"Cheese!"

I think Asher is figuring out what a camera does - which is not surprising when you think about how many pictures he's had taken of himself since he's been born! This is his "cheese" face that he made when I got the camera out to take a picture of him.

Other exciting news

In addition to our big night out, we had other exciting news last week. Asher enjoyed some dessert at the new frozen yogurt place in Wyndhurst. Because it was their grand opening they had a drawing for free yogurt for year . . . and we won!

Asher is clearly pretty happy about that! Lesson learned - bring wet wipes when we go for frozen yogurt!

Our big night out

Last week was very exciting at the Ewing house. First, mama and dad had a big night out! We've gone out a few times for dinner or a movie but it's usually few and far between. But this time we enjoyed an evening out at the Rascal Flatts concert. Thanks to some credit we had to use up on our StubHub account we splurged on some awesome tickets - 9th row! We had a great time singing and dancing along.

Asher seemed to enjoy his night too! His buddy Miss Olivia babysat!

Asher's Nana

Asher has a lot of words he's getting pretty good at including: Dada, Mama, Dog, kitty-kat, Bye, No (his favorit), Yeah, More, Spoon, Bubble, & Shoe (I'm sure I'm forgetting some), plus a ton of animal sounds. But one he just wasn't getting fast enough was "grandma" so now he has a "Nana!" And Asher seems to be pretty good at that word :)

Some Unexpected Friends

While in Shelbyville Asher came across some unexpected new friends! His buddy the cow - Asher's pretty good at "moo-ing" back to him, the hungry giraffe, and his dancing buddies the penguins.

Christmas #3

For the final leg of our Christmas trip we ended up in Shelbyville. Christmas #3 was filled with TONS of great food, presents and time with family. We even got to introduce Asher to his cousin Conner and his Illinois family!

Grandma and Grandpa Ewing got Asher is very first bike! Then he got to go to the races and watch his cousins Maddie and Austin show him how to ride.

And by round 3 I think Asher had figured out how this unwrapping present-thing worked!

Christmas #2

Christmas #2 was celebrated in Tipton and a big success. With four boys 3 and under we weren't sure how it was going to go but they did great! I can't imagine what it will be like 5 years from now, but I have a feeling it will involve some sort of flag football competition outside! Asher got some brownie points with his grandma by saying "NeeNee" the ENTIRE way through Christmas dinner.

We started a new tradition in Tipton as well with our first Holiday Hustle! In the spirit of getting healthy and in shape we all went to the community center for some exercise. Definitely a hit.

Sam and Asher also got to enjoy playing in some snow with Nee Nee and Papaw - it was Asher's first time!

3 Christmases Later . ..

After an awesome four-day weekend in Lynchburg, I think Heath and I finally feel settled back in after the holidays. So I'm just now getting caught up on my blogging! With Heath's job we've had to be very flexible with what Christmas in Lynchburg looks like. This year we opened presents on Christmas Eve Eve and enjoyed steak and salmon on the grill. Then Christmas day we opened stockings but the majority of the morning was actually spent packing. Asher and I did enjoy making some Christmas salt ornaments for the tree next year, although he learned you definitely shouldn't eat the dough!

During Christmas #1 Asher didn't quite get how the whole present thing worked. He was more interested in standing on the boxes. But once the presents were opened he really did enjoy is monster truck, car trailer and puzzle!

Having to be so flexible with the holiday I thought it would be fun if we started some of our own traditions to keep from year to year. This year we all got matching Christmas jammies and Asher got his own Christmas tree ornament to start his collection.

Christmas Card Sucess

Another day, another attempt. It only took another 20 photos or so but we finally got a Christmas card we were proud to send out!

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!