Asher turns 4!

How can another year have gone by so fast? Asher turned four years old, and he is thrilled about it. He's been talking about turning four for a couple of months at least, and his request that night was to have a '4' on his hat. He was just so proud. We celebrated with the family while we were visiting up there for the holiday. With a birthday that's three days after Christmas, its nice to have some family around to help make it extra special. I know he loves it. The cake process was a little last minute since we'd only been in town day or two. He picked a Blue's Clues cake, which surprised me since he's been so into trains, animals, etc. But, Blue it was and it was perfect! It was the first year he's really anticipated his birthday, which made it more exciting. Happy 4th Birthday Ash! We love you SO much.

A few fun things about Asher:

We are so proud of him. He's an amazing older brother to Beckett, and has lately even started building towers for him to knock down. It's so great to see them interact well together, and I know that Asher is the key to making that happen. They already seem to have 'inside' jokes!

He is a sentimental kid. When people give him things, he often remembers, and those things mean something to him. He sleeps with a slew of "buddies" now, and they have all been given to him by someone special. The buddies currently include a flashlight, 6 or 7 stuffed animals, a little Santa in an airplane with a fan for a propeller and sometimes a book or two...and he takes inventory every night, if one is missing, he knows it.

He is a friend to all. He loves people. And he calls everyone a friend. There was a period when he literally called any kid he saw a "friend" (ie....we were at the mall, and another kid walks by...Asher says, "look mom, there's a friend!"). He'll still fight for a coveted toy, just like any other kid his age, but he really does seem to be accepting of others.

He can be very sweet. Other moms (my own included) have told me how little boys love their moms and will say the sweetest things. Until recently, I hadn't experienced it for myself. He will compliment me on everything from my glasses to my shirt. "Mommy", he says, "your eyes are beautiful." Wow, keep em' coming, I think to myself!


He is an excellent negotiator. He can be convincingly clever with his words when he wants something. He won't come right out and ask if he can have something, but if YOU would like something, and that he'd like to share. For example, if he wants some M&M's he'll ask if you want some first, then if you want to share some. He smooths over his demands with words that make you think he's doing you a favor. Are they supposed to be so clever at 4?

He loves to learn. He's always building things, killing me with questions on how things work and loves to learn words (to read). He masters puzzles, and loves to play games. Don't get me started on his obsession with replacing batteries in toys, and finding out where all the dead lightbulbs in the universe are (because he sees them all). He pays attention to little things, which I find fascinating since I don't always do that myself! Everything is a chance to learn something, and I am constantly impressed with how little minds work in such a big way.

We are so proud of our big boy, and love him so much. Happy Birthday A-Man!

Christmas Catch-Up

Now that the New Year has come and gone, and before that Christmas and Asher's birthday, I am finally catching up on blogging all the festivities. It was definitely a busy season, visiting with both sides of the family, and filled with lots of fun, and TOO MUCH food.

Corey's parents were in town for Christmas, and we spent Christmas Eve and Day with them. We had dinner at our place, then braved the night and the insane traffic to see the 'Luminarias.' It is a unique tradition in a downtown neighborhood, and nearly every single home lines the streets, and everything in luminarias. It was beautiful to see all those lights, minus the bumper to bumper traffic. You see, it's not exactly a secret.

Happy Christmas Baby!

Asher gave his Daddy a signed original titled, "Elephant with Boot."

Christmas morning was wonderful. It is an absolute joy to watch my boys experience it all. Asher was very much into the whole thing this year, and Beckett actually enjoyed it more than I thought he would (his hands-down favorite was playing with the wrapping paper). Santa brought Asher a bike this year, and he's now tasting real live freedom as he rides up and down the street with his trusty training wheels. He loves it, and keeps telling us how fast he is. Speed demon!
We had a nice Christmas Day with Corey's family, it was a treat to have some visitors in town.

New wheels!

The day after Christmas, we flew to Utah for some more holiday festivities. My brother Ryan, his wife Danna and their cutie pie Adalee were visiting too, which made it extra fun. We hadn't even met their daughter until this trip! We spent lots of time hanging out, playing games, talking and eating with everyone...every single member of my family was around, and it was great getting together like that. Unfortunately, it doesn't happen too often with some of us living in different places. It's so amazing to see all of us, grown up with families of our own, and I LOVE to see all the cousins running around. Since I'm combining so much, I will hit the highlights:

• It was great hanging out with both of my parents the whole time...my dad even had the entire time off!
• Beckett learned to crawl up the stairs. At home I keep him away from them, but at Grandma's house he saw his cousins doing it (particularly Adalee who is 3 weeks older) and thought he'd better do it too. Good job little buddy!

• Asher built his first snowman! Not a big deal to many, but here in NM, our snow is nowhere near snowman quality, so we took advantage of the chance to build the real deal with some real snow. Thankfully, Laurie happened to have enough snow gear to outfit a whole family in her car!

My boys in the snow...

Beckett wanted in on the action and watched from the glass door.

The snowman crew with the finished product.

• Cousins. Cousins. Cousins. Love watching them all play, cry, laugh, and fight.
  

• New Year's Eve. Lots of food. Ryan took it upon himself to sautee shrimp and scallops for everyone, and I thought I hated scallops! MMMMmmmm, thanks Ry. The guys spent the night playing a Wii tourney, the girls crafted. Yes, you read right...crafted. Unconventional, I know, but Danna showed us all how to make these really cute bead-y watches...and it was fun! We laughed a lot, and were near delerium by around 1:30 when we all started to crash. Wish I had pictures of our watches!

• Learning how to crochet cute little flowers. Again, Danna passed on some of her expertise to us. I was a nightmare to teach (Me, crochet? Scary!), and somehow she stuck it out. Thanks again! They really are so cute! Again, no pictures, but here's Kayla making one!
  

• New Year's Day my parents took us all to Tucano's for lunch. Yum. Who knew they had tables that big?
• Kangaroo Zoo. Asher had a blast running and jumping around that place, and best of all we were practically the only people there!

• Taking pictures of all the kiddos in their matching pajamas. Pure madness. Imagine 8 kids ages 4 and under, 3 of which are crawlers, trying to stay still for one perfect shot. Impossible! My mom had a great idea, but the reality was scary. I so wish we'd had a video camera going to capture it. It would be funny now, even though it wasn't then. The two stalwart children were Asher and Allyssum who sat there waiting patiently and fairly content watching the mayhem around them. Funny.

So, that is our Christmas holiday in a rather large "nutshell." It was so fun to see everyone this holiday (except for Shawntel, Jared and family....we miss you guys!). We love you all and thanks for all the fun and memories!

Did I mention this poor guy had an ice cream cone for a nose and walnuts for eyes and mouth? We couldn't find carrots, etc. anywhere in my mom's house! We had to get creative.

Santa's a coming...

It is feeling like Christmastime! This is all thanks to a decorated tree, Christmas cards in the mail, a Spiced Wassail candle, some Christmas tunes, a daily advent calendar (Asher lives to open the little boxes), broken Christmas canes found in random places, and a trip to the mall to visit Santa. I am so glad it seems like Christmastime. There have been years when the holiday gets here, and I feel like I missed the whole month and with it the feeling that this season evokes. The magic, the giving, the fun! I hate it when I miss it, so I am trying to really embrace it. Kids make Christmas what it is, in every way. I am convinced of that. And my two little guys are having some fun.

I took some pictures yesterday of the two of them near the tree, and it was just funny. I was trying to get a perfect picture, which seemed (and was) unlikely. Except that the imperfect ones are my favorites, so that's okay by me!

We also made a trip to the mall to visit Santa. Asher insisted that Beckett go first, which at first came across as a sweet and generous gesture of brotherly love, until we realized he was petrified of Mr. Clause. Corey sat him on Santa's knee, and had to pry him off his coat. We were dangerously close to a picture of Asher with Santa, crying his head off, at nearly 4 years old! As it is, the picture we did bring home was pretty close to what was really going on. I don't think Asher said even one word to the Big Man, he just couldn't wait to get out of there. Beckett thought Santa was mesmerizing. He just stared and stared. Blame it on the bright white beard, I say...who grows a beard these days? Santa does look pretty cool.

Christmas is a coming!

P.S. And, yes, Beckett's skin is looking a litte orange. Too much squash? I swear it's not a tan!

Thanksgiving in Globe

Sunset in Globe.

Globe, Arizona that is. For any who've either never been or heard of this town, it is simply a tiny mining town a bit over an hour outside of Pheonix. We went to visit Corey's parents for the Thanksgiving holiday. It was only the second roadtrip we've taken with the boys and they did surprisingly well. Thanks to a lot of naps by Beckett (okay, he did scream a little) and hours of DVD's for Asher, all was pleasant. I sometimes wonder what in the world families did before movies in the car. Scary!
Thanksgiving day was nice, and the food was delish! We drove to "the valley" a couple of times and put in some shopping time and way too much eating time. Corey went to High School in Gilbert, AZ, so he had a few things he wanted to do/eat while he was there (Mesa Temple Christmas lights, and Nielson's Frozen Custard, mmm). Pheonix was a sizzling 81 degrees the day after Thanksgiving!! And we hit snow on the drive home, go figure.

Asher's favorite pastime over the weekend...playing with the gates.

Taking an after dinner walk on Thanksgiving.

One of the days, we went to Freestone Park, which is a huge park with some kids rides and mini manmade lakes. Asher had a fantastic time riding the little train and carousel, and before we left he worked up enough courage to brave the little ferris wheel. It was a proud moment, I must say. Beckett spent the majority of the weekend wanting his mom to hold him, and drag-crawling himself around. He is loving his new freedom and boy is he fast.

Since we've been home, we caught up and put up our Christmas tree! Asher is really excited about everything this year...so fun! Less than 24 hours after we put out all the Christmas decor, Asher had broken two ornaments, and flattened a decorative sled (he sat on it...whoops).
I cannot believe December is actually here and that Christmas is coming so quick. I'm hoping to have all my shopping done by this weekend, so we can all really enjoy the rest of it all. Woooeeee! Time sure flies!

P.S. Couldn't resist posting this. This picture is from a recent visit to the zoo...we now have an adorable baby elephant!