January 2014

It's a busy year thus far, this 2014. And by busy, I'm not referring to the errand-running, practice-attending, meeting-scheduling variety. It's been more of the fun-having, rowdy-rumbling, non-stop-shenanigans type, and for that, I can't complain. Lots of fun has been had with our boys. The kind that leads me to know that we have such a blessed, beautiful life. With the advent of soccer season upon us, a trip for just Mom and Dad next weekend, a major order for my shop that I'll be working throughout the spring months, and several other big things on the horizon, it's been fun just to enjoy a fun month of "nothing."

A large majority of our energy burning has revolved around the new trampoline. And trust me, Dada makes the best trampoline boss ever. 

Poor Grant…he gets so frustrated that he falls down all the time!

And as I expected would happen, the boys have already started learning tricks.

Even Grant has a mean forward roll. (and as an aside, I've been very proud at the boys for learning "the rules" for the trampoline and following them very well…thus far. )

And where do they get their crazy ideas from??? (I won't lie…I do flips for them all the time too. But Dada's are better.)

Rudy always gets a mean case of static-head.

Ragamuffins.

Grant was having a hard time avoiding the monster so he got to ride on his shoulders. 

It was a mix between sheer joy and sheer fear. (I should probably implement helmet use on the trampoline as well as everything else I make them wear them for.)

The faces I wake to every morning. Be jealous, people. Be very jealous.

One of my favorite recent pics. Taken by Grant of all people! I was sneaking a few extra minutes of sleep and cuddling with Rudy and Grant snuck my phone from the charger beside my bed. There's nothing in the world quite like cuddling with Rudy.

We've enjoyed many days of beautiful weather…nice enough to each lunch out back!

We took a little trip over to Brenham for our nephew Will's second birthday. Is he not just the  most adorable little ball of cuteness ever!?!

A friend that works at the hospital with Mark hosted a bonfire at his home. We took the boys and they had SO much fun. I think they're now officially pyromaniacs and completely fascinated with taxidermy. 

Over the past week we've had two snow days separated by a couple of days that have reached nearly 70. And no snow. That being said, on both snow days we have had enough ice to make the trampoline way cooler than normal.

What kiddo doesn't love bouncing ice chips!?!

And I'll end with a sunny day at the park with my little guy. Though he's not always this happy, this is how I hope to remember "two" some day.

Three Thought Thursday- 6/27/13

- Another few weeks of full-swing-summer around here. Life and laughter of all kinds. And I can already tell this is going to go down as my favorite summer of all times. It's. just. fun! We've had a few "issues" going on within our family and extended family that have got me making a concerted effort to look around each day and simply be thankful. The life I have is extraordinary. Sure, it's full of it's own unique hiccups, but even those add to the character of our stories. Have you every noticed that in fairy tales, the "happily ever after" ends right when "normal life" starts? Certainly we're not expected to believe that Cinderella runs off with her new husband and never has another bump in the road ever, ever again. That's how I feel: Living the fairy tale but in normal life. Despite it's regular chaos, daily hardships, and even the heavier, thick crosses, it's so, so beautiful. I have a amazing husband. Three beautiful children. A wonderful home. Family on both sides that loves us dearly. And a God who is never failing. I've just been feeling that no matter what comes our way, there's a mighty, mighty fortress covering us in love. I'm blessed.

- But enough of the mushy stuff.
You're wondering what we've been up to, right!?
Well, lots. Two birthdays, a baby shower, and don't forget Father's Day! Throw in the pool, a trip the movies, picnics in the park, extended family in town...like I said...Best. Summer. Ever. On Monday my "baby" celebrated his second birthday and the following day I celebrated the second anniversary of my twenty-ninth birthday. (wink, wink!) And a few days prior I had a blast serving as one of the hostesses for my sweet cousin Audry's baby shower. Once upon a time it seemed like I was hosting a shower every month or so...but it's been a long time and it was so fun to get back in on the baby pampering action. Especially since she's having a girl! Lots and lots of family came in for the shower so not only did I get to have fun doing the girly stuff, but Mark and the kiddos got the have fun hanging out with everyone else too. I think our boys won everyone over pretty quickly. ;) And despite the fact that Mark was on call for Father's Day, the boys and I put together a fun day for him. It's never hard to come up with reasons to celebrate Dada. His love for us keeps our family alive! So two more weeks of summer in the books. With a trip to Brenham, TX for 4th of July on the horizon, let the good times continue!

To surprise Mark for Father's Day, on Saturday while he was rounding at the hospitals, the boys and I hung roughly 150 pictures around our entire family room of just Dada and the boys. In 5.5 years of being the World's Best Dada, it's easy to come up with that many!  

He was so surprised and love walking around his "gallery" and reliving the moments as a daddy.

Shower Fun! Me, Mom, Audry, and Kristen...the hostesses with the mama-to-be!

A fun shot of all the Gaschen cousins at the shower!

Gaschen sisters at the concert in the park...minus Aunt Mimi. :(

Gaschen family fun...taking over Willie's Icehouse!

Birthday, birthday!

Blowing out the candles.

Getting ready to ride his new strider bike with his new helmet...just like big brothers'! 

The bike ridin' crew!

Yum, yum German Chocolate Cake that Mark ordered for me. My fave!

What two-year-old doesn't love a giant ball for his birthday?!

Ruffians.

Mark's grandfather, Grandpa Selso is the best.little.artist.EVER! He sends us cards with his original artwork for every birthday, holiday, and special occasion. They are a true treasure to us and we keep every single one!

And while we're on the topic of artwork, I nearly died laughing when Kolbe gave me this gem as a birthday present. He did a fantastic job of coloring me "a princess picture since you're a girl," but he failed to realize that Ariel's tail goes up to her waist, not her ankles. So I'm rockin' a pin-up-style Ariel on my fridge right now. He couldn't figure out why I thought it was so funny. So innocent!

- So I mentioned that my "baby" turned two. It's true. He did. And I'm feeling oh-so-bittersweet about it. Two years? Life is happening at just a crazy pace. Because he was born here. In The Woodlands. While we were living in this house. And really, it seems like we just left Lubbock. But I guess the thing that makes Grant's passage from baby to kiddo a bit more sigh-inducing is that he's the baby. There's no little brother or sister to fill the baby shoes. No bun in the oven to look forward to the baby days with. Lord willing, there will be some day, but for now I feel myself coming to peace with having three little boys instead of two boys and a toddler. Closing the baby chapter (hopefully not forever) isn't a horrible thing. It's simply time for me to love being the mom of the three best little boys in the world. And this Grant fella? Boy, is he something else! I always found it so amazing that Kolbe and Rudy were so close in age yet so, so different in other areas. And to think I have a third that's just as different from the other two! Grant is a total spit-fire, action-packed, chaos-iducing wildman. He can win you over in no time at all because he's learned the fine art of using his baby blues and winsome smile. (We don't call him "Smiley" for nothing!) Temperamental as all get out, he goes from complete meltdown to full-on laugher without hesitation. And certainly unique to The Asmussen Bunch, Grant is in the 80th percentile for weight and 95th for height. Along with the blue eyes, he managed to grab the Hefferly height too. So we'll be taking bets on at what Grant will pass up Mom and Dad,  'cause we know it's coming!  Lastly, let me just tell you, I love this little boy. He makes me melt every single day...and want to pull my hair out, too! The perfect combination.

Birthday Morning!

#3 turns 2 with his 1st year collage in the background...he really lost that baby look this year!

And just because.....

Uncle Brian and Aunt Cristi sent Grant the ultimate backyard pool for his birthday and these kiddos had a blast swimming in it! (We won't talk about how long it took to inflate everything...) But look at that stink face!

An inflatable pool with a slide? Heck, yeah!

Two brothers, too sweet.

TTT: Season 3, Episode 17

I always feel silly titling my post with "TTT" when it's not Thursday. It's Sunday. And only for an hour more, at that. And this week, it feel like I just have lots of little tidbits. So let's go with Six Sunday Shorts for a change.

- Recovery from my surgery was way easier than expected. I had the gallbladder removed on a Thursday and wasn't even taking Motrin by the following Wednesday. If one of the kiddos accidentally bumps one of my "boo-boos," it still hurts a bit, but otherwise, nothing. And the scars look great! Not that anyone is going to be seeing my belly any time soon. ;)

- My etsy shop is out of control. I need an employee. For real. Can someone who knows how to sew and happens to have five or six free hours per week just fall out of the sky and land on my porch? Ok, I'll take three or four. Just anything, at this point! When I try to slow it down by not taking orders, I'm swamped with emails asking when the shop will be taking orders again. Let me just say, my shop IS a huge blessing for us. And I LOVE doing it. LOVE it. I've just reached another "time to restructure" point.

- My mom told me that she thinks I'm too hard on myself. Instead of thinking "No, not me," for the first time ever I thought "Ya think!?!" Hi, my name is Laura and I'm a Type A Perfectionist Over-Achiever and somehow in my mind, though it all has to be perfect, I find a way to believe that I'm failing at everything. Just keeping it crazy and irrational, people!

- We are coming up on the two year anniversary of moving in to our house. In some aspects, it still feels like we're not completely moved in. Or that it's not totally ours. I don't see how military families do it...moving every two or so years. Does any place ever feel like home!?! Back on track. Other aspects of our house are definitely feeling their two-years-worth of being lived in. Like the filthy baseboards that haven't be cleaned. In two years. Or the blinds that get dusted with the feather thingy but never really dusted. I feel a major spring cleaning coming on.

- Another part of our house that has really been struggling is the walls. When you have three little boys, they're destined for dirty, dingy, marked-up grossness. After my pricey surgery, doing a full coat of fresh paint like I've been wanting has gone on the back burner. But I did managed to find an old can of the existing wall paint and tackled all the marks I could find. Still not a good wall color, but hey, at least there are no more marks all over the place!

- Kolbe had a "fun run" fundraiser at his school this week and it was the cutest thing ever. While it wasn't set up to be an actual race, Kolbe treated it as if it was the Olympic finals. Oh, is he ever his mother's son. And his father's too! Gotta keep it intense, kiddo. I was proud of him for running so hard and not giving up when all of the other kiddies got tired and stopped running. He's a little speedster!

Cutest little pre-school class ever!

On your mark, get set...

Kolbe killin' it.

Post race cool down...guess who wishes he was in big brother's class??? 

Pa getting Rudy to run laps by dangling his race car as a carrot.

And Puggy up to his usual shenanigans.

I mean, look at the face. Can't you just hear the thoughts in that little head!?!

Time for movie night!

Pinkie bought the boys Wreck It, Ralph for helping out Mama after her surgery. So we had a fun family movie night! (no, Grant didn't last more than two minutes.)

Next weekend is our last soccer game! Kolbe had a stellar week, as usual.

Grant pretended to be a movie star and flirted with Pinkie.

And took flying lessons from Pa!

Cutest little soccer face ever!

Good game, good game, good game...

Kolbe managed to figure this one out. I was changing Grant's diaper and heard, "Hey Mom, look at this." WHAAAAAAAT!?!?!

A cute moment of these two playing peacefully. It seems like it's been rare lately!