Pardon Me

This is the biggest, sloppiest post ever.  All I wanted to do was share some of my pictures from our trip with the rest of the family.  Then Blogger decided to explode in my face, leaving a mess of captions and random picture placement.  Awesome.  Hope you guys enjoy it.

On the FlyAway to LAX

So far, so good

Sweet boy on the plane

Other sweet boy on the plane

Having arrived in Charlotte, Caelum gets a nice ride with Grandma Dean

The tractor was a hit.

Group shot!

Uncle Nolan with his beautifully packaged graduation gift.

 

 

 

 

 

Owen at Uncle Nolan's graduation.  You can tell by this stink face that he was going to break down 5 minutes later.

 

 

Our room at the beach house

The siblings relaxing

The cousins at the South Carolina Aquarium.

Sweet boy having fun

Cousins

Brothers

Bald eagle nest

Digging in the sand

Caelum actually took a nap out on the beach.

I love all the movement in this picture.

Playing with chairs at Gramma and Grandpa's house.

Chilling with Grandpa by the fire pit.

This swing saw lots of use while we were there.

These two got along so well.

Theresa was "little mom" to Caelum.

Mom in her glory

Cousins together!

Making the stepping stones for Gramma's garden

Zach, so cool right now

Driving to Asheville...a little excited

The Chocolate Lounge and our liquid truffles. Amazing.

Caelum was a little intimidated by the carousel, at first.

Zach and I went to Guglhopf to discuss our future.

Looking at his bug on the way to the science museum

We spent a night reading at my parents' house.

Driving back to Charlotte

Grandpa Gordon, getting ready to cruise with the tractor

Owen anxiously waiting while Grandma Dean repairs Lion's torn arm.

Back on the plane!

It's Summertime

The vacation video is now truly available!  After many failed attempts to post the video on my blog, I've finally got it up on youtube.  Don't worry, it's unlisted, so only you devoted blog readers will be able to view it.  Turn the volume up for the graduation clip; the commentary is hilarious. 

Hope you enjoy it!

Up From the Grave He Arose!

Happy Easter, everyone!  What an amazing time to revel in Christ's great love for us and be grateful for His sacrifice. "We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life" (Romans 6:4).  Such a joyful day.

The Ashtons have been pretty busy over here with baby showers, birthdays, buddies, and brunches.  I know I'm long overdue for a post, but I'll just put up some Easter pictures for now.  It's been a while since we've attempted the family photo, and I'm quite pleased with how they turned out.

We had an Easter egg hunt with our neighbors in this olive grove this morning.

Not bad for timer!

Owen actually took this picture himself.  It came out crazy good, considering.

 

Going in for the hug

Sweet boys

Love it

Peeking

Likewise

Another picture by Photographer Owen.

We're off to dinner at the Lotts' house with a few families from church.  I'm so glad Lora was up for hosting something, as I wasn't even thinking about what we would do for Easter dinner.  More posts to come, as our days should be regaining some normalcy soon.

Checklist Before Chicago

Tomorrow morning I leave for a four-day trip to Chicago.  (Owen says, "You're going for one night, right?...How are you going to be gone for three nights?!") I'm having a bit of separation anxiety, so let's just talk about my kids for a moment.

Right now, Caelum is just about topping out his cute quotient.  And yes, I'm a ridiculous mom so I can use terms like "cute quotient."  Not that I even remember what "quotient" means.  Something mathy.  Turns out I would need math someday, just like all those teachers told me.

Anyway, as I was clearly getting to, Caelum is at what has to be my favorite age.  He's walking, "talking," getting into stuff, teasing, dancing, and exploring.  Yet he's still a baby.  He still wants to be cuddled and held...just not that much.  He likes to give open mouth kisses, feed himself, and fill up diggers with loads.  He tries to sing along when we have family worship each night and he can beat out a rhythm on the djembe.  The kid is amazing.  He's tough as nails, too. He'll fall down, take an elbow to the head, and get stuck in a small space-all within about 30 seconds-and then he'll be up and climbing on a kitchen chair in the next moment.  He puts the "bruise" in Zembruski.

Yet as entertained with Caelum as I am, Owen has been absolutely amazing me each day.  He's a pretty complex guy, and he's thoughtful and hilarious.  We were talking about how Jesus is going to come back one day and he said, "Can he visit us at our house?" I said I hoped he would.  Owen said, "Does Jesus have a car?"  I said I didn't know for sure, but I didn't think so.  Owen said, "Oh. Maybe he has a pick up truck."  

Owen has really been rocking out hard with his acoustic guitar and his electric guitar.  He's developed some sweet moves, and he's great at identifying what instruments are playing whatever song we're listening to at the time.  He sings really well, and we've found a violin version of "Party Rock" that gets a lot of play in our house right now.  I tell you what, my kids are amazing.

And don't even get me started on that Zach...

3 + 1

For all of our family oh so far away, here's an account of the boys' birthday party.  It took place the day before Owen's actually birthday, and 12 days after Caelum's.  This caused a lot of confusion for Owen:

"So Caelum will turn two at the birthday party?"
"No, he'll still be one."
"But you said he'd be two at his next birthday!"


In any case, the Wednesday before the party, I had an inaugural "Stay At Home Moms Unite" playgroup for a bunch of moms from church.  Try to picture 14 little kids (most of whom were under 4!) and eight adults in our townhome.  That felt like an early birthday party since the boys were playing like maniacs with their buds. 

Then the party was on Saturday.  The morning was full of rain, for the first time all winter...of course.  The park where we planned to have the party would have been soaked.  Fortunately, a kind family from church offered their pristine house for the party.  The sun came out just as the party was getting started.  Typical.  I'll let the pictures tell the story from here:

Kids munching on hot dogs and macaroni and cheese

The ladies' table; everyone else was outside with Zach while he grilled

Cupcakes with Bobbi frosting (in blue!)

Relaxing as the party winds down

Likewise

 So I had to include the birthday song, just because we have a great new video camera.

On Owen's actual birthday, we had the Zoschkes over after church.  We had lunch and (more) cupcakes with them, then opened presents.  Owen FINALLY got the acoustic guitar he has patiently been waiting for.  It's a legitimate guitar, 1/4 scale.  You can see for yourself how excited he was.

It's crazy to think we have a one year old and three year old.  The time it is a-flying by.  Hope you all feel like this gives you a taste of it, before it all slips away.