It was neat to Asher start to get the idea that Christmas is a pretty special time of year to get to do some fun, different things. Asher checked out Christmas at the Zoo with his NeeNee. The reindeer weren't exactly his favorite but he LOVED going on the train and seeing the sea lions. We also went to a tree farm to cut down a live tree. Unfortunately we weren't able to actually cut our own tree down but we did get a pretty nice display tree that had already been cut down. Asher's favorite part was the straw maze and the free peanuts they had sitting out! It was also pretty impressed that we put the tree on top of NeeNee and PaPaw's car to get it home!

Over the holidays we celebrated many other traditions as well. Of course many of them revolved around food! All the boys were in Tipton for Thanksgiving and participated in sugar cookie decorated. They loved doing the "shakey shakey" of sprinkles on the cookies. And of course they all preferred eating over decorating. Asher got a second chance at decorating when he went to visit Santa as well. All previous attempts to sit on Santa's lap were not very successful. However, when cookies were involved Asher seemed to warm up a little! He never did make it on Santa's lap but he did get close enough to tell Santa he wanted a Big Red Monster Truck for Christmas (which of course he got!)

A new tradition

Our family has always been very big on traditions. Last year we started a new one that I hope continues for a long time! It began with the Turkey Trot in Lynchburg (Thanksgiving 2011) and followed up with the Holiday Hustle in Tipton over Christmas 2011. This year, we all participated in a 5K in Noblesville! The kiddos weren't thrilled about the ride but overall it was a great experience with great weather - soon Sam, Asher, Aaron and Henry will be running along beside us!

Saying goodbye to Rebecca's Rainbow

It has been far too long since I've posted and I have way too much to write about. I'm sure I'm going to miss a hundred adventures and funny stories from Asher's little life. It was incredibly hard to say good bye to all of our friends and co-workers from Lynhhburg. One of the hardest group of people to say good bye to was Asher's daycare, Rebecca's Rainbow. He had been going there since he was eight weeks old! We'll miss all his teachers and everything they did for our little guy!

Trick or Treat

Over the last few weeks we have done lots of little things to celebrate Halloween. Asher loved going to the pumpkin patch in VA and the one in Indiana with his NeeNee and Papaw. He also enjoyed going to story time at Barnes and Noble and hearing Spookly and getting to make his own square pumpkin. We tried carving a pumpkin but that wasn't really his thing this year, maybe next. I think his most favorite part of Halloween (aside form the candy) has been his "monster books." His Nana got him The Monster Mash book and every night since then he has had to have it read to him at least once, if not more. He also has a silly monster book from last year that he loves.

For the six years we lived in Wyndhurst we always had a Halloween party. It was fun to invite friend over to eat chili, sit on our porch, and hand out hundreds of pieces of candy. It was definitely bittersweet not to be able to do that again this year. We were afraid to even go trick or treating in Wyndhurst because we thought it might upset Asher - everyone once in awhile he sit references "my house."

Instead our good friends Kamal and Alexis invited us to their church Trunk or Treat. Asher enjoyed hanging out with his little chicken-friend, Olivia! He pretty quickly got the hang of how things worked and enjoyed going up the multiple cars and saying "trick-or-treat." His favorite candy was definitely the M&M's!

All the little moments

Couple recent videos of Asher. And now he loves being recorded and then watching the videos on my phone.

Punkin' Patch

 On a quick trip back to Indiana (for some job interviews) Asher and I were able to go to the pumpkin patch with NeeNee and PaPaw. Asher was too afraid to ride the pony or the train but he loved riding on the hay ride. He also really liked picking out all the green pumpkins. Although his favorite part of the trip was "slingshoting" pumpkins with his Papaw.

It's Official

It's been a pretty overwhelming couple of months but it's finally official! We have moved out of our house. We rented a Penske truck, and then a Uhaul trailer (since we got some pretty bad advice on just how much stuff we'd need to move all of our things) and drove it across the country to a storage unit in Indianapolis. On September 28, 2012 exactly six years after we initially signed the deed to our house we signed it over to a new owner. We're currently living in our former neighbor's mom's house until we can fully transition to life back as Hoosiers.

A Beautiful Day

Some days it's really easy to get sucked in to all that has to get done with grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning the house and paying the bills that it's easy to forget to take a second and breath. While we did still have all of those things today we were able to talk a solid two hours and just play at the park. The weather was beautiful and we had an awesome day running around the park, going down the slides and throwing rocks off the bridge into the stream below.

Choo Choo Soul

Asher, like most two-year-olds has pretty specific bedtime rituals. And now that he is two he can tell you what they are. Of course he's got to have his blanket, "me" and Sleepy. He also gets to pick out 3-4 books he wants read. Some of his current favorites are "Train Doctor" (I Want to Be a Train Conductor), "Brown Bear," "Train book," "Five Little Pumpkins, and "Chugginton." Then he likes to "rock-e" for a little bit and you can't put him down without his favorite cd from his Aunt Heather playing on repeat - Choo Choo Soul's All Aboard the Choo Choo Train. Asher can even sing it for you!

Punkin' Patch

Asher has definitely been very interested in pumpkins this year. Of course he can't quite say the word so calls them "punkins" which is pretty adorable! His first glimpse of pumpkins was his Five Little Pumpkins book NeeNee bought him last year. At one, he mostly just smiled and made the "woo" sound when it mentioned the wind. Now, he can count with us and tells us which pumpkins are smiling or crying based on their cut-out faces. 

There is a small pumpkin patch close to our house that we visited last weekend. Asher's favorite was definitely just running up and down the rows of pumpkins. He did really enjoy painting his own little pumpkins with his daddy.

The place had several inflatables and some playground equipment which Asher wasn't as excited about. We did get him to go down some of the slides but I guess based on the video below it's understandable why he wasn't convinced.

No worries though! Asher's tough and didn't even shed a tear! Although two days later he's still talking about how he "Went down the green slide and land on his face."  . . . oops.

I cute!!

Asher is now talking in full sentences and it's pretty amazing what he comes up with. During a quick trip back to IN for FC's Homecoming Asher woke up from his nap and came downstairs and told his Nee Nee, "I cute!" Admittedly not one of his longest sentences but one of his most fun :)  Although he usually will correct you when trying to tell him he is cute, or funny, or smart and instead say, "No, I Asher!"

During the same trip Asher loved being at Nana's house with all of her giraffees! He enjoyed getting to meet Sleepy's mama and give her hugs and kisses! He even liked wrestling with Nana's giant teddy bear! Unfortunately the picture doesn't quite do it justice.

In addition to talking in full sentences Asher has picked up on all his family member's names even those he doesn't seen all the time. We heard a lot of "No, No Austin" and "No, No Barkley" this weekend as Ashher gave back to them just as much as they dished out!

10 years . . .really?

It's a very hard to believe that it's been 10 years since our FC graduation buy it really has! We had a great time catching up at Franklin's Homecoming 2012 with an FC victory and a trip to the Willard. We've accomplished a lot in those 10 years with jobs and moves and buying houses, getting married, having babies and making our own little mark on the world. We no longer get the opportunity to talk with each other day - or unfortunately see each other every year but I think we all feel blessed by the friendship we share.

Asheboro Zoo!

Asher's loves driving his buddies "fast!"

I'd be the first to admit I'm not usually too spontaneous, but this weekend I decided we needed to take advantage of the very few and far between weekends that Heath has off and make a "family memory!" We ended up in Asheboro at the zoo. Asher loved looking at all the animals although his favorite part really probably was riding in the zoo car with his buddies the monkey, elephant and giraffe. I'd be the first to admit I'm not usually too spontaneous, but this weekend I decided we needed to take advantage of the very few and far between weekends that Heath has off and make a "family memory!" We ended up in Asheboro at the zoo. Asher loved looking at all the animals although his favorite part really probably was riding in the zoo car with his buddies the monkey, elephant and giraffe. 

Nay Nay Poo Poo & Drums .

The second half of the summer has been a bit of a whirlwind since Asher's 2nd birthday. Unfortunately we didn't get to many pictures of Asher celebrating his birthday with his Lynchburg buddies but it was a party to remember. The weather didn't exactly cooperate and our party in the park was a little damp. The bees decided they also wanted to join the party and then Asher had so much fun swinging at the playground he forgot to tell daddy to slow down and his birthday rice crispy treat made a second appearance!

After Asher's birthday NeeNee and Papaw came to visit and we made a quick trip to Williamsburg and Jamestown. Everything in our lives have changed since having Asher - vacations are no exception! Asher's favorite part of the trip was the "nay nay poo-poo" (horse poop) on the road. He'd scream every time we walked by it and I think was truly fascinated that horses don't have horse potties just like us! 

Asher also loved the drums and thanks to Papaw he's now got one at home :)