Chad and I had a wonderful time in Aruba, but by mid week I was missing the kids terribly. We just keep talking about how the kids would love it there when they get a little older. There are so many things to do that they will love. They had a good time at Granny and Grandad's, lots of play time. During this past week (our first week home) Ty just kept repeating, "I had so much fun at Granny's house - but I did miss you so much" He is our tender hearted little boy. Sadly Grandad's horse got very sick right before the kids went up and the vet had to put him down. Ty of course asked as soon as he got there, poor Granny had to handle that question. After telling him that Rawhide got sick Ty continued to ask "why", and "but where is he?" Aidan continues to be our little mocking bird. She will almost always repeat the last word you say, exactly. She says the words so clearly, you never need to struggle to understand what she is saying. She is so funny when we are playing with our kitchen toys (play food, pots and pans) she will stir the pots and then put the spoons in her mouth and make her "mmmmmm" sound. We have finalized our trip to Disney next month and Ty is so excited. One morning we are eating breakfast with some of the characters and Ty asks me every day what different characters he is going to get to meet. It's so exciting for us to see how excited he is getting. He can't wait to meet Mickey mouse, Donald Duck, Aladin, Buzz & Woody, Handy Manny, Pooh, 101 Dalmations, etc. We plan to make this trip a frequent one, especially when Aidan is old enough to really enjoy it too. I can't wait to see Aidan with all the princesses at Disney, I can already tell she is going to love wearing sparkly priness dresses.

Summer begins

So begins our crazy summer. We have everything from 2 camping trips (summer -into fall) to the kids first trip to Disney planned this summer. And yes our annual summer beach trip. We are packing now for Ty and Aidan to spend their annual week during the summer with Granny and Grandad. They are going early this year so Chad and I can sneak off to Aruba to celebrate our 10 year anniversary. How amazing to celebrate 10 years being married to your best friend. We have had a busy past month getting settled into our new house, but we are loving it. As soon as we get back from our trip Chad is setting up their new play set in the back yard. I'm sure it's going to be an exciting day for them when it goes up. We will probably just have to eat lunch and dinner out there so they don't have to stop playing. Aidan has become our little mimic, she copies everything we do and is saying so many new words every day. It seems as if our baby girl has grown overnight. Ty and Aidan are great play mates now, I'll watch Ty lean over and hug her neck and just say "I love you Aidan". They are of course brother and sister and engage in their fare share of quarrels, but it melts our hearts to watch how protective Ty is of Aidan. Aidan is Ty's little shadow, yet she has shown she will do just fine standing up for herself. We are blessed so richly with our family and our children. We watch their little personalities develop, their interests, and their talents and thank God every day for our babies.

March make up

So sorry for not posting in March, we had such a busy month but a quick catch up for that month. We started out the month by having Ty's b-day party with his friends at Monkey Joe's (his favorite place). We celebrated with a Diego party. He had a blast, and it was a great way to spend time with his friends before moving to a new city. Ty and Aidan both got to go spend a week with Granny and Grandad on the farm while Chad and I got us ready to move. Granny and Grandad brought Ty and Aidan back just in time for us to drive the trucks to our new house. Granny was able to spend a whole week with us while we got settled. Then we had a visit from my niece Megan and Ty and Aidan's cousin Brayden. Nana also came up to spend a few weeks with us while I continue to get our new house in order. It's a beautiful home, but it is over 100 years old and we have been doing things in it non stop. From scrubbing the wood floors to Chad fixing things around the house. So far we are really enjoying the area we live in.

New city

We are now all moved into our new house, we call our little town Mayberry since we can walk to a number of things in our little area. We live in the historical part of our town and we take walks around the corner to the post office, library, cute little local shops, restaurants, and a little mom and pop drug store/soda fountain shop. Our back yard looks like our very own park, we will be putting in a play set for the kids very soon. We have already spent 90% of our time out back with picnics, playing ball, and swinging in the little tree swing. We unfortunatley had to become acquainted with the little drug store around the corner after spending all day in the ER with Chad who has kidney stones on both sides. That is just the way we wanted to get familiar with our new town. He is doing everything he can do to have them pass without any form of surgery. Ty keeps telling daddy, "I hope you feel better soon, daddy" Aidan is crawling no more, almost as soon as we moved here she has decided to walk. She is talking, and repeating a lot more things. She screams "TY" when she hears him get up from his nap (she isn't our sleeper and is usually up before him) She will tell you what a doggy, kitty, and cow say - too cute. And mommy, Ty and Aidan all love to dance in the morning- I'm hoping to get our favorite morning wake up song and dance on video to upload on the web site. Ty is getting way too big! Just yesterday I was cleaning up from lunch and getting Aidan's diaper changed to get them in bed for naps. I asked Ty to go on up to his room and I would be right up to put his pull-up on and get him into bed. Went up and my big boy had already taken off his underwear/shorts put on his pull-up and got into bed. Had a tearful moment realizing my little boy isn't so little anymore!

Our babies growing up

I'm watching them grow in front of my eyes and I can't believe it. Ty has gotten so big, he is so sweet and the things that come out of his mouth are unbelieveable. His memory still amazes us, he recalls things from last year - and remembers them correctly. He is a funny little man and acts just like his daddy. Our church service was put back to 2:00 last Sunday due to more snow and ice. We were all on the floor playing as a family when Aidan and I had to take cover from the wreastling between daddy and Ty. He made us die laughing as he ran around the kitchen for the 5 time, running towards daddy preparing to hit the pile of pillows we pulled of the couch and put on the floor. After his giggling stopped he stood up and said "daddy, this isn't a jungle gym" We couldn't stop laughing, knowing he has especially heard us say that to him when he tries to run on the pews at church. Aidan still adores Ty, anytime we are playing on the floor Aidan just tries to tackle him and give him kisses. She has become our little monkey. She climbs on anything. You can't turn around for a second before she is trying to stand in her chair and climb up on the table. I fear the day that she gets even bigger and tries to climb up on the kitchen counter or something higher off the ground. She still has daddy wrapped around her little finger, especially when she gives him kisses without being asked. However, she is still a momma's girl. She has begun saying words, momma - dadda- Ty- Bailey- baby - and the dreaded - NO. I think yesterday I even heard her say "no maam" which is what I say to her. Yesterday Ty and I both went crazy at the same time as we watched Aidan walk from the ottoman to the couch (about 4/5 steps) She is getting closer, I'm expecting to wake up one day and watch her go running. Still can't believe our babies are getting so big so quickly.

Fun in the snow

On Friday night began a wonderful snow storm that kept our family at home for the weekend and on into this week. The kids loved it, we got out into the snow Saturday and had snow ball fights, slide down hills and Ty and daddy tackled each other in the snow. The weekend was filled with the warm smells of all the cold day comfort foods. Homemade pot roast with all the fixings, hot chocolate with marshmallows and warming ourselves by the fire. Sunday church services were cancelled due to the icy road conditions so we spend the day reading our bible stories, playing in the snow again, and having family time with movies. This was not Ty's first time in the snow so he was prepared for our snow games. Aidan's first time in the snow went well for her. She enjoyed eating some of it, and didn't shy away from touching the snow (even when she took her gloves off) She just giggled at Ty and daddy as they ran around crazy. It was a wonderful weekend of amazing memories.

Busy first of the year time

Christmas was wonderful. We enjoyed lots of food and almost all of my family (minus two of my nephews due to new jobs and girlfriends) were there. Santa was wonderful to the whole family but we have to say Ty and Aidan must have been really good last year. Ty still asks when we go to the mall if Santa is there. Poor boy has no idea how long it will be before Santa is back again. The new year is always busy but for us we have been especially busy. Traveling to see friends, getting to go to Cousin Carson's b-day party, Granny coming to stay for over a week. Now we are preparing to pack up the house to move. We can almost safely say Ty is potty trained. He has only had a few accidents while we have been out. We get so excited for our morning poo poo in the potty. This week I took Ty to Starbucks for chocolate milk for going poo poo on the potty 5 straight days. On our way Ty asked me "mommy are you going to get coffee for doing poo poo on the potty too?" He knows his mommy - any excuse for starbucks coffee!!! Aidan is beginning to take small steps but is very careful not to fall. She and Ty are so sweet to watch, she loves to give Ty hugs and kisses and he is very loving to her as well. We know they will have their share of fights but it melts my heart to see how much they love each other. He is going to be a very protective big brother. While Granny was here one day we were outside playing and Ty came over to Granny and I and sat down. He then said "mommy I'm your protector, then he turned to Granny and said I will protect you too" The tears swelled up in both of our eyes. We are blessed to have children with such sweet, tender hearts. They both love our book reading time. Ty has gotten into reading books to Aidan all by himself. I've finally captured it on camera so we will upload it soon. We thank the Lord every day how blessed our family is.