You are an absolute joy.

You are all over this house keeping us all busy…well, honestly, Asher is probably the busiest one out of all of us.  He’s constantly shutting doors, moving you, and taking something out of your hands.  He loves taking care of you.  In these last few weeks you started pulling yourself up, and you couldn’t be happier with your achievement.  Once you’re up, you immediately have to slap whatever it is you’re holding on to.

This will always be one of my favorite things about you being a baby.  I WILL tell your wife about how cute this is.  Whenever you’re really tired and you start sucking your two little fingers, you bring your other arm over and place it on top to help support your “pacifier”.  It’s so sweet, and makes me want to scoop you up.  I love cuddling and nuzzling up with you when you’re super tired.

I love walking around the house and having you follow me.  You’re still working on crawling with your hands and knees, but you’ve perfected your army pull and it doesn’t seem to slow you down one bit.

What?  What is it?  The keys to the car?  Money?  Whatever you want, it’s yours :).

Beck mad doggin’ Asher, ha!

I’ll forever love this picture and his little scrunched up face!

Guess what sound rings throughout our home a lot :).

We had a bunch of family meetings, and finally decided we should go as Mario characters for Halloween.  Asher as Mario, Mommy as Princess Peach, Beck as one of the skeleton turtles in the mansions, and Daddy as Bowser.  We had a blast putting together our costumes this year, and doing it together as a family.  Asher has already decided that next year Daddy is going to be a pilot, he’s going to be the co-pilot, I’m going to be a flight attendant, and Beck is going to be a peanut.  I’m sure that’ll change a million times before next year :).

Daddy and Beck’s new favorite thing.

Asher gave his beloved nigh nigh bear to Beck.  It’s the sweetest thing.  This bear has been a large part of our family for 5 years, and hasn’t been out of Asher’s sight for too long.  My friend, Meagan, found Asher a backup nigh nigh bear in case he lost ol’ trusty.  Surprisingly, Asher quickly befriended his new cuddly bear.  Sometimes he still has to sleep with both bears, but it’s sweet how much Asher loves his brother, to want to pass along a long time friend.

It’s soccer season again!  Asher is in love.  It’s so fun watching him play.  He’s on it!  Where ever the ball is, you can be sure Asher is nearby.  It warms our heart watching him run like the wind!

Beck loves to swing.  And, I’m certain Jeremy and I are blessed to be their Daddy and Mommy.  Love them.

You’re five now.  You’re officially big.  You’re not a baby, a toddler, a preschooler…you’re big.  We love you, Asher.  You bring so much intense love and energy to our home, it’s never boring when you’re around.  You make us laugh with your beat boxing and groovy dance moves.  You love bacon.  You approach everything with the perspective that, “this is going to be awesome!”  You talk loud and laugh loud.  You love your brother.  You love science and learning new things.  You love to run.  You asked to bring cookies to our neighbor by yourself, because you have confidence like that.  You’re really, really good at playing video games.  You love to cuddle.  You love to adventure.  The crash or the owie needs to be BIG before you cry because you’re ridiculously tough.  Which means, you love to be rough.  You like taking “schnoozers”.  You like to know what day it is and what we’re doing every day.  You can make your own bowl of cereal with milk without spilling.  You love projects.  Your favorite TV show is “Fetch!  With Ruff Ruffman”.  You know if we missed a pill, or gave you the wrong pill for a meal.  You love playing with friends.  You love to say that your dinner is either “way better than Venezia’s” or “not as good as Venezia’s”.  You love Sunday School.  You love to say “dude” and you use it as often as you can.  You also love to say, “Awwwwww, Punkers, hi buddy!”  and “No, no, Punkers, no, no.”  You love bedtime story time.  You gave yourself your first nickname, “color boy”.  You live your life big, and we’re so thankful that we get a front row seat to watch you do it!  We love you so much.

You picked a Lego party for your birthday this year, and your daddy made you this really fun invite.

Your friends came to celebrate you at your favorite park.  You are so loved, Asher.  We had a hot dog picnic and cake (Daddy and Mommy finally made you a cake :)), you got to open up a ton of awesome gifts, play football, and run around being crazy.

Daddy and Mommy wanted to get you something really special for your half a decade birthday.  When we unveiled it to you, you said, “it’s a new bike!” like you were on the Price Is Right.  Your friends were so excited for you, and followed you around the park by foot, bike, and scooter.

Your last night as a four year old.

The next day was your actual birthday.  You had your soccer game, a friend’s birthday party, you watched your new movie, we went for a family bike ride, you played video games with your Daddy, you worked on your new lego sets, we had pizza, and you took a schnoozer.  Lots of your favorites rolled into one weekend celebrating you.  Happy 5th, Buddy!

P.S. Your room is a disaster here, but your organizational skills won my heart!

We were blessed again by some beautiful friends who gifted us their house in California to take a vacation!  We are so grateful for the opportunity again to be able to let Asher enjoy the beach, and introduce it to our new little peanut.  We had a wonderful time that didn’t involve anything with the word “land” in it.  We just hung out at the house and the beach, played cards, and ate guacamole.  It was perfect.

Beck was a great beach buddy!  He loved taking naps and playing with his toes.

He was not so sure of the water and sand.  Just give it time, buddy.

Asher tried a little boogie boarding, but his true love is sand castle building.

Just hanging out.

Beck also got to meet grass for the first time.  He was not impressed at first, but it grew on him.

Sunset on the beach with friends.  Boom!  Also, we literally walked miles, which involved a swamp with a stroller, to go to a Hurley surfing competition.  So yeah, we’re a bit nerdy with all our Hurley gear, but proud :).

We better get this house in baby proof shape quick!  He’s on the move, and only going to sharpen his skills!  It makes us smile big watching him pull his way around the room.  He turned 7 months old yesterday.  Way to ring in a new month, buddy!

I also had to put up this video from today at Asher’s soccer practice.  Beck was talking up a storm, so I was trying to capture it on film.  It just so happened that when I was filming Beck, Asher scored his first goal in a scrimmage.  I love this video.  I love how Asher came running to tell me, how he completely left the game, and the fist pump at the end.

Love our boys.

My Batmans

Can you hear it?  I get to all day long :).

Just a typical day.  Beck and me, hanging out, watching Asher :).

Baths and babies are the best!  Him playing with his little froggy and baby Jesus are over the top!

I put up a new rack and he couldn’t focus, lol!

It makes him happy.  He loves jammin’ and dancin’ and beat boxin’.  I have to get video of his Michael Jackson moves with his little moon walk, and him hanging out in his room listening to his boom box – one morning it started at 6:45a and I think I got a little preview of what 15 is going to look like, ha!  I did get a video of of him busting out some beats, and a song he wanted to perform for me (he came home from running some errands with Daddy and said he wanted to show me something. I had no idea what was in store, but how could I not love this :)).

Grandpa and Grandma Olimb, and Auntie Dana came to visit and stayed at a nearby resort.  A certain four year old loved having his family close, and super loved having a pool with a water slide to have fun in!  Asher even got to have a sleep over with Auntie Dana!  Thank you everyone for letting us mooch off your nice pad :).

The many faces of the A-man…

L.O.L!!!!  This picture makes me laugh.  A lot!  I’ve never seen someone so upset about eating, hahaha!

Asher’s favorite things.  Riding the water slide, and yelling, ha!

We don’t use a pacifier, but that’s because little punkers has his own built in paci.  It’s the sweetest thing watching him suck on his little fingers.  Right now anyways. It will soon cause me anxiety over the germs once he starts crawling around…but we’ll focus on today…and today, it’s cute :).

We were so blessed to be able to stand before our church and have Beck dedicated a few weeks ago.  It was a sweet moment for our family, and we were so thankful that our friend, Krista, was able to capture some of the moments of us before the service and while we were on stage.  Thank you, Kris!!!

When we got home I couldn’t stop taking pictures of our little Beck Ellis.  His little onesie with his tie…stop it!!!  I truly believe the Lord smiled at us when He made us Beck’s mommy and daddy.  He’s a beautiful creation.  Our lives are richer because of him.  We love you Punkers!!!

Thanks, Grandma, for coming to visit and leaving us with lots of fun memories!

Asher has been sick for almost two months now, and that coupled with the heat of the summer means we haven’t left the house much.  We were able to get out a bit with Grandma and go to some summertime places around town, like the mall and target :).

Hanging out at home.

We are so blessed.