12 Years of Asher

This morning started with ham, bacon and cheese omelets and hot cocoa with vanilla marshmallows. For his 12th birthday Asher got some new pants, a stylin' hat, a lego set, and book of "Useless Information", and a running jacket.  At school I brought in a cake to share with his class and the wonderful Mrs.Cook had him climb atop his desk while we sang and clapped, 

Hooray for Asher he's a darn fine guy,

Hooray for Asher he's a darn fine guy,

He certainly is a daisy,

He drives our class crazy,

Hooray for Asher he's a darn fine guy!

With 35 kids in his class it's a good thing I bought a huge Costco cake because it was g-o-n-e, gone!

Then as a special surprise Scott picked Asher up from school and took him to lunch. And, as a special surprise to me he bought Asher an airsoft gun. uh huh. yep. 

Something I would never purchase.  Asher's over the moon. I think I'm just keeping myself out of this testosterone lovin' deal.  

Tonight is mutual and Asher will be joining Chloe and I. We are either going sledding (not likely) or playing dodgeball.  It's like they planned this activity just for Asher! He loves dodgeball.  

This is Asher at 12:

Loves basketball and is a great shot.

Wants a dog more than air. 

Loves mashed potatoes and gravy.

Likes to wear fedoras. 

Grinds his teeth to the nubbins.

Very competitive.

Loves babies.

Just became a Wierd Al fan.

Very open about his feelings with his parents. 

Great endurance (ran 5 miles with me a couple weeks ago). 

Reading Old Yeller for the first time and loves it. 

Self proclaimed: Dad's right hand man. 

Happy Birthday Ash. We love you much.


Asher's 12 Year old Stats from Dr. Kendall herself,

Height: 59.5 inches tall (60%)
Weight: 78.7 pounds (25.03%)
BMI: 15.63 (12.3%)

I've added to my pin collection

I was recently released as the Bear den leader. 

What a fantastic time it was. Those 9 year old boys are happy, eager, and so funny.

I started with my very own 9 year old Bear Asher, and have spent nearly 3 years helping boys learn to tie knots, buy used cars, enjoy nature, and carve soap.

My own two boys are advancing nicely through the scouting program. 

Aidan was awarded the rank of Wolf on November 10, 2011. 

Asher's been busily working towards 1st Class Rank.

Here he was rescuing someone with an injured ankle from a smoke-filled room.

It was so much fun he rescued each sibling, even Chloe.

 On November 29, 2011 Asher received the rank of 2nd Class Scout.
He is one overnight campout away from 1st class, and will be doing that in January.
Yea for winter camping!
He's also started earning some merit badges. Boy, those are a doozy. I helped him study up for the automotive maintenance merit badge. I can now explain the main differences between a gas and diesel engine, and so can he!

I'm thankful for the Scout program for my boys. It encourages them to learn new things, work hard, always do their best, and helps them form bonds with other boys and leaders.

Asher's 11th Year

Being born in the year 2000 has some advantages.
First being it's quite easy to remember how old you are.
Just take a look at the calendar.

Our first son turned 11 today.
He was able to have a very large birthday part over the weekend with lots of friends.
It included many of the things he loves;
Friends, soda, and friendly sports competition.
They played glow-in-the-dark baseball and dodge ball.

We got him that Ripstick he's been dying to have, and a Utah Utes jacket.
He was in heaven. He's been riding that thing non-stop and is already
quite good at it.  He has some natural athletic ability there. From his Dad of course.
When I delivered donuts to his class it was fun to see his classmates reactions.
Sheer excitement over having some sugar, and comments like "Woah, you guys look just alike."
And my personal favorite "You both have red hair and pimples."
mmmm. Those are freckles, not to be confused with the pus-filled pimple. No relation.

Asher rode with me to pick Scott up last night.  We stopped by Sonic and he ordered a large milkshake with a grin to match. The things that will bring an 11-year-old boy some happiness are quite simple, and it was fantastic to spend some time with just him.

He is an outgoing, funny, athletic, happy boy who makes friends easily, loves a challenge, and excels at math and the piano.
Happy Birthday Son.

Clear Creek: Boy's Edition

With back to back 5th graders I got another turn to head to the fabulous Clear Creek Camp.
It was Asher's lucky year.

Our favorite and best overnight babysitter- Grandma- took the load while I ran away with Asher.
In our rush to get out the door Wednesday morning I left something very important behind.
My sleeping bag.  This was not discovered until bedtime.

I'm so happy Cami decided to come up to Clear Creek as it was mostly Fathers there with their boys.
So Cam and I hung out and tried not to get in trouble for talking too much (a common problem we have when we are together).

I really enjoy watching my children interact with their peers.  It's a good glimpse into who they are and how they work in groups.  Asher likes to be great at things. He wants to be recognized for excelling at the things he does, and this is usually the case.  He was so excited to be at Clear Creek, and while I'm sure he would've been fine without me, it was nice to be there and soak it all up together.

After lunch we got ready for rotations.  The boys made calendars for their parents, did some GPS-ing, did some team building activities, attempted to build a case to protect an egg being dropped from a ladder, made bracelets, and my station: tie-dyeing.

We also went on a hike.  The trail was pretty icy and muddy, so we took a different trail, and upon returning to camp were greeted by several deer.

We ate all our meals in the lunchroom.

Here you have an failed lunchroom trade:

Cookie for fruit. 

A surprising fail if you ask me.

Wednesday night was skit night.  This is the best.  All the classes have a song and a skit to perform, the teachers also do several skits and the parents do one.  

Asher really hammed it up in his class skit.  Here he is taking a bath while dancing.  Now I understand why the boy packed a large bath towel and bubbles. 

Here are the boys of  Mr.D's 5th grade class.

That night the boys watched Robin Hood while the adults played board games.

Luckily one of the boys we know had brought 2 sleeping bags and kindly let me use one. 

It was a fantastic time at Clear Creek with Asher.

Looking forward to 2013 with Aidan. 

The boy and football

I gave in and signed him up this year.  Asher has been asking to play football for some time.
I decided we could handle flag football financially and physically.
He was so excited. Beyond excited.
He loved practice and looked forward to the games.

I didn't play sports in High School.  Shocker I know.
So, I wasn't really "in" to sports.  I don't watch them on t.v.
I don't get all hyped up about the "Big Game".
However, take me to watch one of my kids play sports and I'm a raging fanatic!!!
I hoot and holler, clap, snap pictures.

Asher was so much fun to watch this season.
We didn't miss a game. At his first game I realized this boy had some football skills.
He was quick and had a good eye for grabbing flags and some sweet moves for celebrating touchdowns.
 I was a proud Momma.
When his very first game ended Chloe turned to me and said,
"I wish girls could play flag football."
"Oh, they can dear."
"Why didn't you sign ME up?!!!"
"I"m sorry.  I didn't know you'd be interested."
Silly me. She sat by me at every game cheering him on.

When the year had ended Asher had learned how to make and call plays, had bruised/cut his hips numerous times from "flag diving", had scored some touchdowns and made some awesome runs.

I continue to say he may have my freckles, but he's got his Dad's physical prowess.

Back

It was back to school day.

I'm not sure I was ready for this.

They had their clothes, backpacks, shoes, supplies,

but I just wasn't ready for them to be gone for a majority of the day.

It's kind of strange when I think about them gone

having interactions with other kids and adults.

Having conversations, making choices, learning new things and I'm there for none of it. 

However, I fancy myself a pretty good "reader of emotion", and so

I generally know how the day has gone when I talk to them at home.

We did the traditional 1st day of school pictures and walked together.

Chloe- Grade 6

Asher- Grade 5

Aidan- Grade 2

When we got to the school they usually line up with their class, but today there were no lines.
Asher just went right in. No hug, no kiss, no "see you later Mom". Just gone.
Then I couldn't find Aidan and assumed he'd gone in too.  Chloe told me goodbye and the tears just came.  I was too easily dismissed for the next 6 + hours.  Aidan was just putting his bike away and I made sure to get my goodbye hug/kiss from him.
As we started to walk home Cole said, "Mom why are you crying?"
Me: "I'm sad the kids will be gone all day."
Cole: "But Mom, you still have me."
 That boy knows how to cheer my heart.
Happy First Day of School children.

Asher and Amy take on the Provo River

You read that right. 

I decided I should take Asher on an adventure.

He loves to take on scary rides, so I figured

a real outdoor adventure would be a good fit. 

We headed up the canyon in the afternoon.  It's about a 30 minute

ride from our house and Asher filled all 30 minutes with conversation.

He told me about friends, and the sports he likes,

school, and his goals for the new school year.

It was fun to just sit and listen.

We got ourselves

a double tube to ride down the river at High Country Adventure.

On the way up the canyon on our shuttle an employee of HCA was

telling us the "rules" of riding the Provo River.

Go around the islands in this order: Left, Right, Right

Get out before the bridge! It is dangerous. People (or a person) have died.

He was funny but serious about following the rules and repeated himself 

several times.  I could see Asher's wheels spinning.

I think he was a bit nervous about what we were about to encounter.

We were the first two in the river.

It was 50 degrees.

Our bums were numb within 5 minutes.

We also ran into the edge of the river within those first 5 minutes.

There were low branches which I tried to lift over Asher but 

my reach wasn't long enough and a branch knocked him square in the head

and took his hat off into the river.

It wasn't the best way to start our 90 minute adventure.

He was nervous and very cold.

I tried to reassure him that he was safe and made

sure to be diligent about keeping us away from the edges after that and following all the rules.

He really started to relax after we made it safely around the bridge.

And a fisherman even found his hat and gave it to us. 

I was constantly getting in and out, in and out and I was soaked

I didn't get cold until the last half hour. The sun went behind the clouds

 and there was a breeze blowing up the river. When we got back to the car it took several tries 

for me to turn the key. We sat in the parking lot for 15 minutes with the heat on high.

Then we had some Subway sandwiches and headed for home. 

It was a fun day.

 I think it was good to show Asher he could trust me to keep him safe (well, after the stick to the head thing). 

Pizza & Paint

This wasn't my experience, but I still needed to share how the boys faired.
I did send the camera with them.
This is what I gleaned from their time together.

Really it was all about the Applebeer.
Asher loves that stuff.
So Scott and Asher headed to Pier 49 Pizza for their one on one time.
They enjoyed an entire pizza, a dessert pizza, breadsticks, and a lot of refillable Applebeer.
They came home with NO leftovers.
It was a boy's dream come true.

They talked about sports, playing sports with friends, sports bloopers.
You know... manly conversation.
After lunch they picked out some art supplies to do some oil paintings on canvas.
Asher found some of Scott's old artwork from college a few days ago and was so excited to try this out.
He couldn't believe his Dad had done these paintings.

Their paintings are still in the beginning stages and will take some time but they both have a solid idea of where they're headed. I'll share them when they're finished.