December Download

 It's hard to believe 2024 is coming to a close!  Ashton has been very busy in December.  Of course, he continues to love riding his bike!  For Christmas, he received a new BMX bike!  He is very excited to try it out on our local bike park.  He continues to love to use power tools to create all types of things.  For Christmas, he even made his sister a desk Mr. Rick his birthfather also stopped by on Christmas Eve and dropped off a new Airsoft pistol.  Needless to say, he has been a very happy boy! H  Today Ashton is enjoying his first day of his Epic Snow pass, snowboarding with his buddy Nathan.

First day on the slopes!

Braving a cold day at Tree Trekkers

Ashton wanted to put Christmas lights on the house this year!

A little snow hike with my buddy

Santa, I've been very good!

Christmas Morning

A rare hug as a thank you for the handmade desk (in background)

Shooting his new airsoft pistol

Parker and the bike

Ashton has a new little friend named Parker, with whom he loves to ride bikes downtown. It reminds me of my carefree bike-riding days from the 1980s. In some ways, this is great because it gives Ashton some freedom, gets him out moving instead of sitting behind a screen, and gives him socialization. However, it also comes with some risks.  This month Ashton and Parker got jumped and threatened with a knife with a knife by a group of local middle school students.  The police were called, and apparently, this group has had several situations like this in the downtown area.  Ashton and Parker were able to identify the leader of the gang via a photograph so hopefully, the cop could work with the school resource officer at the local middle school to prevent this from happening again!

Loves to take things apart

 October flew by! Ashton continues to love to take things apart, figure out how things work, build things, etc. I feel like the last several weeks have been all about bicycles: building bicycles, taking apart bicycles, attempting to repair bicycles,  moding bicycles, building ramps for bicycles, etc.  Additionally Ashton has made some new friends in the neighborhood near Daddy's karate and has spent many happy hours riding his bicycle.  Additionally he has really enjoyed biking at a local skate/bike park nearby.  He has really gained a lot of confidence.  I was hoping to post a picture, but I only have videos!

School has been good for the most part.  Ashton has struggled with one particular teacher this quarter, but thankfully his school counselor was able to come up with a plan to help him be more successful!  Here's his school pic which unfortunately he dislikes!

Personifies Ashton to a tee!

2024-25 School Picture

Positive Peer Pressure

Sometimes peer pressure can be a positive thing!  Ashton in the past has dabbled with small rides here and there, but for the most part, has avoided them.  He would go on the little roller coaster at Adventure Park, but when he went to Hershey Park he was too afraid to go on any of the big rides.  At the fair, he would go on all the kiddie rides and the fun house, but not on any larger rides.  Well, this month that changed.  We went to the Great Frederick Fair with two of his friends and he went on several of the larger rides.  I was super impressed!  He also brought home a little "gift" from the fair.   A goldfish.  I believe he named him George.  I thought for sure George would only last 24-48 hours.  So far is surpassing the odds and has been alive in our home for 1 full week!  Go, Ashton and Gerald!

Ashton, Steven, and Weyland at the Great Frederick Fair

He has also really taken a liking to BMX biking this month.  He has requested to go to the BMX pump track nearly every day.  He has gotten quite confident trying out new stunts.

He also has asked if we would sign him up for ice hockey.  We hope to, but we want to make sure the ice rink doesn't take our money and then cancel classes due to maintenance issues.  I'm so proud of him for wanting to try new things.

Of course, at home, he is always tinkering with something!  Leaving his trail behind him!

Lastly, I am happy to report that the majority of the teachers at school have had amazing things to say about Ashton this year!  He seems to be doing fantastic in Math this year!  

Back to school-8th grade

 Hard to believe Ashton is now in 8th grade!  He was thrilled to let me take a photograph of him as he prepared to leave!  His schedule looks like it was cherry-picked just for him!  He has Math first thing in the morning, with a preferred teacher, and he has one of his favorite teachers at the very end of the day!  It will be a true test of the effectiveness of his afternoon medication. Here's to praying for another awesome school year!

I took him and his friend Weyland for a whirlwind Ocean City trip.  For the past few years Ashton hadn't wanted to go to the beach, however, after getting a small taste of the beach at Tia Lisa's birthday party, he asked if we could go again  So thanks to our neighbors Mr. Jimmy and Mrs. Cindy we could go for a quick overnight trip. In true Ashton style was busy.  We went to the beach, the boardwalk, and on Mr. Jimmy's boat.  The next day, we went to the beach, played miniature golf, and of course, ice cream! He wanted to get everything in!

He's a persistant lil bugger

It's no secret that Ashton is persistent, but in the last few days, he has demonstrated his ability to persist even in the face of opposition.  For example yesterday we locked the basement doors so he couldn't enter, but he was determined to get in.  So he decided to unscrew the drywall panels in the laundry room that had not yet been mudded so that he could get into the locked room.  Today he asked me to take him fishing, and he wanted to purchase a lure with money he had scrounged from his room.  While fishing he got the lure caught on something and while he only had the patience for fishing for a short time, he was persistent in problem-solving to get that lure back.  Let's hope all this problem-solving-persistence pays off positively very soon!

Officially taller then me!

 Ashton has officially overtaken me on the growth chart!  

This summer has gotten off to a rough start, but this past weekend we spent some great family time (just the 3 of us) in Deleware with our friends Jay and Kim Fogle, and some friends from my sister Lisa's 50th birthday party.  Ashton loved their dog Tess and we spent about 1.5 at the beach with some new friends Ashton made.

Lastly, Ms. Taylor sent me a family photograph from your maternal grandmother's side.

Let the summer fun begin!

 We kicked off summer with a traditional camping trip with our former small group friends, including Ashton's half-sister Ariana.  Both the kids and adults had a great time!  As always camping is Ashton's happy place!

Boy party: Micheal O, Aaron, Xavier, and Ashtong

The "twins" all grown up!

Lastly, Ms Taylor and her new husband Stephen came to visit the group at the campground.  She brought with her your half-siblings Noel and Eli.  You didn't want much to do with them, but I figured I'd include this picture in case you are ever interested in the future.

So much growth

Ashton has made incredible growth this year, emotionally, socially, and academically!  We are so proud of all he has achieved this year!  At the beginning of the year, he struggled with math and was significantly below grade level.  This year he closed the gap and is almost at a 7th-grade math level in many areas. A little more tutoring and he will be all caught up!  He also did a fantastic job improving his grades in all his subjects.  Really applying himself!  Socially he has made himself a nice group of fellow knucklehead friends, whom we have the pleasure of meeting.  He also has really proven himself very gifted when working with younger children.  He loves playing with our little neighbor Grayson, and yesterday when we went to a friend's house he entertained their visiting 6-year-old nephew extremely well! He will be fantastic in his CIT job this summer!  Emotionally he has gotten much better at self-regulation and self-awareness.  We still have some things we are working on, but his growth has really been incredible!  Sometimes now he will even joke around with us!  It's fun!  I pray that Ashton has a fantastic summer and continues to blossom!

Such a creative boy!

Ashton has been making some incremental improvements at school and at home.  He made the honor roll last quarter, and his grades for this quarter look amazing.  He is really putting forth more effort.  He said he has been inspired by his English teacher Ms. Schaper!

He continues to love all things guns, much to his Mama's discomfiture.  He purchased with his birthday money several Orbeez guns (like a water pellet gun).  It's awe-inspiring how much he knows all about them including how to take them apart, how all the spring mechanisms work etc...like I said in some ways, it's quite impressive while in other ways it terrifies the bejeebbers out of me!  I pray that as he grows and matures he will maintain a healthy respect for any kind of weapon toy or real.

Lastly, Ashton has been recreating our house layout in Minecraft Creative.  I've got to say I am super impressed.  Maybe one day he will take over Daddy's business!

A Minecraft representation of our kitchen/living room

It's April: We have a newly minted teenager in the house!

Easter was quiet this year.  Lily was away traveling in Costa Rica, and Ashton's buddy Nathan was there too.  So it was just Julia and Ashton, but they still had a great time searching for eggs and eating candy!  Then we went to have a late brunch with Pop Pop and his lady friend at their retirement community.  Ashton and Julia were super well-behaved!  I was so impressed!

The day before Easter I took Ashton up to Mr. Rick's house again to play Airsoft!  As always he enjoyed himself.  However, I do think he has a special affinity for Mr. Rick's Airsoft Gunroom and his husky puppy!

Also, I have been so impressed with Ashton, two Christmas' ago he received a pug "Lego" set.  It was really challenging and at first, I thought he wouldn't finish it.  However, lately, he had been gung ho to finish it.  Staying up late each night, completing each layer no matter how tedious.  He finally finished this week!  Needless to say, we are very proud of him for sticking with it!

Hours of perseverance!  Go, Ashton!

Ashton also received his 3rd Quarter report card!  It appears as if he made the honor roll!  Way to go Ashton!

Lastly, we celebrated Asthon becoming a teenager last week!  We had a quiet home birthday on his actual birthday with just some ice cream and a few gifts.  He received his first $100 bill from mommy and daddy, and two gift cards.  On Friday after school, he had two friends from school (Stephen and Micheal)  over, to hang out, and enjoy food and cake!  It was so fun seeing him with his buddies.  They are all cut from the same exact mold.  They are little copycats of each other making jokes about skibbity toilets and being rizz.

$100 bucks!

That smile says it all!

Happy 13th birthday Ashton!

Kinda quiet for Ashton lately

 Things have been relatively quiet on the Ashton front lately.  Not a whole lot to report!  Ashton overall seems to be doing well in school. Math seems to be giving him some trouble lately, but he is finally receiving some much-needed extra support, so hopefully that will give him the boost he needs.  He loves being with his friends, and takes every opportunity to hang with them!  Ms. Nanna took him snowboarding about two weekends ago (his 2nd time).  I was nervous because even though he had taken the snowboard camp lessons a few years ago they never took him up on the lift.  However, he went with some buddies, and sounds like he did fantastic!  Hope to purchase him a season pass next year so he can get more time out on the slopes!  Very proud of him!

Another half sibling!

 On January 9, 2024,  Mr. Rick and his wife Tiana welcomed another baby boy!  Cillilan Lane on Jan 9th, 2024.  I believe this little addition means Ashton has 5 siblings through Ms. Taylor, 4 siblings through Mr. Rick, and 3 siblings through our family, equally a grand total of 12 siblings!  So he is one of 13!!!!!  He doesn't seem to care at the moment, but maybe one day he will!

Just an aside, last night I was overseeing Ashton doing some make-up work for Art class and he had to fill out a self-reflection form.  One of the questions was on a scale from 1-10  how creative are you and why?  I don't think he wanted me to see it, but he rated himself an 8, and said because my mom always says how creative I am!  Loved it!!!!!