Christmas Eve

It is our tradition to always open up one gift on Christmas Eve. So before going to church for the Christmas Eve candlelight service we all had fun tearing into the paper except Scott because I surprised him with a new grill. I had to buy it on Christmas Eve so he wouldn't know and I had to keep it in the van until the last minute...it was way too heavy for me to get out by myself.

I loved the calendar the boys gave me. I can display a photo on each month's page.

Aiden loved his push popper. I have a feeling this is going to be the cause of some headaches, but lots of fun!

Yes, boxing gloves. He LOVES them! I'm hoping he can burn off some of the boy energy!

Trying to get that great Christmas card picture...uggh!

Trying to get that perfect Christmas card picture is always such a chore. I almost didn't send out cards because I could never get a picture without one of them with their eyes closed, or looking away, or jumping off a rock, etc. But I finally got lucky with this black and white. The others are some of the not so poised ones.

Ryan's Christmas program at the WEE center.

I was running a little late (as usual now that I have Aiden to get ready) so I had to sit in the back. As the kids all entered in, Ryan didn't see me. He began to pout and I could read his lips on my zoomed camera. He said "my mama didn't come." :( That broke my heart and I stood up and started waving and it got his attention and the biggest smile popped on his face and he made the I love you sign with his hands. And I got a picture of it - priceless!

If you look closely to his right hand you can see the I love you sign.

Gingerbread party and Letter requesting Rocco the magic elf to spend the Christmas season with us.

Ryan enjoys making Gingerbread houses each year at the Wee center, but this year I think he almost ate more candy than he decorated with.

Make a Smilebox greeting

2009 Thanksgiving

Afternoon at Trussville Springs

Oh my how time flies when you're having fun. Ryan's birthday, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and now getting ready for Christmas. How can the days go by so fast when you get older? Seems like the days moved slower when I was young.

Halloween was great. Ryan was the Red Power Ranger and Aiden used Ryan's hand-me-down dragon costume. This was the first year that Ryan really got into the scarey stuff. He must have begged everyday for us to get some scarey decorations in our yard. --I didn't give in. We celebrated by going to our church's Trunk or Treat on Wednesday, which he completely loved playing with his friends including Hudson there. We raked in the candy, but that didn't stop us from going out to a neighborhood on actual Halloween night.

Thanksgiving was so wonderful having my brother Kirk and his family here with us. They spent the week with us and we had great fun. The first day they were here we tried to go see Sarah Palin at her book signing at Books-a-Million but you had to have tickets ahead of time. We did get to see Santa though. Ryan was amazed that Santa was at the Great American Cookie Company getting coffee. He got to shake his hand and everything. What a great bonus! We also went shopping, went bowling and yes my niece Lainey threw the ball behind her. The kids enjoyed playing games, and seeing Uncle Kirk's magic tricks. I think Ryan has a new mission in life. He gave it his best shot. Which gave us all a good laugh. My twin nieces turned 13 on Friday---I can't even believe it. Again, this time passing thing is getting to me. It seems like yesterday that I was in the hospital at their birth. They've grown into wonderful young ladies! We captured that in some of the photos at the Trussville Bridge. I enjoyed having little models for me to practice on. My boys are so not interested in having their picture taken. You will see that by one picture of Ryan's hand blocking the camera.

So now out with the Fall and in with the red and green, angels and snowmen, and most of all remembering that wonderful night that a little baby was born to change the world forevermore. Our prayer is that you and your family will be able to enjoy this season of celebration as a holiday but more than just enjoying baked goodies, and Santa's wonderland, we hope that you can celebrate this HOLYday and share the love of the One that laid down His life that we may live.

Happy Fall Y'all!

October has to have been the rainiest month of the year. I think we have seen rain everyday or at least close to it. With all the rain that means we have been inside way too much. I'm having to get creative and that kind of runs thin in my genes. But we have kept busy. We're in Fall T-ball right now. Which would be great if it would stop raining. The main bad thing is that we are having to make up so many games due to rain that the few dry days we have we have to be at the ballpark. So there are no dry days left to get things done around the house. Our yard is a jungle. I still haven't planted a fall garden....I haven't even cleaned out the summer garden yet. My flower beds are overgrown with weeds. And the deck needs to be stained. We are also hoping to put our house on the market at the beginning of 2010. We have a long way to go to get it ready to sell. Both inside and outside projects. sigh....

We've also been wanting to go to the pumpkin patch, but again the rain has kept it so muddy that we haven't ventured out there yet. But since Ryan kept begging for a pumpkin we took advantage of an Aldi store special on pumpkins for $2.49! I know..... So we had fun carving our pumpkin even if it was just store bought.

Notice Ryan's face in some of the pictures. He recently said that he wants to be and actor when he grows up so when we asked him to make a disgusted face he had a great time "acting."

Ryan at his friend Seth's b-day party

Those dance moves were rockin!

Doing the worm standing up...

Aiden was so sleepy from not having a nap. He was in a daze, but he still loved playing with his friend Kaitlyn,

The party train! It was a remote controlled juke box and cooler!

Aiden's party in Georgia

Aiden's first birthday in Georgia

Bad Blogger!

It's been a while since I've updated the blog. I've been busy and have been unmotivated to keep it up to date. So today is simply adding pictures of Aiden's first haircut on August 25th. -He didn't have much hair to begin with but we wanted to wait until after his first b-day. It would stick straight up in the air so we trimmed it down and then buzzed it. He wasn't happy with the scissors. He much prefered the buz clipper. Just like his big brother and Daddy!

Happy Birthday Aiden!!!! BIG NUMBER ONE!

As I sit on the couch typing, my 4 yr old is watching Zoboomafoo. Where do they come up with these shows? And Aiden is tugging on me wanting more cake batter. That's right there are sweet comforting smells wafting through my house right now, as Aiden's birthday cake is baking in the oven. The boys so enjoyed licking the batter from the beaters and Ryan had to have the bowl, because he's four you know....almost five. That makes every extra his birth right in his mind. I can certainly remember licking the spoon and beaters when my mom baked goodies, but that was only when the big brother hadn't conned me out of it somehow. I wonder if Ryan and Aiden will look back on these times with fondness as I do?

I can't believe today is already Aiden's first birthday. As every mom says "Where has the time gone?" This passed year has flown by...I think because we are having so much fun. It has been such a blessing being able to be home with the boys since February. We have made so many memories together. Some hard, but all wonderful regardless.

This morning we went to Ryan's preschool to meet his 4K teacher Mrs. Molly. I think he already has a crush. He'll only be going 3 days a week this year. He has always gone at least 4 or 5 days while I was working. But this summer he stayed home and we have had so much fun going....hang on, the cake is done I have to go get it out of the oven....Ok, I'm back. The cake looks perfect and smells delicious. I hope the icing turns out ok. As I was saying...we've had so much fun going to the zoo, Science museum, gardens, and playing in the pool, on the trampoline, and even playing school around the house. Ryan knows all of his letters and their sounds...almost. We've been working on a few sight words this summer. He enjoys learning...or certainly the praise that comes with it. He doesn't like writing too much or using scissors. He's a lefty and I think he gets frustrated a bit. We're going to try and get him some of those left handed scissors. For now he would rather use my scrapbooking slide cutter. That's way cool to him. ..a boy and his tools. Hang on again...I'm gonna lay Aiden down for a nap.

Aiden is so pitiful today. He's been sick with the worst cold. You know the kind that greets you in the morning all running down his face and onto his crib rail as he stands there crying for you to get him out. I hope you get the visual...We had tubes put in a little over 2 weeks ago and he already has another ear infection. Blah! I can't believe it. We were so hoping they would do the trick and he wouldn't get another infection. So many friends said "oh we had tubes with our child and it was like he was a different baby the next day." Well, mine was different all right. He got sick...probably picked something up from the hospital. Oh but I'm not irritated at all. ;) We spent $250 for the surgery and now we had to spend $108 for the ear drops for the infection. So much for a birthday present.

I will be spoiling him rotten regardless of money or no money. I've been working all week on tagging things the boys have outgrown for a consignment sale. I have to turn it all in on Saturday and then the sale is late September. I can't wait to get some cash back on all that stuff that has cluttered up our house for almost 5 years. No more swings, bouncy seats, or baby clothes for me. A little sad to see it all go, but glad to clean out the house. There is also another consignment sale going on this weekend that the Birmingham Moms of Multiples puts on. I'm hoping to get some good deals for birthday presents. We are actually planning to go to Georgia next weekend (on my birthday) to celebrate Aiden's birthday with the grandparents. So we are really just going to have cake tonight and let Aiden dig in. Pictures will surely follow.

Saturday fun

Today was such a random day but so nice to be with the fam! I got up and cooked all my boys a big breakfast...(I think that is why they were so happy the rest of the day). We worked outside a little. We started pressure washing our deck so we could put water sealant on it. Oh what a chore that was! We had to take a break for lunch and we decided to go to eat at Joe's Crab Shack. We couldn't remember how long it had been since we had been there and thought it would be fun for the boys. Ryan loved the giant sharks and stuff hanging from the ceiling. Did you know that a crab's teeth are in his stomach?! After that we went to the Galleria to the new Lego store. I wish I would have taken pictures! There is a Star Treck Enterprise there for $500! I think anything from that store would make Ryan a happy boy! He was in awe! We also went to Cindy's Cinnamon Roll bakery and got a bogo! Yum...can't you just smell the cinnamon and the yummy cream cheese icing? Okay so today would have made Jenny Craig go into a carb coma, but it was fun....to top it off we rode the carousel and we got on the tiger, yes! After we got home Scott got out and finished pressure washing the back deck! While he was outside I was playing with Aiden in the living room and he took 3 giant steps to me! This is such a fun stage. It makes my heart leap everytime he does something cute. And he is always doing something cute. He loves to jump, well, bounce. I will sing a little song of Jump, jump, jump and he bounces up and down trying to jump. He gets so excited it tickles me pink. He also is starting to say all gone...sort of. He throws his arms up and says "awww onnn." Now the boys are going to bed and it is rest time. ahh...Don't you just love fun and productive days!

McWane Center

The summer is drawing to a close and many kids have already gone back to school. For us preschool parents that means the crowds are going down at fun places, so today we ventured out to the McWane Center. (That is the Kid's Science Museum and play center for those not from B'ham.) Ryan got so excited when I told him we were going to meet our friends Hudson, Kaitlyn, and their mom down there. Even the drive downtown was exciting for him. I remember as a kid loving the skyscrapers and buildings downtown. The kids had a blast and I think they could have stayed all day. Ryan is such a social butterfly. What a difference it makes to have a friend along. We started the day with a picnic lunch we took into the snack shop. Its funny how boys want to eat all day long when they are bored, but when they have a friend along eating is not top priority. The boys enjoyed just about everything there including: repairing the car, playing in the "Just Mice Size" play land, the tornado exhibit, the greenscreen weather forcast, playing archaelogists and digging for dinosaur bones, and they even managed to have fun in the gift shop. They were a little bit leery of the shark petting tank, which was the whole reason I was taking Ryan. I thought he would love it, but he was timid about touching them. Overall, the day was a blast! I think I may have had just as much fun as the kids!

Kaitlyn's b-day party

We had a wonderful time at our friend Kaitlyn's birthday party last Sunday. The place was called Gymboree and it was perfect for a party with kids ranging from a year to 5 years. Kaitylyn was born just a couple of weeks before Aiden and her older brother Hudson was born just a couple of weeks before Ryan. So we are just growing up together!

Botanical Gardens, Aug 1st.

Ever since we lived in Ft. Worth, I have always loved going to Botanical Gardens. I'm trying to pass that love for nature on to our boys. The other day Ryan asked to go to the garden with the fish so I guess it is rubbing off some. So after packing up snacks and drinks we headed to the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. We walked all over that place. Every now and then on the walk he would say "O Mama, that is beautiful. Do you think that is darling?" I guess he has heard me say that a time or two. Aiden enjoyed himself too. But as I would park the stroller to take in a view, he would bounce back and forth as to say "keep moving, lady." Here are a few of our memories.

Growing up so fast.

Not feeling so good today. I have another sinus headache. So this will be short and sweet. I just didn't want to forget it. Ryan and I were talking about something (which now, I've already forgotten) but he looked at me and said, "Mama that is just so distressing to me." I just had to laugh, and he said, "well, it was!" Then later he killed a bug and said " I was only a little terrified." Everyday is filled with cute little sayings that surprise me coming out of his mouth. I wish I could write them all down and never forget the moment. This summer has gone by so fast and he has grown up so much. How can I make time slow down? Also, Aiden is saying mama, and dada now. He said his first "real" word yesterday which was "ball." It has gotten clearer each time we cheer for him too. So cute! He's already performing for us. I love these boys!

Rainy day means updating the blog...

Today is just a rainy day and we are stuck in the house. That's probably not such a bad thing. Yesterday Aiden had tubes put in both ears. The procedure took less than 20 minutes. We had to get there at 6:15am and we were out of there by 8am. Ryan was such good big brother. He took care of him and thank goodness there was a playroom he could have fun in while we were waiting. Aiden slept most of the day which was nice. He never seemed to be bothered by the whole ordeal. Let's just pray the tubes keep the ear infections away.

The following are just a few random pictures of some of the fun we've been having this month.

Pool fun with friends!
Bowling with friends. Notice he tries to tell the ball which way to go.
Playing pictionary. He wrote the word!
He drew the picture!