Ashley Is 11

Our little Ashley had her birthday yesterday, even though Jason insists that she's not allowed to get any older. He even threatens her with groundings, but she just doesn't seem to care. She just keeps getting older.

Ash is in 5th grade now. Last year was a rough year for her, because of a crappy teacher. So far this year seems to be going good. She has been reading tons lately. She's always enjoyed reading, but now I have to tell her to stop and come spend time with the rest of the family. I'm glad she likes to read, but sometimes I miss her. She started orchestra a few weeks ago. She's in the beginning strings class. Her teacher told her if she can learn her fingers, than she'll move her up to the advanced string class. She knows a lot more than the other kids in her class. Ash practiced for a few days, and she told me she knows all her fingers now. Her teacher will be testing her tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes. It seems to come very easy to her. With my limited knowledge of music, I can already tell that she's learning and getting better. We're very proud of her.

We didn't do much for her birthday. We're just not birthday party people. We did go out to eat though. We went to this place called Charlie Chow's. Oh my, heaven in my mouth. We all got this thing called the dragon grill. You can have noodles or rice, and any vegetables you want, and there's several choices of sauce and meat. You put it all in a bowl, and they grill it all together for you. It was so good. The whole family really enjoyed it. Ash said it's her new favorite place.

This cake was a pain in the butt. I had cake issues, frosting issues, and design issues. I just had to settle with what I got. I'll do one more cake for Livy's Birthday, then I'm retiring from the cake business. It's just not for me.

This is a thing of erasers. They're kind of popular now with the kids. They have moving parts that you can take off. I think they're pretty cute.

Ash in her new coat that my Mom got her.