Here's a wonderful site for our friends and family to see what's happening here in Round Lake! Hope you enjoy!
I never knew it was so hard to find a sled. So this year, we went to Toys R Us and got one early! Good thing, cause a few days later it snowed! Ascher was super excited to use his sled (just like Leah's, but blue!) and now every chance he gets, he runs to the hill by the house and slides down! I have even caught him running out of the house when I check the mail to slide down, without coat, snowpants or boots on!
Ascher designed and decorated our cards this year all on his own! He got a little tired of doing them (we did over 60!)...but we did them in parts. His favorite part was stamping them! He is definitely looking forward to doing them next year again! 
Ascher has really gotten into the "I wanna help" stage, and wants to help with everything! (unless it's cleaning up his mess, taking a shower or going to bed). So he was really excited when we put up the tree! Immer had to put the string of lights on (last year the top half of the tree blew its lights) then Ascher was put in charge of adding the ornaments!
He took his job pretty seriously. He was putting them "inside" the tree and on the branches. Hasn't quiet mastered the hooks yet, but I'm sure he will learn!
Immer helped by doing the top of the tree, adding the garland and the star. He decided that the star wasn't very good, so I bought a small angel ornament that worked just as good!
I had to run to Target and buy some last minute items for Thanksgiving with Immer's family. While there, I sent a text to my mom saying how guilty I felt for buying all kinds of chocolate and junk, that I bought a bag of carrots to feel better. She said as long as I don't eat the two together, I should be fine. OK for me, but later that day, Ascher decided he wanted carrots dipped in chocolate. YUCK!
Ascher has gotten quite a bit of playtime out of his kitchen, and continues to love and play with it! He decided that him and his new bear, Swampy, were going to have a picnic. So he made all kinds of food and set it up! Enjoy!
I try to keep things neat in this house, which shouldn't be too hard considering it's so small. But this is what my living room looks like, everyday......from the minute Ascher wakes up, to the minute he goes to bed. I ask him to put away what he isn't playing with, but of course, he's playing with it all. All the time. So if you come over, and wonder what the mess is, please note it's not me- but my son!
We took a trip to the Orchestra this year. We were unsure if Ascher would enjoy it, so we kept it a surprise until we actually got there. He's been watching Little Einstein's lately, so he knows his music and instruments pretty well. Once the production of Peter & the Wolf started, the boy was entranced! He stood the entire time watching everything on stage! It was a really great production for children. They had the children's theater there re-enacting the story while the orchestra played. Definitely an experience that we will do again! He loved it, and is always talking about it, and is asking to go back!
We went with Cousin Tammy's home school group. This is the gang afterwards. Really excited to get their pictures taken, can't you tell! After the program, we walked to Water Tower for lunch and shopping. Of course all the girls were really excited and had to go to American Girl. Ooops- now Ascher wants one! Luckily we headed to the Lego store after that and everything is back to normal! He could have played with that stuff for hours if we let him!
Once we were done shopping, and made sure everyone got to their trains on time, we headed to Starbucks to warm up. Ascher got his first Starbucks, a kids hot cocoa, and had it finished in about a minute flat! He was having so much fun, that he decided that he was going to share with mommy. Except mommy didn't know of this plan, and didn't like it too much. So he had is own hot cocoa, and half of mine! A little addict in the making!
We didn't get too much candy, but we didn't get too many treaters either. So I had quite a bit of candy on my hands. So we cut it up and made cookies! While making the dough- I turned around and caught Ascher doing this. I asked what he was doing, and he simply said "I'm like Mac in Lightning McQueen!" For those of you who have seen the movie, I'm sure you know exactly what part he is talking about!This year was a challenging year for Ascher. He really could not decide on a costume. We went and looked at pre-made costumes, books at the craft store, and anywhere else that had costumes. We literally decided on a costume a few days before the big day. And even then, he wasn't all excited about it. But once the day arrived, he got pretty excited!
We went around the neighborhood with our neighbors, Leah and Gianna. Of course, the girls knew what to do and were running from house to house. Ascher, being a true turtle, just wanted to relax in the wagon and watch. He did a few houses, but was turned off by the amount of people not home giving him candy! And once he got a few pieces, he was done! He just wanted to go home and eat!
They would stick their faces in the window, while ringing the bell, and banging on the door. I'm sure the people without candy were REALLY excited when these guys showed up!
Immer and I had decided that we were not dressing up this year(since last year was such a hit, and we had nowhere to go this year). But Halloween morning, Ascher guilted us into creating last minute costumes so we could dress up as a family. Not much different than real life right there!
Ascher was super excited to do pumpkins this year. And I was super excited when I found a great deal on pumpkins- and bought 1 for each of us! Immer took it one step further and even bought Lightning McQueen templates to carve into our pumpkins! So when I got home from work, they had both picked out their pictures and were ready to go!
Immer thought mine was funny looking (far right)...but once they started to lose their shape in the warm weather, mine was the best looking one!
Hello all! I was a wonderful furniture designer for Walter E. Smithe for a year and a half before retiring and becoming a full time mom. I love watching my son grow and cooking up a storm for anyone willing to eat it.
