Poor Sally is stuck with me.......
Here's what happens when Dad is in charge.... Sorry Ava.
We've been trying to take advantage of the hot weather and swim (minus mom! I haven't been getting in the pool all that often) but the pool is starting to cool down! We had some friends from Corey's work come over a couple of weekends ago and the Babb family helped make it a full on party! The boys had a heated game of basketball in the pool that the kids kept bravely swimming through. I wouldn't have been that brave! They were throwing elbows! Corey had a blast with his friends over! Ashlyn's friend, Brelyn, whose dad works with Corey, came all the way from deep in Queen Creek last weekend to swim and this weekend for Ashlyn's party, which was so nice! They already have drive far to work every weekday, so two weekends in row was extra special!
The next day, Ashlyn had her birthday party at Freestone park. At 4pm in Arizona in Sept. Can I just say my brain isn't working at full capacity right now and that's why I take the blame for lousy party planning! Thank you to all who risked heat stroke to celebrate Ashlyn's birthday! You can see all the pictures of the red-cheeked children on my Picassa site! Sorry! We played with water balloons, ate pizza and cake and played at the playground. Ashlyn has been asking for a firetruck cake with a princess candle for about 6 months now, so she got it! I was pretty happy with how the cake turned out!
The next morning, we took Ashlyn to McDonalds for breakfast AND took her to Olive Garden for dinner. We have a tradition of having Olive Garden the night before Ashlyn's birthday because Corey and I ate there for our "last supper without children!" In past years, it's been take out, but we braved the sit down and it turned out ok! On her actual birthday, she got to take suckers to her class and have the Babb family over for cake and ice cream... and more presents! 
Happy Birthday, Ashlyn! Thank you, everyone, for making her birthday "the best day EVER!" (A direct quote from the birthday girl!)
A storm took out part of the tree in out front yard (half of the tree fell over in April and almost fell on Corey!) and we decided it had to go!
It was diseased in the middle, anyway!
So we had it taken out and our front yard looked so big but so empty!
Well, handy guy that Corey is, he spent some time researching the best tree to replace our old one. He went down to Lowe's, bought a Sissoo tree and planted it himself, all while having the girls "help," which we all know meant a lot of extra work!
Ashlyn was very proud of her new tree and loved showing it off and telling people she helped plant it! I'm proud of Corey for knowing how to do that himself and doing a great job!
First, Daddy woke her up...
Than she got in touch with her peeps...
She's pretty important around these parts!
A BIG smile for her first day...
The teacher told her to take a seat anywhere and that big smile started to look a little scared! 
When mom and Aunt Mary came to get her...
She let us know that she liked it but she got tired because they didn't give her a break!
I know I've been bad at blogging lately (sorry!) but I thought I'd hop on and give Corey a break from his new duties. Doesn't he do a good job? Speaking of jobs, a week before my surgery I got laid off! This turned out to be actually pretty good because I had no pressure to return back to work and could heal on my own time. Well, when one door closes... I'm going to start working for a friend as a "virtual assistant" meaning I'll do all the office work for her child therapy office. It's mostly from home and the insurance billing work will be very similar to what I'll be doing as a physical therapy assistant. Plus, my friend is a super smart, super great lady and I'm happy I'll get to spend more time with her! I've been LOVING having Corey's mom, Cheri, staying with us to help me recover. She is a whirlwind and can give my kids attention, clean my entire house from top to bottom, cook dinner, wait on and entertain me, walk 3.55+ miles every morning AND read that vampire book that everyone is talking about! She leaves tomorrow to go take care of Erica, Corey's sister, who just had a handsome baby boy (Congrats Erica and Ryan!). Isn't she amazing? Thanks everyone for the get well wishes, they worked!! I'm feeling so great! Everyone has been so helpful, so thank you! Ashlyn starts school on Monday. She was orginally going to a school right by Mary's, that Mary did all the leg work getting info on the different options in Mesa (thanks so much Mary!). Well, I picked a school and enrolled her but failed to notice it was an afternoon program that wouldn't work. For about a day, it looked like Ashlyn wasn't going to do young learners kindergarden, but Becky called every number she could for Mesa, Chandler and Gilbert schools until she found an opening at a school 3 miles away! She was so amazing to put aside that kind of phone time while she's got a household of kids and daycare kids, so Thank you so much, Becky! Ashlyn got to meet her teacher and see her school and seems excited. Little does she know that she's starting a VERY long career as a student! Ava has been LOVING being a princess (see pict below!) and is so sweet to me. I wake up in the morning to the sweetest kiss from her. Isn't that the best alarm clock ever? Before I open my eye's, I feel her sweet little lips! It's the BEST! I hope everyone is doing great. How many parents are secretly a little glad it's that back to school time of year?
My little princess! She LOVES the wedding dress. I've decided she should be a bride for Halloween.
