February, what a LOVELY month

February may be the shortest month, but it has been our busiest! Grant and I celebrated Valentines Day while Sharon and Glen watched Asher. We went and ate a fancy meal at The Rainbow Lodge, a restaurant that serves wild game. We loved it! Then we went to Sam Houston Racetrack and bet on the horses. I bet the winning horse twice! It was a very fun adult evening.

The next weekend I drove to Wichita Falls and had a great weekend with my dad and Ricky. I also got to see Diane, Stacey's family, Aunt Linda, and Uncle Gene. I loved letting Asher play with Colt, Stacey's baby. I think he is around 14 months now. Asher wore his Valentine shirt that said "Eligible Bachelor" all weekend. I love holiday clothes!

The following weekend, I drove to Dallas and had a girls weekend with some friends. Janie, Katy, Anthea, Lauren, and I had a blast! We stayed in the Hyatt hotel, went to the Spazmatics, which is a popular 80's cover band, shopped, and ate out. We had a wonderful time relaxing in the hot tub and catching up. It had been several years since we were all together in the same room. Despite the speeding ticket I got, it was the most enjoyable weekend that I've had in a while.We reminised and laughed for two days straight.

Yesterday was the Houston Rodeo Cook Off. Kason, Sarah, Charles, Blair, Grant, and I bought tickets to a tent and went down to enjoy the festivities. We all dressed in semi western apparel, but when we got there, we felt like we missed the memo. So many people were dressed in the tiniest western clothes they could find! We laughed about it all night. The atmosphere was rather "club like" rather than western, but it was still very enjoyable. We went into a tent of a teacher friend of mine, called the "Beefy Cowboys." The food was very delicious.  Afterward, we came back to the Ebbs' house and sat by the fire pit. The events and festivities of the night kept surprising us, and it was definately turned out to be another great night with friends.

Today we went to the park with Asher for the first time. He loved the swing and laughed so hard. It was precious! I can't wait to go again. He is becoming such a fantastic scooter. Having not quite mastered crawling, he can spin a circle like a pro. Scooting backwards is starting to become frustrating to him, but its very cute to us! :)

This week is our book club meeting, and Spring Break is only 2 weeks away!!!! I will be traveling to Wichita Falls to visit my dad, and Grant's cousin Artie is marrying his fiance Jen over the break. I'm very excited to go to Galveston for the celebration.

 

My cousin Stacey, Aunt Linda, and Asher in Wichita Falls

 

Asher and Colt

 

Asher's "Eligible Bachelor" Valentine shirt

 

Lauren at Girls Weekend

 

Katy and Janie

 

The five of us at the Hyatt

 

The Spazmatics---sooo fun!

 

Our first trip to the park! Priceless afternoon!

 

Grant and Asher swinging. Grant got mad Asher could go higher. :)

 

Mommy and Asher

Can it really almost be February?

January has flown by in a flash! New Years Eve was fantastic! We went with friends to a party downtown. It was a champagne tasting along with wine pairing at dinner, and the night was topped off with dancing. It was the best NYE I've had in many years! Besides that, Grant and I have been super busy with obligations, but have sometime found some wonderful time to spend together. As of late, we painted our bedroom, which was very hard for Grant because he prefers everything be vanilla colored. :) It turned out wonderully! We went to dinner with some of Grant's high school friends, and it was great to visit with them and their wives. Grant's sister, Whitney, has decided to go to Prague for a full year to teach English! She prayed about her decision and feels that this is where God wants her next year. She is currently raising support because she will be leaving in July. I have began working out twice a week with some teachers at my school, while Grant has been working well into the AM hours. He got home last night at 3:30! (So I guess that makes it this morning.) I really enjoy my coworkers at school. They are very laid back and they make me want to come to work in the morning...is it bad that its not the students???

Asher seems to change so much week to week. I even thought at the beginning of last week, "I wonder what he will do this week?" Sure enough, he sprouted his top two front teeth. They are only partially in, but they look so cute. He now has his top front and bottom teeth. He can sit up like a champ. We actually are not using the Bumbo quite as much! Pictured below, I found out he can get out of it. Hes gotten great at eating baby food, and even screams when we don't get the spoon there quite fast enough. haha. I am totally biased, but I think he just gets cuter and cuter each day. Last night was his first time to sit in a shopping cart instead of his car seat. His eyes were huge and he was holding on with a death grip. He did very well until I saw him chewing on the Walmart shopping cart and I shreaked! So gross! haha I have one of those covers, but of course it was at home in the closet where it gets lots of use...We had to move up to a bigger car seat because Asher is so big!! At 6 months he weighed 20lbs even, and was in the 90th percentile. He is about to be 7 months in a few days, and I bet he is 23lbs at least. I swear we don't over feed him! :) The best part of the day is when Grant gets home from work. The look Asher gets is priceless. It is the biggest, happiest grin ever! On Friday, I heard the garage door open so I grabbed the camera and took pictures when Grant walked in. Thats what the black and white pictures below are from.

In the future coming up, I am looking forward to February book club because we read The Help, and it was the best book I've read in a while, a girls weekend in Dallas, going to the Houston Rodeo, and working in a trip to Wichita Falls to visit family and friends. The Lord has been very good to my family over the last month. I pray for guidance and strength for the next month as well.

 

My chubby angel!! :)

 

Grant and Asher when he got home from work.

 

This is Asher's face when he saw Grant.

 

This is Asher's face when he gave up on tryint to crawl.

 

NYE 2011

 

Asher mastered the Bumbo

 

Bedtime!

 

Our painted bedroom! It turned out so well. Goodbye vanilla!

Tis the Season

Since my last post, so much has happened that I'm not sure how to summarize it all. So I'll start from the beginning and work from there.

Halloween! I went to Wichita Falls to visit my mom in a rehab center and to see my other family there. We surprised her by bringing Asher into her rehab session dressed like a big puffy dinosaur! He was all that anyone in the room could look at. Grant and I recently went to Pinot and Picasso with our friends Adam and Courtney. You drink wine while being taught how to paint a famous painting. We had a wonderful time together!

School has been chaotic. Trying to catch up from being gone on maternity leave seems like an impossible challenge. Thankfully, my coworkers are wonderful and helpful. Grant and I finally decided on a dining room table! It only took 6 months. :) We were lucky to have all our friends over for a Thanksgiving feast at our house. We were so excited to finally use our china that we had gotten for our wedding.

Thanksgiving came quickly upon us, and Grant, Asher, and I headed to Wichita Falls. I was so glad Grant could go because it is so difficult traveling 6 hours with Asher by myself. A day before we got there my mom went into the emergency room because she had unbearable abdomen pain. The hospital said it was constipation due to her pain medications. Thanksgiving seemed like it really wasn't happening because mom wasn't home, and we weren't cooking our traditional dishes. Thanksgiving day we went to my cousin's Stacey's and we were lucky to have my dad's family join us too. Upon arriving at the hospital that evening, my mom's breathing was very shallow and we knew that something wasn't right. After a 14 month battle with lung cancer, with all of our family gathered around her, she finally let go and joined our Lord Jesus Christ. She is free of pain, treatments, struggles, medication, and most certainly, cancer. It was the hardest thing that I could ever have imagined witnessing. Though I know how wonderful it is for my sweet mom, it is impossible to be happy that she has passed. Her funeral was a few days later, and it was a wonderful celebration of her life! All of our family's hearts are broken, and the holidays are not being approached with the joy that they usually are. This past week I attended a retirement ceremony for my former principle at Teague Middle School, and I was given a card signed by several staff members. I was told of a donation that will be made in mom's name to the American Cancer Society. It was an unexpected, wonderful surprise that meant so very much to me!

Since then, Asher has had his first cold, and Grant and I are two very paranoid parents! It is very hard to see a  little infant all congested and snotty. :( I also convinced Grant to hang Christmas lights on our house! We decked our halls and made our house full of Christmas cheer. Last weekend, we joined Sarah and Kason at "Lights in the Heights." This was our 3rd or 4th time to go out with Asher bear. We laughed and had an awesome time with friends and looking at Christmas lights. This weekend, my dad, Eric, Ricky, and Christopher all came to Houston to celebrate an early Christmas. Today we went to the zoo for the Africa exhibit. It was so much fun. The weather was cool and sunny. Pictures are below!

Can it really be?

This title is most appropriate because there have been so many things going on!

1st "Can it really be?" I went back to work! Through a friend at work we found a wonderful German lady to babysit Asher. She keeps 2 other babies and I feel totally comfortable leaving Asher there. Though I must admit, I started choking up when I was explaining his schedule to her on the first day. :( Work is good. I like my co workers, but not too enthused about 5th and 6th graders. They cry everyday!!!!!! I'm sure I'll love them by the end of the year...but right now is a big learning curve.

2nd "Can it really be?" I traveled to Chicago to visit my mom in the hospital. I woke up at 4:30am and Grant dropped me off at the airport...the WRONG airport! I was calling him, texting, and emailing him like crazy, but of course his phone was at home. I took a cab to the other airport and still missed the flight. Anyways, now I can laugh about the mishap, but at 5AM I was not laughing. :) The trip went well. The Cancer Treatment Center of America's hospital and living quarters were unbelievably nice. They pick you up from the airport in a limo, the living quarters are brand new hotels with tons of amenities. The hospital is small and they pay the patients very close attention. I feel like she is in great hands.


3rd "Can it really be?": Asher was dedicated at church on Sunday! We were so proud to hold him up on stage and promise to raise him in the church. This was something that was very important to Grant and I growing up, so we want Asher to have the same experience. He wore a really cute sweater vest and khaki pants...for which he pooped through right before we went on stage! My parents got to come in town, and Grant's parents, brother, sister, and grandmother came. Asher had most groupies!

4th "Can it really be?" Asher is talking up a storm. These are not real words, mind you, but wonderful shrills of gibberish that make us smile. He ROLLED OVER for the first time! He loves to hold my hands and stand up. He sits perfectly in his Bumbo and loves laying on his back looking up at his toys.


5th: "Can it really be?" Grant and I came home last night and our house was broken into. Our TVs, laptop, jewelry, etc was stolen. The items can all be replaced, but it was so creepy and disturbing to think of people going through our home. All the drawers were emptied out, and they even went through Asher's drawers which makes me infuriated. We took work off today and got a security system set up and blinds for our windows.

This has been a very busy time in our lives! We love our family, our dogs, our God and of course, each other. :)

 

Go Texas!

Asher and Grandma Arme

 

Papa Arme

 

Go Cowboys!

 

Asher rocks the bumbo

 

When it's sunny I cover up...

 

When its shady I open up!