We've Upgraded...and I cried again.

Well it finally happened, I took the plunge and bought Aidan his booster seat! I was in denial that the time was coming. I really never wanted him to get out of his infant carrier...but life goes on and kids grow up.   Even though our pediatrician said it was fine for him to still be in his forward facing car seat, I knew it was OK to move him up and it would make our lives and his easier. 

I had every intention of buying a Graco seat but once we got to the store, I couldn't help but be drawn to the Britax.  We love our Britax Marathon.  And yes we do have it in the "Cowmooflage" print. I needed something other than black or grey!

via

 I let Aidan pick out the color of his new seat and he went with red.  It's a nice change.  It has cup holders which is really nice and when I put him in it, he felt as secure to me as the car seat.  We're all happy!!

Britax Parkway SGL

via

Here is some information on it.

I can't handle all of this growing up!! Yesterday he wrote his name without anyone's help! I was washing my car and he was doodling in the driveway.  Next thing I know, he is standing next to me with his name written out.  He and I were so proud! I realize he does this all the time at school, I could just never get him to do it for me!

 

 

I am working on a Disney video but it's taking longer than I thought it would! Hope to have it up the first of next week!

Preschool Christmas Program

Aidan's Pre School started doing a little Christmas program last year so this was their Second Annual.  They do a great job practicing with the kids.  Each class sings two songs and then the TK kids did a little skit about the birth of Jesus.  It was so cute!

Here are the two short videos I took of Aidan singing with his class.  He doesn't sing a word of "Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer" but he is pretty good at the "Reindeer Pokey".  He is third from the right. 

"Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer"

"The Reindeer Pokey"

Here's the only picture I got of him at his Christmas Party following in his classroom.  There wasn't much going on so we split and went out for a big breakfast! He was mortified they made him wear antlers.

Aidan Sings Jingle Bells

One night we went to dinner at our favorite mexican restaurant and Aidan just started singing Christmas carols.  We had no idea he even knew the words to "Jingle Bells".  Well he really only knows the chorus but it still counts! We think he is hilarious.  I also have a pet peeve about people talking/singing with their mouths full.  I express that about half way though while Aidan is singing and eating a tortilla chip.  Haha!

You may want to pause the music at the bottom of my blog before starting the video.

Catch Up Post Numero Uno-Fall Festival

There is like one million things that have happened in the past months that I haven't blogged about so I must.  This blog afterall is my virtual scrapbook for the KID!

First Up...Aidan's Fall Festival

Everything the pre school puts together is always great for the kids.  Fall Festival is an opportunity for the kids to parade through the soccer fields in their costumes for all of us parents to see and then they do some cookie decorating and there are several other little things for them to do.  The even have a small pumpkin patch!

This year for Halloween Aidan was a football player. I think you already know that from the Halloween post I actually posted on time!  When I dropped him off for school the day of Fall Festival I was so excited for him because two of his best buddies were also dressed up as football players but they were so envious of Aidan's eye paint. Proud mommy moment that I thought enough to add all the extras to his costume!

Halloween Parade

Cookie Decorating

Getting ready for the "hay ride"

Candace and Cole came over and joined us.  We had a great picnic and I got to dote on my sweet nephew. I mean is Cole not the cutest?! He is walking and trying to talk up a storm.  I love to ask him for hugs.  Look at those eyes, those cheeks, that complexion! He is just perfect!

Hay ride with his buddies. 

Next up...our annual family trip to the Pumpkin Patch!



Friend of The Week

Aidan is FRIEND OF THE WEEK this week at school.  I knew it was coming up and had to be a very serious situation because we were sent a calendar at the beginning of the year with every one's week pre picked and a short letter on how to prepare.

While I love the fact that his teachers are trying to think outside the box and do something a little more hands on involving the parents outside of the classroom tell me why they think that a 4 year old is going to come home, open the "FRIEND OF THE WEEK" binder and read the 6 pages of what that entails.  NEWS FLASH. They aren't. The parent that has worked 8 hours all day, come home to cook dinner drive the family to Noodles and Co. , folded 4 loads of laundry,  bathed and put to bed her four year old and prayed for an extra ten minutes where she might actually be able to shower herself will have to read it when all she really wants to do is over pour herself a glass of wine, get in her bed, flip through the catalogs from the mail that day and beg her husband to rub her back.

So "FRIEND OF THE WEEK" looks like this.  It's five days of "activities" you do with the giant stuffed Clifford that has been sent home with your child.  Every night you get to read the same Clifford book.  (This is actually a nice change from hearing Adam sing off tune the Puff the Magic Dragon jingle.)  Since Aidan's teacher was out sick on Monday we are being punished we are a few days behind on our activities and didn't get the tote bag full of dog, book and binder until yesterday.  As usual I was running around the house at 1am trying to put together his "3 or 4" items to share with the class and his favorite book. Oh you bet your happy a** I put Puff right in there. And I hope Aidan makes his teacher read it not once but 25 times and says "sing, sing, sing" like he does with us every night.  Back to the 3 or 4 items.  They are recorded in the "binder".  Well of course I pressure myself to be creative because every other mom is going to see what we shared via the pictures we have 2 days to take and develop (who does that anymore) and glue in to the binder. 

Our selections look like this: The wood checker set Aidan covets.  It comes with 40 pieces that will inevitably be left behind at school.  See where I am going with that one?  Yup, my kid plays checkers. Wait, no he doesn't but you will think he does because of the picture.  Next up, a plastic fireman. Because we have 500 of them and I think it will sound nice if I can convince Aidan to say something to his class about how brave firefighters are and how his grandfather bribed the fire department to let him ride on a truck once (that is actually a true story). The third item, a plastic photo album that Aidan likes to carry around. Obviously with the best photos I've ever taken with any and all family members inside.  I need those moms to know that while they see me day after day in no make up and yoga pants, I actually do get dressed and know what mascara looks like.

Tonight, I'll be making a Clifford puppet out of a "kit" they included in our binder (Yeah!) and I will probably be at Kinko's around midnight printing color copies of pictures I took of the Kid with Clifford in different outfits last night so no one would know I cheated and got all this done a few days early so I won't miss CMA's Country Christmas on Thursday night. 

Can't wait!

As Usual, a fuzzy iPhone photo.  Aidan and Clifford at the vet last night.  Clifford and Scout got treated for fleas. Are you dying over those Moose antlers? Me too!

**For the record Aidan has really been looking forward to this week (I have been pumping him up for it) and is loving having Clifford home and that alone makes the little bit of work worth it!**

My Boys

I never get tired of watching these two together.

Lately they love to read books at bedtime on the iPad.

Dream Job

Last week sometime I asked y'all if you had any questions you wanted to ask me and so this week I'm going to answer them.  First up...Monica asked:

Hey April,

 

I love your blog and I think your family is awesome!!! I know you just started working recently and I was wondering what your dream job would be??

 

Thanks,

Monica

Thanks for the question Monica. For those of you that don't know, Monica works with me.  As a matter of fact, we share a desk.  Haha. 

But to answer the question before I had Aidan, my big dream was to be an Interior Designer.  But I lost myself in a relationship for a little while and that dream kind of fell of the map.  

Then I got a new man and happy again and I spent a little time working for a kitchen design company.   Learning a little bit about the construction side of design.  I loved it but I was still spending my Saturdays in fabric stores, furniture warehouses and flooring showrooms daydreaming about bringing fabulous rooms together.

Fast forward and I got pregnant.  A baby comes out of that equation {obviously} and suddenly being a Mom is all I want to do.  It became and still is MY DREAM JOB.  I can't speak for all mom's but I would imagine that all of us want to just stay home and raise our kids.  I spent the last 3 years and 8 months with the best thing that ever happened to me.  Everyday he got up and I helped him grow and learn and thrive and come on, who wouldn't love that?  Plus, he paid me in hugs and unconditional love. 

So there you have it Monica, my dream job is to be a Mom.  Maybe a mom that could afford my own health insurance so I could always stay home but that shizz it out of control expensive soooo here I sit in an office typing this post while a nice friend is watching my son so I can make sure if he hurts himself, he'll get the best care.  But now that I think about it, I guess that is part of the job.

Shades

4 Wheelers

I have mentioned before Adam and I bought Aidan a Power Wheel for Christmas.  He had previously had a small green 4 wheeler that a dear friend of mine purchased for his 1st birthday but we upgraded this year to the "big boy" as Adam likes to call it.  If I a "big boy" goes 2 to 5 miles per hour then call it what you want.   You have all met Aidan's best bud Ryland in prior posts.  When his dad and our good friend Mike, has him for the weekend I try my hardest to make sure the boys are able to get together.  Santa also gifted Ryland with a new four wheeler this year.  They have a great time out on Mike's land {the country house} riding through the trails together.   Here are some photos from one of their afternoon's riding.  It shocks me how brave they are on these things!

 Don't they almost look real?

Thanks Mike for always inviting us out! We have the best time with you guys! xoxo



Valentine's Photo Shoot

This is hopefully the last of the Valentine's Day posts. They are getting out of control! I just wanted to share with y'all the super cute pictures I snapped of Aidan while we were trying to capture the perfect picture for his Valentine's.  He is such a good sport and so used to having his picture taken, it only took me about 10 minutes to get these shots.  It was hard to choose which one to use on his cards because they were all cute. In the end, I let Adam choose the one we used and I am really happy with it!  I think I will have these printed and put up in his playroom.

{This is the shot we used on his cards}

{This was my favorite}



Happy Valentine's Day~Card Edition

I am finally finished with Aidan's Valentine's!  I think they turned out so cute. This is where the sign I made on Friday was put to use!  Saturday afternoon I threw on Aidan's Vday Tshirt and we headed outside to snap a few shots of him holding the sign and to make our very own Valentine Picture Cards. We gave some out to family today and even though I think they are a little biased, the reception was wonderful.  The picture turned out so well. 

And here's how we {me} made them:

I bought a pack of foam from Wal Mart. I wish they had had just a pack of red or white or even pink but they were rainbow colored. I chose to use the white and red.  First thing I did was measure the size of the sheet of foam.  I then cut it down to two 4 x 5.5 inch pieces with my craft knife.

{I seriously apologize for the quality of these pics. My camera was dying last night and did not want to focus}

I then cut 25 adorable photos of my sweet Aidan down to the same size. They were already 4 inches tall so I just cut the width down to 5.5 inches.

I then covered one side of the foam in Mod Podge.

And stuck Aidan's picture to it. After that I trimmed any edges with my craft knife.

I did the same with the red foam.

I let them dry for a bit.

While they were drying I started the next step. I bought this Valentine's kit at Wal Mart.

I picked out the hearts to use and used a white paint pen to sign Aidan's name to his cards.

and a black Sharpie for the white hearts.

Then I added the little silver ribbon that came in the kit and some of my own red polka dot ribbon to the hearts.

Then I took Mod Podge and covered the back of the hearts and glued them to the back side of the foam piece.

See?

Then I let those dry for a while.

We added little heart stickers to the bottoms of the big heart and pencils Aidan had picked out that he wanted to give his friends.

And that's how easy that was! Adam asked me how much this little project cost and it was around $20.  For 25 Valentine's? Not bad.

Aidan is so excited to go to school tomorrow and show off his cards.  I think if anyone is proud of my crafty-ness it's him! He's so worth the late hours I stay up making them.   Creating fun things like this for my kids is like a dream come true.  HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY! XOXO

I am linking up to the DIY Show Off.  There are some great DIY ideas and other great Vday ideas there to check out!  Use the button in my sidebar to link there too!

Pre School Thanksgiving Feast

This year I was asked to be the room mom for Aidan's class. I have been pretty surprised at how much work it involves but to be honest, I have loved every minute of it.  This is so cheesy but I have always wanted to be room mom.  Haha!

So my first big event was our Thanksgiving Feast the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.  Here are the pictures from the big day.

Aidan's placemat and food.

 The tables set up in the classroom.

 I try to explain to all of my friends that Aidan's classroom is a tree house and no one gets it. So, I finally took a picture.  When you walk in the door of the classroom this is to the left.  You can see the walkway with the netting around it that the kids can walk all the way across the room to get to this...

 side.  It's pretty cool and I am sure every 3 year old's dream come true.

The kids sitting on their spots on the rug listening to Ms. Courtney.

Aidan getting dressed up as a pilgrim and indian.

 The whole class with Ms. Courtney and Ms. Karin

 My little pilgrim eating a pumpkin muffin.

 Sitting in the treehouse after lunch.  This picture was not posed.

 Getting ready to sing a song.  (I am not sure why Calvin has a bandage on his head but I did hear he actually had some kind of injury)



Here is a little video of them singing their Thanksgiving song.  I started the video a little late but it's still so cute!

Next Up...Christmas Show.