5 years (Ashley's b-day)

It is hard to believe it has been 5 years since Ashley was born. (If you don't know that story, take the time to read through the archives of this blog in 2008) Every year, we celebrate her birthday by putting up the Christmas trees and making goodies for each day that she lived and then giving them to friends. This year I had the plans mostly thought out and thought I was prepared to make it all happen like I usually do. I had a few extra things going on this year but hey, I can handle it all, right?!! Well, lets just say I learned a few lessons this year. One of which is that I am NOT super woman and I Do have my limits, both physical and emotional. We did get the kids Christmas tree up on Ashley's birthday like usual and we did get all the treats made and delivered eventually, but not in the time frame that we usually do. I had planned on changing the treats up a bit this year but Rachel asked the night before if we were going to make the pretzel treats that we normally do so I guess at least one of the treats will always be the same from now on. :) I did manage to do a few new things this year though.

These are the Pretzel Turtles that we have made pretty much every year. They are super easy and the girls love to help unwrap all the Hersey kisses. 

Cheesecake cookies. I actually made these for the Nativity display that our ward put on the same weekend as Ashley's birthday. This was one of the reasons things didn't go as planned. They turned out pretty good but I don't know if I will ever make them again.

 Cherry Bark. I had planned on making some type of bark and I had a recipe for some cherry truffles that I wanted to try. The truffles didn't turn out how I wanted them too so they became the bark instead. It was pretty yummy. I also made pumpkin bread and Craisin Nut Clusters and Jeffer made honey cookies to round out the 5.