happy mornings

Monday mornings are always tough. I think that's universal. It totally makes my day when I have a happy, very "cheeky" little 14 month old to smile at me constantly and laugh first thing in the morning! It makes it much more tolerable, and even fun. Thank you, Lord for a very happy kiddo!

chimney sweep

As I was sitting in the dining room trying to get the commissary list put together, Asher was crawling around "playing" as usual...or so I thought. He discovered the fake charcoal "rocks" for the gas fireplace and decided to pull two of them out. I heard him crawling with things in his hand, which is completely normal for him to do, but I did not recognize the sound they were making when he was crawling. I stood up at the table just as he made it to the doorway of the dining room. He crawled with the soot covered charcoal rocks across the living room, down the hallway and to the dining room door. Somewhere along the way, he wanted to see what they tasted like, too! Ugh! What a mess that made for me to clean up. Apparently he wants to be a chimney sweep. He's getting started early...And I'm about to have TWO BOYS to get into mischief...oh the fun will at least triple I'm sure!!!

Where the rocks belong...IN the fireplace!

Part of his trail in the hallway

Yeah for soot!

The used-to-be-white sleeper. Hope it tasted good, Dude...yuck

baby!

Well, the verdict is in. Mama and Dada tell me that I am going to have a baby brother! I couldn't be more excited. It will be so much fun to have a brother that is only 19 months younger than me. I can't wait to meet him. We're going to be bestest buddies! Here are some pictures of him from Mama's ultrasound on Tuesday. Love, Asher

Lower part of his leg (from the knee down) and a foot

Spinal cord along the top of the picture, head with brain shot and a hand

Head shot (profile), and saying Hi to Dada

i'm a keeper--oma and granddad said so!

Thanks, Oma and Granddad for the great shirt from Destin. I hope next time you vacation there, I can go with you. Mama and Dada told me it's a great place. There's lots of sun, lots of heat and lots of water and sand. I can't wait to see it. When Mama first showed me this shirt it was way too big for me. It doesn't seem like that long ago when you sent it and I can already wear it. I hope you are all having a great Monday so far. In other news...I'm very excited to find out tomorrow if I am going to have a baby brother or a baby sister...stay tuned... **Posted by Asher**

All dressed, looking sharp (as usual if I must say so myself) and ready for the day

"Touchdown!" or "Praise the Lord!"

This finger in my mouth has become my new all-time position lately. I have 2 more teeth about to break through on my bottom gums. OW!

stairs are fun

Asher has really enjoyed learning to go up the stairs. He's only fallen a few times and fortunately there have been no ER-worthy injuries or anything like that related to the stairs. We don't have a gate, so we have taught him to ask "Please, up?" before he is allowed to go up them. If we say "Yes," then he's allowed to go up, but if we say "No," he has to get off of the stairs and not go up then. He listens well, but there is definitely a bit of protesting when the answer is "No." We're still working on going down safely...

Just asked, "Please?" Got the approval. Starting the journey upwards.

And he's off...

Slow start, but once he get's going, he's gone!

Halfway there

Waving through the railing

Made it to the top and ready to go play!

learning young

Chase came over to play today and he and Asher were trying to figure out the lawn mower together. It was pretty funny watching them. On would play with the handle while the other got down and "checked out" the motor. If only they were old enough to "play" with the real lawn mower...that will probably be sooner than we realize though...we're enjoying them while they're young!

miss you already, j

We had a great visit with my sister the past 8 days while she was here. Asher loves his Auntie Julie! It's very obvious. We took her to the airport today and we weren't allowed to stand in the check-in line with her, but he kept putting his arms up in his stroller reaching for her from where we stood waiting for her to check in. It was very cute. It was obvious that he felt very comfortable with her and loved having her here! We miss you already, J, and hope you're enjoying your transatlantic flight. We know Jeff will be glad to have you home. Thanks for loaning her out, Jeff! :)

A--playing with his fishy

Getting excited for the camera

J--the muscle woman who carried all the candy back from the store on her back

A--picking and eating strawberries in the backyard--figured that one out on his own

Showing Auntie J how good the strawberry tastes

Auntie Julie is crazy

A & J

So sad...on the way out the door to the airport

you're welcome, candy lovers

You're welcome, Jeff, Mags, Pops, Ansley and Aunt Alice! Julie, Asher and I rode bikes to the grocery store to fulfill all your sugar dreams! We bought 132 GBPs worth of chocolate, gummis and other sweets. Julie carried the load on her back. The full backpack weighed much more than Asher (22 lbs.), so we're guessing it was probably around 35 lbs. The lady at the checkout thought we were nuts, but we explained to her that we were getting all of this for people in the States. It was a great ride for a great cause! Enjoy all your goodies when they arrive.

The massive pile of sweets

Strong Julie with all the goodies

Fun times!