Very cold out tonight. Ashley and me just got home from shopping. The stores were packed as I figured they would be. Got home and made a pot of coffee and go figure I forgot to grab sugar while we were out. So now the coffee was put on hold and we ran down the street to get some. Ashley has some italian christmas cookies and is finishing her hot chocolate. I figured a snack will be good as dinner is gonna be late tonight. John is in Sidney right now picking up Diane and Thomas. They should be back around 9 pm and then we are ordering pizza and wings. Ashley is excited and is bouncing like crazy tonight. It was instant love between her and her sister Diane.

It is a gloomy,cold, windy and wet morning here today.....the kind where you want to stay in pajamas and curl up for the day. Ashley is very excited as daddy is going to go pick up her sissy after work tomorrow night and bring her home and while they are gone me and Ashley are going shopping and out to eat. I am hopping to find a fake fur blanket while out tomorrow. Ashley loves mine. I saw some that were lilac tye diyed that she would love. Making cookies tonight. Love the smells of christmas. We have candles of cinnamon, ginger bread and sugar cookies burning through out the house. Hope everyone is having a great day.

Busy weekend out shopping. Ashley had a ball as she loves to shop. She had a great Thanksgiving break and went back to school this morning.
Alot of her new cousins spent time with her during the holiday and she had a great time.
She is excited about this Friday as her new older sister Diane is coming to stay for abit...... Diane is pregnant. We are all very excited. Ashley is already asking when we can buy baby stuff.LOL!

john is working today. Me and Ashley Are heading out to do Christmas shopping for him while he is not here. We bought a gingerbread house kit so we are going to do that this afternoon.

Did not write last night as we decided to rest. Oh what a day. We decided that we were not going to head out for the morning of black friday shopping. John had to work so Ashley and me hung out at home doing stuff. Debbie and the kids came over for a couple of hours to visit. When John got home he decided that we would go shopping. Some of the stores were still pretty busy. Toy sections were tore apart! We got alot of good deals. Santa is bring Ashley a new hot pink bike for Christmas. We also got barbies, bratz, clothing, craft kits, a jewelry armoire, decorations, movies, fake fur blankets, storage bowls, boots, games and more. Hope everyone else made it out of the store safely yesterday.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING
This is a Thanksgiving that we have alot to be thankful for. First to having a daughter to share the holiday with this year. We are so thankful to have her in our life. We are thankful for all of our family, friends and for good health.
We Hope that everyone is having a great holiday and hope that everyone is eating lots of turkey.
John is out hunting for a couple of hours and we are now watching the parade on television.
the turkey is in the oven on low and everything is ready to fix.

Isn't she beautiful.....Our Ashley

Ashley eating a mango

Ashley has been working on the tree

Ashley helping Austin brush his teeth

Wow a couple more days until Turkey day. I have been baking and getting stuff ready. Ashley loves being in the kitchen with me. THe tree is decorated now and looks beautiful. I will try to get the pictures downloaded tomorrow. My sister in law Wendy is having a tough time right now so please keep her and her children in your prayers. I have her 2 daughters here for the night and she will pick them up in the morning for school. We had cheeseburgers for dinner tonight with mac and cheese and green beans. For snack they pigged out on cheese balls and hot chocolate with green and red marshmellows. It is almost 10 pm and they are all tucked in and sleeping. Took Ashley on a sweater shopping day today. She picked 6 sweaters to wear for the winter. We are going Saturday to buy her a new bike for Christmas. Thankfully we have a large shed to hide it in. LOL! Late last night I was talking to my sister and she lives 2 hours south of us and she had snow..... not just flurries but sticking to her car. Tomorrow and Wednesday is half days at school as there is parent teacher conferences. We have ours on Wednesday. No school Thursday or Friday. Ashley and me are going grocery shopping tomorrow and then Friday we are going to do more Christmas shopping.

Not much going on today. I have caught the childrens cold. John got called in to work today. Ashley and me did some craft things this morning then we made some popcorn and curled up together on the couch and watched a christmas movie. Yeah it is that time of year. John is on his way home from work then we are going to the store as Ashley wants cheesy chicken tenders and tater rounds for dinner. I am fixing broccoli and cheese with it; got to have them veggies. We are watching the dog show on television now and she keeps oohing and aahing over all the dogs. I installed the santa tracker on here today also so she can keep track of santa come christmas eve.

REECE'S RAINBOW

http://www.onetruemedia.com/otm_site/view_shared?p=43584ff9c987f96c0f0420&source=category&category_id=all

CARL RITSON

We just got a call a few minutes ago that my uncle has just passed away. May you rest in peace we love you and will forever miss you.

NATIONAL ADOPTION DAY 2007 – NOVEMBER 17ABOUT NATIONAL ADOPTION DAY National Adoption Day is a collective national effort to raise awareness of the 114,000 children in foster care waiting to find permanent, loving families. For the last eight years, National Adoption Day has made the dreams of thousands of children come true by working with courts, judges, attorneys, adoption professionals, child welfare agencies and advocates to finalize adoptions and find permanent, loving homes for children in foster care.National Adoption Day is celebrated every year on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. For the first time in 2006, National Adoption Day was celebrated in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. In total, more than 250 events were held throughout the country to finalize the adoptions of more than 3,300 children in foster care, and to celebrate all families who adopt.

Good morning.
It is 5 am and they guys are all on their way to the woods as today is the first day of rifle deer hunting. Ashley got up and got some juice and went back to bed. Her cold is going away. The boys went home last night. Their mom is doing abit better now. Yesterday we watched the first snow. Ashley was really trying to catch it. LOL! We are going to have an easy day today as the kids all gave me their colds. We are going to watch mary kate and ashleys christmas movie. Below we attached the link for Reece's Rainbow's angel tree fund. The donations go to towards these beautiful children's adoption grant. Go take a look at these beautiful face's as I am sure your heart will melt. Thanksgiving is upon us fast this year. We have alot to be thankful for this year as we are blessed with our sweet princess Ashley.

2007 Christmas Angel Tree Project

Sponsor the Adoption of an Orphan with Down Syndrome!
******************************************************************************************************************

SICK......UGH!

John's sister went in for surgery on Monday so I have her boys here. Austin came with a slight fever and a runny nose. Within 2 days all three children were coughing, runny noses and now all have slight fevers. Ashley and Joshua are home from school today so I can have them on triamedic and lots of rest. I am thinking that I should take stock in the kleenex factory.

SEND IN THE CLOWNS

We got the kids clown wigs and boy did they look silly in them as you can see below.

ASHLEY

JOSHUA

AUSTIN

BIRTHDAY GIRL

Ashley had a great birthday party. She loved spending time with her brother and sister. She got alot of stuff including bratz dolls and accessories, angel bratz, china tea set, dolls and accessories, games, clothes and the list goes on. We have more pictures that need to be downloaded yet but lost the usb cord and they somehow got put on the internal memory. She loved everything. David, Diane and Dianes fiance Thomas left yesterday to visit more family. Ashley said today that she misses them already. She does not know that they are coming back tonight to stay. Boy will she be surprised.

OUR FAMILY

SURPRISE PIC OF ASHLEY AND DADDY

ASHLEY AND AUNT ANGELA

ASHLEY GETTING BURIED IN BALLOONS

ASHLEY AND A COUPLE COUSINS

ME AND MY SISTER ANGELA

ASHLEY AND HER FUTURE BROTHER IN LAW THOMAS

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRINCESS

Today is Ashley's 11th birthday.
She told her teacher that she did not want alot of homework as it is her birthday so they really gave her one thing for homework. They had an emergeny evacuation drill today. We had to pick her up at St. Basils after the drill. They acted it out like a real thing with fake smoke, fire trucks and all the children leaving the school property. Took Ashley to the store to let her buy herself something with her gift money and she bought a glitz doll and a keyboard. She sends hello'a and thank you's and she loved the picture. Tomorrow we pick up the cake. John's sister Wendy came over with the girls and kept an eye on Ashley so we could run to the store to get the rest of her gifts. She is going to be so excited opening these gifts. Last week while talking to her sister Diane on the phone Diane told her where I use to hide gifts. Ashley really was looking but did not find them.LOL! While at the store I asked Ashley to pick what she wanted for dinner so we had hash browns, banquet box chicken and fish sticks; what a mixture but we had it. LOL! We put the lights on the tree tonight and then we watched the movie ARE WE DONE YET again. Ashley said that she wants a little brother or sister for Christmas.LOL! Can you imagine? We told her that she would have to wait a few years to discuss it with us. We love her and would love to give her what she wants but we really want to enjoy and spoil her right now. In a few years then maybe we will check into an adoption again but for now we are very happy enjoying her. Dad has to work tomorrow so Ashley and me are going to have a lazy day in the morning and then get ready for her older siblings to get in tomorrow night.

Happy Bithday to our beautiful Ashley.

Ashley sends a big hello and thank you for the card, picture and birthday check.
She wants to go get a couple of dolls tomorrow with the money.

She is so happy that her party is almost here and that she has a new outfit to wear for her party.

We had spagetti for dinner tonight.....yummy ashley's favorite!

Tomorrow is our Ashley's birthday.
She is very excited and counting down the days until her party.
Tomorrow I will be running around like a chicken with my head cut off getting the last minute stuff.
Everyone is bringing a dish to pass for the party but I am also making baked ziti with meatballs and italian bread.
I am going tomorrow to get her a few more outfits.
I am hoping to get help with the balloons as there is 150 of them.LOL!
Yesterday I went and bought her alot of hair stuff to put with her outfits.
She did get an early birthday gift though. We gave in and let her get her ears pierced for the second time. I could not watch so I gave her Aunt Wendy the money and off they went to the mall to get them done. She is so happy that we let her get them done. I will be getting lots of pictures at her party to share.
***** envelope came for Ashley today. I will give it to her as soon as she gets home from school.

NO SCHOOL TODAY

There was no school today.
Ashley's cousin Cheyenne stayed over last night.
The girls were full of mischief today and full of giggles. They get along so well.
3 more days until Ashleys birthday. We are hoping that the weather is kind to us on Sunday for her party. The kids will be full of sweets and will need to run it off.LOL!
We went shopping for christmas wrapping paper today. Last night we went to the colonie shopping center. It was not to bad today but it sure is cold tonight.

We hope that everyone had a great weekend. Friday is Ashley's 11th birthday. We are having a huge birthday party on Sunday the 11th. All of our family and friends are coming. Yesterday me and ashley did alot of crafts while dad was at work. She had a fun time doing the reindeer as you have to trace your foot to use for the head and then you trace your hands to use for the antlers. We are also making snowflakes already.LOL! Ashley has been asking for this huge doll set that has the doll, bassinett, diaperbag, pampers and food with bottles so last night we went and got it for her for her birthday. We then went to the dollar stores and she had to get a few more pair of those wacky toe socks. Today we hung out for a good part of the day and then we went shopping. We got her new shoes to wear with her new dress and then we got her a new outfit to wear at her party. While out we got her more new earrings and a birthday memory book. She loves to shop and we love taking her shopping. We are so blessed to have Ashley as a daughter. We love her so much. She is our everything. Thank you so much for the gift of this child.

David who is in the Navy in Washington State is leaving base on Sunday and will be driving in for Ashley's birthday. He will be here late the night of the 10th. Ashley is so excited.

THE DEER

PUTTING TOGETHER THE TREE

ASLEY AND DAD WITH THEIR PUMPKINS

SCHOOL PARTY DEVIL