First day of Kindergarten

Today was Ashton's first day of kindergarten.  He woke up to an alarm he set last night eager to start the day!  He promptly got dressed and brushed his teeth and was ready to face the day!  When I picked him up this afternoon for carpool he exclaimed, "I had a GREAT day!"  Just want a momma wants to hear! 

After school he also had a boys only gymnastics class. He seemed to really enjoy it especially since he was with boys his age and he could jump into the foam pit!

Now I am trying to get him to go to sleep...he's so tired, but he has crossed over the edge:)

It is time for Ashton to go back to school

The last few weeks have been tough in the Gjerde household.  Ashton has been an angry, willful, and an oppositional mess.  He is constantly telling people he doesn't like them, he hates them, he's not going to be their friend when he doesn't get his way. Needless to say no one is enjoying him.  We've tried consequences such as putting him in his room, removing him from the situations, taking away his kindle and his pokey, but the message simply doesn't seem to be getting through.  The only saving grace is that his sister was similar at this age and she seemed to pull through just fine.  So here's to hoping!

Almost....

Lately I feel like the theme of Ashton's little life currently is almost....

He almost can ride his bike....but he chooses not to.  He's riding basically on very little training wheels and the training wheels he is using are basically useless, but he refuses to try with his new bike with better training wheels or allow us to take the training wheels off....so either way we will wait for his timing....

He can almost swim....but he chooses not to.  He loves the water, but only on his terms.  While we were on vacation he was so close to swimming, but atlas he refused to try....so again...we'll wait for his timing.

He is a stubborn little guy.  He reminds me of a character in a story book, called Ruby in her own time.  The story is about a Ruby who does everything her older brother and sisters do, but of course, only her own time!

Ashton attended vacation bible school at Frederick Church of the Brethren.  It was so cute he kept calling it bible cation school.  The first day he clung to daddy, but after that he wanted to go in totally independent of us.  On the last day the whole group of 200 plus children got up and performed some songs for us...in traditional Ashton fashion, he slunk down low on the ground, semi hid and did not sing:)  Although Lily did report that one evening when it was just kids, he spoke into a microphone to answer a question.

He also attended gymnastics camp again!  He loves the foam pit and he continues to be a social little dude! The teacher reported that he seems to have fear of heights, which I'd had never noticed before but did see a little of it on our vacation.  However, on our vacation he seemed to tackle his fear enough to climb a tower with me!

Ashton continues love golf!  He asks on a regular basis when can we go play golf.  I found him at good will a small bag and few clubs for cheap...he loves it!

Loves his golf clubs

Also Ashton has gotten really good at writing his name.  He can now write his whole name without assistance and even make his "s" proper (although I really loved his old "s"). Last night I came home to this lovely picture of myself with my name.  Adorable

Momma

Ashton's signature

We took a vacation to New Hampshire and Ashton just adored playing in the lake!  I couldn't get him to go to deep with crying, but he did end up wearing a life jacket (which he usually fights me on), running and jumping of the dock (which I found super impressive), and loved to try kayaking.  He particularly loved a Kayak affectionally know as tippy.  He was so close to almost swimming here!  He took his life jacket on and tried lifting his hands and legs ....I thought for sure he would do it!

Hanging out!

Ashton in tippy!

On the way to and from New Hampshire we had a few fun adventures such as making candles at the Yankee Candle Flagship store in MA, unfortunately a few hours later Ashton's broke:(, going to a real coal mine in PA, and visiting the PEZ factory in CT, a big favorite for both kids!

Coal Mine

Making a sand candle

Pez Factory

Happy boy with Handy Mandy Pez

Ashton goes golfing and Mr. Congeniality

So Ashton has been asking to go golfing for a few months now, so earlier this week we took him to the driving range near our house and let him hit some balls.  He really enjoyed it!  He's been asking to go back!  Funny thing is even though he is a lefty, he prefers to strike the ball as a righty.  Needless to say both and him and Lily were quite cute hitting the ball hard!

Also Ashton has really come out of his shell socially.  He used to be so shy and clingy and now he is like a social party animal.  On our beach trip to Ocean City this year, he was like the social director.  Making friends with different boys in different families and then trying to get them all together to play.  It is so funny to watch!

Ashton's first "real" movie

So finally after days of saying he would not go to the movie theater with us to see Finding Dory, Ashton finally conceded and agree to go.  I would say he would give the experience 2 out 5 stars and I don't expect him to want to go again any time soon!  He liked the popcorn, snack and drink, but otherwise I think it was too much for him.  There were over 45 minutes of previews which were loud and sometimes scary.  He kept telling me he had to go to the bathroom.  Then during actual movie he kept asking me if it was almost over.  Although, I must say I am pleased that he lasted the entire movie!   I guess we'll wait a while before we try again! 

He wanted to do a silly pose

Ready for the show!

Watch out kindergarten, here comes Ashton!

Well it's official Ashton is a no  longer in Pre-K but kindergarten!  His teacher sent home a pic of his first days in pre-K  in October until his final days in pre-K in June!  I can't believe how much he has grown and changed!

Look a what a difference one school year makes!

Also, the little man posed for me for his last day of school picture!  So cute! 

Also Mr. Jimmy took the kids fishing yesterday in the pond behind our house.  Ashton caught his first fish with Mr. Jimmy.  He was very excited!  I didn't get to see it or see a photograph of it, but he told us how great it was!  Ashton however did not want to touch the fish!

Ashton has been super fun lately!  He has really come out of his shell!  So outgoing and chatty!  He used to hide behind me all shy and reluctant to give affection, but lately he's been a sweetie pie!  Everyone has been commented how he has really bloomed!

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!