New Shoes

Asher is considering some new shoe styles for his summer look.

First up -  flip flops

Maybe something a little more colorful, like pink flip flops.

Next up, a little sparkle.

He's really hoping the socks with sandals look is going to be in this season.

Maybe something a little more comfy, like running shoes.

The Boys

The boys, resting after a long day of work/play.

Daddy's Little Helper

Asher likes to keep busy doing just what Daddy does.

Happy Easter

Dyeing Easter eggs was quite the adventure this year.  

We laughed.

We cried.

We shrieked.

We splashed.

We turned our bodies green.

In the end, we deemed most of our eggs inedible due to being smashed on the deck, cracked open and licked by the dog, and just generally looking unappetizing.

We had lots of fun & can't wait to do it all again next year.

In case you are interested in replicating this egg dyeing method, our technique involved the following steps.

Toss or throw eggs into cups of dye.

Squeal as you toss each one. 

Insert the dipper into the cup and stir very vigorously.

Then stir some more, splashing half of the dye everywhere.

Pull the egg out of the cup with your hand and exclaim, "Egg!"

Throw the egg into a different cup and repeat the process above.

Smash the egg in your hand.

Then smash it on the deck for good measure.

Toss it back into the cup if you can find one that hasn't had all its dye splashed out.

Periodically, look down & notice that you're not wearing a shirt.

Shout "nay nay" (naked) in alarm, make a horrified expression, & ask for your shirt.

Pour any remaining dye into a big bowl and then toss all the eggs in there.

Peel some shell off and try to take a bite out of an egg until your mom stops you.

Repeat until all eggs are thoroughly smashed and your body is dyed green.

Here Asher decided to read the directions for coloring eggs.

He promptly decided to ignore the directions.

A Trip to the Beach

We enjoyed survived our little mini-vacation to Virginia beach.  Well, there were plenty of moments of enjoyment, but we also returned home more exhausted than before we left.  I think that was contradictory to our goal for the vacation. 

The highlights of the vacation were a couple of beatiful days at the beach, a fun trip to the aquarium, Asher being well-behaved at every meal eaten at a restaurant, a balcony that overlooked the ocean, watching many Osprey soar in and out of their nests at the state park, and a Dairy Queen that was dangerously close to our hotel.

The lowlights were two days with no naps for Asher, not one second of napping during the car rides, and a 30 pound toddler who frequently wailed or shouted, "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy, Mommy..." over and over again if he had to ride in the stroller or walk himself rather than be carried by me. 

Here's a photo of the highlight of the trip from Asher's perspective.

22 Months

Asher is 22 months old!

He is a BIG boy, who likes to do things for himself!

He likes to be the one pushing the stroller, reminding us where things go if we leave something out, and just generally likes to be the one calling the shots. 

But he also is still our sweet baby who prefers to be spoon-fed by Mommy and carried in my arms.  After a bath, he always requests to be carried like a baby and snuggled.  He also still loves to eat baby food, especially spinach.

Some of his favorite things are alligators (ahh-ga-ga), giraffes (ba), playing outside, checking out which picture of him will be the background on Daddy's computer screen, vacuuming, sweeping, and helping around the house.

Things he does not like include meat, going to new people's houses, and sharing.

He is currently working on learning how to jump (so far he has his arms involved, but his feet don't leave the ground) and how to say, "please" and "no, thank you" instead of "mine" and "NO."

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!