Foodie baby

Guess who's eating real food?  Mr. Man can't seem to get enough milk so Asher has been working on eating oatmeal for the past two weeks and today, he tried bananas!  He isn't great at it yet and he certainly makes a mess, but he is trying and getting better at it each week.  He liked the idea of bananas today, they just seemed to be a little too slippery to stay in his wiggly tongued mouth.

Asher likes to hold a spoon to help but he keeps getting it in the way and gagging himself - so we have a little more work to do.  So this kid will go bananas for the first few days and then we can figure out what's next on his grand foodie adventure.

The Hershey Tradition

This weekend, we continued the Asman tradition of starting off the summer with a family trip to Hershey!  And with our growing brood, it was quite a feat that everyone was able to come together to one place for a quick weekend of family time, relaxation and chocolate!

It looked like we were moving in for a month with all of the things that we brought, but with 2 kids under 4, we pretty much had to bring one of everything.  From water wings to tennis rackets, a cooler and a baby chair, we were ready for just about any situation.  Turns out we would have just been fine with bathing suits cause we were all pretty happy just spending hours at the pool.  This was Asher's first time swimming and he is a water baby just like his big brother.  Everyone was checking out his big baby thighs in his adorable swim suit and he was quick to make new friends.  Riley showed no fear and had hours or fun jumping off the edge of the pool.

We went to Chocolate World, played (and won) chocolate bingo, celebrated Arielle's birthday and had a great time before everyone goes in every different direction for the summer.  I hope this is a tradition that we can continue as the boys grow up because I love being able to share experiences with them that I had when I was growing up!

Moving on up

Yesterday, the boys participated in their Moving Up ceremony!  This is the end of the school year for Riley, but just another day for Asher.

The babies don't really perform much, but boy do they put on a show!  As the youngest baby in the room, Asher got the place of honor in the front of the stroller.  The teachers paraded the babies in, some of them shook their shakers and they put a smile on everyone's faces.  Asher found me in the crowd behind the camera and gave me some happy smiles! 

Riley and his class had been practicing a song for weeks - "Pre-K, Pre-K Here We Come" and they did a great job during their performance!  Riley was quite the multi-tasker and managed to give a song and a dance - showing everyone in the audience his belly for the majority of the song.

The boys are so lucky to have such a big cheering section and we are so happy that we have such an active and involved family.  Thank you to everyone for coming to the ceremony!  

Riley got to take part in the graduation festivities, including a train ride in the back field.  No flesh colored balloon sword like last year - which I don't think he'll ever be able to live down. Now Riley gets to start camp on Monday!

Meredith comes to visit

We were lucky enough to have Meredith come to Pittsburgh to visit us this past weekend!  It has been 2 years since she has been in Pittsburgh so a lot has changed here since then!  We had a low-key weekend planned but seemed to fill just about every minute.  From family dinners to visiting the Three Rivers Arts Festival, snuggle time and relaxing time, we all had a great time!

Mere said that she was warned that Riley is a very busy kid and he certainly met this expectation - but very well behaved!  Asher was very interested in the new family member and had some new tricks to show off, like babbling, reaching for toys and putting everything in his mouth.

We are trying to make it so that the Asman's can reconvene at the beach this Fall so we will start the countdown and put the plans into action.  Which family members want to visit us next?