Christmas Fun with family and friends

The month of December has been a busy one. Right after Thanksgiving we got a visit from Chad's younger brother and his family. Ty and Aidan loved having their cousin Warner. We took a trip out to St. Augustine to take a ride on Santa's big red train and see all the Christmas lights. The night was a cold one but so much enjoyed listening to the Christmas music while seeing all the festive lights in the town. Being true to Florida the next day after a cold night in St. Augustine it was warm enough to enjoy the beach so we headed down there so Ty, Aidan, and Warner could build some sand castles and play near the water. The next weekend we got another visit, my sister and her grandson came over. We took all the kids over to winder wonderland where they got to see Santa's village, take a little train ride and see people ice skating. The next weekend we had more friends come through, Ty and Aidan got to spend some time with some very special friends. We made cinnamon ornaments that weekend and enjoyed painting them with friends. Aidan thought they smelled so good she continually tried to eat them, paint and all. We are enjoying all the holiday fun, and Ty puts another ornament on our Christmas tree we colored to count down the days until Santa comes. I think Chad and I might be more excited than the kids this year.

Holidays and such

Halloween weekend was a blast, we enjoyed good friends in town, a trip out to the beach, a fall festival, and trick or treating. Aidan had it down pat, she would walk behind Ty up to the door and yell "trick or treat". One of Ty's favorite parts was after we got back home he sat with daddy at the end of the drive way giving out more candy and talking to all the kids. Last week we drove over to my mom and dad's where Ty had a meeting with a former colleague of my fathers who has her doctorate in speech pathology. Ty has been having some trouble with stammering so we wanted to have him see her and get her opinion. She asked my father if he would talk with her or if he would be shy. My dad just chuckled and replied, I think he will be fine talking. We went into her office and he immediately began sharing with her his list he has made for Santa (which is so cute, he cut out pictures from a cataloge and pasted on a sheet of paper). We were relieved when, after their meeting, she is very positive that some excercises, some of which we have already been applying, should take him out of his stammering. He doesn't enjoy being slowed down when he is talking but is doing better already. He always has a lot to say, so we are assuring him that no matter how much he has to say we are listening to everything and he can slow down. Aidan and Ty are getting to spend a few days now with Nana and Papa until Thanksgiving. They are both having a blast. When we skype at night Aidan sits still and seems that she could talk to us all night while Ty talks as he is running back and forth. Chad and I have been using this time to do our Christmas shopping. It's amazing how a 3 year old knows to ask for the hot toy of 2010. Luckly we found a few on the shelf at the store. Maybe we will actually get all the xmas shopping done before December, that would be amazing.

Fall is here

Ty is getting so excited for Halloween. Even though we live among the palm trees now we are still enjoying all things fall, even though we are still enjoying our beach trips often. Aidan loves pointing out all the pumpkins she sees and Ty wears all his costumes on a daily basis. We are enjoying all our Halloween crafts, Ty and Aidan especially loved making our ghost and skeleton cupcakes. We are all looking forward to Halloween weekend with good friends, a fall festival, pumpkin patch, and the long awaited trick-or-treating. Last week Granny and Grandad came to visit for a few days and Ty and Aidan got to fly home with them and spend a week on the farm. We are missing our babies but we know how much fun they are having. On another note Chad and I had to make a hard decision of what to do for Ty. He has been in school for 2 months now and seperation anxiety has gotten hard for Ty. He is an extremely social child and loves play dates with friends, but he is going through a difficult time to be away from mommy. We decided that he just needs to be home with mommy right now and we may try again next fall. It was riping my heart out and I was crying as much (or more) than he was. The teachers loved him, and said he loved school once he got over the terror of me leaving. There were some mornings I would hide and watch him through the windows until he settled down and began to enjoy his activities. The directors got to know me well and had toys in their office for Aidan to play with. We got his evaluations and he excelled in everything, the teachers were extremely impressed with the fact that he knew all his shapes, colors, letters, numbers (they were especially impressed when he pointed out he knew what an octagon was) I know how much he will enjoy a class setting once he is able to overcome the fear of mommy leaving. I'm sad for him he had so much trouble but I'm alright keeping my baby home for just a little longer. It goes by so quickly, before I blink they will be grown and no longer sitting in my lap wanting me to read them stories.

Finally settled

We know it's been so long since we have been able to update the web site, it has been a busy couple of months. Chad is finally done with the small jobs around different states and cities and we are finally all back together and permanetly making our home right along side the amazing beach. The kids are thinking they are on constant vacation right now. Our neighborhood pool has an awesome slide which Ty lives for. He spends hours sliding down, climbing back up and sliding down again. Poor Aidan wants to go too but isn't tall enough for it yet. Ty and Aidan love getting out to the beach, Ty gets so excited about how close it is. Aidan cracks us up, she scolds the waves when they hit her by saying "no, no, water". Ty is getting so big, he has started preschool and goes Tuesday and Thursday from 9:30-1:00. He was so excited for his first day. He went and picked out his lunch box (which was of course Buzz lightyear). The week before school he carried his lunchbox around with him everywhere. On his first day he was ready to go, I was a wreck. We got into his classroom and he put his lunchbox and backpack in his cubby hole, washed his hands, kissed me goodbye and was quick to head to his circle. Every morning when we drop Ty off at school Aidan cries when we leave. I'm not sure if she is upset that we are leaving Ty or that she can't stay. We go and have mommy/daughter time for those mornings. Ty is loving school, loves his teacher, and has made so many friends. We have a little princess on our hands, Aidan is starting to love wearing all her little jewlery and her dress up dresses. She puts on her dresses and stands there and twirls her dresses. Our babies are getting too big, too quickly. Ty doesn't understand my eyes getting teary when we talk about how how big he and Aidan are getting. We are blessed beyond measures with our family.

World travlers

The whole family travled to Chad's parents to spend a week and half playing on the farm, and spending the 4th of July with them. We had a blast. They have 3 tractors, cows, so much land, motorcycle, garden, pond, etc. Ty loves getting on Grandad's motorcycle with Grandad or daddy. They ride it all over the farm, mommy is hoping his interest fades and doesn't want one when he gets older. Aidan LOVES the tractors. She would wake up in the morning saying tractor. She would ride them all day if we let her. Ty gets excited to help Granny get cucumbers and tomatoes out of the garden. He lives on fresh veggies while we are there. One of his favorite times is the evening when we go out with Grandad to feed the fish. He did a little fishing with Daddy, and this year was a bit different than last year, it kept his attention for about 10 minutes this time verses the 2 minutes last year. We went with the whole family, along with Chad's little brother's family, to see the fireworks. It was Ty and Aidan's first year to see them. All the years before Ty has fallen asleep before they started. We went out on Grandad's boat on the river, the kids kept yelling "go fast Grandad" After our trip to Ky we went to see family in Ga then on to Fl. We have little fish on our hands. Aidan has no fear and loves to stand on the steps, she takes my hand then jumps off the step into the water and dunks herself. She is too funny. Ty is such a little swimmer too. He gets better every day. He now loves to take the diving sticks out and dives for them. Ty would live in my parents pool if he could. He wakes up so early (between 5:30-6:00) and is ready to get in the pool by 8:00. Aidan has really enjoyed the beach this trip. She loves walking out into the water and lets the waves hit her. Love to watch our babies enjoying the summer.

Summer continues

Ty and Aidan loved Disney, Ty asks every day when we can go back. They got to see Buzz, Woody, and Jessie from Toy Story. They both loved seeing Mickey and Minnie Mouse so much, we struggled to get a good picture since they both just wanted to hug and kiss them instead of looking at the camera. Watching them on the rides and their faces during the parades were priceless. Chad and I loved every minute of it, and can't wait to go again next year. We enjoyed some beach time and took our little fishes to the pool every day. We are getting ready to spend a summer of travles. We get to spend a long visit with Chad's parents (Granny and Grandad) at the farm then on to a long visit with my parents (Nana and Papa) enjoying the pool and beach. My parents are actually enjoying a week with us this week and having a blast taking Ty and Aidan to story time at the Library and playing at the park and their pool in the back yard. I'm not sure who is more tired at the end of the day - the kids or Nana and Papa :) Summer is just so much fun.

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.