Halloween

Asher insisted on being Big Bird for Halloween. He's so particular about everything. The funny thing is, he's never watched Sesame Street. His only exposure to Big Bird has been in a couple of Elmo books (BB only had a supporting role) and watching BB sing along with Elmo on a short clip we periodically watch on youtube. We had a hard time finding a BB costume; seems that he's not so popular with the kiddos anymore. We found one online and luckily it fit when it arrived. Jeff thought that Asher was cool because he was so "old school" and didn't want to be a typical character like Spiderman or Elmo.

We took Asher trick or treating to about 8 to 10 houses and it was more than enough for him. He really didn't care much about any of the candy except for the lollipops, of which he is now practically obsessed. Jeff's favorite comment came from a man who answered one of the first doors we knocked on, "What are you? A chicken?"

We then stopped by our friends Rob and Lisa's house, where we were met by an intimidating Dracula that supposedly goes by "Henry" during the day. Spooky.

These are the pumpkins we got from the pumpkin patch. We had a jack-o-lantern for everyone in the family, including Oreo (oops, we forgot Baby X).

Baby X

It's been quite a while since I last blogged. A lot has happened- some bad, some good. For those who don't know:

I Love Vacations

About 3 weeks ago we went to Bend, OR for 3 days. It's one of our favorite places for mountain biking and hiking. We had such a great time.

The first day we rode our bikes on a trail that was right next to the resort were we were staying. It was the first time that we took Asher on an actual mountainbiking trail. He rode in a bikeseat on Jeff's bike, and though it forced Jeff to be much less daring than he likes to be, we still had an amazing time. Asher even liked the downhills and the "bumpity bumpities". And Jeff still climbed hills better than me, even with an extra 30 pounds on his bike (as he frequently reminded me).

The next day we went on a beautiful hike. Asher loved it, and as you can see in the photos below, so did we. In the afternoon, Jeff went mountainbiking on his own while Asher and I hung around the resort. The 3rd day we went biking again on a trail with amazing scenery. Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures from our bike rides- I guess we were having too much fun.

The rest of the weekend was filled with time by the pool, walking around downtown Bend, getting ice cream and pizza, and hanging out in our condo.

Old Fashioned Summertime Fun

Here are a few random shots of various activities we've done with Asher this summer. Ahhh...to be a kid again.

Riding the carousel with Mom.

Carousel with Dad.

One of Asher's favorite places, a water park near downtown.

Car ride at our local amusement park with girlfriend Ibby.

Driving a tractor at the zoo with friend Mishko looking on.

Riding a toy horse at the zoo.

Allie and Audrey

My two nieces, who I just adore, came to visit earlier this month, along with my sister and brother-in-law, of course. They stayed with us for a week and even though it was a bit hectic in our house, we loved it. Asher got along with them so well, mainly because Allie and Audrey were so sweet to him. We tried to do a lot of activities, though at times it was hard to coordinate everyone's schedules and get everyone out the door.

First night in Portland, at the park.

Watching and playing with fireworks in the backyard.

Allie (she's 6)

Audrey (she's 4)

Are they not the cutest?

Popcorn and a video after a long day

Hanging out in the barn at a berry farm.

Picking strawberries in Sauvie Island (about 1/2 hour from Portland)

Audrey and Asher goofing around

Ruled by Lists

It's a pretty well known fact about me that I can't function without making lists. Almost every morning I write a list of to-do's for the day, and while I do, Asher tries to grab my pen or repeatedly asks me to draw something for him. So a few weeks ago I thought I would solve this problem by explaining to him what I was doing, and to help him remember what was on the list, I drew pictures. Asher loved it and spent the day looking at the list and recapping what we had accomplished (this is the kind of stuff that makes me proud!)

Since then, I've started "drawing" simplified versions of my to-do-lists and my grocery lists when Asher gets too curious about what I'm writing. When Jeff saw one of them for the first time recently, he immediately said, "You've got to put this on the blog!" (probably because he wants everyone to see/know that I'm a big dork). So here is an example.


1. Drink tea (me) and milk (asher)
2. Make and eat oatmeal
3. Get dressed
4. Go get some donuts to take to friends' house (I swear we hardly ever, ever do this)
5. Go to our friends' house for a play date (all the kids, moms, and pets are shown)
6. Go home and take a nap (for the record, I don't nap with him, I just pretend to)
7. Make cookies (I don't think we ever got around to this one that day)
8. Go to the park with Dad when he gets home from work.

His Dad's Boy

Now if Jeff could only get Asher to talk about the NBA with him in addition to shooting baskets, then his life will be complete. (Just kidding, Honey).

Neighborhood Park

We are lucky to live walking distance from several parks. These pictures and videos are from last Sunday at one of Asher's favorite parks; we call it the "peekaboo park" because it has a heavily planted area where we like to sneak around and play "peekaboo".

Hanging out with Dad

These videos are really short but I thought I'd include them anyway.

Trip to Bellevue

Asher and I tagged along with Jeff on his weekly business trip to Bellevue, WA a couple of weeks ago. Bellevue is a suburb of Seattle and it's about a 3 hour drive from Portland. Jeff's schedule is pretty tight when he's there, so besides joining us for lunch one of the 2 days we were there and spending the evenings with us, we were pretty much on our own. The first day we stayed in Bellevue and went to a large, beautiful park and to a bookstore; the second day we ventured out of town to a nearby city called Kirkland where we discovered a lake with a beach area and a quaint town center with great shops and restaurants.

"Rock climbing" at the park.

What is it with kids and playing in sand- they never seem to tire of it.

This is why we live in the Northwest; it's so easy to stumble upon beautiful areas that you never even knew existed.

Sitting in a lifeguard chair near the lake.

Dancing in front of a cow/dog statue in Kirkland

How Not to Save Money

Being a less than 1.25 income family is not always easy. We're always trying to think of ways to save money and be frugal. We've had to give up certain luxuries, most recently, cable tv. And much to my dismay, I have had to give up my regular color/hightlight appointments with the hairdresser. So a few weeks ago I decided that I was more than capable of highlighting my own hair. I researched it on line, I looked at different options, I gathered all my supplies, and I was ready to go. A couple of hours later...

Need I say more? ORANGE!

After ignoring Jeff's pleas to call a professional to undo the damage (it was Sunday and I didn't want to wait till my hairdresser was available), I went back to the beauty store, begged the sales lady for help, and was thankfully able to have my all-over-brown hair back. Needless to say, I think I'll be happy without highlights for a while.

How Life Has Changed

Our friend Tracy, who now lives in New Zealand, visited Portland earlier this month. It was great to see her and meet her 2nd baby girl. It also gave all of us Portland folks an excuse to get together and catch up. Our friends Lisa and Rob hosted a wonderful brunch and allowed all of our kids to destroy their house. We all couldn't help but reflect on how life has changed so much over the past 2 1/2 years; back then, none of us were parents and things were so different. And now when we get together, it's a totally different experience. No longer can we eat in peace or even have a complete conversation. But, of course, none of us are complaining. After being friends for so many years, it's so fun to see our kids play with each other.

Goofing Around

For some reason Asher is fascinated by our shop vacuum. Jeff was using it a few days ago and Asher started playing with the hose. Then he made it into an "O" and started singing and dancing.

Cool Video

Check out this video Jeff took of one of the exhibits at the aquarium: a glass tunnel surrounded by water and sea life.

Memorial Day/Anniversary Weekend

We went to Newport, Oregon (a beach town) on Memorial Day weekend. Jeff took an extra day off because it was also our wedding anniversary. Unfortunately, it rained half the time we were there, but we still managed to have fun. We played on the beach, visited the aquarium, ate local fresh seafood, and did a little sight seeing. And, we successfully flew a kite! (thanks to Jeff's skills and persistence).

Strolling through the town center.

Asher had a blast playing in the sand. Even if it wasn't even warm enough to take our jackets off.

Jeff helping Asher with his dismount off of a stone whale at the aquarium.

This is probably my favorite picture of Jeff and Asher together. Just look at my handsome boys.

Cute Pics

Here are a couple of pictures of Asher. He was excited to have shorts on. Unfortunately, "shorts weather" only lasted about 2 days.

Where Does the Time Go?

Before we had Asher, I remember always hearing parents talking about how busy they were, and how they never seem to have anytime for themselves. Although I believed them, I think part of me always wondered, "What could they be doing all day?"

Well, I definitely don't wonder anymore. These pictures show a tiny sliver of a typical day with Asher and where some of my time goes. I've learned that being a parent means getting things accomplished in baby steps, or often, with two steps forward and one step back. Meaning, in order to get dinner made, for instance, you have to be willing to let you child create a mess (that you will later have to clean up of course) so long as it keeps him occupied for a while.

Trouble in the Basement

A few weeks ago I went down to the basement to put a load of laundry in the dryer. I pushed the start button and nothing happened. The buttons were lit and I could hear the motor trying to spin, but nothing moved. I couldn't believe it. How could our barely year old dryer already be broken? After telling Jeff about it and cooling off, I called to have a repairman come look at it. Two days later, the repairman came to our house and I nervously showed him the dryer and explained to him the problem. I left the laundry room assuming that in a few minutes I would get the bad news- resulting in a large, several hundred dollar service fee, of course. Instead, the repairman showed me this.

Apparently, our dear son Asher had decided to somehow find a dirty sponge (that Jeff had used to clean our grill) and carefully insert it in the slot where the lint filter fits. The repairman tried to give Asher the benefit of the doubt by saying that maybe the sponge somehow accidentally got sucked into the lint trap, but I could tell that he himself didn't believe it. And since nothing was actually broken and the repairman hardly spent anytime at our house, he didn't even charge us a service fee!

The incident reminded me and Jeff of a couple of similar stories. Our nephew Matthew once put a grilled cheese sandwich in a VCR, and our friends' son Isaac put a tortilla in a DVD player. You gotta hand it to kids; they're curious, creative, and experimental, and as long as no one gets hurt, is there really any harm done?

Snack Time

Contrary to what these pictures of Asher lounging might portray, things have actually been pretty busy around our house. I've been working on a project from home (helping another architect on a mountain vacation house) and so I'm back to having a nanny watch Asher once in a while, working on weekends, attempting to work in the evenings, etc.

We had a really nice, mellow Mother's Day (although we forgot to take pictures). Jeff and Asher surprised me with a jacket that I had tried on a couple of weeks before but refused to spend the money on. Thanks boys! Traditionally, I like to do something active and then go out for a nice meal on my special days (i.e. birthdays). But since the weather wasn't too great on Sunday, we were sort of at a loss of what to do. We ended up going to a park to attempt to fly the new kite we got for Asher. It was either lack of skill (definitely yes on my part) or lack of wind, but the darn thing would not stay up. I don't know if Asher enjoyed it, but Jeff and I had so much fun laughing and running around as the kite continuously crashed to the ground (and we also provided quite the entertainment for several onlookers). Later in the evening we went on a long walk and then had a nice dinner at home.

These pictures are of Asher eating one of his new favorite snacks- popcorn. He loves to sit out on our front porch when he eats it (I did it with him once and now he insists on doing it every time). Isn't he growing up so fast?

Just shooting the breeze.

Asher's sense of humor has been great lately. For instance, he loves to take songs that he knows and insert different words in them. Today he was singing, "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star...Up above the world so high, like a mommy in the sky", or "Cookie dough in the sky", and then he just cracks up. Here he is making silly faces and sounds.

I still don't know where he got his eyes.

Is it the end of April already?

The weather pattern has been so strange here lately. Rainy and cold most of the time with occasional nice, sunny days, just to tease us. Last weekend was nice so we definitely took advantage of it as much as possible.

Asher and I have started going to music class again (a class where we sing, dance, and play with instruments). We've also been going to a gym/tumbling class, similar to the one that Jeff and Asher used to go to on Saturdays. I'll take some pictures in the classes this week so I can post them.

Here are a couple of photos of Asher in his new duds and shoes (we finally got around to getting him some new shirts that fit him!). Also, Jeff asked me to post this video; for some demented reason he thinks it's funny. It's a video of Asher tipping over in his chair while he and Jeff were sitting in the backyard. Asher didn't get hurt and didn't even cry and I guess Jeff just thought it was funny that the whole thing was caught on video.