February's over?!?! WHAT?!?!

Okay, so we had an extrEMEly busy month of February...obviously, because there's only a couple of days left in the month and this is my first post! Agh!

First of all, Ashlyn's 6th Birthday>>> What fun!!! We had a little family thing at the house on her actual birthday, and then on that Wednesday she didn't have school so we surprised her by taking her for an actual horse ride on a ranch out in Surprise, AZ (Victory Farms AZ). Daddy walked the horse around while I wrangled with Sierra so she didn't freak the horse out! Then Matt and Ashlyn both got to feed the horse some carrots....that was the horse's favorite part I think! He was a stubborn old thing, but Ashlyn absolutely LOVED it, and wants to go to their Horse Camp and learn to ride and take care of the horses!


Then we had a birthday party, with some of her school friends/classmates, on that Saturday....along with about 6 or 7 other birthday parties at the same park on the same day at the same time! Wow....what a fun time the kids had though! And Ashlyn scored some pretty amazing gifts and a lot of crafty stuff---which, if you know Ashlyn, she is in HEAVEN when she gets to do crafty things!
Ashlyn's new bedding, chair, and accessories!

Another thing that has been keeping us busy is work and school. Matt is going to school 5 days a week now to get done as fast as he can to start his new job in his line of schooling---CNC Machinist. Coxreels in Tempe pretty much hired him on when they saw his skills and his leadership abilities and whatnot, so that's good news! He's still working at Domino's right now, but when he's done with his school, he will start at Coxreels.
Kristen opened up her availability at Kohl's to work some mornings AND/OR evenings during the week, and so Sierra has had the opportunity to hang out with one of her friend we walk to school with every day--Gillian. (Her mom, Kristin, took our family pictures in December.) She does pretty good, and only goes there about once a week for a few hours and that's all. So it's not ALL the time---we know that wouldn't work for her! LOL!

We also got a *new* (to us!) car to replace/upgrade the 97 Corolla that had 223k miles on it! We now have a 2001 (same year as the Durango!!) Nissan Altima GXE Limited Edition with only 90k miles on it! It's a dream to drive---reminds me (Kristen) of my mom's Accord...nice and roomy and clean and comfy and whatnot! AND it was a 2 owner, older people, so it was taken care of (also, like our Durango that had only 1 older owner). Now, we can take that long trip to Idaho for Thanksgiving in a car and not be cramped....can't wait!!!
We also got the girls brand new mattress sets that are SOOO comfy....mommy might steal a few nights' sleep in them!

At Ashlyn's school, the Kindergarten classes got all dressed up for a Patriotic Parade for President's Day. They recited the Pledge of Allegiance, sang our National Anthem and "America". They then proceeded to walk through all the buildings in the school for their parade! CUTE!

OH, and little miss Sierra has graduated from her binky------FINALLY! LOL!
It was a struggle for the first week or so, but she's doing much better now (3 weeks tomorrow)! And she's talking SO much more and surprising us every day with what she knows! She can sing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" as well (we thought we got it on video, but it didn't take or something, so we'll have to try again). Whew....what a month!
Our little "Explorer"