December 20, 1995

At 4:54 p.m. on December 20th, I gave birth to a 7 lb 14 oz. baby girl. Would her name be Lauren Ashleigh, or Ashleigh Lauren? Well, we all know what I decided on, but it seriously did drive me crazy wondering which name I loved more at the time. I loved the spelling "leigh", I knew someone that spelled it that way and I thought it was pretty! If you ask her now, she prob hates it because, I guess people in high school just haven't learned  how to pronounce "leigh"yet!!

Anyways, being a single mom for the first few years of her life, definately had it's challenges, but I'm so grateful for the help that I had, and the job that allowed me to provide for her!
So, it meant living in a one bedroom apartment and putting her toddler bed in my closet. If you ask me, it was resourceful, and cozy all at the same time! Hey, you do what you have to do.

Each new milestone was exciting, including taking her to her very first movie when she was three....a Bug's Life. We've experienced MANY milestones since that first movie, Kindergarten graduation, learning to ride a bike, first sleepover, first dance, sports, 8th grade graduation and now the ups and downs of being a teenager! Let's not even bring up the topic of boys-who needs em'?!!

So, if my calculations are correct, that will put me at 37 when she graduates from high school (tough math) so hey, I'm still young! Let's just not calculate how old I will be when the twins graduate from highschool!

So, cheers to being 16!!!!! Enjoy!

A Good De Ja Vous! Mikaila's turn to shine.......

We love our Mikaila!!!!!

Fa La La La La

Thank you everyone for coming! It means alot. (Quinn's first band concert last week)

Quinn's concert (trombone) short and sweet-the concert that is :)

Not that this has anything to do with singing or concerts BUT, I thought it was cute......

We brought our four square game into our kitchen (daddy's car just had to park in the driveway!)

Go daddy!

Thanks for breaking Mommy's little Christmas tree...I will not mention names! (but you're wearing spider man!!)

We were the very first ones in the gym tonight (Wed)-45 min early thank you very much!

Case

Casey Cat

Came to see their brothers sing.

Camden with a boy in his class

Daddy, Mommy, Case, and Camden

Case & Daddy

Thanks for coming Grandma!

Worked up an apetite from singing

On the Monster truck

It looks like a tie to me!

Thank you for the pizza, Papa Bear...xoxo

Off to Mikaila's Concert Thursday night:)

My Top 5 Christmas Movies/Songs

Movies
1. Home Alone (I think it was the only movie I saw with my Granny-sentimental reasons)
2. A Christmas Carol (It's a classic...plain & simple)
3. Miracle on 34th Street (yep, another classic and def childhood memories oozing out!)
4. Eloise at Christmastime (Enjoy watching this with Mikaila!)
5. A tie between It's A Wonderful Life, and Elf (Obviously two totally dif genres of movies...but enjoy both!)

Songs:
1." Baby It's Cold Outside" duet with Dean Martin and Doris Day
2. "Breath of Heaven"-so beautiful and meaningful!
3. "Christmas Canon in D"-by Transiberian Orchestra-beautiful also-I'm a sucker for classical pieces!
4."Carol of the Bells"-awesome!-enough said.
5. A tie for "O Holy Night" by Josh Grobin  &"God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen"

What are your favorites?

Baby, It's Colllllld Outside!

Friday and Saturday was farely busy for us.

I surprised Mikaila after school on Friday and stopped in front of her friend's house and told her she gets to have a sleepover......"Go get her!" So of course, any sleepover needs munchies and we made our way to the Dollar Tree for that. (where else?!)
That night, Ashleigh had a basketball game with a very exciting ending of being tied, going into overtime and then the Vipers pulling off a win....go Verrado!! She is actually one of the managers of the team, and is either in charge of the books or running the video camera :)

Saturday, the twins had a birthday party to go to (I think for one reason or another, we are always at Walton park every weekend!) It was very cold that day, but they had a great time playing with friends and getting all sugared up!

I love both the boys' teachers. Just to give you an example of how great they are, Camden's teacher walked from her house to the park to join the class  for the party on Saturday! How awesome is that to have your teacher show up, and not only that, but chase you around the playground?! :)

We came home for a few hours and then headed back to Verrado for their "Hometown Holidays" night. They had pictues with Santa, snow brought in for the kids to play in, horse drawn hayrides, smores around the big fire, cookie decorating, & pony rides. It was just the perfect size and enough for us to do! I do love Glendale Glitters, but it  can get pretty busy and crowded, so our little evening worked out great and was a lot of fun! Best of  all (for me anyways) is running into so many people that we knew there-pretty darn near close to Mayberry if you ask me! :)





About to leave, for our evening of cold weather!!

Daddy helping Camden with his gloves.

 Case didn't know what he was supposed to tell Santa!

 Me and two of my strapping young lads :)

Russell Men

Casey the Clown!

Smores!

Let Dad help you!

Anxiously waiting :)

Mr. and Mrs. Clause

A quick trip to Aspen!

Joel in the snow...so cute.

Camden up to something!

Walking back to the warm car :)