Jump...

We've got another jumping bean in the family. Caleb likes the doorway jumper as much as Asher did.

Yumm-o!

Today I made my sister-in-law's fantastic snickerdoodles. It pretty much took me all day because I kept getting interrupted by some pretty cute and needy children, but it was really fun. Thanks, Lisa, for sharing your recipe! It sure makes a lot. Good thing the boys liked them so much.

Ashy...

Asher's pretty happy because he can get in and out of the big chair all by himself now. 

The other day I made a little personal pizza on whole wheat flat bread with a little sauce, ham, pineapple and parmesan cheese for Asher. I'd have to say Pizza is his favorite food... just like his daddy.

Asher Mckay...

This picture was taken months ago, but I've just been thinking about it and how much it truly captures Asher's personality. He is calm and observant. He has still moments throughout the day amongst his joyful energy. He gives me this great look all the time of recognition. Like he knows me. I'm his mom. It's funny to think that there is someone out there (now two someones...) that when they think of their mom, they are thinking of me! So cool. And, last but not least he loves those fingers and that blanky! Just mom thoughts that I wanted to write down :)

Spider...

It's time for yet another song. Asher really likes the spider song, but really only likes it when his daddy sings it (don't worry, I'm not offended...). Anyway, he was getting tired and, like his mommy, as soon as he gets sleepy he's done! But pretty cute anyway. Enjoy.

The big C

Caleb is getting so big and strong.

I love it when their personalities really start to shine through!

Meet George, The Man in the Yellow Hat, and their Banana...

Hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween. We had fun and I think the boys looked great. This is for sure the most effort I have ever put into halloween, EVER! A while ago we thought it would be fun for Asher to be Curious George and Justin to be the man in the yellow hat. We really shouldn't have waited until the day before halloween to start making the costumes, but I think we pulled it off pretty well. Especially for someone who doesn't really know how to sew. The crash course from my cousin, Liz, a few weeks ago really helped! 

Then while I was making those we decided we wanted Caleb to be their Banana! I think he makes the cutest banana I've ever seen.

This is Asher telling me what George says "Oooo, Oooo, Oooo!" He also had a little red t-shirt that said curious george on it, but it's not in any of the pictures.

And this is their reaction to all the candy that they got. 

P.S. So Mom, these were some pretty fantastic costumes. Can I add them, plus the turtle from last year, to the "dress-up box at Honey's house"??

Please wait...

Well, I've been trying to teach Asher how to be patient and wait for things, because I can't always help him right when he asks. At first he had a hard time understanding what I was talking about. I thought it might be helpful for him to have something to do while he waits, so I taught him how to twiddle his thumbs. He does it for about 3 seconds and then moves on to whining, but we'll keep working on it. He really likes it when I twiddle my thumbs. Sorry the video is sideways, I don't have time to try and remember how to switch it. I just think his little twiddle is so cute. He doesn't put his hands together, most of the time he just moves his cute little fingers all around while he says "twiddle thumb!" 

Asherman

My little Asher is getting so grown up!

Hilarious...

It really doesn't take much to make Asher laugh. Today it only took a balloon, a little bit of space, and one silly daddy!

Bubbles...

I've been meaning to let Asher play in the sink with bubbles for a while now, and today I finally did. He sure likes water and bubbles. He did a great job keeping them all in the sink, but he was so super sad when it was time to move on to the next thing.

Hangout time on the couch...

The boys...

How'd you sleep?

Well, my little Mr. Caleb slept 9 hours during the night for the last two nights! Thanks buddy! I bet it won't last, but it sure was lovely!!

And silly Asher sleeps with his blanky on his head.

Staring contest...

...Caleb smiled first!

Our day...

I feel sick and am still in my jammies, Asher laughed so hard he had tears coming out his eyes, and Caleb rolled all the way over (tummy to back) for the first time today! Justin has been at school all day and is going to work all night :(

Thanks Grandma!

As if this awesome Lightning McQueen hoodie from Grandma wasn't cool enough....

It has pockets to boot!

All smiles...

It's so fun to see him smile!

Day in the life...

I just have fun watching Asher and his little personality. These are a few things from the last couple of days that I don't want to forget. So, this is Asher lining up his cars. It's funny all the places he finds to put things.
Asher playing with a little friend while we were at Justin's flag football game. It was really cold that day!
This is what was left of Asher's apple. He doesn't really understand the whole eating AROUND the core concept. He just ate from one side straight through to the other side (He also doesn't like it when I cut it up for him), but he said it was yummy :{
This morning we gave Asher toy Lightning McQueen and Sally cars. We bought them a while ago when we found a great deal and just figured he would probably like them someday. We were right. This is our picnic lunch with Lightning... Asher even tried to share all his food with him.
And this is nap time with Lightning and Sally.  He makes my days too fun!

Living Planet Aquarium...

Asher saying "Oooooh, water!"

Asher touching a starfish and sea cucumber. He didn't love it.

We took the boys to the living planet aquarium this week and Asher really loved seeing all the fish. I think his favorite was the super big shark tank and the octopus. He also had fun crawling all around the reef sculptures. Caleb slept the whole time, but what do you expect... he's just a little baby.

ABC's already?!

Hey, this is super long but Asher is one smart cookie. Justin reads him this book quite often during the bedtime routine. I guess it's sticking because tonight Asher knew A, B, C, D, and E all by himself so Justin called for me to come hear him (I was doing the dishes...) so I grabbed the camera and this is what I found. He was a little distracted with his cars and it was the second time reading it so I could record it, but I'd say he's still pretty impressive. It's fun to watch Justin be such a great daddy, too! I sure love my guys.

If you watch the whole thing there is a part where Asher starts making the cars kiss. That's because he plays cars with me all day and I always make them kiss (it's a girl thing...) and he always makes them crash and do flips (it's a boy thing...) so now I'm getting pretty good at "vvvvrooms" and crashes too. What a fun kid to hang out with.

"more shoes..."

Asher has always liked shoes. My shoes, Justin's shoes, but mostly his shoes. "Ashy's shoes" and "More shoes!" are things that we hear him say regularly. Lately he also likes to stack them, fill them, and line them up. It's fun to find little things he does throughout the house. This is what I found in the bathroom the other day. I wondered what he was doing with all the shoes he was carrying out of his closet! Funny kid!

Does this look like a kid who just had shots?

Asher just had his 18 month check up and he did great. This was the first time that he really knew what was coming with the shots and was able to feel scared! It was so sad, but he was over it as soon as the nurse mentioned "stickers". The problem was that mom and dad weren't over it. I wanted to give him a treat or something to make him feel better (even though he was fine...) so on the way home we stopped at Kid to Kid, a used toy store, and I let him pick a toy.

As soon as we walked in the door he found two Lightning McQueen cars and carried them around for a while. Then he spotted Elmo. We have one elmo book that Asher likes so I guess he recognized him from there. He got so excited saying "ELMO! ELMO!" and giving him big hugs. To see which he really wanted I put all the toys down and said "Come on Asher, it's time to go bye bye." He ran over, picked up Elmo, put him under his arm and headed for the door. I guess that was his choice :) We've had a lot of fun with elmo since then. It's for sure the loudest toy we have (I don't usually buy them because I know they will bug me!) but Asher loves this one so much how could I resist?!! 

So, I have a question...

I started this blog as a way to share pictures and stories about my family, particularly my kids, with members of our families and close friends. It then became sort of a Super Journal (...journal with pictures and videos!) and then a way to document the everyday life moments that are so special yet slip from our memories over time. I plan to use Blurb or some other program to put all these pictures and stories into a book to enjoy when my boys are older. 

So, onto my question for all you older, wiser, and more experienced out there...Is it a good thing to have all of these little glimpses into our life recorded or is it better to leave some of it to the child's memory/imaginations, which tend to be romanticized and slightly rose colored? For example, the play room at my grandma's house. If you asked me now I would say that it was a huge room filled to the brim with toys, dress up clothes, stuffed animals and random other treasures. In reality it was probably a normal sized room with one or two boxes of stuff we played with in it. Do you get my point? Is it better to record and remember all of these stories or will it eventually bring a slight disappointing reality to what Asher and Caleb remember from their childhood? I'd love to know what you think. 

Goodnight!

It's funny...

Asher liked his new sweater, but he LOVED the sticker that came on it!

Guess what?

Andy said my name today! Yeah, I'm in the club.