I’m back! Summer 2013 Part 1

What a summer…………….  I didn’t plan to quit blogging all together – but life became busy and unpredictable and blogging hit the back burner.  Now that summer has come and gone I’ll try to do a recap of all our fun and then hop back into blogging in real-time and not seasonal summaries.  

This boy finished his first year of Pre-K and this was a picture of his first and last day of school.  I can’t believe how grown up he looks in the comparison! 

Memorial Day meant a trip up to Taylor to see our good friend Luke who was in town for business.  We got to take the boys to campus to see the football field, our old dorms, the bell tower, and more.  And of course, we had to have lunch (and ice cream) at Ivanhoe’s! 

We had our first garage sale!!  It was a rainy day and most of our signs blew away, but we still had a pretty successful day!  Asher found the whole idea of selling our stuff in our garage to be fun and exciting.  He was a good help!

We scaled back our planting in the garden – It’s funny to look back at this early picture since everything has grown like crazy now! 

We spent lots of time outside playing!  It was such a mild and gorgeous summer.  NO complaints! 

Of course that doesn’t mean we didn’t spend some time inside watching cartoons!

 

As always, the water slide was a hit….

And so was the pool!

We celebrated Father’s Day with the best daddy!

I think that covers the highlights of May and the beginning of June……. next up: Our time at the cabin!  :)

Spring Celebrations!

It’s been a BUSY spring!  I’m finally getting around to posting a recap, just in time… since it’s almost summer!!

After returning home from Spring Break in Florida we celebrated Asher’s birthday as a family, then we celebrated Mother’s Day (back-to-back) and then we celebrated Asher’s party with friends last weekend.  Here’s a recap of all our fun!

Asher turned four on May 11.  To celebrate the big FOUR we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast, opened presents (So fun that it was a Saturday and Chris could be home with us).  Next up, we went to the Children’s Museum – Asher requested Connor Prairie, but it was an unseasonably cool/cold Spring Day and we opted for an indoor activity.  After the museum we went to Target for Icee drinks per his request.  Finally we had dinner – hot dogs and Mac and Cheese and Nana’s special Chocolate Cake!  It was a fun day of celebrating our sweet Asher Joe!

Having fun with the presents he opened on his birthday – a cash register from aunties and uncles and “Bucky” Jake’s pirate ship from Nana and Papa.  Both presents were BIG hits!

The next morning it was my turn to be celebrated!!  Woo Hoo for Mother’s Day!  Breakfast in bed and a new bracelet started the day!  Off to church and then lunch at Abuelo’s.  We decided it was a restaurant we’d rather eat at sans-kids.  :)  A relaxing afternoon (for me) and then yummy fettuccine alfredo prepared by my sweet hubby all made for a really great day!

Finally we celebrated Asher’s birthday this past weekend with our “family” here in Indy – friends from small group - and our family in Ohio - Grandma and Grandpa Atkinson, Auntie Liz and Uncle Joel and Coralaine and Adelaide.  Asher requested the theme of Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  It was a really fun day!

It rained that morning, and called for a wash-out, but we totally lucked out with overcast skies, but NO rain… the sun even peeked through a few times!!

Pinata Time!!

The BEST part……

Our next game was pin the eyes on Tick-Tock Croc!  Chris made an awesome Tick-Tock Croc and the kids had a blast!

The last game: Treasure Hunt!  Reading the first clue…

Working together….

Jesse and Cora skipped the hunt and went straight for the treasure!

Checking out their loot!  ;)

And now it was time for CAKE!!!

 

Presents!!

The awesome pirate costume Auntie Liz made Asher!

{Most} of the sweet kiddos!

How blessed am I to have these three guys!?

Cousin Love :)

Everybody loves baby Adelaide! (Even Daisy!) :)

It was a really special day and we are thankful for the friends and family who helped us celebrate our sweet boy!

My sweet boy

Asher is going through a huge mommy phase.  I can’t really complain since I’m pretty crazy about that little boy too… but I do feel badly for Chris who I’m sure feels like he plays second fiddle around here.  One day Mommy won’t be so cool, and Daddy will do no wrong – so I’m going to soak it up while I can!  ;)

I signed us up for the Chick Fil A Mother Son Date Knight for this past Saturday and it was so fun to have time alone with him.  Of course, I could have also brought Jesse… but I was hoping for some one-on-one time with AJ to talk and just enjoy him.  One day Jess and I will do that, too!

I told Asher last week that we were going on a special dinner – just he and I.  You would have thought he won the lottery!  He was SOOOO excited.  He came over and put his hands on my cheeks and said, “Oh!  Pretty girl!”  {Melt!}  The day of our dinner he could hardly wait and kept asking how long until dinner. 

When it was time to get dressed he was a little bit upset he couldn’t wear his Easter tie… but I assured him that he looked very handsome. 

They did a great job!  Right when we got there the boys got to pick out a rose to give their moms.  My sweet boy made sure to grab me a pink one!  He knows me so well!  There were fun decorations, a craft for the boys to make a family crest, questions to ask, menus, waiters and waitresses, ice cream sundae bar, limo rides, and of course, the Chick-fil-a cow!

Asher loooooves the CFA cow, but he wasn’t thrilled it was the girl cow.  She was dressed as a princess for the “Mother Son Date KNIGHT” theme… but I think that was lost on a room full of boys.  He wanted to know where the boy cow was.  :)

We skipped the limo ride and went to Barnes and Noble to look at books (a favorite of Ashers).  It was so fun to just watch him, listen, and really focus on just him.  He was silly, goofy, and really sweet.  At the store we were looking at the toys and he was obviously doing the ‘potty dance’ I asked him a few times if he wanted to go use the bathroom and every time he said no.  Finally (knowing wet pants would put quite a damper on our fun evening) I told him we were going to the bathroom.  When we got into the stall he went to the bathroom right away and said (quite loudly), “Mom, you were right!  I did have to go to the bathroom.  Thank you!  You know all my plans.”  I could hear the woman in the stall next to us giggle a little bit.  When we got out to wash hands she looked over and smiled and said, “It’s not often that you get a ‘thank you’!  That was precious!” 

*I know that second picture is blurry, but it cracks me up!  He was doing a little “show” up on the stage.  :)

Like any child Asher has his moments, but he is SO sweet and has such a tender heart!  And I wouldn’t trade that for anything!  We are so blessed with TWO precious boys that we love SO much!!!