Ashlyn's Special Day

Every year, on or near the girls' birthdays Jason takes them out on a special date to celebrate. This year for Ashlyn's 5th birthday Jason took her out to lunch @ Friendly's, to see a movie, and to roller skate...Here are some pictures of their afternoon together.

Happy Birthday Ashlyn!!!

Ashlyn is five years old today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She has always been my fearless child. She's not afraid to try anything and she is always making all of us laugh. She is very passionate, free-spirited, funny, sweet, loving, and a fantastic big and little sister. I'm sure it's hard being in the middle of this crazy family, but Ashlyn holds her own very nicely. Happy 5th birthday to my sweet little girl. I love you soooooo much!!

Ashlyn's Favorites:

Favorite TV Show: Dora The Explorer

Favorite Toys: My Little Ponies, Littlest Pet Shops

Favorite Food: butter

Favorite Pastime: hugging

Favorite School Subject : math

Favorite Songs: Jesus Loves Me, Favorite Things

Dream vacation destinations: Texas and Paris

Guilty Pleasure: infomercials

My Sweet Boy...

So today is Quinn's 3rd birthday. I took the kids to the zoo and for a picnic lunch to celebrate. We ended up swinging by Doumars on the way home for milkshakes (for the kids) and a limeade (for me). Happy birthday, little guy!! We love you soooo much!

FAVORITES

Favorite Foods: broccoli, pancakes

Favorite Color: Yellow

Favorite TV Show: Blues Clues

Favorite Computer Games: putt putt and freddie fish

Favorite Books: Goodnight Moon, Duck In The Truck, The Snowy Day

Favorite Toys: playdoh, keyboard

Favorite Songs: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, You Are My Sunshine

Favorite Things To Sleep With: his paci, his green blanket, his teddy bear

Favorite Letter: Q

Favorite "Quinnisms"

"I look GOOOOOOD!" (said while staring in the mirror)

"Guess what Mommy?, I love you."

"NO! Mommy Do!!!"

"You hurt my fewwings." (usually said to me if I raise my voice AT ALL to him)

"Q-U-U-U-I-N-N!" he sings while spelling his name

An Update

Hey Everyone:

Life for the Doak family has been running fairly smoothly! Homeschool continues to be challenging, chaotic, messy, and wonderful! The girls are learning so quickly and it's fun to watch little Quinn absorb some of what his big sisters are learning. Our family time together has certainly been a blessing and something I will always cherish as a mom.

Stella and Ashlyn continue to take dance @ TR Dance in Norfolk and are both simply loving it!! The studio is fantastic with wonderful teachers and a very homey feel! Stella also auditioned for the Richmond Ballet's production of The Nutcracker. Competition was quite stiff though, and she did not get a part, but has told me she's excited to audition again next year. I was so proud of her for trying out and having such a fantastic attitude about not being selected.

Exciting things have been happening to us regarding our church, Real Life! We moved into our new building on October 4th! Nearly 700 people attended the church's grand opening services!! Jay played guitar with the band during both services and sounded FANTASTIC!!! It was quite an exciting day!! Both girls are in the church's Christmas play and have been attending Sunday evening rehearsals for several weeks now! We are so blessed and happy to have found such a wonderful church to attend. I'm looking forward to becoming even more involved! We have made so many wonderful friends in such a short time and I really hope that any of you out there reading this who are curious about our church, take a chance and come on out!! We are so happy there!

The girls continue to take piano lessons from our fantastic friend, Elizabeth....as if church, ballet, and homeschool weren't enough to keep our girls busy!!! Quinn has also got in on the musical action. Elizabeth has been giving him mini lessons for the past couple of weeks and I think he's really quite brilliant for being only two!! Christmas recital is right around the corner. Ashlyn is working on Jingle Bells and Stella is practicing every other Christmas song written. I'll keep everyone posted on the next recital date as soon as it is decided!!!
Keep an eye open for new blog entries...both of the little ones (Ashlyn and Quinn) are celebrating birthdays in the upcoming couple of weeks!! October is such an exciting and busy time for the Doak family!!!

I've sunk to new lows in my Twilight obsession...I'm burying this little tidbit of info deep within my blog entry in hopes of no one reading this far down, but I bought these cool? Edward and Bella dolls----for the kids to play with...I'll include some pics...oh my, that sounded very weird when I typed it into recorded history. I clearly have a major problem...
Love to all!

Happy Anniversary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So Jason and I will celebrate our ninth wedding anniversary on Wednesday, October 14th. Anniversaries, I suppose, are a time to reflect on the time spent with your spouse...A time to evaluate what's working, what's not...time to take a step back and appreciate what you have with your significant other. So, in the spirit of appreciation, I have composed a little list of some of the reasons I love my hubby...I picked nine to honor our nine years together....

Top Nine Things I Love About Jason Doak

1. He smells good...Really... This counts for a lot in a marriage...

2. He comes home every day after work....This might not seem like a biggy, but believe me, with as crazy as things can get around here, I don't know if I would do the same if our roles were reversed and I worked outside the house...

3. He is a fantastic father...He's there for every milestone! He doesn't sit and observe our kids..He gets in there and helps with them, plays with them, takes them to the doctor, takes them to get haircuts, goes shopping for their birthday presents, listens to them, helps them with school work, teaches them, reads to them, tucks them into bed.. He KNOWS our kids: their likes, dislikes, hopes, fears, dreams, quirks...everything about them...to say he is a "hands-on" dad is a grave understatement...This guys was BORN to be a dad and I love him deeply for that!!

4. He can answer any and all of my computer questions..speaks for itself ya'll...Jay is THE MAN when is comes to computers...

5. He humors me constantly--he doesn't laugh @ my ideas..he lets me implement crazy plans and he just sits back and lets thing unfold in a very natural way...even if he's thinking I have lost my mind...and he NEVER says I told you so....

6. He's an awesome guitar player with a fantastic taste in music.

7. He is extremely funny--there is not a single day that goes by that Jason ceases to crack me up. This is probably THE thing we love to do as a couple the most: LAUGH...at people, with people, at ourselves, with ourselves...Life is waaay to short to not laugh @ least once every single day and even in the midst of our CRAZY lives we always find something to laugh at.....

8. He makes coffee for me every single day of my life!....'nuff said

9. He's not a complainer...He doesn't whine...ever...it's weird; cause I complain ALL the time...it's just what I do...it's like a little hobby of mine...BUT Jason, no, never...gotta love that..

So, those are nine things that I love about Jay...Here are some pics from our special day nine years ago!! Enjoy...