first book

The boys (especially Asher) love to do imaginative play and turn our couches into every type of vehicle possible (fire trucks, ambulances, excavators, dump trucks....you get the picture). On this day, they were pretending to be construction men on a crane and had been "moving" all the pillows behind them.

Since Asher's little mind was coming up with such an ongoing story, we decided to turn it into a small book. I had him tell me the title, Crane, and then he helped spell it by telling me the letter that came next after I would give him the sound of that letter.

He then colored this picture of a crane.

This is the story he came up with and I wrote it down word for word.

We should have the downloadable version up any day now for your Kindle! :)

mr. potato head

The boys have been having a lot of fun playing with their Mr. Potato Head....maybe a little too much fun!

A Week of Celebrating

It's hard to believe that Asher turned 3 on March 12th! We have been celebrating his birthday in many ways over the past week. Since Asher doesn't like large groups, I had our neighborhood playgroup friends over for a lunch and firetruck cookies. On the day of his birthday, Asher wanted to eat at Pie in the Sky so just our immediate family took him there and we ended with cupcakes from The Cupcake Collection (a local cupcake shop a couple of blocks from our house!). Below is Asher enjoying the the cupcake at Pie in the Sky.

My mom and stepdad, Bruce, and my aunt Candy all traveled down this past weekend for us to have an extended family party for Asher. David's mom and his brother's family all joined us as well. We had taken Asher to the party store to decide the theme of his birhtday this year. It came down to Thomas the Train or firetrucks and he chose firetrucks.

Below is Asher asking me if we can have his birthday cake yet. So sweet! (Notice he is in his fireman boots.)

I asked Asher if he wanted a hook and ladder truck or a pumper truck for his cake. He went for the hook and ladder. David said it was funny that we even know the different types of firetrucks.
And here is the cake (my final cake for the month of March)......

We are singing "Happy Birthday" to Asher and you can tell he wishes he could disappear. He definitely does NOT want to be the center of attention.

Jonas thought that he would get into the mix of opening presents. I suppose he figures that he will get to play with them as much as Asher. Elijah (Asher's cousin)is dressed up in Asher's firejacket.

I was thankful that my mom was able to come for the party. It was nice to have her help, along with my aunt's and even step-dad's (who helped me put together the ladder for the cake) to make the party a success.

For our goodie bags, we gave everyone an iced sugar cookie of a firetruck.

It was such a special time to celebrate Asher's three years of life. I am so thankful for him and all the ways he has changed our lives!

Making us laugh

Asher's imagination has really kicked into gear over the past few months. It's been so fun to hear what he is thinking up. Today he was playing he was driving a tow truck and said he was going to visit Mary and Joseph (he has been learning about Jesus growing up in his Sunday school class). I asked him where do they live? He replied, "Thompson Station." This is where David's parents live. Hilarious!

Today he asked me if I was "a little bit cold?" I said, "yes, I am a little bit cold, are you?." To which he replied, "No, Asher big cold."

Picture with Santa

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As you can see, this was not the most enjoyable time for Asher. At least it was FREE! We told him before attending the Christmas with Santa breakfast that some people call Noah, "Santa." So, he really didn't know who we were seeing or why.

Breakfast with Santa

This past Saturday, Asher and I attended the Breakfast with Santa at our church. We had so much fun! The organizers did a great job with keeping us busy during each station and it never felt like there were 400 people there!! We were in a fun group and moved from crafts, to a live navtivity, to breakfast (more like brunch for us) and onto Santa.
Made a snowman ornament. Actually, I made it while Asher just stared at all the other kids in the room.

Asher with a goat...

Asher loved the animals and I wish that I had video of him talking to him. It was the cutest thing. He would say, "hi sheep, hi" in the sweetest little voice. Although as much as he loved this part, he finally said, "Brrrr! Momma, it's cold; let's go inside."

Any guesses for who Mary, Joseph and the "wise man" are?

Sorry there are no pictures of Asher with Santa. Hopefully when we get our picture, I can post it. I couldn't take a picture of him with Santa because I was holding Asher and sitting next to Santa. He was not quite ready to do it alone. He did though smile when Santa touched his cheek but was still clinging tightly to me.

Thoughts of Asher

Tonight we ventured to the Lighting of the Green on Lipscomb University's campus. I was looking forward to this first Christmas event of the season and hoping the kids, well at least Asher would enjoy seeing the lights and hearing the music. As we settled in our spot to take in the festivities, Asher turns and says, "What are we doing here?"

Oh well, maybe next year he'll appreciate it as much as I do.
(He did enjoy the free cookies though!)
Picture from here.

Words of Asher

I don't have anything big to share today (yesterday's blog kind of wiped me out..ha!) So, I thought that I would just post about a couple of funny comments that Asher said today.

Returning home from church, David asked Asher what he did in class today.
Ashers' answer: "Watched Jesus on TV." (Was Jesus in a sitcom or a mystery drama or maybe he was on a reality tv show...ha!)

David's second question to Asher, "Who was in your class today?"
Asher's answer: "Jesus" (Nice! Asher not only got to see Jesus on TV but he also made a special appearance in his Sunday school class.)

Hope your Sunday was filled with unexpected answers that made you laugh!

Firefighter in the house

Asher has been pretending to be a firefighter for many weeks now. I'm not even sure what sparked his interest. It seemed like every day he would ask for David's toboggan cap and a pair of "mits" (mittens) to put on and from there he would transform into a fireman. Well, those days have come to and end thanks to David's mom finding a consigned firefighter's helmet. Here is the sweet boy waiting so paitently for David to size it to his head.

Looks like a good fit!

The helmet hardly leaves his head. He wanted to sleep with it on the first night he had it but David convinced him to lay it beside him in bed. Now he frequently wears it while eating. At least we are always prepared if the fire bell should go off.

First Easter Egg Hunt

Asher participated in his first Easter Egg hunt at our church this past weekend. We "practiced" a bit at home before we left so that he would understand he was supposed to put eggs in his basket. As you can see from his dress atire, the weather did not cooperate. We were freezing but he smiled through it all and didn't want to leave when the 5 minute egg hunt was over. (Don't worry we left Jonas at home with David.)

The egg hunt in action...not so much a hunt since they were just laying out in the open in a grassy area.

"Mower"

This is what I hear all day long from Asher, "Mower." The boy loves mowers. I don't know what has created this obsession. We will be inside and he can hear a mower start up several houses down and want to go outside to see it. When we go to the park, it is the first thing he wants to see (we do have some really big mowers at Centennial Park that he is fascinated with). Last night, he stood by our front window and watched our neighbor across the street mow his lawn, trim his lawn, and sweep the grass trimmings. It kept him so entertained, and Asher would occassionally turn to me and say "mower" and "grass" and "broom" (when he was sweeping). He enjoys looking at mowers in catalogs, and when we color, it is the first thing he requests that I draw. I know David hopes that he will continue to like mowers this much when he is old enough to actually mow the lawn!

Picture from here.

Fun Sounds

Asher is making fun sounds these days as he is learning to put new sounds together. I just can't wait until he starts forming them into actual words so that we can figure out what he is trying to tell us. Hope you enjoy hearing him as much as we do.

Asher and a fork

Asher has decided that he loves to eat his food with a fork. I don't know many people who eat their bread with a fork but that is what Asher is eating above. He even tried stabbing his Cheerios with a fork this morning. (This also is not the normal fork we give him but he found it in our picnic set and wanted to give it a try.)

Asher's one year pics

We finally had Asher's one year pictures taken (even though he is now 15 months). This is a little preview from our photo session. We can't wait to see the others. Love that they were able to capture Asher and baby brother (due October 12th) in a shot! Brooke an assistant to Krista Lee took Asher's pictures....you can check out their blog/website here: http://www.kristaleephotography.com/index2.php