Fort Building: 101

In case you were wondering how to build a fort...
#1 Collect as much junk as possible.

#2 Add more junk.

#3 Add more junk.

#4 Add a cute baby wearing Christmas pj's.

#5 Make a perch.

#6 Put some cute boys in the tree.

#7 See number 6.

#8 See number 6.

#9 Ta-da!


Love,
Mark, Allyson, and Asher

We promise...

...updates are coming!


Forgive us for the lack of posts. We have been Christmasing it up in Georgia and haven't had much time to update. Plan on lots of "Georgia Christmas" posts coming soon!

Missing everyone already!
Mark, Allyson, and Asher

Driving...

We are headed to Georgia today for Christmas. Here is to hoping the trip looks a little like this for Asher...


Merry Christmas!
Mark and Allyson

Slobber.

There has been a steady stream of this stuff for weeks. Come on teeth, just poke through already!


The soggy ones,
Mark, Allyson, and Asher

The absolute best.

Happy Birthday, Mark!

Happy 28th birthday to the best husband and daddy in the world!



We love you!
Allyson and Asher

Youth Christmas Party 2010

Our youth Christmas party is never a disappointment. Each year we wear "ugly Christmas sweaters". I am pretty sure that Mark and I took the cake this year.


Don't be jealous of our awesome turtle necks. I think they added just the right touch:)

Mark and Allyson

"Christmas in Ohio" IV

These 5 were worse than kids. Well, I should say this...Mollie behaved herself. It was the other 4 who acted like 11 year olds. Gotta love them anyway.






The proud daughter/niece,
Allyson

"Christmas in Ohio" III

Saturday morning we woke up at Mom and Dad's house and had our very own "pretend" Christmas morning on December 11th! It was perfect.
Here is a progression of pictures of Asher on his first "almost Christmas" morning.





Definitely our favorite. Asher is really showing that wrapping paper who is boss.



Who cares about the clothes! Look at this awesome paper!




1st piano! Love it!

Best present ever...


Watch out Georgia Christmas! Asher is ready!
Mark, Allyson, and Asher

"Christmas in Ohio" II

There is never a dull moment at Ballinger get-togethers.
Lots of food, lots of laughing, and lots of family made for a great afternoon.
Asher did a lot of hanging out with his buddy, Grandpa.

He also did a lot of hanging out near Abby.

Abby also spent some time holding our new cousin, Brayden. Asher was not into sharing.

At one point my dad decided we needed some family pictures. This is our attempt at getting a picture of all the grandkids/ great-grandkid a.k.a. Asher. As you can see this was easier said than done.


Here is a group shot of the whole crew. We were only missing Matt B, Debbie, Meredith, and Graham. Quite a group.


We enjoyed every minute! Love each of you.
Mark, Allyson, and Asher

"Christmas in Ohio" I

So much went on during our 2 day Christmas extravaganza in Ohio this weekend that I will be putting up blogs here and there all week to give you a little glimpse of the "shenenegans". We will start with our Frank family gathering on Friday night. Of course it started with Asher hanging out in his favorite spot at Grandma and Grandpa Ballinger's house...the Tupperware cabinet.



Later on that night, Asher broke out his awesome piano skills and played some Christmas toons on Grandma and Grandpa's piano. Mama loved every minute as you can tell.



The night was capped off with some presents! Asher loved breaking into his first Christmas presents!


Overall, it was a great night shared with family.
Check back tomorrow for the "Ballinger" gathering on Saturday.

With love,
Mark, Allyson, and Asher

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree!

Monday afternoon in the frigid (23 degrees without wind chill) weather, we took a family trip to a local tree farm and cut ourselves our family Christmas tree! This is obviously Asher's first tree. This is also my (Allyson) first "real" tree. I come from a family who proudly puts up a ginormous beautiful fake tree every year. I didn't know there was another way to do it. I will be honest, I had (and may still have)reservations. I am not excited about prying needles out of Asher's death-grip fingers.

I know we have only had this tree for a few short hours, but I may have done a 180 (don't tell Mark). He told me how much I would love a real tree and the whole experience and I hate to say but he was right. We had the most fun. Asher loved it. There were slim pickings with the trees which made it more fun. It was sooooooooo cold which made it more fun. Asher laughed the whole time which made it more fun. And of course the man who owned the place was shall we say "different"...which made it more fun! On our way home, Mark stopped to check the tree to find that he had left his gloves on top of the car! One was sadly missing. Now, let me take a minute to explain to you how much Mark loves his gloves. He loves them so much that he doesn't even always wear a coat...just gloves and he likes to clap his hands together when he wears them to make the glove smacking sound. It's too funny. Anyway, a glove was gone. Mark played it cool like he didn't care. I encouraged him to turn around and it would be somewhere in the mile that we had driven. Sure enough we found it. WHEW! That might have put a little bitterness on the otherwise perfect trip. Here are some pics of the adventure!
First, a family shot. This was a miracle because there was no one behind the camera making Asher look towards the camera. We tried to take this pic for our Christmas card last week about 37 times. It never worked. Oh well.

I love this picture of Asher and I. It captures perfectly the excitement of two first time tree cutters.

Mark starts the cutting...and singing "O Christmas Tree"

Still cutting...still singing...

The tree is ours:)

This is the tree shaker. Asher thought this was hysterical. This guy probably thought we were big weirdos for taking pictures of the tree shaker. Guess what, I didn't care...click, click, click away! We are making memories people:)

Asher hanging out in the car with the tree. Yes, it is tied to the top of our car, your eyes are telling you the truth. Classy.

...and it is up! This is the "before" shot.


Wait for it...

Wait for it...

TA-DA!!!




We love it! Hope you enjoy your Christmas decorations just as much as we do:)
Merry Christmas!
Mark, Allyson, and Asher