La Famille Armstrong

- Lately, when he's playing with Mark he pulls at Mark's shirt and says "off" and laughs and giggles when Mark takes his shirt off... then of course, Asher wants his shirt off too!

- He does such a good job reading books on his own! We have a cardboard box with a lid where we keep all his books downstairs and he'll pull 2 or 3 out and just sit there and read them... plus, he'll actually put them away when you ask him... most of the time :-)

- We were having dinner after a garage sale at our friends Neil and Kelsey's with their little Elliott (3 months older) and it was so cute to see them interact! Elliott was a little scared of Asher's crazy laughing on the swing and Elliott loved pointing things out to Asher... so far, they seem to get along quite well!

- Asher had his 1st Happy Meal today - with chicken nuggets! You should have seen his little smile when I gave him his toy (a small stuffed bear) after lunch... no wonder they call it a Happy Meal!

- Lately, anytime you ask Asher to do something - even if it's "stop that, close that drawer" he'll (most often) do it and then start clapping for himself. He even throws away his own diapers!

- Asher loves to help with laundry! I'll say "Come on, let's do some laundry" and he walks over to the laundry room and will pick up clothes from the hamper and put them in the washer (we have front loaders so it's super easy for him to help). Then, he'll also take every last piece of clothing from the washer and hand it to me to put in the dryer. And finally, he'll even take clothes out of the dryer and put them back in the hamper... I love having a little helper!

- Asher will tell me when he's peed or pooped about 1/2 of the time now but we had a "first" the other night. Mark and I were sitting on the couch talking when we heard Asher rustling through the diaper bag... he comes over with the changing mat, grabs his diaper in the front and says "perr" and then pooped!!! I'm still praying he waits to like the small potty we got him until Christmas!

- Lastly, Asher is just like me in that he hates to get water in his face. Even to this day, I don't let the water run down my face in the shower... I just don't like it! Anyway, so in the bath I tilt his head back by holding under his chin and I sing him a song while I rinse the shampoo out. He always just watches my face, looking so calm. Lately, during the past few baths when I finish singing, he claps! It's so adorable... makes me tear up every time!

Alright, enough Asher stuff for now! A quick announcement (yes, still pregnant)... we're not moving after all! Sticking right here in McMinnville :-) We've been going back and forth a lot and realized that if we found a place we liked in Mac we would definitely stay so we thought it would be a waste to move now - especially out of town - and we'll just save up what we can and keep looking until the timing is right. It feels great actually! After my shower I was so sad to be leaving all the women who said I was a blessing to them and who blessed me so much at my shower! I was also very convicted of my recent complaints of being stranded at home with no friends to come and comfort me. I realized that just b/c I don't feel like I'm being "ministered to" doesn't mean I should stop my efforts in ministering... I know, talk about selfish huh? But I have renewed purpose being here in McMinnville and Mark and I are glad to not be moving at this stage in my pregnancy... now it's just time to settle in and wait for baby!!!