Christmas Card . . . Attempts!

We'd love to have a Christmas card picture of our family, but the verdict is still out!

Milestones

Since it has been almost a month since my last post I'm way behind on mentioning all of Asher's most recent milestones. He has not only discovered how to use a straw he has figured out how to hold his own cup while using a straw! At 17 months, Asher can also almost walk down the stairs alone, go down slides by himself and has lots more words including "shoe, NeeNee, PaPaw, Elmo, red, blue, two, and woof, and moo" and several more that we're not just quite sure what they are!

Traditions!

In addition to enjoying a great meal we enjoyed some other family traditions over the Thanksgiving holiday. Our Black Friday shopping expedition actually started at 9:00 p.m. unlike previous years where we would get up at the crack of dawn. And Asher decided he couldn't pass up the opportunity to join in on our yearly holiday cookie baking. Of course some we also did some serious Thanksgiving football watching with Papaw as well!

Thankful

What an amazing Thanksgiving. Heath, Asher and I were lucky enough to host our third Thanksgiving since moving to VA. My parents, Heath's parents and niece Maddie all made the long trek down to visit. We had a great time and enjoyed a really really good meal. We are SO thankful for our amazing son and all of our family. We are so blessed to have a roof over our heads, plenty of food to eat, jobs we enjoy and such caring family and friends to share our lives with.

Turkey Trot

In the midst of the holiday season I've gotten a little behind in my posting! Perhaps it was because was too busy training for the Turkey Trot?!!! Well . . . maybe not but we DID have a GREAT time at running in our 2nd seasonal 5K. This time mom, dad and Maddie joined us as well. The hills were killer but we all ran PBs.

Halloween 2011 . . . Roar!!

Even wasn't feeling best for his 2nd Halloween, but he was a trooper and made the most of the day. He started out with a party with all his buddies at daycare. The "corn pool" was definitely the best part! Although my little dinosaur also enjoyed crawling through the cardboard maze. One two hour nap and a freshly washed costume and Asher was ready to go again. He helped to pass out candy to the hundreds of trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood. More like he helped to throw candy at our trick-or-treaters but he really was trying to help!

At the mall

Turns out Asher may enjoy going to the mall as much as his momma, only not just to shop! Going to the mall with NeeNee and Papaw means getting to see the puppies in the pet shop, watch cartoons in the kids clothes store, get a few too many chocolate chip cookies at the bakery and ending the trip with not one but three trips on the merry-go-round.

Asher and Papaw bonded over some football watching last weekend. Asher not only discovered his love for the Da' Bears but also for pretzels, yum!

Bumble bee :)

Every day

It's funny but with every stage Asher moves in to I think it's my favorite. Right now every day he's doing something new or figuring something out. People have asked if he has words and he kind of gets "ball" and "dog" "kitty-kat" and "mama" and "dada" but his clearest words are most definitely "oh no!" It's clear as day!

He also can now give high fives and knuckes and has just learned how to "blow kisses" more like sticking his hand to his mouth but still pretty cute!

Grandma and Grandpa's visit!

I had a little glitch with posting things on our blog for a couple of weeks so I'm behind on reporting on our visit from Grandma and Grandpa Ewing! We had a great time hanging out and even took a tour of Randolph's campus!

Pudding Party

Sometime when daddy is at work Asher and I get a little bored. Today we decided to have a pudding party (followed by a bath). Asher LOVED it, and I think has discovered a new favorite food.

Fall Festivities

Asher has definitely taken advantage of all the fun activities the fall brings. He's been to three pumpkin patches and two apple orchards! His favorite part of the apple orchards was getting to take the picked apples and putting them in our bag. And of course his favorite part about the pumpkin patch was getting to walk around (although all the pumpkin vines got in the way a little!)

Are you ready for some football.

It looks like it might be a rough year for the Colts with Peyton out, but that's not going to stop Heath or Asher from watching some football. Luckily for Asher (to the dismay of his daddy), he's got his second favorite team to cheer on as well - Go Papaw's Bears!!

Good Job, Daddy!

This weekend Heath ran in the Virginia 10-miler. It's something he's talked about for the six years that we've been here and this year he decided to go for it. 10 miles anywhere is difficult, but 10 miles with all the hills in Lynchburg is almost crazy. Asher and I cheered Heath on from the top of the last big hill (as we listened to the them music to Rocky). Unfortunately the battery in the camera was dead so we had to settle for a picture once we got home.

Odds and Ends

Asher has been changing so much over the last few months sometimes it's hard to take a step back and really see how far he's come. Above are just a few odds and ends pictures from hanging out at the house.

Asher loves his golf clubs and they are often the first two he goes for. He hasn't quite figure out that the club is suppose to hit the ball but he definitely loves walking around with a club in each hand. Who knows maybe next summer daddy will have a new golfing buddy. (In the photo Asher is sporting his windsuit from Grandpa Jane. It's 18 months and seems to fit him pretty well. He looks like a little kid - no longer a baby!!)

Asher loves to pull anything out of drawers. It's probably his favorite thing next to throwing things. He'll pull clothes out of his drawers, tupperware out of the cabinets and he has just found out where the pots and pans are and likes to get the lids out.

Bathtime has always been fun for Asher. He seems to love the water. But now he has really discovered how to splash and that if he kicks his legs water will go everywhere. This has definitely become a new favorite activity. And by the end of the bath there is just about as much water out of the tub as in it.

Four Teeth!

At 14 months, Asher now has four teeth. We figured that meant it was time to start brushing them! Asher is still getting the hang of how a tooth brush works but once he sees mommy and daddy brushing their teeth he gets pretty interested. He'll let us brush his for a second then usually wants to hold the toothbrush so he can do it himself. I'm not sure how clean his teeth are actually getting but at least he's getting in the habit!

Grandparent's day

Apparently Sept. 11th is grandparent's day so last week Asher's daycare celebrated with an outdoor picture. It just so happened NeeNee was in town visitng so actually got to attend. Asher enjoyed eating his pizza outside and having NeeNee chase him all around the year. (Thanks Uncle Barkley for the lawn chair to sit in, at least for a little bit!) Asher and NeeNee even enjoyed some time outback in the playground and were the last to leave!
NeeNee also got to spend all weekend one-on-one with Asher because Heath and I had to work. They made multiple trips to Target and Chick-fil-a, two of Asher's favorite spots!

Apple Picking!

Going to apple orchards in the fall has become a tradition in our household and this year we were lucky enough to take Nee Nee with us. While it was a little early for Fuji apples (our favorite) and pumpkin patches we did still have a great time picking apples. And at one orchard they even had goats and donkeys you could feed, which Asher loved! He giggled every time the goat's tongue licked his hand. Asher was very determined to get to the apples and even climbed a huge hill to get to where the good apples were. Asher had the very important job of taking the picked apples and putting them in to the bag. This worked out perfectly with his love of throwing things.

Growing Up

I'm afraid this look is one we're probably going to see a lot as Asher grows up. If I could just get in to his head I'm sure he's thinking "Am I really in trouble?!?" Just over the last few weeks Asher has really decided to assert his personality and see what he can get away with. Some of his favorites including splashing all of the water out of the dog bowl, feeding the dog from his highchair, and sticking his hand in his yogurt cup. .But he's also learned some really fun stuff too like how to high five (he working on knuckles right now) and how to give hugs and kisses and how to growl like "Brown Bear". Now, he'll even bring you a book to read to him.

Bath time

Asher has always loved his baths, but now he enjoys them even more knowing that the water doesn't just have to stay in the bathtub! He splashes his toys everywhere. Even with the bath is filling up with water he enjoys trying to get to his toys to make a mess. I suppose that's part of being a kid - but I guess part of being a parent is getting to take naked pictures of your kid!

House Guests

Last weekend we also had some house guests. Sarah Ince and her son, Asa came and visited. Sarah and I had worked together at Sweet Briar. The boys really enjoyed playing together. We even enjoyed a dinner out (at least mostly enjoyed both Asa and Asher had a moment here and there!). We also went for some walks and shopping. And a very interesting wagon ride where Asa HAD to pull the wagon and Asher wanted nothing to do with riding in it!

Happy Birthday/Anniversary

This week we've celebrated Heath's 32nd birthday and our 6th wedding anniversary! For Heath's birthday we went to Safari Park where the animals literally come right up to your car window where you're able to feed them. I think it was a big hit with both Asher and Heath!
For our anniversary we were able to enjoy a night out just Heath and I. And Asher gave us his anniversary present the next morning with sleeping in until 8:00 a.m.! Of course Asher was the topic of conversation for part of the evening and we did have to text home to make sure he went to sleep OK we were able to remember for just a little bit what it was like to be married without a kid.