what's new?

Wanna know what's new with us?

Here's a rundown...

1.  Em threw my phone in the toilet.  So I lost all my pictures over the last year and have a cheap phone with no camera or internet.  It's been a sad month.  Please bless I can get my hands on the new iphone quickly.

2.  Ash got glasses.  When Dr. Shakula said he might have bad eyes we went to have them checked.  Turns out he was right.  About 20/50.  He now has cute little glasses, which he loved for a day and now could care less about.  The eye doc said he'll probably not care about them until first grade, and then he'll probably need them for school.

3.  Emers has started walking.  He can make it almost across the room.  We are still in the wobbly phase, but it's exciting to see him do it.  I honestly think I'll need a leash for him when he's really mobile, but hopefully he will start to listen to me better by then.

4.  Ash and Tom started karate.  They've only been once, but they both seem to love it and are excited to continue learning.

5.  Tom is coaching Ash's soccer team.  Tom loves working with all the kids, and Asher loves playing.  For someone who can't see well, he really has a gift at playing soccer.  He scores about two goals every game.  Last season we promised him legos if he got five goals, which he quickly did, so this season it's up to 9.

6.  Ash started kindergarten.  He loves it.  Both his little friends moved out of our neighborhood about a month before school started and he was ready to get out and play with some kids.  The first day he told me it was "freaking awesome".  Every day now he says it's just still the same, super fun.  He really likes PE and the ipods.  His little friend Gwen from soccer is in his class, and he has to say good bye to her everyday.

Lost footage...

As I was looking for soccer pictures I realized that I had a whole month last year (September) that I never blogged about. I think I was too lazy to dump my camera. It also coincides with the time period that was so busy at work my hair started falling out. :(

Some of the pics were just too cute to pass up...

Addi in Idaho playing with a flower:


I remember catching this picture at just the right moment:


And these show how expressive Asher is and how he goes through a whole range of craziness in a matter of seconds:


Sergio taught him how to rope a cow and he has not forgotten this. It is something that really stood out in his mind because he has talked about it several times since then.



And one day I looked outside to see what Ash was doing and caught this...





He and Christian were jumping into the leaves that Christian's poor brothers and sisters had just raked up. They were having so much fun that no one even stopped them.

This is why my hair is falling out...

Oh man. Life has been stressful lately. Probably why I haven't been posting on here as much.

Since this is essentially our family journal that gets turned into a book every year... here it is for posterity... this is what is happening now and causing me stress:

1. Prego. I spent all of December and some of January being LAZY and TIRED. This baby was making me a little nauseous and onry (seriously does anyone know how to spell that word). Second trimester has finally kicked in and given me renewed spirit.
2. Work. Back in September we were pushing out a new product that took a LOT of work. It was STRESSFUL. My hair literally started falling out in about October. As if I'd just had a baby. It was horrific. Crystal was like what the crap is going on here when she did my hair. Now it's these one inch wispy pieces along my forehead, and a few random sections that stick up when my hair is semi dry.
3. Work. Fast forward to February when the company is sold. New owners. Holy crap... I was expecting to go bald. Luckily they seem to be keeping everyone and are happy with my work. It's still stressful because they expect to move at a mile a minute, but I'm adjusting.
4. Cancer. My dad was diagnosed with it in December. Multiple Myeloma. Cancer of the plasma cells in your bone marrow. Devastation. Words can't even explain it. He started chemo and seems to be doing better than most in that situation. When chemo is over he will do a stem cell transplant, which will require a sterile environment at his home. What started as the creation of that sterile environment, turned into a complete home remodel. They deserve it. That house hasn't changed in 30 years. Brandon is in charge and spends about every non-working moment on it. Everyone else has been helping when they can. New closets, new wood work, new doors and casing, new paint, fireplace ripped out, new carpet, new shelving, new everything.

To say the least... I'm exhausted. Poor Tom. I've not been normal for months. I keep saying this baby is going to come out as a ball of anxiety. I told him the other day its been one thing after another and I'm ready to go back to normalcy.

Fingers crossed. Hopefully soon. I guess its just a matter of dealing with what life throws at you. Lucky for me we have a great family and help around every corner.

Silly week at daycare...

Asher had silly week at daycare a few weeks ago and one day was backward day:


And another day was hat day:


He looked so cute in his little hat!

Yikes I'm behind on Pics

I finally dumped my camera and I had 400 new pics... yikes, I'm behind on posting.

Here is Asher playing slip and slide at Grandma Snows with Rach and Megan.



He had a ball. It was a 3D buzz lightyear slide, so you had to wear the 3D goggles for max impact. He looked so funny in them.

little things I love right now...

* Ash plays with my hair while I put him in his car seat.

* Ash still wants to snuggle with me on the couch when he wakes up in the morning.

* Tom has to wear button down shirts and ties to his rotation and he looks HANDSOME!

* Bountiful baskets... such a good deal for so much food and it gets us to eat more fruit and veggies.

* Improve everywhere... this is some funny stuff. Be sure to watch the ghostbuster one.

* My nook... it is awesome. Thank you to Crystal for talking me into it. And thank you to Barnes and Noble for dropping the price the day I decided I wanted one!

* iPhone Apps for kids - perfect for when I need Ash to hang for a bit and don't have anything for him to do.

* Toy Story aliens (the claw!)

* Pretzel M&Ms

* Build your own frozen yogurt shops.  There are a ton around here now.

* BBQing.  Such an easy dinner... I think its making me a lazy cook.

Things I hate right now...


* Tom's evening shift rotation. We never get to see him. We miss him. And he hates it.

* Fire alarms

* Car registration renewals

Here's one or two...

pre-birthday pictures that I'm barely getting around to putting up...

Asher and his great-grandma (Tom's grandma Beverly, who is amazing):


Asher cruising through the backyard. He is always in MOTION...


Playing with Rachie...


Dumping water on his pops...




And finally... wrestling boys:

From Asher's perspective...

Ash likes to play games on my phone. I've pretty much given in and let him play with it, even though I LOVE my phone, and even though when he gives it back the apps will be in all different orders and he's called like three people. Yesterday he even was nice enough to set an alarm for me for 6:00 am.

He also takes pictures.

Here are some examples...

A dirty knee...


My toes...


Tyson and Ellee while he's getting his hair cut...


and the best ones...
the view from the little potty...


His other favorite thing to do with my phone... listen to some music... so far the favorite is Single Ladies. Just picture him bopping his little head along to Beyonce.

The hair...

So I think we might grow it out again...

We love it short, but it just doesn't seem to fit.

He is a hippie.

He is a clown.

He is a dirt herder.

None of those things fit with the current hair style.

I had been silently debating it, but then Tom blurted it out. And the reason he felt this way is that almost ALL our neighbors (and mostly the ones we don't even know) have felt the need to make sure we know, that they liked the long hair better.

My grandma even liked the long hair better.

Hmmm...

The faux hawk felt like his iconic hair style, because that is the way he was born...


but he seems to have morphed into the little hippie kid who needs the long hair. We'll grow it out a bit and see what happens.

a few updates

Before the hair cut (and the crazy cold weather...) we made it out to the zoo. Asher loves going there. He said his favorite was the lion (umm... they don't have a lion, but ok).


Look at this little hippie:


I barely recognize him!

We always ride the merry-go-round. Ash loves it.




Rory graduated from Pharmacy school yesterday... holy cow, time flies. Feels like just yesterday he started. I thought I was being all smart with the setting I chose on my camera, but every picture of him walking across the stage came out blurry. Oops.


I caught Tom outside playing with Asher during the speeches... and looking all handsome:


I tried to get him to smile, but he wouldn't really... except when he hid behind the tree:


And he took one of me and the boy...

Finally a real update...

Our life has been crazy for the last two months. Tom had to prepare for his "seminar". It's a huge massive project that they have to do during 3rd and 4th year in pharmacy school. He had to pick a clinical controversy and give an hour long seminar on it, with a powerpoint and twenty page paper. It took SO MUCH WORK. He is amazing for even knowing all this stuff... I edited his paper... and the slide show... and still couldn't understand 1/8th of what he was talking about.

It's over now. He did an amazing job. We love that he is so smart, but we are just so glad to have him back. Ash has been missing him... he so loves his daddy.

Ash and I were in charge of refreshments. All our cookies got eaten. A+ for us.

Sooo... in all that time Tom had my computer posts were pretty sparse. Here is an update on what has been happening:

lots of playing outside and bike riding:


Ash and I got to babysit Addi for a day. She is so cute!!! Ash was very helpful and fed her lunch. He kept saying cute little things to her... "your almost done," "you're doing such a good job," "you like that? want some more?" It was very sweet.


but it also meant she ended up looking like this:


Right when Christa brought her in Ash said something about "scissors and Addi's hair..." Can you imagine? Beautiful Addi missing chunks of her hair? I had to quickly remind him his scissors are only for paper. Yikes!

I tried taking some pictures of her, but she didn't want to sit still for long.


On Easter Saturday, Tyson brought Ellee and Hallee and we took the kids to an easter egg hunt. They thought rounding up the eggs was ok, but opening them and eating the candy was even better.


They had an Easter bunny and Ash was so excited, he kept running up to the bunny and talking to him. "Hey bunny... look at my candy." "Hey bunny... watch this." It was pretty funny. Ellee on the other hand wanted nothing to do with that bunny. She kept one eye on it the entire time and cuddled up right into Tyson anytime he got near her.




The easter bunny was very sweet and brought Ash exactly what he asked for... spray bottles. I also put in a special request for a new transformer, since I was not paying attention as Ash brought his old bumblebee into the tub. Oops. He doesn't talk anymore. This one (megatron) has this crazy loud voice and says awesome things like "I will rule you."


Aunt Rachie comes up with the best games for Ash to play. His favorite this winter was to spray the snow with food colored water. This has carried over into a love of just spraying water. He will spend an hour outside spraying the sidewalk or anything else that gets in his way.


This is why he loves to go to Grandma Noralyn's. Always has fun. Everyone always plays with him. Here he is playing football with Uncle Zach:


Last weekend it was finally warm again and I let Ash out to play in the backyard while I got ready. I could hear him jabbering the ENTIRE time. This is fairly normal. I just have to leave the door open and I can hear him jabbering so I know he is still there.

The neighbor next door was out working in his backyard. I'm sure he got a chuckle out of it.

After I finished getting ready I came out to find this:


He had filled the water in our slide (not hooked up yet and just laying on the ground) with mud. Carried shovels of it from the planters and dumped it into the slide. He was having a ball. Such a boy.

Football has started, and they got Ash his own shirt. If you ask him what number he is, he'll turn around in circles saying "this one". Trying to get to the back of his shirt.



After the game this saturday we stopped by to see Rachie off to prom. Rory taught Ash all about the ice cream truck...


After a long debate and some "I changed my minds," they ended up with Batman for Ash... Ninja Turtle for Rory.


and Rach looked so beautiful. I was very jealous of her prom dress. We had nothing quite that cool when I went to prom.