Egg Hunting 2016

I'm so glad we have such a wonderful group of friends to share fun events with. With Easter being next week, it was time for our annual Easter egg hunt!

This year it was an all boy event (not including Lila as she was on the sidelines this year) and all 10 of them had so much fun. While the Dad's were out hiding the eggs they were all at the door banging to go out. I love planning events like that as seeing their excitement is the best. Asher got to participate in his first egg hunt with the help of Daddy. He was very pleased to find there was chocolate inside the eggs he had found.

Once the hunt was over we spent the rest of the day sipping on mimosas and beer, watching the boys run around like maniacs but play ever so nicely together, snack on some yummy food and enjoy the company around us.

I think everyone was a tad sad to break the fun up....but it will be summer soon and that means lots of bbqs with these friends of ours.

A Whole Lot of Love (Valentines Recap)

Hands down my favorite Valentines Day to date. James and I got to sneak away for a little day date, wine was plentiful and we got to the end the day as a family.

While some day Valentine's Day is a hallmark holiday I think it's still fun to take the time out to show those we love how special they are and mean to us. And we have kids so that's reason right there to celebrate.

We kicked off the day with donuts and spending the morning lounging in our pjs. With how busy our schedule is it's always nice when we start the day slowly and enjoying each others company. At lunch time James and I took a few hours to take part in the Berks County wine and chocolate trail. Whenever we go out its usually to a dinner and a movie so it was nice to get out and do something we don't usually do. We got to try 4 out of the 10 participating wineries. We would have made it to a few more but Long Trout sucked us in and we sampled a few, or many of their wines. All of their wine was so good and we loved the atmosphere, we will certainly be going back there. Besides getting to drink wine, the best part of the day was getting to just hangout the two of us. Don't get me wrong I love our little boys something fierce but it's a tad difficult to have one conversation without being interrupted these days. We took our time at each winery, not having to worry about snacks and potty breaks. It was delightful. I am planning more day dates for our future. We also came back with bottles of wine so that's always a win.

 

 The boys were so happy to see us when we got home (they do adore their babysitter Ally) and I do have to say I missed them, especially with Asher being sick, I was happy to be home snuggling with him. I made fondue for all of us to have for dinner. Nothing fancy, (cheddar cheese, cider, garlic and wocestershire sauce)  with apples, carrots, tomatoes and bread for dipping, but sooo delicious. It seems to be our tradition for Valentines Day and I am ok with that.

There really is so much love in our house. I love my husband even more than they day I married him and I know I will love him even more down the road. We aren't an overly romantic couple but he works hard for us, takes out the trash (a chore I hate), encourages a day drink if it's been a stressful day and surprises me with Cadbury crème eggs. For all those little every day but mean the most moments, I love him. I love my two boys more than I could ever explain. Until you've had kids you just can't grasp this kind of love. They are my world. I am so thankful that I was chose to be their Mum and beyond blessed that I get to be in their company everyday. Watching the love between the two of them is my absolute favorite thing ever. Asher looks up to Chase for everything and Chase wants to take care of Asher all day long. It's a beautiful thing.

Asher James: 15 Months

With the holidays, birthday celebrations and sickness this post is a little late but hey that's life this time of year.



Stats: Finally things have slowed down a little here, but still big for his age. 25lbs 8oz (85th %) and 32.5 inches (92nd %) tall. He is mostly wearing 24 month size clothing. We went and got his feet measured over Christmas , as now that he is walking he needs some real shoes, and he is a 5.5w...at 15 months!!!

Sleep: Things are very consistent with sleep. He sleeps a solid 12 hours at night, sometimes a little longer and take a 2 to 3 hour nap after lunch. Now that he has started walking and burning more energy he is sleeping like a rock.

Social: I have been slacking in this department. We stopped going to storytime on Tuesday mornings as the time just didn't work out with dropping of and picking up Chase from preschool. I am currently looking for somewhere else to take him. With the holidays we haven't gotten together with friends much but normally we see his little friend Isabelle once a week and of course he sees Chase's friends also. He does a rough time when we leave him in Sunday school as he and Chase are in different rooms. Hopefully with continuing to keep taking him there he will soon get to be comfortable and have fun.

Diet: His fussy stage is over, thank goodness!! I chalk it up to teething as once his bottom one year molars popped through he started eating everything in sight. He doesn't eat the variety of veggies that Chase eats but he devours broccoli, carrots and peas so that's good enough to me. I do manage to sneak other varieties in with the pouches. He loves fruit and will eat it all day long. He is also a fan of Mexican and Chinese...cultured eater ya know. Oh and he seemed to really enjoy his Yorkshire pudding on Christmas day.

Skills/Milestones: We have a walker!!!! Asher had been taking a few unassisted steps here and there for a few weeks then on Dec 18th he decided to come waddling in to the playroom where Chase and I were, all the way from the family room! Of course we all erupted in praise and clapping, and he started to cry lol. Since that day he hasn't stopped and is almost running. He LOVES his new found freedom, especially at the mall playground.

I want to say it was around the beginning of December that I gave Asher a fork, on a whim, and would you believe he picked it up, stabbed his food and ate. I think he loves doing things just like big brother Chase.

His speech is amazing! He says something new everyday and even 'sings' now. Some of the new words he says are: Thomas, train, lights, tree, up, down, sit, Chase, Asher, orange, apple, Santa. 

Favorites: Mummy, Daddy, Chase, trains, throwing and kicking a ball, wrestling with Daddy and Chase, minions, hats, coloring.

 

This is without a doubt, my favorite age with our Asher so far. He is just so so happy all of the time. I love to watch him walking around and babbling while playing ball. He is just so adorable and we are beyond blessed to have him as our son. His laugh, when he gives me a kiss, the way he looks up to Chase, just everything about him is perfect.

I hope and pray he never looses his sheer determination, his big big heart and the twinkle in his eye. He is just the best!

Goodbye 2015, Hello 2016

I am normally one of the most positive people out there but I'm not going to lie, I am not sad to see 2015 end. While there were some great moments and memories that I will cherish, we had an emotional and tough year and that I am glad to put in the past.

We encountered loss. At the beginning of the year some dear friend of ours lost their 3 month old son and it has been the most heartbreaking thing I have ever witnessed. They have amazed us though with the strength and perseverance they have shown to continue on with life. Through this difficult (an understatement) year with them we have formed and rekindled a friendship that will last a lifetime.
Towards the end of the year we also lost my Grandad Banfield. While it was expected, it was still a huge loss to our family as he was our laughter and entertainment. We are thankful that he is no longer suffering and is cancer free but it is us that now suffer in his absence. Grandad would never want us to be sad so we keep going on with smiles on and our faces and remember him and his jokes fondly.

We faced trials. It is no secret that James has been studying for his CCIE exam since 2010. He has put in endless hours of studying to pass this thing. He was determined to pass it in 2015 and not drag it into 2016. With that came every evening, weekend and any free minute in our basement studying and labbing. Obviously it was all for a good reason but that left our relatively new family of four separated. It was me and then kids, and then James. It sucked. I had anxiety. James was stressed. But ya know what? We did it! We made it through. Even better, James passed the exam in November! I can say with certainty that neither one of us has felt such relief before. I can't even begin to describe to you how happy I am that I don't have to hear the words, "I need to go study" anymore.

Like I said we did have some fun and good times this year, and thank goodness for that as it's what kept us going.

We traveled. There are so many places we want to take the boys. Experiences we want them to have and we got to check two of those places off this year. Over the summer we all went to my home, England. The boys had never been before. It was important to us that my Grandad get to meet them and vice versa. Of course I wanted to spend time with him too. There is something about going home, it is so good for the soul. Immediately after James passed his CCIE, we got to take a trip to San Francisco, CA. Not a bad way to celebrate! It was our first vacation as a family of 4 and it was so much fun. I love that our little boys are world travelers, and I have a feeling they thoroughly enjoy it also.

I have a high hopes for 2016! I think it's going to be a great year for us. We have some plans to do some renovations to our house, do some more traveling, and enjoying each others company.

Happy New Year from our family to yours!

Christmas 2015

What a wonderful Christmas it has been! To be honest I wasn't feeling too Christmas-y in myself this year, with my Granddad passing recently and just wanting to be back home in England, I wasn't truly into it this year. Of course I put on a good effort for the boys! Then miraculously over this Christmas weekend I truly enjoyed myself and took in every little moment with the boys and all of the family we have visited. Looking back we really have a very special Christmas season.

Christmas Eve, James had off of work so we spent the day relaxing around the house and baking cookies for Santa. We attended Christmas Eve service and the boys loved the lights, and music and the glow sticks; they were a hit! Chase did a fantastic job of decorating the cookies and was so excited to leave them out for the jolly red fella, and was equally eager to leave carrots for Rudolph. Chase is a huge Rudolph fan. Chase's excitement bled over into all of us, there is something so special seeing Christmas through your child's eyes.

The boys' reaction when they came downstairs and saw that Santa had been and all of the presents under the tree was everything and more I had dreamed it would be. It was priceless and I will never forget it. There is nothing that tops making your child feel so loved and special....all the feels!!! We had the best morning tearing into gifts, building toys, and sipping mimosas (the boys had just OJ ;) ). Just the 4 of us. It was lovely. While the boys took a well needed nap I got busy with Christmas dinner and Mom and Bill arrived to spend the rest of the day with us. The excitement of the day continued when the boys awoke and heard Mom Mom and Pop Berry were here, with presents of course. We ended the day with eating a yummy English Christmas dinner and watching some tv.

Boxing day, as us English call it, we spent down at Fred and Cathy's house to do Christmas with them. The boys had a blast looking at all of Mom Mom's light up toys from Disney and the Disney Christmas tree was a huge hit, especially a certain a red race car that as hanging from a branch.

We ended our Christmas celebrations by going to Dad and Jen's house for dinner today. With our busy schedules its hard for all of us to get together so we had so much fun hanging out and laughing with one another. The kids were eager to open more presents (such lucky boys)and literally ran around until they couldn't walk another step. I know I have never seen the boys as exhausted as they were today. They will sleep well tonight that's for sure.

Of course I still long to go spend time with my family in England but Christmas was more festive than I ever expected it to be, and that was my favorite gift!