Sunday, June 26, 2011

Catch up

Time sure is flying by; it seems like yesterday I was swollen and complaining that I wanted to deliver my baby NOW. That was just about 11 months ago!!! Seriously, where has the time gone? My sweet little baby is almost one year old and walking and so much has happened since my last post. I am not the best at this blogging thing, but I figure if I am not journaling like I should, this is next to best for documenting parts of our lives. So here it goes...
WARNING - The following post is pretty lengthy.

January:

My cousin Amy had a baby girl just two weeks after Austin was born. We got to babysit her one day along with her almost two year old brother at the time. Austin and Mikayla were great babies that day; however I did get a glimpse of what twins would be like... I think I will pass on ever having twins :) It didn't help that I was trying to take pictures of Mikayla for her mama while having four children under four. Austin has learned how to almost get out of the swing. I came in to check on him while he was supposed to be napping and this is what I found. I started to be more diligent about buckling after this.




February:

Around mid February our neighboring apartment caught on fire and our apartment filled with smoke. Because of smoke damages we were forced to move. We were right in the middle of our second semester in nursing school and this was in no way perfect timing. So, we moved in with Grandma and Grandpa Stephens temporarily so that we could sort things out. Four days after we left the apartment we went to Disneyland. Can I just say, I LOVE Disneyland. I could spend every vacation there. Aiden was 42 inches so he could ride almost every ride there was... well, except Indian Jones. He was not the biggest fan of Space Mountain but I am proud of him for trying it. I was really sad that Splash Mountain was closed and he wasn't able to experience that one, next time for sure. His all time favorite ride for this trip was the Matterhorn, which I was surprised about. But, he loved it and we rode it more than enough times. I think 5 to be exact. While we were in California, we went to medieval times. I highly recommend this to anyone in the area. It is a full course meal served while watching knights in shining armor joust and do all sort of other medieval things on horses. Aiden really loves swords and so this was right up his alley. He couldn’t take his eyes off the arena. The meal consists of a whole chicken, a bbq rib, potatoes, bread and soup. There is also a dessert at the end which I cannot think of right now. There are even gluten free options which we were so happy about because Eric could enjoy a meal like ours. Oh and did I mention there are no silverware, so the food is prepared in such a way that you can eat like medieval timers' did.



March:

Mr. Aiden had his fourth birthday party at Pump it up. The kids had a lot of fun and it was totally worth the money spent. The party was super hero theme, each boy got a super hero shirt to wear, most of the boys actually wore their shirts too. They were all so cute together. The little girls got pretty headbands to take home because I didn't figure they would appreciate a Spiderman shirt.

Austin is really starting to get around on the floor. He scoots and gets to where he needs to go. He happened to come upon a grilled cheese sandwich that some little four year old left on the ground and had even taken a few bites for himself. Austin also has two teeth now and it hurts when he bites. He is totally ahead of the game in this department when comparing to his big bro. Aiden only had one tooth at 10 months old.


April:

Every year it is tradition that we go to the Pima County fair. This year we spent a little bit more time inside than usual. There was this cute little set up where kids could go and pick vegetables, check the tractor, and do all of the chores involved with a farm. Then the farmer would go over their work... I loved it because not only did it keep Aiden busy they had a nice rocking chair where I could nurse baby Austin to sleep. It was peaceful, the AC was on and it was good relax time for all of us. We did also ride some rides. Not so much, mommy, daddy and Austin. But Aiden had a good time on the little kid rollercoasters. We spent Easter in Pinetop with my parents. The weather was so nice, we enjoyed the movies, browsing antique shops, riding go karts, riding bikes and relaxing in Bishop Mosley's cabin. We spent every Saturday morning at Aiden's t-ball games. This is his first year playing a sport on a team. He loved it. He loves his practices each week and looks so cute sporting his cleats, baseball pants and hat. We love watching him on the field and we are trying to teach him that it is not okay to draw in the dirt while playing short stop or any position for that matter. The first time his coach put him in as catcher he was so mad. He said "I can barely walk, I can't talk and I am not playing this." He did not like the big equipment especially the helmet that left him feeling so restricted. The second time around he was asked to play catcher he was great. I think it just took that first time of warming himself up to the equipment.

                   Mom, can I please go to church like this? Um, no Aiden!



May:

May was a very busy month. The first week, we moved out of Grandma's house and into our own place. It is nice to be back in our own element again. Eric and I finished up with our nursing school finals just two day shy of our sixth wedding anniversary. We are so thrilled about spending the summer with our boys not worrying about school at all. We celebrated our anniversary with dinner and a movie. We also got a new puppy. His name is Hercules; big thanks to Aiden for picking out that name. He is the tiniest little Yorkshire terrier weighing in at 2 pounds. He reminds us a lot of our sweet girl yorkie - Zoey who passed away three years ago. Aiden graduated from his first year of preschool at Ms. Dana's. He loved going to preschool each week and looks forward to going again in August. He has learned so much this past year and we are so grateful for Ms. Dana and all the love and time she puts into her preschool kiddos.




June:

Austin is ten months old. I can't even believe it. This year really flew by. He is also almost walking. He pushes his cute little car/cart around and is making some good progress. Maybe he will be walking by the time he is one just like his brother.

One of our favorite family vacations is the LAKE. We go every year. Aiden starts talking about the lake in February and by the time June comes I just can't wait to hit the road to the lake because I am so sick of saying soon Aiden, not yet Aiden, soon. The nights were cold and I didn't come prepared for that. The first night was okay but the second night we froze. I kept Austin in the middle of Eric and me so that he could keep warm by our body heat. He was also dressed nicely in warm pajamas so I am pretty sure he was comfortable. Aiden was inside a warm sleeping bag, he didn't seem to notice anything. But Eric and I froze, we fought over the only blanket we had and my toes took hours to un-thaw the next morning when we got up. Other than that, the days were nice. We went on boat rides, little cliff jumping, tubing and swimming to the boo-ie (is that even a word, I do not know how to spell it, but it’s the orange things in the water that signal a warning of some kind. Like slow down, no wake or there is a big rock under here, don't drive your boat over it. Okay, you get the idea.)

Aiden celebrated his last t-ball game and closing ceremonies on one scorching hot day in June. He is stoked about his first trophy ever and displays it proudly in his room.