Asher Turns 3!

I obviously have a lot of catching up to do so I'm just jumping in. I'll start with the highlight of Asher's life thus far--turning Three. We have talked about this day for about the last 6 months.

If you asked him what he wanted to do when he turned Three, his answer, invariably, was "Go to the gym and play ba-ketball and check my email." At our gym, when you turn 3, you get to go to The Promised Land where there is a big play structure, a mini court, and an array of colorful Macs on which to play games. Asher has tasted the goodness of this place a few times when he figured out if he asks to go to the bathroom, he can sneak into the big kid zone but he is always busted and made to return to the purgatory that is the toddler room.

The irony of it all is that I hardly ever make it to the gym these days. I had lofty goals for this pregnancy which included working out as consistently as I was pre-pregnancy, but alas...I am not That Girl. I tried to be--I really did. But I am Live It Up and Get Fat While You Are Pregnant Girl. Huh--who knew?

Anyway, turning Three. It was a marathon of a celebration. It began with a small party for his friends on the Wednesday morning before his real birthday, which was the following Sunday. He has been hooked on a show that comes on PBS Sprout called "Fireman Sam" which is a kids show from the UK. So I scheduled a tour at a local fire station. Great idea in theory--until the firemen get a call about 15 minutes into the visit and have to leave. Thankfully, we run with a flexible group of friends.

During our breif visit, we did get to explore the fire trucks. First, the boys cut their teeth on the smaller truck--kinda got a feel for how it handles.





Then they moved up to the big rig.






Mamaw (who graciously took the day off to attend the festivities) and Jude (who may the be the hardest child EVER to get a decent picture of.)




Here's the crew all together (minus Isaac, Sadie, and Sophia)



Here you can see the Amazing Mamaw at work. She did such a fabulous job at this party, I am considering renting her out. She did get a big ol' smile out of Jude (not an easy feat) but of course I was shooting from the wrong angle. Did anyone get a shot of the elusive smile of Jude Rives?



Our tour was cut short, but since the next stop on the party route was Chick-Fil-A, no one seemed to mind.





Yum! Hydrogenated oil and refined sugar! Nothing but the best for my boy.





More party fun!






It was the perfect party. Play, eat, go home and take a nap!

But this was only Celebration #1...