Ode to Aiden

Aiden turns two next week, so in honor of him I have prepared the following prose (please bear in mind that I am not a poet):

It does not seem that long ago when on that September day,

God graced us with a little boy and no crying came our way.

A happy child, he'd prove to be so well loved and adored.

When singing with the 'Tiger' song he always strikes the chord

With big brown eyes, he's quick to smile and torment ladybugs.

Intelligent beyond his years, he talks and offers hugs;

This little man has won our hearts, our family he completes,

Such blessings now ours because of him, our cup became replete.

He is all boy, loves, trucks and blocks and digging in the dirt.

He'll flash his smile and melt your heart, he is a little flirt.

Each day he learns, grows and explores, knowing no need to fear it.

Our lives enriched our hearts are full and we are grateful for this spirit.

The Fourth of July

The fourth started with a flag raising at our church which was pretty neat. People who were arriving to stake out their places even stopped and put their hands on their hearts. It was Jason's idea but lots of people said that they were so glad we had it so maybe next year we'll do it again.

After the flag raising we set out to watch the parade. It was neat and lasted waaayyy too long. By the end the kids had had enough and I have to say they had a ton of candy.

Lastly we had a few families over for dinner and fireworks. I only snapped some pictures at the very end so here are some pictures from then.

Ward Activity and Shooting Afterward

Well, on Saturday we held another ward activity and the turnout was better but still not great. We held the Highland Games complete with Scottish dancers and a bagpiper. We had caber tosses, tire tosses and stone puts for adults and the kids. We also had face painting, rootbeer and otterpops so it was a good time. Those who came had a lot of fun and that's all that matters. Afterward we had lunch with Jason's brothers and drove out to a range and shot Jason's gun that Grandpa gave him.

More Dancing

Monster Basketball

Watch Out for Isaac!!

Stone Put

Grandpa's Gun: It was fun and the boys were soooo excited. Needless to say, Jason's in love with his new toy.

Daniel was so funny because he was sooo excited, he was like one of those yappy dogs that jumps around saying, 'Hey boss what do you think boss can we do it boss? Can we, can we, can we??!!!'

Yes, even I got involved in the festivities and I wasn't even sore the next day!

In the end, the day was too much fun for these boys

Isaac Turns Four

Well, last week we celebrated Isaac's 4th birthday! We can't believe that our little man is four. Soon he'll be in school and irritating his sister just because he can...wait, he already does that. Anyhow, it was all things Spiderman at our house, Spiderman cake, decorations, etc it was a Spiderman 'splosion. But, he had a great time and picked Arctic Circle for dinner. Then that night, we had his uncles over for another round of cake and presents. He also got all things Spiderman for his presents. He sure felt the love as he was sooooo spoiled. But, he did tell me that this was, "the most awesome Spiderman birthday ever!" So, it was worth it.

Here are some more pictures to enjoy. Mostly decorations and the kids in the bounce house. He had LOTS fun with his friends. As a side note, what do you think of Ila's hair?

The Spiderman Pinata. I know it looks like a fifth grader did it but, hey, it worked for my four year old.

Jason is way better at streamers than I am, but I managed to make it work.

Gotta love having your own bounce house...

Ahh the cake, yes, it's freehand and it's an ice cream cake. But as far as cakes go, I must say this one was easy. The hard part was frosting it fast enough so that the ice cream didn't melt. Which is why it's cracked in center because obviously, I wasn't fast enough...

Presents!!!

Trip to Oregon

We recently took a trip back to Oregon to visit with our families. The kids loved playing with their cousins and seeing all of their grandparents. The nice thing is that we weren't rushed to do stuff, we were just able to hang out and relax. We'll be heading back again in August for Kaylen's baptism so that will be great for the kids. In the meantime, they're both in school right now and will be until mid May then in June it's gymnastics and July sees the addition of swimming lessons (for both). So, we'll be pretty busy this summer. Oh, the drama of having fun!

Jason is working full time and we've noticed a significant improvement is his mood so we're glad school will FINALLY be done in December, it's nice to have the fun loving non-stressed Jason back. We're hoping that finding a job and moving is an easy transition.

Finally, I must explain the video. We were outside and I was weeding a flower bed with my back to the kids. All of a sudden I hear Aiden's car sliding down the slide. I sat up and thought to myself, 'Do I really want to turn around and see what's going on?' But, I reluctantly did and saw Isaac on top of Aiden's car on top of the slide. He proceeded to slide down it and land in the turtle they had pushed to the bottom of the slide. I decided to film it because this is the little boy who used to cry if a toy moved, made noise, or heaven forbid do both. At least he had his helmet on...Safety first!!!

Ila's Birthday, Mom's visit and our New to us Car...wait, no it's a short bus

All of sudden my boring life got really busy, so there's lots to talk about.  Well, our little girl is growing up...tear...on the last day of January, Ila had her fifth birthday.  I feel that day is ushering in a new year of changes in regards to Ila.  She'll be in Kindergarten soon which means that we'll be facing new challenges like peer groups, mean kids and the PTA.  There will school parties, open houses and meltdowns over her favorite shirt not being clean to wear to school.  Yes, we're on the brink of a whole new set of challenges, but before I have a panic attack, let's focus on her special day.  We had a few of her friends from school and church over.  The theme she picked was 'Barbie and the Diamond Castle.'  They all got to dress up as princesses and we ate pizza, had cake, smashed a pinata, jumped in the bounce house and watched a little Barbie and the Diamond Castle.  The best part is that my mom, sister and two nieces were able to come for a visit and just happened to be here over the time of her party.  

Kristina (mi hermana) had surgery on her shoulder so I finally talked her into coming out and staying out here for a little while where she would be less tempted to hurt herself again by using it too much.  So, she and my mom came and brought her youngest, Sophie.  Aiden and Sophie got along for the most part.  Sophie was a little rough and much to my surprise Aiden just took it.  But by the end of their stay, he started fighting back.  I think he was secretly hoping that she would leave but when she kept coming back, I think he gave up.  I think we had a good visit and it was too short.  But, they've sworn to come back in the summer with all of the girls so, we are really looking forward to that.

Finally, the last of our big events is that under much protest from myself, we got a new car.  Well, it's new to us, after all we're not high rollers...but, Jason was convinced my car would not make it past a year and he was afraid by then we would have missed our chance to buy b/c he'd be done with school and we'd be even more poor.  So, he made me sell my car, which much to my surprise someone actually bought it even though I was completely honest about what was wrong with it.  Then we fought for about a month about what kind of car, etc and he was really annoyed with Consumer Reports by the end of it.  But, we did a lot of compromising and research and finally settled on a Ford Windstar...hold the comments please.   I hate mini vans but, it was just such a good deal that we had to take it and it wasn't on the Consumer Reports bad list for that year, so, we're all happy.  When it comes down to it, we've been really blessed through this whole thing, and we came out both winning.  I got to pay bills and he got a new car.  

The Holidays

Well,  I know I promised to get you some pictures from Halloween, but, at least I put them up...so what if they're in with Christmas...Quick recap from Halloween: Halloween was fun, we mounted a wireless camera on our door and rigged a scary sounds speaker that we could control from inside coupled with the fog machine hidden behind the door.  We routed the camera through the TV so that we could see who was there and if it was age appropriate to frighten them.  Jason's brother Jody took Ila and Isaac out trick or treating and Aiden for a little while, but he ended up back with us shortly.  Jason's cousin Rachael and Tyler brought their little boy by and we visited for a while.  

After that Jason promptly put up our Christmas stuff the day before Thanksgiving.  His folks came out and were here for a few days.  They had a lot of fun with the children and we had a good visit with them.  Sometimes I forget how much they can change in just a few months b/c I'm with them day in and day out, so it's kind of fun for me to see the grandparents react to them when they first see them.  

Then of course came Christmas.  Jason was out of school and it was really really great to have him home more and on a regular schedule.  It's nice to just focus on work and not have to split the focus between work and school.  We stayed here in Idaho for Christmas (the weather was horrible and was just too long and dangerous to make the trip with the kids).  Rexburg pretty much closes down when the college is out of session which is nice.  Suddenly the town is full of better drivers, all of the good movies are left in Redbox and you don't have to be annoyed at every restaurant (or public establishment) by young couples who are full of puppy love.  I'm sorry, did that sound harsh...anyhow, we spent Christmas break battling the flu, counting down the days on the advent calendar, playing in the snow (and building a totally wicked sled run in our front yard), spending money we don't have and eating LOTS of goodies.  Then finally, Christmas came some how or other it came just the same (for all of you Grinch fans)!!! The kids were up at 7 AM but we were able to hold them off (with much trickery and cunning) until 8 AM so we could get both sets of grandparents on the webcam vicariously partake in the traditional opening of presents.  Between you and me, my kids weren't that good this year but they still made a haul.  We're looking into renting a storage unit just for their presents.  Next year, we have agreed to scale down so that way when they're older and they want all of the newest high tech gadgets and gizmos they'll be acclimated to disappointment.  The kids had a blast and they are still playing with all of their new toys and loving life.  

I have to tell you one small story about Ila and Isaac.  Ila from the get go had decided she wanted a 'Barbie and the Diamond Castle Doll' for Christmas, a few weeks before she decided she wanted Liana instead of Alexa which was just fabulous considering for a month she had been asking for Alexa (which we bought in September and had hidden in the cedar chest), so my Mom rescued us there and got her Liana.  Now she has both and we are blessed with the joyous duet they can belt out together (the dolls, though the kids do sing along as well).  Isaac, our little cars nut and army guy captain had told us he wanted a Hot Wheels track that went around in circles so we had purchased that when we purchased the Alexa doll.  Well, we went to see Santa Claus and he told Santa he wanted a singing Troy doll (for those of you lucky enough to not get it, 'Troy' is Zac Efron in the High School Musical trilogy).  Yeah, no matter how hard he tried, Jason just could not convince him to go with a more masculine toy, poor dad...So, Christmas came and Ila opened Alexa first and was thrilled to have her, no mention of not getting Liana yet, and Isaac looked at Alexa and said, "Hey...where's my singing Troy doll?!" So, I suppose the lesson for us here is that letters to Santa are a good thing from now on.  We had a lot of un and now we are getting ready for Ila's birthday party at the end of the month so toward the beginning of February look for an update.  She wants a 'Barbie and the Diamond Castle' party (can you tell she's in a phase?).