One

Ok, at long last, thanks to the prompting of Mary I decided I don't have any excuses for delaying the birthday pictures any longer. We had a family party at my mom's house on Sunday the 18th. Asher had a great time- He loved the balloons, the wrapping paper, the presents and the cake, which was pumpkin chocolate chip-strange for a one year old, but he loves that stuff:) The next day, his actual birthday, he had fun playing with all of his toys and is still doing so. I see the look on his face sometimes as he's playing happily and I think he is thinking, "Man, it's great to be One!"

Ready to get the party started

It's become a tradition that my Grandma Morris gives each of her great-grandchildren a little chair for their first birthday. So far they have all loved them and Asher was no exception. He got a really nice and adorable Winnie the Pooh and Tigger armchair that he loves to climb, sit and stand on. When he first opened it and he climbed on we all started clapping so he stood on it and did an awesome happy dance, it was great! After the presents it was cake time...

He really enjoyed messing up the cake and actually ate a lot of it (minus what went to Sparky there in the background). Surprisingly Asher didn't get any in his hair, but I'm not complaining. When he had his fill he just took hand fulls and waved them around joyously, sending frosting and cake flying in all directions; Sparky was almost as covered as he was by the end of it-but that's what you get for begging from a one year old. 

The ball popper machine was a huge hit, the first few times he was a bit overwhelmed I think, not knowing how to dance to the music, catch the flying balls and put them all back at the same time, but he's getting the hang of it. I have a funny video of his initial reaction, but blogger is being dumb with videos so maybe next time.

 

Happy birthday little happy guy-we love you!

Little Boy

I can't believe Asher is going to be One in less than a week. Time has just flown by-the days seem to just blend together. I've been looking at pictures and videos of Asher from the past year and it's so wonderful and heartwarming to see how he has grown and developed. He has been such a happy, easy going little guy and I am so grateful for the incredible joy he has brought to our family and continues to do so each day. Sure there are rough days and nights, but they are quickly forgotten in place of past and present happy moments and hopes for the future. I'm sure I'll post more along with first birthday pics next week. But since I'm in the mood to write I'll just bring you up to speed on his life.

Asher is a Little Boy. Little because physically he is about the 5th percentile for height and weight, meaning 95% of boys his age are bigger than he is, but he's all proportionate and dang cute so I don't care one bit and neither does he. Obviously he is a boy, but it's fun to see typically "boy" traits starting to develop. He has had his first taste of dirt, he loves knocking things down, making strange but funny noises, yelling at random just to make noise, finding very tiny and impossible spaces to navigate and squeeze into just for the challenge of it, and escaping from his clothes whenever possible. In addition to being "Little Boy" he is loving food. He's been a fantastic eater from day one (thank heavens). His current favorites are bread, strawberries, cheese, meat, and more bread. He makes good use of his 8 teeth and I think he is planning on adding a few more in the next few days given the increase in biting and waking up in the middle of the night- hooray! Asher absolutely loves crawling, he is very speedy and effective, which is probably why he has no interest in walking any time soon, at least not that I can see. He likes to pull himself up and cruises between furniture and he can stand on his own if he is distracted and doesn't know he is doing it. He's got the balance and muscle for walking, but doesn't really care to, and honestly that is perfectly ok with me. He'll get around to it eventually. In the meantime he's putting holes in the knees of his jeans from crawling around so fast everywhere. He has also started dancing. I love the baby dance:) He will dance as my mom says, to anything, even a ticking clock-I will have to get a video up.

Behind the TV stand, he can play in that 1ft. space for a long time.

 

Kelly was watching Asher one morning and dozed off, when he woke up Asher was trying out the toga look and philosophizing on the logic of rattles.

Walking is overrated, some kids go straight from crawling to driving.

Asher enjoys a nice Spring snowfall.

And then, not very long after, he enjoys a nice Spring sunshine.

 Anyhow, that's about it for this summary, I'm so excited for his Birthday, so I'll probably break my trend of posting once every few months and post next week again:)

Money, money, money

It's pretty amazing how much of daily living and decision making is influenced by money (or the lack thereof). Learning how to control it is a struggle sometimes and a new challenge when you're young marrieds, graduate student and parents with another on the way..totally kidding on that last bit:) If you've ever talked to Kelly or I about money we've probably mentioned Dave Ramsey. Well, I'm going to mention him again, with high praise and recommendation. I started listening to Dave a few years ago, a little bit before Kelly and I got married and then he jumped on the boat and started listening too. We just really liked his philosophy. When he was our age he made millions in get rich quick real estate and then lost it all-really all of it. After being so horribly broke, he and his wife started over with a new philosophy-common sense and hard work and they are now millionaires again with no worry of losing it. We know the basics of hard work and common sense, but sometimes it's nice to have a guide. So, a few weeks ago, 2/29 to be exact, Dave's Financial Peace University Online course went on sale for $29-in celebration of Leap Day. We've always really wanted to "attend" the classes, but it normally goes for $100, a little more than we could or were willing to spend, but $30, that was doable. We felt like we got our money's worth after the first lesson (there are 16 total with about 3 segments each) and to be honest, I would have found a way and paid the $100 if I had known how good it was. We are on lesson 4 and so far it has been really fun, informative and motivating.  I understand it may not be everyone's cup of tea, but if you want to check it out here's the website:

https://fpuonline.daveramsey.com/index.cfm?event=displayFpuOnlineJoinNow

You can watch a free segment from one of the lessons about getting out of debt. And if, like us, $100 is a little too much, he does put it on sale every couple of months, usually around holidays and such so you can check his website if you're interested. Anyhow, this has been a total plug and advertisement I know, but I promise I'm not getting paid to do it, and just wanted to share a good thing:)