We put up a feeder for hummingbirds about a month ago, and these little birds have brought us so much joy since then!  I’m not a bird lover, but hummingbirds are just in a whole other class of birds.  They’re pretty, graceful, and quite social.  We have a new friend.  We’re pretty sure it’s the same one, and now we have a little baby coming to visit too.  It’s really funny because whenever we walk outside to play or have a snack, we get a visit from our little hummingbird friend.  So, we thought it would be nice for Asher to hang and decorate  a bird house for our visitor.  It was so cute watching him getting into the painting, and talking about the “a bird!”.  I hate to break it to the hummingbirds, this house is not fit for them, the square-footage is way below average wingspan, and there might be some unsupervised toddler jostling going on, but it’s the thought.  It was made with lots of love for our new friends.  Asher is constantly yelling at us, “A bird, a bird!” “Whoa, Mommy a bird!” “sna, sna” – because we talk about them coming for a snack.  He’s really into the hummingbirds, and if we’re all being honest, so are we :).

We had a great Thanksgiving this year hanging out as a family, sharing thanks, cooking, watching Asher get big, and eating lots.  It was really fun this year to have our family traditions again, and have Asher be an active part of them.  We have a blessing jar that we fill throughout the year with blessings that God gives us, and reading through the blessing jar on Thanksgiving is always our favorite.  It’s such a great reminder of how God works in the big and small details of our lives, and overwhelms us with love.

Asher was such a big help in the kitchen this year!  We made the pie crust from scratch, and I couldn’t have done it without him :).

We were blessed this week to have Lance, Sarah, Micah and Mason come for a visit.  Asher loved having his cousins around to play with!  There was a lot of tickling, chasing, and laughing going around in this house!  We had a great time with our family!  We didn’t do too much with three toddlers, and different nap schedules, but sometimes just hanging out is the most fun.  The boys are getting so big together, and there is absolutely no doubt that these three little ones are cousins!  Look at those faces!  We love you, Olimb’s!  Thanks for coming to visit!

We had an hour to spare, so we thought we would go and feed the little duckies at Discovery Park.  We grabbed some bread and Asher’s bike, and away we went on a new adventure.  I had been avoiding this park because of the water, but apparently I have a big boy on my hands who is really starting to listen more, and gain more discernment.  Yea!  It’s so fun to watch him grow!  He loved scootin’ around the entire park on his “bike” and chucking bread at the ducks – He insisted I counted to three each time before he would throw by putting up his little pointer finger and saying “one” with this look like, “come on, you know the rest!”

Oh, and his “bike”…oh this bike.  He rides this thing around all. day. long.  Our floorboards are totally tore up, but who cares.  It’s such a blast watching him fly around the house, up and down the hall, around the pool table, outside and back inside, literally everywhere.  The best is when he goes fast and says, “wwwhhheeee eeeeeeeee”.

We need to make a mental note for years to come that Octobers will be busy medical months.  Just straight up busy.  I think next year we need to plan and utilize September better too.  Our little man has had so many doctors appointments this last month I honestly lost count.  He’s had chest xrays, blood work (4 vials!  Such a champ!), flu shot, 2 year old shots, H1N1 shot, 3 hour annual appointment at Phoenix Children’s Hospital (which, that’s like a whole other post, but I’m choosing to forget this whole experience, ha!), pediatrician appointments, and something else I’m forgetting…anyways, despite all that Asher still smiles.  God has truly built him for Cystic Fibrosis.  He is already such an example to us, I can’t imagine the impact he’ll make on our lives when he can actually talk :).

It’s just that kind of weather now and it’s oh so nice!  We met Jeremy after work at a park for peanut butter sandwiches and some kite flying.  We got the kite to fly a couple of times, but we mostly just enjoyed the sunset and watching the boy run around.  It was a great night!

Grandma Olimb treated Asher to the zoo when she was here, and boy did he love it!  Although, we started our journey out with the puppet show, and I’m not sure if it was because it was a weekday morning or what but…wow, things could only go up from there, ha!  The rest of our time was great walking around and showing Asher all the animals he usually just sees in books.  We were especially excited for him to see the elephants, because those are by far his favorites.   Here’s a picture of him saying, “hello” to his long lost friend :).

We had a little park birthday party for the Ash-man this weekend, and I’m pretty sure he felt loved by all his family and friends!  We played, had a Tigger Bounce Race (let’s be honest, this totally failed, ha!), sang Happy Birthday, had cupcakes, opened gifts, and played some more.  It was a really great morning, and it was so fun watching Asher be the little guest of honor.  He seemed to enjoy all of the attention, and even stood up to cheer for himself while we were taking pictures of all the kids.  So funny!

Special thanks to you, Grandma Olimb, for flying in to be here for Asher’s big day, it made it all the more special!

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Today was the day the big boy got bigger.  Two years old.  Wow, it’s hard to believe.  Jeremy and I were really struck today by how big he’s getting, and how much he’s turning into a little boy.  We were also remembering this day two years ago, because we were trying to decide whether or not we should go to Village Inn for breakfast, or head to the hospital, ha!  If that line at Village Inn wouldn’t have been too long, and had we not gotten a little push from our friend Krista on the phone, we might have been dealing with a very interesting delivery!

We tried to make today special for Asher.  I’m assuming he won’t have specific childhood memories of his birthday today, but he should know, for the record, he was happy and had a great day :).  He started the morning off by playing with his buddy, Carter.  These two little boys have grown up together, and Krista and I have the pictures to prove it!  We had to get some updated pictures of them, these boys grow up so much even between our play dates.  On a side note, Asher had some blood work and chest xrays done yesterday.  He got a sticker that says, “I had a blood test” and gave it to Carter to wear while he was here playing.  He was so considerate to share his sticker on his birthday.  It was making us giggle :).

We then went to visit daddy at work and have lunch with him, which made Asher so happy to see his daddy and ride the scooter around campus.  Ms. Faith also gave Asher a yummy birthday cupcake to celebrate the special occasion.  We polished off the day with presents, skype calls to all the Grandma’s and Grandpa’s, pizza, and a birthday cinnamon roll.  You can tell by the last picture that he definitely had his fill of sugar today, ha!

Happy Birthday, Asher!  We love you so much!!!

We all had a great time exploring the grounds of Schnepf Farms with our South friends!  We all left a little sweaty and dirty, but it’s a small price for making some memories :).  A few memories from our time…

-The Carousel worker guy wouldn’t let me stand next to Asher on a moving horse, and assured me that he would be ok with me sitting just a horse away.  I’m still not sure why I agreed to this, but I’m glad I did because I felt like Asher got bigger.  He felt like such a big boy.  He just sat there holding on to the horsey with both hands giggling.  It was probably because he was scared, but he’s too strong of a boy to let on, ha!

-We enjoyed a lunch together in this nice, shaded, tablecloth-covered picnic area.  It was so nice.  Which, in hindsight,  is mainly the reason why we think we were breaking the rules and sitting in an area that people pay for.  I guess the “free” sodas and water on ice should have been our cue, ha!

-We tried to let Asher ride a pony for the first time, but he was terrified and threw a fit.  So he watched his friend from the sidelines instead and seemed to be happy with his decision :).

-Peter found a chunk of the wooden train laying on the ground waiting for an injury to happen.  This kinda perfectly describes Schnepf to me.  They have so many seemingly fun things for kids, but everything is so janky!  Don’t get me wrong, the kids love it, I just wish the management people would take a tool box and a paint brush and walk around that place.

-I was talking with Jeremy and turned around to find Asher lining up some pumpkins!!!  Oh, be still my heart!  Made me feel like there is still some hope for a little type A personality :).

We had a great morning with our friends, and Asher took a 3 hour nap which was cause for a pizza celebration!  It was a great day!