AYDEN IS FIVE!!!!

Dear Ayden Christopher,

Today you are 5 years old! This is a very big, emotional day for mommy, for many reasons, like the fact that I remember my 5th birthday, and I can't believe I now have a 5 year old! Time just seems to pass even faster with each year. But if there is anything that having you and your brother has taught me, it's to enjoy and savor every moment of your childhood, because I know with a blink of an eye, you will have a 5 year old yourselves! You are truly a joy to be with. You encompass and define every fun, magical, exciting thing about childhood and I love watching you and seeing the world through your eyes. You and your brother are my greatest dreams brought to life, and I couldn't be more proud of the little boy you have become! You make us laugh everyday, amaze us with your quick wit and intelligence, and have a sweet and loving soul. Next week you will start preschool 3 days a week and only 1 year from now you'll be at school more days than you're home. I am so grateful to have another year of free and carefree days to spend with you at home before the exciting and grown-up world of school begins! Here are your answers to 20 questions I asked you about your favorite things at 5 years old!!

Favorites:
Color- purple
Toy-microphone and tractor
Fruit-apples
TV show- Max and Ruby
Lunch- Hot dogs and ketchup
Thing to wear: costumes and "comfy" shorts :)
Sport: baseball
Video game: Captain Jones "Indiana Jones"
Board game: Toy Story Memory
Snack: Goldfish crackers
Animal: Moose or Wolf
Song: you said, "The one I made up!--Oh, baby, you're so sweet to me!" (you really did make this song up a couple months ago, and sing it to me all the time! :)
Book- Even Monsters Need Haircuts
Best Friend- Elijah
Cereal- Captain Crunch
Thing to do outside- swing
Drink- Milk
Holiday- Halloween
Thing to take to bed- Fox in Socks
Breakfast- pancakes
What do you want for dinner on your birthday? "probably pizza"
What do you want to be when you grow up? Paleontologist

Happy 5th Birthday Ayden!!! We love you SO much!!!!!

23 months!

Well, our little E has reached the age where I stop counting his age in months! You know what that means....he's almost the big TWO! I can hardly believe my baby is almost such "big" age now! He is looking and acting so much more like a little boy than a baby these days! This month we have seen leaps and bounds in his vocabulary! He still talks in his very distinct "Ethan-ese" much of the time, but is saying/repeating words constantly. This is new for him, he hasn't been the big talker of the family! His current loves are:

-He is so busy getting into shananigans all the time!! He is a MESS! Dumping out toy boxes, unfolding laundry, pulling dishes out of cabinets,coloring on the walls and floor, chasing the pets and pulling their tails, pouring out drinks on the floor, throwing food in floor, smashing/smearing food all over table, climbing into the fireplace....just to name a FEW!
-Coloring! He colors at least 2-3 times a day, he loves it!
-Trains (Choo-Choos) and Trucks (Tucks)
-favorite shows- Barney, Yo Gabba Gabba and Calliou
-playing with action figures/superhero toys
-looking at books
-playing picture/object identification games on the iPad
-eating!! specifically cheese, bananas (mananas), animal crackers, pickles, mac and cheese, pancakes, apples (bapples), pb&j. He says "mmmmm" and smiles big when he is eating, so cute!
-He still won't drink a drop of milk! So he drinks calcium fortified orange juice and lots of ice water.

He is getting a Choo Choo big boy room for his birthday! We are painting, converting his crib to a full size bed, and completely redecorating. I am very excited to see the finished result, but also bittersweet about it not being the "nursery" anymore!

Happy 23 months to our rotten little E!!

picking out tomatoes at Memaw and Pappaws house
after a dip in the pool :)

Instead of napping...he was doing this instead!

Branson Vacation!

Yesterday we returned home from a little 3 night getaway to Branson! We had a really fun time! As our first "vacation" with 2 kids, we learned that vacationing with kids is HARD work! But so, so worth it to see those smiles and create memories! I have so many happy memories of vacations with my family when I was a kid, and I'm looking forward to lots of fun trips with our little guys! We are currently in the process of planning a week at Disney World in April, I can't wait!! We are also waiting until right before we leave to tell Ayden so it can be a huge surprise for him :)

We stayed at a waterpark resort, and it was a blast! Friday we spent all day at Silver Dollar City, and started the day having breakfast and getting to meet Scooby Doo! It was the cutest breakfast- they had Scooby themed foods, cookies, and drinks for the kids. So cute!! Ayden was beside himself excited to meet one of his very favorite characters, and couldn't wait to show him his Scooby Doo crocs :) Saturday we stayed at the hotel and swam and played all morning, all took 2 hour naps, walked across the street for pizza, and then played and swam some more until bedtime! Needless to say, the boys were exhausted each night and slept great! The room had a "kid's nook" with bunk beds. At bedtime, we hung a sheet up to make it dark, turned on their fan for white noise, and had them both asleep by 7 every night! Then we got to have some grown up time with a movie and drinks in the room! It couldn't have worked out better! For the first time in forever, Ayden slept the entire night in his own bed (he usually comes to our bed around 3 am). The first morning he woke up, realized he had stayed in his own bed, and said, "did I sleep in my own bed all night?" we said, yes you did! He said, "yes!! I knew I could do it! I'm so proud of myself" LOL!

Here are some pics from our super fun and busy vacation! I'm blogging from the couch, with an ice pack and icy hot on my back, and pain pills, steroids, and muscle relaxers on board after a trip to the dr this morning. The vacation was fun, but was NOT kind to my wimpy back! :(

happy to be on the road!

Ethan....before he got car sick!

And after our pit stop to change his clothes and wipe the carseat with
baby wipes! I'm afraid he's gonna be our carsick kid! :(

supper at Garfields at the Landing!

7 pm and fast asleep!

Ayden's reaction when we told him he was about
to meet Scooby Doo!

being silly with daddy! it comes naturally for them both! :)

seeing Scooby!!

SO excited!!

kiddie coaster ride!

Riding Huck's raft and shooting onlookers with waterguns...
Ayden's favorite ride of the day!



Taking a break from the heat to watch an amazing circus show!

photo by Ayden! :)



Ethan was 36.25 inches tall--he met the requirement to ride all the rides except the huge coasters!
We stuck with the little ones for his first time though :)
He loved them all! Even the big swinging pirate ship
(I don't even like that one!)

ready to hit the waterpark!

The kiddie pool was FREEZING at 10 am!

Ayden's favorite slide! He rode it at least 20 times!

Chris and I rode it too!
No pic of me coming down the slide, thank goodness!

Tired boy!

Brotherly love!

Add caption

Everything else!

Ok, I have now blogged more in the last hour than I have in 2 months (or more). I still have tons of pics to share, but Ethan has since woke up from his nap and colored on the tile, unfolded an entire basket of laundry, and taken every cookbook off the shelf in the kitchen and spread them all over the house. Oh, and knocked over a lamp.Gee, why don't I blog more often I wonder??!! Anyway, the rest of the pics must be consolidated into one post! Someday when I print all my blog books I will remember why I had to smash so many together!

p.s. I don't know if I mentioned that a couple months ago I went over my "storage limit" for pictures on this blog, so I now have $2.99 a month drafted from my bank account for the ability to continue to upload pics. So by golly, I'm using it to the fullest potential! :)

Ayden's end of the season t-ball party!

His first medal! :)

His first time to jump off a diving board!

Cute. Just cute.



This is the screen door out to the garage. We were outside, apparently
Max wanted to come with us!

First fit of the morning!

Jenny's baby shower!

Ayden and Guice!

Ethan and Hollister!

Brave kitty

Ayden's favorite part of the library!

Guess who loves the cat?
(I was told I couldn't put this on facebook, but
he forgot about the blog) :-)

my sweetie!

watching fireworks!



4th of July 2012!