Clean Up Time

Asher likes to play with his rice bin - pouring, scooping, digging, and more.

He knows the rule is to at least try to keep the rice in the bin, but there's always some sweepnig involved at clean-up time. 

Yesterday I noticed the he purposefully dumped a scoop of rice onto the floor, just so he would have an excuse to get out the broom and dustpan.  He was so excited to start sweeping!  This little guy really enjoys tidying up! 

Welcome, Spring

Now that it's spring, these two want to spend all their time playing in the backyard.

Asher always asks to go "ide" or outside. 

They play hide and seek when Rambler hides under the deck. 

 Run after baseballs.

 Drive trucks.

 and play with sticks. 

 This is the look Asher gives me now when I ask him to smile for the camera. 

Meeting some Animals

On Saturday we went to meet some animals at Maymont Park. 
Asher was most impressed with feeding the goats. 

The Birds

Chris has graduated from building birdhouses and is now building bird palaces!  This is his first roosting box, capacity 15 birds!  On cold nights they'll all be in there huddling together.  We have some lucky birds in this neighborhood.   

Asher helped direct operations, showing Chris where everything should go.

We're back.

Hello.  Here we are again.  It seems we were taking some time off from the blog.

We didn't mean to turn our backs on you for so long. 

Sometimes life just gets in the way.

We are usually so busy rolling around,

reading good books,

and playing outside.

We will try to come back and update the blog more often though!

21 Month Update

21 months old...we're getting awfully close to having a two year old! 

Asher is a very busy guy.  We're continually impressed with the number of activities he can go through in one day.

One of his favorite activities is still reading books. 

We read about five or six books before bedtime every night.  He likes to read the same books for a week or more in a row.  Sometimes Chris and I try to sneak one out of the rotation, but Asher always notices.  His current favorite is Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you See? 

Playing outside is another favorite thing to do.  In our backyard, he likes to play baseball, say hello to the neighbor's dog, run around, and watch Rambler run around.  At the park he likes to go down slides, swing, and people watch.

His favorite chore is vacuuming.  He doesn't do the most thorough job of it, but I'm glad he's taking an interest!  His other favorite job is helping load and unload the dishwasher, but he has a hard time keeping track of whether we're putting dishes in or taking them out.  He really enjoys being independent.  For example, he loves to get his own spoon out of the drawer before a meal; however, he prefers to take out as many spoons as he can find.  He has his own ideas about how to do things. 

Asher is talking more and more these days.  The word we hear him say most often though is "mine."  He is very proud to be able to say his name now.  He can't make an "s" sound yet, and he calls himself "Ahney."  He is always telling us that Ahney is going to do something himself or that a toy belongs to Ahney.

He really loves to play with his animal toys now.  Some of his favorite animals are moose "moo" and alligators "ahh-gaa-gaa."  He has a pair of socks with alligators on them that he asks to wear every morning.  

Asher has a huge appetite now.  His favorite foods are bananas, which he loves to hold and eat all by himself, and hummus, which he calls "mama."