a few brags...

hmmm where to start...i've got quite a bit to brag about these days....lol...no seriously...i just wanted to post an update on all of the cool stuff i've been excited about over the past few weeks....(pretty much all has to do with ashlyn so consider yourself warned)

as ashlyn's soccer season has come to a close i'm proud to say that ashlyn has become leaps and bounds better than when she started...now of course she's no star player or anything (in our eyes of course) but she does have a lot of fun and always wants to play...anyway...she started off as the girl who just ran around the herd in a circle pointing to the direction the players needed to go...this continued through the middle of the season...but here lately..she's been making great strides...she has actually touched the ball on a few occassions...yes....even gotten in the middle of some pileups...(a few...but still) and she's actually made a few drives toward the goal!!! it's funny but i'm so proud of her...has she made a goal yet..??? no...but she has moments where she actually goes after it and i'm proud...because trust me...it wasn't like that when we started...darn me...telling her all of those years to stop being aggressive...lol...her last soccer games are this week and i can't wait to see what they have in store for her...and how her spring season will go now that she knows what she's doing (she already told me she wants to play soccer until she's old)...good for the cardio you know...

so remember all of the drama with ashlyn and school...you know how she didn't want to go...she was saying she was sick and worried....yadda yadda...well, all of that has passed...YAY...i couldn't be more thrilled...it took a couple of weeks...some teary eyed goodbyes...but ashlyn officially loves school again...her teacher has been so awesome with her...i'm so glad we made the switch...she's really comforted her and been very patient and understanding...i'll say we're 99% back to the old ashlyn...this week she has been so excited to go back to school...she goes running in her classroom and always loves to stay late to finish playing with her friends...it's been such a heartbreaking and wonderful experience all at the same time..i was starting to feel like i had made the wrong choice by keeping her in...thinking that i was pushing her into a decision she didn't want to live with...but i'm glad i kept trying...now mind you she wasn't screaming and crying all day at school...once she got into her class she was fine..it was the goodbye part she was having trouble with (in her new classroom...her old classroom was a totally different story...she didn't even want to go in there)...she told me today that she no longer worries about missing me...(so basically she's over me...lol)...i was so happy to hear it...i really want to set her up for a positive school experience..especially since next year will be the big K...

speaking of school...ashlyn has started a new trend in her class....lol..her teacher told me that all of the girls are now coloring all of their pictures rainbow due to ashlyn's love of coloring things rainbow...that's the way to be a trend starter...you go girl...

ashlyn has been doing great in her art...her coloring and drawing are just mad ridiculous (now mind you...i'm her parent so i'm a little biased)...she's drawing hearts and stars all by herself...her people are starting to be more than just stick figures...and she's pretty awesome at coloring in the lines...lol...(okay so maybe most kids are doing the same...but since she's mine i can brag if i want to)...ashlyn is also doing really well with her numbers...i don't know if they work on them in school or not but she's already doing simple addition (2+2) and subtraction (3-1)...and little word problems to boot (if ashlyn has 2 apples and mommy has 3 apples how many apples do we have altogether) ...she sure didn't get that from mommy...we always play math games in the car...so that might have something to do with it...now if we can just get her to write her numbers as well as she can figure them we'll be good to go...they have spanish class at her school and her spanish is really coming along as well...she knows most of her basic colors...her numbers to 10 and some random verbs and other words mixed in here and there...she always tells ryan that she knows more spanish than he does...lol...funny thing is...at the rate she's going...she'll know more than her mommy too....then there is singing (chapel)...she's pretty disappointed that she hasn't been chapel champion yet...but she has come to the conclusion that she doesn't sing loud enough...so she's going to keep trying her best because she really wants the title...she sings her songs while she colors and in the car...it's really cute...i'm glad she's getting a little singing time in at school...and now for the big news of the day...ashlyn is reading!!!! yay...we've been working on it for a few months now...but she's finally really grabbed hold of it...she's sounding things out fairly well...though sometimes she does try to cheat by looking at the picture...we have the HOP series...so at night she's been reading a page out of the workbook and then a book of her choice...if she opts for a new book then she gets a star on her little sheet....i'm so excited...i love that she's reading...it's just so cool (sometimes frustrating....darn english language with your crazy rules) to imagine what kinds of books she'll be into...i know it's a long time away but it's just a really cool milestone...one of my favorites so far...she's also getting the knack of spelling small words by sounding them out...i'm just so very impressed by her...she's really starting to grow up...i can't believe it...

okay that's it for now...no more bragging...i think i've used up all my brag points for the month...just wanted to fill everyone in...

oh and on a side brag note...ashlyn is getting her cartwheel down like a champ..now if only i can get her to kick her legs a little bit higher in the air...