Archive for the 'Asher' Category



29
Aug
11

California vacation day 8

Sunday was my cousin’s wedding day!  My kids did very well being the flower girls and ring bearer and were party animals at the reception!  Seriously, they had a photo booth at the reception, and Rilyn was taking pictures with bridesmaids that we didn’t even know!  The girls were in the center of dance circles and dancing with strangers.  It was crazy to see how extroverted they were!  Asher was spinning out of control on the dance floor and falling half the time.  He loved it (and all the attention), and laughed the entire time!

*All professional photographs by Bluephoto

coming down the aisle

I got to sit in the second row and had a pretty good view!

married!

I love this shot I took of Ella sitting on great grandpa Erickson’s lap during the ceremony.

I also love this one! He was so cute in his lime green bow tie and never fussed with it once!

All dressed up!

*Professional photography-The wedding party! I love this shot because we had just pulled up Asher’s pants and apparently we pulled them up too high! 🙂

He never smiled for the group shot BUT he didn’t cry either!

*Professional-The reception. You can see James and Ella dancing in the bottom middle of the photograph.

beautiful!

Asher dancing with the bride!

so sweet

*Professional shot-the girls dancing with the groom!

swinging good time!

*Professional-cute!

The girls always wanted to dance near the bride!

The busta’ man bustin’ a move!

*Professional shot-spinning!

Needless to say, nobody wanted to leave early, but we had to get up at 3:30 a.m. the next morning to catch our early flight from LAX (not a fan of that airport) to Austin. It was the best family vacation yet! And we just get more excited thinking about our kids getting older and being able to do more fun things together!!!!

28
Aug
11

california vacation day 7

Saturday was spent doing the rehearsal for my cousin’s wedding on Sunday evening.  My kids were the flower girls and ring bearer!  They had the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner at my grandpa’s house where we were staying for the week.  My grandpa’s backyard is huge and beautiful.  There is every kind of fruit tree, a pool, shuffle board court, fire pit,  flowers and plants galore!

rehearsal time!
Asher’s ring bearer shirt!
this is my gorgeous cousin’s daughter.  I think she looks a lot like my nephew Caden!
couples shot!
mom/daughter shot!
cupcakes for dessert!
27
Aug
11

california vacation day 6

Friday was spent at Knott’s Berry Farm!  This was another amusement park that I spent a lot of time at in my childhood.  I wanted to “relive” some memories with my own kids, so off we went!  The park has changed a LOT since my younger days, but the kids still had a blast!  The big difference between Knott’s and Disneyland is the thrill rides.  We discovered Asher loves thrill rides, and Knott’s had a lot of kid friendly thrill rides.  (Disney is magical because of all the characters and fantasy story rides.)  We didn’t stay the whole day (we left at 6) because, well, we were on day 3 of amusement parks and we were tired!  🙂

Snoopy is to Knott’s as Mickey is to Disneyland
quick drops up and down were a thrill for all three!

This next picture is the Sidewinder roller coaster. It is like a normal roller coaster except each “cart” spins around while you are going fast on the tracks. Rilyn wasn’t prepared for the feeling of “falling out” and screamed “MOMMY!!!!!!!!” on the whole ride! 🙂

I am sitting with Rilyn at the very end (in the middle of the picture with a blue shirt on) with my hair flying and Rilyn screaming!
This was another thrill ride.   A giant “skateboard” that teetered back and forth.  Asher loved it as you can tell!  (I like the girl in the

front’s face!)

This was one of my favorite rides at Camp Snoopy when I was little. The “Huff N Puff”. My kids LOVED this ride. Even Rilyn wanted to go on again and again!

You have to pump the handle in order to go!
Asher was the last car on another time that they went and well, he got very left behind!  He really huffed and puffed for sure!
ferris wheel!
wheeeee

Rilyn’s favorite ride was the swings. She said she could take a nap on there! 🙂 (Ella was too small to ride.)

Rilyn in orange and pink with James in the yellow hat

One of my favorite things at Knott’s when I was little was the train ride because a “robber” would come into your cart and harass you. I thought it would be funny to go on and not tell the kids that a robber was coming!

Give me all your money!
Asher, as usual, could care less.
They got a little scared!
this was another thrill ride, the cars would speed around the corners and the kids loved it!
I think Asher likes it!
23
Aug
11

California vacation day 4

Day 4 took us back to Disneyland!  This time we took more opportunities to meet characters and see shows.  We hit 16 attractions in 12 hours.

Asher refused to wear a Mickey Ears hat.  So sad for this mommy!

Our first stop was Space Mountain. We made Ella and Rilyn go on it. We had a switch pass so after the first ride, James was going to go on with the girls. Ella hated the ride, so only Rilyn went back with daddy (and that was only because she knew daddy really wanted to go on it! See one of the pictures below.)

this is before the ride started!
during the ride
Both girls look like they’ve been through the washing machine after the ride, but Rilyn

went again just for daddy!

We went on the Nemo Submarine ride!

Ella
We met Fawn!
Peter Pan!
Tow Mater and McQueen
Toy Story Mania ride-James’ favorite!
Woody!
Sully from Monsters Inc.!

We took the girls to a princess show while Asher was napping where they teach you “how to be a princess”.  I think this picture is hilarious because the princesses are teaching the girls how to curtsy, and Ella is pulling out a wedgy.

Ella in plaid shorts, white top
Ella ribbon dancing with Snow White!

We headed to Toon Town in the evening. I love this picture. Check out Rilyn!

This is heavy!

Here is Roger Rabbit Toon Spin ride. Ella did this on pretty much every dark ride. She hates loud noises and surprises.

Our tradition is to end our visit to Disneyland on It’s A Small World. This still is our kid’s favorite ride!

Ella
Small World After All!
22
Aug
11

California vacation day 3

On Tuesday we went to the beach!  The kids had so much fun and could of stayed there all day!  The weather was perfect, and Asher was in heaven with so much sand and water!  When we first saw the beach I asked him what it was and he said, “A big pool and lots of sand boxes!!!”  You can tell he’s not a Californian!
You can also tell he’s not a Californian by the way he rubbed his eyes with sandy fingers. My kids could not figure out how to eat their lunch at the beach without getting sand all over their food. Such rookies!

salt water plus sandy eyes=tantrum
Rilyn running to the beach!
family shot
Ella the mermaid!

Asher could of done this all day. Random people got chunks of sand thrown on them as they were walking by!

building a sand castle!
I’ll “head” to the ocean in a minute!  hehe
one of the many times Asher got knocked down by the tide
future surfer dude?
building with grandpa

That night, me and James went to an Angels baseball game (with my cousin, dad, and uncle) because they were playing the Texas Rangers! How lucky was James? I grew up going to Angels games and so it was fun for me to bring out my old hat and cheer on the home team!

Anaheim stadium

I brought the “past into the present” again with a picture of me and my cousin, John, at an Angels game about 20 years ago.

John and me

The Rangers won so James was happy! I did catch James eyeing the Angels World Series trophy. The Rangers were so close last year!

21
Aug
11

California vacation day 2

Monday we went to Disneyland!  This is the day we made the girls go on Thunder Mountain!  🙂  We had a great day!!  Vacations are definitely a lot more fun now that the kids are getting older.  We spent 13 hours there, did 26 attractions (achievers like to count), and only had 3 meltdowns.  (One for each kid.)  Here is Ella’s meltdown (on Splash Mountain.) She was screaming and crying on the whole ride, even when we were going slow.

we told her she had to sit in the front because she was the smallest (this rule is not true, but I wanted her to experience the thrill!)

Rilyn had a meltdown at the end of the night because she couldn’t walk anymore, and so we doubled up one stroller (we only rented two.)

Asher’s meltdown was after he woke up from his nap. Not a happy boy. I had to hold him while he was thrashing about. No pictures, just lots of frustration for about 30 minutes.

I uploaded this next picture before I realized I hadn’t finished erasing all the people, so you see some headless people on our left.  Sorry, I’m on vacation and I’m blogging, and that’s what you get!

 

 

 

Peter Pan
Dumbo!
Rilyn and grandpa!
my mom, Ella, Asher, and me on the tea cups!
I think Rilyn liked this ride!
Casey Jr. Train
Eeyore!

We made Rilyn go on the Indiana Jones ride. Only Rilyn was tall enough for this ride so Grandma sat out with Ella and Asher. This is a thrill ride and Rilyn decided she didn’t like it at the end. 🙂

Wow, this looks like it could be scary!
Daddy, hold my hand!
frightened!
A bumpy ride!
I don’t want to go on that again! (don’t worry she will one day.)
nap time!

Our goal was to meet characters that we didn’t meet in 2009. (Again, the achiever in me comes out.) My girls even told characters they had met before that they couldn’t sign their autograph book because they already got their signature before. Here was a good find! The Fairy Godmother from Cinderella!

Bippity Boppity Boo!

All Ella wanted was to meet Rapunzel, and she got her wish!

The girls were speechless when Rapunzel asked them questions!
Buzz Lightyear ride!
the new Ariel ride
California Adventure park
A Bug’s Life 3-D  (this was too scary for the kids, they all were crying at the end)
bumper cars
World of Color show at California Adventure
20
Aug
11

California vacation day 1

We flew into California on Sunday and spent the day relaxing with family! We are staying at my grandpa’s house in Huntington Beach. This is the same house I grew up spending holidays at with all my cousins. LOTS of memories!

I took this picture of my grandpa’s pool with an old picture of me in my grandpa’s pool (with my cousin) when I was about Rilyn’s age.  Bringing the past into the present!

my grandpa’s pool
I jumped off this board sooooo many times!

This is the girls with my cousin Shannon on the pier at Huntington Beach. She is getting married tomorrow and that is why we took this vacation! The girls will be flower girls and Asher the ring bearer!

Shannon, Rilyn, Ella
look at the ocean

Family picture on the pier. It was getting chilly. (I know you Texans are jealous!) 😉

06
Aug
11

he’s a lover, not a fighter

What do you expect from a little brother with two older sisters?  He’s a lover, not a fighter.  However, Asher will have to learn some moves quick because his cousin, who is 15 months younger, can body slam and pin him!  Maybe seeing these pictures will inspire Asher to learn how to wrestle!  🙂

Caden comes from behind and grabs Asher!

Asher tries to run away, but no one escapes from Caden!

Literally, (I saw it happen), Caden bear hugs Asher and throws him to the ground! Body Slam!

Asher can’t resist laughing at all the “fun” they are having!

(Asher’s bandage was from him touching a light bulb that was very hot and he gave himself a minor burn on his hand!)

But at some point, it becomes too much!

help!

This was a second round later this afternoon and you can see from Caden’s eyes, he knows he’s been caught!

who me?
04
Aug
11

quips not to forget

I am pretty good at documenting family photos, but I’ve been slacking in the past year with documenting funny things my kids say and/or where I used my cell phone camera.  I’ve used facebook to record these things, and facebook isn’t permanent.  My blog is more permanent to me, so I finally am recording some of past facebook statuses that I don’t want to forget!

Asher’s way to keep cool on this 108 degree day? Spit his milk in a fan to blowback all over his face. Refreshing!
Every once in awhile your windows need a good wet sand scrub, ya know,to get rid of all those unwanted blemishes.
This can’t be my son…trying to potty train him STILL, so leaving him naked today.He pees on our backyard porch and then steps in it?!? Ewww!
Love this. “Mommy, she looks just like me!” Ella saidwhen she got this new doll in her happy meal tonight.

I need to make my oldest bored more often. She told me, “I just want something to organize mom!”

Ella picked out a green wrapped (sour apple) lollipop for dessert tonight and asked me, “Is this flavor called grass or salad?”

Being the younger sister is hard enough, (I wouldn’t know, but I’ve just heard…), but when you pair that with Rilyn having a friend over, and Ella not…you get Ella telling me that Rilyn and her friend are playing “superstars” and Ella is their servant. At least she doesn’t mind. I caught her massaging their feet.

Ella hands me a dime and says, “Here mom, save this so we can go to Disneyland.” (anytime the girls want something, I’ve been telling them we need to save our money for Disneyland this summer)

I’m not sure Rilyn quite understands “magic” shows. I just watched as Ella was stuck in a upside down large clear storage box and then Rilyn told me, “I will make her disappear now. Just close your eyes, plug your ears, and say “blah, blah, blah!” and then I will tell you when to stop.” Sure enough, Ella had “disappeared” when Rilyn let me open my eyes. 😉 pretty magical.

“Here mom. You can eat the rest of my jelly beans.”
“Wow, thanks Ella, that is really nice of you.”
“Some have hair on them because I dropped them on the floor.”

At one of the stores at the Austin rodeo, Rilyn reads a sign for sale that says, “raising children is like being pecked to death by chickens.”  The store clerk looks at me and says “sorry.”

I love this girly girl! Rilyn came home today with this story she wrote at school: “Once upon a time there was a princess named Ariana. Her hair was beautiful as a flower. When she was born her mother gave her a gift and it was love. The princess spent all her time drawing.”

My husband just bought a pull up bar to install in a door and Ella saw the box and said, “So, you have to be naked to do it?” (the man on the box had no shirt on…) 😉

My son walked in the house from the backyard and I just found him ‘cleaning’ his muddy face in the toilet bowl. It looked as gross as it sounds.

After telling the girls that my sour attitude was because of Asher’s behavior, I couldn’t be surprised when Rilyn left this note in my purse later, “Dear Mom, I’m sorry I made you mad. I just didn’t get enough sleep cause Ella woke me up, okay?” I had to apologize to her first on why I shouldn’t of blamed anyone else on my behavior, and then we talked about why she should take responsibility for her own behavior.

Ella’s bedtime prayer tonight: “Dear Jesus, thank you for helping me stay in the lines (coloring).” 🙂

My son really is influenced by his older sisters’ use of language. He just said, “Look at the helicopter mommy. It is beautiful.”

Counselor visit in Rilyn’s class today. She
came home singing a new little diddy, “Stop! Don’t
touch me there! This is my no-no square!” (she makes a square from the
top of her neck to the top of her knees.)

Boys vs. girls. Another example of how different they are! (I’m babysitting a 5 1/2 yr. old boy.) In her room, Rilyn says: “You want to see my diary?” Him: “Ewwww, you have diarrhea!!!!”

My 4 1/2 year old daughter said after getting dressed this morning, “I’m teenager ready!” What?!?!

So maybe I went back to bed after I gave Asher breakfast and maybe he made me pay for it by waking up to black (washable, thank goodness) marker all over our refrigerator, table, chairs, floors, toys, and windows. He really worked hard to show mommy what he thinks of me sleeping in.-October 2010

trying to ‘sleep in’ on this rainy morning! Apparently Asher didn’t get the memo, so he decided it would be a good morning to draw with purple marker all over his sisters’ white bunk beds, sheets, and comforter.-Sept. 2010

Ella talks NON-STOP in the car to me every single time we drive anywhere. It is usually about the most random things. Today was, “Mommy, I look so cute when I’m falling asleep. You should really take a picture next time.” 😉

After Ella told me I was the best mommy ever, I told her she is the best ‘Ella’ ever, to which she replied, “That’s because I can always smell poopy diapers first.”

Materialism rears it’s ugly head. Rilyn: “Mom, just let me die here!!!” We were at Claire’s.

November 2011 from Ella’s K teacher:  We read a book today about a momma bear and a baby bear. We were comparing things that adults can do that children can’t. Ella’s example- “sometimes my mom grows hair on her legs and has to cut off and kids can’t do that.”

E-mail from Ella’s teacher: We were talking about “things we can smell” today and I asked each student to tell me one thing they liked to smell and one thing they do not like to smell. Ella told us she loves the smell of gas stations and does not like the smell of “man stink.”

Random thoughts from Ella today at lunch while eating with her in the cafeteria. “Mama, is that cleaning lady old?” “No, not that old.” “Well, her face is all crumbled.”
“Mama, do ants go to heaven?” “No.” “Awesome! They go to hell!”

oh my Ella bella! She came home from school and told me she got a bloody nose. I looked at the nurse’s note and it said “Advised to not pick her nose.” Proud mommy. 😛

29
Jul
11

cuz I love you

As Asher’s cousin Caden gets older, it is so fun to see them interact together!  We babysat Caden this week and I couldn’t resist taking a few sweet shots!

Uncle James with his boys!  (future Aggie quarterback and linebacker)  😉

Yes, James is wearing an N’Sync shirt, and yes, he wears it ALL the time, and yes, he wanted to be JT
I would recommend this car table to any parent with a boy 2+
doing a puzzle together