3-2-1

That's what I will have as of tomorrow at 9:29am...a 3 yr. old, a 2 yr. old, and a 1 yr. old. :)

Yep, tomorrow is Asa's birthday. It's what everybody says, but "I can't believe she's already a year old." Actually, in some ways it really does seem like a lifetime ago that we were living in Kilgore (where Asa was born). So much has happened. That's what happens when you live this kind of lifestyle...time goes by just the same as it does for everybody else, but when it's so jam-packed full of moves and big life changes, there are so many things packed in there that it makes it seem like a longer time than the usual "time that flies" mentality. Kind of weird.

But, yeah...our baby is a year old already. And, she is SO MUCH FUN!! The other 2 kiddos are so much fun too, but Asa is definitely the "clown" of the kids so far.

She laughs all the time and just does really goofy things...with the motive of getting a laugh. It's really funny.

She has really started to play with the other kids in the past few weeks. She'll go and join them and they are so good with her...they really seem to be reaching same-level-play sometimes already. It's fun to watch.

She climbs everywhere.

She walks everywhere too of course (and runs).

She loves to play peek-a-boo, hiding behind the couches.

She loves to be chased.

She is very easygoing and laid back.

And, she's also pretty darn sensitive. When we tell her "no" or if something is too loud or abrupt for her liking, she's got an amazing bottom lip pooch and huge crocodile tears that come seemingly on demand.

She's super duper snuggly...I mean REALLY snuggly. Love it.

She's very, very sweet.

She gets very excited when she gets up from her naps to see everybody. We will be walking through the house to the rooms where the kids usually are and she's squealing with joy.

She waves, blows kisses, and says something that resembles "hey." She also says, "Mama" sometimes when she is really, really tired of waiting in her high chair for her food. :)

She's astoundingly cute I have to say, in all ways.

We sure do love our little Asa Rose!! Thank you God, for giving her to us a year ago tomorrow. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SWEET LITTLE ASA ROSE!! WE LOVE YOU!

And now, here are some pictures. Some from just the past couple of months (her climbing shenanigans I told you about) and some from last night. Every Monday night we have a young married's get-together...praise & worship, teaching, food. Well, last night after the praise & worship and teaching they had a little surprise for all of us...a surprise party for Asa. It was so sweet and super special. God has really, really blessed us with some spectacular friends here. They had a great choc. cake, decorations all over (Hello Kitty), brigadeiros, other finger foods...it was so great. Thank you friends!! The video (**update: don't get excited...the video doesn't work; it works when I preview my post, but not when I actually post it...so sorry; we will try again another time) at the end is the first video I've ever put on here...we never take videos with our little camera, but did last night. Hope it works.

Love you, Asa!!


This was in early September. This was one of the first times she climbed up on something...and she hasn't stopped since. :)














This is when I was sick as a dog. I love how they kids are all on the couch with me though...so cute.
Grady's new "favor for me" sometimes...to feed Asa a banana. He's such a great big brother...he really takes care of her. One time she got a little aggressive and bit his finger, so he was a little leary for a while, but he's over it now. :)





Asa loves to play with her big brother and sister, joining them in whatever they are doing. They welcome her in happily too.














She gets mighty, mighty excited about any animal she sees.
And she loves babies...thank goodness, right?
Taking a bath in the laundry room sink.











The bathing beauty.
















Climbing some more. Yesterday while we were doing a little dish duty, she decided she wanted to join us. She had never climbed up on the kitchen chairs before this week and yesterday she really outdid herself. She has terrific balance and moves like she's about 3...she was moving around on the chairs and not even almost falling. I was pretty impressed.









I think she was pretty impressed with herself too. :)
The Hello Kitty decorations. So funny...when I was little I remember going to see Rebecca Domangue in Houma and she was into Hello Kitty. I had never heard of Hello Kitty, but lo and behold, here she is again. I thought it was funny when she came back and she's here in Brasil too...everywhere actually. Really fun.
Asa got a Strawberry Shortcake (another blast from the past, right?) ball, which she loved, as you will see in the below video (hope it works). You can tell that everybody was so happy she like it. :)