These are a few of my favorite things

A Thomas the tank engine singing tooth brush! Asher loved carrying around his tooth brush before, but now that it plays music he really loves it. I think we will keep it in the box for a while to keep it clean!
5 Kai Lan Paper bag puppets. Eli was so excited to get them and he plays with them constantly. He even puts them to bed at night, one in each pulled out dresser drawer. Here are a few pictures to show his excitement.


Initial reaction- Jumping up and Down.
Inspecting each page.
"Thank you Mommy and Daddy - I love it. Let's put them together."
"Play with me"And Daisy loved her raw hide bones.
Of course they did get other things that they loved too, but this year each of there favorite gifts cost under $4. We will enjoy this while it lasts, I know the year is coming when they will be asking for lap tops and video game systems. But for now they are happy with paper bags, free printable templates off the internet, and tooth brushes.

Christmas Fun

Here is what happened on Christmas.

Presents...

Toys...
Hugs...


Kisses...Snuggles...

Love...And Smiles..
What a Great Day.
Happy Birthday Jesus!
And Thank You Everyone!

Christmas preperations

We had so much fun this year looking forward to Christmas.
We baked 2 kinds of cookies.While Asher Finger Painted with Pudding!
We got big presents in the mail!
And Goodies!
We decorated our tree!

And the gingerbread house that we made!
We also went to a family Christmas breakfast at church and made several Christmas crafts there. We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus. Eli did an advent seek and find book each day. We went to a live nativity. At Sunday School Eli even made a picture for Jesus as a present, then he asked us "Can I give this to Jesus when he comes?" We didn't really talk about Santa this year, we put lots of focus on baby Jesus. But when someone asked him if Santa was coming to his house he said "No", then they asked if he had been a good boy this year and he thought for a minute and answered "No" again. I guess he doesn't want some stranger to come to his house in the middle of the night.

December Birthdays

Happy Birthday Dan! This was the big one!


And Happy Birthday Mom!
We all had fun celebrating with both of you.
We Love You!

Climb On

Asher is now climbing ladders at 14 months.

Eli was climbing ladders by 9 months with no fear,
and now he can climb the rock wall by himself too.
Now we can put them to work carrying lumber up to treehouses and retrieving dropped tools :)As long as they can use the slide to get back down!

Fairwell to Fall

What happened to November?

Eli- 3 1/2
Eli loves to use his imagination and pretend he is different people. A few of the characters he has been this week include; Dora, Ki Lan, Caillou, Diego, a builder, and the wonder pets. And he makes the rest of us the back up characters. Dan say he has a hard time figuring out who Eli is each day. My favorite Eli quote of the week is "I'm not having a good attitude!" As with any preschooler his moods can swing wildly. His world can be falling apart one minute, then dancing around happy the next. It's like flipping a switch.

Asher- 14 months

About a month ago Asher really started to take off walking. Now he no longer scoots, but walks everywhere. He has been climbing up the stairs for months, but he is also determined to come down the stairs himself too. He is quite good now, but between learning to walk and being over confident on the stairs he has had one bruise after another on his forehead. He has 4 molers which get lots of use. And he has a favorite book is called "Trucks". His second favorite book has pictures of all different kinds of animals.Looking out the window at a Truck!

He's a big boy now!!!!

"Mommy, I have to go potty." -Eli Wright
Ahh those sweet words that I have been waiting so long to hear. Eli is very excited about his new Diego underpants is doing a great job keeping them dry. It seems like he was potty training for years. We tried sticker charts, treats, rewards, praise, counting, racing, putting his little brother on the potty, buying his favorite character underpants, etc. and he was just not ready until this week. He had been going in the potty for about 9 months now, but he was not consistent about it, and he refused to wear underpants. Believe it or not he would take them off and go get a diaper from Asher's room and put it on himself. Who ever heard of a kid changing his own Diapers? Now he never wants to wear diapers, even when we go out, and I am so happy and proud of him now.

Photo Booth Fun

We took these pictures tonight with our computer.
There is also some wacky effects you can choose from.

Locks of Love

For the past couple of years I have been growing my hair out and donating it to Locks of Love. Their mission is to return a sense of self confidence and normalcy to financially disadvantaged children suffering from hair loss due to a medical condition called alopecia areata, which has no known cause or cure. I figure I get my hair cut about once every 2 years and usually donate 11-14 inches. It is so easy to do and I hope it makes some little girl smile.

Halloween Howl Parade

Asher and Daisy dressed up for the Halloween Howl Parade at a local park and they won a big metal (honorable metion)because they were so cute. Asher was a Lion and Daisy was a fire dog. Eli was Pooh Bear for trick or treating but did not want to dress up for the people and puppy parade.

Happy Birthday Asher

Asher's birthday was on Sept 30th, so he got to celebrate in New Hampshire. Mmmm, chocolate cake!

The story of Asher's birth: I began having contractions on our way home from near New York City where we had spent the past week and a half (Dan was building a treehouse there). At that time I was one week from my due date, so I thought this might be it! But we were so tired by the time we got home that we just went to bed. In the morning my contractions were gone. Every evening they would come back a little earlier in the day and a little stronger but every morning they were gone. After 2 weeks of this and now being overdue by a week, I thought he would never come. I got used to the idea of just going to bed no matter how strong the contractions were.
On Saturday the 29th I had contractions the whole day but just went about my day as usual still convinced that he would never come. We bought a new mini van and hung out with my parents on our way home. They offered to keep Eli over night but again I thought I would have plenty of warning when I really went into labor, after all I was in labor with Eli for 37 hours. I went to bed around 11:30pm after timing my contraction at 8-10 minutes apart, no big deal. When I woke up around 2:30, I was having stronger contractions, but I was still tired and in denial, so I tried to go back to sleep. I couldn't so I started timing my contraction they were 3 minutes apart! So by 3:00 I woke Dan up and said I think this is real. Neither one of us was in a hurry at first, so Dan was packing up his computer and stuff when I said "WOW-Let's Go". I went into Eli's room picked him up and started for the van, things were kicking into high gear. By the time we reached my parents house to drop Eli, off I told Dan "Get Eli out, hand him over and get back into the car- don't stop to talk." We had to take back roads half way and boy was I feeling every bump and curve. I concentrated on breathing and said things like "I hope my water doesn't break in our new van" and "Maybe I'll get an epidural this time". I still though I had hours to go. Normally I would tell Dan to "slow down you don't know these roads and it is dark", but I purposely held those comments back, and I was even glad when be said "Let's see what this new van can do" as he pushed it to 95 MPH on the highway.
After about an hour in the car we reached Jennersville Regional Hospital. We were told we had to wait in the lobby for a wheel chair, it probably took 5 minutes but it felt like forever, and while I was standing there I started to get the urge to push. When I finally got to the birthing room and they realized how close I was they were yelling down the hall "Call the Midwife!" The nurses where telling me "try not to push, the midwife will be here soon, but we will deliver your baby if we have to." We had only been in the delivery room for about 10 minutes when our midwife Karen Pesta ran in the door, she threw on her gown and gloves said "Push" and caught Asher within one minute at 4:54am. Later Karen said "good thing I live close, as it was I only had time to do one button on my blouse." I mush have said "I can't believe I'm done" several times in the next few minutes. I just couldn't believe it all happened so fast. It had been less than 2 and a half hours from the time I knew this was it. Asher weighed in at 8 lbs. 3 oz. so tiny and cute. It is hard to believe that one year later he is now 25 lbs. and taking his first tiny steps. And our love for him grow more and more every day!