Crafty Asher

Not sure when I went from having a toddler to a little kid but I think we're getting there. I remember thinking if I would ever be able to just sit down with Asher and play/paint/craft for more than 60 seconds. Last night we worked on a pumpkin project and I bet he sat there for half an hour. He loved looking at all the shapes and figuring out where he wanted to put them. Of course his punkin HAD to have 3 stems. He was SO proud of himself and what he accomplished (and I was too!). It's funny how an orange paper plate and some construction paper can be such a big deal.

Big Boy Underwear

We're not there yet but we've made HUGE strides in potty training over the last week. Asher is very proud of himself when he uses the big boy potty and is really starting to enjoy wearing his new underwear!

This Is How I Roll

Asher has never enjoyed going shopping. As soon as he gets in the store he is ready to get out. So when I took the Monday after we moved off to go shopping for some things for the house I thought there would be no way Asher would want to go with me. Turns out I was wrong. While he still doesn't love shopping, he has gotten a little better at it. Turns out he can make anything, even rug shopping. 

Pork Festival

It's been a long time since we've been to the Pork Festival. While it looks a little different than I remember it, we had a great time. Growing up the thought of missing the Pork Festival was unheard of. So happy to be able to share this experience with Asher. He enjoyed getting to ride on a pony, eat a corn dog and his favorite was definitely the train ride (he did NOT like the dragon roller coaster!)

Fall Festivities

I love fall and all the awesome outdoor activities. Asher enjoyed visiting Stuckeys and picking apples with NeeNee. He helped pick an entire bag of apples and would've picked more if we let him. He even enjoyed an entire apple (seeds and all until he spit them out) while in the orchard.

Birthday Celebration

Asher has definitely gotten the hang of celebrating birthdays. He loved celebrating Heath's birthday with dinner out (ice cream included) and 34 balloons!

Our Little Farmer

There have been a lot of benefits of being back in Indiana. This August Asher got to experience the Indiana State Fair. He loved pretending to be a farmer! It's easy to complain about Indiana being flat and a little boring but after the State Fair I really was proud to be a Hoosier!

Broccoli Cheese Soup

I can't believe it's been July since I last posted. Things have been just a little crazy with getting settled in to our new house. But this picture on my phone caused me to get over the non-posting hurdle. I couldn't help it. Asher loves playing with my phone. And while he probably has it too much it never ceases to amaze me with what he can do with it. He loves taking pictures. He's just now gotten good enough that he can actually get some faces in the pictures but usually I just find random shots of the floor, his toes or this one of his favorite soup - broccoli cheese from Panera.

Now when he plays with my phone he also likes to change the settings. I never know what my phone background will be and this morning it was this picture of the broccoli cheese soup. Who knows how/where he found it or figured out how to make it the background on my phone but he did. Previously, I had a cute picture of him and his daddy so it just made me laugh when I saw this. 

These are the moments that warm my heart. Sure, we've got pictures of the holidays and will remember his 3rd birthday party was a construction party but 10 years from now will I remember what it's like to look at my phone and never know what silly thing Asher has done to it now. He is such a warm-spirited, silly kid and while some nights I wonder how we survived the day I can't believe how fast the time has gone.

Cousins!

Cheeseballs and cousins - can it really get any better than this!!

THREE!

 We celebrated Asher's birthday in true Asher style, with birthday party after birthday party! He got to have his green cupcakes and green cookies at his Nana and Grandpa's house. Then a construction party at NeeNee and Papaw's house.

 Asher enjoyed digging his trucks in his worksite cake! Although turns out he would have much rather had white cake than chocolate, oops, we'll know for next year!!

 He loved getting to see his Aunts and cousins, and they all really enjoyed the track from Aunt Jennifer.

Having your birthday near a holiday can be a little tough, but I think Asher loved getting to spend so much time with his family. And they even set off fireworks for him . . . even if he didn't make it up late enough to see them!

Starting the Countdown

More progress on our new house! Hopefully we'll be able to set a closing date soon! I think we're not under 6 weeks.

Our House

I remember looking at a few pictures of my parents from when they were building the house we grew up in over 30 year ago. At the time it wasn’t really a big deal. It was impossible to understand what was going through their heads. Now that we are walking in their shoes, the sheer excitement of all the future possibilities is unbelievable. 

Seeing Asher run on the plywood floors and through the walls where only the studs stand to imagining him walking out the door with his backpack on his back for his first day of kindergarten or him swinging on the swing set in the backyard with a couple of his buddies from the neighborhood is an awesome feeling. I can almost taste the turkey from our very first Thanksgiving in our new house with family surrounding us. We went to Virginia excited about the possibilities and ready to “make it on our own,” but we knew we wouldn’t settle there. Without a doubt, Lynchburg became our home but we always knew we’d end up in Indiana. Now, we’re moving in to a house we hope we might retire in. I’m truly blessed and overwhelmed with what the future has for us.

Chi Town!

It doesn't look like a big vacation with be in the cards for us this year with getting settled in to our new jobs and buying a house but we really enjoyed a quick trip up to Chicago to get away for a few days.

Asher was a little overwhelmed at Rainforest Cafe! He loved looking at all the animals (except the monkey that were a little too scary). There was so much to see and do he just couldn't sit down and actually each lunch. He even picked up his new friend, Iggy the frog.

 We loved seeing the dinosaurs at the Field Museum. (Thank goodness Asher took a power nap on the bus!) Sleepy even made the trip - you can tell who was the priority.

We did a ton of walking over the weekend as well and Asher just loved being outside and looking at the boats in lake Michigan. Of course he was pretty fascinated with the buildings - he said we went "In to the City" just like Little Blue :)

Congratulations, Austin!

So proud of our nephew, Austin for graduating from high school and super excited that we were close enough to be able to celebrate with him.

What next . . .

Sometimes with the daily routine of life it's hard to take a minute just to breath and reflect. I am so lucky to be able to fill my days with a job I enjoy and a family to have fun with and take care of, but it also leaves me pretty exhausted. It's nice to take a minute to think about how I got to where I am and think about where I want to go now.

Eight years ago, Heath and I were putting the finishing touches on our wedding plans. I was enjoying my job traveling around the state for Purdue and he was anxiously preparing to graduate from PA school and looking diligently for a job. We decided we needed an adventure and landed out in VA. What we told our families, and what we truly believed, was that we were on a five-year plan. What we didn't know was how connected we would get to the life we built with our Lynchburg family. The first few years in VA Heath and I grew as a married couple. I can't say we truly took advantage of life without kids (who knew how different it would be!) but we enjoyed spending time together and going on little adventures. Then we adopted a cat, then a dog and took the plunge with starting our own family. Seven years flew by.

A year and a half ago, we decided we really were ready to move back to Indiana.While I'm a little greedy and think God took my grandparents a little too early I know how blessed I was to have them in my day-to-day life growing up. I'll always remember my grandma bringing brownies to soccer games and watching us play although I realize now just how little she probably understood about the game - it didn't matter though because she was there just to support me. And playing Euchre with my grandpas after family dinners on the weekend. Asher deserves this too.

Who knew what a process moving would be. Despite awesome support from family and friends it nearly broke us. When we put our house on the market I had no idea I'd be given 20 minutes to scramble around the house cleaning spaghetti of the floors, table and ceiling to get Asher and Peyton out of the house for an impromptu showing. I didn't know that despite all the news reports to the contrary we really had "bought high" and were going to have to "sell low" if we wanted to get our house sold. I didn't know that all those people I had called co-workers had really become good friends and the emotional toll it would take to say good bye to them - we weren't just moving across town we were moving across the country and who knew when we'd seem them again. I didn't know that saying good bye to the only daycare Asher had ever known would feel like I was uprooting him from the comfort of the only routine he'd ever known. I certainly didn't know that when a moving company tells you their truck will be plenty big enough for your three-bedroom house that they could be wrong! I also didn't expect as we looked for jobs Heath would find a great opportunity that would end up being just a little too good to be true and we'd have to scramble for a Plan B (even thought it turned out to be a great Plan B). Nor was I aware that we'd have to land in five different stops before we could call ourselves settled again.

But that's where we are now, almost settled. We've decided to build a house in Zionsville that will be ready at the beginning of August. It's our dream house really and we hope to watch Asher grow up there. Everything that we've worked so hard for over the last year and a half is finally falling in to place. Heath and I both have jobs we like (with relatively short commutes) and more free time to be together on evenings and weekends. Asher is starting to get settled in to his new routine at school. We get to have those dinners and celebrations with family that were few and far between in VA. I suppose sometimes it really is true that you've got to have the valleys to truly appreciate the mountains.

Who knows where we'll be another eight years down the road. I'm sure there will continue to be lots of highs and lows. I just pray that my family will be right there with me taking the journey together.

Some Favorites

Happy Birthday, Adelyn! It's really fun to watch your child play with your friends' children, especially to recognize some of the awesome characteristics your friends have reflected in their kiddos.

This has to be one of my all-time favorite pictures :)

Happy Birthday, Papaw!

Happy Birthday, Papaw!! One of the best things about being back in Indiana is celebrating special occasions with our family. No longer do we have to call to say "Happy Birthday" over the phone we can do it in person! Asher's favorite part of birthday parties is definitely the cupcakes!

Just a little behind

Between moving, starting a new job, staring a new daycare, Spring birthdays, Easter and just trying to put one foot in front of the other I've gotten a little behind on our blog. In mid-February our little family moved out of our temporary residence with NeeNee and Papaw in to our own apartment in Zionsville. Heath was very thankful to cut his commute time down drastically! A few short, stressful weeks later I began a new job working in the HR department for Zionsville Community Schools. It was definitely an adjustment to go back to work full-time but with my schedule I'm off by 3:00 and still get to enjoy some of the afternoon with Asher.
Asher has been thriving in his new environment and at his new daycare. At 2 1/2 I'm sure he doesn't understand all of the transitions that have happened over the last few months but I think he's happy to finally be a little more settled. He still cries when he gets dropped off at daycare (luckily that's Heath's job now!) but he always comes home with fun stories about all he did, his friends, and his teacher's Ms. Jen and Ms. Cara. We feel very lucky to have found the Goddard School.
Every day Asher does at LEAST two or three adorable things that I think I HAVE to write down or I'll be so sad I forgot about later when he gets older. Apparently, I've forgotten them even sooner as I try to think about them right now! He definitely isn't our little baby anymore and is extremely talkative an very independent.

1. Dora and Diego are definitely Asher's favorite cartoons. Tonight he even surprised us by saying dinner was "deliciouso" and counting to six in Spanish. Although quatro doesn't come out quite right.
2. Turns out he might have a flair for the languages. When he was playing on the IPAD the narrator had an English accent - so Asher started asking for a banana in an English accent too.
3. Since being in daycare Asher has really started singing more. He loves Twinkle Twinkle and his ABC song. He'll even sing "Bingo," "Alice the Camel," and "Red, red's the color I see if you don't see than SIT BACK DOWN!"
4. He still says, "You Welcome" instead of "You're Welcome" and a new favorite is "Gimme Some Sugar!" when he wants a kiss
5. I'd say yogurt covered raisins and applesauce are his favorite snacks and he has no problem walking himself over to the pantry and picking out a snack for himself, and at a restaurant if you order "spaghetti" it's pretty much a guarantee he'll eat the entire plate!
6. His favorite color is STILL yellow and he STILL has to sleep with his me and Sleepy!
7. He loves going to the Zionsville library and running on the letters, putting the books in the return box, watching the fish, and "checking out book."
8. Some of his favorite books are "I love you StinkyFace" and "Goodnight Train"
9. Asher is just starting to get the hang out Hide and Seek and loves to play although he usually tell you where he is!
10. Asher loves being outside to play and is pretty much happy anywhere as long as he can run and throw, but he also really likes Snappers and the "Museum" and Gymboree

While there have been some drawbacks to our new apartment life a benefit has been not being quite so concerned with everything in the house. Asher and Heath decided the kitchen floor would look a little better with some side walk chalk on it :)

Easter 2013

This is the first year I think Asher really started to get the hang of what Easter is all about. Admittedly the church part wasn't exactly his favorite - I'll give him credit though he did a great job sitting through the 1 1/2 hour service.

But he was very excited about the Easter egg hunts, coloring Easter eggs and his Easter basket. This year we got to go to the Zionsville Easter egg hunt. He didn't exactly rush to put a bunch of eggs in his basket but once he realized there was candy in them he was very happy. Asher loved coloring Easter eggs so much we did it twice. He especially loved coloring the eggs in one color then moving them to another color - I think he could have done this all day. Needless to say we ended up with a lot of brown eggs :)

Asher even told us when he woke up on Easter that he wanted to see what the Easter Bunny brought him. He hoped there were "M&Ms" in his Easter eggs - of course there were! Although he had an Easter bowl instead of Easter basket because his adorable, monogrammed basket apparently is still in storage!

We even enjoyed a great brunch at Stone Creek with all his family.

Asher just got the hang of

singing "Happy Birthday" in time for all his family's spring birthdays! He decided his favorite part of birthdays is the cake!

Elmo Live

For Christmas, Heath decided Asher needed tickets to go see Elmo Live. This was really Asher's first live show. I think he was mostly overwhelmed but he never took his eyes off the characters in the show!

Chuck E. Cheese

Asher had his first experience with Chuck E. Cheese! He loved it all. His favorite might have been all the games with the balls - basketball, baseball, football, and skee ball. He LOVES to throw things. He also was pretty fascinated with air hockey. It had been years since Heath and I had been there and it was a fun blast from the past for us as well. Although they no longer have ball pits to jump in (probably a good thing) instead they have tubes you can crawl through. I also think the pizza is significantly better now. Asher learned a little lesson about "monies" and was disappointed when it all ran out. But he was so tired he didn't put up too much of a fight to go plus he got to "pay" with all of his tickets and get a green triangle!!

Our little Man at 2 1/2

It's hard to believe Asher is 2 1/2! It's so true that sometimes the days seem so long but the years go by SO fast. I look back at pictures of Asher just a year ago and can hardly recognize that little guy. There are so many fun things about Asher it's hard to recap them all! 1.) Asher loves anything with wheels especially his trains and cars. 2.) He really likes to narriate his life and talks all the time. 3.) He's got some pretty funny sayings, "demolititious derberby," "how get up there," "don't know," "not yet," "I was worried about you," "Uncle Broccoli" 4.) He's got lots of favorites. His favorite dinosaur is Anklyosaurus, his favorite color is yellow, his favorite vegtable is broccoli, his favorite books are "Llama Jama" and "Splat the Cat," he loves waffles or eggs for breakfast and applesauce might just be his overall favorite food. His favorite thing to do is jump and he's even got a signature jump and split move. 5.) He's far from potty-trained but he will let you know when he's got a "giant poopy" and that it smells "p-sheew" 6.) As big as he is he still couldn't possibly take a nap or go to sleep with our sleepy and his "me."