Sunday, February 24, 2013

And Nosh Some Hamantaschen

Hamantaschen (or "cookies," as I call them) are a wondrous thing. Especially when your mom and sisters love you so much that they make Samoa-like hamantaschen (here's the recipe--easy and delicious)...and make them during the two-day snow day in which all six of us were stuck in the house. Amira almost didn't make it out of that experience, but we don't like to talk about that. Let's just say, one snow day is a beautiful thing. Two snow days is pushing it. At least we had Plants vs. Zombies to keep us busy. Many zombies were killed. Many brains were eaten. Many trains were thrown at my sisters' heads when it was not my turn on the computer.

But, back to Purim, that's what this post is supposed to be about. I think this was the first year that we all actually enjoyed it. Usually at least one of us is too scared by all the cheering for Mordecai and the booing for Haman and we end up sitting out in the hallway crying that it was too loud. This year was different because during the booing, a dude dressed up like Haman ran around the stage throwing candy at the kids. If projectile candy is involved, I can handle some booing.

I also discovered cotton candy at the Purim Carnival. You can read more about that on my Twitter feed (and become one of my followers while you're there!). My new-found addiction was supported by my bros Paul and Jordan (who are both my friends and sometime babysitters). They were running the snack table and since my parents wouldn't keep buying me more tickets, they were sneaking me contraband goods. They can babysit me any time they want. Just bring the cotton candy machine.

So, that's my take on Purim. Keep the candy flowing and make awesome 'taschen.


I finally wore my Emily costume! (I was also Spiderman.)



On a side note, my dad was cleaning out some boxes from his parents' house and found the program from his preschool graduation. Now we know why he can't spell--he never had a chance.


Tuesday, February 19, 2013

I'm like a bird...

Ladies and Gents, I have entered the land of Twitter.  And like a bird, I am tweeting a lot.  Problem is, no one is following me.  That is not really true, I have one follower.  I need more.  I thought with my new haircut and my new found zest for a life full of confusion and delay, the followers would flock to me like Justin Bieber who has 34643095 Beliebers or Lady Gaga who has 34239914 Li'l Monsters.  What about YouTube which has 23469118 followers and it is a website where people only watch train videos?  I am much cooler than YouTube.  Actually, YouTube is often mytube, so it is cool.  Follow away my friends, follow away.

Right now, the top ten twitter acounts are
  1. Justin Bieber
  2. Lady Gaga
  3. Katy Perry
  4. Rihanna
  5. Barak Obama
  6. Taylor Swift
  7. Britney Spears
  8. YouTube
  9.  Shakira
  10. Kim Kardashian
Twitter comes in at 14.

Now I do not need millions of followers, I am just a toddler.  I would like some.  Besides getting real time updates of my crazy antics, I am planning on starting a new brand in the Asher A Day family:  Asher's Train Tale of the Day (still working on the title).   I have acquired a substantial collection of trains.  They often have crazy antics and hilarity has been known to ensue.  Mom and Amira know what happens on my train table stays on my train table, but now the gag order has been lifted.  The sordid tales now can see the light of day.

Ever wonder what happened between Thomas and Lady after vanquishing Diesel 10?
Why does Henry need special coal?
And what's up with Sir Topham's Hatt?

So, come follow me. @AsherADay It will be awesome.



Thursday, February 14, 2013

Making Adjustments

I have to say, 3 is turning out to be a pretty good year so far. My mane has been shorn, so I don't have the weight of all those curls slowing me down anymore--also, people haven't been calling me a girl quite as often. I have almost double the number of trains I used to have (thank you to relatives for my birthday and for craigslist)--they come with me everywhere I go in my special train basket. Plus, with the baby around, I can get away with pretty much whatever I want. Candy for breakfast? Mom's busy trying to feed Amira, make lunches and get the girls out to the bus. Thomas/train videos on YouTube? Mom's feeding Amira and falling asleep on the couch (I highly recommend all the videos by YouTube sensation leokimvideo). GoGurt and chocolate milk for lunch? Mom's working on the computer and feeding Amira. Basically, Amira is always eating, therefore always attached to Mom, therefore I can do whatever I want. And I know where Mom hides all the step stools, so I can reach anything and everything.

Of course, there are downsides to this newly found freedom. Mom always being attached to Amira means I don't get as much one-on-one attention as I used to. Remember, the girls (the big ones) are at school eight hours a day so it was Mommy-and-me time all day every day. I like to think I'm handling this in a mature way. When Mom's doing her work, I take piles of paper off her desk and throw them around the room. When Mom's feeding Amira, I get up in Amira's face and say how cute she is and then whack her in the head. In the late afternoon when I'm feeling especially neglected I take all my clothes off, yell "all naked," and run crazily around the house (this also usually involves peeing or pooping on the floor because they can't possibly expect me to use the potty with all these changes going on). At bedtime I like to lock myself out of my bedroom and then cry in the hallway as Mom tries to get the door unlocked. Also, many trains get thrown at many people's heads.  I think you can say I'm adjusting well.

So, with all this extra time on my hands for causing havoc, I would like to announce the opening of my Twitter feed. Yes, I found the Twitter. It will be awesome.

Contemplating my next move.

Monday, February 11, 2013

Amira is Officially a Person and I am Officially a Boy

It was a busy weekend in our house, with two big milestones. First we had Amira's baby-naming ceremony, in which she officially received her Hebrew name and became a real person. I guess that means we're stuck with her but (and don't tell my parents this) I secretly do like her, so I guess that's ok. After the ceremony everyone kept telling me what a good job I did--apparently everyone expected me to scream throughout the ceremony. Liana screamed through Gillian's baby-naming, Gillian screamed through my bris (as did I), so I was supposed to continue the pattern. I like to keep everyone guessing though, and anyway, I was too busy strutting around and showing off my dapper new look.

What look is that? My new 'do. Yes, my majestic mane is no more. I turned three, so it was time for my first haircut. I think you'll agree, it looks good on me.

Not so sure about this, but at least I have Big Emily (my train, for those of you not familiar with "Thomas and Friends") for moral support.
I am awesome!
I also got to have Birthday Party 2.0 this weekend. The Chicago part of the family was in town for Amira's big day, so even though everyone was actually more interested in paying attention to Amira they gave me a pretty good party. As I said before, if it involves cake, I'm in. Liana actually took on the job of party planner for this event, so we even got a pinata. It was quite terrifying (think: Gillian swinging around a big stick), but I'll do anything for candy.


Yes, that's a Swiffer holding up that pinata.


The only thing that would have made this weekend better is if Gila had been able to make it. Now I have never met Gila, but I have heard stories of her awesomeness from my parents. She was set to be here this weekend (she and my parents have not seen each other in almost 5 years!), but Nemo decided to change her plans. We've always been big fans of a fish named Nemo in this house, so we were very sad that the weather system Nemo let us down.

One last thing: I wanted to give a shout-out to my special lady Addie for her 21st birthday this weekend. Addie was my first babysitter (and coincidentally, my mom babysat for her when she was a baby) so she will always have a special place in my heart. I remember those long walks around the Garbage Trail at camp, hanging out on the kikar and lazy days at the playground. She's on her big world tour right now (currently in Germany), so she's too busy to babysit me now, but I always have hope that she'll come back to me!


Amira is ready to party.

Thursday, February 7, 2013

The Big 0-3

Yesterday was the big day, the anniversary of my second birthday. No more blaming my behavior on the "Terrible Twos." It's time to face the fact that I am three.

Where have I been lately, you ask? Well, things have been changing around here. The baby (which, if you'll remember, I thought was just what we were calling my mom's protruding belly button) decided to come out of my mom and start living in our house. That has put limits on my computer time. Not only are Mom and Dad too busy to help me get on the computer, but any time I do get on, the internet is so slow because my parents are using all the bandwidth to email and upload "cute" pictures of said baby.

Ok, she's not that bad. She is actually a cute baby. See:







For those of you who are not Facebook friends with my parents and who missed the announcement, her name is Amira Eve and she was born on January 15 (which means Gillian was the winner of "Baby Watch 2013" and she got her wish, which may now be a curse, to have the baby born on her half-birthday). She is stealing most of my parents' attention, but I still like her, so I guess we can keep her for now.

But, back to me, since I am the real star here. My birthday was awesome. It started with my big sisters (see, now I have to specify "big" sisters or "little" sister) jumping on me in bed. This happens every morning, so it really wasn't anything different. Then I got Yellow Rheneas--Rheneas is actually a red train from "Thomas and Friends" but in the movie "Blue Mountain Mystery," which is my favorite Thomas movie, he gets a new coat of paint, and yellow is my favorite color. Victory all around.

Then I got a party at school, complete with cupcakes and an awesome hat.


After school I got to spend the afternoon at Nana and Gaga's house so Mom could do our laundry. (Because this was the perfect time for our washer to break. Not like we use it that often--now with six people in the family, two of whom wear cloth diapers that need to be washed every few days.) Nana and Gaga's house is awesome because of Gaga's model train set. I am an awesome conductor!

In the afternoon the girls (the big ones, not the little one) gave me an awesome Take-n-Play Thomas set. It even came with Duck and Cranky the Crane. I love that Cranky. The day ended with ice cream and more cupcakes, so it was a pretty cool day. Apparently there will be more celebrating this weekend when the Chicago part of the family will be in town. If it involves cupcakes, I'm in!