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).