Happy 5th Birthday Ashton!!!

It seems like just yesterday I was going to bed so that I could wake up to be induced the following morning with Ashton. I was supposed to be at the hospital at 6:00am on August 30, 2010, but little did we know there was a different plan for her arrival. She came faster than we ever could have imagined and was born at 4:17am, almost two hours before I was supposed to be at the hospital. I remember the relief of having her in my arms that morning and how I instantly fell in love...we ALL did! 

Fast forward five years and we just celebrated our precious girls 5th birthday with some of her closest girl friends. We celebrated a day early with a party at Firefly Pottery and she was so excited.

Ashton with her beautiful cake from Mrs. Marilyn.

Not only is it beautiful, but it's probably the best tasting cake in town!

Ashton with her sweet friend Paige.

Ashton with Ella, Kalea and Soraya who were all in her class last year.

Wren, Adriana and Soraya

The girls were all able to pick out their own piece of pottery and then the colors that they wanted to paint it. Most chose little heart shaped jewelry boxes, but we had a few turtles, a monkey and a horse too.

Ashton knew when we booked the party that she wanted to paint a jewelry box.

Kaylyn was of course a big help with the little girls.

Ashton had to have her YaYa help her too...

Sweet Sisters

Present time!

My great friend Sarah knew that Ashton was getting a gumball machine from us for her birthday present and made this adorable shirt to give to her from Claire.

Five dollars for the 5 year old.

Ashton wanted a fishing pole so PawPaw got her one.

I love each and every one of these sweet girls! They are such great friends to my girl and her day was special because of all of them.

Singing Happy Birthday

Silly girl didn't like the smell when she blew out the candles.

We didn't get pictures of PawPaw and MeeMee during the party because they were busy helping and keeping Delaney happy, but we had to get pics with them before the party was over.

Ashton and PawPaw

Ashton and MeeMee

Our Sweet Girl

After we got home, Ashton had to try out her fishing pole. We couldn't actually go fishing at that point, so she "fished" in the pool (be sure to read the funny story about her pole further down in the post).

The next day was Ashton's actual birthday and she was so excited to wake up. You see, a few years back we made the decision that gum wasn't something that Ashton was able to have and that she would be allowed to chew it when she turned 5. It seemed silly at first, but became something that she was really, really looking forward to. She couldn't wait to turn 5 and get her gumball machine. We had her presents in the living room and I heard her as soon as she came out of her room.

Ashton's first picture as a 5 year old!

I just love this grin! She was so excited!!!

Getting gum for the first time...

I can't even tell you how many pieces of gum this sweet thing had before we left for church that morning, but I can tell you how happy she was and that's all that matters.

Oh how I love this little stinker!

Once at church, Ashton's sweet friends sang for her and then the rest of the day was all about her too. We went to the park to play, she and daddy hit tennis balls, we went to Lake Ella for Snowballs and to feed the ducks, we went fishing to try out Ashton's new pole or at least tried to until she went to cast and threw the whole thing in the water (daddy couldn't get it before it sank so we had to go buy a new one to replace it...oops) and we even went to Sweet Frog for dessert after dinner at Osaka.

Ashton with her new tennis racket from Grandma and Boppa.

Enjoying her snowball!

Ashton LOVES Sweet Frog.

On Monday, Ashton was celebrated at school and even got up in front of everyone during devotion time.

I sent in cookies for her special treat to share with friends and Mrs. Lambert took a picture and sent it to me.

Our sweet girl wearing her Birthday Crown.

We had one final night of celebrating since YaYa was home and Ashton chose to go to her favorite place, Olive Garden.

Delaney was happy her sissy picked OG (as we call it)...she loved her bread stick.

Ashton was so excited for the waiters to sing Happy Birthday...

And it was a great way to end her 5th birthday celebrations!

Sweet girl!

Happy 5th Birthday to our fun, sweet, spunky, loving, sassy, tenderhearted, full of energy, strong willed, precious to our hearts and now bubble gum chewing little girl! You constantly keep us on our toes, but we wouldn't have it any other way. You've filled our lives with laughter and joy and a little bit of craziness since the day you were born and we love you more than you will ever know!!! And I love you a bushel and a peck and a big ol hug around the neck.