Aschermanns

Friday, November 10, 2017

Birthday Season

On October 29, 2017 Liesel turned 5! Oh Liesel you make us laugh everyday and sometimes make us want to cry. You are the strongest willed of our three children. If you want something there is no distracting you or talking you out of it. You are starting to love school and the kids in your class are drawn to you. You love horses, barbies, stuffed animals, and any imagination play. Your favorite farm animal of ours is Lily, our new barn cat and she loves you too. Both of your brothers, especially Maddox, love playing with you because you have the best imagination. You are still struggling with potty training, but I have started to see improvement over the last month. You have lots to say and are very articulate. If you could you would wear your long black and white dress every day. You are full of kisses and hugs and love to have your back scratched. You know most of your numbers from 1-20 and are starting to learn your alphabet. You pick up things quickly and are a smart little girl. Every time you leave the house you insist on bringing a bag full of stuff (toys, chapstick, stuffed animals, etc.). You are a loving, funny, adorable, and smart little girl. We wouldn't trade you for the world. Thanks for keeping us on our toes.

On October 30, 2017 Milo turned 7! Milo at this age you love to write, but are not a very big fan of reading. You are very good at math and like science, but your favorite classes are music and gym (if you can't count recess). You love ninjas, hockey, legos, rollerblading, and playing on the school playground. The friends you talk about the most are Noah, Kesten, Jacob, and Jack. Your teacher is Ms. Boyer (again). She moved with you from Kindergarten to First Grade. You love her! You have not yet lost a tooth, but one of your front bottom teeth is loose. You have started to fight less and less with your siblings. I can tell you are growing up because are starting to help Liesel and Maddox and every once in a while you will even let them win an argument. You get frustrated pretty easily, but get over quickly. You are working on growing out your hair. You don't like jeans and will only wear exercise pants. You know how to tie your own shoe laces and recently grew into big kid shoes. You know wear a size 1 in kids shoes. The first thing most people who haven't seen you since you were little say is "He's so skinny". Not because you are overly skinny, but because you no longer have all that baby fat. You are looking more and more grown up everyday. We love who you are and who you are becoming! Thanks for being you.

On November 4,2017 Maddox turned 3! Maddox you are growing up too fast. You do a really good job keeping up with your brother and sister. You are our family clown and will do anything to make people laugh. You don't take anything too seriously and always lighten a room up. Out of our three you are the most verbal at this age. You love tractors, your brother and sister, Paw Patrol, our sandbox and candy. You still have your pacifiers and are not yet potty trained. You still take an afternoon nap. For the most part you are very mellow, but recently you have started to have some pretty amazing fits. You have learned the art of crying in order to get your way. You are a rough and tumble little boy and love being physical, wrestling, running, climbing, etc. Whenever you find a coin on the ground you shout "my lucky day". You are always the only one still awake at night when we come to your guys' room to turn off lights. You make us laugh everyday and bring so much joy to our lives. You are amazing and we love you!

Playing at the pumpkin patch with Sloane

One of the kids favorite things is to pull out the air mattress and have slumber party in the living room

reading with Uncle Matthew

Dress up at the Children's Museum

We had a face painter at the kids birthday party

In line waiting for face painting

With Caroline

Milo just did painting on his arms. Go Avs!

Happy Birthday Cupcakes

This Girl!

Worker guy

One of the birthday boys. He looks so big in these photos.

School Halloween party

Ready to trick or treat

Bosco

On Friday, October 27, 2017 we had to say goodbye to our Bosco. Over a period of one week he went from a typical old dog to being very sick. Scott took him to the vet and they found a cancerous mass. Though it was so hard, we knew that the right thing to put him down. Anyone who has lost a pet knows how hard it is to say goodbye and having little kids in the picture makes it even harder. We will all miss him so much, but know that our life is even richer for having him in it.

Bosco joined our family when he was just a little puppy. Scott and I, along with our 8 year old dog Ema, drove all the way to West Virginia to pick him up. As a puppy he was very smart and would always show off in puppy training class. At home he would eat remote controls, batteries, and hard back books. In his youth he loved running with me and was a great pacer. He loved chasing sticks and the bigger the better. When we brought home Milo as a 2 day old infant he ran his tongue over Milo's little face and then was happy just to lay next to him. He was the best family dog anyone could ask for. He was extraordinarily patient with kids and never snapped at a sole. As an old dog his very favorite thing was to go to work with Scott. He was the office "guard dog", but the truth is he mainly just slept in the doorway. He will be missed at BDI and extremely missed at home.

We love you Bosco and thank you for being the best family dog ever!!!! You have set the bar high!

Saturday, October 14, 2017

Is everyone drowning? Or is it just us?

Life is busy. I feel like I start every blog that way. I asked Scott the other day if everyone feels as under water as we are. We are blessed with three active kiddos, who are great, funny, loving, sweet and lots of other good adjectives, but they are also time consuming, challenging, and exhausting. Outside of family there is work which non-stop. People always say that “busy” is better than the alternative, but I would take the alternative for a week, maybe even two. On top of this, Scott and I, who must be insane, decided to grow our farm family. We now have two goats (Lucy and Ethel), six ducks (Blueberry, Sunshine, Rosy, Daffodil, Aurora, and Maximus), twenty-five chickens (not named), three cows (black cow, red cow, and white cow) and a barn cat named Lilly. Not only does October include two birthdays and Halloween, but this year October has proven to be extra chaotic. Scott is scheduled to be out of town every week. So the kids, work, and farm duties fall on me along with the help of my awesome support. Thank you, Nana, Grammy, Papa, and Miss Jan. Like most of the moms I know, my mornings are beastly: breakfast, dress kids, pack backpacks, and get myself presentable, all while working through my children’s wicked negotiations skills and inability to get along with each other any time before 8am. Oh yes and to top this off I also need to milk the goat. Oh this life of mine.

I am getting though this month one day at a time. I am getting through and trying to enjoy the kids and not sweat the small stuff. I am getting through knowing it is no easier for Scott than it is for me. I am getting through though maybe not gracefully or without fails. I have had some epic fails this month. This mama straight up ran out of diapers one morning. This mom scheduled an adult only party on November 4^th only to realize that November 4^th is her youngest son’s birthday. I didn’t even figure that one out on my own. My mother in law brought it to my attention after I asked her if she could babysit that night. Who remembers their 3^rd birthday anyway….third child problems.

So I how did I find time to blog….Let me tell you. Tonight I found it by accident. During one of the very few dinners Scott was able to have with us this month he started to have a look in his eye. At first I thought he wasn't acclimated to the noise of a family dinner with three kids anymore, but then I realized he was in physical pain. He was passing a kidney stone. Well we have been there before so we called Nana to see if we could drop of the kiddos with her for the night. After dropping them off I took Scott to the hospital. Good news I remembered my computer and the hospital has awesome wifi which means I was able to get some work done and work on my blog. Oh yeah, Scott is doing fine.

Onto some things I don’t want to forget:

Maddox has taken to telling everyone he sees (strangers included) that his name is “Mac or Macky, but my dad calls me Mac Mac.”

Milo has developed a habit that I can only describe as an over the head hair sweep. About every 45 seconds he reached over his forhead with his right hand and sweeps his hair to the side.

Liesel’s teacher mentioned that last week during center time Liesel had 6 kids sitting in front of her and was role playing. They were all her kids and she was the mom. They were all paying very close attention to her and she kept saying “You guys need to help me out because my husband travels for work.”