Happy Birthday To You

Tomorrow is Ashlee's Birthday!!!!!

The boys and I have been collaborating since before Mother's Day on a list of why we LOVE Ashlee so much. Now that she has given me posting rights, we are getting it out here on the blog.

I sat with the boys to put their list together for Mother's Day and this is what they came up with (Keegen's contribution was mostly loud yelling and smiling):

Why ours is the bestest mommy in the whole world

1. She gives the best hugs & kisses

1. She makes up fun games (I know these are both number 1's, but Bode couldn't decide which should be first)

2. She plays with us (trucks&trains, puzzles, coloring, wrestling and tickling)

3. She lays down with us when we can't sleep

4. She holds us when we are sick

5. She is OUR mommy (Bode said "MY" but I added "OUR" for Keegen, he was yelling loudly)

Doug's List of why Ashlee is the bestest wife in the whole world (in no particular order)

1. She is the kind of person who would post a list on her blog of why she still loves me (she is that kind of thoughtful & loving)
2. She asks me daily when I will be able to stay home all the time (as opposed to heaving a sigh of relief as I walk out the door)
3. Whenever I ask her what she wants for her birthday she honestly answers "I don't know" and that is because she spends all her time thinking about others
4. When I send her out for a day of shopping with her friends (to get stuff for her) she comes back with tons of stuff for me and the boys and very littler for her (again, the kind of person she is)
5. Is a total hottie, although she humbly refuses to admit it
6. She truly wants to be a better person-mom-wife-friend and so drives me to be better
7. She is the nuts and bolts that makes our family work (she pays the bills, does the shopping, takes care of school, babysitters, remembers birthdays, makes sure the kids get there medicine, makes sure we shower periodically, makes sure we dress appropriately, thinks about the future, makes holiday plans for us, and on and on) while I get to be the fun-play-still-a-kid person
8. She makes statements like "Why don't you go play some golf today"
9. She captures our sons growing up in this amazing blog
10. She always knows what the boys need (medicines, naps, food, get-out-of-the-house, etc.)
11. She ignores the baby weight I gained in the last 4 years (and still thinks I'm cute)
12. She encourages me to eat better and get to the gym (believes I can do it)
13. She misses her family
14. She makes real, lasting friendships (something I envy and am not very good at)
15. She is an incredible nurse, successful, respected and dedicated
16. She tolerates my late nights playing dumb video games
17. She encourages my obsessions with golf, softball, vollyeball, tennis and all other sports
18. She plays games with me (even thought she hates games)
19. We still lay in bed and laugh giddily (usually about some really dumb stuff)
20. She is the kind of mom who will let Bode climb on her back and say giddy-up (even thought she has a bad back)
21. She can destroy a bag of peanut butter M&Ms like it's nobodys business
22. She admits when she is wrong (admittedly it doesn't happen very often)
23. She is still an independent woman who gets miffed at me when I explain something about how something works or sports that she obviously already knows (deserves and demands the proper respect)

I will stop here, before I fill the whole blog page (and block the great pictures she posted of the boys). If you are reading this, you are counted as one of Ashlee's friends and are truly luck to be in that group.

Happy Birthday (tomorrow) Ashlee, your boys really, really love you.