Ascherman, the Superhero!!

Ascher had asked Grema for a cape in February, but was not quite sure of what color he wanted. When she came to visit in March, Ascher said he wanted a blue cape. On our visit, my mom showed him the fabric she had purchased. He looked her dead in the eye and said "No, that's Navy Blue. I want Blue.". Mom walked away with tail between her legs, and continued to look through her fabric bins to find the "correct" color of blue. She had two choices, and Ascher picked a beautiful Royal Blue. She spent about a day and a half working on the cape, and came out victorious!

Here he is, running around the house like a Superhero!

Relaxing in the Backyard

Ascher has always enjoyed the outdoors, so it was no surprise that he wanted to spend time in Papa's backyard. He loved to walk the garden, look for birds, and sit in the swing. He also really loves his new hat. This was a hat that David and Steven got in Cananda many years ago. Not surprising to me, it fits my 3 year old son. Perfectly. So he has now taken it home and made it his own. He has colored it, put stickers on it, and decorated it with paint pens. (just kidding mom).

Alligator Adventure

Now that Ascher is a little older, I figured that he would finally appreciate Alligator Adventure. Boy, did I get that right! I called my friend Travis who gave us a little personal attention.

How much more personal can you get that THAT!! WE FED LEMURS!! I was so excited that they had this exhibit, and also that we could do something so cool!!

Even mom joined in on the fun and played (it safe) with Howie the Tortoise!!

Ocean Water

Sunday we hit the beach! Ascher was a little hesitant of the water, but once he was in it, he loved it! He loved throwing shells and rocks into the water and watching them splash. It was fun to walk in the sand and get a head start with the sun!

Picking Berries

On our visit, I decided to Ascher to Indigo Farms. A cute little farm on the border of North and South Carolina where you can pick your own fresh fruit! Ascher was convinced that he could pick blueberries (just checked out "Blueberries for Sal"), but was excited to see fresh strawberries as well. Unfortunately, he didn't' show as much enthusiasm as I had hoped for. Right before we left for the fields, Uncle David said that he would take Ascher to buy some new trucks. So what do you think he wanted to do? Exactly, pick one berry then head to the store to buy trucks. Uncle David had to convince him that berry picking was fun too, and that you could eat them while you picked! So Ascher had a great time picking berries, eating berries, and eventually getting a new toy from the store!

Trip to the Beach

Last weekend, Ascher and I headed down South for a little fun. I was really excited and looking forward to our visit, until the day before we left. I woke up to the radio says there were terrible fires ripping through a popular tourist destination, North Myrtle Beach!! I thought it was similar to the fires we had in '01, just a simple brush fire with little to no damage (they were building new roads and someone threw a cigarette, which took out dead trees and was over rather quickly). Once online and with a little more investigating (and a large cup of coffee), I discovered it was worse than that. It hit a new community close to where I worked in High School, Alligator Adventure. It was on the other side of the waterway, and was in very little danger of coming anywhere near my parents house. But it was causing quite a bit of chaos and commotion with schools and lives.

Luckily, our flight was perfectly normal and on time. The only odd thing about the flight was the decent into MB airport. I luckily was on the right side of the plane and saw a sight that I didn't think would effect me much. But it did. All you saw was smoke.....for miles. And I had this sinking feeling in my stomach, wondering when the fire would end. You saw a few black patches where the flames had subsided, but it was so small compared to the smoke and ash. The fire continued for our entire trip, and sent smoke and ash everywhere. The fire is now completely out, and clean-up has begun. I read several rather sad stories of families losing everything, and others that were completely spared. The photos are really heart-wrenching to look at (http://www.thesunnews.com/) and just makes me grateful that not a soul was injured (except for one policeman who's foot got ran over by a driver who was acting suspicious).

Training the Toilet

Well, we've been praticiting potty training with Ascher, and have had some success. We've also had some set-backs. Such as going potty when we were outside. He got his shoes a little dirty, which meant they had to be washed.

So the next day while getting ready to head to the library, Ascher insisted on wearing his rainboots. He got a few weird looks, and quite a few compliments. I thought he looked adorable! He used to be afraid of them, but now they fit a little better and he loves to wear them! Everytime it rains, he wants to go outside and wear his rainboots. I would let him, but it's so cold lately that I don't think he would have much fun!

Beheading of the Lamb

This year, our dear Anton could not join us for Easter. So Nick took his spot in destroying the lamb cake. Shortly after lunch was put away, Nick was begging me to cut the cake. Once he received the go-ahead, he literally took the head! He was definatley more civil with the whole thing than Anton was! I guess I felt sorry for him getting a non-boiled egg this year!

Easter Weekend

Sunday we had a pretty busy day! We headed to G-Gma's house for Easter Lunch. Ascher enjoyed eating with his cousins and sharing his toys, cookies and jellybeans with everybody.

Ascher really liked hanging out with the babies too! He was sharing his eggs and sared them with his new dinosaur. Ascher also had fun with the Easter Egg Hunt! He got quite a few eggs and couldn't wait to get them open and eat the candy before mommy took them away! That poor boy was so sugared up from candy and cookies I thought he would never come down!

Once we were done with G-Gma's house, we headed back north to visit with Immer's family. Ascher and Nathan showed off their Easter Eggs they died, and played with more toys. After all said and done, the boys had a fun filled weekend visiting, and they can't wait to do it again!

Legoland

Our nephew Nathan and his mommy came into town for Easter! It was really great to see them. Immer and I decided to take Ascher and Nathan to Legoland in Schaumburg. It started off a little rough, getting them to open up and start looking at everthing. But once things started to warm up, they were off and really into the events!

As for Legoland itself, we really don't reccomend it. It was more of a look and see than interact and play. It was really interesting to see what people could make with Legos though. We found the church that Immer's parents were married in!

And the boys had fun looking at the cool animals and other lego characters. The only one they would properly pose by of course, was Sponge Bob!

Making Cookies

Well, it's official! Ascher's done with school! He had is last day on Thursday, and I must admit, it was hard. I really enjoyed having him there. He learned quite a bit, and was able to interact with children his own age. But now he gets to spend his days with mommy, and hopefully have just as much fun!! So as a going away gift, we made baskets for his teachers. He was really interested in helping. He added flour, rolled the dough, and used to cutters all by himself! I was really impressed! He did a great job!