Splish Splash

I gave Asher a bath the other day. I love multi-tasking, so I was tidying up around the bathroom while he was in the tub by himself. I hear a trumpety noise bubbling up from the tub, followed by a belly laugh. Oh cute, Asher is already old enough to be entertained by his tub toots (sort of hilarious if you ask me). I kept him in view out of the corner of my eye while I continued cleaning around the bathroom. I see (again, out of the corner of my eye) him holding [what I can only assume to be] one of his tub toys. Then he reaches out to hand it to me. I look up and think, "oh crap........CRAP!!". Of course he's not holding his toys. Oh no, so much better. He has (one in each hand of course, because he's Asher) a turd. Oh yes, one fresh turd in each hand! And he's offering it to me. I can just hear his thoughts, "Hey mama, I have something for you. Never felt this before. It's warm...*examining it*... and sorta squishy. Want some?". Lucky for me, those two were not the only treasures of the bath. I got to scoop out two more that were aimlessly sailing in the water. Pretty sure that was the fastest tub cleaning I've ever performed.

Moral of the story: Never let an innocent tub toot go unnoticed.

Uno

Hi, I'm Asher and I'm ONE now! I'm 29.5" tall (44th percentile), weigh 25lbs (92nd percentile), and I never stop moving.

I taught myself to climb down the stairs backwards last week. It sorta freaked my mom out at first, but then she saw how good I am at it (and I am really good).

I love anything with wheels. I often carry a hotwheels car in each hand while crawling around the house. And if they get in the way of my hands, I just sit up and scoot on my tushy. There's no stopping me!  My biggest acheivement as of late is standing up in the middle of the room and balancing for a long time. I hear mama say words like "walk", but I'd much rather just stand here and clap for myself. It sure does make everyone smile and cheer. To add even more entertainment, I often say "hi" on repeat. I think it's so funny!

My very  favorite food is graham crackers. I don't understand why mommy won't let me just eat them (and only them) all the time! I'm pretty sure that's the only food I should ever be given. Mommy thinks my second favorite snack is something Grandpa Gordy introduced to me, but I promise I discovered it all on my own!

Can you guess what it is? That's right, rocks! Mmm rocks. You really should try them sometime. Just lick them. I do. All the time. Sometimes when I think mommy's not looking, I just pop a  little pebble in my mouth quick. Quite tasty.

I love being the baby of the family. My brother and sisters are always hugging on me and giving me kisses. They know how much I adore my blankie, so they like to play games like peek-a-boo with it. It makes me so happy! My blankie and thumb go hand in hand. Why wouldn't you want to suck your thumb while holding your blankie?? Especially in my mama's arms. Shhh...don't tell daddy, but mommy is sort of my favorite person. *mamas heart just melted*



"I don't want to go to school"

Our sweet little Jeremiah is officially in school. Today is his first day of preschool and he was not so thrilled about it (to say the least). We were all smiles right before hopping into the car (that smile sure makes this mamas heart melt)...

...but as we walked down the hallway, the "I don't want to go to school" started (oh those eyes!).

We found his hook where he'll be hanging his backpack and coat, talked about all the little boys who we're sure would love superheros just like him, all the great and wonderful things they would get to do. He wasn't buying it. "I don't want to go to school" was on repeat. Oh what a sweetie. I stayed with him for a few minutes to get him settled, soaked up the extra hugs and snuggles from my buddy, then left this tearful little boy in the arms of a wonderful teacher.

Jeremiah, we are so proud of how you've grown. Can't wait to pick you up this morning and hear all about your first day of school!

Schooooooool time!

Predictable schedules, early mornings (early bedtimes!), a little sibling seperation...ah yes. It's fall. First up is our little first grader. Seriously not even an ounce of hesitation or worry. She was SO ready for today.

These first couple of pictures were actually taken on tuesday when we had our conference with her teacher (also picture day). I've heard so many wonderful things about her, and am anxious to learn more. This teacher does one thing in particular that's a little different than most teachers in the school. Instead of having every student contribute several boxes/packages of "snack" to a community pile, she has each student bring their own snack. Every day. She does have a shelf designated for boxes of crackers if a student wants to just leave it there and take a handful every day, but she encourages them to bring something fresh and healthy instead. Thank goodness. There are far too many days when the "snack" provided is fruit snacks (or something similar). My daughter isn't a big eater, but are little sugar bites really going to tie her over until lunch? She very excitedly chose sliced apples for todays snack and we packed our own lunch (which we'll mostly do also).

One of Brooklyn's biggest excitements is having her own desk for the first time!! Oh and it gets even better. She has the luxury of sitting on a "learning tool" (most people outside the classroom call it an exercise ball ;-) ) instead of a chair. Holy giggles is she ever thrilled for that.

Our sweet little sponge for knowledge is already off to a fabulous start. I just might be counting the minutes on the ticking clock, waiting to hear all about her first day of first grade.



Full of the giggles

Brooklyn and Jeremiah have such a way with Asher. They really can get him into these giggle fits often. Fortunately, I had my camera ready for it yesterday.

Laughing Gas

So, after taking Brookie to a routine dentist check-up last month, we found that one of her permanant molars is actually growing in at an angle (almost sideways) instead of straight up. As it's growing in, it's pushing on the baby tooth right in front of it, causing a bit of errosion. To prevent the development of an abcess, she was scheduled to get the baby tooth pulled so that her permant molar has some more space to figure out how to grow correctly. Anyway, a little laughing gas, a few shots into the gums to numb, wiggle-waggle-pull, and it was out. Oh. My. Word. Seeing Brooklyn 'under the influence' of laughing gas is something everyone should witness. She came to the appointment just nervous enough to be a little extra giggly, but once that gas set it there was no stopping her! She wouldn't quit giggling! I wish I would have recorded it. I was laughing too hard right alongside her (as were all the nurses and her awesome dentist).

She was thoroughly entertained by the fact that she couldn't feel one side of her face for a few hours and had no ill side effects. Hooray! Thanks, Dr. Bothun!

Happy Birthday Jeremiah!

A lot can happen in five years, you know. A baby can speak his first word (so happens to be "ball"), a toddler can chase his big sister around the house with his arms stretched in front of him chanting "butt, butt, butt, butt...", a little boy can lock himself in his bedroom without any idea desire to unlock it (regardless of the fact that he's sitting in a dirty diaper and undoubtedly hungry). Said boy can also require mommy and daddy to hire a locksmith to get him out of said room. A little boy can become so fascinated with trains that he stand by the window (that just so happened to be right across the street from the railroad tracks) and say, on repeat, "too too tains a bye bye an hont hont" (the choo choo trains are going bye bye and they say 'honk honk'). Lots of toy hoarding can take place. Dozens (oh yes, dozens) of toys can be found under a certain spiderman pillow on any given night. "Hulk SMASH" can be heard echoing off these house walls. Yes, Jeremiah has kept us utterly entertained from day one. We are so excited to be celebrating yet another year of your life. Love you so much, buddy! Happy 5th birthday.

Talk about HUMID!

You know, heat I can handle. Humidity is another thing. It's just so gross out! It's sort of an unwritten rule around here that if we're outside, our hose better be turned on in some shape or form! Today, it was the slin-n-slides turn.

The kidlets

I had so much fun taking pictures of the kids these last couple days, I thought it'd be fun to share. The first is actually one that Christy Bode took out at my in-laws last weekend. The rest are just in our yard. I love our kidlets.

A Week(ish) in RC

This last week I decided to get out of town with all 4 kids in tow and visit my parents in WI. We are typically only able to visit for a couple nights at a time so Mike can get back to the office and/or Brookie can get back for school. So this time we left daddy at home and stayed 5 nights (the longest we have ever stayed!). It was nice to be there long enough for the kids to almost settle into a routine. We were also so fortunate enough to share a few of those days with my Aunt Sharon who came from MO to visit. So fun!

We took the kids to the baby pool in town and they had far more fun than I ever imagined. Brooklyn spent the entire time swiming back and forth across the (16" deep) pool and becoming fascinated by the fact that she could hold her ENTIRE body up on just one thumb under water, Jeremiah was crouching down and walking sideways saying "I'm walking like a crab!", and Savannah kept squealing "I love baby pools!! Dis is so weally fun!! Watch me, I do a dance". We sorta cut into one of Asher's naps while we were there, so he wasn't as thrilled with the water, but he sure had a cozy lap with grandma.

We got in some awesome park time while we were there. It's such a fun one too! Brooklyn created some obstacle courses and timed us to see who could get across the fastest, Jeremiah was content to stay on one piece of the playground equipment so he could go barefoot (his shoes were irritating him) and not have to walk across the woodchips (which also irritated him ;-) ), Savannah was all over the place like a little monkey, and I'm actually surprised I got the smile from Asher that I did because he's really not typically a fan of swings.

(holy jeeberz, could he be any happier??)

 

I think Michael (my sister's boyfriend) should be dubbed water fight king. Thanks to him, my kids were ultimately worn out (every day). The fight wasn't exactly fair (note the hose in his hand and teeny water guns in the kids' hands), which made for an hysterical game. On this day, Savannah happened to have not taken a nap, so there was a lot of  "DON'T SQUOTE ME!!", "I SAID DON'T SQUOTE ME!!", and (whispered) "I want to squote him" (pointing at Michael).

After a lot of tears, running away, and screaming Savannah got a hold of the hose and this teeny little smirk spread across her face. I know she was thinking, "he he he, take THAT!".

While we were there, Asher learned a new trick! He's now officially unstoppable. We've put up baby gates everywhere in our house because he also squirmed up the stairs the other day. So awesome, little buddy!

The kids had a lot of fun playing ladder ball. They were awesome, too! They were able to land them right on the 'ladder' (that is, until Savannah removed it for them -- oh what a helpful sister they have).

Well, fortunately for grandma and grandpa, we decided that we prefer the longer stays when we visit. Can't wait until we bombard them again with a pile of Graham lovin'. ;-)