Dear Asher...

We just got a slew of last day of school stuff today. In Asher's stuff was a "Student of the Week" packet where each of Asher's classmate wrote to him.

I suppose they were each supposed to ask him a question because there are lots like, "Will you be my friend?, Are you my friend?" But, the majority of the questions run along the lines of, "Are you always happy?"

Asher is pretty much always happy, especially if he's around friends or getting some screen time.

Here's the one that made me laugh:
Dear Asher,
Asher you are so smart. Asher you are so funny. Asher will you come to my house someday?
Sincerily,
Asher

Asher's Talk

Nate helped Asher write this talk that he gave today in Primary. Let's just say it shows Asher's and Nate's personalities...

I Will Choose the Right After I am Baptized and Confirmed

Hello, my name is Asher. I am seven years old and next year, I turn 8 years old and I get baptized.

When I get baptized, I go to the church and get dunked under water. I am a little scared of getting dunked underwater.

Getting baptized is like taking a bath to get rid of all the bad things I have ever done. Sometimes, kids have to get baptized two times because all the bad stuff doesn't come off. This happens if their feet do not stay underwater when they get dunked.

I think I am going to have to get baptized two times. I am so good at back floats that my dad might not get me under water.

After I get baptized, I get the gift of the Holy Ghost. I think it is going to be kind of weird to have a ghost living with me all the time. I wonder if the Holy Ghost is going to watch me go to the bathroom. That would be really freaky. (fortunately, Asher was laughing so hard during this part, I don't think anyone understood him.)

Sometimes it is hard for me to know what is right and what is wrong. I think the Holy Ghost will help me know the difference between right and wrong. That will make it easier for me to choose the right.

I know that it is important to choose the right because my dad wrote the letters CTR on his arm a long time ago so he would remember to choose the right, and the letters never came off.

I want to be baptized and get the gift of the Holy Ghost so I can choose the right and make my mom and dad happy.

Asher and bad boys

Look! We did a craft together.

This morning, Luke brought Asher his school picture and said, "Asher, which ones are the bad boys in your class?"

Asher's response was, "There aren't any bad boys in my class," which he said with simple conviction. 

This probably means that I need to work on my judgmental attitude because I thought of two as soon as Luke asked (including the one who punched Asher in the stomach).

Things Everyone Enjoys

Food:
green noodles (pesto penne)
Costco teriyaki chicken and rice (the silence that descends around the dinner table when I serve this kind of breaks my heart--why don't they like anything I make that much?)
"chinese" noodles, which is any noodle with chicken and a sweet brown sauce, so pretty much, it combined the first two favorite meals in one dish

Shows:
Curious George (really, it's the #1 favorite)
Backyardigans
though, Emma and Luke love Baby Einstein and Olivia

Outdoor activities:
jumping on the trampoline
chalk (some like to eat it, some like to draw with it)
bubbles

Too bad these favorites will have fallen out of favor by summer. I hope we'll find as many new favorites by then.

The Thermostat

Asher was cold on Sunday morning so he set the thermostat to 90 before we left for church, came home to an 89 degree house and gave him a lecture about not touching the thermostat.

Five minutes later, Nathaniel comes from the bedroom and says, "Did you turn the air conditioner on to 58 degrees?"

Doughnuts or Ice Cream

Mom: (after a particularly trying day) Ok, if you guys will clean up, I'll get you either ice cream or a doughnut.
Asher: Um, can we get both?
Mom: No way!
Asher: Why not?
Mom: Because that's way too much sugar...
Asher pauses to think
Asher: Mom, which has more sugar a doughnut or ice cream?
Mom: Asher, I have no idea.
Asher: I'm going to get ice cream because I bet it has waaay more sugar.

In the Middle of the Night...

So, Asher and Emmeline inherited the freaky Curtis characteristic of being able to wake up bright-eyed early every morning.

This, of course, was my worst fear when I started having kids. When Asher started doing it at about 9 months, I was told that these 4:30-5:30 am wake-ups were probably something he'd outgrow. He hasn't, and now, Emma has joined in the fun.

But, I had a brilliant idea about a month ago. The rule before a month ago was that Asher had to stay in his room until 6 am doing something quiet (so as not to wake up Luke), and then, he could leave his room and find some quiet toys to play with. He'd always get antsy by about 6:30, and I'd have to get up with him.

With Emma waking up so early, I told Asher that he can go get Emma when she wakes up, and the two of them can go down to the play room. He can watch TV or play XBox as long as she's happy.

The first few weeks, Asher couldn't keep her happy for more than 15 minutes, but now, Asher and Emma hang out in that room for a good hour or um, sometimes, an hour and a half.

I don't know what he does to keep her happy and frankly, I don't much care. I'm delighted to wake up around 6:30 or 7 most mornings now.

Asher's babysitting

Asher was watching Emma in the backyard while I was making dinner the other night. His report:

"Emma loves flying on the trampoline."

And, "I tried to put Emma on top of the hammock, but she ended up underneath it."

Happy Halloween from Darth Vader

Like his desire to take naps until he was 5, Asher's early decision making skills and his complete independence regarding Halloween costume totally spoiled me and has me scratching my head that Luke won't be so accommodating.

Seriously, every year, Asher announces in the beginning of October what he wants to be totally on his own and keeps with that decision for the whole month.

Might I point out that last year, I wanted to do a Star Wars theme and Asher refused to be any sort of Star Wars character?

Staying on Top of Your Elementary-Age Games

Asher: Evan, do you want to play "Rock, Paper, Scissors, Axe, Copper?"
Me: I've only ever heard of "Rock, Paper, Scissors," Asher. What does the axe do?
Asher: The axe gets rock, paper, and scissors, but not copper.
Me: Well what does copper do?
Asher: Copper gets EVERYTHING.

Ok, good to know!

Crazy Kids...

Asher was thrilled about our church's General Conference last weekend. He's been asking every Sunday since April if we could "just watch Church on tv like we did that one Sunday."

Luke informed me today that "the green ones are going to destroy our world." I can't get him to be anymore specific than that. Sorry for the bad news...

Emma is learning a few words: mama, dada, up, woof, and uh-oh.
Of course, if you ask her what a doggy says, she says, "Uh, oh."

(In these pictures, Emma really hopes someone will rescue her after a Monday evening of fun, but no, we just kept taking pictures of her.)

Love notes

At "Meet the Teacher" night, I put this note in Asher's crayon box. He proudly brought this back to me a week later with his note back to me. I'll admit that I got a little choked up.

Field Trip with Asher

So, I went to chaperone Asher's speech therapy class' field trip to the airport today.

Asher was horrible--not listening to me, hitting me and his friends. Pretty much acting like the girls I used to work with as a residential counselor in Boston, except I didn't have 3 other adults to help me manage a restraint.

He had a time out in the bus. He had a time out where I just held him and he screamed and everyone looked at us. I took away every privilege I could think of.

(The kids in my group hugged me and told me I was a good mom. That's how awful I looked--5 year olds were ready to comfort me.)

Asher finally turned around his behavior (kind of) so he could try and earn back his privileges and fell asleep on the bus ride home.

He woke up and said, "So, do I get my privileges back?"

And, I said, "Yes, but you know what, Asher? I'm not going to go on another field trip with you. You hit me and were mean to me, and I didn't have a fun time."

Asher's response, "But I got my privileges back, right?"

Buddy Bear and Asher

For a school project, each kid in Asher's kindergarten class took home "Buddy Bear" for a week, wrote about their adventures with him, and took some pictures of what they did together.

I was a little horrified (given our school's tendency to have lice outbreaks and my general germ-phobias) to see children sleeping with Buddy Bear, eating with Buddy Bear, playing at parks with Buddy Bear while I touched Buddy Bear and realized that if he had ever been washed, he would fall apart.

But, I tried to be a good mom, and we had a picture with Luke and Asher having ice cream with Buddy Bear, and then, I tried to be really brave and let Asher read a book to Buddy Bear and Emma.

Imagine my surprise when I downloaded this picture (and a few others), which show Emma munching on Buddy Bear. Sigh...

Baby Asher/Baby Emma giggles

Asher's birthday

I decided that having children 9 days apart means that the boys will get a party every other year (Emma will, too, to be fair). One kid gets a party and another kid gets to take 2 friends to do "something fun."

I have to say I think I'll always prefer the "something fun" event. It's fun to let the kid plan the whole time...maybe not as much fun to experience the whole time.

Asher decided he wanted to go see Rango with his two best friends, Mary and Natalie. And, we went to McDonald's before Rango and got Happy Meals (Asher, look! Documentation that I did, indeed, once buy you a Happy Meal.) Mary got Asher a "Cootie" game, which the whole family has enjoyed, and Natalie got Asher 8 puzzles and made him a crown.

Asher also got a much-anticipated bow and arrow. Apparently, the Curtis men are pretty good at shooting those things.

And, for our family birthday dinner, Asher picked his own dinner: spaghetti with meat sauce, berries, roasted broccoli and juice boxes.

He requested a chocolate cake with vanilla frosting.

Blue Steel or Asher's Versatility

Right after Christmas, we did a family photo shoot, which will show you why I seriously dread taking pictures of my family. Though, I'll admit I am completely amazed at Asher's versatility in striking all manner of irritating poses. I swear the kid must have been up late at night, googling "how to make your mom crazy at a photo shoot." (Stella, you've got your work cut out for you this fall!)

This is the picture when we gave Luke drugs...
Dr. Evil--or is it Mini-Me?

Vampire Asher Seriously, does he think this is a pose?

I don't even know what to say here.

Laughing at his "real" family (Rachel, Corey, Evan, Cora, and Jasper)

I think he might be looking over my should when I read Fashion for Nerds (though, Audi pulls off this pose better than Asher)

Evan is awesome at photos; here Asher is tempting him not to choose the right...

Seriously?!

I hope this made you more grateful for your family photos. Me, I'm going to go hit my head against a wall for a bit.

Expressing His Feelings

Last night after a particularly horrendous trip to Costco, the kids and I drove by Blockbuster. As we drove by, Asher said how much he wanted me to take him to Blockbuster. I said no--people had not been good in Costco and we had plenty of movies to watch at home (thank heavens for Netflix streaming through the XBox 360).

Asher said, "Mom, when you don't take me to Blockbuster, it makes me feel like..." and then, he mumbled the rest.

I was so happy to hear Asher expressing his displeasure, you know, really thinking and exploring his feelings, but now that he's in the very back of the car and I'm in the front, I didn't hear everything so I asked him to repeat.

"MOM, when you don't take me to Blockbuster, it makes me feel like I want to kill you."

Ah, yes, those were the feelings I was hoping he would express.

Feliz Navidad!

Because this is as close as we"ll get to a Christmas card this year :)

Christmas ornaments 2010

Every year, I get the kids an ornament. My mom was more ambitious than I...I had all red angels, Sarah had all green angels, and Rachel had all blue angels with David having nutcrackers and Tom having Santas (or maybe the boys are the other way around).
This year, I let Asher and Luke pick the ornaments on a day when Asher had pink eye and I needed a bribe to get through the day. I had gone to the Hallmark website to look things over and had a pretty good idea of what we might get.

I wanted to get Luke this Animal from the Muppets ornament. I got Luke an Animal t-shirt this year that scared him until I showed him a few YouTube clips of Animal. Now, Luke LOVES Animal and unfortunately, imitates him at inopportune moments. Still, if Luke played the drums, he'd do it with his feet, too.

And, I wanted Asher to get this cute Green Eggs and Ham ornament because we've been working so hard on his reading. And, because we've tried a few new foods this year that Asher has ended up liking to which I point out, "Now, aren't you glad you tried it like Green Eggs and Ham?" Of course, then, he has to remind me he is allergic to eggs.

But, I'm flexible...I was willing to go with the Tom and Jerry ornament. Don't love it, but I was open to it.

I was hoping if Luke didn't want Animal, I could talk him into this Star Wars ornament, but I didn't have a lot of home. He's kind of burned out on Star Wars since the whole "my mom made me be a

Jedi for Halloween" thing.

I was even willing to go with this Scooby-Doo ornament (though I may have changed my mind the 532nd time I heard Scooby say, "RERRY RISTMAS!").

Like I said...totally flexible.

But, what I didn't forsee is the train ornaments because seriously, I like to think we're seeing the light at the end of the train fad tunnel finally (FINALLY!).

Totally wrong though...

Asher got this little Lionel steamer that is supposed to hook together, but won't.

And, Luke got this Polar Express ornament. We did this yesterday and have already lost the bell. But, don't worry, it never rang (I checked with Asher and Luke to make sure it wasn't me ;) ) anyway.

I was firm when both boys decided they desperately wanted this $45 ornament where that train you see? It goes around the ornament and through the tunnel--sheesh!

Not to fear, though...I got to pick out Emma's ornament from this shop. At least she's not old enough to fight me.

I just try to get my kids an ornament of something they liked that year.