Asher’s 4th Birthday

Today was Asher’s 4th birthday.  He has been so anxiously waiting for this day for so long.  The last few weeks he has been asking how much longer until his birthday, and there have even been a few tears this last week when he had to wait yet another day.  He started his morning with some crepes for breakfast and with opening his gift form us, a bike that looks like a motorcycle.  Even though it was rainy, he rode it to the bus stop, and thanks to a miracle the rain actually stopped and there were some blue skies this afternoon and he was able to go out and ride it some more. 

     

Asher’s orange cake, and flying his new helicopter.

Asher is full of life, and does everything to its fullest.  He loves his friends, and always wants to have someone to come over and play.  He also loves his brothers, and they are all so good to him.  He and Madeleine are becoming quite the buddies, and he plays nicely with her and takes good care of her.  He is always excited when dad comes home, and he thinks dad is the “best because he is so funny.”  He still takes a nap every day, but only if he can lie down on my shoulder and cuddle next to me.  He still loves motorcycles.  He also loves to dance and listen to music.  He regularly carries around one of our phones and plays his favorite songs over and over, singing along to most of the words.

       

We sure love this sweet boy, and it is hard to not think back on the miracle of his life, especially around his birthday.  The memories of those difficult yet tender moments of his first few months of life seem a bit more on the surface this year as he faces a heart catheterization this Friday, followed by open heart surgery in May.  We know he will be blessed, and we hope this will help him be stronger and have more energy.  He can’t run too far without getting tired, and he needs to just stop and rest to catch his breath after only a minute.  He is patient through it all, and we know he is being watched over through all of this!

Great Wolf Lodge

For Christmas this year, my parents gave us a gift card to Great Wolf Lodge.  We have wanted to go for a long time, so we were excited to try it out.  The boys have been talking about it forever, especially Asher, and asking when we got to to.  Unfortunately, Grandma Brewer’s funeral happened to fall right when we had this vacation planned.  After much thought, we decided that I would stay with the kids while Shane went to Utah for the funeral.  I was sad to miss on attending the funeral and remembering Grandma Brewer and the amazing woman she was, and also sad that Shane would miss out on our family vacation together.

My parents drove up Thursday evening, and Friday just after lunch we drove up to Great Wolf Lodge.  Jake and Stacey left the same time as us, and Camille and Bryce and Becky and Nate met us there an hour or two after we arrived. 

The water park was a lot of fun, and the kids loved playing in the wave pool, riding on the water slides (our boys were only daring enough for the smaller ones), and playing basketball in the pool.  Asher and Madeleine loved the kid pool with the slides and spray toys. 

             

For dinner, we got some Dominos pizza, and then I brought some orange cupcakes and we sang Happy Birthday to Asher.  We then headed down to the clock time before heading to bed.

       

The next morning, we were back to swimming, with only a brief break for lunch.  I even got to go with Camille on one of the big waterslides (I couldn’t convince any of the boys to go with me). 

             

We had a great time, and we will have to go back!

Madeleine at 18 months

Our little Madeleine is growing up too fast.  She turned 18 months old this week, and she is turning into quite the little girl instead of the little baby.  She is sweet and loving and fun and growing up way too fast.  She loves to say “Hi Dad,” over and over, especially when he comes home from work.  She says, “Hi Mom” too but not as much, although she does like to say “Mom.  Mom,” while patting me on the back.  She constantly points things out and says over and over “What’s that?” (something Landon always did repeatedly too).  She has perfected a firm, “No!” while shaking her head and her hair, and she especially knows how to use this when her brothers are bugging her.  She likes to squeal and run with her brothers.  She is a great sleeper, going to sleep easily each nap and nighttime, and wakes up happily chatting in the morning, something we definitely have never had before with the boys.  She loves to give hugs and kisses, and has us all pretty much wrapped around her finger. 

                 

Asher wanted to get in on the action.  He was quite the character!  He actually took these pictures before I got most of Madeleine’s because she didn’t want to sit there.  After she saw Asher posing for the camera, she decided she wanted to sit back down on the rock and pose for her pictures.