wordless wednesday - lounging

Asher had a friend over yesterday and he showed her how to do some serious lounging.

Ladies man.

I just love his smoosh face in this one.  ha!

from the other side of the world

Last week {before the great illness of 2011 hit} we had a fun visitor!

While at Bucknell, Drew met a guy who would end up being a lifelong friend.  That friend can be seen in this photo from the 1999 Bucknell calendar walking next to Drew.  Can you even spot Drew?  I'll give you a clue {that I'm sure you don't need}...Drew is in the gray shirt and his friend, Chris, is to his right {in jeans}.
 

After graduating from Bucknell Chris moved to Japan!  Wow!  Although we missed being able to see Chris regularly Drew and I knew that we had to take advantage of having a local in Japan and went to visit.  It was easily the most amazing trip of my life.  Chris was an awesome tour guide and led us around all the sights in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Amori.

Chris' family is from the DC area, so when he came home for Christmas we hoped he would have time to stop by to meet Asher.

There's nothing Asher loves more than having undivided attention - he lapped it all up!  {By the way, Asher is wearing a shirt that we bought for our "someday" baby while we were in Japan.  It says "Washington DC of the America" - awesome}

Chris brought us some fun treats from Japan including brown and green tea Kit Kats.  Japan has the best snacks.  :o)

It was great to see you, Chris!  Hopefully we'll get to see you {and Yuki next time!} again soon!

spoiled rotten

Asher received so many wonderful gifts from our oh-so-generous friends and family for his birthday.  I just had to showcase some here and give them all a shout out on our little blog.

His first birthday party was in Cleveland - remember the LOUD race car?  He still loves it!  Thanks Aunt Karen and Uncle Carl!

Then Asher's Grammy and PopPop Cowell came to visit for his party and brought with them a whole slew of gifts.  Like I said - spoiled rotten.  :o)

He got a Little People Noah's Ark set and loves to clap the animals together.  Ash loves anything that come in pairs {the better to clap them!} so this was right up his ally. 

Aunt Erin helped him get it open - there were tons of zip ties and tape holding it all together.

Aunt Erin and Uncle Ryan brought him - drumroll, please - a cell phone!  Asher is obsessed with my phone and now he has one of his own.  It lights up and says all kinds of fun things.  Sadly, Mr. A has not been permanently distracted away from my phone, but it does take the edge off.

Grandma and Grandpa Wilkinson came for his party as well and brought along a very special firetruck!  It has a bell to ring and everything.  Wow!

Of course Mommy and Daddy had to give him a little something special - a ball!  Asher loves to roll balls around and now he has a couple to choose from.

We are lucky to have so many generous, loving people in our little boy's life.  Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate a year of Asher - whether through a gift, card, phone call, email, or blog comment.  We love you all!

birthday party!

Asher had his first birthday party on Sunday afternoon!

For the past few weeks I've been planning and prepping for this all-important day!  We kept it small - just family and close friends - but of course it was super special for my little guy.  After all, you only turn ONE once!

I couldn't find a theme that I really loved, so I decided to go simply with bright, primary colors.  After a lot of searching {I'm never satisfied that the first thing I find is the best} I found these fantastic signs from Sophie and Emma on Etsy.  They turned out so cute!

Some of you were asking about Asher's shirt - I can't claim credit for that either - it's another Etsy find!  Crystal over at Two Kangaroos did an amazing job making it.  She has tons of fabric/font/stitching options and had a really fast turn around time.

Of course, there had to be a little touch of mommy's hand in the decorations, so I made these hanging poms.  I first got this idea from Bonnie who made some for Jarrett's first birthday.  A quick internet search on how to make them and I was in business.  It was so easy and really added a fun POP of color!

I also made some cupcake toppers for our table centerpiece.  Super easy and fun to do.  I love doing some of these things myself!

Asher had a lot of fun playing with next to his friends during the party.  There was a brief meltdown at one point {I think Asher got a little overwhelmed, plus he missed a nap}, but overall he did great considering all of the people in his house!

Some of you might recognize this big smile!  We were so excited that Jack and Rene could come and celebrate with Asher!  Sometimes it feels like this blog world doesn't have real people behind it - it's so fun to meet blogging friends in real life.  Ha!

My favorite part of the party was Asher's smash cake.  He is extremely hesitant with new foods, so I was a little concerned that he wouldn't even try the cake.  Ash definitely hates having messy hands, so I helped him dig in at first and offered him a taste of frosting off of my finger.  That was all the encouragement he needed!  Of course he loved cake - who doesn't?!

We are so grateful to have such loving, supportive friends and family who came to celebrate Asher's first year with us.  There's no way we could have gotten through this first year of parenthood without all of your support and care.