Festival of Lights



   We have been very sentimental the last few days leading up to Asher's 1st birthday.  He is such a treasure and makes us laugh everyday.  This past week, we celebrated Hanukkah with our baby dreidal.  The first few days, he went to bed before we even had a chance to light the candles.  So, we had to change it up and not light the candles at sundown. Instead, we lit the candles right before his bed time which sometimes caused Asher to not have that-- oh so joyful holiday feeling we were going for. Oh well, there is always next year!

Protesting the Hanukkah festivities...Really, he is upset that he is in his high chair.



Lighting the candles from Asher's menorah from his Bubbie.




So tired, but we must open presents.



Playing with his gift from his Bubbie. Latches, latches and more latches, oh my!

 A few days later, Grandpa Neil came to join in the festivities, he also read Asher a bedtime story about finding a dreidal.

Note, Asher's cute onesie. He was dressed for the holiday.



Come light them, come light them, the flickering candles in a row.



A feast to celebrate Hanukkah!

Asher enjoying his own little feast.





Mover and Shaker

Asher is on the move and is getting faster by the minute.  The video below shows how it is probably time to invest in a baby gate for the stairs. Enjoy!

Horsing Around

Our little guy is giving us a glimpse into his personality and we are just getting a kick out of him. The other day he was playing with his hobby horse and it was just making me laugh to see him acting so silly. Here is to our silly little boy!

Manassas Battlefield

During Thanksgiving weekend, Grandpa Neil, Jed, Asher, and I decided to check out the Manassas Battlefield.  One thing about living so close to Virginia is that you are immersed in the Civil War. Although, we have lived in DC for over 8 years, we have never taken a trip to Manassas.  We felt that it was finally time that we made the long trek out to the Battlefield.  Even though Manassas is only about 90 minutes away from DC, to East Coasters it is considered a "long trek".



This is the view you see from all directions, gorgeous!



We decided to set Asher in the grass.

He was scared of the grass and started kicking his feet in protest.



The park police were on horses. Asher got to touch one, he was very curious.



Does anyone notice Asher's smile? It looks like Grandpa Neil's.



Asher taking a bottle break with Daddy.

My happy little family.

Rub a Dub Dub, Asher Loves the Tub!

Asher has his second cold of the season.  My friends tell me that babies typically get sick about once a month during the colder months.  If that is the case, Asher is right on schedule. With a runny nose and mild cough, I decided that a warm bath was what he needed this morning.  Asher agreed!

Babies Unite!

As I mentioned in the previous post, we traveled this weekend to Cherry Hill, New Jersey which is fairly close to Philadelphia for a baby naming ceremony of our new cousin, Bella! Boy does Bella live up to her name. She is just as cute as can be and we were so happy to finally cuddle our new cousin.  Asher enjoyed meeting Bella so much that he tried his best to communicate with her.  It was so cute to watch him try to interact with her. We can't wait until baby Bella gets to be a bit older and the two can meet for play dates.




Asher says, "Hi, Bella!"

 



The Joel side of the family. Look at baby Bella, she steals the show with her smile.



11 months old

Our little boy is growing up, he is already 11 months old. Currently, Asher is on a hunger strike. Our little chubbikins used to love to eat just about anything you put in front of him. Now, he has regressed to only bottle feedings and an occasional bagel, oy vey! Trying to feed him has consumed most of my time over the last few weeks and Jed and I have become fairly creative in ways that we have approached feeding time with Asher.

With all that we have managed to still travel. We headed to Philadelphia this past weekend for our cousins baby naming. (pictures to follow in the next post).  Our Philadelphia trip coincided with Asher's 11 month birthday and so we took pictures of him with his sign at Jed's law school Alma Mater, Penn, and in the hotel room. These birthday signs are becoming more and more challenging. Luckily, we only have one more month to go until the big ONE, until then here is our 11 month birthday picture.

On Penn's campus next to our good friend Ben.

Gobble, Gobble, Gobble

Asher's first Thanksgiving was a success, his daddy made the entire meal and we shared it with Grandpa Neil who is visiting from Pittsburgh.  We gave Asher mashed potatoes, but he told us in the best way that he knew how that he prefers yogurt. So, we mixed some squash with his yogurt for his first Thanksgiving feast.

Asher's 1st Thanksgiving feast.



We are grateful for Asher, our little Turkey.

 Today, was Black Friday, the day everyone goes out and gets the best buys for the holidays. It was such a gorgeous day that we decided to go to the National Arboretum instead of dealing with the crowds.  Boy, are we glad we did!!!

The happy family the day after Thanksgiving!




Happy baby on top of his Grandpa's shoulders.

 


My little guy taking a break to snuggle.





All of the Silversmith boys.

The last of the Fall colors.

Discovering the Door Stopper

The last few days Asher has been exploring the door hinges and door stoppers in the house.  Life is pretty exciting for a 10 month old.

Happy Birthday, Da-da!

Asher and I are a little late posting our birthday wishes for Da-da, but we do believe that it is better late than never. 

Daddy's birthday was on November 16th, unfortunately, he got Asher's 1st cold.  However, that didn't hamper the day.  Instead, we celebrated with Asher's beautiful masterpiece for his Da-da along with a celebration dinner and an awesome cupcake. What a way for a guy to ring in his 38th year of life!

Asher wasn't so sure about finger painting...



Working on Da-da's art piece is a messy job.




Mommy had to pitch in to help, guess who got a bath afterwards?



Happy Birthday, Da-da!

Let's Crawl....

Asher has been moving around lately and keeping both Jed and I on our toes.  His motivation lies in chasing little Roswell. Asher spots Roswell and off he goes, laughing and shrieking all the way.  Go, Asher, go!

Our Little Monster



 It has been a busy last few weeks.  We are finally getting around to posting our Halloween pictures. Our little monster had a lot of fun playing with the fuzz on his costume.  Other than that, he had no idea it was Halloween.  We enjoyed spending his first Halloween in Pittsburgh with Grandpa Neil and Nana.  Asher loved playing with them and showed him his new talents--eating teether biscuits, puffs, and getting from point A to point B by any means necessary.

When we first put Asher in the costume, he didn't know what to do with the extra weight on his head.  He sat with his head tilted back for a long time.

Happy Monster

Monster play with Daddy.

With the costume fitted, we were headed out to Pittsburgh for some Halloween snuggle time.

A happy baby with Nana at the library before the costume

and here is our monster who was playing the part perfectly and wanted nothing to do with the paparazzi or the costume. 



A little less of a cranky monster here.





Listening to Nana talk to her coworkers.




Doing a little monster jig at Nana's work.






Hi, Nana!

Asher loves his Grandpa Neil

See you soon, Nana and Grandpa Neil, Rarrr....