Aiden is starting to put little sentences together and it is awesome. His favorite right now is "Aiden do it." You would think he was a teenager because he sure does think he can do everything! It cracks us up! If you ask him a question, he actually give you an answer, but he usually starts out by saying ummm... and then there is a pause while he thinks about his answer. For example, we went to the zoo on Friday and I asked him what we saw at the zoo and he responded "ummm.... (pause), lions, elephants, trains, people" I was quite impressed. If he's not saying Aiden do it, then he's saying Mommy do it. He and I are two peas in a pod that's for sure. He wants mommy to do everything, which honestly gets a little exhausting sometime, but I have to remember that these moments are fleeting and someday he will want me to do nothing for him! He loves Cale and is starting to get in that stage where he wants to do everything, say everything that big brother does. It's so cute and so far Cale doesn't seem to mind :) You have to hug and kiss everyone good night, even the dogs. One of the other things you say that's so cute is "what happened" and you put your little arms out gesturing when you say it. Last night you were playing with a toy elephant and you said "elephant crying" and I asked why and you said "eat" and proceeded to feed him pretend food. This literally went on for like 20 minutes where you just kept saying elephant crying and then you and your brother wanted to strip down to your diaper and underwear and run around like naked babies. Where does your energy come from?
Aiden-daddy and I adore and love you. You mostly have us in stitches, even though somedays lets be honest, you are a strong willed child and mentally exhaust us. You definitely know how to say know and throw a fit and have learned what time outs are at an early age.
We look forward to seeing where that strong will takes you-what God will do with that will, how you will develop. You and your brother are truly a blessing.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Spring Snow and winter fun
Well, spring officially arrived this week and we got a crazy snow storm today. I think we got anywhere from 6-8 inches. Cale and Jeff played outside forever! They made a huge snowball, they built a fort and of course built a snowman. Cale had a blast hanging with his daddy. Yesterday we took the kiddos to the Moolah Shrine Circus. Cale has seen a circus before, but Aiden had not. He did great for about the 1st hour. Was totally into watching the show. Then about an hour in he lost interest. I was surprised he made it that long. Cale of course loved the circus. He wanted to ride every animal! We also got a new van this weekend. We traded the Freestar in for a Honda Odyssey-hoping this one will get us by with a little more mileage than the Freestar and last longer. Although we weren't excited about spending the $, we think we got a great car that we plan to drive the wheels off of that's for sure! To give you an idea of how crazy our weather is here-we were at the Botanical Gardens last week in long sleeve shirts with no coats! Aiden got his 1st haircut last weekend. I was volunteering at the Stork Lady Sale and Cale needed a haircut so Jeff took him to get one and while he was there decided to get Aiden's cut also. At first I was like-wait a second, did you get any pictures? And Jeff said no. I was a little bummed that I wasn't there, but then I realized, my hubby was being so sweet in trying to take care of something for me and Aiden looked so darn cute with his haircut!
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| Botanical Gardens 3/15/13 |
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| Cale found one of daddy's pairs of prop sunglasses |
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| Looking good with his 1st haircut |
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| Moolah Shrine Circus on 3/23/13 |
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| Took the kiddos to the zoo a few weeks ago |
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| According to Cale-this is the biggest snowball ever from today's snowstorm! He was so proud of his snowball that he and daddy made! |
Buddies
Cale and Aiden can be the best of buddies or fighting like cats and dogs. Tonight was a sweet night where they were absolutely adorable together. For dinner tonight I made some chili which was a little spicy, so I made some cheese ravioli for this kiddos, knowing for sure Cale is not big into spicy stuff. Aiden on the other hand-he couldn't get enough of the chili. He was hilarious. After every bite he would say "hot" and then Cale would grab his water cup and give him water. Now, Aiden is perfectly capable of getting his own water, but is was hilarious how he wanted Cale to give him water every time. After every single bite he would say "hot" and Cale would give him water. Then after dinner they chased each other around the house for a good 20 minutes just giggling and laughing (until Cale bonked his head pretty hard and that was the end of that). After Cale calmed down, I went to clean their bathroom, while Jeff vacuumed. It was awfully quiet in Aiden's room so I went to check on them. There they sat-each with there own book just quietly reading. It was awesome! I am so excited to see them grow up as brothers and friends. Even though they can fight over the silliest things-you know they have an amazing love for each other too and that is awesome!
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Winter Happenings
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| A few weeks ago the weather was decent so we went to Kirkwood Park to play! |
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| I am getting ready to consign some clothes in a sale and Cale and Aiden decided to help by wearing some hangers! |
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| We got to go out with Aunt Stef to Mike Duffy's a few weeks ago. The kiddos had fun hanging with her. |
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| Now that I am part time, we hit the library every few weeks. They have computer games, little puppet house and a few toys to play with. We have enjoyed checking out books and DVDs to watch. |
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| These guys and their love for angry birds cracks me up. Here's Cale playing on Jeff's phone and Jeff playing on the I-pad |
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| Hiding from mom and dad. Their new favorite thing to do-take their shirts off either before or after dinner and run around! |
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| Playing at the Magic House on 3/2/13 |
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| Such cute kiddos playing together-ok so this is not the norm they have moments where they play nice together, but at home a lot of times I feel like me and Jeff are referees! |
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| Apparently this kid likes carbs-stocking up on bread at the grocery store inside the Magic House |
Pressure
There are so many outside pressures and influences that can come into our lives. And one area where I really struggle is with being a mom. I constantly comparing myself to other moms, constantly thinking what could I do better. And now that I am part time I am thinking more of ways that I can do things around the house, especially cook more. I rarely cook anymore-and I would like to start cooking again. Ok, not everyday, lets not go crazy, but a few times a week, make a good home cooked meal.
Another thing I struggle with is feeding your kids good stuff. There's all this stuff out there about how preservatives are bad, there's the dirty 15 for fruits and veggies, and watch the meat you eat and the milk you drink. I swear there is something bad in almost everything out there right now. And it's enough to drive me crazy. I was talking to Jeff a few weeks ago about this and how I just feel like I am not doing enough when it comes to the kids and eating-that I want to do better. He is an amazing husband and calmed me down some and basically said that if we fear all this stuff and allow ourselves to stay int his spot, it can consume us. I am not saying that there isn't good stuff out there that we should read listen too, but right now I am not going to drive myself crazy over it. I am going to make a few small changes here and there-buy a few less things with preservatives, buy a few more things that are organic, and try to stay away from high fructose corn syrup. I am not going to freak out if my kids eat blueberries or strawberries because they are on the dirty dozen food list of foods with pesticides. Even the people that put that list together say that it is better to have a diet with these fruits and vegetables than to not eat them at all. I have to give myself grace-I am never going to get everything that goes into parenting right. I am not going to make the right choices every time, nor can I-it would totally consume me if I listened to everything out there-whether it's food related or how to parent and raise your kids. I will allow myself to be ok with making changes here and there and seeing what works for our family. I will carry the dirty dozen, clean 15 list in my purse, and if something sounds good on the 12 list, I will still buy it.
Jeff and I have been talking some lately too about where we will go after the condo. This is a long time off. We love our condo, we love Kirkwood and where we are at and plan on being here for quite a while. But we are talking more of having a little more land where we can plant some gardens and share the wealth of fresh grown produce with our friends and family. We would honestly someday like to have a few chickens possibly to get fresh eggs! And I am even considering getting our meat from a local farm where cows graze in open fields (this has been on my mind for a years now-even know of a friend that does it and know of a farmer, just have never pursued it).
I guess I am writing this post for myself for the future because I know that things will bother me, I will feel pressured into feeling like I am not doing enough for my family, or doing it right. I will have more days where I honestly feel like a complete failure. Maybe someday I will come across this post again and realize that I need to allow myself grace, that I am not perfect in any way, that I will mess up most likely on a daily basis. And that's ok! You see Brandi-if you are reading this now and you are having one of those days, weeks, or month after you write this post-you are ok. You are God's child first and foremost and Jeff and your children are His too. Parent with grace, love, and mercy towards your children. Accept that you will never have all the answers and never get everything right. Live in the truth that God is guiding you, will continue to guide you and has your family where they need to be whether it's in good times or bad. You can trust him, don't cling to the words and the ways and the thoughts of this world telling you how you should or should not do something. Cling to the truth of his word. Cling to the fact that you are loved by a heavenly father. Cling to the people like your husband and family whom he has placed in your life to do life with. And be ok with making choices here and there for your family, be ok with not having it all together. For I think I am starting to see more and more that it's when we don't have it all together, when we are vulnerable and trust God and let go, that that is where he grows us the most. I'm not saying that I will someday grow to be a stellar preservative free, healthy meat, egg and dairy person. For now I am going to be ok with making the choice to start small and see where our choices for our family go. I'm going to look to my husband Jeff to help lead our family and talk through these issues whether they seem so minute or huge and together we will guide our family of 4, look to God for guidance and strength, patience, hope when we don't have it and we will continue to juggle our way through our beautiful life!!!
Another thing I struggle with is feeding your kids good stuff. There's all this stuff out there about how preservatives are bad, there's the dirty 15 for fruits and veggies, and watch the meat you eat and the milk you drink. I swear there is something bad in almost everything out there right now. And it's enough to drive me crazy. I was talking to Jeff a few weeks ago about this and how I just feel like I am not doing enough when it comes to the kids and eating-that I want to do better. He is an amazing husband and calmed me down some and basically said that if we fear all this stuff and allow ourselves to stay int his spot, it can consume us. I am not saying that there isn't good stuff out there that we should read listen too, but right now I am not going to drive myself crazy over it. I am going to make a few small changes here and there-buy a few less things with preservatives, buy a few more things that are organic, and try to stay away from high fructose corn syrup. I am not going to freak out if my kids eat blueberries or strawberries because they are on the dirty dozen food list of foods with pesticides. Even the people that put that list together say that it is better to have a diet with these fruits and vegetables than to not eat them at all. I have to give myself grace-I am never going to get everything that goes into parenting right. I am not going to make the right choices every time, nor can I-it would totally consume me if I listened to everything out there-whether it's food related or how to parent and raise your kids. I will allow myself to be ok with making changes here and there and seeing what works for our family. I will carry the dirty dozen, clean 15 list in my purse, and if something sounds good on the 12 list, I will still buy it.
Jeff and I have been talking some lately too about where we will go after the condo. This is a long time off. We love our condo, we love Kirkwood and where we are at and plan on being here for quite a while. But we are talking more of having a little more land where we can plant some gardens and share the wealth of fresh grown produce with our friends and family. We would honestly someday like to have a few chickens possibly to get fresh eggs! And I am even considering getting our meat from a local farm where cows graze in open fields (this has been on my mind for a years now-even know of a friend that does it and know of a farmer, just have never pursued it).
I guess I am writing this post for myself for the future because I know that things will bother me, I will feel pressured into feeling like I am not doing enough for my family, or doing it right. I will have more days where I honestly feel like a complete failure. Maybe someday I will come across this post again and realize that I need to allow myself grace, that I am not perfect in any way, that I will mess up most likely on a daily basis. And that's ok! You see Brandi-if you are reading this now and you are having one of those days, weeks, or month after you write this post-you are ok. You are God's child first and foremost and Jeff and your children are His too. Parent with grace, love, and mercy towards your children. Accept that you will never have all the answers and never get everything right. Live in the truth that God is guiding you, will continue to guide you and has your family where they need to be whether it's in good times or bad. You can trust him, don't cling to the words and the ways and the thoughts of this world telling you how you should or should not do something. Cling to the truth of his word. Cling to the fact that you are loved by a heavenly father. Cling to the people like your husband and family whom he has placed in your life to do life with. And be ok with making choices here and there for your family, be ok with not having it all together. For I think I am starting to see more and more that it's when we don't have it all together, when we are vulnerable and trust God and let go, that that is where he grows us the most. I'm not saying that I will someday grow to be a stellar preservative free, healthy meat, egg and dairy person. For now I am going to be ok with making the choice to start small and see where our choices for our family go. I'm going to look to my husband Jeff to help lead our family and talk through these issues whether they seem so minute or huge and together we will guide our family of 4, look to God for guidance and strength, patience, hope when we don't have it and we will continue to juggle our way through our beautiful life!!!
Hugs and Kisses
We have this sweet family routine at night that I just love. It's called hugs and kisses time. When Aiden goes to bed at night, whoever is not putting him down, he goes up to them and gives them a big hug and kiss and then he goes over to Cale and does the same. Every night. Super cool. We just say to him, night-night time and hugs and kisses and usually he just walks right over to one of us and then to Cale and does his thing. It's a sweet little family moment that I am treasuring right now!
Snow!
We had a pretty decent sized snow storm last week. Cale likes going out in the snow, however he's never been sledding. We don't even own a sled! Jeff was able to borrow a sled from a friend and we have a decent hill right next to our condo so we went sledding there and Cale loved it! We went out Saturday and Sunday and Cale had a blast. Aiden even went down a few times too. Although we had to pick him up and carry him back up the hill. He wanted nothing to do with his boots or anything else touching the snow!
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