SIX!

Wow! My firstborn is six! In a lot of ways it seems like Asher has just always been a part of my life, but I still can't believe he's growing up so fast! He is the sweetest, most caring little guy I know and makes our lives so happy! He is a great big brother and a very hard worker. He loves to think about things and most of all loves to play. I did the same birthday interview that I've done for the past few years. I got some of the same answers as ever, but a few new ones:

Who is your favorite person? Mom

What is your favorite color? Blue

What is your favorite thing to watch on TV? My Little Pony

What is your favorite outfit? Red robot shirt and blue shorts

What song do you like the best? I Love to See The Temple

What is your favorite cereal? Honey Nut Cheerios

Who is your best friend? Leif

What do you want to do when your grow up? Farmer and Construction Worker

What is your favorite book? I don't have a favorite, but I really like a truck book from the library in Colorado (he earned it during the summer reading program last year)

What are you really good at? Doing tricks (like jumping)

Where do you wish you could go on vacation? To Idaho (great grandma and grandpa's farm)

What would you buy if you had a lot of money? Something expensive, like a really nice map or a huge truck

What is your favorite dinner? Enchilada skillet (but he wants chicken rolls for his birthday dinner)

If you could have a wish, what would it be? That we could make 100 chocolate waffles

What is your favorite flavor of ice cream? Vanilla with Oreos in it

Who do you want to be like? Jesus

What do you like to do with your friends? Play with them

What do you hope you'll get to do before your next birthday? Have fun

What is your favorite thing to do? Be happy and go to the zoo

What are you proud of? When I do really good handwriting

What are you afraid of? Monsters

What is Mom's favorite thing to do? Snuggle

How strong is Dad? Really strong

What does Dad do best? Wrestle

What does Mom do best? Have fun with us

What do you like best about Dad? He's fun

What do you like best about Mom? She makes chocolate waffles

For Asher's birthday, we did our traditional chocolate waffles with strawberries and whipped cream. Then Asher, Leif, and Heidi helped my mom finish putting together their trampoline (Austin got it started a few weeks ago, but for the first time since it got disassembled in Colorado, they got to jump on it today). Trevor took a little nap during this time then we all loaded into the car to go berry picking, which is what Asher wanted to do for his birthday activity. We got lots and lots and lots of raspberries (3 4-liter baskets full) then came home for Asher's choice of lunch- macaroni and cheese and tomato soup. The boys then wanted to watch a few episodes of My Little Pony (their favorite show over the last few months) while Heidi napped and went to the park for a bit to play with a neighbor friend. We had chicken rolls for dinner and once Austin finally finished working, we had cake and opened presents (which Asher had been waiting for all day- although he did get to open a couple throughout the day).

Toronto Zoo

We visited the Toronto Zoo for the first time and it was a fun adventure. The kids loved seeing the animals. It had many of the same animals as the Denver Zoo, but some different. The biggest differences are that there are no elephants at the Toronto Zoo (Leif was very disappointed), but there are pandas! We got a little lost a few times since we aren't familiar with this zoo yet and we had a little problem with our stroller tire popping (Austin had to take ours back to the car and rent a zoo stroller), but otherwise our trip went pretty smoothly. It was nice having my mom with us to help wrangle all the kids.

Although Leif was a bit upset about the elephants, he decided that his next favorite animal is polar bears, and we got a great view of them swimming and playing.

The pandas are kept inside and were the only animal we had to wait in a line to see, but they were pretty cute, so it was worth it.

Austin got the idea to take the boys on the zipline, so Asher got to ride with my mom and Leif got to ride with Austin. I was a little worried they might get scared and back out at the last minute, but they both had tons of fun.

Here is Asher viewing his favorite animal- the tiger. This is a different type of tiger than they have at the Denver Zoo, so it was fun to see

We also enjoyed watching the Indian Rhinos and got a really good view of them while a keeper fed them.

We bought a year-long zoo membership, so we will be back as much as possible in the next year.

7 Months

Trevor is getting to be a big boy so fast! He is eager to get going so he can play with his brothers and sister. He often kicks his legs and bats his arms all around while I'm holding him because he is so excited by what his siblings are doing. I've found that although Trevor is most happy being held, he is also quite happy when I just put him on the ground and let him roll and scoot around. He has started trying to get onto his hands and knees for crawling, but never gets too much past getting his little bum in the air then falling back down. He loves to try over and over again which means that he will probably get it pretty soon.
Trevor loves to eat (as is evident by his size) and is very happy that he gets to try eating with a spoon like his siblings. Like all babies, he had a hard time with it at first, but is starting to get the hang of it and is able to finish off the whole serving (and sometimes wants a second). I've been making all his baby food, except the rice cereal. So far he has tried peas, carrots, sweet potatoes, and butternut squash. We are going to try applesauce, mashed banana, and mashed avocado in the near future.
Trevor now has two little razor-sharp teeth on the bottom and tends to bite me quite a bit while he's nursing- especially when he gets distracted by his siblings. He also just leans over and bites my hand or shoulder sometimes, which tells me he is definitely getting more teeth. I've tried to keep him supplied with other things to bite on so he won't bite me as much :)
Trevor is as happy a little guy as ever and loves to be with anyone in his family (although he always looks at me longingly whenever we are apart for long).
Trevor's sleeping habits are getting to be much more manageable. He no longer sleeps in his car seat! (except when he falls asleep in the car-but he usually wakes up as soon as we come in the house) and has been sleeping in his own room in his crib for about the last month. He typically goes to bed about 7, wakes up once or twice a night to eat and sleeps until 8 the next morning. Some nights are a little rough though and he has me up 4-5 times. I think his teeth are bothering him on these nights, but I'm not sure. When we are home and not out and about somewhere, Trevor naps really well- sleeping about 1-2 hours at a time, once in the morning and once in the afternoon.
He is getting very handsy and impossible to keep still. He loves to grab anything that comes within reach and has pulled out chunks of Heidi's hair because of it. He wiggles all over and grabs everything he can get while I'm trying to change his diaper. We've come to the stage where I need to keep the changing table stocked with interesting toys just to keep him holding still long enough to let me get a clean diaper on him.
This boy is so sweet and we love him so! (and did you notice that he's our first "red-head"? Its only strawberry blonde, but I'll take it!)

 (He's laughing at me in this picture :)

(He's just staring at his dad in this picture)

Canada Day Fun

Canada day is July 1, which fell on a Saturday this year, so Austin got Monday off- three day weekend! We didn't do anything big and exciting, but we enjoyed some time relaxing, which is just what Austin needed. To get the kids out of the house on Saturday morning, I took them out to play with chalk. They had fun playing hopscotch for the first time (although I don't really know the rules).

Here is a fun picture of Trevor just relaxing on my lap. He loves me to rub his fat little belly :)

We eventually ended up at the park near our house where we played for a while before lunch.

In the afternoon, the boys wanted to make banana bread and they did most of the work. I just made sure all the measurements were right and did the actual baking. (and the clean up)

On Saturday evening, we decided to do family movie night. The kids loved watching "Tangled" while they sat on a blanket and ate treats. I loved snuggling with them, although I was up and down quite a bit trying to get Trevor down to sleep for the night.

Sunday was a typical church day, but on Monday, we went hiking with some friends. They have one daughter that Asher and Leif both get along with well. Heidi rode in the pack on Austin's back the whole way and Trevor rode tied to me. We all enjoyed getting out and enjoying the beauty of Canada!