And the Winner Is...

Audrey!! You're the winner in the "When Will Asher Walk" contest! With your guess of February 9, you came the closest. Your prize? All the hugs and kisses you want at camp this summer! (Like you weren't going to get that anyway, but still...)

So, you may have figured it out by now...I can walk! I know you've been wondering where I've been all week. Aside from everyone dealing with another round of fevers and snottiness, I've been busy strengthening my little chunkers (those are my legs, by the way). And, boy, does the freedom feel good. No longer do I have to hurt my palms when trying to carry things while crawling or use my face to push things in front of me. All I have to do is hold something in my hands and use my legs to walk. I do still use crawling for longer distances because, at this point, crawling is still faster, but walking is pretty cool.  Look out, everyone, here I come!

I don't have a picture of me walking yet, but here I am climbing on a shelf.

Forget you!

Now, I'm just a baby, but even I know when I hear something good.  I was watching the Grammys last week and I saw something that might have come from a milk induced hallucination.  A large man dressed as a fluffy red peacock playing the piano while wearing a chain mail coif backed up by Muppets singing "Forget You."  Now doing some research online, I know that those are not the words that the artist originally intended. (Side note, Liana and Gillian have learned that all movies should be watched in widescreen.  At the beinging of "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs"  there is an option to select which version to watch.  There is full screen and wide screen.  Daddy taught them that widescreen is the way the director intended the movie to be viewed.  When asked which version they want, they say, "wide screen because that is the way the director intended."  Fyi)  Back to the red peacock man.  He was so passionate about forgetting you, that you just had to sing along. 

Flash forward to yesterday.  Here I am eating breakfast and enjoying my Joe Ohs and I hear an intoxicating melody.  Dad was showing Liana and Gillian Cee Lo Green's Forget You video and I just had to dance.  And boy did I dance.  I danced like my head was Michael Flatley's feet.  Like my head was attached to my body with a spring (a human bobble head, if you will).  Like I was one of those inflatable people who dance in front of car dealerships.  I LOVE THAT SONG.  I LOVE TO DANCE.  I ALSO LOVE MILK.   Enjoy me dancing.  I know I enjoy dancing.  We should dance together.  Audrey,  I am talking to you on that one. 

CLICK HERE TO WATCH ME DANCE LIKE A MANIAC, MANIAC, ON THE FLOOR (but in a high chair)

Liana the Artist

This is Liana. I love to make art. I am an awesome artist. Here is some of my recent work:

My Space Unicorn
(if you don't know what a Space Unicorn is, click here.)

My Book, When I Flew My Kite

Car Wash Catastrophe

First, let me tell you, I do not like car washes. My sisters love them--going through the car wash is as exciting to them as going to the zoo or getting a huge bowl of ice cream. I think the whole concept is terrifying. You let go of the steering wheel and an unseen force pulls you into a dark box of terror. Water cannons shoot at you, there is some huge rotating brush thing, and then hurricane force winds blowing all around you. And there you sit, trapped, as the car gets pounded all around you. How can anyone find this an enjoyable experience?

Well, since the snow and ice is finally on its way out, the parents decided it would be a good idea to go get a car wash this weekend. The car was fairly grimy, but I never have to touch it, so I would rather it stay grimy than have to face the horror.

When Mom and Dad said we were going to the car wash, the girls acted like we were going to Disney World. I was tired, so I was hoping that I would be able to fall asleep before we got there--no such luck. We pulled up to the opening--no one behind us, no one in front of us...no pressure--Dad had all the time he needed to make a clean approach. I don't know if he couldn't see the mirror or what, but it felt like he didn't make it on to the track. The car rocked a little bit as we drove closer to the box where you pay and then there was a big lurch as if the wheels had fallen into the track.

So, Dad paid, put the car in neutral and took his hands off the wheel and foot off the brake--just like the instructions say. The car was in God's hands now and began to move forward. The soap started flying. I hadn't started crying yet, like I normally do as soon as we enter vortex of destruction. Then the brushes started, pounding the car, and then the car stopped moving. It had fallen out of the track. We were trapped.

Mom and Dad started freaking out a little bit. I was still quiet, hoping to fall asleep so I could block out the experience. The brushes stopped moving and the air stopped blowing--the car wash did not know that we were stuck and had left us behind. Dad put the car back in drive and at first it seemed like he was trying to get back on the track, but even with his foot on the gas we were not moving. What were we going to do? I was due for milk when we got home, and I didn't want to miss my milk time! Finally Dad pushed harder on the gas, the car started lurching forward, and little by little we made it back out to daylight. Sweet freedom!

The car was still very soapy and the girls were very upset that they didn't get the full car wash experience. I was happy to be alive.

I {heart} Valentine's Day!

So today is Valentine’s Day. This is my second Valentine’s day but the first one was seven days after I was born, so I guess it is fine that I do not remember all that transpired on it. So here I am, a suave and debonair man of the world getting ready to celebrate that day of love. Who should be my Valentine? A lot of famous people come to mind, but I have to remember that I am, in fact, just a baby and will have time in the future to have famous ladies as my Valentine.

So I decided to hit closer to home with Cupid's Arrow and after thinking of my options have narrowed it down to three people. First is Liana. My brainiac big sister has a way with words and crayons. If she was my valentine, I know that I would get an amazing home made one of a kind Valentine made by her heart. Option two is Gillian. I know this is a strange choice based on the way she treats me, but I think all the pushing, sitting, hitting, shoving, swatting, squishing, grabbing, and toddling means that she loves me. That can be the only reason, she must love me so much it hurts me. My final potential Valentine is my Mom. She calls me her little man and that just drives me wild. I have even let her sleep all the way through the night a couple of times to show her that I care about her.

So those are my three potential Valentines. It is going to be difficult to pick just one, so I guess I have to pick them all!

So to my special ladies in my house and to all my other special ladies near and far (you all know who you are, and I miss you all more e ach day. (Know that you, distant Valentine are the most special. I did not want to offend the others who think that they are my Special Valentine. Know that you are the most special)), Happy Valentine's Day from your sweet heart, Asher. I hope your Valentine Days are filled with love and romance.

My Family's New Favorite Song

All I have to say is....marshmallow lasers (marshmallow laserrrrrs)....

I'll hopefully have a new real post tomorrow!

Mispronunciation Madness

I have some funny stories about my sisters. They both have trouble pronouncing S-blends--words like stop, stick, Scott, and squirrel come out as sop, sick, Sott, and swirrel. You get the idea. (And don't worry, their teachers are aware and are working on it with them.) I know we shouldn't make fun of them about it, and I'm not really making fun of them, but sometimes hilarity ensues from their mispronunciations.

Tonight...Dad was trying to get them to go to their room to get ready for bed. Liana freaked out about something, because she usually has to find something to freak out about right before bedtime. The target of her freak out became Gillian. Liana started yelling, "I'm going to sit on you! I'm going to sit on you!" Gillian was terrified--Liana is huge. Turns out she was yelling, "I'm going to spit on you!" Not at terrifying as being sat on, but definitely more disgusting.

And now on to the story of awesomeness... The girls have Zhu Zhu pets named Nugget and Spottie (if you don't know what Zhu Zhu pets are...first, you are lucky; second, you have been living under a rock; third, they are little sentient motorized hamsters that roll around and make noise; fourth, I love them). Gillian's Zhu Zhu pet (or Zhuzi pet, as she calls it) is Spottie and has been missing for some time. We were in the car and the girls were conversing about something.

Gillian: I really wish I could find my Sottie.
Liana: G, what are you talking about?
Gillian: You know, my Zhuzi pet, Sottie.
Liana: Oh, you mean Sottie!

So they can understand each other!

Apparently, I posted too late last night because not a lot of you have read my birthday post. So, now you're here--go read it!

Happy Birthday to Me!

I know today was a very exciting day for everyone. No, not because of the Super Bowl (that was only mildly entertaining--I mostly enjoyed dancing at the halftime show)...because it was my birthday! This was my first birthday, but even though I didn't have any experience with it, I think it did a pretty good job. People told me happy birthday and gave me hugs and kisses and I smiled and looked cute for them--nothing too difficult about that. Then they took my clothes off, put me in my high chair, and put a cupcake in front of me. I did a spectacular job at this part. I got almost the whole cupcake in my mouth and managed to eat all of mine before everyone else, even with the girls screaming about how messy I was. I don't think I was being messy--I was just enjoying the cupcake on many different sensory levels.

We had a good turn-out for the party. Grandma Lynn and Grandpa Howie came in for the weekend, and then we also had Nana, Gaga, Aunt Louie and Casey (Uncle Sock is in Mexico getting his archaeology on). We also got Aunt Rin on Skype so everyone could have a chance to revel in my cupcake-eating glory. And glorious it was. I should have a birthday every day.

Thank you to everyone who wished me happy birthday on my Mom's and Dad's Facebook pages. You all are awesome! I'm feeling the love! I wish you all could have been here to celebrate with me!

Things We Learn on Snow Days

My dad and the girls have been home from school for the last two days. My dad is home again tomorrow, but we think the girls will be going back (Dad's school is out in a rural area that hasn't fared as well in Snowpocalypse as the metro area has). That's a lot of family time. Here are some of the highlights:

S-E-R-T spells "videos." This is what Gillian taught us when she was trying to get Dad to let her watch some videos on the computer. He kept telling her to wait and she could watch some videos later, so this is what she started chanting. Who knew spelling could be so funny? Apparently not knowing is half the battle.

There is a tabletop on our dining room table. It has been covered in piles of mail and other random things for quite some time.

Liana is very good at jigsaw puzzles (this was possible because of the table being clean).

Tofu tastes really good in pot pie form.

Bread tastes really good in French toast form.

I'm pretty sure that chicken tastes good in buffalo form (but Mom and Dad wouldn't let me try it--something about it being too spicy).

When the girls are keeping Mom and Dad busy doing crafts, I can sneak away into the play room and throw as many tracks off the train table as I want without getting pummeled by a sister.

Snow is cold.

Getting new teeth sucks (we knew this already, but I'm currently being reminded of it).

Even Mommy can lose her cool.

Fashion does not matter when you are going out into the snow (yes, I'm wearing a Strawberry Shortcake hat).

So, that's some of what's been going on the last few days. Hopefully everyone is staying warm and safe. Spring can't be too far away. And, even if it is too far away, we have the best day coming up on Sunday...no, not the Super Bowl...my first birthday!