So that I don't forget

painting his own little treasure chest while Mom paints the downstairs.

my helper who carried in all the groceries, carried them all upstairs and then unloaded all the bags. he has done it a few times in the past month. he is trying to get "big muscles."

As he becomes more comfortable writing in English I find little notes taped around the house.

working on his valentine's.

(yes - he is always wearing the same clothes in all his photos. He has to wear blue/black for school and chooses to wear the same colors on weekends sometimes too.)

So last week Aidan and i stopped at a local to shop {Patina} to pick up a gift for a friend. One of his classmates mom's works there so soon we were talking as he wandered around and eventually he came and asked me if he could buy a book. I wasn't really paying attention as I was still chatting, and I continued to chat with her while I paid for our items, (and the book) and soon we were in the car and headed home.

When we got home he was all excited about his new book and asked to forgo supper so we could start reading. He sat on my lap and we started looking through his new magic book. The pages are full of card tricks, coin tricks........ none of them seemed to excite him. Finally the truth came out. He wanted the magic book so he could make J - his little nemesis at school - disappear. And if that didn't work, he was hoping the book would show him some other tricks he could play on J - like invisibly removing J's coat so he will be cold, removing Jason's dessert from his lunch ...... etc. The whole scenario struck me as funny. I mean, we never talk about magic or anything of the sort. He complains about J regularly and I usually advise him to "be kind to his enemies." (and yes - i have met the kid and he is rather awful.) And the thought of Aidan buying a book solely for that purpose? Also funny - but lesson learned - i should ask about the book before I buy it, right? Because when he found out that the book would only show him some sleight of hand he was lost his enthusiasm and hasn't opened the book since.

So if any of you are interested in learning some card tricks i have just the book for you!

i want to squeeze him

conversation at my house last night

Me : "Aidan, what I am going to do with you, you are getting bigger every day! I don't know what to do about you!!!!"

Aidan : "Mom, what am I going to do with you? You get more beautiful every day."

Me: "Oh, don't be silly Aidan. Don't worry. I will keep feeding you healthy food and vitamins and let you grow bigger."

Aidan: "Mom - I am serious! You are! Even when you wear ugly clothes!"

Not making that up. It really happened. Spontaneously. And if he is smart, (which he is) the next time he really wants something, he will remember the way I swooped in and thanked him with a giant hug and kiss because right then if he would have asked me if he could skip his homework to go play, or for some candy or a giant pack of Pokemon cards you know I would have been all over it.

at my house......

...............the upstairs guest bedroom gets turned into a "wrapping center" and "gift holding station" this time of year. I had purchased a few vintage buttons pins at the Nokomis Craft Fair a few weeks ago and had most of them wrapped and under the tree but I kept one in the spare room just in case I needed a quick gift.

Turns out I did - for myself. I decided it was the perfect accessory for a grey sweater I wanted to wear today, the only problem is that when I

went to open the guest bedroom door it was locked.

What? Who locked the door? What is going on? My mind immediately starts to whirl with questions and run through scenarios (which involved either secret gifts or huge messes!) Then I notice Aidan sitting on the couch with a strange wire in his hands. A wire? Suddenly a little light bulb goes on in my head as I remember him asking random vendors at the No-Coast if they have a paper clip to spare. He was concerned we might need to unlock a door somewhere and wanted to be ready. (and yes, one kind vendor donated a paper clip to his cause and he proceeded to try and open every locked door he saw for the rest of the evening. )

So back to my living room conversation.

Me -"Aidan, do you know anything about this locked door?"

Aidan (nonchalantly) "Oh yeah mom, I was practicing breaking into doors. So I locked it to see if I could get back in."

Me - "Well, could you?"

Aidan, "Nope, my trick didn't work. Sorry."

So Aidan tried, James tried, I tried and the door remains locked. What I don't understand is how my sweet friend Steph was able to break open that very same lock after googling instructions during a babysitting-incident-gone-bad a few months ago. (Don't worry, she is a great babysitter, she didn't lock my kid up in a bedroom, she accidentally locked her dog in there and frantically starting calling people for help eventually finding the answers on Google. So no offense Steph, but if you can do it under emotional duress than I would think that James, (an engineer) myself, (a pretty self-sufficient handy-women) and Aidan (a budding criminal, er, scientist) should be able to get in..........

In the meantime someone (that would be you, Steph) had a broach waiting under the Christmas tree so guess what I wore to work today. (that's the beauty of gift bags, if I hadn't told you would never have known!)

Conversations

James is out of town so Aidan gets to sleep in our bed. I decided to take a little break and go to bed early too..... but of course we chatted for awhile until we both drifted off to sleep.





Aidan: Mom- what was your happiest day ever?





Me: Hmmm, I think the day you were born.





Aidan: Really? Want to know what my happiest day is?





Me: Sure - tell me all about it.





Aidan: The day I get my dog - the dog from Grandpa and Nana. I can't wait!





Me: But Aidan, we might not get that dog. Besides, Daddy and Mitch thought it was really ugly. (Mitch being the neighbor)





Aidan: I know, but they'll get used to it, just like you do when you meet ugly people but they are nice.

Summertime!

The week Stacy was here was one of the hottest this summer. She and her mom (and other family members) bravely watched all ten kids and hauled them to DVBS, Como, Costco, and the lake among other places. It wasn't my favorite week of weather but I worked every day so I didn't suffer too much, except for the fact that was the week (or rather one of the many weeks this summer) my car was acting up, and I had to drive with the heat turned up full blast to keep the engine semi-cooled down.

So back to the pictures. The kids all swam and played, and even did a little water skiing. Most of the children tried, but since only one of them is mine, I only have pictures of him trying. Sorry!





Trying to catch some fish off the dock. Aren't they all so cute in their swimsuits and life jackets?

Got one!

Heading out! He is so brave!

(Although he fell the first time, so I bribed him with a McDonald's cone to try again!)

Good thing he is taking swimming lessons this summer.

Teamwork- they are fixing the fence.

Stacy and Jen relaxing at the end of a long day.

Summer Fare

I've already complained about the heat- so I will stop doing that. (Actually, as I write this, I am sweat-free as the friendly neighborhood electrician came and fixed our wiring today. So while we still don't have central air we now have two functioning AC units, so Val and Grandma, rest assured you will sleep comfortably here.)

So this post is about Aidan's summer complaints. He doesn't mind the heat, the bugs, or going to bed while it is still light out.

He wants real food.

Last night as I made yet another summer smoothy he pleaded, "Oh Mom. can't we have some real food?"

He is going to have a long summer!

When I grow up I want to be.......

......just like Daddy.

"Conversation at Our House Today"

Aidan: "Mom, can you get me a magazine?"

Me: "What do you need a magazine for honey?"

Aidan: "Because I am pooping. And that's what Daddy reads when he poops."

Sorry James.

Aidan's Blogpost

Aidan picked out some random pictures to share with you all and told me a little blurb to write about each one. I pretty-much refrained from editing or manipulating his words, but sometimes I just couldn't help it!

Grandpa and Charlie. But Grandpa is probably calling him Chuck and scolding him here.

I am kissing the hippo, and I am going to kiss it again tomorrow after I go to Kitty Grandma's.
Daddy kissing the hippo. This is the only hippo he ever kissed. ( My mom is typing this for me!)



Daddy just saying "Hi Aidan."

Tomatoes from our neighbor

Marley and me, at my birthday party. We ate chicken and rice.

That's my mom, she looks so cute. and beautiful. (his words, people!)

My friends coming for supper. Now my friends know Nana and Grandpa.

My daddy's car is here. We hardly see his car here.

Bottles at the Chinese market.

More bottles.

Nana is giving me a high five. I have a high five exercise movie too.

That's my Grandpa, he is Naphtali's dad. Her brother is Jacob and he has lots of tattoo's that are really cool. Grandpa is his dad too. But not his wife's.

I have lots of pictures from last weekend,

but they will have to wait until I have a little more time! So until then you have to be satisfied with this................

Spring in a jar.

I shouldn't complain - we are cold and tired but at least our homes are not flooded - but I could really handle some sunshine about now!

We have a super busy week ahead, things going on every night, a birthday to celebrate and some company to look forward to. I had planned to take Friday off work so I could finish up my shopping and cleaning before my parents came, but now we will have other plans. My friend Stacy lost her Grandpa rather suddenly this weekend, so if you think of it you can keep her family in your prayers. The funeral is on Friday.

I also realized {again} that Aidan is alot like me. I have so much to do this week, and he wants two birthday cakes, one for daycare and one for when my family comes. Since we are so busy I tried to talk him into a Star Wars cake straight from the Target bakery, but noooo...... he wants to make his cakes, and make them "very special cakes" and so we have chased around to 3 grocery stores trying to find what we need for the two he picked. I have to say- I literally begged him to have a store-bought cake but he would have nothing to do with it.

Again- I apologize in advance to his wife.

Want to have a sleepover?

Someone is ready. He has been sleeping on his beanbag and making lists of all the people he wants to invite over. He recently called "Kitty Grandma" because he would like her and Nick to come for a sleepover, and he figured James could go and "keep an eye on Grandpa" (His exact words.) So, in preparation of the big day he has been sleeping on his beanbag every night..... which can't be as comfortable as he claims, because he somehow ends up in our bed every night..........

Conversation in the Car

"Aidan, do you want to go to the library tonight?"

"I will if you promise to cuddle with me when we wake up tomorrow. If you won't cuddle with me, then I won't go to the library for three more days."

Needless to say, we have a basket full of books and I have a date with my son for tomorrow morning. I can't wait!

Whistle while you work

This morning Aidan was trying to help me clean up the house before some friends come for lunch. He loves to vacuum, and he also has a newly discovered ability to whistle. So he whistled all around the house vacuuming. So cute!

Thanks buddy!

(He is also wearing a stocking cap, which he has been wearing for about 5 days straight now, including bedtime. It smells great. I don't mind though, because it is also hiding the hair we are trying to grow out, which I have to say isn't looking the best right now. He recently decided he wants to grow "skateboard hair" like the "big boys" we know. Too bad it is almost time for spring haircuts!

Overheard during bathtime

You know, LarryBoy, let's not wash up just yet. I think I am going to give you a little wine first."

"Red or white?"

"No, just bath wine."

I have no idea where he would have heard that.

Can I brag a little?

This week the cold I have had for what seems like months decided to turn into a sinus infection, so Thursday found Aidan and I at Wal-mart in search of some relief. Now, I am not a germ-a-phobe, but in this day and age if you take your child to daycare, the gym or Sunday School there are large signs posted reminding parents to not bring their child if they have had a fever/runny nose in the past 24 hours. So I find myself explaining to Aidan on a pretty regular basis that we can't go to ---- today because he has germs and we don't want to get other children sick.

So, back to Wal-mart. My sweet child picked up the basket and carried it around the store so "I wouldn't give my germs away." He also directed me to direct him to the items on the shelves I wanted so that I didn't touch anything, and yes, he loaded our goods on the conveyor belt too. He wanted to pay.... but I told him my money already had lots of germs on it, so a few more of mine wouldn't make much difference.

It's true, he is quite helpful.

Although today, as we were getting ready to go ice skating, he kept bugging me to hurry up. I informed him that if he wanted me to go faster then he could change the laundry loads. (He does this for me all the time.) However this time he looked at me smugly and said, "I don't want to help, because some day I am going to be a dad, and dad's don't do laundry."

Guess what James and Aidan are going to be doing this week.

We're back!

And so is puppy. (In case you have no idea what I am talking about you can click here.)

He not only made the trip with us this holiday, he has reclaimed his position as favored stuffed animal. We'll see how long that lasts. He has some fierce competition from sock monkey.

We had a wonderful time over the past few weeks, and now are ready to move into the new year. I have lots of fun blog post ideas that hopefully will come to fruition, and lots of pictures to share with you from our holiday travels. Unfortunately, I left my camera behind at one Grandma's house, and so we have no pictures of our Christmas celebration with James family. I also forgot to take pictures of the week Jacob and Kate were here...... Oops.

But I did remember to take some yesterday as we packed up all our Christmas decor. It always makes me a little sad and nostalgic to say goodbye to them all for a full year. Especially this Christmas. I feel like I was so busy I didn't really have time to just relax and soak up the little moments of the season. I will have to rethink my priorities next year. Maybe forget the handmade gifts........ or the purse shows......or here's a brilliant one - maybe start sewing in July instead of November. Now that's a thought.

January also marks a full year of blogging for me, something I never, ever thought I would do. So keep checking, I may have to do some fun giveaways to celebrate!

Yesterday found Aidan sitting on the toilet bawling his head off. After all the "are you, hurt? are you okay?" etc, he finally sobbed a few words, "I miss my friends and my family so much!" I guess even though I am reveling in the quietness and routine, it was all a little anti-climatic for the poor kid. I foresee alot of cards, sledding and forts in the next few weeks.

So I better go, He is waiting for me, cards in hand!

Charlie

I alluded to "Charlie and the couch" pictures in my last post. I have so many that I could probably post one a day for a month. For some reason everyone thought it was absolutely hilarious to invite Charlie to the couch and then snap photos. I thought it was pretty funny too. So funny, in fact, it inspired me to make new couch pillows and throws, (after my other ones didn't hold up so great in the wash.) But that will be a post for another day!

Aidan was so thrilled to have Charlie come for a visit. We regularly have this conversation when Aidan is being bossy and rude.

me - "Aidan, you know you are not to do that."
Aidan - "But I wanted to."
me- "I know you want to, but I am the boss, and I said no."
Aidan - "Why can't I be the boss? I only get to be the boss of Charlie."

One morning last weekend Aidan woke me up at 6:30 and declared "I hate this!" (which he is not supposed to say, but after a few days with the relatives......) I asked him what he hated, and he stated, "I am supposed to be the boss of Charlie, but he does not listen to me. He won't sit when I say sit, he won't stay when I say stay. I wanted him to sleep in my room and he keeps escaping. Why won't he listen to me????"

Let's just say we had a nice little "teachable moment" about how hard it is when the person who is supposed to listen to you - doesn't. I hope he got the point.

I also must add that even though we saw lots of Grandmas, Grandpas, Nanas, Aunts and Uncles, the only name Aidan keeps mentioning as he mopes around the house is Charlie's. Aidan had a little plan that "maybe Charlie won't be paying attention and then he will be left behind at our house!" But when Charlie realized my parents were loading up to leave he waited by the door with excitement. I think Aidan wears him out!