Nasty pig eat the poop

The past two years we have gone to the Hickory apple festival which is about 30 minutes from our house. They have a petting zoo and other kiddy rides which you see above. This year while at the petting zoo there was a pig in the animal mix who was eating some other animals poop. It was quite disgusting so we told Asher that is a "nasty pig because he is eating poop". We have since heard about the nasty pig who ate the poop for the past two weeks. His favorite time to remember is at bed time when we are saying his prayers. About two days after we left the festival, it was my night to put Asher to bed and he started repeating "nasty pig eat the poop!!!" and he says it very excitedly. He kept repeating it and he pet 1, 2, 3, 4 bunnies. Well, it was really only two but he counts to 4 every time. The only way to get him to stop spewing words from his memory was to say a hail mary two times that evening. Matt started saying the hail mary as part of his bed time routine and Asher started asking me to do the same. So, this evening I had to say two to get him to calm back down since it was almost time to close his eyes. We still hear about the nasty pig a few times a week mostly when someone brings up some animals of some sort or Matt eggs him on to say it again! It is quite hilarious. If I had known the pig would be such a topic I would have taken a picture.

School backpack

Asher started school a little over a month ago. He goes two half days every week and asks to go to school almost every day. I am not sure what that says about hanging out with mommy more! Above are some pictures I snapped of his new backpack which we got for school. He loves it and every day before school he goes to get some items to pack in his back pack for school. Of course, he never touches them for school but it is the process. He carries in his own lunch box and back pack every day. He insists! He tells me every day when I pick him up from school that he had fun at school. I am not sure if it is just his way of talking or what but I can tell he has fun. there are no tears when I drop him off. He just says bye-bye and mommy will be back in a little while to his teachers. It was a good decision that Matt & I made to give him just a little bit of time with other kids in a little more structured environment.

Happy Birthday Asher!!

We love you so much! You are a joyful little boy whose laughter is most infectious. You don't miss a thing and often when I think maybe you have been imagining seeing a back hoe or a deer or a turkey or whatever it is......you are always right on target with your keen sense of hearing and excellent eye sight. You are talking up a storm these days and starting to repeat everything even those few words mommy doesn't mean to say! :) You are always on the go and love to run everywhere. You have the sweetest little demeanor and are always concerned about other kids who are upset. You love babies and dogs showering them with hugs as much as they will let you. We can't wait to see what the next year holds and you have in store for us with your determination and will. Love, mom and dad

are you a real dog?

Matt likes to joke that Emerson is not a "real" dog and I have to agree with him on a few accounts. Emerson loves to chase the deer in the back yard. After chasing them though, this fawn decided to come and check out the "baby" and looked as though it wanted to play. it kept getting closer long enough for me to get the camera without Emerson even noticing. You see eventually he did finally see it.
Emerson finally notices the deer encroaching upon him in the back yard.

Asher starts preschool today

Today my baby started preschool two days a week. He was screaming when I left, of course, and I will be calling soon to check on him. I think he will really like it in a few weeks. He sure does like playing with other kids. He was having lots of fun when I was standing in the room but it was when I told him I would be back in a little while that the water works started. I will be taking a nap soon too because we are working on getting him to stay in his big boy bed (been working on it a month) but trying something different. I hear three days is the magic number. I will give it a week. I pray for a full nights sleep again real soon. This is wearing me out with the hot/cold weather and lack of sleep!

I will post some pictures soon of preschool but I wanted to give him a little time to adjust first before whipping out the camera.

Play doh! Fun!

While meandering through target, they had play doh on the shelves and I could not pass it up. I am glad I didn't b/c Asher really enjoys playing with it and we work on learning letters at the same time along with making worms and caterpillars.

hockey!

I wish this were a better picture but he took it off right after I got the camera, of course! He calls it hockey but it is actually matt's old football helmet with a hockey stick. I am hopeful that the boy will love sports. He sure is all boy though!

Pa Pa and Lisa's visit from Texas

Kisses for Lisa before bed. He loved running through the house and Lisa was his favorite accomplice during their stay. It is one of his favorite things to do when we are home. He was asking for her to "run Lisa" for a few days after they left.
Just love this picture playing with pa pa. yes, nice and calm before bedtime! Ha!
Building a fort with Pa Pa. Pa Pa and Lisa really got him more interested in the blocks building these really tall forts. We have played with them in the past but he enjoys them much more since there visit.
Working with Lisa to put together his own choo choo track.
Pa Pa was getting his belly and Asher was eating it up as you can see here.

Sandbridge Beach, VA 2010

We had a great time at the beach this year. We went with two other couples and their kids for a week. We drove this time and I must admit -Asher did great. We split the trip between two days which helped considering it would have been about 12 hours in a car with stops and traffic. I95S out of DC is horrible on a Saturday which you would never imagine unless you been there. Here is helping Grace build (tear down) her sand castle. Asher was a little more interested in wrecking the sand castle's rather than building them.
He found a little sword which he played with our last couple of days.



Here he is on daddy's shoulders. they went for a walk almost daily. I say walk but really Asher preferred to make him run rather than walk and he had a definite opinion about which direction you could take him.
Here in the bunk bed with the girls. He loved climbing in the bunk beds whenever he could get into that room. These are the Bennett's girls - Maddie & Grace. Grace on the right was Asher's favorite.
Here are all the kids from the trip. Grace, Maddie & Connor, Will, who was 6 months younger than Asher and the Fairleigh's little one. They all played well together and Asher was enamoured by Connor too.