Water water everywhere!

It's no secret Ashton loves water!  He loves water in the sink, in the pool, in the bath, in bottle, in a bucket....if it's water Ashton loves it!  Too bad he won't cooperate with swimming lessons!  Anyway when Ashton takes a bath he frequently gets water EVERYWHERE!  Recently, he took a bath and got water not only in the bathroom but in the hallway as well.  How on earth he manages this I will never know!  Anyway after having him clean up the hallway, the floor was still slippery.  As I was lamenting about this to him, he decided he needed to make a slippery sign so as to warn us grown ups that the floor was slippery!  LOL  Notice that he used a band aid and duct tape to hang it on the door.  Will our house ever survive!

Slippery when wet!

Things I want to savor forever!

I've been really trying to be present with Ashton and really soak in the essence of who he is because before I know it, it will be gone and I'll be grasping for it! 

So here are some things lately that I just want to savor!

1.  The way he writes his name. I love his s

2. How when I leave the house, how he'll chase me down the street waving goodbye!  I never want to drive away!

3. Or how when I leave the house, he needs one more hug, one more beso

4.   How I lifted him out the car one night and he  draped his hands around my shoulders in a heavy hug/embrace.  Of course I when it happened I didn't want to put him down!

5.  How he loves to be outside, riding his bike, his scooter, helping our friend spread the mulch and pull weeds.

6.  How he always wants me to scratch his back in his bed.

Another day of infamy for Ashton

The littlest Gjerde who shall remain unnamed, earned another day of infamy in our household. In his deep love for water and bubbles, washed his hands (a good habit right:)) in the basement sink. In his haste he left the sink stopper in (so the bubbles could stay in mom!) and the water running (it was too rusty for me to turn it all the way off). Needless to say we awoke to waterfall in the bathroom which made it's way into the hallway and the extra bedroom.

I've always wanted to gut that space, but now it is really going to have to happen!

The little man is 5!

Sorry for the delay in posting, things have been kind of nutty around here!  Ashton recently celebrated his 5th birthday!  This year he opted for a more intimate celebration.  We had hoped to have his party at the local park, but hence mother nature did not want to cooperate...she decided she needed one more last blast of winter before she left us for good.  I was a little stressed thinking of how to keep the kids occupied in the house and came up with a bunch of car themed games.  But guess what they wanted to do????  Go outside and play!  Go figure!  It was a good thing it was only 3 of them!

Making cars

Thank goodness for carpenter Pop-Pop

Looks who is 5!

In other news Ashton read to me his very first book.  He brought it home from school. It was called big!  I was so proud!

Today he got to be a kindergartner a day!  He was so excited!  He went to P.E. and had Spanish.  He got to eat lunch at school and play at recess with his kindergarten buddies.  Outside of falling down in P.E. and scraping his knee he said he had a great day!

Also Ms. Taylor told me that Ashton's birth father just had another baby with another woman,  I believe is a little boy.  So another 1/2 sibling in the books for Ashton.

Love my little man!

Of course Ashton drives us absolutely nuts with his strong willed ways, but there is something so charming and adorable about him even in his willfulness!

 

take a silly picture of me mommy!

First of all he is a little inventor.  He recent invention is called the double drinker.  Basically it is two red solo cups glued together, as you never know which beverage you might be in the mood for!  Of course knowing Ashton he probably tried to fill both sides, but man gotta love his creativity!

The double drinker

He also loves to pack snacks for all his carpool friends.  Ms. Jessica who picks him up from school daily talks about how he shares all his food equally with his friends!

He loves the dog and continues to torture him on a regular basis!

Poor Austin!

I took the kid to a Purim carnival in March in an attempt to relive some of my childhood with them.  They had a great time, but it was much different that I remembered as a child.  Ashton tried cotton candy for the first time there and decided he didn't like it!  Funny kid!



Trying Cotton Candy!

For Easter we went to Gaver Tree Farm which Ashton fondly calls Apple Gaver Tree Farm.  He loves it so much he asked if he could have his birthday there!  Unfortunately that are not open in the spring, but the Awanna church was having an Easter Egg hunt there!  He had so much fun.  He even found the "Jesus" egg which allowed him to get an extra prize which was a gift card to 5 below.  He was in heaven!

We spent Easter day with my sister and her family.  There is just something so cute about Ashton trying to find his Easter eggs!

 

 

Last night was Lily's 10th birthday party and it couldn't of played itself better if we tried.  Maddie's brother Mason came over as did Anna's little brother Jonah.  They played nerf guns with girls!  Ashton helped the girls build a fort outside, played sparklers, played piñata, and sang karaoke.  He cried when we told him he couldn't sleep downstairs with the girls!

Ashton mission recon

The highlight for us was when Ashton did karaoke!  He sang the P.J. Mask theme song!  Oh my gosh so cute!!!!

Also for his birthday he got a scooter from Tia Lisa and family.  He absolutely loves it!  He is a natural.  It took him no time to get used to the "real" scooter!

 

Living with a tornado!

Our little tornado at Great Falls

Living with Ashton is like living with a tornado.  He is full blast energy and movement from the moment he wakes up until his head crashes on the pillow when he falls asleep.  If he is not sitting still (which is very rare) he is biking throughout the house on his plasma car, jumping on his special jumping mattress, or tearing something else up in the house!  Not only is he a ball of energy but he is in to everything!  There are no boundaries for this kid!  If he wants to get into the cabinets, he climbs up and helps himself, if he wants to wrap presents, he locates the wrapping paper and uses it until it's all gone.  If he wants food, he helps himself!  We went through a phase recently where he was really being difficult, very developmental self centered, but he seems to have turned a corner.  Hoping and praying it continues!

He continues to appear to do well in school.  His reports that he consistently chooses difficult tasks to engage in.  He is beginning to write letters, including his own name.  He also loves to do crafts.  Tape, paper, stickers and scissors are some of his favorite things!  I can't keep enough scotch tape in the house, because Ashton is constantly using it for EVERYTHING!

One of my favorite things is Ashton's artwork!  I simply adore his pictures of people!

 

Me and Daddy in our bed, Lily and Ashton in their beds, we are all in our house!

The thing I notice the most about his Montessori Pre-K is his independence in the kitchen.  He wants to make his own sandwiches, spreading the peanut butter and jelly himself.  He likes pour his own drinks.  One of the highlights of school for him last week was getting to peel carrots with a carrot peeler!

Ashton also just finished up a session of basketball that he did with a local Methodist church.  He loved to sit on the bench and drink Gatorade.  When he did play the only thing he would do would be pass the ball in from the sidelines.  The funny thing is at home he loves to dribble the ball, but I guess being in that group situation was a little overwhelming for him.

Lastly Ashton has had two funny's that just have to be written down!  We went hiking in the boyscout camping area/Walkersville watershed on Saturday with Eirik.  We hiked to the lean-to shelters.  Ashton knowledgeable that we would have to hike into the woods to go camping there asked, "how will we get our kindles here!"  LOL

Also today we went to Chuck E. Cheeses.  There was sign of a gun with a red stripe through it similar to the one below.  Ashton say's to Eirik, "that means we can't play shoot guns here."  BOYS!

Snowzilla

We are in the midst of recovering from a record breaking snow storm that dropped nearly 36 inches of snow in Frederick!  The kids have been off from school since Friday and I will be surprised if they go back at all this week!  Ashton finally loves the snow and has been enjoying sledding a lot!

Photo bombing daddy!

Also last weekend we went to a roller skating party for our dear friend's the Henry's and Ashton actually tried roller skating.  I couldn't believe it!  He fell down at first and cried and we thought had had given up skating for good.  We even returned his skates.  But after a break of cake and ice cream, he decided to give it a go again!  He did great!  They had these awesome pvc pipes with wheels that helped them keep their balance.