Ali has never met a stranger in her life and will talk and become best friends with someone in an instant. But, she is also very sensitive and gets her feelings hurt very easily too. She has spunk and charisma like no other.

Ali is now a senior and looking back through pictures and my own memories, I could go on for hours about all of the funny stories and tales and adventures that Ali has put us through, but I will save all of those to tell her friends at Graduation. :) I hope and pray that Ali's senior year is all she wants it to be. Ali is president of Best Buddies this year. This was a position that she worked so hard to get and we couldn't be more proud of her. It takes a special person with a big heart to do what Ali does for those kids and Ali definitely has a big heart.





Through all of the ups and downs that all teenagers put their parents through....we know the following about Ali:

She will succeed in life...she will push herself until she gets what she wants.

Ali wants to be a special education teacher....Bryan and I think she would make a great lawyer. :)

She will always fight to the bone for what she believes is right.

She will overcome obstacles and become a stronger person throughout those obstacles.

But most of all we know that we are proud of Ali and we love her very much.

Ashli Anne

Ashli is feeling a bit deprvied and says that Elli is the only one that I ever blog about. So, I am making the next two days for Ali & Ashli. We will start with Ashli.

From the day Ashli was born she was the sweetest baby. She was content simply being held and cuddled. She was just a very relaxed baby. She had the darkest hair and the most beautiful skin color. Her Great Grandma Swalley said she looked like a papoose.

Ashli had a few medical mishaps when she was born. She was born with a dislocated hip and had to have it put back in place. She also had some stomach problems which continue to this day. Then, when Ash was 3 years old she had to have eye surgery to correct a muscle problem in her eye. She got her first pair of glasses when she was three years old and as soon as she put them on and went outside it was like she was seeing the world for the very first time.

Ashli took her time doing everything. She was not in any hurry to walk or talk. As a matter of fact she did not start talking until she was almost 3 years old. After countless trips to the pediatrician to make sure nothing was wrong, we finally concluded that Ashli didn't need to talk. Her big sister talked enough for both of them. Plus she got whatever she wanted without having to ask for it.
Ashli went through a spell for the longest time when she was afraid of cameras. Really afraid...if you even got a camera out and tried to take her picture she would start screaming. So in a time span of about 3 years....we have ZERO pictures of Ashli. However during that time she also won a baby contest in our county fair. So lots of pictures were taken of her running from the camera. She was so cute...she was the only one wearing little overalls instead of the fancy little dresses that the other girls were wearing.

She was a very shy girl. Those that know her now might never believe that. She was so shy in fact that we could not sing Happy Birthday to her on her Birthdays. She wanted to blow out the candles, but she did not like being sung too. We often wonder if that was because she was shy or because we are terrible singers.

Now...fast forward several years and Ashli has developed into the young lady that she is today.

She loves getting her picture taken.

She makes everyone around her laugh.

She never stops talking.

She still loves to cuddle and is very loveable.

She still is very much a Mommy's girl.

She loves to hang out with her friends and her family.

Ashli is goofy in every sense of the word. Take a look over the years at just some of Ashli's goofiness.

But most of all... Ashli is loved!!