Aidanham Lincoln

Aidan dressed up as Abraham Lincoln for his classroom Halloween character sketch. I have to say, I think he made the cutest little 'Aidanham'. The hat was about as tall as he is. I was surprised with his choice as first. But then he explained that he wanted to be a Lincoln like his friend and classroom partner, Lincoln Jeter.
In preparation, we read 2 small biographies and then wrote a simple 4 sentence little sketch giving clues about who he was and ending with "who am I?" Aidan even embellished a bit on stage by adding "I died when I was shot in the back". A fact which I had consciously omitted, being that these were 1-3rd graders. Aidan, of course, didn't leave out that very important morsel of information. As you can imagine, all the parents and students were easily able to guess his identity.
What a cute and most memorable way to celebrate Halloween!

Happy Halloween

Oh, what a night!!! After much anticipation and preparation Halloween finally rolled around again this year. We trick-r-treated in our neighborhood this year with our neighbors, Logan & Robin. Ashley and Robin both dressed up as the cutest little bumblebees and Aidan and Logan both decided to go as Clone Troopers. This was the first year that Ashley actually understood what was going on and she got into it, big time! After about 2 blocks, though, she and Robin pooped out and decided to crash with some popcorn and a Wiggles movie. Aidan and Logan pushed on joyfully for another hour collecting as much candy as possible. I had hoped that all the fresh air and exercise would wear the kids out and they would go fast asleep, but no such luck. Ashley giggled and played in her bed til 10:30 and Aidan was still awake at 1:30. So much for the myth that large doses of candy don't keep you awake!

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Once again we set out for the countryside in search of the biggest, most beautiful pumpkin. What we found were 2 perfectly odd, medium sized pumpkins and a whole mess of fun.

Oh my, Aidan turns 8!!!!!

On September 21st Aidan celebrated his 8th birthday. I didn't think it would be possible for him to grow up so fast. It seems like only a year ago we were celebrating his 1st birthday. Every year seems to go faster and faster. Suddenly I look at him and I see long legs and muscles....on my beautiful baby boy. I am so blessed and proud!!!

We actually celebrated Aidan's birthday over 2 days. We had friends play at a gym in town on Saturday and then celebrated with family the following day. So at the end of it all, Aidan was so consumed with fun, cake, balloons and presents he didn't know what to do. It was a great weekend for us all.

1st Day of School

Aidan was excited and happy to get back to school. It wasn't nearly as sad as I thought, because of his happiness! He was so ready to go to 1st grade. He bounced into the car full of stories of his new classroom, his new teacher, Mrs. G and how excited he was to now finally be able to go to the library and check out books. Especially Tin Tin books!

I miss him being with us all day. He and Ashley and I had a great summer full of fun stuff!!! Ashley seems to like having the run of the house to herself now. Her only complaint is that she can't go to school. Not yet, baby girl! I have you for one more year!!

I'm here....

Well, I'm feeling kindof bad about going 1 month since my last post. I thought I would have so much time with Aidan back in school, but in truth that has just given me more time to clean, I mean 'deep-clean', after a summer of virtually no-clean. Ick! And then on to all my projects....

So here are a couple of pictures from the last month just to prove how busy we have been!! :)

Ok, just kidding!

Cutest little cowgirl

Ashley just LOVES Woody from Toy Story. Yesterday while I was rearranging Aidan's closet for back to school clothes she found his long forgotten costume. She was so tickled, like she had found buried treasure with her name on it. What more could you ask for????

1,000 Questions

1,000 questions.... or more accurately one question asked 1,000 times. Or one question posed 1,000 different ways. This is how the brain of a 2 year old works.

Let me preface this story by explaining that I checked the movie Indiana Jones Raider of the Lost Ark out from the library for Aidan and I to watch. Aidan finished his lunch and started the movie while Ashley and I were finishing ours. Huge fan that I am of Indiana Jones, I soon became engrossed in the movie and Ashley followed. I knew that I would have to explain technical points to Aidan, like who the bad guys and good guys were, what was the Ark of the Covenant, the staff of Ra, the Nazis, etc. No problem, I was prepared for that.

What I wasn't prepared for was Ashley's one simple question. "How did the man burn his hand?" (Meaning the weird man with the hat and glasses who burned his hand trying to grab the gold disk-thing from Marion Ravenwood) It sounds simple, but it's not in the mind of a 2 year old. And she wouldn't let it go.....!!!!

"How did he burn his hand?"
"What was hot?"
"Why was it hot?"
"Why is there fire"?
"Why is fire hot?"
"Why did he burn his hand?"
"Who burned his hand?"
"Why?"
"What is the disk?"
"How did he burn it?"
"What did he burn?"
"What happened?"
"Why?"
"Where is the man who burned his hand?"
"Why did he leave?"
"Why did he burn his hand?"
and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on in a strange pattern of circular logic!

Until finally Aidan was so exasperated that he stopped the movie and tried to explain it himself, which didn't work either. So he just hugged her and said it was time for her nap. Why didn't I think of that? He was right. So off she went to bed with a million questions in her mind. But when I laid her in the bed all she said was "Where is my Momo (Elmo)?". Burned hand man forgotten. Hopefully!

We have a monster......

One night as I was climbing the stairs to go to bed I noticed books on the stairs. I picked them up and wearily headed upward only to find a long piece of toilet paper going down the hall and into the bathroom. This made me groan for what I would find at the end . Well as it turns out it was only more paper strewn everywhere. This is a good thing, if you know what I mean.

So I ventured on down the hall to check on Aidan only to find his bed empty and room nice and neat. I returned the books to the shelf and headed back up the hall to my room. There I found the floor littered with my once-folded laundry. Uuuughhhh! Shannon started to laugh behind me as he came upon the bathroom.

He said "I think we have a monster".

And my reply was "And he is sleeping in our bed".

So there was our sweet angel monster lying sweating among a giant pile of clean blankets that were once folded in the laundry basket under the clothes that were now on the floor. Who wouldn't love a child this funny?!

Meanwhile, at the other end of the hall, little Ashley angel was fast asleep in her crib.....for the moment, at least. "SIGH"

The Children's Museum

Last week we traveled with Momie & Papa to the Museum Centre in Cincinnati, Ohio. What a neat place!! I should start by saying the museums are in the old, restored train station in downtown Cincy. They have done a beautiful job with the art work in the main terminal part. Then off of the main terminal are 3 museums, the Natural History museum, the Children's museum and the History of Cincinnati museum, and an IMAX theatre. They also had "The Body" exhibit which I would love to see, but it wasn't really appropriate for my kids so we skipped it. That is another blog for a later date.

We started first in the Natural history museum and had a blast exploring dark, wet caves, traversing an ice age glacier, viewing dinosaurs, ancient lizards and mammals and much, much more! We had a scavenger hunt to complete to earn points toward stuff in the trading post. Aidan loved that part.....hence the picture with Sherlock Holmes.

After lunch we went to the AWESOME Children's Museum. They have Aidan's favorite section, the Woods. It is a series of tunnels and mazes all connected like a giant forest in Robin Hood. There are all kinds of neat pulleys and levers to raise and lower sections of the floor and change the terrain. There is a Water Works section that Ashley enjoyed and a Little Sprouts section just for toddlers. We finished out the afternoon at this cool ball area that I can't really describe. You funnel the balls up into different tubes and bins and send them to other areas where they can be shot out or dropped. It is hard to imagine but it was a blast. I don't have pictures of the Children's section because I was having too much fun myself to take any. It was a great summer outing!

my sucker thumb

Ashley calls the thumb that she sucks her "sucker thumb". She usually loops it though a hole in her blankie and sucks it while going to sleep. One night I heard her crying on the monitor. Usually, I wait a bit and see if she can resolve whatever it is herself. She usually can. But this time she became more and more distressed. I could hear her saying something about her thumb in between breaths of air. So I had to go check it out. When I got up there and turned on the light she said "my sucker thumb is poopy". And sure enough it was. She had apparently stuck it in her dirty diaper and couldn't possibly go back to sleep with such a quandary. I don't blame her one bit. So, we clean everything up VERY GOOD with wipes, antibacterial soap and lots of water. And with an 'all better' she went right back to sleep. I just had to include this as a precious example of some of the cutest sayings that come out of her mouth. Truly, out of the mouth of babes!

A boy's pocket

I don't usually check Aidan's pockets even though I see him putting 'stuff' in there since most of the time 'everything comes out in the wash', as they say. But after a weekend daytrip with the Quire family and watching Aidan stash items away, I thought I would check it out. That night I found 5 mostly squashed berries, a magnolia bud, 2 leaves, a battery, a crayon, a french fry and a Star Wars action figure. Thanks goodness the 'previously chewed by someone else' piece of gum I warned him against wasn't in there. And the rolly polly I saw him put in there had escaped.

I guess us girls take for granted the storage space of a purse while boys take advantage of their limited storage found in pockets. Aidan's were brimming full that day. The cutest part of the whole thing had to be watching Morgan Quire checking Aidan's pockets every couple of minutes to monitor the collection.

Oh what a time!!!!! Lake Cumberland 2008

I can't imagine a more fun filled, action packed vacation than the one we just had at Lake Cumberland. We had wonderful weather every day except for one, which meant we were out on the lake almost the whole time living life to the fullest! It was so good to see the Tomsic family, Big Jim, Sandy, Morgan and Max, our neighbors from Ohio.

Aidan and Max picked up right where they left off. They had a blast doing everything together from playing ping pong, to endlessly riding the tube. It is so funny to see the transformations of children as they grow up and how even separated by miles these two little guys stays best friends! This year it was especially funny to watch and listen as 'newly cautious' Max would warn 'always reckless' Aidan to be careful and watch out for this or that. These two are still so cute together. I think for the first time ever Aidan actually wore Max out one evening, when I heard Max exclaim "I'm burnt out, Aidan" as he crashed on the bed to go to sleep. Too funny!

Ashley and Morgan became the best of friends almost immediately. Morgan was so patient and sweet with Ashley even through her endless dawdling and then sudden bolt for the door. Ashley finally found her big sister to go everywhere with her. They enjoyed the playground, boat rides, looking for raccoons, shopping in the gift shop, and just plain old 'time together'. It was so precious!

It was like we were still neighbors and talked everyday. We all had the best time!!! You just don't find friends like that everyday.

My crazy monkeys

This is Aidan and Ashley's idea of how a sweet family picture should look.

Luckily, I did get a couple of really adorable pictures also! But this one is my favorite because it is sooooo typical of their personalities!

The battle scars of summer

If you could see poor Aidan's shins you would understand the title. His little legs are so bruised that it makes me cringe every time I have to put on another band aid. But he really is a trooper and mostly doesn't even say anything unless there is major blood involved, so I can't complain. But last Friday Aidan stubbed his big toe running around barefoot (how many times have I told him....?). He did cry with this one and I don't blame him because there was a sizeable 'hunk of meat' in his words, hanging off his toe. So we patched it up with a couple of band aids after bathtime and off to bed he went.

About an hour later I heard some whimpering so I went up to check on him. He was in my bed slathering Clinique night-time eye cream on his wound which was already covered with blue tooth-whitening toothpaste. I think I would be howling at this point, but he was just crying in silence. I asked him what he was doing and he said "I was trying to make it better". I gave him a big kiss for effort, washed and patched it up again and that was the last I heard. But true to his words, when I took the band aid off two days later it was completely healed. So if anyone out there has a sore that won't heal, you know what to try!

Pickle Top

OK, now it is Ashley's turn for a funny story. Ashley is usually very reluctant about wrestling with Aidan and Shannon. She really doesn't even like it if Aidan looks like he is in too much 'distress'. So they have had to tame down their act. But on a very rare occasion Ashley will join in and they will make a sandwich.....like an Aidan sandwich. Which consist mostly of Shannon 'gently' squashing Aidan. And then Ashley gets to be the 'pickle on top' of the sandwich. So whenever Ashley is game for wrestling she will yell "pickle top, pickle top" and go jump on the pile. It is all great fun to watch!

Sleeping beauties!

If these aren't the two most precious faces... I love to watch both of my kids sleep. They are so peaceful and innocent during sleep. It makes all the troubles of the day melt away, well almost. But watching them does fill my heart with love and happiness for sure! We are so blessed!

"my stomach just wanted it"

I have to include a little funny story about Aidan. He loves chewing gum but can't seem to keep it in his mouth. So often it ends up in his tummy after only 4 minutes of chewing so most of the time he doesn't get any. But yesterday he really wanted a piece and promised he wouldn't swallow it, so I let him have a piece. After about 10 minutes I noticed he wasn't chewing anymore and asked him where was the gum. His reply was "I was chewing it, but my tongue didn't know the difference and my stomach just wanted it." Simple as that.

Frankie & Mandy

What a wonderful visit we had with Frankie and Mandy, although it seemed to go by too fast! We miss you both already!

Oooohh, Yummy Mama!!

I had to go back in time to March 13th on Ashley's 2nd birthday because this blog wouldn't be complete without a cake face! The morning before her birthday party, Ashley was sitting on the counter watching me ice her birthday cake. As I was just about finished I said "Doesn't it look pretty, Ashley?" To which her reply was to stick her whole face into the cake and take a bite. Then she said "Oooohhhh yummy Mama!". I guess she couldn't hold back any longer. It was so cute we all laughed til we had tears.

As to the last picture, Ashley wanted to put on all the clothes she got as she was opening her presents. It was a good thing it was cold because by the end of it she had on about 5 layers. Too Cute!

Patriots Soccer

Aidan's first soccer season has come and gone now. But what a great time we all had. Aidan just loved playing the game. Although he was a little shy at first to charge in and kick the ball, he always had a smile on his face! What a trooper. Every week he looked forward to practice and Saturday games. Shannon, Ashley and I loved cheering for him and the rest of the team. I hope we get to play again with Logan, Ian, Robert, Dallas and Tyler. What a great group of boys! And we couldn't have asked for a better coach than Rob. Even though he only started out as a parent, he truly became a great leader and coach to all the boys. We look forward to another action packed season this fall.

1st Haircut

Ashley had her 1st haircut last Friday. Even though she was 2 years, it was a momentous occasion!!! And probably alot less traumatic because of her age. In fact, when she and Aidan and I walked into the beauty shop she and Aidan both started saying "Me first, me first". By the time Lisa finished with Aidan, Ashley was so excited to be up in the big chair like her big brother. Aidan even got to help a little with the combing at the end. Ashley only got the tiniest of trims but even that makes her look like a little girl and not a baby anymore. I'm a little sad about that. Now she thinks she is big stuff with a 'bootiful' haircut!