Taking back the blog

What? Two days in a row? I know, shocker!

Well, I'm here to say I'm taking back the blog. And I really mean it this time. I'm going to be doing some rearranging on the blog and changing things up a bit. And I'm going to write about what I want. I started this blog years ago for myself. I wanted a way to feel connected to the adoption community, but our adoption was taking so long with no adoption news that I ended up blogging about random things like our Christmas tree and horseshoes with friends and fun trips. Then we finally had adoption news and there was stuff to post about. My little community of readers grew and we all talked about adoption all the time. The blog was great for that because not many people in our little lives wanted to talk about it all the time because it was still abstract. And now Asher is two. And a half! And the adoption stuff seems so long ago (although we are still waiting on a blasted court date!!!) and that's why I don't post very often.

But now I'm taking back the blog -- my blog -- and writing about whatever I want. There are a handful of things that are going on in our family right now and I want those to be documented and people to know what's up with us. I also want to have a place to braindump. So there all that is.

Of course I'll keep posting things about Asher. To prove it here are some pictures from July 4th weekend. We spent it at the pool. I am full of surprises today. Brace yourselves for cuteness!

Asher loves to be thrown up into the air. But only by Daddy. And because Justin is so awesome, he does it. Over and over and over again. I swear I have hundreds (literally!) of pictures just like this. 

As soon as Justin's done, Asher immediately asks, "More! Please! Please! Again again again!!!"

To which, after he gathers his breath, Justin gladly grants the request. Over and over and over. 

Which is obvious. I mean, check out my mans biceps and shoulders. 

I love these two!

Just. Stinkin. Precious. 

How can one stinky little boy be so cute?

And bring so much joy? 

It's a miracle.

A gift.

from The Great Gift-Giver alone.

we are thankful. 

where did June go?

I'm way behind on the ol' blog, as some of you were so kind to point out. : ) So here's a recap of June.

June 2 I celebrated my fifth wedding anniversary with my sweet Pablo. We had a party.

We had some awesome fajitas and played some yard games. We even made a giant adult twister board, which was pretty fun, if I may say so myself. Yay for love and anniversaries and people falling over. From laughter. And maybe a little pain...

A few weeks later, my mother moved into our neighborhood (yes, that's half our parents now living in our neighborhood) and brought her fun pool. And a slide. Anyone guess where that's going?

You didn't know that was the next logical idea? We've spent several hours replicating this event. 

Ok, my next two posts are practically writing themselves. I've got another fun picture post with a tiny little hooray, and then I thought I'd post about Asher's annual report thingy. We wrote our first one this year!

ooops

Well, I had no intention of letting a month slip by sans post, much less three months! But it has happened and now I'm to the point where I need to post so people know we are still alive. We are, indeed, still alive. And now, a recap.

In February, shortly after the last post, we had a little chili cook-off which was great fun! I kept putting the camera down which means the pictures from that event are hardly worth mentioning. Most of them are pictures of a certain couple while he's trying to kiss her and she's trying to escape (RB, you can thank me now) or of people open-mouthed shoveling chili as fast as they can (names left out to protect the guilty). So here is a picture of some of the tiny chili hooligans watching WordWorld and dumping out every.single.toy.in.our.house.

Then later Asher and I went to the zoo with my mother and a friend of hers, Rae, who was visiting from out of town. I had anticipated that Asher might not be ready for a rousing day at the zoo, but we preceded anyway.  He lasted about two hours. Which is the equivalent to the time it took to get there and get home. He did seem to like the elephants, but did not understand why he was not allowed to climb all the fences and run where he wanted. We did finally make it to the children's area and that was much better. As he ran from play area to play area, I repeatedly heard other adults comment on how fast he was. If I had time to slow down myself, I would have assured them he was not even traveling at full speed. Oh, and he seemed to really like the big fountain, too, but again, why he was not allowed to play in it was completely unclear and thus, unsatisfactory.

That same day was the day I learned that Asher could climb into his high chair at will, by using the furniture around him. Since then he seems to have forgotten that skill. For now...

In March he took to hiding himself for peek-a-boo a bit more creatively than before...

Look for another fun post soon! I promise!!!

Asher's Birthday :: Part 2

We decided to forgo the big party this year and do a simple birthday dinner on a weeknight with all our parents. Which was great because there were no invites to make or mail, no weather to worry about, and no exposure to sick kids. There was, however, a lot of laughing and squealing and screaming. Not just by Asher, either. You put eight adults madlyinlove with the cutestbabyonearth and see what volume you reach. "It goes up to 11." {Bonus points if you know that quote. Serious bonus points.}

I made a super simple dinner of soft tacos, spicy corn, pinto beans and cupcakes (with incredible fugde frosting). All served buffet style. I have no idea why my family didn't do things this way growing up. So fewer dishes! Anyway. Super easy and quick and tasty. 

 {Any "My Name Is Earl" fans? We love the closed-eye picture tradition.}

There are no family photos. I can not believe it! I'm resolving right now to be better about making someone take a picture of Asher with his Mommy and Daddy. Seriously. 

The plan was simple: sit around the table and eat while we watch Asher eat. He always provides good supper-time entertainment and general face messyness. He was definitely entertaining during dinner. The best part was probably after dinner, though. Justin got up and began clearing the dishes (I know, bonus points for him) and when I joined him Asher went to play with his little barn. He loves the music and plays the songs over and over and over again. Well, he played the songs and ran in circles. The entire time we did dishes. At least twenty five circles. He'd stop and dance for a  minute, but then back to running. None of the grandparents took pictures though, so be mad at them, not me. I think we did get some video, so I'll try to check into that soon. And my next post won't have anything to do with Asher's birthday. But it will probably still have something to do with him. Let's just face it. 

Asher's Birthday :: Part 1

You've waited long enough. No more delays. I mentioned here that I'd made about thirty meals. It just so happened that I did that when Justin was out of town. And it was Asher's birthday. Sometimes things just happen that way. Here's how it went down. First, when it's your birthday, I am an advocate of having whatever you want for breakfast. Actually, I feel like this fairly often, but especially on one's birthday. Especially when you're two. So Asher has milk and grapes and donut holes. Actually, this is his first experience with cakey donut holes, but I thought he'd like them and they sounded good to me when we were at Kroger. Don't judge me.

Asher ate his breakfast, we practiced our flash cards and sang happy birthday and I started on this. 

Cajun 16-bean soup. Can you find sixteen different beans? Me either. I only counted twelve. Maybe I'll try again later when we eat some. 

While I souped, Asher played. We're big fans of free play on Saturday mornings around here. I just read an article about how free play is really good for fostering independence. Not that he needs any help in that department. 

I rounded up supplies for all my meals. While it was a lot of work, I am excited to do it again. And it's been so fun to eat things from our freezer. Tonight we're having Santa Fe Chicken Chili and tomorrow Cream Cheese and Spinach stuffed Chicken wrapped in Bacon. Be jealous. 

Asher helped me get out some other things. 

I cooked, he played. He cooked, I played. We cooked. We played. 

We took a break for lunch and wagoning. Asher received a Radio Flyer for Christmas so we wagon often. Elmo was in Asher's good graces that day, so he was offered a wagon ride as well. 

After wagoning, Asher took a nap and I returned to the kitchen. Later that night, Asher went to MeMaw and PawPaw's for dinner and movie. Lucky kid. I was still in the kitchen...

P.S. Asher loves meatballs.

Stirring up baby Jesus

I wanted to write a blog post about something. Anything. But I have too much stuff to do.

I need to throw the clothes into the dryer and start another load.

But I can't do that until I make some more laundry soap. To do that, I need to get out all the ingredients and wash the big bowls I use that Asher has taken over to collect his favorite toys.

What are his favorite toys? A giant jingle bell, the green ring (From the stacking toy), a teether, a pig rubber pig, and baby Jesus (who was promptly evicted from his nativity set to live in the bowl in the bottom drawer in the kitchen). He likes to stir his toys with a big wooden spoon. And I let him. Except it's a little strange to me that he's stirring up baby Jesus.

I'm trying to be encouraged that at least baby Jesus is one of his favorites that gets extra special treatment.

totally behind

Asher started school in November. I know time flies, but don't worry. He's not really in kindergarten or anything. I took these pictures that morning because aren't you supposed to have pictures from your first day of school? Asher didn't think so. : (

Maybe hiding behind the trash can will help. Nope. It doesn't. 

On a side note, while packing his lunch, I was really worried about what he'd eat since their lunch time was way earlier than our normal eating time. Actually, everything about school is way earlier than our normal time. Also, I was concerned that he'd run out of food while other kids were eating and that could be detrimental to the rest of his day. So I packed and packed and packed food for him. 

Lunch includes:

1 peanut butter fold over with extra peanut butter

cheese puffs

1/2 cup yogurt puffs

string cheese

two clementine oranges

5 pretzels

2 animal cookies

water

He ate every bite. 

Also, mornings are much better now. And he likes school. He doesn't always eat that much for lunch. But sometimes he eats even more. : )